Eh, who knows? As long as they get as much creative freedom as the guys at Archie, this show could work wonders. As I recall, their restrains go so far as just never letting Sonic cry (as in weep}. Correct me if I'm wrong there. This makes me wish Ian Flynn could be writing this... NO. Seriously, NO. FUCK THAT. Teen Titans Go! is a prime example of how to turn a show from a critically acclaimed adventure series that does its own thing while still giving the longtime fans something to geek out about (as most DC and Marvel adaptations do}, to a cash in comedy that throws out everything that made the original successful except one part that will get people's attention: the IPs. The characters, environments, and song(sometimes?} are the only things collected from the ashes, but it becomes clear that this is not a rebirth the creators want; it's a series that goes the direction of a cheaply made sitcom to try and get fans of the original series to watch Robbin and the gang one last time while also getting people who love to sit around and just stare at a bunch of teenagers lose their brain cells, piss each other off and cause easily preventable drama (sounds familiar to shit like Jersey Shore without the interview segments, doesn't it?}. TL;DR, This s a kind of format that is pretty much the kiss of death for a series, and to many just feels like a waste of airtime. This isn't to say, for what it is, TTG is bad. From what I watched, it isn't all that great, but the writers do a good job of working with the direction (I assume} they've been given. Regardless, I hope Sonic Boom doesn't end up like a sitcom like TTG, but that idea came into my mind the second I saw "Sonic cartoon," and I hope to God I'm wrong :S Not to mention the animation. Oh good God THE ANIMATION in that show is just so STENCIL. The original show tried to be whacky and fun whenever we needed a comedic break, sure, but the overall style of the show was one that was dynamic, engaging, and gave us much more to look at than the character always giving us a somewhat side profile like so many disney cartoons a la Phineas and Ferb. At least that show often had some motion to it, but what I mean is, most of the time you see Phineas' face from the side so his head looks like a complete triangle. If you notice, almost every character does this, and it can get pretty boring. What Teen Titans and other cartoons does right is it presents a style where characters are really viewable from all angles. It gives you a better presentation of the world and a lot more room for action than what we have now with TTG. What would be stellar is if they take some inspiration from the Sonic OVA; I never got into that thing as much as everyone else, but the world it set up was fairly nice, and its art style pretty vivid and lively, not to mention whacky in some of the most hilarious ways whenever it wanted to be. Who can forget the famous "SHUT UP TAILS" scene? And yes, while the OVA did have its moments where the animation could be like a lot of Animes at the time, which is fairly choppy and characters standing completely still as they talk, at other times it could be really fun. But, oh, what would the OVA's style look like if it was totally smooth all the time? Luckily, Toei Animation gave us some badass examples, and one just so happens to be this show's namesake. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYW7-hNXZlM Good God I wish Toei could animate a Sonic cartoon... Also, Oh, you want to know when Ken Pontac (1/2 of the Colors writers} takes part in making a cartoon? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZM64h5T4Lc Use this to make whatever judgement you want about that.
If this is real (I have my doubts and I don't care enough to look it up), it's going to be mediocre and unnecessary. Sonic just isn't a marketable name anymore, you can't just throw his face on a TV show and expect good ratings from the 6-12 demographic. The only people that still watch these things are hardcore fans that remember it and still care enough to check it out. My point is, they should stick with developing games for the only audience that plays them anymore. Any attempt at crossover media at this point in his dead potential as a mascot is a waste of everyone's time and money, both producers and consumers.
Just give me Adventure Time with Sonic and Tails in place of Jake and Finn. Replace the Ice King with Eggman. Profit.
Really? While the cutscenes in Sonic Colours and Generations weren't nearly as bad as in any of the other post-Adventure games, it still had pretty bad writing. It as mostly just exposition and poor jokes. And even at the times where it might have had a good joke, they still make the joke four times longer than it needs to be. Ian Flynn's run for the Sonic Archie comic is more like what I'd hope for from a Sonic cartoon. As much as I like Adventure Time, nope.
After that walking disaster that was Sonic X, I'd be happy with there not being another proper cartoon. I'll take once-in-a-while shorts like Night of the Werehog. Another AoSTH or SATAM would not be advisable. Those still feeling warm and fuzzy need to sit down and rewatch and attempt to get through a few episodes. Even nostalgia will shatter from just how bad they were. But this is a truth for a lot of 80s/90s cartoons. Growing up's a bitch.
