"Sonic the Hedgehog" coming to DVD

Dash · Post by **Dash** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 4:42 pm

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=6764

Seems packed with everything the raging SatAM fans would want too. I may pick it up, if only for nostalgia and what looks to be the care put into the package. Charming to see they're using fanart for the packaging, but it's too bad the artist decided to use the old video box rule "Make everything sickeningly glossy".

Anywho, discuss.

CM August · Post by **CM August** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:24 pm

That's not fanart, it's Archie's very own Ken Penders. A fanartist probably would have done a better job though.

I want to see the Jaleel White interview and early concept art.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:50 pm

I'd be more curious to hear from the writing staff on the decision to stray so far from the games. And why they thought "Robuttnik" was so darn funny.

Protodude · Post by **Protodude** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:56 pm

What's Ixis doing on the cover? I heard he was that dude in the shadows in the last episode, but still, he never actually made an appearance.

Cuckooguy · Post by **Cuckooguy** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:32 pm

And why they thought "Robuttnik" was so darn funny.

I... I think Robuttnik is funny in a sort of juvenile way.

Also, Ixis did appear in one or two episodes of the series as an ally of King Acorn. But yeah, it's not like he did anything major enough to warrant being on the cover. I wish Antoine was on the cover too.

J.E.Smith · Post by **J.E.Smith** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 11:29 pm

Amazing Grant wrote:I'd be more curious to hear from the writing staff on the decision to stray so far from the games. .

They(or at least Ben Hurst) never played them. I think he mentioned once he didn't think SoA's backstory at the time(You know, the one where Kintobor becomes Eggman by getting electroucted with Chaos Emerald energy while holding a rotten egg) make any sense so he decided to make his own(To one showed in the Blast To The Past two parter), and he had to fight tooth and nail to keep it in.

BlazeHedgehog · Post by **BlazeHedgehog** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 1:35 am

Protodude wrote:What's Ixis doing on the cover? I heard he was that dude in the shadows in the last episode, but still, he never actually made an appearance.

Nope! He made a one episode appearance. Or was it a two-parter? Sonic and Sally ventured into the Void to rescue the King, but they were confronted by Ixis. Upon trying to get the King out, the began turning to crystal - you know, the standard stuff.

Neo Yi · Post by **Neo Yi** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 2:14 pm

CM August wrote:That's not fanart, it's Archie's very own Ken Penders. A fanartist probably would have done a better job though.

They had a contest for fans who's art would be displayed inside the case, right? I wanted to enter, but it was too late by the time I found out. I agree though, I rather someone else draw then Penders, never was a fan of his style. I'm mostly disturbed with the way he always seems to drawa a lump underneath the character's mouths.

Post by **G.Silver** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:29 pm

You'd think Sega might have wanted tighter control on this? At least have Spaz do it!

CM August · Post by **CM August** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:12 pm

According to Ken, Spaz was unavaliable and J. Axer wasn't interested. Apparently.

The thing that bothered me most is that Ken simply copied artwork from the show by various screengrabs, right down to the posing. His justification being that it was the only way to keep the characters on-model. Somehow he still managed to make proportion and coloring mistakes. And people call him a professional?

Ngangbius · Post by **Ngangbius** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:36 pm

G.Silver wrote:You'd think Sega might have wanted tighter control on this?

Or maybe they just don't really care--seeing it is a pretty old show and any merchandise related to Sonic no matter how good or badly it is presented sells. *shrugs*

And yeah, that's some pretty ugly art--though I never was fond of Sonic's and Robotnik's design in both U.S. toons so I may be a bit biased.

Post by **Esrever** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:24 am

I think I'll pick this up. It's only $24 Canadian on Amazon... that's not a bad price for the full series. Lord knows it isn't perfect, but I watched an episode on YouTube the other day and it held up much better than I was expecting.

I'm actually surprised there are as many extras as there are. This is the kind of thing I'd have expected to be shoveled onto DVD as cheaply as possible. I guess they saved money on the packaging, though. :P

SegaSonic · Post by **SegaSonic** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:12 am

Bah, SATam...the 2nd TV Insult to Sonic.

Frieza2000 · Post by **Frieza2000** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:13 am

It was pretty interesting. The guy in charge of producing the DVD is apparently a SatAM fan himself. He went to the FUS boards (of which I occasionally check the news page to see if Ben Hurst has finally broken down and written the script for Season 3) and asked the fans for input. That's the topic where the fanart contest started. If you skim through the posts by ShoutInsider, he gives a good overview of the standard DVD production process and other insightful gems like this:

ShoutInsider wrote:SEGA's actually being really great! In fact, they've jumped all over this set, hoping to be involved in whatever possible. They do voice their concerns and opinions, but those concerns have been fairly easy to address. The set's turning into a real collector's piece, moreso than any of the other DiC sets I've worked on, and a lot of it is all because of SEGA.

