SONIC UNDERGROUND - DVD review

"Sonic the Hedgehog" is a popular character among many video game enthusiasts and especially SEGA fans. I am among those that have a fondness for the little blue speedster and have a couple stuffed hedgehogs or plastic figures in my collection of odds and ends. Instead of Nintendo, I was a SEGA person and struggled through the Sega Master System and finally found redemption with the SEGA Genesis. The Genesis found success when it capitalized on becoming the first sixteen-bit entry into the console world. However, it wasn't until they unveiled their first corporate mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog and declared their ‘blast processing' was superior to the Super Nintendo and their slow and pudgy plumber, Mario, that the Genesis would finally make SEGA a potent player in the video game industry. SEGA has since went platform agnostic, but Sonic continues to be their mascot character and a marketable intellectual property for SEGA. He has transcended the video game world with toys, comic books and animated television shows. "Sonic Underground" is the third of four animated series featuring the iconic blue hedgehog.

The first foray into animated television for Sonic was the prime time cartoon "The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog," which began Jaleel's White's long running tenure as the voice of Sonic. "Sonic the Hedgehog" ran almost concurrently with the first cartoon, but occupied a Saturday morning time slot. That cartoon too featured the voice acting of White, but took a more serious tone in content than the lighthearted "Adventures." These two cartoons debuted in September of 1993 and "Adventures" found a three season run for the hedgehog. After the SEGA Genesis began to run out of steam, SEGA prepared to launch its successor, the SEGA Dreamcast. A new Sonic game was slated as a launch title, but the hedgehog also made a return to television with animator DiC creating the third series and in 1998, Jaleel White returned as Sonic the Hedgehog with "Sonic Underground." A couple years later, "Sonic X" would make its way to American shores, but without White voicing the titular video game icon.

"Sonic Underground" breaks away from common Sonic canon and does not feature many of the common characters associated with the Sonic universe. For instance, Sonic's long-running sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower is completely absent. Sonic's familiar wannabe love interest Amy Rose is another no-show. Only longtime protagonist Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is a common recurring character on the show from the familiar Sonic background. Knuckles the Echidna appears in four episodes of the forty episode series; one of which occurs in this first volume box-set featuring the first twenty episodes during the episode "Friend or Foe." New characters are introduced that only appear or gain mention in "Sonic Underground." Sonic's purported mother Queen Aleena Hedgehog appears on occasion and Sonic's siblings Manic and Sonia are two main characters and are voiced by Jaleel White. Robotnik's two primary underlings who pursue the Hedgehog trio are Dingo and Sleet. The hedgehogs are aided in their fight against the Eggman by the Oracle of Delphius.

The general theme of "Sonic Underground" is that Queen Aleena has sent her three children away from her to protect them against the evil Robotnik. Robotnik has changed many of the animal inhabitants of Mobius into robotic slaves. The Oracle of Delphius has prophesized that the three children of Aleena will unite with their mother and bring an end to his evil doings. They are continually chased by Dingo and Sleet, but manage to escape and find sanctity with the Oracle. The Oracle them teaches them about harmony and that their medallions are very important. The medallions change into musical instruments that help make "Sonic Underground" the rock and roll animated adventure it strives to be and also weapons to fight the forces of evil. Along their adventures in the first twenty episodes, they must evade traps set by Dingo, Sleet and Robotnik. They continually learn more about themselves and build upon their ability to work together by playing in their rock and roll band called Sonic Underground.

The episodes of "Sonic Underground" are entertaining enough for Saturday morning, video game inspired cartoons. They are certainly superior to the "Super Mario Bros. Super Show" or the "Pac Man" Saturday morning cartoon. Out of the twenty episodes featured in this first collection, "Mobodoon," "The Last Resort," "A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle" and the Knuckles featured "Friend or Foe" were some of the ones I enjoyed the most. Many of the themes are repetitive. Robotnik is always trying to trick the trio of hedgehogs with cunning ruses. Old friends and new acquaintance are often secret agents for Robotnik. Sleet and Dingo prove that stupidity is not always a good attribute for a henchman and rock and roll music is often the best cure for a bad adventure. The episodes are formulaic and do not lend themselves to any given continuity outside of the beginning set of trilogy episodes.

The primary focus of "Sonic Underground" is to introduce Sonic to a rock and roll world and attempt to be hipper with youngsters. "The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" was a fun comedy half hour, while "Sonic the Hedgehog" was dark and menacing in tone. The two earlier shows were also produced at a time when SEGA was succeeding with the Genesis and those that grew up on Sonic were still young. By the time "Sonic Underground" debuted, the Sonic followers were well into their teen years and had lost time for animated adventures featuring the lightning fast hero. DiC and others responsible for the Sonic IP needed a new hook to reel in new viewers and to help promote the character before the Dreamcast launched. Their intent was to make Sonic and his siblings more rooted in pop culture with their lingo and attitudes and intertwine their adventures with rock and roll tunes that would bring children back for more.

"Sonic Underground" was a fresh take and a completely new direction for Sonic-inspired animated television, but it was a radical departure from the previous two shows and did alienate longtime fans of Sonic who felt they were never too old to enjoy a Saturday morning cartoon featuring their favorite Mario-trumping hero. My own impression is that "Sonic Underground" is fun, but not true to Sonic. The adventures and lingo used by Sonic betray the character and I sorely missed Tails by his side. Sonic is a cocky and impulsive hero that isn't afraid to get into the mix and fight the Eggman, but he is more arrogant than previously and lacks much of the humor present during the first two shows. I'm not stating that "Sonic Underground" is a bad outing for Sonic, but it does not follow Sonic canon and feels a little out of place for fans of the original two series.

