Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog DVD Box Set Review

It's safe to say that Sonic the Hedgehog has had the most varied television career or any video game character in history. Odds are that you're most familiar with his latest animated outing, Sonic X, but the ol' hedgehog has been running on the small screen since as far back as 1993, when Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog first blasted onto televisions. Now, the show finally sees the light of day on DVD courtesy of Shout! Factory.

The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog tells the tale of--obviously--Sonic the Hedgehog and his foxy friend Tails as they traverse the world of Mobius, righting the wrongs of the evil Dr. Robotnik. The show debuted in September of '93 and aired on weekday mornings, while the darker iteration of the show, simply titled Sonic the Hedgehog, aired on Saturday mornings. Unlike the latter, Adventures was a much more lighthearted show filled with slapstick humor, much like that of Ren and Stimpy. Still, many people who have never seen the show may imagine it as too silly and weird, but really, it's little more than what you'd see on other shows at the time like Tiny Toon Adventures.

If there was one area in which the show shined, it was the characterizations. Sonic was brash and cocky, but cared about nothing more than keeping people safe, especially his best friend and travelling companion Tails. Tails acted as one would expect a young boy to act (his age constantly fluctuates in the show). He idolizes his hero and wants nothing more than to be like him, a trait that gets him in trouble from time to time as he strives to constantly prove himself to Sonic. Occasionally he has to play the hero himself when Sonic is out of the picture, and he always comes through with flying colors. The villains are equally charming. Dr. Robotnik personifies the "goofy evil villain" that was so prevalent in cartoons of that time. At one moment he could be dancing around happily like an idiot, another time smacking his robots around angrily, another time pointing a laser gun at Sonic's head. His emotions could change at the drop of a hat, varying from squealing in pure joy to bawling like a baby. His robot cohorts easily steal the show. Scratch is a tall robotic chicken based on the Cluck enemies from the Sonic 2 video game, and his nonidentical twin brother Grounder is a short, fat drilling robot based on the Sonic 2 robots of the same name. Both showcase the same wide range of emotions as their creator, but unlike him, are quite stupid, constantly having their plans to obliterate Sonic backfire on them.

The show is widely accepted as the most faithful to the games, which really isn't saying much. Sonic and Tails are the stars, of course, just as they were in all the games up to that point. Robotnik received an overhaul, having his egg shape tweaked into a more...jiggly, comical shape (character designer Milton Knight calls him "animation's sexiest fat man"). Scratch and Grounder are also tweaked from their game counterparts. The music theme is based on the main theme of the games, and is played quite often. Several of the worlds from the games are featured in the show, but the only relation is the name; areas including "Marble Zone" are little more than regular areas with the level name slapped on.

Voices in the show couldn't be more perfect. Jaleel White of Family Matters fame was made to play the role of Sonic. His cocky, teenage rebel attitude couldn't have been brought across better. For such a young boy, Christopher Evan Welch did a superb job bringing Tails' innocence and childlike personality out. The late Long John Baldry covered Robotnik's wide range perfectly. One could take him as the evil villain he was while at the same time laugh at his goofy antics. It's a shame such a wonderful voice actor is no longer with us today. Scratch and Grounder are voiced by Ocean Group veterans Phil Hayes and Gary Chalk respectively. I'm quite surprised Hayes hasn't been hit up to play more birds, because the distincively bird-like voice he gave Scratch fit the character like a glove. Chalk, of Transformers fame, takes his voice down a notch from the generally more sophisticated roles he's used to having and captures Grounder's stupidity like no other could. Another series favorite, Coconuts, is voiced by fan-favorite Ian "Goku" Cortlett, who gives the character a whiny, almost Brooklyn edge. It's amazing how wonderfully the voice cast plays off one another. As was said, the Sonic theme from the first two games is featured quite often in various forms, combined with several pieces of classical music, including In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg, and Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Why the music producers decided to use these pieces is beyond me, but it was a venture that worked very well. Other pieces of music used in the show are short and sweet, but quite memorable. I still find myself humming along to them to this day.

The animation is decent enough. Backgrounds are minimal, just enough to give you a vague idea where you're at. The character animation is very lively, featuring a broad range. The characters are often contorted and making cartoon-y poses due to the silly nature of the show, and they work. Interestingly, the animation studios for the show shift constantly, and it's quite obvious. You can easily tell one animation studio's art from the next, as the characters may end up having a completely different style from one episode to another.

The first 22 half-hour episodes are released in a sleek 4-DVD box set. The cover art looks to be completely original, likely commissioned by an artist at DiC. A distinct lack of a "Volume 1" on the cover makes one question whether or not we'll be seeing the rest of the series on DVD. Menus are well done, but do get quite aggravating, featuring the exact same music on every screen. The animation on this release looks better than I've ever seen it. I'm so used to seeing the grainy video from my old tapes that seeing everything so crisp and clear on my TV is a real treat. The show has held up very well over the years. The special features are interesting enough. I'm quite partial to the interview with Robotnik character designer Milton Knight, as it just so happens I was the one who suggested that the DVD producer contact him for the interview! Anyway, he provides interesting details on what went into the design of the character, as well as how his job as a designer and artist works. You also get a storyboard from the pilot episode, as well as a "How to Draw Sonic" featurette, which is ultimately forgettable. You'd figure the artist would at least talk to the audience while he's working on it. Still, the special features are minimal for now, as hopefully there are more in store for the next volume, should it ever come out.

If you're looking for a more serious Sonic outing, I suggest picking up the Sonic the Hedgehog box set instead, but if you watched the series back in the day or just appreciate oddball, slapstick humor, you owe it to yourself to pick up this gem. It'll have you up, over, and gone!