The Best Sonic The Hedgehog TV Shows

Summary

• Sonic the Hedgehog has maintained popularity through various forms of entertainment, including a billion-dollar film trilogy.
• TV shows like Sonic Underground, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic X have had varying levels of success.
• Sonic SatAM stands out as a defining show for Sonic fans, blending offbeat humor with a darker, mature vibe.

More than three decades into his run (pardon the pun), Sonic the Hedgehog has proven that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. While many fellow 90s platforming mascots have fallen by the wayside, the speedy hedgehog has carved out an entertainment empire for himself and his technicolour chums – ranging from toys and comic books to a billion-dollar film trilogy. He’s arguably more popular now than ever before.

Then, of course, there are the numerous TV shows. Starting with a handful of DiC-animated promotional cartoons, they’ve since expanded into anime, live-action, and full CGI. The tones are all over the shop, both serious and fourth-wall-leaning meta humour; but which of these shows snags the golden Goal Ring?

7

Sonic Underground

They Made A Vow, But Their Mother Wasn’t Found

Sonic Underground, a bizarre fanfiction-tier offering from DiC Entertainment, comfortably scores the bottom spot by having next to nothing to actually do with the IP. It’s as if they were writing an entirely different series, then came by the Sonic license at the last second and search-and-replaced a handful of elements with basic Sonic iconography.

In this continuity, Sonic is a prince, born alongside two siblings, Sonia and Manic, and destined to take the throne. That is until Doctor Robotnik deposes their mother, Queen Aleena – leaving Sonic and his family to form a ragtag resistance. Bafflingly, the trio’s powers come from musical instruments that shoot lasers (????), and every episode comes complete with an atrocious song about some virtue or other, like sharing or trusting people.

Between the unresolved plot, the crummy animation, and Jaleel White’s nasally Urkel voice pulling triple duty as all three hedgehogs, Underground is pushed unceremoniously down into “no, thanks” territory.

6

The Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog

Looney Tunes With Even Less Context

Despite hailing once again from Casa de DiC, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog at least notches one spot above Sonic Underground by having more of a connection to the games. (Granted, any connection over ‘zero’ is an automatic improvement). Still, it’s not really any great shakes, and its legacy today mostly serves as a meme generator.

At the time of AOSTH’s debut, there were only a couple of Sonic games in existence, leaving the writers with a very small pool of characters and concepts to draw from. So, their solution was to take a sort of Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner angle, with Robotnik’s stooges trying and failing to catch the Blue Blur in a variety of impotent traps.

AOSTH is the definition of pure adequacy. The comedy mostly isn’t very funny, though Long John Baldry hamming it up as Robotnik was a definite highlight – and his thoughts on people snooping outside his door are the stuff of legends.

How could we forget the ‘Sonic Sez’ segments, featuring the speedster imparting such morals as “don’t smoke”, “don’t climb into washing machines,” and “don’t let adults touch you inappropriately”? These have to be seen to be believed.

5

Knuckles

Always A Great Sign When A Show Forgets Who Its Title Character Is

To date the only live-action show on our list, Knuckles arrived atop a tidal wave of hype following the positive fan reception to the first two Sonic films. It promised to tell the story of everyone’s favourite beefcake echidna adjusting to life on Earth, now that the business with the Master Emerald had been settled. And for the first episode, it delivered on that.

However, it soon veers off into a dull character study of Wade Whipple, the dimwitted cop of Green Hills, who functioned as comic relief in the films… and who is here promoted to lead status in somebody else’s show. Wanted to see Knuckles match wits with rogue GUN agents, as the trailers indicated? Sorry, now you’re stuck hearing about Wade’s history with his estranged father and his desire to beat a little girl in a bowling tournament.

As the show drags on, Knux is shoved further and further into the background, and you’re left wondering what the hell you’re even watching anymore. It isn’t all bad; Cary Elwes as Wade’s jerk of a dad is amusing, and there are some fun action setpieces. But the legendary warrior deserved so much more.

4

Sonic X

Kids, Never Use Formula One Race Cars To Chase Hedgehogs!

