Sonic Cartoon Question

[bat313]

Hey guys, i was just wondering how many Sonic Series were made and released in America or anywhere else. SO far this is what i got:

1) The adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
2) Sonic from Saturday morning (Sonic SAM)
3) Sonic Underground ???? Not sure what this is but it came up in a search.
4) Sonic X on Fox right now - can someone also tell me what this is?
5) I saw so a few screen grabs with English subtitles that led me to believe there are a few Japanese cartoons out there on VHS or DVD?

Thanks to anyone who can help me complete this list. Also i'd love to hear opinions on which series are worth watchng and which are not!

[Crimefighter]

4. Sonic X is the anime version, based on the video games Sonic Adventure 1, 2 and probably Heroes.

3. Sonic Underground is airing in syndication distributed by DiC, it's Sonic with "two relatives".

[Skyknight]

5) I saw so a few screen grabs with English subtitles that led me to believe there are a few Japanese cartoons out there on VHS or DVD?
Two.

Sonics' first anime OVA was a two parter edited into a badly dubbed "movie" version, X is the second.

[bat313]

Thanks for the replies guys! Would you say Sonic SAM is the best one of the bunch? I wanted to start watching them and im not sure what order to start in.

[Skyknight]

Thanks for the replies guys! Would you say Sonic SAM is the best one of the bunch?.
Its' definatly the best american Sonic cartoon, and my personal favourate. Archie comics still use that series' characters with a few shake ups and alterations since it began, but the general core remains. The episode "Super Sonic" marks the first time ever that Sonic cries

[sdp]

well your questions were already answered but if you have any more, feel free to ask, i love tot alk about sonic :D

[MJC]

Thanks for the replies guys! Would you say Sonic SAM is the best one of the bunch? I wanted to start watching them and im not sure what order to start in.
Yes, it was definitely the best (IMO it's better than Sonic X), and it's the one that the Sonic comic was based off of. The story was very well thought out and dark (for a Sonic cartoon, anyway). Be warned, it ends on a huge cliffhanger though. My only problem with it was lack of use of the game characters (Tails isn't that important, and no other characters from the game are in it besides Robotnik), but I guess when it came out the Sonic franchise didn't have that many characters.

Ironically, Sonic X has the opposite problem. Just about every character that's ever appeared in a Sonic game is in it, but a lot of the characters are annoying or uninteresting, and Sonic himself ends up getting kind of lost in the shuffle.

[Freedom Fighter]

Thanks for the replies guys! Would you say Sonic SAM is the best one of the bunch? I wanted to start watching them and im not sure what order to start in.I'd definitely say SatAM is the best of the Sonic bunch, especially considering Sonic's supporting cast. Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine all hold special places in my heart, and the series wouldn't be as great without them. Not to down Sonic himself, who was always the center of attention, and rightfully so, because all of the action revolved around him.

AoStH is often spurned in comparison, but I don't think it should be. It leaned more towards the comedy side, and I think it did it fairly well. It also was a better representation of the video games. Sure, there's only so many times you can consider Scratch and Grounder's bumbling and all of the visual jokes about Robotnik's big butt, but hey, it was one of those 'let your mind go and just enjoy it for what it is' shows. Highly underrated, definitely worth a look at.

Never got to see SU. Was always already at school before it came on in the morning, and never wanted to get up early to see it on the days I was off. Lot of people said it was horrible, though.

Sonic the Movie. First time seeing/hearing Knuckles in animation, first time seeing humans in Sonic's world. Both made me gag to no end. Granted, I have the VHS version so I've only heard the dub version... but still, it's one of those things I wished I had never seen. It's that bad.

SX. Eh... it's alright. I could definitely do without Chris (first and second season only... he seems acceptable this season). I wish it had the edge SatAM had, or the hilarity of AoStH. It instead tries to employ a happy medium of both, but it does only a fair job of it, I say. And I'll agree with MJC... there's just too many characters that I really don't care about some of them.

So if I have to give an order... SonSatAM and AoStH are both definite musts, add Sonic X if you actually want SEGA's official take on the blue hero. SonU, like I said, haven't watched, but you should probably skip it. And by all means stay clear of SonicMovie.

[sdp]

didn't see that reply, i want to post my opinion on the series' too :D

AoSTH: It stays close to the games, of course the first sonic game didn't have much of a story, so it falls for slapstick and imo works well.

SatAM: it does not follow the game that is why its good, games story work well because you experience the quest, but narrating the quest is just not fun, so they created a cast and just used the characters and it worked great, very fun story.

Sonic the movie: the dub voices need some getting used to but they aren't that bad and they do fit the characters, the story kind of follows the game which makes it interesting and fast.

SU: I've only seen one episode so my opinion could change little to a lot if i saw the entire series. It does the same thing as SatAM and added a cast to give them more material to work on instead of the bland game characters, but unlike SatAM it doesn't do it right and the concept just doesn't work.

SX: It uses the huge cast of characters from the games, and like i said they are fairly bland in character, they do need more to work with. Adding a second damsel in distress (chris) was a bad, the stories are simple and don't have anything to make them special, the videogame adaptations dont work as a show as well. It does stay true to the games but in this case, it doesn't have anything that makes the story more interesting. I still enjoy it though.

