Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (original) (raw)

Not to be confused with The Adventures of SONIC the Hedgehog.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, often abbreviated as AoStH, is an American-Italian animated television series loosely based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The show was first broadcasted on 6 September 1993, and aired on syndication until 3 December 1993. It follows the escapades of Sonic the Hedgehog and his comrade [Miles "Tails" Prower](/wiki/Miles%5F%22Tails%22%5FPrower%5F%28Adventures%5Fof%5FSonic%5Fthe%5FHedgehog%29 "Miles "Tails" Prower (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog)") as they attempt to stop the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his array of vicious robots from taking over the planet Mobius. It marks the first televised cartoon to be based on the Sonic franchise.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was created by DiC Entertainment, which produced a total of sixty-five episodes for its first season, and syndicated by Bohbot Entertainment,[4] now 41 Entertainment. The first episode was "Best Hedgehog" (which was the thirteenth episode in production order) and the last was "Hero of the Year" (which was the sixtieth in production order). DiC ceased production on Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog to spend more time on its darker interpretation, entitled Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), a series launched on ABC's Saturday morning line-up.

After the original airing, DiC created one more episode in the winter of 1996, "Sonic Christmas Blast", which has features from Sonic the Hedgehog such as Sally in a non-speaking cameo, and has Sonic and Tails visiting Robotropolis, which is different from SatAM because it now has a human population and the name is pronounced differently, being "robot-tropolis" rather than "robo-tropolis."

The letters page of issue #41 of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book promotes the special as "An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas", suggesting that it was originally intended to promote the, eventually cancelled, Sega Saturn game, Sonic X-treme. Due to this, the special's name was changed to match another game's name, Sonic 3D Blast.

Plot[]

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is a fast-paced cartoon with much Looney Tunes/MGM-esque slapstick humor, including lots of cartoon violence and dizzy stars, akin to such shows as Animaniacs or Tiny Toon Adventures. Director Kent Butterworth recruited many artists that worked for Nickelodeon's The Ren & Stimpy Show, at a time when the show's production was handed to the network's in-house animation studio.[5]

The title card of a Sonic Says segment.

The series features very few recurring characters, usually just Sonic, Tails, Robotnik and his two hench-bots Scratch and Grounder, although a third robot, Coconuts, also appears sometimes. However, there are many occasional minor characters and robots who appear. The plots loosely follow the storyline of the video game series, although the franchise was relatively new during that time, and lacks much plot or character development, which was filled in by the show's writers. The end of each regular episode contains a short PSA segment titled "Sonic Says" or "Sonic Sez."

Characters[]

For a full list of the characters in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, see here.

Voice cast (English)[]

Music[]

The opening theme of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is an instrumental piece of music written by Clark Gassman. The tune borrows from the main theme of the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, composed by Masato Nakamura. Some refrains are based on certain pieces of classical music, including "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. The background music of the series was composed by Reed Robbins and Mark Simon.

International versions[]

A different version of the show's theme song appeared in the Italian and French versions. It was sung by Cristina D'Avena in Italian and Alexis Tomassian in French. Also, the Persian dub has a song based on the instrumental of "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" by Katy Perry, albeit with original lyrics. The Arabic version has a revamped version of Catty's Sonic Song.

Broadcast history[]

The poster for Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog on Netflix.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was most recently shown weekdays at 8:00 a.m. Central Time on Toon Disney in the United States. Robotnik was also the featured villain occasionally on the "Chillin' with the Villains" marathon block, even being featured in their commercials. In the United Kingdom, AoStH was originally shown on Channel 4 until the show's end; recently it was also shown on the satellite channel POP, until 17 April 2006 when it was replaced with Sonic Underground. It was shown on that channel as part of a "Sonic Week". This TV subsequently aired the first thirteen episodes of the show from 2010 to 2011. As of 2015, Netflix has the first twenty episodes available, with the entire series available on Paramount+. It also aired on Starz (specifically Starz Kids & Family), along with the Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground television series. The series also aired outside the United States in countries such as Latin America, Spain, Saudi Arabia, etc.. The cartoon aired in the Republic of Ireland on RTÉ Two from 12 September to December 1994.[6]

