Sonic il riccio

Sonic the Hedgehog, more appropriately known as Sonic SatAM, was the last great cartoon ever aired before the anime takeovers. This wasn't typical cartoony stuff. This show wasn't afraid to show kids a dark and serious side to cartoons. This cartoon was voted to be the second most violent kids show ever, but I would rather watch this than Power Rangers, which killed this show, caused it to go off the air, and then multiplied into many hideous variations. While Sonic had depth, Power Rangers was just cheese and was much more violent than Sonic ever was. This series is not too far off from being a Blade Runner for kids. The atmosphere was dark. The episodes were adventurous and exciting. Dr. Robotnik was made into what a true villain should be--ominous and scary, not the wimpy Sega version. In short, this was a great cartoon, much more than being just another mindless action toon. I even remember the opening sequence and theme song after all these years. It was like the Star Wars of cartoons. It left THAT much of an impression on me. One of the greatest of cartoons is gone forever, but all the children who grew up during that time will never forget.

We have here, a bitter war of words between people who like this show and peolpe who like the other one, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

I have to place myself in this camp. SatAM Sonic is brilliant. Great plots, a working set of characters with fantstic depth (a remarkable effort, given most of them have no SEGA backstory), and pitched at the right level. Not patronising. At just the right distance from the games.

I am told I should "lighten up" about the other show - it is suggested that one is more appropriate for children.

My little brother was under 10 when both these shows came on. We were taping both. Within _one month_, he was fast-forwarding through the "dumb ones" in order to get to SatAM.

But look out for "Sonic X" coming later this year.

I rest my case.

Did I ever love this series or what! The "Star Wars" of TV animation if there ever was one. It grabs you from the startling opening credits (which features a stunning shot across a HUGE power station and another of a Death Star-like spaceship assimilating everything in sight, Borg-style.) and never lets go, except a few lame comic relief episodes. The characters had some of the most depth to ever grace a SatAM cartoon, and the artwork was some of the best I have ever seen. I am awfully shocked that it's not available in the US. Here in Asia it's on the Disney Channel, lucky me. And all of you are wrong, this series came before the comic book and the comic book has adhered little to its solid narrative structure. Unlike other video game adaptations this one did not let the story get overshadowed by the action. All in all a truly fantastic series whose impact on animation fans and anthropomorphic fans will not be forgotten. This one should have as many reruns as Batman.

This has been my favorite cartoon show for years now. Something about just stood out above all others. The cartoon characters are wonderfully integrated with the show's dark tone and the entire voice cast has strikingly good chemistry with each other. Those that stick out are Jaleel White (Urkel) as the fabulously cocky title role, Christine Cavanaugh as the cyborg Bunnie Rabbot, and the legendary Jim Cummings as the convincibly evil Dr. Robotnik. Other notable cast members include Kath Soucie as Princess Sally, Tim Curry as King Acorn, Cree Summer as Dulcy and Shari Belafonte as Lupe, the latter two specifically for the second season. This was the best Sonic cartoon of them all.

Yeah, I prefer this version over the other; I watched both at about the same age (of ten or so), loved one, really couldn't stand the other.

The other one just strikes me as kind of pathetic. Only two of the Sonic characters appear in it, for one thing; the plots are often predictable and annoying in their simplicity (the 'parents' episode, for example); there are a lot of little puzzling details that interrupt the action (how is an ice cube a good choice for rafting a lava river?); and Robotnik is a whiny wimp, not a credible evil genius.

The backgrounds and some of the characters are almost Hanna-Barbera-esque in their minimalism and rapid repetition, which some like but I think is out of place for Sonic. This version has more varied characters, really well-drawn environments and animation, and a storyline which is occasionally frightening. Overall, one of these is trying to be a cute comedy, without many story background details; and one is a long science-fiction story divided into parts.

The problem with trying to make something 'cute' is that it often ends up pretty simplistic. Kids' entertainment doesn't need to be mindless, and in my opinion shouldn't be. I think the newer version presents more of a challenge to the young viewer (the plots are trickier, there are more background details between episodes, and, yeah, as I said there are some moments which are kind of scary).