Sonic Underground

Sonic Underground

Sonic Underground title card
Also known as French: Sonic le Rebelle
Created by Yuji Naka
Naoto Ohshima
Hirokazu Yasuhara (original characters)
Jean Cheville (adaptated to TV)
Directed by Marc Boreal
François Hemmen
Daniel Sarriet
Voices of Jaleel White
Maurice LaMarche
Garry Chalk
Gail Webster
Peter Wilds
Samuel Vincent
Michael Stark
Louise Vallance
Tyley Ross
Matt Hill
Theme music composer Robby London
Mike Piccirillo
Opening theme "Sonic Underground"
Country of origin France
United States
Canada
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 40 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Andy Heyward
Michael Maliani
Robby London
Producer(s) Janice Sonski
Running time 21 minutes 48 seconds
Production company(s) DIC Productions L.P.
Les Studios Tex
TF1
Sega of America, Inc.
Suzhou Hong Ying Animation Corporation Limited
Distributor Vivendi Entertainment[1][2]
Release
Original network TF1 (France)
ITV1 (U.K.)
First-run syndication (U.S.)
Original release 6 January (1999-01-06) (France) – 23 May 1999 (1999-05-23)
Chronology
Related shows Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic Underground is an animated series that follows the adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and his siblings, Sonia and Manic. The cartoon follows a main plot separate from all other Sonic the Hedgehog media, where Sonic had siblings that were collectively part of a royal family who were forced to separate from their mother, Queen Aleena, upon Robotnik's takeover of Mobius due to a prophecy told by the Oracle of Delphius. The series was produced by DIC Entertainment and TF1, and first premiered in France on 6 January 1999 on TF1, and then premiered in the United Kingdom on 2 May 1999 on ITV1 and finally in the United States in syndication on 30 August 1999. It was the first Sonic the Hedgehog television series to be sold on the iTunes Store. The series ran only for one season, consisting of forty episodes.

The show is also DIC's last Sonic animated series.

Plot

The show takes place in a separate canon and continuity than any other Sonic the Hedgehog media. Queen Aleena, the former ruler of Mobius, was overthrown by Dr. Robotnik and his sidekicks Sleet and Dingo. Robotnik seized control of the planet and forced Queen Aleena into hiding. To preserve the dynasty, Queen Aleena separated her three children: Sonic, Manic, and Sonia after the Oracle of Delphius told her of a prophecy, proclaiming that one day, Queen Aleena would reunite with her children to form the "Council of Four," and overthrow Robotnik. Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik did his best to set up an autocratic government, and legally turned anyone who stood against him into robots devoid of freewill, and forced the nobles into paying large amounts of money to him as tribute.

When Sonic, Manic, and Sonia grew up, the Oracle of Delphius revealed the prophecy to them. After that, Sonic, Manic, and Sonia decided to go on a quest, searching throughout Mobius for Queen Aleena. Dr. Robotnik, with the assistance of the Swat-Bots and his bounty hunters Sleet and Dingo, tries constantly to capture the royal hedgehogs and prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled.

The Oracle of Delphius has assigned the three siblings powerful "medallions" that can change into musical instruments, and can also be used as weapons. Sonic's medallion is an electric guitar, Sonia's medallion is a keyboard that functions as a smoke machine, and Manic's medallion is a drumset that can be used as an "earth controller" with cymbals that can deflect laserfire. All of the medallions can be used as laser guns. The three use the amulets not only to fight Robotnik's forces but to also as instruments for their underground rock band, "Sonic Underground."

Characters

Main characters

Sonia, Sonic, and Manic (from left to right).
Jaleel White provided the voice for Sonic, Manic, and Sonia.

Recurring characters

Episode list

History

Development

Sonic Underground was originally produced to help gain interest in the Dreamcast.

