Friends 'Til the End

Sonic X episode #51 "Friends 'Til the End"
Written by: Kiyoko Yoshimura
Directed by: Shigeharu Takahashi
Production no.: 051
Original airdate: 2004-03-21
Country: Japan

Chris' Long Journey is the 51st episode in the first season of Sonic X. In the English dub, it is known as Friends 'Til the End.

The episode opens with a look at Chris's memories: his mother and father have been estranged for long periods of time and, while behaving well, have not brought them back any faster. Faced with these memories, Chris stops the dimensional teleporter before Sonic can cross it, runs away with him, grabs a bicycle from the road, and rides off, with Sonic leaning on the carrier. Although Chris's family is concerned about Sonic's inability to return home, Sonic is very relaxed and lets Chris decide where to go.

Chris's parents launch a search and rescue operation, so Chris and Sonic elude them by hitchhiking on a truck. While Chuck scolds Nelson and Lindsey for not spending enough time with their son and thus neglecting his family duties as well, where he admits, however, that he knew Chris was suffering from missing his parents, but that he had turned the other way, immersing himself completely in the search and giving Chris very little attention, but this was not enough because Chris needed his parents. Meanwhile, Chris leads Sonic to a cottage near a beautiful lake where he and his parents had spent their first time as a real family.

During the bonfire that evening, Chris and Sonic resolve Chris's conflicted feelings and Sonic admits that he doesn't care what world he lives in: the freedom to run is all he needs, helping Chris understand that he doesn't have to condemn himself (because Sonic himself realized that his best friend is not selfish, which was fully demonstrated by the fact that Chris always cared about how Sonic felt) by giving him three important lessons/discoveries: he has always been independent and brave because without him he would be dead (this is said in the original version, in the English version he says that he does not believe theirs is a goodbye and that who knows maybe the two worlds are meant to be one and that one day they would see each other again, this is said explicitly in the English version but is seen implicitly in the original version and in episodes 53-54) ; he is free to decide what to feel and what to do, no one, not even Sonic, can decide for him (with this "lesson" in the original series we were made to understand that the decision to follow Chris, to be with him and to be his friend, was all his own free choice because Sonic was not only referring to Chris but also to himself), is Chris understands that if he is free to choose, Sonic is also free to choose otherwise it would not be true friendship, finally the third most important lesson in which it was also a way to comfort him by giving him hope : " the Moon is the same in whatever world you look at it " with this last " lesson " Sonic makes Chris understand that even if they come from two different worlds they are actually the same, that there is no difference between them ( with this exclamation Sonic lets Chris know that there isn't reason why one day they cannot see each other again in the original version even if said implicitly, they make us understand with this sentence that for them it is not a goodbye because Sonic himself never said goodbye to him but an : " we will see each other again one day " implicit )

Nelson and Lindsey understand that Chris is at the cottage because it is the only place where they spent the summer together. When they arrive, they find Chris standing on the dock at the lake, looking at the moon with tears in his eyes.... and Sonic is nowhere to be seen.

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
Portuguese	Amigos Até ao Fim	Friends 'Til the End

Trivia

• In the English version Sonic tells Chris that he is really his friend by answering the question that Chris asks him if he did not become his friend because of a debt of gratitude. Whereas in the original version Sonic tells him that friendship is free will/free choice either way , in both versions , although said differently , Sonic shows that he really cares about Chris is his friendship.

• In the English version Chris tells Sonic that he doesn't want him to suffer if being with him was withholding his freedom is always in the English version, Sonic replies to him that he doesn't have to worry because as long as he can run he is happy adding also that being with him he doesn't mind at all.

• Whereas in the original version Chris asks him : " Sonic...what world would you like to live in ? " And Sonic answers him : " you finally asked me that question " adding the same thing he said in the English version.

• In both versions , Chris said he was betraying their friendship by acting that way with Sonic with Sonic who was consoling him , but in both versions , Sonic never confirmed Chris's exclamation about betrayal ( because he is aware that his friend had a selfish streak due to suffering not because he considers Chris a selfish person or because he is one ).

• When they were at the pub , Sonic sneezed confirming something already existing within the main canon : when there is a dangerous situation , Sonic sneezes. In this case the " danger " situation was to return to the mansion.

• In the original version Sonic and Chris talk about what Sonic's world is like with the latter replying that it is similar to Earth. This scene in the English version is not there.

• While walking on the tracks of a station, Chris asks Sonic if he remembers that place, and Sonic replies that he may remember it when he passed by, but he is not very sure. At the end of this answer, Chris adds that he would not be surprised if he did not remember it because his mind runs at its own speed, adding that one day he will forget it too. In the English version Sonic replies to him that he will never forget a person like him, while in the original he replies that he does not forget important things (making us understand that for Sonic, Chris is unforgettable. Although it is said differently in the two versions , the meaning is the same).

• In the English version Chuck says that Sonic can no longer go home because the portal has no more energy. While in the original version he only says that Sonic can no longer return home because there was no more time (meaning there was no more time to recharge the portal). However at the end of the episode , it turns out that this is not entirely true since Sonic manages to return to his world using the chaos emeralds as seen in the flashback of 53.

• The childhood flashback of Chris appear also during his speech in the original version but not at the beginning of the English version.

Eyecatch cards

• 

  Nelson Thorndyke

• 

  Linsey Thorndyke

References

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