Tsuyoshi-kun · Post by **Tsuyoshi-kun** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:19 pm

SegaSonic wrote:Bah, SATam...the 2nd TV Insult to Sonic.

Every Sonic TV show has been an insult to Sonic. Especially Sonic X.

Locit · Post by **Locit** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:12 pm

I remember what I saw of the Japanese episodes of Sonic X not being that bad, actually.

Post by **Esrever** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 2:37 pm

When I was a kid, it used to really bother me how different the SatAM cartoon's story was from the games. And I mean really bother me. They were ignoring the "real" story! As a Sonic fan, I was offended.

But nowadays, when there no less than ten different established Sonic continuities, I find it a lot easier to judge each one on its own merits without worrying about whether or not it's the official continuity. The SatAM storyline may have had almost nothing to do with the source material, but in the end it was probably better than 90 percent of every story that has come since.

Ngangbius · Post by **Ngangbius** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:17 pm

I think SatAm would have been better if they removed Sonic, Tails, and Robotnik elements and maybe make Bunnie the main character instead. =)

Heh, I read that someone at the SA board compared the series to the storyline of Sonic 2006 with the same dark, un-Sonic-like overtones and the same Mary-sue like princess that falls in-love with Sonic.

Wait, Sonic has ten continuties?

~~This show

~~The games

~~SU

~~AoStH

~~Sonic X

~~Archie comic

~~Fleetway

~~That old manga that revealed Sonic was created/resurrected by God and featured an oranged colored Amy.

What are the last 2?

Sniffnoy · Post by **Sniffnoy** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:42 pm

Well, there's that OVA, and I suppose you could count the American manuals as a separate story.

Frieza2000 · Post by **Frieza2000** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:53 pm

Archie has a Sonic X miniseries going. I haven't read it, but I think it's a separate continuity from their regular series.

Post by **Esrever** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:59 pm

I think it's fair to count the American and Japanese game stories as separate. When I was an obnoxious ten-year-old Sonic fan, I was pretty convinced that the Sonic games took place on Mobius and that Robotnik used to be a normal human scientist named Dr. Kintobor.

And personally, I think Sonic Adventure introduced enough changes to the characters and their universe to be considered a continuity reboot. You could also argue that the Sonic Advance games are their own continuity too, since Sonic Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog have totally different accounts of Shadow's development.

Of course, it's hard to know where to draw the line between "new" continuity and just plain "bad" continuity. Either way it doesn't really matter... my point is just that there's a ridiculous number of continuities running. I'm happy watching any narrative take on the character that doesn't suck. And even though it was the least similar to the game continuity, in a lot of ways SatAM was the most consistent of Sonic's comic and TV appearances. (I'd also probably put it ahead of every game since Sonic Adventure 2 in terms of story concept, and ahead of every Sonic game ever in terms of actual story execution.)

MiraiTails · Post by **MiraiTails** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:27 pm

Frieza2000 wrote:Archie has a Sonic X miniseries going. I haven't read it, but I think it's a separate continuity from their regular series.

The continuity is indeed seperate from the regular series. It's not a miniseries anymore, though. It comes out 10 times a year. (The latest issue is # 15.)

Ngangbius · Post by **Ngangbius** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:27 pm

Ah yeah, I forgot about the Sonic X Archie comic, and how could I have forgotten about the OAV seeing I thought it was the second best animated represention of Sonic(first being the Sonic CD cutscenes)?

Post by **Esrever** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:43 pm

And then there was the books by Mitch Tittybottom, or whatever his name was. They seemed to have their own continuity that fell somewhere between the Archie comic and the SatAM cartoon.

It's really astonishing, when you think about it. I can't think of any other cartoon character whose backstory has been so inconsistent.

CM August · Post by **CM August** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:33 pm

That one's not too hard to explain, though some of this is just extrapolation on my part. It appears SatAM and AoSTH were concepted out at almost the same time, but the former's production was delayed to undergo further development (after criticism that it was too similar to AoSTH?). Archie Comics got handed the early character bible and model sheets, and we can see how similar the show's pilot is to Archie's early days... and how different the actual TV series was afterwards.

The first book by Michael Teitelbaum followed the early character bible to the letter, with a few liberties inbetween.

The whole story behind the show's production is just fascinating, and I wish I knew more.