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Sonic Prime

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Sonic Prime
Based onSonic the Hedgehog
by SEGA
Developed byMan of Action
Voices of
Theme music composer
Country of origin
  • Canada[1]
  • United States
  • Japan
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Hitoshi Okuno
  • Mayumi Tachikawa
  • Melissa Beery
  • Morgana Duque
  • Denise Tanchanco
Running time22–43 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNetflix
ReleaseDecember 15, 2022 (2022-12-15) –
present
Related

Sonic Prime is an animated television series based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series, co-produced by Netflix Animation, WildBrain Studios, Man of Action and SEGA. It is the sixth animated television series based on the franchise.

The first season, comprising eight episodes, was released on Netflix on December 15, 2022.[2][3] According to WildBrain Studios, the series is to have at least 24 episodes in total.[4] SEGA confirmed that more episodes will be released in 2023.[5]

Synopsis

During a battle with Dr. Eggman, Sonic recklessly shatters the Paradox Prism, a crystalloid artifact with reality-bending powers, which destroys the universe and creates the "Shatterverse", a void where each shard of the prism forms an alternative dimension inhabited by alternative versions of Sonic's friends (Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Rouge and Big) called a "Shatterspace", which lack their own versions of him.

Sonic first ends up in New Yoke City, a futuristic dystopian version of Green Hill ruled by a group of Eggman variants who call themselves the Chaos Council and intend to conquer the Shatterverse after learning of its existence, but are opposed by Sonic and a resistance formed by denizen versions of his friends. In his quest to restore the universe, Sonic ventures to other Shatterspaces such as Boscage Maze and deep seas of No Place, two worlds covered in jungle and water inhabited by feral and pirate versions of his friends respectively, but his efforts to collect their shards turn out fruitless and he is eventually confronted by Shadow in the void.

