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Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA)

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For other uses, see Sonic the Hedgehog (disambiguation).
Sonic the Hedgehog
North American Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie VHS cover.
ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ
(Sonikku za Hejjihoggu)
GenreAction, Science fiction, Comedy
Original video animation
Directed byKazunori Ikegami
Produced byNaoharu Hokutani
Akinori Ohno
Koichiro Sugie
Takayuki Sugizaki
Written byMasashi Kubota
Music byMitsuhiro Tada
StudioGeneral Entertainment
Studio Pierrot
Sega
Sonic Team
Released
May 31, 1996
  • VHS
  • DVD
Runtime30 minutes per episode
Episodes2

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Sonikku za Hejjihoggu) is a two-episode 1996 american and Japanese anime OVA series based on Sega's best-selling franchise Sonic the Hedgehog. The anime features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik (Eggman in the Japanese version) and a few supporting characters, such as the human Sara. This is also the only Sonic animated production that features Metal Sonic. The series was licensed by ADV Films and was released as a single direct-to-video film in North America as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.

Summary

Story

The start of the story opens with Dr. Robotnik creating "Hyper" Metal Sonic. Meanwhile, Sonic the Hedgehog is relaxing outside the ruins of a crashed Boeing 747 and USS Enterprise, along with a Saturn V rocket, while Miles "Tails" Prower tries out his new Jet-Propelled Bodyboard. While relaxing Sonic saves Oji-san (called "Old Man" by Sonic in the English dub, but whose real name is Old Man Owl), who seems to have a message for them, from the President. When the President's message comes telling Sonic to come to his office. Once there, they find out that Doctor Robotnik has kidnapped the President and his daughter to get Sonic to take care of a problem: a giant mecha appeared in Doctor Robotnik's utopian city of Eggmanland (called Robotropolis in the English dub as a tie-in with the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series) and exiles the doctor and sabotages the Robot Generator, which will explode in less than a day. Robotnik asks Sonic to head the Land of Darkness to stop it. Once there, Knuckles the Echidna becomes involved near the end and saves them both, and all three team up to destroy the mecha, who turns out to be Robotnik himself who lured Sonic to his base to copy his memories, personalities, and knowledge for his new robot, Hyper Metal Sonic, a Sonic-shaped robot who shares his memories and feelings, and essentially lives the same life as Sonic himself.

The crumbling husk of the mecha crashes through the floor, revealing Robotnik and Sara in the cockpit. Knuckles falsely accuses Sara of being behind his scheme, and in reply she starts bawling and points the finger of blame at Robotnik, which he does not deny. He shows Sonic a metal version of himself, Hyper Metal Sonic (constantly called 'Metal' throughout the film), and the two get into a fight. Metal wins, and Tails and Knuckles go back to the Land of the Sky, where Tails learns that Metal is out to destroy the planet by digging into the ice caps that hold the Land of the Sky together, allowing lava to emerge and melt the ice. Sonic wakes up in Green Lake City (a heavenly shrubbery), and thinks about Metal knowing everything he does, or has done. Returning to the Presidential Palace, Sonic hears all about the ice cap dilemma from a conversation between the President and Knuckles.

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles go to the ice caps, where Sara is being captive for marriage at the North Pole (Dr. Robotnik's main goal is to destroy the Land of the Sky, leaving only he and Sara to rule Planet Freedom). Sonic encounters Metal, and the two have a long fight. Tails corrupts Metal's data with the navigation watch Robotnik gave him before, and Sonic is able to critically damage him. In the process, the President arrives and is trapped in his aircraft. Metal saves the President and Sonic realizes that Metal does have emotions, as he was programmed with Sonic's personality and thoughts. Metal gets blown into a crack and falls down into a subglacial volcano, where Sonic tries to save him by lowering himself down and getting Metal to grab his hand to pull him out, but Metal pushes Sonic's hand away and tells him that "there is only one Sonic" before he is destroyed by the rising magma. After Robotnik states he still has Sonic's DNA and can re-build Metal Sonic, one of his missiles from the fight returns, blowing up the disc containing Sonic's DNA. Afterward, Knuckles hits Sonic on the head (as Sonic stepped on Knuckles' head by accident during the fight) and the two chase each other. Everyone is seen following behind Sonic before he races off, and the movie comes to a close.

Setting

In the English dubbed version, the two regions of Planet Freedom are referred to as being "separate dimensions", most likely due to a translation error.

The Land of the Sky consists of an unknown number of continents that drift high in the stratosphere of the planet, all of them connected to a massive ice formation (referred to in the dubbed version as a glacier, but more likely a mountain) which also serves to anchor them to the planet's surface below. According to Knuckles of this continuity, if this ice network was destroyed, Planet Freedom's rotation would hurl the Land of the Sky into outer space, undoubtedly killing everyone on it.

The Land of Darkness is the title used to address the actual surface of Planet Freedom, a post-apocalyptic wilderness where only one known individual lives: Dr. Robotnik. Most of its terrain is untamed and mountainous, but Sonic and Tails eventually reach a very modern city, where they see that the ruins of buildings are crumbling into the sea. This is where Robotnik's empire of Eggmanland is located (landmarks strongly suggest that it resides in what was once Manhattan). The Land of Darkness may earn its name because the thick clouds that block out most of the sun's light. Despite its gloom, the Land of Darkness is quite verdant, though all of its regions are littered with deadly booby-traps and killer robots designed by Robotnik. The Land of Darkness can only be accessed in one of two ways: by a whirlwind-like "portal" in the Land of the Sky, or by chancing into a warp zone; an extradimensional link between two points on Planet Freedom. The city and look of the land strongly imply that Planet Freedom is a post apocalyptic Earth that was built upon with floating islands known as the Land of the Sky.

Censorship

Due to the number of scenes that would be offensive to Western audiences, the following scenes were edited or removed from the 1999 VHS release of the film:

  • In a daydream when Doctor Robotnik proposes to Sara, she is shown pregnant and breastfeeding one of their future children.
  • Robotnik groping Sara.
  • Sonic giving Metal Eggman the middle finger, which was edited to look like an index finger in the VHS.
  • Metal Sonic accidentally looking up Sara's dress when he crashes through the bottom of Eggman's ship, resulting in Sara repeatedly kicking his head, calling him a pervert. In the same sequence, Sonic also appears to injure himself after falling onto the ship, landing on his groin. Also, Sonic is synched with Metal Sonic and essentially feels what he feels; he even blushes.
  • During the second fight against Metal Sonic, Tails, after the Tornado is shot out of the sky, falls down a hill and starts to roll into a snowball and crashes into Sara and Knuckles. When the snowball clears, Tails is revealed to be holding on to Sara's breasts. Knuckles notices this, and is heard to mention that he "Never thought he'd stoop that low".[1]

Both DVD releases include all the above scenes and are regarded as fully uncut.

Cast

Japanese

English

References

  1. ^ "Sonic the Hedgehog - The Movie (OVA) Dub 720p HD".
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