SatAM was easily one of my favorite cartoons as a kid. I always held it in high regard. To me that basically was Sonic with a story that was a logical elaboration on the story from the games, and still has a better story than the mess that the story behind the games wound up becoming. I never was a huge fan of AoSTH because the humor in it was just stupid and it just wasn't as cool as SatAM. I did wish that it would have had a better utilization of the characters from the games, and it was a bit disappointing that the cliffhanger that drove everyone mad when the show was cancelled was Ixis Naugus and not Knuckles, Metal, or anything of that sort. The best animated utilization of Sonic is hands-down the OVA. It had great animation, great plot, great utilization of in game and original characters and it made sense within the frame of the world the games created. No other Sonic animation even begins to measure up. Sucks that it was only 2 episodes. To me Sonic X is just too bland to be palatable, and Sonic Underground was just bad. A Night of the Werehog style series could be interesting, but I have a feeling that this show is probably going to be something goofy and comical, not unlike AoSTH judging by the writer we have so far. As I previously indicated, I will have to see it before I judge it.
Bobinator: I'm thinking you're saying you wouldn't put SatAM in your top 20 because the Sonic IPs feel more like a means of attracting people who just want to see the blue hedgehog rather than actually giving reason for him being in the show in the first place, right? And/or the fact that he was the supposed main character but the character Sally did a whole lot more and was actually a whole lot more developed? I can see what you mean by that, if that's what you're getting at. I never got into SatAM but I reacently watched the whole series; I gotta say, despite what Gene said, I actually thought it was pretty well done for a 90's cartoon. Were there some episodes that were ass? Of course, most of which I could point my fingers to Season 2 for bringing. Overall, though, it wasn't bad but it sort of decided to throw everything about Sonic out the door and only keep a few elements, the protagonists and antagonists for one, and then pack in its own content. Like Bobinator said, without three of the characters it could very well be its own cartoon. FoS, I agree with a lot of what you said. For what the show was, it was good. But unfortunately the show decided it wanted to shift the focus more on its own original characters and instead make Sally the leader (even though they call Sonic the leader...} and COMPLETELY downplay Tails. Hell, Tails didn't even need to BE in the cartoon! That's the real glaring issue there; the characters that they were marketing as the focus of the show felt more like an afterthought. Sure, we got to know a lot about Robotnik and just see how despicable of a life form he is, and his character was excellently developed for what they were going for. But again, Sonic seemed to be less of a character and more of the generic hero of the show that everyone calls on to help save the day when it's out of their hands. I have other problems with the show, like none of the game environments being represented, a complete disregard of the chaos emeralds which have been in the games since day fucking one, and changing things for questionable reasons like putting the "time stones" on the "floating island," neither of which are similar to their game counterparts in the slightest. I do like how the Sea3on comic is attempting to tie the games and the cartoon together, but anyone could have thought up a story to link the game world and the SatAM world together. Hell, Archie did it, for better or worse, and Sonic Genesis was actually, as I saw it, a great way of combining the SatAM characters and game locations/plotline of Sonic 1 and 2. But the problem there is that SatAM itself didn't do this. In this regard, the show really does come across as just a plot that slaps Sonic's face on it to get more publicity than it possibly deserves, even though for what it was it was pretty good. To make this relevant to the topic... I guess I can just say this shouldn't be a direction Sonic Boom goes. It's confirmed Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Eggman are going to be the main game characters just like in Lost World, so if that's the extent of the main cast, then we should be good unless SEGA pulls a fast one and the show's suddenly about Knuckles rapping as he finds the lost pieces of the Master Emerald. Either way, hope we find out more soon!
