Writers
Pat Allee, Eleanor Burian-Mohr, & Ben Hurst
Cast
Jaleel White/Samuel Vincent (singing)………Sonic (voice)
Tyley Ross………Sleet (voice)
Maurice LaMarche………Manic (voice)
Gary Chalk………Dr. Robotnik (voice)
Jaleel White (rumored but not confirmed)………Sonia (voice)
???………Knuckles (voice)
DVD Release Date: December 18, 2007
Rating: G
Running Time: 480 Minutes on 4 discs
The Show
What can be said about Sonic the Hedgehog that hasn’t already been beaten to death fifty million times? I’ll break it down for you all. He’s a blue hedgehog that has supersonic speed and has a villainous arch-enemy known as Dr. Robotnik. He was originally designed as the competitive mascot for Sega against the mustachioed plumber from Nintendo, Mario. Through a series of comic books, cartoons, and numerous video games (not to mention the death of Sega), Sonic has since joined forces with Mario. Or for lack of better words, they fight against each other but are now on the same side. But did you know that Sonic actually descends from royalty and has two siblings?
Queen Aleena Hedgehog once ruled the world of Mobius and ended up giving birth to triplets. Sonic was one of them along with his sister Sonia and his brother Manic. Looking forward to a peaceful life with her children, things took a violent change. Dr. Robotnik and his evil robotic army conquered Queen Aleena and took over control of Mobius. Looking to keep her children safe, they were each adopted by different families and grew up never quite knowing where they came from.
Well into their teenage years, evil and destruction was running rampant throughout the communities that were anything below upper class. All of the rich were able to pay Dr. Robotnik to leave them be. But the trio each got messages from an oracle that lets them know who they really are and about their past. Each received an amulet and a command to find one another and become a family again. They travel around together looking for any signs of where their mother may be today. Along the way they wage war against Dr. Robotnik and his violent robots so that they can once again be a family. The triplets not only have faith and love on their side, but the power of music. Each of their amulets can be turned into either a weapon for battle or an instrument to play some rockin’ tunes.
There has been a few other animated series showcasing Sonic and it can’t be said that I’ve seen many of the episodes from any of them, but the little I did see was better then this. As a series, I’m not surprised Sonic Underground lasted for only forty episodes because it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting more. Oh, and Amazon.com calls this set the entire series although research tells me that there were forty episodes total which would mean this is only volume one. Ugh, that’s all anyone needs.
Each episode is centered on the music more then anything else and that is what is supposed to set this series apart from the others. The Sonic triplets are up against Robotnik and his robot minions, but at some time in each episode they sing a song and it sets the whole tone. The songs are not very catchy and seem out of place more then anything. They’re pointless and do nothing to make the episodes more enjoyable not to mention that they are usually sung/played by someone as tone deaf as the person (Robby London) who put together the horrible opening theme.
Sonic the Hedgehog did not need to have a brand new history thrown upon him in the way of siblings and being of royal descent. Everyone by now knows who Sonic is and that he uses his super speed to take down his enemies and keep the good guys safe. In Sonic Underground, his speed even takes a backseat to the stupid amulet he gets in order to play his music. Don’t bother getting involved in this series because it’ll be over before you know it thanks to how bad it truly is. I believe the creators realized that after a while and that’s why only forty episodes were ever created.
Episodes
Disc One:
Beginnings (Origins, Pt. 1)
Getting To Know You (Origins, Pt. 2)
Harmony Or Something (Origins, Pt. 3)
To Catch A Queen
Mobodoon
The Price Of Freedom
Underground Masquerade
Tangled Webs
Disc Two:
The Deepest Fear
Who Do You Think You Are?
Last Resort
Come Out Wherever You Are
Winner Fakes All
A Hedgehog’s Home Is Her Castle
Artifact
Bug!
Disc Three:
Sonic Tonic
Friend Or Foe?
Head Games
When In Rome…
Disc Four:
This disc is actually a music CD complete with songs from the series.
“Sonic Underground Main Title”
“Let’s Do It To It” from A Hedgehog’s Home Is Her Castle
“I Wish I Could Go Faster” from Sonic Tonic
“Where There’s A Will, There’s A Way” from When In Rome…
“Mummy Wrap” from Mummy Dearest
“The Mobius Stomp” from New Echidna In Town
“We’re The Sonic Underground” from Healer
“Lady Liberty” from The Pendant
The Video
The episodes are shown in Full Screen format and look as if they were drawn in the mid to late eighties instead of the late nineties. The thing is that I don’t think it is from the transfer to DVD but more so just poor animation. Each episode looks horrible, but I truly don’t believe they ever looked good.
The Audio
The episodes are heard in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Sound and sound better then you’d expected a badly animated show to sound. The music numbers really come through very well as does the dialogue and cheesy sound effects.
Special Features
Music Videos Jukebox – Music videos of the horrible songs from different episodes.
Developing The Underground – Executive producer Robby London actually has the audacity to compare this series to Alvin And The Chipmunks. He says that Sonic Underground is similar with having a song in every episode but it’s a little darker. Then there’s some more rambling about the series came to be for seven and a half minutes.
Songs From The Underground – This is a feature running right around nine minutes that is again London making sure everyone knows that he wrote the theme song. That’s not something to really be proud of Robby. He talks about that, the instrumental music throughout each episode, and of course the main songs sung by the Hedgehog trio.
Storyboard To Screen: The Opening Titles – The storyboard version of the theme song and title opening.
Original Concept Art – Hand-drawn images of some of the characters from the show. Nothing special.
The Art Of Mobius – Still frames of Mobius. Yep.
The Inside Pulse
Check out Sonic The Hedgehog, The Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog, or anyone of the God knows how many other spin-offs the video game had. Not only are these episodes not enjoyable to watch but they’re extremely annoying at the same time. The music will sound like nails on a chalkboard very quickly and Jaleel White’s nasally voice will haunt you in your dreams like old Family Matters‘s episodes. The special features only prolong the agony so don’t even bother with them. For some reason if you do end up picking up this set, I have a feeling you’ll never complete it when the second volume comes out because you won’t have the stomach for it. Super speed this crap onto a skeet-shooting range, pronto.