[Mandi-chan]

I've seen SU, so I can give you some info: It's set in an alternate reality where Sonic and his two siblings are the royal heirs of Mobius. They've each got special abilities and are very important in the future, so their mother seperated them in the hopes that Robotnic won't find them and they can fulfill thier destiny.

I loved it when I was a kid, the only downside was the fact that Sonic and his brother and sister decided to form a band too, so in every ep they sang annoying songs (the theme song was pretty good though, it's stuck in my head right now ^-^).

When I was watching it, they aired the eps out of order (the first arc was good). Eventually the canned it.

[HellCat]

If we're throwing in thoughts:

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog- I remember being very disapointed when this first aired. DIC produces an accurate to the games series of Mario cartoons, but Sonic gets this? Now a days, I'm of a different mind. I think if you just watch this for what it is (a slapstick cartoon based on Sonic) it actually has it's pros. Long John Baldry's (may he rest in piece) Robotnik is classic.

SonicSatAM- I've soapboxed on this alot. A decent 'mature' cartoon but highly overrated, especially by American fans. Yet again has little connection to the games and for my money the original characters are kinda flat. Classic theme song though.

Sonic Underground- I don't want to bash it, but the basic plot is what you'd expect from a fanfic. I have to wonder who thought Sonic using musical instruments was a good idea. Kind of a more light hearted version of the SatAM toon. But the key point- we finally got an animated Knuckles!

Sonic OVA- Haven't seen it.

Sonic X- I'm interested to see the new episodes since apparently they're a marked improvement but since it is effictively Sonic GT and felt the need to bring back Chris I ain't expecting much. The show is obviously the closest to the games. I think if the unneeded original characters were removed or replaced with better ideas it could have been THE best Sonic series.

[bat313]

Hey guys, thanks again for all your opinions, i really appreaciate it! I'm defenitly looking forward to watching Sonic SAM now! I'm a little wiery on the newer versions of sonic but it should be awsome seeing an animated Knuckles! The one where Sonic and his siblings form a band sounds like it might be the worst incarnation! :p

This past summer i was able to win a whole bunch of sonic charaters at the Jersey board walk out of the claw machines, and i havnt played the sonic video games since SEGA, (just no time :sad: ) so i'm really looking forward to the introduction of all these new supporting characters.
Does that guy who played Steve Erkel still voice sonic after all these years? Does Tails still have the same VA as well? OH OH OH, and why does Dr. Robnotnik now call himself Dr Eggman??????? I don't like that.

[HellCat]

Hey guys, thanks again for all your opinions, i really appreaciate it! I'm defenitly looking forward to watching Sonic SAM now! I'm a little wiery on the newer versions of sonic but it should be awsome seeing an animated Knuckles! The one where Sonic and his siblings form a band sounds like it might be the worst incarnation! :p

This past summer i was able to win a whole bunch of sonic charaters at the Jersey board walk out of the claw machines, and i havnt played the sonic video games since SEGA, (just no time :sad: ) so i'm really looking forward to the introduction of all these new supporting characters.
Does that guy who played Steve Erkel still voice sonic after all these years? Does Tails still have the same VA as well? OH OH OH, and why does Dr. Robnotnik now call himself Dr Eggman??????? I don't like that.
No more Urkel Sonic. Tails VA has changed a bunch of times over the years. As for Robotnik- he's kinda called both. In the original Japanese games, his name was Dr Eggman. In the western part of the world, SEGA renamed him Dr Robotnik (a play on the term 'No goodnik') and likewise called his robots Badniks (they also ignored other elements of the Japanese continuity, such as making Sonic's homeplanet be called Mobius). When the Sonic Adventure series started, things changed- all branches of SEGA now used the Japanese names/history (probably due to the fact the new games have dialogue and actual cutscenes). However, this meant having to explain why he'd used the Robotnik name in the past. In Sonic Adventure 2, we learn that he had a famous grandfather- Prof. Gerald Robotnik, a famous scientist who inspired Eggman to become the scientist he is now. This and later games have thus implied that Robotnik is indeed his real name but that Eggman is a nickname created by Sonic to insult his enemy but ultimately adopted by him and used as a kind of alias. Given his grandfather's legacy and how proud he was of it (it has a darker side that Eggman is unaware of until SA2), the use of the Eggman name could have been to distiguish himself from his grandfather in the public mind or that he knew what he was doing may have negative impact on his grandfather's legacy if he used his family name. So his name is Dr Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik.

[Skyknight]

Hey guys, thanks again for all your opinions, i really appreaciate it! I'm defenitly looking forward to watching Sonic SAM now! I'm a little wiery on the newer versions of sonic but it should be awsome seeing an animated Knuckles! The one where Sonic and his siblings form a band sounds like it might be the worst incarnation! :p.
And the sad thing is, its' the second longest Sonic cartoon next to AOSTH, I'd give it a shot for the Knuckles three parter, the behind the scenes power struggles were unintentional comedy according to Ben Hurst.

[MJC]

Sonic OVA- Haven't seen it.

