By Mark Rodriguez
I've done articles for all three Mario cartoons in the past, so it's only fair I did one for the Sonic cartoons. There were several series made, and even though Adventures was first and had a head start... we got another cartoon called Sonic the Hedgehog that aired Saturday mornings and was a more serious show, which would later be connected to the Archie comics series.
I have to say this cartoon was full of wild and wacky fun, and at its core is closer to the games than the others. I mean, this show is all about Sonic and Tails trying to stop Robotnik from taking over Mobius with his army of robots.... which is basically what the games were about at the time. The main thing that was missing from the show was that Robotnik was using actual robots, while the games it was implied all (or most) of his robots were captured animals that were enslaved and forced to do his dirty work.
We basically follow Sonic and Tails as they travel town to town to either relax or stop whatever evil plan Robotnik is up to. The worlds are all made up cities and towns not seen in the games. Robotnik is given a new design when compared to how he looked like in the games and lives in his own castle. He still flies around in the hovercar from the games, called the Egg-O-Matic, and aside from Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts, sometimes other Badniks appear, like the robot fish Choppers. While there wasn't any music from the actual zones in the cartoon, Sonic's main theme played during the intro to the first 2 Sonic games was part of the main theme song and several variations of it played throughout the series.
There was also a multi-part episode that was about the Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic and Robotnik going through different time periods to get them all. However in the cartoon version there were only four, and they each granted a different power (invisibility, invincibility, immortality and the power of life itself). So I guess they were kinda like the Infinity Stones in the cartoon.
The show also seems to follow the repetitive 'Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner' routine with Scratch and Grounder constantly setting overly-complicated traps for Sonic, and the traps always backfiring on them. Sometimes Coconuts would appear and he would try to sabotage Scratch and Grounder so he could claim the glory of capturing Sonic himself. Of course, with them being robots, they usually get blown up or destroyed a ka-zillion ways since Robotnik can just fix them up again.
Another thing is that Sonic always uses disguises to get past the bad guys, and while some times Robotniks sees right through them and warns his minions, sometimes he's also fall for such obvious disguises. Scratch and Grounder were also always trying to upstage the other, so their plans would also backfire because at times they can barely get along. If you couldn't already tell, Robotnik is the classic 80's/90's bad guy that had incompetent henchmen so bad you wonder why he keeps them around. It's really hard to say if Scratch and Grounder were any better than Bebop and Rocksteady.
The ending of each episode had a 'Sonic Says' segment that gave tips on things like don't smoke, or call the police if you're in trouble. The one people always seem to remember is the one against inappropriate touching from strangers. Yeah yeah, I know people make memes about it and whatnot, but hey.... it's still a serious matter to watch out for.
Here are the main characters from the series-
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic is the super-speedy and hyper all-around good guy of the series, but you know... with 'attitude'. He's voiced by Jaleel 'Steve Urkel' White and now that we can actually see the character in a format beyond 16-bit videogames, he gains several catch phrases. He usually tells Tails 'It's time to speed, keed!' before blasting off, he impatiently taps his foot and says 'I'm waaaiii-ting' which goes with his idle animation from the Sonic games. He also says he's 'Up, over, and gone!!!' when he blasts off.
Sonic runs so fast he needs to wear specialized frictionless shoes to prevent his feet from burning up. One of the episodes actually had Robotnik steal them, forcing him to actually walk through most of the episode to prevent him from burning his feet off.
Robotnik's plans can vary from enslaving all of the planet... to simply ruining Sonic's day because he's getting something that he isn't. There was an episode where the fans made a song dedicated to Sonic, which became a big hit. Robotnik got so jealous, he kidnapped the singer and forced her to make a song about him.
One thing to notice about Robotnik, despite not using the original Japanese name, Dr. Eggman, is that despite this he still had a huge love for eggs. He would usually want stuff like omelettes or anything egg-related for dinner, or his inventions will be call Egg-O-Matic this and that.
Most of the humor also lies in Robotnik's voice and strong rolling of the 'R's and how he pronounces things. Robotnik also has a big fat butt and most of the cartoon's childish humor relies on how many times Robotnik shoves his butt towards the camera. There was even an episode where he had some chemicals spilled on him which gave him invincible super powers... but since his butt was stuck in a barrel, that was his only weak spot.
Lastly, for whatever reason, some of Robotnik's antics became popular enough to spawn a lot of internet remix videos.... way after the cartoon has aired. The most popular being the 'pingas!' scene where he catches Scratch and Grounder eavesdropping on a conversation and says they're 'snooping as usual', which some used to make the whole 'pingas' thing. Other things like him giving himself a Prrrrromotion also started internet memes or remix videos. It's almost as if the internet re-discovered this show and it's insanity.