X was Sonic’s punt at the anime format, in the vein of Kirby and Mario’s anime adaptations. Out of the gate, it alienated a fair few fans by taking an ‘E.T.-lite’ approach; Sonic and his friends are blasted out of their world and into ours, where they befriend a human kid named Chris Thorndyke.

Likely intended to be an audience surrogate for the young ‘uns, Chris quickly garnered a reputation for being one of the most insufferable characters the series had yet spawned, which was made only worse by him dominating most of the first season. Where we could be watching Sonic and Dr. Eggman (who’s also here but is relegated to boring domestic settings) square off, we’re instead sitting through Chris moaning about his privileged life in a gigantic opulent mansion.

When X gets cooking in seasons two and three, though, it’s great. Chris’ role is significantly downsized, and the show begins adapting plots directly from the games, including the Perfect Chaos arc and Shadow’s story from Sonic Adventure 2. Season 3 even has original villains, the Metarex aliens, and introduces Cosmo, Tails’ plant-based love interest.

3

Sonic Prime

It’s Primed For Fanservice

Amidst Sonic’s burgeoning popularity in the 2020s, Netflix decided it wanted a piece of that sweet, blue pie. Hence, they commissioned Sonic Prime, the second CGI outing for the series, and the first to attempt to tell a serialized storyline. It mostly works, though it isn’t without its hiccups.

Prime kicks off with Sonic inadvertently busting an ancient gem known as the Paradox Prism, which splinters reality into several alternate dimensions, or ‘Shatterverses.’ Realizing his mistake (and perhaps conscious of the waning popularity of multiverses in general), Sonic sets off across these new worlds to set things right.

The main hook of Prime is seeing Sonic’s friends in such different settings. ‘Nine’, an edgy dystopian version of Tails with cybernetic, er, tails, becomes the primary antagonist – and we also get to see Knuckles as a pirate, Amy Rose as a jungle warrior, and an entire council of Eggman variants. The show does drag towards the end, with a final battle that goes on for four straight episodes, but it’s largely a winner.

2

Sonic Boom

Trouble Keeps You Quipping Faster

Whenever anyone hears the title ‘Sonic Boom’, their mind likely conjures images of glitching textures, Knuckles soaring through the air into unrendered voids, and 5fps speed sections. The Boom label was killed in the cradle by the rotten reception to its games – but don’t let that dissuade you from checking out the tie-in TV series. Against all odds, it’s a laugh riot.

Whereas Prime and SatAM focus on story, Boom’s an out-and-out screwball sitcom; and you can practically feel the studio mandates relaxing on the writers as the episodes go on. They likely knew this subseries wasn’t going to be around for long, so they decided to have as much fun as possible.

This is some of the sharpest, quick-witted satire you’ll see in a show of this kind. There are episodes about the legal system, about the music industry, about the corruption of politics. Sonic memes pervade the dialogue, as do cutting jabs about the world at large, and its anarchic sense of humour deserves so much more attention.

Every so often, a scene from Boom will make the rounds on social media. Whether it’s Knuckles exposing the flaws in postmodern feminism, Team Sonic almost blending an infant, or Eggman suing for damages, it’s all unexpected gold.

1

Sonic SatAM

He’s The Fastest Thing Alive!

It’s not even really a contest. Sonic SatAM (so named because it played weekly in a Saturday morning slot) defined an entire generation of Sonic fans, successfully blending the offbeat sensibilities of AOSTH with a darker, more mature vibe.

In this show, Robotnik has already won and has rendered the lush Mobius a technology-centric hellscape. All that stands in his way are the Freedom Fighters, consisting of Sonic, Tails, and a host of original characters that would go on to be firm fan favourites. Sally Acorn, in particular, would enjoy a lengthy second life in the comic books.

SatAM nails its tone. Jaleel White is no longer gurning his way through his line reads, and there’s genuine pathos in his bonds with Sally and Tails. Jim Cummings, of Disney fame, makes for a terrifying Robotnik, whose presence is encroaching and oppressive. About the only criticism we have of SatAM is that there wasn’t more of it!