Home video and digital releases[]

There were six VHS tapes released in the US by Buena Vista Home Video with two episodes each per tape. In the UK, there were about ten tapes released; Volumes 1 to 6 (except Volume 5 which is Quest for the Chaos Emeralds, a four part-series edited without the title cards) had three episodes per tape, "High Stakes Sonic"/"Sonic Breakout" and "Momma Robotnik's Birthday" tapes had two episodes each. Also there was a bumper tape released that was roughly three hours long. None of the UK videos had the Sonic Says segments included except the episode "High Stakes Sonic". One of the UK videos had four different versions. All of these four had the episode "Sonic Breakout" in it. However, in one the other episode was "High Stakes Sonic". In another it was "Slowwww Going" and the final version had all three of these episodes. Also there was a tape with just the "Sonic Breakout" episode.

A "Sonic Christmas Blast" DVD was released, featuring the title episode. However, the remaining episodes are from the Sonic Underground television series.

Shout! Factory has released two DVD sets of the series in the US, each with twenty two episodes in chronological order. The remaining episodes, as well as the "Sonic Christmas Blast" special, were released in a third and final volume (also in chronological order) that is only available for purchase on Shout! Factory's website.

In the UK, the show was released in its entirety by Delta Home Video, who also released the Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground television series in the UK, as one boxset with eight discs on 11 June 2007.

NCircle Entertainment released several themed DVDs and two-disc boxed sets, called "season set collector's editions",[7] titled "Let's Race" and "The Fastest Thing in Time."

Invisible Pictures, the successor-in-interest to Bohbot Entertainment, released a complete series box set on DVD in 2019.

In 2021, Discotek Media released an SD Blu-ray set of the complete series with bonus features including episode commentaries, the original pitch pilot, "Sonic Christmas Blast", and the rushes of the first episode.

VHS[]

Buena Vista Home Video

Image	Title	Release date	Episodes
	Robotnik Express	2 February 1994	"The Robotnik Express" "Tails' New Home"
	Super Special Sonic Search & Smash Squad	2 February 1994	"Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad" "Sonic Breakout"
	Slowwww Going	2 February 1994	"Slowwww Going" "Over the Hill Hero"
	Grounder the Genius	2 February 1994	"Grounder the Genius" "Blank-Headed Eagle"
	Sonic's Song	7 June 1994	"Sonic's Song" "Best Hedgehog"
	Road Hog	7 June 1994	"Road Hog" "Tails in Charge"
	Grounder the Genius (Rental)	1999	"Grounder the Genius" "Blank-Headed Eagle" "Road Hog" "Tails in Charge"
	Slowwww Going (Rental)	1999	"Slowwww Going" "Over the Hill Hero" "Robotnik Express" "Tails' New Home"

DVD[]

• Shout! Factory:
  • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 1
  • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 2
  • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Volume 3
• NCircle Entertainment:
  • Best of the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Let's Race
  • Robotnik Strikes Back
  • Robots Attack!
  • Sonic Christmas Blast
  • Sonic Who?
  • Tall Tails
  • The Fastest Thing in Time
  • Robotnik Family Values
  • Sonic the Hero
• Invincible Pictures:
  • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Complete Animated Series

Blu-ray[]

• Discotek Media:
  • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Complete Series

Reception[]

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was met with mixed reviews. Randy Miller III of DVDTalk said, "While it's obvious that The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog won't ever be mentioned in the same sentence with Disney, Pixar or Studio Ghibli (except for this one), there's enough goofy fun here to entertain any resident of the 16-bit gaming era."[8] Michael Rubino of Verdict criticized the show for being dated, contrived, and bloated with chili dog jokes.[9]

Common Sense Media gave the series an overall rating of 3 out of 5 and noted that while the show's pace is "frantic", that the "series emphasizes positive themes for kids about personal safety and interpersonal relationships."[10]

Trivia[]

