Sonic Underground

**Canada**

* Teletoon (1999-2000)

**France**

* TF1 (1999-2001)
* Mangas (2010-present)

**Argentina**

* Canal 13 (2000-2002)

**Portugal**

* TVI (1999-2000)
* Canal Panda (2007-2008)
* KidsCo (2011-2014)

**Germany**

* Super RTL (2001)

**United Kingdom**

* ITV (1999-2000)
* ITV2/CITV Channel (2005-2006)
* POP (2006-2010)
* Kix! (2010-2013)

**Ireland**

* RTÉ Network 2 (2000-2003)

**Australia**

* Seven Network (1999-2000)
* KidsCo (2011-present)

**New Zealand**

* TV3 (1999-2010)

**Finland**

* TV Finland (2003-2005)

**Brazil**

* Rede Globo (1999-2000)
* SBT (2002-2004)

**Turkey**

* TV (1999-2000)
* Cinemax (2000–present)
* Actionmax (2007–present)

**Italy**

* Italia 1 (2000)
* Boing (2005)
* Planet Kids (2012)

**Greece**

* ET1 (2012)

**Chile**:

* Telecanal (2005-2012)

**Poland**

* KidsCo,TV Plus 2 (2007-present)

**Russia**

* KidsCo (2012)

**Indonesia**

* Indosiar (2000-2001)

**Taiwan**

* Disney Channel (1999-2001)

**Mainland China**

* CCTV (2014-present)

***Sonic Underground*** (*Sonic le Rebelle* in French) is an American-French animated television series produced by DiC Entertainment that follows the adventures of **Sonic the Hedgehog** and his siblings: the pink-hued sister, **Sonia**, and the green-hued brother, **Manic**. They are on a quest to search for their mother, **Queen Aleena Hedgehog**, in order to fulfill the prophecy of the **Council of Four** told by the **Oracle of Delphius**. *Sonic Underground* bears little relation to the often-complex *Sonic* universe (including previous animated series, as well as *Sonic* comics and games), and shares only three established characters and one established location.

One season, forty episodes aired with no payoff. Ben Hurst, a notable writer from the *Sonic the Hedgehog* television show, who was also involved in *Sonic Underground*'s production, stated in a SAGE chat that only forty episodes were produced. According to Hong Ying, the animation studio who animated *Sonic Underground* list forty episodes which is the complete series.

*Sonic Underground* takes place on **Mobius**, similar to the *Sonic the Hedgehog* (*SatAM*) television series, but with notable differences. Elements that are not included in *Sonic Underground* but were present in *Sonic the Hedgehog* include **Snively**, **Power Rings**, **Knothole Village**, and the **Freedom Fighters**. Though the Freedom Fighters were included, many of the characters in the Freedom Fighter group that were in *Sonic the Hedgehog* are completely left out, including **Tails**. Another difference with the Freedom Fighter group is that Freedom Fighters do not remain in one Knothole-like refuge but instead travel around Mobius to battle Robotnik's forces on a global scale; and that Robotnik has left most of the Mobian people de-roboticized, leaving multiple cities, a poor underclass and an aristocracy for the heroes to interact with.

Another notable difference is Robotnik's choice of law enforcement in the two continuities. While both versions featured Swatbots as Robotnik's grunt troops, their designs differed by a mile and more. The *SatAM* Swatbots also all looked identical, while the *Underground* Swatbots had two different head designs.

Jaleel White provided the speaking voices for all three siblings (whereas they are voiced by different voice actors when they are singing, as opposed to the previous cartoons in which he sang in his Sonic voice). The main theme was composed by Robbie London and Mike Piccirillo. The musical underscore was composed by Jean-Michel Guirao and Mike Piccirillo. The series featured forty songs spread over the series as featured music videos. Each of these songs were composed by Mike Piccirillo.

## Plot

**Sonic**, **Sonia**, and **Manic** are the children of Queen Aleena, the rightful ruler of Mobius and are pursued relentlessly by Doctor Robotnik and his bumbling bounty hunters sidekicks, Sleet and Dingo. As infants, the siblings were separated and placed in hiding to fulfill a prophecy made by the Oracle of Delphius (a spoof on the Oracle of Delphi of Ancient Greece) that the triplets would grow up to find their estranged mother, overthrow Robotnik and take their places once more as Mobius' rightful rulers.

The three siblings possess enchanted medallions that transform not only into musical instruments that can be used as weapons:

* **Sonic**: electric guitar and laser rifle.
* **Sonia**: keyboard and laser rifle.
* **Manic**: drum kit which has the ability to control seismic activity (triggering earthquakes, rockslides, etc.).

Aside from doing battle with Robotnik, with their medallions in instrument form, the trio perform as their underground rock band, the **Sonic Underground**.