Voice cast

Main article: List of Sonic the Hedgehog characters

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Shattered"Erik WieseMan of Action & Erik WieseDecember 10, 2022 (2022-12-10) (Roblox premiere)
December 15, 2022 (2022-12-15) (Netflix)
While engaging in a fight with his arch-nemesis, Dr. Eggman, Sonic the Hedgehog destroys the Paradox Prism, an ancient artifact with immense power. This causes a ripple in the space-time continuum, separating Sonic from his friends and sending him to New Yoke City, a dystopian version of Green Hills in a parallel universe ruled by the Chaos Council, a group made up of five Eggman variants (Dr. Babble, Dr. Done It, Dr. Deep, Dr. Don’t and Mr. Dr. Eggman). Traveling through his new surroundings, Sonic encounters Nine, a variant of his best friend Tails who constructed mechanized tails as weapons against his childhood bullies, not having Sonic to help him. Sonic earns Nine's trust, and the young genius modifies Sonic's shoes and gloves to attune to the new energy in his body from the Prism. However, Sonic and Nine are captured, and Sonic is taken for tests run by Rusty Rose, a variant of Amy Rose turned into a subservient cyborg. When the Council threatens Nine, Sonic pushes his powers to the max, causing him to generate a massive amount of energy. However, he notices what seems to be a hallucination of his rival Shadow the Hedgehog during the surge and flashbacks to an earlier confrontation with him.
2"The Yoke's On You"Erik WieseMan of Action & Erik WieseDecember 15, 2022 (2022-12-15)
In a flashback, Shadow receives a vision of Sonic causing the world to shatter while feeling the impact Sonic causes when he attacked Eggman's badnik. Shadow questions Sonic's action and attempts to stop him from reaching Eggman's place to prevent the impending catastrophe. However, his hostile tactics and cryptic warnings make Sonic misunderstand his intention, and both fight each other before Sonic slows him down enough to reach Eggman. Back in the present, Sonic's energy surge causes New Yoke City to temporarily black out, cluing the Council to a new source of power, coming to the decision to dissect and strip the energy from Sonic's body. However, resistance fighters Rebel Rouge and Renegade Knucks arrive and rescue him and Nine, but are cornered by Rusty Rose and Badinks.
3"Escape From New Yoke"Erik WieseMan of Action & Erik WieseDecember 15, 2022 (2022-12-15)
After destroying most of the Badniks, Sonic, Nine, and the Resistance decides to take the opportunity to steal the "Crystal" that gives the Council supreme power. Nine successfully takes over Rusty Rose's programming, making her fight alongside them. When closing in on the power source's location, Sonic and Nine are separated from Rebel, Knucks, and Rusty who buys them time, fighting against the enemy while Sonic and Nine get the power source. It turns out that the Crystal is in fact a shard of Paradox Prism. This makes Sonic realize that he has caused the world to change after he destroyed the Paradox Prism during the attempt to stop Eggman. Sonic refrains from touching the shard, but does so at Nine's insistence, sending him to another universe.
4"Unwelcome to the Jungle"Erik Wiese & Kiran SangherraBrittany Jo FloresDecember 15, 2022 (2022-12-15)
Sonic is sent to the jungle world of Boscage Maze, where he meets Prim, Hangry, Gnarly, and Mangey (feral versions of Rouge, Big, Knuckles, and Tails) who live on trees in fear of a "monster" down below. They decide to use Sonic's speed to distract the monster long enough to get food and falsely promise Sonic to help him find a shard of Paradox Prism in exchange. While looking for food, the monster drives them away, leaving Sonic to face it alone, who is revealed to be Thorn Rose, a variant of Amy, and her giant bird, Birdie. Thorn explains that Prim and the others are scavengers who have ravaged the jungle, so she's fighting them to protect it. During the fight, Thorn notices the light from Sonic's shoes is similar to "The Great Green". Believing it to be a shard of the prism, Sonic convinces Thorn to escort him to it by promising he will leave afterward. The Great Green that Thorn refers to is actually a coconut tree that Sonic knows from his original world. Sonic finds the Shard beneath the tree, but when he tries to take it, Thorn deems Sonic as another scavenger and claims it.
5"Barking Up The Wrong Tree"Erik WiesePatricia VillettoDecember 15, 2022 (2022-12-15)
Sonic remembers a time when Amy brought him to a coconut tree as a surprise and explained the importance of the memories made around the tree, but Sonic dismisses it as too sentimental. Back to the present, Sonic tries to grab the shard from Thorn who uses it to make the jungle impenetrable for the scavengers. Sonic tries to persuade the scavengers to make peace with Thorn, but the scavengers reveal that they and Thorn were friends until she became disgusted by how they kept abusing the natural resources and become obsessed with protecting the forest which drove them away. Sonic arranges for both sides to meet up and talk, but the scavengers seize the opportunity and attack her instead, angering her further. Realizing he needs to make Thorn see the truth of her actions after noticing that the coconut tree has withered due to lack of sunlight, Sonic tricks Thorn into throwing her hammer and the shard above, revealing the condition of the tree, and healing it. This helps Thorn realize the error of her ways and reveals that she tried out of concern to warn them about their abuse but they kept ignoring her and because of this, she eventually snapped and attacked them, something she came to regret. This leads her to reconcile with the scavengers, who also agree to help conserve. Sonic goes to get the shard, but comes into contact with it and vanishes.
6"Situation: Grim"Erik WieseMarcus RinehartDecember 15, 2022 (2022-12-15)
Sonic returns to the war-torn New Yoke and learns that weeks have passed in the dimension since his departure. It turns out that right after he vanished, Nine fled with the shard, leaving Knucks and Rebel at the Badnik's mercy with Rusty returning to her original programming. As the result, Rebel and the Resistance are distrustful of Sonic. Taken to the Resistance's hideout, Rebel shows Sonic their version of the coconut tree, the only natural tree left and the symbol of the life they deserve. The Chaos Council tracks down Sonic's position through the traces of the shard's energy from him and attacks the Resistance's hideout. Nine appears in an airship powered by the Shatter Drive, a machine that allows him to use the stolen shard's powers to open portals between the Shatterverse, the void between the worlds, which he calls Shatterspaces. Nine takes Sonic with him to a barren Shatterspace called the Grim, where he intends to rebuild the world and their lives for both of them. But Sonic refuses to abandon the rebels and Nine reluctantly sends him back to New Yoke, but has a change of heart and joins Sonic and the Resistance. While Sonic and the Resistance successfully defeat the Eggforcers attacking them, the Chaos Council unleash their flying fortress, the Mothership, and captures Nine.
7"It Takes One to No Place"Erik WieseOmar SpahiDecember 15, 2022 (2022-12-15)
While looking for Nine, Sonic sees an apparent apparition of Shadow, who has managed to escape the universe's shatter using Chaos Control but is now trapped in the void, telling him to keep going, which causes his powers to kick in and teleport him into another Shatterspace, the deep seas of No Place, where he meets Batten, Sails, Black Rose, and Catfish (pirate versions of Rouge, Tails, Amy, and Big), led by legendary pirate Knuckles the Dread. They welcome Sonic into their crew as they find his speed useful and he helps them defeat Dread's former crew. Dread explains how he was a feared pirate who with his former crew aimed for a treasure called the Devil's Lighthouse which is actually a shard of Paradox Prism, only for them to end up shipwrecked and Dread's former crew deserting him. Sonic insists on getting the shard, so Dread makes him the captain. Unexpectedly, Rusty Rose and a group of Eggforcers arrive on a submarine and attack the pirates.
8"There's No ARRGH In "Team""Erik WieseJustin PenistonDecember 15, 2022 (2022-12-15)
After capturing Nine, the Chaos Council seize his Shatter Drive Technology to use it and conquer the entire Shatterverse, but Nine conveniences them to keep Sonic alive to learn of his unique ability to travel across the Shatterverse, which they reluctantly agree on. Meanwhile, in No Place, Sonic and the pirates attempt in vain to fight back against Rusty Rose. After replicating the Shard navigation mod on Sonic's sneakers to find the Prism, Rusty prepares to destroy them, but hesitates and leaves after seeing her Pirate counterpart. As the ship begins to sink, Sonic convinces the runaway Dread to return, who after realizing that finishing what he failed to accomplish would restore his reputation, resumes command and has his crew use buoyancy materials to keep the ship afloat. They sail to The Devil's Lighthouse at full speed. While Sonic and the pirates defeat and capture Rusty, Dread who is obsessed with getting the Shard, is ambushed by Badniks and is knocked off of the mountain. Sonic saves him, but touches the Shard and disappears back into the Void, where he is confronted by an enraged Shadow, who informs him that his actions have resulted in their universe's non-existence.

