Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog (DVD)
APPROX. 480 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1993 - MPA RATING: NR
" Mel Blanc-era Looney Tunes this is not. Like many cartoons of its time, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is cheaply animated, and at times this is painfully apparent.
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First of all, let´s get this straight for any confused readers. There were two animated series based on the Sega Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog video games that aired around the same time (1993-1995): Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog. The latter was broadcast Saturday mornings on ABC and was a dramatic (relatively—this is just a children´s cartoon, after all) action-adventure serial; the former was syndicated and presents a more slapsticky, comedic take on the Sonic character.
Both series were produced by the same company, DiC Entertainment, and both star Jaleel White (Family Matter´s Steve Urkel, and no, Sonic never utters the famous catchphrase, "Did I do that?") The episodes on this particular DVD set are culled from the comic Adventures.
The series follows the various adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, a very quick rodent, and his pal Tails, a fox that can fly because he spins his two tails like helicopter blades. These adventures almost always involve Dr. Robotnik, an obese ne´er-do-well scientist whose goal in life is to cause Sonic trouble, usually for no other reason than that he´s the bad guy.
The show has to get its conflict from somewhere, right? Robotnik´s nefarious plots against Sonic and Tails always involve his two "hench-bots" (a combination of "henchmen" and "robots," get it?), Scratch and Grounder. Scratch is a robotic chicken. Why? Just because. Grounder is made of drills. Why? Just because. It doesn´t spoil anything to say that Sonic and Tails always come out on top, and end up making a fool out of Dr. Robotnik and his goons.
Mel Blanc-era Looney Tunes this is not. Like many cartoons of its time, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is cheaply animated, and at times this is painfully apparent. In fact, some perfunctory online research indicates that the ABC network turned down Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog citing its lame plots and bad animation, which is why the alternate Sonic the Hedgehog series exists at all. The colors aren´t the sharpest and the resolution is sometimes blurry.
I have no doubt that this is not Shout! Factory´s fault but rather that the original episodes were low quality to begin with. Still, compared to some of its contemporaries (I´m thinking of the awfully animated Dennis the Menace and the nineties Alvin and the Chipmunks series), the animation is not so bad.
However, that is not to say that it entirely lacks charm. The gags, while fairly typical, are humorous enough. Anvils have been dropped on heads practically since the invention of animation; that doesn´t stop it from being funny.
The voice acting is spirited and distinct, with slightly above-average sound quality. I didn´t even realize it was Urkel´s voice until I saw that familiar name in the credits. The Scratch and Grounder characters are especially entertaining. Frankly, I prefer the villains to the heroes. Tails I found extremely irritating and Sonic is almost as cloying, his "cool dude" shtick just another nineties relic.