I'd rather he didn't, at least based on his mainstream Archie work (Sonic X wasn't so bad). Polsky has at least proven he can do good character driven work, most of Flynn's stories seem to be worked more around generic action and he fails to give the cast any real distinctive ambition or quirks outside 'saving the day', meaning most of his characters are either bland, inconsistent or tools. I especially disagree if it features Sally and the other Freedom Fighters in any way.
I'm just curious what they're going to roll with and how deep the barrel will go into the games via the cast and locations. I just hope it isn't one of the modern LEL SO RANDUMB flash cartoons that Teen Titans and its ilk got reduced to. I imagine its going to be episodic, but it would be kind of nice to have an overall arc. Lately all the decent action shows have gotten the boot. Green Lantern, Tron, Young Justice, and Motorcity were part of the action cartoon holocaust earlier in the year to make way for Shit Titans, Annoying Orange and more Johnny Test. The only thing still going is Korra despite that being horribly underwhelming.
...Green lantern wasn't that great and honestly in my opinion Teen Titans Go is a better cartoon. I'm happy that the titans have returned in some form, but enough of that there's a topic about TTG and this is a topic about Sonic Boom so... As much as I do love TTG I really hope Sonic Boom won't go down the same exact route and pick that same type of humor. I would like to see it sort of be similar to AoSTH, but add some tone of seriousness as well. You know the best of both worlds...
I made a simple mockup of what I want the series to look like. This is only a half-joke. Shadow is the bully with a heart of gold, and evil Chaos in the background is the big bad.
http://youtu.be/Ka7CQW9xqhM Close enough! If there seriously is a new TV show in the works, then I'm incredibly excited it for it, even if it's worse than X. Sonic's gone under a slow re-branding since the the time when X was in production. It would be a great way to relaunch the franchise. If it takes off, that is.
Bitches, please. We all know what we REALLY want the series to be like: It's probably not gonna happen that way, though. =P
That's a little subjective, don't you think? I think the first season of SatAM still holds up, though I'm a fan when cartoons treat their audience like adults (Gargoyles, Batman, Superman)
I think Season One held up better due to it's more simplistic approach however, using a better balance of drama and whimsy, and still resorting to basic character-specific stories. Even at that though I still think it was trying to hard to be a 'big boy story' with pretentious points here and there, just not as blatantly as Season Two and it's comic adaptation. I actually wouldn't have minded something closer to the pilot, which was goofier in execution. Season One might have also held up better due to having multiple writers, meaning characters and concepts were looked at from several perspectives and given varied facets from differing minds, compared to Season Two which was limited to one writer mostly, so the usage of characters, their personalities and settings became far more limited. This is largely why I'm hoping this next show has several writers working on it. AoSth was also hit and miss, but it seemed more tolerable since it didn't really give off the pompous air it was trying to be anything higher. That's why a light hearted depiction may be a breath of fresh air, compared to endless attempts at making a cartoon superhero hedgehog serious material. The more I think about it, the more each show achieved something the others usually failed in.
What in the nine hells makes you think MLP was? That show, while the audience it got is questionable at best and the writing's quality is up for debate (which has no place here, seriously}, got INSANELY popular and well known. Why? It was, to many people, a show that they thought was shit and turned out to be legitimately good. Please tell me how many Pony fans there were back before the cartoon series that weren't little girls, despite that being the audience it should have stayed as. Point is, if this Sonic Boom cartoon were to explode as much as MLP did, that'd be GREAT for SEGA, considering there's no barrier of "oh my God this is such a little girl's cartoon," and more of "ugh fucking SANIC THE HEDGEHAWG," which... well, if enough people who are relatively mature/normal people can get into the show (yes yes I know, the fanbase as a whole is full of neckbeards but I can tell you right now some people who are completely normal just enjoy the show}, who's to say, assuming this show's well written enough, it can't get popular? Just because he's not a marketable name? He's the 12/13th best selling franchise on the market right now as I recall, made a few cameos in a critically acclaimed movie, and, well, is just well known! And his image is getting better, don't deny that. If this show's not a shitty cash in, it could very well be a good watch and have a sizeable enough viewerbase. tl;dr, just because he doesn't seem like a marketable name doesn't mean a well written show about him can't explode in popularity. What I WILL say though, is that the likelyhood of this show being something other than a timewaster most of us will cringe at isn't that high, because of the popularity of certain kids shows today. Sure, you got Adventure Time and Avatar, one show being a whimsical adventure across the various terrains of a crazy-ass planet, and the other being a more action-adventure Anime brought to the States, but the sad truth is American animation studios nowadays are trying to cater more to the simple-humor viewerbase, I.e. people who watch sitcoms and shit like Girl Code or anything aired on TLC. And yes, I know some kids who watch that bullshit. Welcome to 'murica. And the stats show that those kinds of shows are the more popular. It'd take some kind of miracle for us to get another whimsical adventure cartoon, or just a fun watch in general that isn't "lol watch this because it has Sonic in it." That's my biggest concern there. It's not enough to just throw the characters into a situation and say fuckall, and just bet on kids watching the show because it's got Sonic in it. I feel that's why a lot of people didn't like SatAM; it's a Sonic cartoon sure, but only because Sonic and Tails are in it. What connection does it have to everything else that made Sonic him, other than his lolSPEED and personality that the west drove down our throats? Not really much! If this cartoon goes in a direction like that (even without the sense of adventure,} I'll probably be disappointed. :/
If I were to expect any form of Sonic cartoon, I would expect something of a cross between action and light hearted comedy (somewhat akin to Adventure Time). I just hope it goes to an Adventure-esque form of artwork (lanky Sonic, not stiff 'Sonic X' Sonic). But dear god, no low-budget CG. Please.
