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Toon Court Case 71216: The Ratings Scale(Sonic's trials)
9 years ago
Welcome one and all to...Toon Court. The place where the animated can finally get the judgement they richly deserve. I've been debating on doing this and it was just a matter of how. Now why am I going the text route? Because it's not safe to make this a video on YouTube because not all the animated series I talk about may not have praises sung about them. And I got a lot of them. But to start, I'm going to tell you about my ratings system. But how do I determine my scale? With 2 hours. If a series can keep my attention for 2 hours, it's worth watching. Why 2 hours? Because the average movie is 1 ½ hours. Add bonus features and it's another half hour. So 2 hours. A series should keep quality going for that long. And what better way to start then throw a franchise in the spotlight? Namely… Sonic the Hedgehog. That's right. 4 levels of my ratings system can be referenced with Sonic. Shocking isn't it?
So let's start off with the top of the heap. The best of the best. #1. The highest level of my scale...The Shelf of Awesome. On this level lies only the best selection of animated gold. Don't get me wrong. These may not be perfect in every episode. You can find the bad episodes if you really look for them. But there's more than enough to recommend. And here on this level is Sonic the Hedgehog. Aka STHAM. AKA Sonic Saturday morning. Amazingly based off the still running comic book series.The story is captivating. Characters are not annoying to the point of painful. And the Robotnik is the most threatening. Bottom line the threat is real and death is a thing that can happen. Anyway, any series on this level gets high praise from me and I'd highly recommend checking it out.
The next level down we have...The Good Pile. Series here are worth watching,but the bad episodes are noticeable. The Sonic series on this level is Sonic X. I can tell many of you are now pulling out the torches and pitchforks but let me explain. 1, this series is actually anime. And 2, because it was anime, it was translated to English by 4Kids. So odds are you saw the version 4Kids gave everyone outside Japan. Still, for a series made from the Sonic Adventure games and their own stories, it wasn't bad. But if it wasn't part of a story, the episode wasn't worth remembering. So with this level, I can recommend,but not without warning.
Now we come to the bad stuff. Here lies...The Fail Furnace. Any animated series here is not good. Too many bad episodes. Maybe the premise was awful or the script painful. The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog lies here. It's the first series made or rather, the one made from the original Sega Genesis games. And wow. There's good here but you gotta dig for it. On this level is a special ranking I refer to as The Guilty Pleasure Grill. It's still in the furnace and bad but it's a series that I may catch myself watching if nothing else is on.
Now you'd think that would be the lowest point in animation shows but it's not. There is a level lower. A level I could have only discovered by the chance of one terrible show and one idea from a movie clashing in my head. Ladies and gentlemen of the viewing audience, I present to you...The Dip Pit. These shows have no mercy for your eyes, ears, nor your soul. And you should not have sympathy for them either. Sonic Underground is such a show. I don't even remember the universe it came from existing outside a Sonic Super Special comic. Tell me if this sounds like a good show: Sonic and his two siblings are royalty ousted by Robotnik and have to get their thrown back by using pendants that turn into musical instruments that are also weapons. No I'm not joking. That's the premise. Now imagine Jaleel White (who voiced Sonic in all but Sonic X) singing in three different tones, one of which is a female voice. Yes the mind can in fact vomit and I bet yours just did.
So that's my ratings, or to be more appropriate, verdict scale for animated shows. Why is Sonic Boom not mentioned? I'd prefer to judge that by itself in a proper review. But what will be the first series to be judged? You'll just have to wait and see. Until then, Toon Court is over. Court is adjourned!
So let's start off with the top of the heap. The best of the best. #1. The highest level of my scale...The Shelf of Awesome. On this level lies only the best selection of animated gold. Don't get me wrong. These may not be perfect in every episode. You can find the bad episodes if you really look for them. But there's more than enough to recommend. And here on this level is Sonic the Hedgehog. Aka STHAM. AKA Sonic Saturday morning. Amazingly based off the still running comic book series.The story is captivating. Characters are not annoying to the point of painful. And the Robotnik is the most threatening. Bottom line the threat is real and death is a thing that can happen. Anyway, any series on this level gets high praise from me and I'd highly recommend checking it out.
The next level down we have...The Good Pile. Series here are worth watching,but the bad episodes are noticeable. The Sonic series on this level is Sonic X. I can tell many of you are now pulling out the torches and pitchforks but let me explain. 1, this series is actually anime. And 2, because it was anime, it was translated to English by 4Kids. So odds are you saw the version 4Kids gave everyone outside Japan. Still, for a series made from the Sonic Adventure games and their own stories, it wasn't bad. But if it wasn't part of a story, the episode wasn't worth remembering. So with this level, I can recommend,but not without warning.
Now we come to the bad stuff. Here lies...The Fail Furnace. Any animated series here is not good. Too many bad episodes. Maybe the premise was awful or the script painful. The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog lies here. It's the first series made or rather, the one made from the original Sega Genesis games. And wow. There's good here but you gotta dig for it. On this level is a special ranking I refer to as The Guilty Pleasure Grill. It's still in the furnace and bad but it's a series that I may catch myself watching if nothing else is on.
Now you'd think that would be the lowest point in animation shows but it's not. There is a level lower. A level I could have only discovered by the chance of one terrible show and one idea from a movie clashing in my head. Ladies and gentlemen of the viewing audience, I present to you...The Dip Pit. These shows have no mercy for your eyes, ears, nor your soul. And you should not have sympathy for them either. Sonic Underground is such a show. I don't even remember the universe it came from existing outside a Sonic Super Special comic. Tell me if this sounds like a good show: Sonic and his two siblings are royalty ousted by Robotnik and have to get their thrown back by using pendants that turn into musical instruments that are also weapons. No I'm not joking. That's the premise. Now imagine Jaleel White (who voiced Sonic in all but Sonic X) singing in three different tones, one of which is a female voice. Yes the mind can in fact vomit and I bet yours just did.
So that's my ratings, or to be more appropriate, verdict scale for animated shows. Why is Sonic Boom not mentioned? I'd prefer to judge that by itself in a proper review. But what will be the first series to be judged? You'll just have to wait and see. Until then, Toon Court is over. Court is adjourned!
