Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

## **More Information**

***Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog***, often abbreviated as ***AoStH***, is an 1993 American animated television series loosely based upon the original *Sonic the Hedgehog* franchise.

It was produced by Sega of America, DIC Animation City, Bohbot Entertainment and the Italian studio Reteitalia S.p.A. in association with Spanish network Telecinco. Airing during the fall of 1993, 65 episodes were produced, which was syndicated by Bohbot Entertainment in the United States.

The series inspired a video game, *Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine*, which features several original characters from the show. Furthermore, some elements of the series, such as Sonic's fondness for chili dogs, appeared in later video games and media of the franchise.

On November 24, 1996, USA Network aired "Sonic Christmas Blast", a Christmas special which was produced to promote *Sonic 3D Blast* (originally meant for the ultimately cancelled *Sonic X-treme*).

It follows the escapades of Sonic the Hedgehog and his comrade Miles "Tails" Prower as they attempt to stop the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his array of vicious robots from taking over the planet Mobius. It marks as the first animated television series of the *Sonic* series.

## Overview

### Season 1

A blue hedgehog that can run at incredible speeds, his best friend, a two-tailed flying fox, defend planet Mobius from the evil Dr. Robotnik and his bumbling mechanical goons.

#### "Sonic Christmas Blast"

Sonic the Hedgehog must stop the evil Dr. Robotnik from ruining Christmas after Santa Claus disappears.

## Cast

* Jaleel White as Sonic the Hedgehog
* Christopher Welch as Miles "Tails" Prower (Chris Turner in *Sonic Christmas Blast*)
* Long John Baldry as Dr. Ivo Robotnik
* Garry Chalk as Grounder, Captain Rescue
* Phil Hayes as Scratch, Sergeant Doberman
* Ian James Corlett as Coconuts, Wallace A. Ditso
* Michael Donovan as Wes Weasely, Mad Mike
* French Tickner as Professor Von Schlemmer, Doctor Warpnik
* Cathy Weseluck as Penelope
* Kathleen Barr as Katella, Momma Robotnik

## Episodes

### Season 1

The show ran for 65 episodes in first-run syndication in 1993. Each episode ends with a special segment called "Sonic Says" which are written by Kevin Donahue and Phil Harnage.

### Special

 Robotnik disguises himself as Santa Claus in order to force him into retirement and con the children out of presents during Christmas. During a visit to Robotropolis, Sonic and Tails rescue the real Santa Claus, who presents Sonic with a speed run test due to a ring Sally Acorn gave him as a gift serving as a key.

## Production

*Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* was created by DIC Animation City (in association with Sega of America whose CEO Tom Kalinske and newly appointed consumer products director Michealene Risley licensed the characters to DIC), which produced a total of 65 episodes for its one season, and was syndicated by Bohbot Entertainment, later known as BKN International (in the original run, every episode began and ended with the "Bohbot Entertainment Presents" logo), and the Italian Reteitalia S.p.A., part of Fininvest. The show's animation was outsourced to four animation studios:

* the Chinese subdivision of Rainbow Animation Group (later renamed Galaxy World, Inc., not to be confused with the Italian studio Rainbow S.p.A.),
* the Korean Sae Rom Production (which also at the same time worked on the animation for the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon for ABC),
* the Taiwanese Hong Ying Animation (which would later work on the animation for *Sonic Underground*),
* the Japanese Tokyo Movie Shinsha (which would later produce its own Sonic cartoon, *Sonic X*).

Pierre DeCelles, who worked at Hong Ying as a Senior Animation Director, has described the show as "fun and humorous".

According to Robby London, DIC originally made a deal to produce only the Saturday morning *Sonic* series for the ABC network. The cartoon was originally planned to be more light-hearted compared to the final product, as reflected by its pilot episode, early promotional material found in Fleetway's *Sonic the Comic* and the early issues of Sonic the Hedgehog comics by Archie, which were based on the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon. However, DIC also wanted to go further and produce additional episodes for weekday syndication as well, similar to what DIC has previously done with *The Real Ghostbusters*, but Mark Pedowitz, ABC's senior vice president of business affairs and contracts, expected *Sonic* to air exclusively on ABC and rejected the idea, telling London "If you guys want to do syndication, be our guest, go with God, but you won’t be on our network." ABC would not agree to the deal until London came with a proposition that DIC would produce a separate, vastly different Sonic show for syndication instead, the end result of which became *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog*. As a result, the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon was made darker and more serious in order to differentiate itself from the syndicated Sonic cartoon.