He's not in many episodes, which confused me as a kid cause there he was in opening theme song... and it took a while before we got to one of the episodes he was in. He's based on the robot monkey Coconuts, also from Sonic 2, that climbs in trees and throws exploding coconuts at you.
I've done articles for all three Mario cartoons in the past, so it's only fair I did one for the Sonic cartoons. There were several series made, and even though Adventures was first and had a head start... we got another cartoon called Sonic the Hedgehog that aired Saturday mornings and was a more serious show, which would later be connected to the Archie comics series.
I have to say this cartoon was full of wild and wacky fun, and at its core is closer to the games than the others. I mean, this show is all about Sonic and Tails trying to stop Robotnik from taking over Mobius with his army of robots.... which is basically what the games were about at the time. The main thing that was missing from the show was that Robotnik was using actual robots, while the games it was implied all (or most) of his robots were captured animals that were enslaved and forced to do his dirty work.
We basically follow Sonic and Tails as they travel town to town to either relax or stop whatever evil plan Robotnik is up to. The worlds are all made up cities and towns not seen in the games. Robotnik is given a new design when compared to how he looked like in the games and lives in his own castle. He still flies around in the hovercar from the games, called the Egg-O-Matic, and aside from Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts, sometimes other Badniks appear, like the robot fish Choppers. While there wasn't any music from the actual zones in the cartoon, Sonic's main theme played during the intro to the first 2 Sonic games was part of the main theme song and several variations of it played throughout the series.
There was also a multi-part episode that was about the Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic and Robotnik going through different time periods to get them all. However in the cartoon version there were only four, and they each granted a different power (invisibility, invincibility, immortality and the power of life itself). So I guess they were kinda like the Infinity Stones in the cartoon.
The show also seems to follow the repetitive 'Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner' routine with Scratch and Grounder constantly setting overly-complicated traps for Sonic, and the traps always backfiring on them. Sometimes Coconuts would appear and he would try to sabotage Scratch and Grounder so he could claim the glory of capturing Sonic himself. Of course, with them being robots, they usually get blown up or destroyed a ka-zillion ways since Robotnik can just fix them up again.
Another thing is that Sonic always uses disguises to get past the bad guys, and while some times Robotniks sees right through them and warns his minions, sometimes he's also fall for such obvious disguises. Scratch and Grounder were also always trying to upstage the other, so their plans would also backfire because at times they can barely get along. If you couldn't already tell, Robotnik is the classic 80's/90's bad guy that had incompetent henchmen so bad you wonder why he keeps them around. It's really hard to say if Scratch and Grounder were any better than Bebop and Rocksteady.
The ending of each episode had a 'Sonic Says' segment that gave tips on things like don't smoke, or call the police if you're in trouble. The one people always seem to remember is the one against inappropriate touching from strangers. Yeah yeah, I know people make memes about it and whatnot, but hey.... it's still a serious matter to watch out for.
Here are the main characters from the series-
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic is the super-speedy and hyper all-around good guy of the series, but you know... with 'attitude'. He's voiced by Jaleel 'Steve Urkel' White and now that we can actually see the character in a format beyond 16-bit videogames, he gains several catch phrases. He usually tells Tails 'It's time to speed, keed!' before blasting off, he impatiently taps his foot and says 'I'm waaaiii-ting' which goes with his idle animation from the Sonic games. He also says he's 'Up, over, and gone!!!' when he blasts off.
Sonic runs so fast he needs to wear specialized frictionless shoes to prevent his feet from burning up. One of the episodes actually had Robotnik steal them, forcing him to actually walk through most of the episode to prevent him from burning his feet off.
The show also showcases his love for chili dogs and introduces this as
his favorite foods. In fact, most of the times the bad guys leave chili
dogs behind as bait for a trap. This would carry over in the Archie
comics, and even later games started showcasing that he loved chili dogs
too. Basically, Sonic is all about stopping the bad guys and having a
good time.
Tails AKA Miles Prower
Tails is the flying two-tailed fox that hangs with Sonic and made his
debut in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. He's the typical sidekick character that
is also Sonic's number 1 fan and is always ready to stand by his side.
He's sometimes the voice of reason behind Sonic's impulsiveness. He does
get kidnapped quite a few times, both other times he's the one that
ends up rescuing Sonic. He also shares Sonic's love for chili dogs.
It's
also worth noting that this cartoon was made before the newer games would turn
Tails into a child genius, so he didn't have any of those traits here. Back then I think the only hint we saw of him being smarter than the average kid was that he could pilot that plane in Sonic 2. The cartoon did keep the fact that his real name is Miles, so that's
cool.