It is often claimed that SEGA contacted DiC Entertainment to make a new Sonic cartoon, which would help gain interest in buying their new console, the Dreamcast. Sonic Underground started production in early 1997, around the same time the development of both the Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure had started.[6]

When the show was in development, two episodes per week were produced, and the writers felt that they were not given enough time to "tie everything together" in the plot, being limited to a three-part "Origins" saga for coherency. DIC used cattle calls to generate episode plots. Periodically, about twenty unaffiliated writers were brought into the studios to learn about the established characters and brainstorm possible plots for episodes, after which about one or two would be selected.[7]

While it was once believed that 65 episodes were made of which only 40 aired, Ben Hurst, a main writer from Sonic the Hedgehog (dubbed SatAM by fans), who was also involved in Sonic Underground's production, stated in a chat at the Sonic Amateur Games Expo 2008[8] that only 40 were produced.[9]

Airing

Sonic Underground originally aired on TF1.

Sonic Underground first premiered in France on 6 January 1999 and aired on TF1 on the TF! Jeunesse block on Wednesdays and Sundays.[10][11] The show later premiered in English in the UK on 2 May 1999 and aired on ITV1 on Sunday mornings.[12] ITV1 aired the first 18 episodes in the original UK run before cancelling the show.[13]

In the United States, Sonic Underground premiered on 30 August 1999 (one day after the show was cancelled in the UK) and aired on the Bohbot Kids Network syndication block on weekday mornings at 6:00 AM Central Time.[14][15] It ran for one season from 30 August 1999 to 22 October 1999. On the Sci-Fi Channel (formally part of the Bohbot Kids Network), the episodes that were supposed to air on Fridays were skipped because Double Dragon and later King Arthur and the Knights of Justice were airing instead, therefore only airing 32 of the 40 Sonic Underground episodes.[16][17][18]

Sonic Underground was later rerun. In the United Kingdom in 2005, Sonic Underground aired on Pop, which has also aired Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog on its sister station Kix!.[19] Between 2005 and 2006, it aired on ITV2 on the Action Stations! block. On 19 January 2006, CBS announced a multi-year deal with DIC to broadcast some of their shows on the "CBS's Secret Saturday Morning Slumber Party" segment, including Sonic Underground.[20] In 2009, reruns of Sonic Underground aired on Firestone Communications' Sorpresa, a Hispanic children's station (Channel 850 on Time Warner Cable) in the United States, were broadcast audio-dubbed Latin Spanish episodes. In 2011, the show was broadcast by KidsCo.[21] Re-runs of the series aired on Disney XD starting 11 June 2012.[22] This makes it the second time a Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon airs on a Disney-themed channel with the first being Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog on Toon Disney.

In South Africa, Fox Crime had originally planned to air Sonic Underground on 21 August 2015 as Case File Toon service of DStv, TopTV, SpaceTV, My.T and ZAP, but has got put on hold.[23]

Releases

The complete Sonic Underground series, comprising all 40 episodes on 10 DVDs, was released by Anchor Bay in the UK, compatible only with region 2 players.[24] The entire series was re-released by Delta, who released a 4 disc DVD set with a 5th DVD containing bonus features for region 0 players.[25] In return the entire series was re-released by GO Entertain, in the UK, compatible only with region 2 players.

Shout! Factory and Vivendi Entertainment have released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 (NTSC) in two volume sets. Volume 1, simply entitled Sonic Underground, was released on 18 December 2007.[26] It contains the first 20 episodes of the show on three discs; a bonus fourth disc is an audio CD containing eight songs from the series, including the opening theme. Sonic Underground: Volume 2 was released on 17 June 2008, featuring the remaining 20 episodes. In May 2013 NCircle Entertainment released Volume 1 along with many of the older SEGA and Nintendo cartoons that were already released by Shout Factory. Most of the newer NCircle's releases are copies of the Shout Factory versions.

As of August 2015 Sonic Underground was available on Netflix and iTunes.[27]

Reception

Sonic Underground was praised for its catchy music, but criticized for its complex plot.[28][29][30] David Cornelius of DVD Talk said "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."[31] GamesRadar called the show as one of "the absolute worst Sonic moments", criticizing the extra characters and the complex plot, but complimenting the catchy intro.[28] Comedian Chris Hardwick commented on the show's theme song, composed by Mike Piccirillo, claiming that "that guy sounds like he's trying to win his exwife back."[32] Susan Arendt of Wired said "The songs are actually kind of catchy in a Saturday morning cartoon kind of way, but the band thing still seems a bit out of place, especially when the instruments turn into weapons."[29] Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media said "Sonic Underground has some good things to offer kids," complimenting its low violence and ability to entertain children.[33] Mick Joest of Cinemablend called Sonic Underground one of the "5 Best Cartoon Bands Of All Time."[30]

Other media

Archie Comics featured a story in one of its special issues in which the Sonic Underground continuity was featured.