## Trivia

* The majority of voice actors from the show also did voice work for the 1994 *Mega Man* cartoon. Some of which included:
	+ Ian James Corlett - Mega Man, Stone Man, and Snake Man
	+ Kathleen Barr - Roll
	+ Jim Byrnes - Dr. Light, Sigma, and Crystal Man
	+ Scott McNeil - Dr. Wily, Proto Man, and Eddie
	+ Garry Chalk - Guts Man, Dark Man, Bright Man, Needle Man, Heat Man
	+ Terry Klassen - Cut Man
	+ Michael Donovan - Mega Man X
	+ Lee Tockar - Vile
		- Byrnes & McNeil both also voiced Dr. Light & Dr. Wily in the OVA *Mega Man: Upon a Star* (The former also voiced Beat) .
* John Stocker (who provided additional voice work), also voiced the *Mario* character Toad in both *The Super Mario Bros: Super Show* and *The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3*.
* In this series, there are references to four Sonic games (*Sonic the Hedgehog*, *Sonic the Hedgehog 2*, *Sonic the Hedgehog 2* (8-bit) and *Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball*) such as the Zones of the games, Badniks, Chaos Emeralds, Rings and the Special Stages. The main characters also appear in *Sonic 2* (except Scratch, who was inspired by a variety of Badnik from this game named Clucker).
* Most of the villains in the first episode of the show later appeared in the game *Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine,* a reskin of the Mega Drive title *Puyo Puyo* made by adapting the designs and visual style of the show due to the its popularity at the time.
* This was the only version of the American cartoons where Robotnik was referred to as "Eggman" in an episode, keeping with the egg-themed insults used by both Sonic and Tails. Many of his inventions were egg themed, and eggs are repeatedly mentioned to be his favorite food.
* The episode "Tails' Tale" is the only time where Tails reveals his full name to be "Miles Prower". In "Tails' New Home", however, he does state that his given name is Miles and goes on to say that he dislikes it.
* This was the only animated incarnation until *Sonic X* to use music from the *Sonic* video games in any form. The only piece that was constantly reused was the classic title theme from *Sonic the Hedgehog*.
* In the episode *The Magic Hassle*, sound effects from the game *Super Mario Bros.* can be heard as Robotnik uses a computer. The sound effects are heard again in *Attack in Pinball Fortress*
* In *Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing*, the tips that Sonic is shown giving during the loading screens are entitled **Sonic Says**, presumably a call back to the *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog*.
* Due to poor translation issues, The Hispanic American dub of *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* accidentally made Tails into a female character, confusing many children in Latin America. Also, the Latin American translation include character renames: Tails for "Colitas" (Spanish for "Little Tails"), with his full name being "Vivi", and Dr. Robotnik for "Dr. Mostachón" (Spanish for "Dr. Big Moustache"), mistakes carried onto SatAM's dub. None of the these changes are present in the Spanish (Spain) version.
* This is the only continuity in which Sonic does not show any fear of water.
* Sonic had two birthdays in this show, once in "Tails Prevails" and another in "Robotnikland".
* The Sonic Says (Sonic Sez) segments were never shown on original UK airings.
* Grounder and Coconuts were based upon the identically-named enemy Badniks in *Sonic the Hedgehog 2,* while Scratch was loosely based on the enemy Clucker from the same game.
* One episode was adapted for the *Sonic the Hedgehog* comic books published by Archie Comics, specifially "Pseudo Sonic" in *Sonic the Hedgehog* #9.
* A pilot for *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* was made, but never aired on television. Some scenes from the pilot were recut and worked into the actual episodes. The scene of Robotnik attempting to crush Sonic on the highway was used for the ending credits, while several other scenes were used in "Magnificent Sonic".
	+ Robotnik and all the Badniks were voiced by Jim Cummings in the pilot. Cummings would go on to voice Dr. Robotnik in the proceeding show, though using a more sinister voice than the one used for the pilot.
* According to the preproduction of *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* and *Sonic the Hedgehog*, *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* takes place before *Sonic the Hedgehog*. In the preproduction pages, Sonic states "Truth is, this whole series takes place before all that. It's just me and Tails wanderin' the country and Robotnik is only on verge of taking Robotropolis." Despite this, the shows are regarded as seperate continuities by most sources.
* This was the only *Sonic* TV show to have a theme song without lyrics until *Sonic Boom*.
* *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* and *Sonic X* are the only *Sonic* TV shows to recicle themes from the *Sonic the Hedgehog* video game series. In the former's case, several remixes of the title screen from *Sonic the Hedgehog* (1991) are used.
* Some of the show's background music would be recycled for another DiC production, "Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad", in 1994.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* on Wikipedia
2. ↑ *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* on Sonic News Network
3. ↑ 3 Points of Articulation (13 November 2009). Sonic's Christmas Blast-Part 1. Youtube. Retrieved on January 26, 2015.
4. ↑ [1]
5. ↑ Saturday Morning Sonic - Features - The Evolution of the Freedom Fighters.
6. ↑ Sonic HQ - Cartoon Info - Before SatAM.
7. ↑ Inoa, Christopher (February 18, 2020). How *Sonic* scored two different animated series at the same time. Polygon.
8. ↑ From *Captain N* to *Sonic Underground*: Behind videogames' earliest cartoons. GamesTM.
9. ↑ http://ledastudios.rubberslug.com/gallery/master\_query.asp?SeriesID=33783

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