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The Sonic Cartoons
14 years ago
Concerning my most recent posting, I think it's unanimous: Sonic Underground sucked.
Really, the Brady Hedgehogs angle - where they all play in a band and sing awful songs - would be bad enough. But then the Mario cartoons had the singing Koopa Kids which were also ear bleedingly bad. No, I think that Jaleel White as the voice of all three hedgehogs - including the girl - was the icing on the cake. And the girl sounds the most like Urkel in Family Matters. How did that work? Was his Urkel voice so compelling that DIC couldn't resist? I mean, here's a show where they had Maurice LaMarche - who voices everything under the sun - and he's regulated to just one character. What you get is an earful of Urkel. When the hedgehogs are talking back and forth, it sounds like a one-man conversation.
Then you had Sleet and Dingo, the Bebop and Rocksteady of this series. Sleet, if I remember correctly, was the brainy wolf and Dingo was... well, he was probably a Dingo. I'm not sure because his design was so atrocious. Both of them looked like they belonged in a different cartoon because they were quite detailed compared to everyone else. Dingo could be transformed into anything Sleet wanted him to be, which was just bizarre. Sleet needed to get somewhere fast? He turns his comrade into a motorcycle. What the heck? Still, these two and their constant failures with Robotnik are more entertaining to watch that the hedgehogs.
My memory of the older Sonic cartoons is admittedly hazy. I know the basic outline of SatAM, but I couldn't tell you about any individual adventure. I do think it's awesome how Robotnik had already taken over the world and the Freedom Fighters were trying to take it back. How many kids cartoons start with the villain having already won? The interesting part was that it took a concept that was very subtle in the games - freeing enslaved woodland creatures - and built a whole environmental story out of it.
And the other one, which was just insane, had no plot anyway. It was obviously from the Tex Avery / Ren and Stimpy school of design and didn't care about making sense. It was total anarchy! But to my little mind, I thought it was funny.
As for Sonic X, the characters all look right. I like the Sonic Adventure look more than the pudgy classic look anyway. But again you have a few awful voices and, surprisingly, a lot of humans. Look, I can understand having some humans in Sonic's world. Robotnik, after all, is supposed to be human. But this whole idea of Sonic and friends entering our world is just bizarre. I'm sorry, but when you see the President of the United States having a negotiation with Rouge the Bat, you have to stop and ask yourself "How the heck did we get here?" And they spend a lot of time with the humans too. Chris is essentially Richie Rich - he gets whatever he wants whenever he wants it. His infinitely wealthy parents are chronically absent from his life. He's raised by the maid and the butler and the inventor grandfather who looks like the lovechild of Doc Brown and Doc Wily. And why do I know all this? Cause it's all the show is about. Family relations. Poor Sonic just mopes on the rooftop all day wanting to go on an adventure, but no, there is trouble brewing in the Thorndyke household! Gotta' focus on that!
It's kind of like The Lost World, you know? We came to see the dinosaurs. Why are we spending 30 minutes following a man who runs into the jungle to take a pee?
Really, the Brady Hedgehogs angle - where they all play in a band and sing awful songs - would be bad enough. But then the Mario cartoons had the singing Koopa Kids which were also ear bleedingly bad. No, I think that Jaleel White as the voice of all three hedgehogs - including the girl - was the icing on the cake. And the girl sounds the most like Urkel in Family Matters. How did that work? Was his Urkel voice so compelling that DIC couldn't resist? I mean, here's a show where they had Maurice LaMarche - who voices everything under the sun - and he's regulated to just one character. What you get is an earful of Urkel. When the hedgehogs are talking back and forth, it sounds like a one-man conversation.
Then you had Sleet and Dingo, the Bebop and Rocksteady of this series. Sleet, if I remember correctly, was the brainy wolf and Dingo was... well, he was probably a Dingo. I'm not sure because his design was so atrocious. Both of them looked like they belonged in a different cartoon because they were quite detailed compared to everyone else. Dingo could be transformed into anything Sleet wanted him to be, which was just bizarre. Sleet needed to get somewhere fast? He turns his comrade into a motorcycle. What the heck? Still, these two and their constant failures with Robotnik are more entertaining to watch that the hedgehogs.
My memory of the older Sonic cartoons is admittedly hazy. I know the basic outline of SatAM, but I couldn't tell you about any individual adventure. I do think it's awesome how Robotnik had already taken over the world and the Freedom Fighters were trying to take it back. How many kids cartoons start with the villain having already won? The interesting part was that it took a concept that was very subtle in the games - freeing enslaved woodland creatures - and built a whole environmental story out of it.
And the other one, which was just insane, had no plot anyway. It was obviously from the Tex Avery / Ren and Stimpy school of design and didn't care about making sense. It was total anarchy! But to my little mind, I thought it was funny.
As for Sonic X, the characters all look right. I like the Sonic Adventure look more than the pudgy classic look anyway. But again you have a few awful voices and, surprisingly, a lot of humans. Look, I can understand having some humans in Sonic's world. Robotnik, after all, is supposed to be human. But this whole idea of Sonic and friends entering our world is just bizarre. I'm sorry, but when you see the President of the United States having a negotiation with Rouge the Bat, you have to stop and ask yourself "How the heck did we get here?" And they spend a lot of time with the humans too. Chris is essentially Richie Rich - he gets whatever he wants whenever he wants it. His infinitely wealthy parents are chronically absent from his life. He's raised by the maid and the butler and the inventor grandfather who looks like the lovechild of Doc Brown and Doc Wily. And why do I know all this? Cause it's all the show is about. Family relations. Poor Sonic just mopes on the rooftop all day wanting to go on an adventure, but no, there is trouble brewing in the Thorndyke household! Gotta' focus on that!
It's kind of like The Lost World, you know? We came to see the dinosaurs. Why are we spending 30 minutes following a man who runs into the jungle to take a pee?
One character.
Voiced all three hedgehogs.
brb murder spree.
At least some talented artists and writers have continued SatAM in some capacity online. http://sonicsatam.com/sea3on/ Worth a read, but you should catch up on the episodes first.