Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Should Close The Book on Its Human Characters

There are plenty of things to look forward to with the upcoming third Sonic the Hedgehog film. For one thing, there’s the introduction of the Keanu Reeves-voiced Shadow. While Shadow’s teaser at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was enough to excite audiences, the hype has only increased with the recent success of Sonic x Shadow Generations. Shadow, as a darker backstory with the franchise’s most tragic backstory, brings with him a more serious tone, as evidenced by the trailers, which had taken a decidedly more sober tone. With this in mind, the third movie has the opportunity to close the door on one of the wackiest aspects of the film franchise.

Although it would appear that human characters would be more grounding for audiences unfamiliar with Sonic, for Sonic fans themselves, human characters always come off as if the creatives behind the scenes don’t trust Sonic and the rest of his animal friends to carry a story on their own, something that they’ve done for decades. While classic canon humans such as Robotnik and Maria are necessary for the stories, the inclusion of Tom “Donut Lord” Wachowski, Maddie Wachowski, Rachel, Jojo, and the rest comes off as an attempt to broaden Sonic’s already dedicated audience. This doesn’t mean that any of these actors are bad, many are clearly having fun, but their inclusion has always felt off. These characters simply aren’t necessary for Sonic and, perhaps, the third film and allow them to exit the franchise for good.

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For the Record, It’s Not Just Tom and Maddie

Of course, that’s not to say that this is a problem with just the Sonic film franchise. Most Sonic fans, when asked about Sonic X, will be quick to point out that their least favorite part of the series is Chris Thorndyke. Chris becomes the human companion to Sonic and friends when they cross dimensions into the human world. A lonely, rich kid, Chris becomes quite attached to Sonic and becomes distraught when they have to leave. While Chris becomes aware of his selfishness, he never really endeared himself to fans, despite most likely being created to serve as a point of view character for new fans. (Much like Tom and Maddie.)

Even the games don’t escape this trope. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) is a flawed game, but one of the biggest sticking points for most fans is Princess Elise the Third. It’s bizarre enough that she managed to keep from crying from being a seven-year-old to a young woman. Granted, she needed to keep from crying to essentially keep the apocalypse at bay. However, what’s weirder is that Elise and Sonic have romantic tension, resulting in her giving him a kiss to bring him back to life. Overall, she’s considered to be a poorly written character and the kiss is considered to be one of the most uncomfortable moments in the Sonic franchise.

There Are Plenty of Other Sonic Characters

Additionally, the Sonic franchise has a wide variety of characters. While it’s possible that Amy and Rouge could show up in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Team Chaotix could show up in the end credits, the fact that the film-only characters have predated the long-beloved animal characters hasn’t sat right with many fans. It’s likely that the human characters have been given so much screen time, in part, as a cost-saving measure. While Tom and Maddie felt like they were needed to help endear Sonic to new fans in the first film, the second film relegated them to a subplot, allowing for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to spend more time together. The success of the sequel proved that audiences have an appetite for Sonic outside of Tom and Maddie and are more open to spending time with the other animal characters.

So What Could Happen?

Since Sonic the Hedgehog 3 promises a change in tone, this also provides an opportunity to mix things up for future films. The first film already established distant planets. Sonic could be called back to his home planet for an adventure outside of Earth and take Knuckles, Tails, and Shadow with him. If the movies go that route, Sonic could have a heartfelt goodbye to Tom and Maddie. That way, these film characters can be acknowledged of their importance up until this point, while also allowing Sonic to move on away from them to new adventures with other established Sonic characters. Or perhaps the next film will show Tom and Maddie in danger and Sonic will choose to move on in order to keep them safe.

Tom, Maddie, and the rest of the film-only human characters have served their purpose of introducing audiences to Sonic and testing the waters for how to proceed. Now that Sonic and his friends have been embraced, it’s time for the Sonic films to move on and focus more on established game characters. There are ways to do this that still give Tom and Maddie their flowers with regard to Sonic’s film origin story. Sonic the Hedgehog has never been a human-focused franchise, it’s always been an animal-focused one, and attempts to include other human characters, aside from the likes of Robotnik and Maria, have never worked out. It’s time to let the Blue Blur (and fastest thing alive) finally run with his animal friends and give them the focus they deserve, though it might take some time to figure out how to accomplish this and this may be a good time to pause the film franchise for now.

Directed by Jeff Fowler, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 sets up a new threat for Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails by introducing Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow presents such a big danger to planet Earth, that the heroes have to team up with Dr. Robotnik.

Paramount

Paramount is a fairly recent (2019 founding) mass media company that used to operate under the name ViacomCBS. They have grow into their own production company and are also producing original content via a streaming service called Paramount Plus.