Sonic Boom

Sonic Boom, also known as Sonic Toon (ソニックトゥーン Sonikku Tūn?) in Japan, is a 2014 American-French CGI-animated television series which sets as a reimagining of the original Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
It was developed by Sega of America in collaboration with OuiDo! Productions. Sonic Boom is the fifth animated television series based on the Sonic franchise, the second developed by Sega following Sonic X, plus the second series co-produced in France following Sonic Underground, and the first ever television series in the franchise to be produced in computer-generated animation and in high definition.
The series premiered on 8 November 2014 in the United States on Cartoon Network and released on November 19 in France on Canal J. The show launched in Spring 2015 on the French children's network Gulli, and was followed by an international launch on many other countries. The series is a part of the Sonic Boom spin-off franchise, which consists also of five video games, a comic book series and a toyline.
The series was announced to be available for streaming off Hulu by the end of May 2016 and has been since 18 May. Due to Hulu being a US exclusive service and Sonic Boom being currently exclusive to Hulu, the series has been made available for streaming outside of the US on Netflix as of 23 December 2016. On 19 November 2017, the second season of the show was added to Hulu. The first season of the series became available to buy from digital storefronts on 6 November 2018. On 16 March 2019, it was announced that the second season was made available for digital purchase.
The series ended after two seasons with 52 episodes each, as the show's producer Bill Freiberger confirmed that there were no plans to continue the series.Sonic Boom on Sonic News Network
Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Sticks reside on Seaside Island in Hedgehog Village, formerly Unnamed Village. Together, they defend the island from various threats like Doctor Eggman and his robotic creations.Sonic Boom on Wikipedia
==Overview==
===Season 1 and Season 2===
23 years after the original Sonic the Hedgehog video game, fast, handsome, and arrogant hero Sonic continues to fight his arch nemesis, Dr. Eggman. Along with Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and a new recruit named Sticks.
==Cast==
This section is currently unfinished.
==Episodes==
The series premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on November 8, 2014, on Canal J and Gulli on November 19, 2014, and Okto in the Singapore on 1 September 2015. Season one would consist of a total of 52 episodes, each being 11 minutes long.
On October 10, 2015, Lagardère Entertainment Rights announced the second season of Sonic Boom. Like season one, season two has 52 episodes, each of 11 minutes length. The second season premiered on October 29, 2016 on Cartoon Network, while the rest of the season started airing on Boomerang (to make said channel more desirable) on November 12, 2016.
===Season 1===
No. overall	No. in season	English title	Directed by	Written by	Original airdate (US)	Prod. code
===Season 2===
No. overall	No. in season	English title	Directed by	Written by	Original airdate (US)	Prod. code
==Production==
The Sonic Boom animated series was designed as a spin-off from the main Sonic continuity so the staff could take the characters and their world in directions the main series could not. It was first announced in October 2013, revealing a teaser image featuring the show's four main protagonists, Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles, in silhouette form. The series, which originally consisted of 52 episodes with eleven minutes of running time each, is co-produced by Sega of America Inc. and OuiDo! Productions and was developed by Evan Baily, Donna Friedman Mier, and Sandrine Nguyen, with Baily and Bill Freiberger as showrunners, under the supervision of Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka to ensure that it was true to the Sonic characters and universe. Mike Banker also assisted with writing the television series. On 6 February 2014, Sega revealed the first trailer for the series, showcasing the new designs for the characters.
Many of the current voice actors for the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series returned to voice the characters of the series, including Roger Craig Smith as Sonic, Travis Willingham as Knuckles, Cindy Robinson as Amy, and Mike Pollock as Dr. Eggman, while voice actress Colleen O'Shaughnessey succeeded Kate Higgins in the role of Tails. The series also introduced a new character named Sticks the Badger, a crazy and paranoid hunter who has been living alone in the wilderness for many years before meeting Sonic and his friends, who is voiced by Nika Futterman. In an interview with Polygon, Iizuka stated the series came about as a desire to appeal more to Western territories, following the 2003 Japanese anime series Sonic X, with Iizuka also stating that the franchise will run in parallel with the 'Modern' series of Sonic the Hedgehog games. Baily has stated the series is a mixture of action and comedy, featuring an episodic structure. On 4 October 2014, Sega announced the air date of the series in the United States to be 8 November 2014.
On 19 February 2015, Cartoon Network announced in a press statement that Sonic Boom, along with ten other shows, will return for the 2015-2016 TV season. This was subsequently confirmed by executive producer Bill Freiberger in a fan commentary to not be an indicator of a renewal or second season at this time. However, on 10 October 2015, Lagardère Entertainment Rights announced that a second season is currently in production. The final animatic of the second season was edited on 27 November 2016. Like season one, season two will include 52 episodes of eleven minutes length each. At Tomy’s Toy Fair in New York, the second season was given an official premiere on Cartoon Network in Fall 2016.
Jordi Valbuena would return for season two as the series' storyboard artist, like in season one. At Sonic Revolution 2016, Bill Freiberger announced that "if there is a season two," there would be both new and old characters (like T.W. Barker, the Stunt Bears and D.B. Platypus) and other surprises from other areas of Sonic. It was later confirmed that Shadow and "more characters from the Sonic game universe" would make an appearance in season two.
