So, it's been awhile since I've posted here, but I figure I'd mention this. After 11 years of the series being on air and distributed in the United States, Sonic X's airing finally came to an end with the closure of the Vortexx. However, that's not the only thing that has ended. Back around April of this year, a forum user on the Saban Talkback thread, over at Toonzone, had hinted that Sonic X would be gone for good this fall. However, some had speculated it just meant the end of the Vortexx block, once that news had hit. However, that is not the case. As of the beginning of this month, Sonic X's license with Saban Brands has ended. The rights have been reverted back to TMS Entertainment, based off information on Hulu's publisher for the series. What this essentially means that Saban can no longer legally distribute or sell the series in the states. However, this does open the possibility of someone else picking the series and re-distributing the series on DVD over here. As for digital distribution, TMS Entertainment appears to be continuing distribution on Hulu, so for people who want to watch the series (Subbed or Dubbed), it's all available still. Honestly, if anyone wants to see the series distributed on DVD again here in the states, I'd personally recommend inquiring Discotek Media. The company, though small, has a very good relationship with TMS Entertainment, releasing quite a number of their titles, such as the Lupin series, Sherlock Hound, Cyber Six, and such. Plus, they've been known to release their series both in Dubbed and Subtitled fashion, even for shows that were Edited only, though through separate releases. Having owned their releases, they're generally high quality and seem to actually care about what they put out, even reaching out to fans to help out with their releases sometimes. Their facebook is located here, if anyone wants to ask them.
And Samurai Pizza Cats, which coincidentially also used to belong to Saban. They did a great work with that property, by the way, publishing both the localized version and the subtitled original in two different sets (despite the odd decision of leaving the latter's cover in Japanese).
I'm pretty sure. The fact that Sonic X was the only title removed from Saban's "Vortexx" publishing Page on Hulu, is a good sign of this being the case. Plus, I trust the mention of Sonic X being gone "forever" over at Toon Zone, since the guy gave information to us in the past that wasn't known to the public initially. Yep! I actually have the Japanese version sitting next to me. Still haven't gotten to watch fully yet, but the subtitles and translations seem acceptable. Regarding the Japanese logo, apparently they were going to use a different logo with a Translation, but the Japanese rights holder made them use the original one, complete with Japanese name and all.
Hm, maybe that means they might finally release a subbed version of it with the correct soundtrack and non-terrible voice cast. =P
Not like that would do a ton; Japanese or English dubs, Sonic X got pretty horrendous pretty quickly :P Though it would be interesting to see a non-4Kids english dub... despite Roger Craig Smith's way of playing Sonic is completely different from the style of the show.
I'm sure Mike Pollock would be happy to redub it too, since he has mentioned that he felt his performance was pretty flat in the first batch of episodes (the director pretty much told him to try to emulate Deem Bristow and keep the voice low).
They'd have to work out a deal to get the rights to use the Off Course songs, wouldn't they? I imagine that might be a bit pricy. Although if they weren't able to and had to use the crappy filler songs, I wouldn't mind seeing this get a proper re-dub/re-release in the US someday.
Sonic X was kinda cool when I twelve. Just seeing a Sonic cartoon on TV was pretty awesome (besides re-runs of AoStH on Toon Disney). But in the end, Sonic X is just the crappy storytelling of the Sonic games of that era without any of the gameplay to make it tolerable. It's way too embarrassing to watch in English or in Japanese.
Sonic X in Japanese was so much better either way. I honestly liked the English cast, but the obnoxious brass section spam didn't fit Sonic all too well for me, even for the blue nude dude with a 'tude. The Japanese OST is far more thrilling and modern. Sonic X could've been better, but it wasn't that bad. Even then, I can't say I had much interest in the show after the first season myself. Didn't quite agree with the direction the series took and lost interest. (The characters not returning to their home world was a painful tease.) The same went for the excellent TMNT 2003 cartoon that also aired on FoxBox, with them simply not letting Shredder die after a fairly epic conclusion in the first season. Is it really that scary for writers to explore something new after a big story arc, instead of pretending a non-static universe reset itself? Personal opinion aside, I wouldn't mind seeing a physical DVD release again. (I get angry over hiccups too easily to watch a show on streams.) Sonic X had its moments, and a pretty good bit of nostalgia for me. It was one of those last Saturday morning cartoons I was excited to get up in the morning for with my sis. I seriously need to find those DVDs when I can afford it. Just barely remember Samurai Pizza Cats from my childhood, but I love the Famicom game to pieces, and some of the clips I've seen of the show recently showed me how much of its humor went over my head back then.
Would be great to get an Uncut release of Sonic X by Discotek, since the Japanese DVDs have some volumes sould out and the French DVDs have some problems - and none of them have subtitles, which is a great reason to see a release of the uncut version. And I hope with Sonic Boom in Japan, TMS to consider release a Sonic X DVD/Blu-Ray Box.
We should at least get this series a proper DVD release ala how AOSTH and SATAM got one (Not sure about SU). if Saban isn't in control any longer it should be allot easier to ask for them (either TMS or its distributor) to consider a full series set. No, you don't care. don't lump me the rest of us into your personal opinion.
Yeah, I quite liked the show, actually. Still keep meaning to getting around to watching #53 onwards.
I always thought the voice cast was just fine. The dub had more than its share of problems, but between shitty voice direction (common with 4Kids) and shitty translation completely original writing, no cast could've done anything good with it.
Many of the 4Kids actors are Broadway, so it's not like they don't have the chops either. Andrew Rannells (the voice of Decoe, E-102 among others) was the original lead in Book of Mormon for example. But 4Kids dubs are notoriously cheap and lazy, I wouldn't be surprised if they let the actors record the lines once or twice and got them out of there as soon as possible.
Gamma and the robots are prime examples of your point, those were terrible directions and no way close to the source material. But somehow Omega in SHTH was dead on hell it even sounded the same as his Heroes VA. too bad the VA only stuck around for 1 game.
Wait, are you saying Gamma spoke in Sonic X? I swear, in the German dub (which was based straight on the 4kids-dub), he was mute.