Oh, I totally agree with you on all points. That's why I said it'd be pointless to make a show like TTG. It would only hurt Sonic and no one wants it. Furthermore, I fully agree with what you said about Toei. As a fan of their work, I would love to see their current animation departments having a go at Sonic. The OVA and the anime cut scenes from Sonic CD are, in my opinion, among the few cartoons that capture Sonic and his adventures as close to perfectly as possible. Like I said, the direction needs to be better. If the cartoon can't capture the wonder you feel when playing the games, then there almost isn't a point. I liked the Night of the Warehog short, but the comedy was the only thing it had going for it. Never once did I feel like the games were coming to life in a new way, nor did I feel the urge to play the games after I watched it. It was just a short that made me go "Oh. Well, that was nice." Furthermore... Well, at least it's a little better than the old school Pacman cartoon that Hanna-Barbera gave us. In fact, before I saw this clip, I caught a glimpse of the show on TV. There were scenes that succeeded in making me feel like the game had come to life. They really were making the most of use of CGI. The characters were weird and I still don't know what to make of them, but then again, it's Pacman. How much is there to really work with?
Wasn't actually calling you out or anything; you brought up TTG and I just wanted to drive home to everyone (but you} why that'd be the kiss of death to Sonic on television XP Also as I recall, the Sonic OVA wasn't made by Toei, but the animators, I'm sure, had strong influence from the Sonic CD cutscenes and/or were directed to emulate that style. Whatever animation studio is assigned animating Sonic Boom, I hope they're directed the same way. Unlikely because lolSEGA preferring the new designs, but who knows, this is a "MLP style reboot." If the animators are given enough creative liscence, maybe they can make a cartoon styled like the OVA and CD scenes, which would be awesome! Going back to what I said about SEGA preferring the new designs, in a way Lost World says otherwise, since this isn't an anniversary title, I.e. they're choosing to go more of a "classic" route! Not to mention the heavy influence from CD... hrmmmm... interesting. I'd draw connections but as of yet Classic Sonic isn't gonna be in Lost World, but hey, we'll see if SEGA decides to blow our minds and makes him a playable skin. Probably not but eh. I liked NotW (lol acronym} as well, though I felt it actually did a great job catching the nature of Unleashed. If you feel it didn't give the game life, well, then I can kinda see why; The Ghosts are only ever in the game for one mission and the short only seems to capture one half of the game accurately, the werehog. You know, when he decides to beat the shit out of that ghost. While that was fun for a few seconds in the game, that's the only thing that was really Sonic that they stressed in the short, other than Sonic being a douche, making fun of the ghosts when he saw he was getting photographed, and almost scaring Chip half to death. Sonic himself as a character was pretty downplayed in that short, and I hope that this isn't the direction that Sonic Boom goes. Like I said though, it captured the Werehog part excellently, so I feel if they went for a NotW approach, if they focused more on the characters as they are, not some alternate forms that get a lot of flack, maybe it could actually be pretty charming! This is again my problem with the idea of Sonic as a sitcom. We often think of sitcoms as a group of friends live in a house and talk about bullshit, but by definition it's where a group of characters get thrown into situations that induce comedy. That's sort of a huge generalization, but for now let's consider a sitcom more of a comedy where the humor relates more to real life events and characters all live within walking distance of each other. Loony Toons sort of did this... I guess? The NEW Loony Toons show definitely does. Say what you want about that show, but it does what it does well. Loony Toons as a series was set up to be flat-out comedy. That's fine. That was its charm. But Sonic? Sonic was set up to be two or so creatures exploring a mysterious planet and stopping a madman who seems to be following them (or is it the other way around..