I think my problem was season two was less the goofiness but how it was actually merging it even more erratically with drama value to the point neither paid off, compared to Season One which at least kept enough subtlety between both that they sort of merged well (though still had the odd badly implemented plot, the ironically named 'Sonic Boom' episode had a blatantly apathetic Red Shirt usage). This leaned it a lot more into standard Sonic 'maturity' with pretentious shock value mixed badly with embarrassing cheesiness. The 'living death' elaboration of the robotocizer in particular I think destroyed a lot of suspension of disbelief since it didn't come off believable at all coming from Uncle Chuck, whose character was a fairly lucid and unperturbed old koot. He's even smiling as he's talking about it. I think Blast To The Past also ruined a lot of suspension of disbelief, especially as some of the cast were becoming more and more one note that the ten year distance didn't seem feasible. Robotnik became a generic 'For The Evulz' that forgone any tight plan in favor of kicking a puppy, Sonic became more and more of an obnoxious dumbass who should have by all means got himself and the whole team killed long before, while Sally slowly got her flaws diluted in favor of just being a perfect 'Women are Wiser' foil that was always Sonic's moral and intellectual superior. The rest were just shoved into obscurity or diluted to comic relief, which ruined a lot of the concept of the Freedom Fighters being a closely knit unit who all mattered, since now the show could pretty much work entirely with just Sally planning it all and Sonic as dumb muscle. I'm kinda hyper sensitive on the subject, but I didn't really enjoy Sonic's portrayal in the show either, it seemed all the difference between having a character with an attitude or just acting like an arrogant jock 24/7. His narcissism was exaggerated to the point he talked about himself every second sentence, while the rest was devoted to expressing his obsessive contempt for the team's nerd (even Antoine wasn't THAT provocative, at least one episode he earnestly wanted to leave him for dead, which concerning the aforementioned unsettling and dead seriously played fate awaiting him with this Eggman, came out less comical and more just disturbingly vindictive). He also slowly became more one note stupid, losing all his resourcefulness to the point rather than having him a spontaneous character that could go either way, he was just a consistantly reckless character so as to emphasize how much he needed Hurst's pet character as a foil. That awful slang hasn't dated well at all either. I think Polsky's first obstacle is to find a better medium between this and the bland Gary Stu he is in interpretations such as Sonic X.
Like I said, if they can just keep going with that Colors and Generations did, I'd be OK with that. Sure, the writing in Colors is goofy. There's no way to deny that, and I know that. But given the general concept of Sonic as a whole, I feel that just generally works better for the most part. And during actual gameplay, or the boss introductions in Generations, we can basically assume that's Sonic shutting up and getting serious. If they can basically work that sort of balance into a new cartoon, that's all I'm really asking for. I don't watch MLP, but if they do what that show does and keep the drama for the season finales, that works for me. Also, Chimera, that's a very good way to put it, thank you.
It'd be great if Toei could handle animation for a series. Seeing the Sonic OVA style of animation with today's means would be great.
It's a shame that Brad Flick didn't want to travel and the entire event is now being held in his back yard, which from what I gather is a shooting gallery.
Hate to break it to you Barry, but this is about the Sonic Boom cartoon, not the convention. Is there a topic for it this year? Edit: Yep.
Sorry, but I stand by what I said. The same applies for this. Somehow Brad will twist a cartoon into being produced in his backyard and then he will shoot the production staff.
A new cartoon? That could be neat. Just please no low budget CGI. It would look so plastic-y. And the show will end up being done as a slideshow of Sanic-like MSPaint doodles with same guy voicing every character. ...Actually, I'd watch the shit out of that.
And if you are going to use CG, save yourself a whole bunch of effort and just rip the models from Generations.
If the Sonic Boom TV show actually is a thing, then I wouldn't be surprised. Last year we had Wreck It Ralph in ASRT announced, Sonic in Wreck It Ralph announced and SA2HD announced.
Sonic Boom announced at Sonic Boom using Sonic Boom as the trailer music. This is too perfect for it not to happen.
I cant wait to be a useless piece of shit all day and collect all these rings FUCK IM FALLING DOWN ALL THESE BOTTOMLESS PITS....... Heck, I'd totally watch that too.
Like I said in another site, if true what I expect ideally is a show that balances both the lighthearted tone with the action aspect one expect from Sonic. As for the cast, I'd be glad if the focus besides Sonic and Eggman is also placed on Tails, Amy and Knuckles as well as if they manage to present the characters in a way that make them feel relatable, even humanize them a bit (Sonic X did that for Amy in the first episodes of X and also had some other moments through the series) by having a few episodes from time to time that focuses on each of those characters, allowing to show the other facets that the latest games have eclipsed by focusing on just one aspect of their respective personalities. This also applies to Sonic, who is the protagonist and have enough character to show intersting things of him too. Really hope that unlike this past few games he actually interacts with the rest of the cast, displaying different interaction dynamics and chemistry instead of being limited to just hang around with Tails.
