Sonic The Hedgehog

Pocket

jumbled pile of person
Citizen
You know, on top of every other way it's been reimagined, this franchise has to have some kind of record for how frequently the characters get recast. There are characters dating all the way back to the early days of talking pictures who have gone through fewer voice actors than these guys.
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
If any of them do, it'd have to have been in either AoStH or Underground.
Huh. Brian Drummond was Knuckles in Sonic Underground.

You know, on top of every other way it's been reimagined, this franchise has to have some kind of record for how frequently the characters get recast. There are characters dating all the way back to the early days of talking pictures who have gone through fewer voice actors than these guys.
Tails has had nine English language voice actors, the most out any Sonic character.
 

Fero McPigletron

Feel the fear!
Citizen
Cool write up. I've actually never seen a compete Sonic show. Closest I got was Sonic X's first two seasons (never saw the Metarex season with... Cosmo?).

Saw a handful of SonicSatAM. Should watch it full sometime. But I actually thought that Adv, Underground and Boom are too goofy or departs from the source material. They're actually good? Huh. Makes me think.
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
Well, "good" is subjective. I tried to state things based on what I liked for each series since others might not like some aspects. AoStH is utterly goofy. The Sonic Boom games are officially a different continuity than the mainline games and thus the show will carry most of those differences. But a major thing to note is when each series came out. Intriguingly, SatAM and AoStH can be compared to the Legend of Zelda cartoon. They're all early in their respective franchise so some things aren't canon yet, but they do pull things directly from the games available at the time. So Sonic's not bothered by large bodies of water in SatAM or AoStH but he is in Underground and all later shows. For as weird and off kilter as AoStH is at times, it's the one show that will some just have loops existing as a natural part of the world and have Sonic sometimes use them with momentum to reach heights if he doesn't have Tails' help.

A major thing to note is that each show is a sort of time capsule for when it was created:
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Slapstick comedy from the early 90s. Has messages at the end.
Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM): Action cartoon from the early 90s.
Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (OVA): Early/mid nineties edgy anime.
Sonic Underground: Songs in every episode AND/OR incomplete quest arc.
Sonic X: Early 2000s action anime dubbed by 4Kids.
Sonic Boom: 2010s comedy that uses self aware meta humor.

As far as checking things out, I'd say that most of these are officially available on YouTube...but it may be restricted in some countries.
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
This dropped earlier than expected:

I really didn't expect this animation style. The whole thing is really introspective. And Tikal's spirit is an unexpected but welcome cameo.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
I will say it's odd just how little Metal Sonic shows up across Sonic's shows. Due to Sonic Heroes, you'd think he'd show up in Sonic X at some point but there was an odd Metal Sonic drought early in the Modern era.
Back when Sonic X was first airing, I at the time had hoped that Metal Sonic would be revealed to be the secret final boss in charge of the Metarex, since the name "Metarex" sounded similar to Metal's Fleetway comics name "Metallix", and that he'd be in his Sonic Heroes redesigned form.

Maybe even operating from within a rebuilt Death Egg redesigned to resemble Metal's face instead of Eggman's.

On the sub vs dub discussion, I feel like fans get way too focused on 'XYZ got censored' as opposed to other more major problems that the dub created. Out of the three biggest specific issues brought about by the dub, I can think of only one that's a censorship complaint. Not saying the dub is perfect but I think it did a pretty good job.
What were these "three biggest specific issues"?

Huh. Brian Drummond was Knuckles in Sonic Underground.
For the longest time, it was believed that SU Knuckles was voiced by Ian James Corlett.
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
What were these "three biggest specific issues"?

I probably should have said plot points instead of issues, especially since it's subject to opinion. I've seen the dub and read about the sub and maybe things would be different if I directly watched the sub. Still, in my eyes:

1. Cutting out Amy's cooking subplot. With her sometimes being flanderized in the show, it wasn't good to remove part of her character.
2. The subplot involving the GUN soldier and Maria's death. This is the one that feels more like censorship and it's a pity due to what it is. Taking Maria's death and framing it from the regretful soldier who shot her adds more depth to the whole tragedy. The fact that it was a whole subplot instead of just one episode added more to the weight of it.
3. Shadow vs Knuckles. This is the one that's least important but feels weird that they did it. Considering Knuckles was still very popular at this time, I don't know why the dub edited things for him to get bowled over versus having him push Shadow to his limits.