} from mucking everything up and turning the beautiful planet into a toxic waste dump. The charm and wonder of the Sonic series is the characters exploring their environments. Every game has new tropes to it for a reason; Sonic is a character that wants to see the whole world, and has the energy and speed to do it. His friends also share this passion, but Sonic has the most drive to see everything everywhere. Not to mention, his arch nemesis wants the same thing but for his own total control. This is why I see Sonic as more of an adventure series in every respect; the character himself is all about not sitting down and finding new things. That's who he is! That's the charm of the character and the series! If you take away that, you take away what makes Sonic himself. Hell, even in SatAM he had this passion to go out and get active, except that iteration of Sonic was less "explore the planet" and more "break EVERYTHING!," which to be fair is another aspect of the character. But that show was more of an independent branch of the series, and didn't relate to the games at all despite having the 3 characters from the games. Sure, they travel a lot, but the focus of the show isn't to stop robotnik before it's too late, but to reverse what he did. That's not exactly capturing the same wonder of the games; the games tried to give the player a new experience not just every installment, but every stage. This is one thing AoSTH got right, despite me not liking that show too much for various reasons. But like I said, it captured what made the games what they were; Sonic wants to go around the world and help people who's in trouble and give his enemies what they deserve: a kick in the ass and humiliation. Was the execution done well? Eeeehhhh that's debatable, especially since Sonic and Tails traveled to NO environments from the games (correct me if I'm wrong here}, or any trope similar... in fact the entire world looked more like the intro to Rocko's Modern Life. Still, I digress. In short, if we're talking about how the show should capture what made the games have their charm, then I think an adventure feel is an absolute must. Even if it's more of a comedy, Sonic and company would probably be best fit adventuring through the world. It's what he does best, next to running. :P Heh. I never actually heard of that Hanna-Barbera cartoon, but I can see where you're coming from with this. I personally felt some of the writing was questionable at best, but I agree they definitely made both the game and the show have a lot of life to it. The only thing is, disregarding the Pac-Man World series (which was more of a spin-off than anything}, like you said, they pretty much had a completely clean slate to work with. Sonic has a bit more established character to him, a lot of which is actually very decent for a character! We just need writers who can take that personality and make him feel like he has a life to him. EDIT: When this show becomes a thing, who wants to petition we get these people to hire falk as a musician :v:
I agree with you. I think season two was a little goofy for the tone of the show, but a semi-serial was a neat format (everything leading up to the Doomsday Project) I also hear the network interfered a little with season two, so they wouldn't be the first victim of "the network" if that's true. Now that I'm on a laptop, I can expound a little on why I loved SatAM and why I still think it was a great show. I know cable networks and R-rated movies have all dominated in shock value and pushing the envelope of what's expected, but I absolutely adore the fact SatAM went a little dark. I still remember how Sonic had to leave Uncle Chuck behind, and how earlier in the episode he revealed that roboticized Mobians still have free thought and realize everything they're doing, but no free will. That's pretty heavy stuff for a cartoon marketed to kids-preteens. I also realize one of the main arguments against the show is that it has very little to do with the source material-- and I agree wholeheartedly. But, I don't see that as a weakness or detriment, but rather a defining strength to the show. It provides meaning-- no, not meaning that Sonic Team intended, I'm positive-- but meaning to why Sonic was destroying badniks, and releasing his friends, and why Dr. Robotnik was a rotten son of a bitch that had to be stopped. Again, I fully understand that's the reason why people dislike SatAM, but I love it for that- the dystopian future where there's only a meager resistance standing in Dr. Robotnik's way from complete domination. It's really a sort of fun "What-if" scenario from the games if Robotnik actually won. Anyway, that's it! I know a series of this type is a impractical use of the license, but I'm glad that this type of series had the chance to happen once.
My problem with SatAM, as I've said before, is that you could replace the characters with pretty much any original character, and you'd have the same show. It's not a bad cartoon, really, and I'd say as far as 90's cartoons go, if it weren't for the Sonic license, I'd put it in the Top 20. I just feel like it wasn't a Sonic cartoon, it would have been a much better show in general. That, and it always felt like Sally was the REAL main character, and they just kept Sonic around for the action scenes.