ADVENTURES OF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG - DVD review

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.

Each episode ends with a super cheesy "Sonic Sez" segment, in which Sonic teaches young viewers various moral lessons, concerning littering, bullies, etc. This reminded me of the lessons they always had at the end of Captain Planet. The reason for these segments is likely government requirements for what constitutes educational children's television. In other words, it was popular in the nineties to tack on a little public service announcement to such cartoons in order to trick kids and parents into thinking they were being educated. At my age, I don't make it a habit to watch Saturday morning cartoons, but I think this kind of thing has fallen out of favor. As such, the "Sonic Sez" stuff is a kind of time capsule of children's entertainment in the nineties.

The set contains the first 22 of the show's 66 episodes. If you're a fan, keep your fingers crossed that more will follow. As for me, I can take it or leave it.

Video:
Shout! Factory did the best they could. For the most part, the picture is clear and the colors are relatively bright. As I say above, there are some scenes in which the picture is blurry or dark. It's about a notch—-a little notch—-above watching it on broadcast TV.

Audio:
Audio is clean and clear, but altogether unremarkable. The music is appropriately bouncy and video-game-like. Once again, at least as good as broadcast TV.

Extras:
Set contains three featurettes: "Storyboard-to-Screen", "A Conversation With Artist Milton Knight" and "How-to-Draw: Sonic the Hedgehog." I'm not entirely certain, but these appear to be promos from when the show originally aired, not materially produced specifically for the DVD. "Storyboard-to-Screen" compares scenes from the finished episode "Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad" to the original black and white storyboards. "A Conversation With Artist Milton Knight" is a very brief interview with one of the show's animators. The last is self-explanatory. I tried it and my Sonic just looked like a scribble. Back to the drawing board.

Entertainment Value:
This kind of release thrives on nostalgia. People who watched this show as a kid will be interested in it, and die-hard Sonic fans will, too, but I doubt this holds much appeal to the average viewer.