Dr. Ivo Robotnik
The evil mad scientist and main villain of the series. He's also,
without a doubt, the most entertaining. Most fans usually remember more
of his hi-jinx than Sonic's. Robotnik mostly want to rule Mobius or
sometimes he plans to capture Sonic so he won't foil future schemes. He
invents most of the robots and devices for his plans, though sometimes
he does steal some from other scientists. His catchphrase is 'I HATE
THAT HEDGEHOG!!!' usually at the end of the episode because Sonic
usually doesn't just foil his plans, sometimes he downright destroys his
entire castle and sometimes Robotnik even ends up in a body cast.
Robotnik's plans can vary from enslaving all of the planet... to simply ruining Sonic's day because he's getting something that he isn't. There was an episode where the fans made a song dedicated to Sonic, which became a big hit. Robotnik got so jealous, he kidnapped the singer and forced her to make a song about him.
One thing to notice about Robotnik, despite not using the original Japanese name, Dr. Eggman, is that despite this he still had a huge love for eggs. He would usually want stuff like omelettes or anything egg-related for dinner, or his inventions will be call Egg-O-Matic this and that.
Most of the humor also lies in Robotnik's voice and strong rolling of the 'R's and how he pronounces things. Robotnik also has a big fat butt and most of the cartoon's childish humor relies on how many times Robotnik shoves his butt towards the camera. There was even an episode where he had some chemicals spilled on him which gave him invincible super powers... but since his butt was stuck in a barrel, that was his only weak spot.
Lastly, for whatever reason, some of Robotnik's antics became popular enough to spawn a lot of internet remix videos.... way after the cartoon has aired. The most popular being the 'pingas!' scene where he catches Scratch and Grounder eavesdropping on a conversation and says they're 'snooping as usual', which some used to make the whole 'pingas' thing. Other things like him giving himself a Prrrrromotion also started internet memes or remix videos. It's almost as if the internet re-discovered this show and it's insanity.
The Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad
Mostly composed of Scratch and Grounder... but Coconuts is technically also a member. They're supposed to be super robots specially designed to capture Sonic... but are useless idiots.
Scratch
Mostly composed of Scratch and Grounder... but Coconuts is technically also a member. They're supposed to be super robots specially designed to capture Sonic... but are useless idiots.
Scratch
Scratch is a robot chicken and the more humanoid of the duo. He comes up
with most of the plans of the two. However he's still very incompetent
and quick-tempered, so he gets into a lot of fights and arguments with
Grounder. Being
a chicken and all, he has an annoying squawky voice and an even more annoying chicken squawk
laugh too. Unlike the other 2, Scratch doesn't seem to be based on any
of the badniks from the games. There were chicken robots in Sonic 2....
but don't resemble Scratch at all.
Grounder
Grounder is probably the dumbest of the two and needs the plans to be
explained to him several times, though sometimes he does come up with
his own ideas. One thing he does have though is the ability to swap his
drills for any weapon he needs. In later episodes he just flat out whips
out normal hands for when he has to grab things. He was based on the
Grounder seen in Sonic 2, except he was red and he didn't have the extra gadgets.
Coconuts
Coconuts is a robot monkey that apparently was around before Robotnik
built Scratch and Grounder. For whatever reason Robotnik treats him like
crap, despite not being as useless as the other two. He's mostly
demoted to being the janitor or the cook or some other lower position
and tries his best to sneak out and capture Sonic to show that he's
better than Scratch and Grounder. His plans are usually more
successful... but Scratch and Grounder show up to screw them up,
mostly to gain Robotnik's favor. While Scratch and Grounder kinda/sorta get along... but don't like Coconuts at all, and the
feeling is mutual.
He's not in many episodes, which confused me as a kid cause there he was in opening theme song... and it took a while before we got to one of the episodes he was in. He's based on the robot monkey Coconuts, also from Sonic 2, that climbs in trees and throws exploding coconuts at you.
Other characters
Of course the series couldn't just have those 6 characters, but in a cartoon where they're in a different town each episode, you hardly get any recurring characters.There are some notable ones.... we have Breezie, who was originally supposed to charm Sonic so she could help capture him while his guard was down... but soon she fell for him and betrayed Robotnik. Robotnik also made his own son, Robotnik Jr, hoping he'd be as evil as him... but despite being kind of a jerk, he also didn't want to be a bad guy and also betrayed Robotnik. They were in a few episodes, and Sonic actually paired them up later on. Guess he didn't want to keep her for himself? Whatever the case, Robotnik sucks at making new henchmen....