• Early on in development, This show was originally intended to take place before SatAM, with the latter being a sequel series. In the writer's bible on page 6, 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."[11] This was scrapped for unknown reasons. Had this been kept in the final version, this would most likely make differences to SatAM's story.
  • In the Christmas special and series finale Sonic Christmas Blast, some teases from SatAM appear, such as Robotnik having SWATbots and him somewhat conquering Mobius, not to mention Sally Acorn's appearance.
• In this series, there are references to four Sonic games, these being: Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit) and Sonic Spinball. These references include the Zones of the games, Badniks, Chaos Emeralds, Rings and the Special Stages. The main characters also appear in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, except for Scratch, who was inspired by the Clucker Badnik from the game.
• 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 Sega 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 of the American 90's 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 the Sonic X anime series 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 on Pinball Fortress" and in "Robo-Ninjas"
• 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 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.
• Sonic had two birthdays in this show, once in "Tails Prevails" and another in "Robotnikland."
• 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, specifically "Pseudo Sonic" in Sonic the Hedgehog #9.
• A pilot for Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was made, but never aired on television and as of now, only a workprint version of the episode surfaced online and is considered a partially lost product to this day. Some scenes from the pilot were recut and worked into episodes such as "Untouchable Sonic", commercials, and in a behind-the-scenes video for Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. 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". It was also made the same year Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was made.
  • Robotnik, Scratch 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.
• This was the only Sonic television series to have a theme song without lyrics until Sonic Boom.
• Despite the Sonic franchise originating from Japan, it's currently unknown if this show (alongside the other two) were localized in the said region.
  • Some of the episodes were however animated by TMS Entertainment which is a Japanese animation studio.
• The Korean dub remains almost completely lost and all what is known to still survive is the intro.[12]
• The episodes or characters can have very slightly different artstyles dependent on which studio they were animated by.
• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic X are the only Sonic TV shows to recycle 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.
• Although, the Labyrinth Zone doesn't appear in the show, a preproduction page of the latter mentions a ''game-like labyrinth'' hinting it was planned to make an appearance in some form.[13]
  • A location of the same name does however appear which may have been named after it.
• Some DVD covers of the show depict Dr. Robotnik with his later SatAM design.
• Some of the show's background music would be recycled for another DiC production, "Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad", in 1994.

Videos[]

International videos[]

References[]

1. ↑ SONIC O ΣΚΑΤΖΟΧΟΙΡΟΣ. Smile TV. Archived from the original on 25 October 2013.
2. ↑ Andalas Televisi (2013). Retrieved on 20 February 2018.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 一直在奔跑：索尼克在中国的二十五年长征路 (Chinese (Simplfied)). Zhihu (13 March 2018). Retrieved on 10 April 2023.
4. ↑ Lowry, Brian (21 March 1993). ‘Sonic’ is the top hog on DIC toon slate. Variety. Retrieved on 28 January 2021.
5. ↑ Komoworski, Thad (20 January 2018). "Chapter 6: Don't Whiz on the Hand That Feeds You". Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story. BearManor Media. pp. 201. ISBN 978-1-62933-182-9. "Kricfalusi may have had many loyalists; but he had no work for them, and they all soon found themselves back at DIC, working for Kent Butterworth on The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Said Butterworth: “He called me and I was able to hire some of his artists (who did not follow Bob Camp).”"
6. ↑ RTÉ Guide, 9–15 September 1994 edition and subsequent dates
7. ↑ https://www.ncircleentertainment.com/sonic/b136095
8. ↑ Miller III, Randy (17 July 2007). The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Volume 1. DVDtalk. Retrieved on 16 January 2019.
9. ↑ Rubino, Michael (8 August 2007). The Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog. DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012.
10. ↑ Ashby, Emily . The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Common Sense Media. Retrieved on 16 January 2019.
11. ↑
12. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j5zDUWvZ88
13. ↑ http://ledastudios.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=243406

External links[]

• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog at Big Cartoon Database
• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog at 41 Entertainment

Sonic the Hedgehog in other media