 | On which the animated show was better than the videogame |
Sonic Boom was featured in Cartoon Network in 2014 and lasted over 2 years before it was given the boot.* It was based on SEGA’s new line of Sonic games with the same name and was one of the last shows that involved the blue blur. While the games left a lot to be desired, the show was pretty decent, often going for parody and comical interaction than being serious on the subject of stopping Eggman/Robotnik from conquering the world and such. All of the action would take on a single, solitary island somewhere around the world rather than in cities and other exotic places from past iterations. The show comprised of 15 minute short episodes, most of which would not be consistent with any type of story involving characters and more often than not it would break the 4th wall in abundance.
While the games left quite a lot to be desired, the show proved to be quite the enjoyable little show, I enjoyed the humor on it and the animation, even though it seemed a bit weird whenever anyone talked. Some would point out how “bad” it was given that it did not take itself as seriously as other shows before it (obviously they never seen Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog if that is the case.) Since there was little to no story behind it all you could pretty much watch the series in any order that you would want to. There are some references here and there about themes like “the ancients” but such would just come out for the sake of the episode’s plot more than having actual consistency with the entire thing.
Its quite stupid to even acknowledge some of the criticism this cartoon gained, namely by stating it was “violent” for children given what other shows were around at the time (ADVENTURE TIME ANYONE?) what was the complaint about anyway, Sonic destroying robots as he and his friends has ever done in any another game/show before this? Please. If there is one absolute thing to complain about Sonic Boom is that crappy ass character shoed in called “Comedy Chimp” who’s voiced by Bill Freiberger who was a producer in Season 2. He looks utterly bad and sounds even worse. I would not be surprised if dear ol’ Bill actually forced “CC” to be inside for the sake of having his OC featured. As it is, this guy is very “charming” when you make the mistake of talking to him in the likes of twitter.
Moving on, the show was also called out for the incredibly bad designs that SEGA asked Naughty Dog to implement in the games. Sonic now has a scarf and seemed taller than most versions, Tails had goggles, Knuckles was a huge brute, and Amy had a modest mini-skirt. All but Amy had bandages all around their bodies with no explanation as to WHY that was needed. Also, Sonic’s arms were blue, something fanatics would scream on the internet the whole damn time. Oh yeah, Eggman was also slimmer here too.
Sonic Boom would feature the following main cast-
SONIC- He was given a scarf and deemed a hipster. He also was taller than most of his versions and his arms were blue, to which fans would toss a fit about. However he is less of a jerkwad than past incarnations and seems like he's more easygoing on top of that. His personality is quite amiable.
TAILS- Continues his trade as a mechanic and inventor in addition to being the most adorable of the bunch. Nothing much has been changed personality wise and in occasion his inventions backfire on him. He's pretty much Eggman's rival in intelligence.
AMY- Ditches the vibrant x-mas red skirt for a mini which at times can be seen as revealing. Yes, she wears no underpants whenever the camera aims too low. Her personality is more of a girl next door than the hopeless Sonic fangirl seen anywhere else. Can be naive although she's the voice of reason most of the time. I will say this is my favorite version of her all in all.
KNUCKLES- The mindless brute of the team. Of all the characters he suffered the most in terms of physical and intelligence, as well as personality. Too stupid to be left by himself and never seems to be able to get any smarter in the entire episode list that was aired. I really hate what became of him here. At times can be sincerely funny without him realizing it.
STICKS- The paranoid savage and the most cute badger you will ever come across. Would spout conspiracy theories and non-sense at the drop of the hat. Can be mean in a fight and doesn't care much on being ladylike.
On the villains side we got:
Dr. Eggman- Got fit and lost quite a lot of girth this time around, even if it is speculated that he uses items to keep his figure. No longer screams about hating hedgehogs.
Cubot and Orbot- Eggman's henchbots. One's smarter than the other but both are equally inept at anything.
Each short episode would consist of at least one fight between Sonic and Eggman or even not even that, plus some sort of plot device that was too non-sequential to follow. Basically, Sonic Boom was like a cartoon version of Seinfeld, and it was just as funny.
There were plot implements like the mysterious ancients on which ancient artifacts and locations keep being found and mentioned, but are completely forgotten by the next episode. There have been characters that would turn into antagonists and show premise, but the show would either just bring them back up for the sake of a gag, or just forget that they ever existed. There would be cameos from Metal Sonic and even Shadow, with their respectable designs intact and seemingly, part of this alternate universe which the show was set on, but their appearances would also soon be forgotten after the very next episode. Some were hopeful more characters would appear but there would have been none after these.
The show would also make call backs to other shows and movies, as well as videogames. All in all Sonic Boom was not terrible and pretty watchable, something to enjoy and kick back without worrying about what will happen in the next episode of stressing about Eggman turning cute animals into his minions, because there was none of that here. He also did not want to capture Sonic nor held a huge grudge as in past shows; he just wanted to mess with him and his pals. More often than not, we see Eggman having a burger at the same place as Sonic does without much of a stare down. Talk about a passive aggressive rivalry.
There was a comics adaptation done by Archie, but they decided it was too good for them to continue it. I cannot blame them; some of their writing was atrocious to even compare it to the TV series anyway. I speculate that they were worried that Sonic Boom would steal fans away from their "better" Sonic comics line. That or they were too lazy to even manage more than ONE series anyway. As of date there has not been a full release of the entire thing on DVD or Blu-Ray, but should they do so I will most certainly get me a copy of it.
Now if you excuse me, I must join Sticks in hiding from the Martians.
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