I believe there's a retcon in the Frontiers prologue:

In Sonic Adventure, generic warriors push past Tikal to get the Master Emerald. In this, her own father shoves her aside. I don't know how much of this is an overt retcon for emphasis, a "correction" because of limited animation at the time of the original, or SA1 style "seeing things differently" based on who encounters the story. Regardless, it would have added to Chaos' rage at the situation.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
2. The subplot involving the GUN soldier and Maria's death. This is the one that feels more like censorship and it's a pity due to what it is. Taking Maria's death and framing it from the regretful soldier who shot her adds more depth to the whole tragedy. The fact that it was a whole subplot instead of just one episode added more to the weight of it.
The whole thing with 4Kids censoring as much as this did is the same reason Saban censored so much in their own anime dubs: FOX's broadcast standards and practices were really strict when it came to children's television, ever since soccer moms reacted negatively to Batman, X-Men, and Power Rangers upping the levels of violence that could be shown on children's TV.

The GUN soldier's story was very deep and emotional, but his direct role in Maria's death (that being the murder of a child gunned down by a pseudo-U.S. soldier) was something that FOX was never gonna allow to be depicted.

Had Sonic X been dubbed instead for, say, Toonami, or any other cable TV network, the soldier's tragic role in Maria's death could have had a better chance of being maintained in the dub. But instead, 4Kids had to abide by the stricter rules of a broadcast network instead of a cable network.

Although, it has been a while since I last watched Sonic X. What was it exactly that 4Kids changed about the GUN soldier's story? I do remember the dub keeping his sadness and remorse over what happened, but what did 4Kids alter about it?
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
3. Shadow vs Knuckles. This is the one that's least important but feels weird that they did it. Considering Knuckles was still very popular at this time, I don't know why the dub edited things for him to get bowled over versus having him push Shadow to his limits.
Ooh, I didn't know about this. =(
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
Although, it has been a while since I last watched Sonic X. What was it exactly that 4Kids changed about the GUN soldier's story? I do remember the dub keeping his sadness and remorse over what happened, but what did 4Kids alter about it?
Scenes with GUN soldiers carrying guns are either removed outright or reframed. Instead of showing the flashback of the GUN soldier firing, he narrates that she was taken away.

Ooh, I didn't know about this. =(
Yeah, in episode 73 "The Cosmo Conspiracy", Shadow tries to kill Cosmo and Knuckles holds him off long enough for Tails and Cosmo to escape. The Japanese version is longer with Shadow weary and Rouge noting that Knuckles forced him to remove his inhibitor rings. It's not impossible that the dub shortened the scene so commercials can fit in.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
I'm really looking forward to watching the original version all the way through. I have seen the subbed SA1 and SA2 episodes, but that's it.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
Scenes with GUN soldiers carrying guns are either removed outright or reframed. Instead of showing the flashback of the GUN soldier firing, he narrates that she was taken away.
I see. Sounds like FOX's strict BSnP in a nutshell.

Similarly, they removed all shots of the Station Square police firing on Chaos 0, despite the shots being accurate to the game version of the scene.

FOX just didn't allow realistic gunfire in their children's shows post-Batman. It's why the cops in Spider-Man all had futuristic laser guns.
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen

Music from Frontiers and an interview about the hows and whys of composing the game. Some of the answers were fairly surprising.



As a heads up, Sonic Frontiers spoilers are rolling in so be careful out there, especially on YouTube, if you didn't want to be spoiled. And I guess be careful in here since it's a combined thread.
 

ZakuConvoy

Well-known member
Citizen
So, here's some early reviews of Sonic Frontiers. Might want to check them out.
 
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Confuzor

Koopaling Aficionado
Citizen
Played about 3 hours last night. Having a blast. The Cyberspace controls are MARKETEDLY worse than that very tight OpenZone controls. I S Ranked the first one and decided it wasn't worth the hassle to do for any other ones.

There is some unfortunate interactions I've had with enemies and the environment that led to some frustrations.
fighting the Squid miniboss, Ive found that as it swoops around trailing me behind it, the sunlight will reflect off of its "tail" and make it hard to see upcoming attacks, which sometimes don't have the accompanying sound effect, leading to cheap deaths.
 

Zamuel

Pittied fools.
Citizen
Well, today I got Sonic Frontiers for my birthday. Last time I asked for Sonic as a birthday gift was 1999. Discovered that I'm kinda bad at this but I just may not be used to the control scheme. Cyberspace does control way worse than the open world but I'm willing to give the stages at least one run through each.
 


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