The Sonic the Hedgehog comic from Archie Comics featured a story in one of its special issues in which the Sonic Underground continuity was featured. According to the comics' plot, the reality in which Sonic Underground takes place is one of many parallel universes that share elements with Sonic's own. In the story, Sonic Prime-hailing from the main universe in the comic series-joins forces with his counterpart and siblings to stop Dr. Robotnik, who has managed to assemble a monstrous battle machine known as the Giant Borg. Robotnik obtained the pieces for this machine due to being mistaken for one of his own counterparts by Evil Sonic, an evil counterpart of Sonic's who later came to be known as Scourge the Hedgehog.

The Sonic Universe spin-off comic was originally scheduled to feature an epilogue to the unfinished Sonic Underground for its 50th issue. However, for unknown reasons this was replaced with a story focusing on one of Sonic's long-running enemies, Metal Sonic. The Underground Epilogue has apparently been put on hold indefinitely, possibly due to its lack of relevance to current Sonic games and the comic series as a whole.[34]

References

  1. "iTunes - TV Shows - Sonic Underground, Vol. 1". iTunes. Archived from the original on 31 March 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  2. "Sonic Underground". us.playstation.com. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  3. "Queen Aleena". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  4. "Oracle of Delphius". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  5. "Sonic Underground Full Cast and Crew". IMDb. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  6. Developing the Sonic Underground. YouTube. 9 July 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  7. PorpoiseMuffins (6 August 2014). "Ben Hurst on SatAM". Saturday Morning Sonic. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  8. "SAGE - Sonic Amateur Games Expo 2008". Sagexpo.org. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  9. "hong-ying.com". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007.
  10. "Sonic Underground TV Listings". Archived from the original on 30 January 2004. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  11. Stéphane CLEMENT. "Planète Jeunesse - Sonic Le Rebelle" (in French).
  12. "Sonic Underground just premiered...". Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  13. "SU: So Near And Yet So Far...". Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  14. "Sonic Underground - Commercial". YouTube. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  15. October Schedule at the Wayback Machine (archived 1 August 2001)
  16. Sonic Underground episode guide, archived from the original on 16 August 2000, retrieved 5 September 2015
  17. "Sonic Underground is off the Air". Archived from the original on 23 December 2006. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  18. "U.S. Sci-Fi Channel schedule for October 1999". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  19. "Kix". kixtv.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  20. "CBS and DIC Entertainment Partner to Launch Branded Kids Programming Block, 'CBS's Secret Saturday Morning Slumber Party'.". PR Newswire. The Free Library. 19 January 2006.
  21. "International Children's Programming from KidsCo Added to Endavo Media's Global Content Syndication Offering.". Business Wire. The Free Library. 27 October 2011. (See "About KidsCo" section)
  22. "Sonic Underground Disney XD TV Show". Disney Movies Guide. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  23. The page at http://www.foxcrimeafrica.com/series/sonicunderground.html no longer exists.
  24. "Sonic Underground, by Anchor Bay". Amazon.com. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  25. "The Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog [2007] [DVD]". amazon.co.uk.
  26. http://www.shoutfactorystore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=3650672
  27. "Sonic Underground Now On iTunes". The Sonic Stadium. 13 January 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  28. 1 2 GamesRadar_ US (23 April 2008). "Page 2 - The absolute worst Sonic moments - GamesRadar". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  29. 1 2 Arendt, Susan (27 December 2007). "SONIC UNDERGROUND NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD". Wired. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  30. 1 2 Joest, Mick. "The 5 Best Cartoon Bands Of All Time". CINEMABLEND. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  31. "Sonic Underground: The Series : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". Dvdtalk.com. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  32. "@midnight With Chris Hardwick". Internet Archive. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  33. Ashby, Emily. "Sonic Underground". Common Sense Media. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  34. Oliver, Tristan (29 October 2013). "Is the Archie Sonic Underground Epilogue Dead?". TSSZ News. Retrieved 10 August 2015.

External links

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