Production

Sonic Prime was officially announced in February 2021,[11] though the development of the series was initially revealed in a deleted tweet in December 2020.[12][13] The series will have 24 episodes overall.[14][15][16] Colleen O'Shaughnessey, known for portraying Miles "Tails" Prower since 2014, responded to a tweet on Twitter that she won't be reprising the role in the Netflix series, due to Canadian content and union laws meaning that a large portion of voice actors portraying roles in Canadian television programs have to be Canadian.[17][1] In May 2022, it was announced that Deven Mack would voice the titular character for the series.[6]

The series is made by Man of Action and WildBrain Studios, and marks as their second collaboration on a video game based series after Mega Man: Fully Charged, along with Netflix Animation and Sega's animation studio Marza Animation Planet. One of the writers, Duncan Rouleau, stated that the series will be set in "the video game universe created by Sonic Team" and that "possible Sega crossovers are not ruled out."[18] According to executive producer Logan McPherson, the series is canon to the games' timeline.[19] In June 2021, concept art of the series was discovered on a now deleted artist's portfolio.[20]

Duncan Rouleau later confirmed that Ian Flynn, who has written for the Archie, Boom, IDW series and the newly released Sonic Frontiers, would be a consultant.[21] Additionally, The Willoughbys director Kris Pearn worked on the series as a creative consultant with My Little Pony: Equestria Girls director Ishi Rudell as an episodic director.

Release

The first season of Sonic Prime, consisting of eight episodes, was released on December 15, 2022. The first episode premiered on Gamefam's Roblox game, "Sonic Speed Simulator" on December 10, 2022.[3][22] The release timeframes of the next seasons have not been officially confirmed, but will be in the "not too distant future" after the first season, according to executive producer Logan McPherson.[23]

Reception

Audience viewership

On December 20, 2022, Netflix announced that Sonic Prime was ranked number five of the top 10 on English television to be watched with 27.7 million hours watched between December 12 and 18.[24][25]

Critical response

Sonic Prime received generally positive reviews from critics with praise given to the voice acting, story, and animation; but some criticized its writing. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a score of 60% based on reviews from 5 critics.[26]

Polly Conway of Common Sense Media said that it is fun, frenetic animated series touts teamwork and has violence.[27] Kennet Seward Jr of IGN gave the film a score of 8 out of 10, calling it a "fun and family-friendly" show for new and old fans, said "Sonic Prime is a fun and overall entertaining, family-friendly show. Sitting tonally between the 1992 Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and 93’ Sonic the Hedgehog – which features a similar “freedom fighters seeking to overthrow a cruel leader” vibe – it offers an exciting look at the past while presenting some new ideas. It has some issues concerning pacing and the abrupt ending of the first season won’t do it any favors. That said, Sonic Prime should be well received by new and longtime franchise fans."[28]

Josua Kristian Mccoy of Game Rant gave Prime 3.5 out of 5, labelling it "very good" and also calling it a lot of fun: "Sonic Prime is yet another argument for Sonic as a TV star first and a game character second. Sonic fans will love the showcase for their favorite characters and the fast-paced action. Despite some weak writing and a bit too much repetition, Sonic Prime is a lot of fun. Enjoy the Blue Blur's journey into the multiverse."[29]

Easter Eggs

The first Easter egg we see is the passcode for Tails' lab being 1992 the year the first Sonic game is released.