Of course the series couldn't just have those 6 characters, but in a cartoon where they're in a different town each episode, you hardly get any recurring characters.There are some notable ones.... we have Breezie, who was originally supposed to charm Sonic so she could help capture him while his guard was down... but soon she fell for him and betrayed Robotnik. Robotnik also made his own son, Robotnik Jr, hoping he'd be as evil as him... but despite being kind of a jerk, he also didn't want to be a bad guy and also betrayed Robotnik. They were in a few episodes, and Sonic actually paired them up later on. Guess he didn't want to keep her for himself? Whatever the case, Robotnik sucks at making new henchmen....
Then we have Robotnik's mother... Mama Robotnik... that would have been a
funny one-shot like they did with Shredder's mom in the 80's cartoon...
but she returned in several episodes too.The funny part is she has the
typical 'mother character looks just like the son but in drag' but
rather than have the characters not notice this like other cartoons do... Tails just flat out
asks 'why is Dr. Robotnik wearing a dress?' I'd like to see Tails'
reaction if he ever goes to Springfield and meets Millhouse's family.
Finally we have Weasley, a sneaky salesman that just as eager to sell
stuff to Sonic as he is to Robotnik.. and Sgt. Doberman, a typical
military nut.... why both of them appeared in more than one episode is
anyone's guess.
I can't really remember that many episodes off the top of my head, in terms of favorites, and I already listed some as I described the characters. Some that stand out to me were one where Robotnik created a helmet that would make him even smarter... but somehow Grounder gets a hold of it and he becomes a super genius that not only captures Sonic and Tails, but also overthrows Robotnik and takes over.
I can't really remember that many episodes off the top of my head, in terms of favorites, and I already listed some as I described the characters. Some that stand out to me were one where Robotnik created a helmet that would make him even smarter... but somehow Grounder gets a hold of it and he becomes a super genius that not only captures Sonic and Tails, but also overthrows Robotnik and takes over.
There's one
called 'Pseudo Sonic' in which Robotnik created a fake robot Sonic and
forces a lab rat to control it to commits crimes Sonic will be blamed
for. It was a good episode and a good plan, but the main problem is
Robotnik should have used someone that actually hated Sonic, and not a
rat he threatened to blow up his parents with. I was also confused as to
why they just didn't used Metal Sonic... since Sonic CD was already out
at the time...
The weirdest thing was that Pseudo Sonic was roughly the real Sonic's size, yet somehow later in the episode, Tails somehow fit inside the robot so he can take control of it. I guess he was way more space in the inside.
There was an episode based on Sonic Spinball, which had Sonic, Tails,
Doberman and Weasely trapped in Robotnik's volcanic pinball fortress,
like in the game. Plus they even faced a robot scorpion boss like in the
game. Then we have one where this busty huntress fell for Robotnik and
wanted to marry him. Along came Mama, pissed that she wasn't invited...
and the insane fight between the two...well.. you just have to see it.
Finally sometime after the series actually ended, we had an extra episode, Sonic Christmas Blast that was drawn with slightly better shading and detail (though Robotnik was drawn like crap). Robotnik took the place of Santa and is forcing everyone to make toys and presents for HIM, so of course, Sonic and Tails have to stop that. The most noticeable thing was that this was the only episode to randomly cameo Princess Sally, from the more serious Sonic cartoon and comic series.
Finally sometime after the series actually ended, we had an extra episode, Sonic Christmas Blast that was drawn with slightly better shading and detail (though Robotnik was drawn like crap). Robotnik took the place of Santa and is forcing everyone to make toys and presents for HIM, so of course, Sonic and Tails have to stop that. The most noticeable thing was that this was the only episode to randomly cameo Princess Sally, from the more serious Sonic cartoon and comic series.
Even though the cartoons created new characters, or redesigned some of
them, there were at least two games that referenced them. Dr. Robotnik's
Mean Bean Machine is basically a Tetris-style game featuring Robotnik,
Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts as they look like in the cartoon. All the
other robots your face are also from this series though they're random
one-shot characters.
Sonic Spinball also, oddly enough, had a bonus stage that had you try to
destroy all the Scratches walking around. There was another bonus stage
that had you liberate your friends that were from the other Sonic
series and comics, like Sally, Rotor and Antoine. So this is the only
game to reference both series at the same time.
And as another minor reference, the cover for Sonic The Hedgehog Triple Trouble for the SEGA Game Gear drew Robotnik looking like the cartoon version even though he looked like his regular videogame design in the game itself.
 |
| While I know Knack the Weasel appeared in the Archie comics, I'm not sure if he appeared in any other Sonic games |
Overall this was a wild and goofy cartoon full of random, silly and
all around stupid stuff. But for whatever reason, we liked it back then. In
comparison to the Mario cartoons, this one just felt so much faster and
full of energy. I'm not sure it aged that well, a few years back Johnny and I watched one of the episodes for old time's sake, and we could barely finish it.
But hey, at least thanks to Sonic I got into chili dogs.
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