## Program history

During the build-up to the launch of the Dreamcast, Sega began heavily advertising their major franchises. For *Sonic*, they contacted DiC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Disney at the time, who previously made both TV shows *Sonic the Hedgehog* and *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog*, to make a new *Sonic* cartoon. Due to low popularity, *Sonic Underground* was canceled before it was finished, running for only one season, 1999 to 2000. Since then, the show can be found in syndication on a few channels.

It also aired on the UK channel POP at various times. POP has aired all three DiC produced *Sonic* animated series. Spanish channel ¡Sorpresa! also aired *Sonic Underground* in Spanish in the United States. CITV also transmitted the show. In October 2010, American channel This TV announced they would air the series alongside *Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog* as part of its Sunday morning lineup.

*Sonic Underground* began airing on Disney XD on 11 June 2012, but was later taken off the schedule on September 14, 2012, it later returned for a week on December 10, 2012, but was replaced on December 14, 2012 with *Kick Buttowski: Suburbian Daredevil*.

## Characters

### Main

* **Sonic the Hedgehog**: The world's fastest hedgehog and the leader of **the Sonic Underground**. Sonic has two sets of guardians, a couple who were captured by Robotnik and their house set ablaze and his **Uncle Chuck**. In this story, he has a brother and sister (to the right) and is known to be a prince. He is the lead singer, his medallion transforming into a laser-blasting electric guitar (which can act as a bass sometimes). As fast as the speed of sound, Sonic can easily outrun and outsmart Robotnik's forces. He is a big fan of chili dogs (just like in *SatAM* and *AoSTH*) and is rarely far from a chili dog stand. He is terrified of water as he cannot swim. In an alternate reality, Sonic and his siblings were the rulers of Mobius, but Sonic was a cruel, spoiled fat hedgehog from eating so many chili dogs and had banned music on the planet. Sonic makes extensive use of catchphrases in his dialogue, including: "*Way past cool*," "*Bummer Majores!*", "*It's juice and jam time!*", and "*Let's do it to it!*"
* **Sonia the Hedgehog**: The only female member of **the Sonic Underground**, Sonic and Manic's sister. Unlike Sonic and Manic, she was raised by an aristocratic foster family, and she hates getting dirty. She is great at gymnastics and karate. Her medallion can transform into a laser-blasting keyboard. Sonia has a pink motorbike to try and keep up with Sonic. Sonia develops an attraction towards Knuckles at the Flying Fortress saga of the series. Some fans consider Sonia to be a clone of **Amy Rose**, minus the attraction Amy feels for Sonic. In an alternate reality, Sonia and her brothers are rulers of Mobius, but she likes fashion and finery, not wanting to rule and having to deal with Mobius' problems.
* **Manic the Hedgehog**: A member of **the Sonic Underground**, he was also a cool and calculating hedgehog who was raised by thieves, unlike his siblings. Manic became an expert thief and eventually met his siblings, who disapprove of him stealing. Manic is the drummer of Sonic Underground, his medallion hiding his drums, which can cause earthquakes. Manic is the most often captured of the siblings; he has been under mind control, becoming Robotnik's spy, nearly roboticized (but was freed), put to sleep, and hypnotized (for a short while). In an alternate reality, Manic and his siblings are rulers of Mobius, but he took away everyone's money for his own greed and enjoyment and he also made lots of taxes. In the Flying Fortress saga at the end, Manic's drum kit is destroyed by Dingo when he is a chaos monster.
* **Queen Aleena**: Sonic, Sonia, and Manic's mother. She had to give them up in order for the prophecy to work. She now is on the run from her own children, until the time is right. Aleena has many allies, including the Oracle of Delphius and Knuckles. She often appears during the episodes, usually to provide guidance or a helping hand, and provides the opening narration at the start of each episode.
* **Knuckles the Echidna**: The guardian of the Chaos Emerald and the Floating Island. He is very protective of his island home, and has set many traps about the island. He has a pet Dinosaur called Chomps. His great-grandfather Athair warns him that he must stay on the island, in order to play his part in the freedom of Mobius. In the series, the Master Emerald has been changed to a Chaos Emerald, probably due to the fact that the Chaos Emeralds weren't well established in the series and adding the Master Emerald would cause confusion. He has a crush on Sonia.
* **Athair**: Knuckles' great-grandfather. He gives Knuckles advice.
* **Doctor Robotnik**: The evil ruler of Mobius, having conquered it with his army of Swatbots. Robotnik lives in Robotropolis where he captures Freedom Fighters and roboticizes them into his robotic servants. Robotnik's main minions are Sleet and Dingo. Robotnik's round shape doesn't help him stand up straight and when standing on unstable ground, (such as that of Manic's drums causing earthquakes) he bounces about much like a ball. In an alternate reality, Robotnik is the leader of the Freedom Fighters and was rather nice and kind.
* **Sleet**: One of Robotnik's canine bounty hunters. This cunning wolf leads the bumbling Dingo about on missions to capture the hedgehogs. Sleet has a voice like that of Igor and has a morphing device that can transform Dingo into anything he wishes. Sleet may seem to be a serious villain but he is always failing at missions, only succeeding sometimes. Sleet is constantly being crushed by Dingo and is usually the one who suffers. He does however appear to get away from being roboticized no matter how angry he makes Robotnik.
* **Dingo**: One of Robotnik's canine bounty hunters. Dingo is a huge, muscle-bound dingo who has a relentless crush on Sonia. Sleet has a morphing device which can morph Dingo into anything he chooses (such as a chili dog cart or carpet). In the Flying Fortress saga, Dingo breaks a Chaos Emerald which transforms him into an enormous out-of-control beast that threatens to destroy Mobius, but eventually reverts to normal (crushing Robotnik in the process).
* **The Oracle of Delphius**: An odd, warty, reptilian anteater in a cloak. The Oracle prophesied that upon Robotnik's invasion of Mobius, Aleena and her children would form the Council of Four to overthrow Robotnik and free Mobius. The Oracle lives in a cave somewhere in a cold region of Mobius, and is quite good at making chili dogs.
* **Bartleby MontClair**: A posh mink who is one of Robotropolis' richest aristocrats. Bartleby is Sonia's former fiancé, who dislikes her brothers and works as an agent for Robotnik. Eventually, Bartleby flees from Robotnik and joins the Freedom Fighters.
* **Cyrus**: Cyrus is a lion and the head technician in the Freedom Fighters. He is an old friend of Sonic. In his first appearance he was working as a spy for Robotnik but later quit. Cyrus has appeared several times afterwards. His father was roboticized.
* **Lionel**: Cyrus' father who was roboticized. Only seen twice in the series.
* **Trevor**: A mouse who is an old friend of Sonic and resembles a hippie. He is easily captured, but is just as easily freed. Only seen about once or twice.
* **The Freedom Fighters**: The Freedom Fighters play an important role in the show as Robotnik's opposition. Notable members include Sonic, Sonia, Manic, Knuckles, Queen Aleena, the **Oracle of Delphius**, **Cyrus**, **Trevor**, **Renée** and **Bartleby**.