The following episodes are contained in the first volume of "Sonic Underground":

1. Beginnings (Origins, Part 1)
2. Getting to Know You (Origins, Part 2)
3. Harmony or Something (Origins, Part 3)
4. To Catch a Queen
5. Mobodoon
6. The Price of Freedom
7. Underground Masquerade
8. Tangled Webs
9. The Deepest Fear
10. Who Do You Think You Are?
11. Last Resort
12. Come Out Wherever You Are
13. Winner Fakes All
14. A Hedgehog's Home is Her Castle
15. Artifact
16. Bug!
17. Sonic Tonic
18. Friend of Foe
19. Head Games
20. When in Rome

Video:

"Sonic Underground" is presented in sharp looking 4:3 video. The animated cells of the show exhibit strong coloring and better than acceptable levels of detail. Blue is the most important color of anything "Sonic" and the trademark hue is correct in coloring. I was overly impressed with the brightness of the colors and do not feel this near decade old animated episodes look dated at all. Detail was strong enough. These episodes certainly cannot compete with today's computer generated shows, but for cell animation, I felt that "Sonic Underground" was visually entertaining and in some ways I felt reminded of the old "Scooby Doo" cartoons I grew up watching on Saturday mornings. The prints used were also very clean and there are no flaws at all with the source materials.

Sound:

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of "Sonic Underground" was loud. It felt about five to ten decibels higher than normal. The mix was front heavy and the rock and roll numbers of the Underground came across loud and clear. Imaging was across all three channels, with vocals using all three front channels. With the infusion of pop music into the episodes, "Sonic Underground" was a busy sounding affair. Jaleel White and the other voice talent's vocals came through crisp and clear. The rear surrounds were hardly noticeable. The .1 LFE subwoofer was also underutilized, but the bass emanating from the front channels was pretty decent as far as cartoons go. Cartoons in general are not the most impressive sounding titles and while I would have preferred a slightly more enveloping affair, I could not complain with how the title sounded. It was quite energetic and "Built for Speed" was a fun sounding song.

Extras:

The three discs containing episodes of "Sonic Underground" contains a small number of supplements. Upon booting, the first DVD contains some Previews (2:44) that cannot be skipped. Eight Music Videos (10:18) on the first disc contain the segments from each of the episodes featuring the song from each particular episode. They may be played collectively or individually. I don't feel the singing vocals particularly fit the speaking vocals for each character. The disc one videos are "Someday," "Working Together in Harmony," "We're All in This Together," "Have You Got the 4-1-1?," "I Found My Home," "The Things You Really Need," "Just Like Down on the Bayou," and "Teach the Children." The second DVD contains eight more Music Videos (8:50). Disc two titles are "Face Your Fear," "We Need to be Free," "Listen to Your Heart," "Society Girl," "Built For Speed," "Let's Do It To It," "You Can't Own Everything" and "Never Give Up the Fight."

The third disc of "Sonic Underground" contained the majority of the special features, but only four episodes. The four Music Videos (4:34) were "I Wish I Could Go Faster," "Things Are Not Always What They Seem," "Take a Chance," and "When There's A Will, There's A Way." Developing the Underground (7:19) found executive producer Robby London discuss his involvement in the series. London helped create the series and also scribed the title song. This interesting little vignette talked about the decision to take a more musical direction and break away from the typical mold of "Sonic." Songs from the Underground (8:52) finds Mr. London returning to talk more about the music of the show. This second featurette was a more detailed continuation of the first. Storyboard to Screen: Opening Titles (1:02) was a very short look at the show's opening titles in storyboard form. I like these little artistic extras. It would have been cool to see an entire episode this way. Original Concept Art (8:24) showed different short vignettes showing art for the characters and others some vehicles of the show. Finally, The Art of Mobius (:58) was another short collection of art from the show.

A fourth disc is provided with the box set as well. The Bonus CD contains ‘Sonic Underground's Greatest Hits." The songs contained are the "Sonic Underground Main Title," "Let's Do it To It," "I Wish I Could Go Faster," "Where There's A Will, There's A Way," "Mummy Wrap," "The Mobius Stomp," "We're the Sonic Underground" and "Lady Liberty." These songs were quite short and took hardly any of the CD's storage space. It would have been a far nicer supplement if every song was included (such as "Built for Speed").

Closing Comments:

"Sonic Underground" was fun enough and there were a few episodes I enjoyed greatly. However, it was a complete different storyline than anything previously "Sonic" on television and didn't follow the familiar Sonic canon. The show was intended to be a musical experience that was hipper than previous efforts and help usher in the Dreamcast console. The show lasted roughly forty episodes and twenty of them are provided on this first DVD set. Running at about eight hours in length, this is a nice little set. The bonus materials are not overly impressive if you consider the fact that the music videos are episode portions of the music. The CD is short. The vignettes and artwork features were nice. If you are looking to collect these "Sonic Underground" episodes, then this is a very nice little set. "Sonic Underground" is not as good as the first two series and this box contained only one episode with a familiar character other than Sonic or Eggman. The imagery and sound were good. There are definitely better ways to pass a Saturday morning, but I can also think of far worse ways than to sit through these twenty musical episodes of "Sonic Underground."