Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

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Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog title card.

First broadcast in September 1993, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (or AoStH for short) has been "running" in cartoon syndication ever since. It's a fast-paced cartoon with a lot of slapstick humor, similar to shows such as Ren and Stimpy or Tiny Toons.

The show follows the escapades of world-known video game hero, Sonic and his best bud Miles "Tails" Prower as they stop the evil Dr. Robotnik and his array of vicious robots from taking over the planet Mobius. The plots often loosely followed the storyline of the video game, although at the time the Sonic games were still quite new, and lacking much plot or character development, which was in turn filled in by the show's writers. The show features very few characters, usually just Sonic, Tails, Robotnik and his two hench-bots Scratch and Grounder. Characters from this show made cameos in the 8-bit and 16-bit versions of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.

Each episode featured the famous "Sonic Sez" segments where Sonic gave viewers advice on different topics, ranging from staying in school, not running away from home and not using guns to smoking, alcohol abuse and false advertising. Probably the most famous of these segments is the one featured in "Lovesick Sonic", which dealt with sexual harassment. With the advent of video sites like YouTube these segments (especially the "Lovesick Sonic" ones) have become viral hits.

The show was created by DiC Entertainment, who produced a total of 65 episodes for its first season. The first episode was "The Best Hedgehog" (shown Sept 6) and the last was "Hero of the Year" (shown Dec 3). DiC ceased production of to this comical interpretation to spend more time on its darker interpretation, dubbed just "Sonic the Hedgehog" (commonly known as SatAM), a series launched on ABC's Saturday morning line-up. This wasn't to be the end of AoStH, however, for DiC created one more episode in the winter of 1996, Sonic's Christmas Blast - which ended up being a strange mix of AoStH and SatAM.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was orignally broadcast in syndication, meaning it was shown on any television station that wanted it. USA Network picked it up from 1995-1997 and then it later picked up by Toon Disney from 2000-2002. It was also broadcast internationally and currently is shown three times a day on POP!. AoStH villains also appeared one weekend on "Chillin' with the Villians" program hour - Robotnik was even on their commercial for it.

Trivia

• Tails' voice was provided by Christopher Evan Welch, who was 11 years old when the program began. When Sonic Christmas Blast was released, he was 14 years old and was replaced because his voice changed.
• The series and the theme song regularly features the title screen theme from the first two Sonic games. This was the only show, up until Sonic X to feature music from the games.
• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was originally offered to ABC for Saturday morning broadcasting. But because ABC executives found the series to be lacking in plot and animation, ABC told DiC to scrap it and work on another Sonic cartoon. Its replacement was the second series, known by fans as SatAM.
• In the episode "Untouchable Sonic", Scratch and Grounder were seen watching Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog on TV. The footage they were watching was from the original pilot episode. The pilot itself is available for viewing here.
• In Germany this show is named "Sonic der irre Igel" (Sonic the Insane Hedgehog).
• In the episode "Tails Prevails", there is a Star Trek reference when Tails says "I'm giving her all she's got captain." In an attempt at a stereotypical Scottish accent.
• This show is the source for the Sonic YTMND fad.
• The games Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Sonic Spinball are set in the same continuity of this television series as characters from the show make cameos.

Official Cast List

• Jaleel White ...as Sonic the Hedgehog
• Christopher Evan Welch ...as Miles "Tails" Prower (except Sonic Christmas Blast, where Tails was voiced by Chris Turner)
• Long John Baldry ...as Doctor Ivo Robotnik
• Gary Chalk ...as Grounder, Additional Voices
• Phil Hayes ...as Scratch
• Ian James Corlett ...as Coconuts, Additional Voices
• Gary Owens ...as the Narrator (pilot episode)
• Jim Cummings ...as Doctor Ivo Robotnik and Scratch (pilot episode)

External links

• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog at TV.com