Sega itself officially pulled back the curtain on the second season at the Sonic 25th Anniversary party in San Diego with a sneak peek of "Spacemageddonocalypse". Later, the video game Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice would feature sneak peaks on concept art revealing characters, storylines and subjects to be introduced in season two. Following the premiere of "Tommy Thunder: Method Actor" on Cartoon Network, it was announced on 10 November 2016, that the remainder of season two will air on Boomerang to make the channel more desirable On 9 February 2017, Lagardere Studios Distribution signed pre-sales to more than ninety countries around the world to air the second season of the show.
On 17 December 2016, storyboard artist Clemence Liberge stated on Facebook that there will be a third season for Sonic Boom.On December 17, 2016, user TailooeyFan contacted Clemence Liberge on Facebook. This user's question about a possible third season for Sonic Boom lead to the following (when translated from French to English): "TailooeyFan: Glad you found cool! You and Hugues been informed about a third season? / Clemence Liberge: Yes, we know that there will be a third season ^^ but we do not know more". This has yet to be officially confirmed. A Japanese dub of the series was announced to premiere on Netflix on 1 July 2017.
On 10 September 2017, Bill Freiberger announced on his Twitter account that he will no longer be involved with the series following the conclusion of season two.
== Trivia ==
*This is the first Sonic the Hedgehog television series to have fully computer-generated (CG) animation.
*The intro sequence for the show in the United States is actually a shortened version of the actual intro sequence. This full intro sequence is used in France. According to Bill Freiberger, this is because the two countries' channels (Cartoon Network and Gulli respectively) have different delivery requirements.
**In the second season, the French intro is the exact same intro as the international one.
***The intro shows all the main characters in order of appearance with Sonic being first, then Tails, Amy, Knuckles and finally Sticks.
****The order of appearance for each character could probably be based on their respective debut in the main series, with Sonic being the first (1991), Tails being the second (1992), Amy the third (1993), Knuckles the fourth (1994) and Sticks as the last (2014).
*Although it was confirmed that OuiDO! was to produce the show, the first reveal of the show credited the company's original name, Genao Productions. OuiDO! was later acquired by Technicolor and they are now credited with producing the show under the name Technicolor Animation Productions.
*Each episode in the Sonic Boom television series takes about eighteen months to produce.
*When writing episodes, the staff break the stories together by writing the scripts separately and then doing a group punch-up session at the end.
*The max allotted time the staff has for the recording session of a Sonic Boom episode is four hours, every two weeks. Actors that are absent at the appointed time are recorded next time. The lines themselves are recorded over a year before the episode airs.
*This is the third Sonic the Hedgehog animation to be produced by Sega; the first being Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie and the second being Sonic X. This is also the second Sonic the Hedgehog animation to be made in France, the first being Sonic Underground.
*The show received a graphical update beginning in season 2. Animal characters now have hair-textures in their fur, Eggman has more definition in his skin. most forms of clothing now feature some form of material texturing. The animation also became smoother and less instantanious.
*Very similar to the canon of the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog television series, every episode (not including multi-parters) is a standalone.
**However, there is still a sense of continuity, with the events of past episodes referenced in subsequent episodes.
*A number of Sonic Boom video games have been given a timeline placement in accordance to the television series:
**Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal are prequels to the series.
**Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice takes place sometime during season two of the series.
*It is the longest time to wait for a new television series - eight years passed from the original airing of the last episode of Sonic X (2003-2006) to air the first episode of Sonic Boom.
*Bill Freiberger said that the developers have no rights to use characters from non-Sonic Boom versions of Sonic, meaning no Archie Comics characters, no characters from the other TV series in any Sonic-related media and no characters from games outside the main series.Bill Freiberger's comment on the episode commentary
*The staff does not use locations from the Sonic games as more than references or dialogue jokes in the TV series.
*When creating characters for the show, the writers do not tend to specify the characters' species unless it is motivated by the story. Instead, they leave the animation team to decide the design.
*In several episodes where written text is showcased, the words and sentences either appear obscured or are written in gibberish. Bill Freiberger has explained that Sonic Boom does not show words because it is an international coproduction and thus needs to play in many different languages.
*In Singapore, Sonic Boom's first season is treated as two separate seasons.
*Throughout the first season Orbot's and Cubot's voices were changing from lower-pitched to higher-pitched in the Russian dub.
*In Finland, the show was available on Ruutu.fi called web page, where all broadcasts can be watched afterwards. The show was available to be watched for Ruutu+ having users during April. The show's real starting date in Finland is September 5, 2016.
*Although the second season of Sonic Boom premiered on Cartoon Network on October 29, 2016, the trailer for the second season first came out on November 17, 2016, five days after its debut on Boomerang and one day before the premiere of "Spacemageddonocalypse" on the same channel.
*Hulu lists the episodes in broadcast order while Netflix (internationally) and iTunes list the episodes in production order.
*Additionally, Hulu lists every two episodes of Season 1 as one show (similar to how the show originally aired its first 6 episodes) making the number of episodes listed as 26, while Netflix lists each episode individually and lists 52 episodes.
**However, season two episodes are listed individually on Hulu (listing 52 total episodes).
*A cat screech can be heard in every episode of season two with the exception of "The Haunted Lair".
*Sonic Boom, to this point, is currently the Sonic the Hedgehog TV series with the most episodes.
*The concept logo for Sonic Boom in the Behind The Scenes video shows the icon from Sonic X.
*Sonic Boom is the second Sonic television series to have a theme song without lyrics, the first being Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
==References==
Category:Animated series
Category:Animated products
Category:Series
Category:Series on Streaming Services