I've seen it. It was actually pretty good, Metal Sonic was the main villain. It had one huge, glaring problem though...the dub voices, they make my ears bleed. Sonic sounds like he's British or something, and Tails sounds like he has a horrible head cold.

[Yash]

SatAM - The characters and the plot are good, the music is well-composed, the animation is pretty (ah, the days before crappy Flash and computers), and the writing is sometimes humorous. Probably the best US Sonic cartoon.

AoStH - It's funny at points, but if you want story or animation, run. Still, better than the syndicated DiC crap that's on now.

Sonic OVA - It's good, but the dubbing is atrocious. That's all I'm saying.

Sonic Underground - The only Sonic series that gives me a "WTF is this doing on my television" vibe.

Sonic X - I like the series in its original format better, but the dub isn't too bad accuracy-wise. Some awful miscastings (who thought casting Yugi Mutou as Knuckles was a good idea?) and bad rewrites ruin it quite a bit though. Seek the sub if you can, especially for the second season.

[Mighty_Bojingo]

I loved the SatAM show. It was just great. I've seen every episode and I just wish they would have the decency to give the show a proper ending before taking it off the air. Kept waiting for Super Sonic to appear.

AoStH was good. But it wasnt as serious as SatAM. Also waited for Super Sonic to appear since they showed 4 Chaos emeralds.

Sonic Underground is apparantly way too underrated. I've seen all the episodes (aired). And aside from 'Most' of the crappy songs, the series is just as good as SatAM, plus its very similar to SatAM. Gotta say, Queen Alena was one Dangerous woman (Their mother), with the power that lady possesses and her wits and cleverness, She's evaded Buttnik so many times, and almost took Buttnik once if Sonic, Sonia and Manik didnt get in the way. But one of their songs was actually good. The one where the Oracle sends the kids to an alternate universe where they're counterparts are evil and Robotnik is the freedom fighter. They prove to Robotnik that they're the good guys by singing that catchy song (It was about giving to the poor.)

[Yash]

I think the biggest problem with Sonic le Rebelle (yay I'm a purist) is that it has a Loonatics syndrome, where the concept could be done without using Sonic or Robotnik, but they use them anyway for marketing purposes.

[Mighty_Bojingo]

What's wrong with Sonic and Robotnik? They fit in the storylines rather nicely. Now when we're talking about Sonic X, the deal with the Metarex is a different story, those guys came out completely out of the blue. No knowledge of them whatsoever. How did they even learn of the Chaos Emeralds or Sonic? That's another thing they have yet to explain. I see no connection with the Metarex in the Sonic world.

[sdp]

in my "review" i judged only one episode of SU, but i bet if i saw the whole sereis my opinion would be a lot different, i still find most of the designs very itneresting and like it more than SX

I even like the OVA more than SX.

i actually think the OVA takes place before SX ;D in the same continuity.

I haven't seen SatAM since i was little so i don't remember very well, but as soon as i watch it again *crosses fingers for dvds* i will also try to put AoSth in SatAM continuity even with all the backlash from fans :D, i mean if archie did it why can't the cartoons share the universe? we do have christmas blast!

who knows i might even find a way to put SU on SatAM and AoSTH timeline so it'd be the DIC sonic universe and the SX universe with the ova ;D

sorry about the above, you're talking to the guy that once made You've got mail/Sleepless in Seattle and Cast Away in the same continuity :sweat:

[Mandi-chan]

I'm interesting in seeing this OVA anime, anyone know where to find it?

Also, to the fans of SU, did it ever have a decent ending?

[sdp]

not sure about the SU ending, though you can get the whole series on dvd region 2.


the sonic OVA like has been mentioned was released as Sonic the Movie, its actually gotten re-released as well, the first version has a generic cover with sonic knuckles and tails, while the second version has an even more generic cover with just Sonic....though if you check amazon the second version has 3 more minutes, i don't know if its just a typo or if it does have more "scenes".
Both versions still include the Sonic middle finger segment.

It used to be available in a lot of places but slowly dissapeared, i was able to get mine at best buy a little over a year go, don't pay more than 10$ though since that is what it costs in mostplaces. You might have to order it online if you can't find it.

[PowerZord]

Sorry for not remenbering every sonic series, but by any chance that Sonic SAM you are referring is that the one where Sonic world looks so futuristic, and he collects the rings by going underwater, and the whole mood of the series changes, and Robotnick is more robotic?

Just wondering. Repressed childhood memories coming to live

[Freedom Fighter]

I'm interesting in seeing this OVA anime, anyone know where to find it?I think it did get a re-release recently (I thought it was just a few months ago, but sdp's post makes me think it's been longer). I haven't seen it on a shelf anywhere recently, so yeah, ordering online may be the only way to get it.


Sorry for not remenbering every sonic series, but by any chance that Sonic SAM you are referring is that the one where Sonic world looks so futuristic, and he collects the rings by going underwater, and the whole mood of the series changes, and Robotnick is more robotic?Yeah... that sounds about right. Honestly, there's plenty of stuff I even don't remember from the series.

[Mandi-chan]

Thanks!