| Sonic Underground | |
|---|---|
Sonic Underground title card |
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| Genre | Steampunk Dystopian fiction |
| Format | Animated series |
| Directed by | Marc Boreal François Hemmen Daniel Sarriet Tom Smith |
| Voices of | Jaleel White Maurice LaMarche Gary Chalk Gail Webster Peter Wilds Samuel Vincent Michael Stark Tyley Ross |
| Theme music composer | Robby London Mike Piccirillo |
| Composer(s) | Mike Piccirillo Jean-Michel Guirao |
| Country of origin | France United States Canada |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 40 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Andy Heyward Michael Maliani Robby London |
| Running time | 20-22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | DiC Entertainment TF1 |
| Distributor | Tribune Entertainment |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | {UPN (U.S.) ABC First-run syndication Teletoon (Canada) The Childrens Channel (UK) Pop Kix! KidsCo |
| Original run | August 30, 1999 – May 4, 2000 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Sonic the Hedgehog |
| Followed by | Sonic X |
Sonic Underground (Sonic le Rebelle in French) is an animated series that follows the adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and his siblings, Sonia and Manic. The cartoon follows a main plot similar to, but heavily reconcepted from, main plot of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Animated Series. The plots are executed using a much less serious format, and the show is aimed at a younger audience than the entire family. The sub-plots of Sonic Underground revolve around the positive-development of younger viewers. The series ran for one forty episode season, and was canceled before any major plots could be resolved.
Contents |
The show takes place on a planet called Mobius. (unrelated to the Mobius in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Animated Series) Queen Aleena, the kind and fair ruler of Mobius, was overthrown by Dr. Robotnik and his robotic armies. Robotnik seized control of the planet and forced her into hiding. To preserve the dynasty, Queen Aleena separated and hid her three children: Sonic, Manic and Sonia after the Oracle of Delphius told her of a prophecy: one day they would reunite with their mother to form the Council of Four, overthrow Robotnik, and become the rightful rulers of Mobius once more. (Sonia is the only girl among the children) Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik did his best to set up an autocratic government, and legally "roboticized" anyone who stood against him, and forced the nobles into paying large amounts of money to him as tribute.
When Sonic, Manic and Sonia grew up, the Oracle of Delphius revealed the prophecy to them: So Sonic, Manic and Sonia decided to go on a quest, searching throughout Mobius for Queen Aleena. Dr. Robotnik, with the assistance of the bounty hunters Sleet and Dingo, tries constantly to capture the royal family and prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled.
The three siblings have powerful medallions that can change into musical instruments, that are also weapons when the triplets are in perfect harmony with each other. Sonic's medallion is an electric guitar. Sonia's medallion is a keyboard that functions as a smoke machine, Manic's medallion is a drumset that can be used as an "earth controller" with cymbals that can deflect laserfire. All of the medallions can be used as laser guns. The three use the amulets not only to fight Robotnik's forces but to also as instruments for their underground (illegal) rock band, Sonic Underground.
The Sonic Underground series was thought be composed of 65 episodes, until 2008, when Ben Hurst, the secondary writer of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Animated Series, who was also involved in the making of Sonic Underground, revealed that only 40 were actually produced.
While there are several similarities between Sonic the Hedgehog: The Animated Series and Sonic Underground, the execution of the two series cannot be more different. Neither program religiously follows the plot and/or settings of the Sonic games. Sonic Underground is focused on musical expression, and like Sonic X, the show has many episodes which attempt to teach children social skills.
Though a group called the Freedom Fighters was included in Underground, they were not the same Freedom Fighters seen in Sonic the Hedgehog. Other differences include: Robotnik has left most of the Mobian people unroboticised, leaving multiple cities, a poor underclass, and an aristocracy. Also, many of the minor characters were not easily recognizable as being based on Earth animals, instead appearing far more alien. Queen Alenna and King Maximillian Acorn from Sonic the Hedgehog have very similar backstories.
Jaleel White, who had previously voiced Sonic in both earlier cartoons, provided the voices for Sonic, Manic and Sonia.
During the run up to the launch of the Dreamcast, Sega began to heavily advertise all its greater products. For Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega contacted DiC Entertainment (which at the time was owned by The Walt Disney Company), who previously made the TV shows Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and the immensely successful Sonic the Hedgehog: The Animated Series, to make the new Sonic cartoon. Sonic Underground ran for one season in 1999 on UPN.
While it was believed for a while that 65 episodes were made of which only 40 aired, Ben Hurst, a main writer from Sonic the Hedgehog: The Animated Series (dubbed SatAM by fans), who was also involved in Sonic Underground's production, stated in a chat at the Sonic Amateur Games Expo 2008 [1] that only 40 were produced.[2]
Currently (As of 2009), reruns of Sonic Underground are airing on Firestone Communications' Sorpresa, a Hispanic children's station (Channel 850 on Time Warner Cable) in the United States. All of the audio has been translated into Spanish. In the United Kingdom, it airs on Pop, which has also aired Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Between 2005 and 2006, it was aired also aired on ITV2 on the Action Stations! block
Sonic Underground is currently available on Netflix instant streaming.
Sonic Underground was a reconcept beta of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Animated Series, which was cancelled for reasons regarding to Sonic's arrogant behaviour. Sonic Underground is much lighter in tone.
The complete Sonic Underground series, comprising all 40 episodes on 10 DVDs, was released by Anchor Bay in the UK, compatible only with region 2 players. Sonic Underground, by Anchor Bay. The entire series was re-released by Delta (The same company who released the box sets of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog) onto a 4 disc DVD set with a 5th DVD containing bonus features. Like the other Sonic DVD box sets released by Delta, it is Region 0.
Shout! Factory has released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 in two volume sets. Volume 1, which was entitled simply Sonic Underground, was released on December 18, 2007. It contains the first 20 episodes of the show on three discs; a bonus fourth disc is an audio CD containing eight songs from the series, including the opening theme. The fourth episode is missing from volume 1, but was placed on volume 2. It is an NTSC release. (Visit Sonic Underground.) Sonic Underground: Volume 2 was released on June 17, 2008 featuring the remaining 20 episodes.
Six volumes of this series have been released in Australia, containing 4 episodes each.
Animation Station released a Sonic Underground DVD called Dr. Robotnik's Revenge, containing 3 episodes; it has since been reissued by NCircle Entertainment in a value line for $6.99. On December 18, 2007, NCircle Entertainment released more DVDs of this show called Queen Aleena Chronicles, Sonic to the Rescue, and Secrets of the Chaos Emerald. There were also episodes from the show in the Sonic Christmas Blast DVD.
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