References

  1. ^ a b "'Sonic Prime': New Footage And Voice Actors Revealed". CultureSlate. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
  2. ^ "Sonic Prime will reportedly debut on Netflix in December". My Nintendo News. August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Griffin, David (October 27, 2022). "Sonic Prime: Exclusive Release Date and Character Posters Reveal for Netflix Animated Series". IGN. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  4. ^ "Sonic Prime". WildBrain. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  5. ^ Sonic the Hedgehog [@sonic_hedgehog] (January 18, 2023). "Get ready to sink into more Sonic Prime, coming your way later this year!" (Tweet). Retrieved January 21, 2023 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ a b Mills, Bobby (May 3, 2022). "Sonic Prime gets first teaser, revealing Deven Mack as Sonic's voice". Mega Visions. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Tails' Channel · Sonic the Hedgehog News & Updates [@TailsChannel] (December 10, 2022). "⚡ Get ready for two #SonicPrime events in #SonicForces Speed Battle! 👉 Tails Nine: fast electric attacks & heavy-hitting explosive attacks to keep rivals off balance. 👉 Rusty Rose: encourages aggressive playstyle & excels at punishing rivals ahead of her. #SonicNews https://t.co/OSziGYB8Y2" (Tweet). Retrieved December 13, 2022 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ "Kazumi Evans on Instagram: "I am finally able to announce an exciting project I have been working on. SO stoked to announce I am the voice of ROUGE in Sonic Prime from @wildbrainstudios for @netflix!!! What an honor to be a part of this show and iconic property. Streaming December 15th ❤️"". Instagram. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  9. ^ "Rachell Hofstetter". behindthevoiceactors.com.
  10. ^ Jacksepticeye [@Jacksepticeye] (December 15, 2022). "@spediceynews Finally I can talk about it!!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 15, 2022 – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Netflix Geeked [@NetflixGeeked] (February 1, 2021). "Yes, it's true! SEGA's legendary video game icon Sonic the Hedgehog will star in a new 3D animated series from @SEGA, @WildBrainStudio and @ManOfActionEnt premiering on Netflix in 2022. https://t.co/ydJto8c8i8" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2022 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ McWhertor, Michael (December 10, 2020). "New Sonic the Hedgehog animated series coming to Netflix". Polygon. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021.
  13. ^ Skrebels, Joe (December 10, 2020). "Netflix Seemingly Working on Sonic the Hedgehog Animated Series for 2022". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
  14. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesely (February 1, 2021). "Netflix's Sonic Prime animated series confirmed for 2022". Eurogamer.
  15. ^ Craddock, Ryan (February 1, 2021). "Netflix Officially Announces Sonic Prime, A New 3D Animated Series". Nintendo Life. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  16. ^ Mass, Jennifer (February 1, 2021). "Sonic the Hedgehog Animated Series 'Sonic Prime' Ordered at Netflix". The Wrap.
  17. ^ Doolan, Liam (February 1, 2021). "Tails' Voice Actor Won't Be Voicing The Character In Sonic Prime". Nintendo Life. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  18. ^ "Sonic Prime is set in Sonic Team's game universe and possible SEGA crossovers not ruled out". My Nintendo News. February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  19. ^ "sonic prime's Deven Mack and Logan McPherson tease Sega cameos, Shatterverse Variants, and more". comicbook.com. December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  20. ^ Ankers, Adele (June 24, 2021). "Sonic Prime: Concept Art from Netflix Show Seemingly Leaks". IGN. Retrieved June 29, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  21. ^ Rouleau, Duncan [@rouleau1] (October 9, 2021). "@robnmccormack @IanFlynnBKC He has been consulting and has been invaluable" (Tweet). Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2022 – via Twitter.
  22. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (September 20, 2022). "Teaser: 'Sonic Prime' Races to Netflix". Animation Magazine. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
  23. ^ Moore, Kasey (December 15, 2022). "'Sonic Prime' Executive Producer Talks Netflix Series; Teases Season 2". What's on Netflix. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  24. ^ Mellon, Rory (December 21, 2022). "Sonic Prime just sped into the Netflix most-watched list — and gamers love it". Tom's Guide. Archived from the original on December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  25. ^ Arruda, Aline (December 20, 2022). "'Wednesday' Leads Netflix Top 10 for Fourth Week In A Row, 'Harry & Meghan' Follows at No. 2". Variety. Variety. Retrieved December 20, 2022. {{cite magazine}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  26. ^ "Sonic Prime: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  27. ^ Polly Conway (November 16, 2022). "Sonic Prime". Common Sense Media.
  28. ^ Kennet Seward Jr (December 12, 2022). "Sonic Prime: Season 1 Review". IGN. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  29. ^ Josua Kristian Mccoy (November 14, 2022). "Sonic Prime Review". GameRant.
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