## Reception

*Sonic Underground* has been met with mostly negative reviews. David Cornelius of DVD Talk said that "while many *Sonic* fans did not take too well to all the changes, preferring the original "*Sonic*" cartoon to this stranger, sometimes darker, sometimes sillier incarnation, the series did win a small but loyal cult following. I fall more on the side of disappointment - for all the cleverness that went into crafting an all-new backstory, the episodes themselves are uninspired - but acknowledge the simple fact that it scores well with its target audience." GamesRadar described the show as one of "the absolute worst *Sonic* moments".

## Archie Comics epilogue

Due to the show's cancellation, the storyline of *Sonic Underground* remained unresolved. However, the staff at **Archie Comics** had considered finishing the storyline. While the then-current writer of the ***Sonic the Hedgehog* comic series**, **Ian Flynn**, thought that perhaps making a new *Sonic Underground* story that could wrap up where the original series left off was an interesting idea, he felt he would be "stepping on the original creatives' toes," and that the story probably would not see the light of day for at least two years if he was even allowed to do it.

It was revealed at New York Comic Con 2012 that ***Sonic Universe* #50** was intended to be the official epilogue of the *Sonic Underground* series, with a preview cover to the issue being released. However, the issue instead featured a plotline starring **Metal Sonic**, while the epilogue got cancelled.

Ian Flynn stated in early 2013 that material from *Sonic Underground* is "off-limits." During the *Sonic Lost World* First Play Marathon, Flynn explained that this was the reason the epilogue had been put on hold. He later stated the epilogue's story would be featured in *Lost Hedgehog Tales*, a written document compiling Sonic comic material that will no longer be used, thus seemingly confirming that the epilogue is no longer a possibility. In July 2017, Sega announced its partnership with Archie Comics to be over, transferring the comic rights to **IDW Publishing**, marking the cancellation of the *Sonic the Hedgehog* comic series and thus precluding the chance to have a *Sonic Underground* epilogue published by the company.

Despite this, over the years, the show has gained some popularity. Some attempts have been made by fans to finish the series, an example being *Archie Sonic Online*, which released a conclusion comic based on the cancelled one planned for ***Sonic Universe* #50**.

## LCD game

An LCD game based on the *Sonic Underground* television series was made and released in 2000. The game has the same plot as in the show, but with a few new added features and plot variations.

## Home video and digital

In the United States, the show has seen many DVD releases. ***Sonic Underground: The Complete Series*** was released on DVD on 25 July, 2023 by NCircle Entertainment.