Adventures of Sonic
the Hedgehog was one of two cartoon series based on the Sonic series of
videogames that first aired in 1993. Of the two series it is generally
considered to be the poorer, usually overshadowed by the series simply called Sonic the Hedgehog (known as Sonic satAM
by fans). Despite this the series was actually far longer than the more popular
satAM, it ran for 66 episodes as opposed to satAMs 26.
It’s easy to see why the series is the least liked of the
two, the animation quality is nowhere near the high standards of satAM and the
quality of writing and general tone of the show are far lighter that the
surprisingly dark world presented in the other series. Personally I’ve never
cared too much about these differences, AoStH isn’t trying to be satAM, it’s a
deliberately light take on the Sonic franchise, more a Looney Tunes type show
than a serious adventure show.
The show was pretty formulaic. Each week Sonic and Tails
would escape a different trap set by the Evil Dr Robotnik by dawning various
Bugs Bunny-esque disguises. Each episode also featured a segment at the end
called “Sonic Says”. This segment was designed to give an educational element
to the show, each one features Sonic giving a quick moral lesson, (calling 911,
looking both ways when crossing the road). These were mostly edited out of the UK broadcasts
of the show but some were left in.
In the UK AoStH was much more readily available than satAM
so it was the Sonic series I grew up with. I love the series which is why I’m
taking on the mammoth task of reviewing every episode of theseries, all 65 main
series entries and the Christmas Special.
Ep 01 - Sonic
Search & Smash Squad
A pretty decent opening to the series that sees Sonic
explain how he first met Scratch and Grounder. Basically it’s an introduction
to the world and characters, quite important really seeing as everything in the
series is so radically different from in the games. So we’re presented with
Robotnik as bumbling dictator, coconuts as the jealous lackey looking to win
Robotnik’s favour and Scratch and Grounder, the constantly failing duo in
charge of catching that pesky hedgehog (essentially the Wile E. Coyote to
Sonic’s Roadrunner).
Plenty of odd over the top traps, Sonic battling a tank with
a Chilli dog for a head, classic roadrunner pranks (paining a landscape on a
brick wall and trying to get Sonic to run into it) and Scratch blowing on his
thumb and turning his hand into a full size sexy lady…..yeah, expect little in
the way of sense in this show….
Best Moment: Sonic escaping a robot by pointing in
the opposite direction and saying “I’m over there”. The look on the robot’s
face suggests even he knows that it doesn’t make sense.
Ep 02 -
Subterranean Sonic
Sonic and Tails are kidnapped by a miserly Mole who believes
they are planning on stealing his vast reserve of gold.
This is one of the episodes I remember most from my
childhood, I had this and a couple other episodes on video and used to watch it
constantly. It’s a pretty good episode, a little more action orientated that
many others. There’s not actually much in the way of jokes which is quite odd
for the series.
Best Moment: Sonic unravelling the moles sweater and
using it to escape a trap. The sweater it turns out is woven from diamonds, how
the mole is able to move around in said sweater is never explained.
Ep 03 - Lovesick
Sonic
Easily my favourite episode of the whole series, this
episode sees Sonic fall for Breezy, a hedgehog who starts making outrageous
demands of him. Sonic ends up running around the globe, picking flowers halfway
around the world and getting Chilli Dogs from the South Pole. It is eventually
revealed this is a plan from Robotnik to tire Sonic out and that Breezy is a
robot.
This is probably the funniest episode in the series, the
jokes constantly hit the mark and the writing is great.
The ending is actually pretty sad, even though Breezy is a
robot Sonic still loves her and sonic is devastated to see her go.
This episode also features the infamous Sonic Says segment where Sonic tells children that if
someone touches them then it’s “No goooooood”. If you haven’t seen it well…. It
has to be seen to be believed……
Best Moment: The cannibals. “You look deliciousoo,
perfect for the barbecyoooooooo”. I still find myself quoting this line when
I’m cooking
Ep 04 - Slowwww
Going
As you can probably guess in this episode
Soooooooonnnnnniiiiiiccccccc gooooooeeeeesssss sssssssllllloooooowwwww.
Robotnik develops a ray gun designed to slow Sonic, meanwhile by miraculous
coincidence Sonic is helping out a
family of sloths (see what they did there). They make friends with
Rocket, the fastest sloth on Mobius, he’s also possibly the most annoying side
character in the series (no mean feat) due to his tendency toooo taaaaalllkkk
soooo sssslllooooowwwllllyyyy……
It’s a pretty poor episode, I’m not a fan of the idea of
slowing Sonic down, it’s too obvious and never really works well as a story
point. It also has a really weird Sonic Says in which we are told “Even you can
learn something from a sloth”….what?
Best Moment: Sonic handing Rocket a gong, saying “Hit
this if you see anything” before zooming off screen, thinking for a second and
returning saying “…I mean ring it if you see trouble”
An awesome moment because it shows that even Sonic understands
how obvious the jokes are in this show.
Ep 05 -
High-Stakes Sonic
Robotnik is rigging casino games and making his debtors pay
their dues by building a giant Sphinx with his face on it (as you do), Sonic
shuts down the casino and enters into a race for the workers freedom.
This is another awesome episode, partly because it borrows
its setting from the games (Sonic 2’s casino night zone) but mostly because of
the side characters. The greasy casino boss Smiley resplendent in a 1940’s
pinstripe suit and who is literally a loan Shark. The compulsive gamblers who
keep getting suckered into betting on the rigged games are all shown to be
sheep which is also pretty funny.
The main focus of the episode is the race of course and goes
with the story trope of forcing the hero to choose between his duty and his
friendship. If he wins the race the workers go free but Robotnik will kill
Tails, if he loses Tails is saved but the workers are forced to work on the
Sphinx. It’s a story cliché but one that works more often than not and it
definitely works here.
Best Moment: There are lots of great moments in
this episode but Robotnik’s goal in this
episode is just awesome. He’s not trying to concur Mobius here, he just wants
to build a Sphinx with his face….there’s no reason for it, he just wants one.
Because he’s a badass.
"If you enjoyed this review, why not check out the others in the series?"
(01-05) (06-10) (11-15) (16-20) (21-25) (26-30) (31-35) (36-40) (41-45) (46-50) (55-60) (61-65) (Xmas Blast)
"Or check out these reviews of the other Sonic series'"
Sonic The Hedgehog
(01-05) (06-10) (11-15) (16-20) (21-26)
Sonic Underground
(01-05) (06-10) (11-15) (16-20) (21-25) (26-30) (31-35) (36-40)
"Or check out these reviews of the other Sonic series'"
Sonic The Hedgehog
(01-05) (06-10) (11-15) (16-20) (21-26)
Sonic Underground
(01-05) (06-10) (11-15) (16-20) (21-25) (26-30) (31-35) (36-40)
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