by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
Breeding off the success of the two Jeff Fowler films, Sonic Prime brings the Sega mascot back for an adventure into the multiverse after Sonic the Hedgehog (Deven Christian Mack) shatters the Paradox Prism, and finds himself jumping between alternate realities. This new animated series is not on Amazon Prime, as one might assume from the title, but on Netflix.
Before going any further, my experience with the character Sonic outside of video games is minimal. Other than the recent films, I’ve seen him only in two cartoon shows from 1993, the wacky Looney Tunes-style Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and a much darker show just titled Sonic the Hedgehog (a.k.a SatAM) set in a dystopian future. The former is a silly, fun show, but only for kids; however, I was and still am a massive fan of the latter. I was reminded of those ’93 shows by this series. The premise and portrayal of Sonic’s character are much closer to that seen in the ’93 shows than in the Fowler films. The story is serial-based, with each episode picking up exactly where the previous one left off, so essentially it is a three-hour film.
In traveling the alternate realities, Sonic finds alternate versions of his friends. They have no memory of him and have very different personalities. For example, in the first alternate reality, New Yoke City, a dystopian Mobotropolis-style city, and Miles “Tails” Prower (Ashleigh Ball) is now a far more uptight and isolated scientist called Nine, and has seven more robotic tails. There are alternate versions in this reality of Knuckles the Echidna (Adam Nurada) and Rouge the Bat (Kazumi Evans). Alternate versions of characters we already know are an excellent idea; the problem is the presentation here. Sonic is sent to this alternate reality five minutes into the first episode, and we need to meet the original version of Sonic’s friends adequately. Now, granted, once Sonic figures out he’s in an alternate reality, they do a flashback to before Sonic shatters the Prism, giving a bit more development to Sonic’s friends. It’s easier to understand why Sonic would see the New Yoke versions as different. However, I found this out-of-order way of establishing this multiverse and multiple versions of characters a bit jarring. The concept of a multiverse needs to be clarified, especially in a kids’ series. You won’t make it easy to follow by showing this out of order.
It gets even more complicated when another flashback introduces Shadow the Hedgehog (Ian Hanlin), who knows about Sonic’s multiverse jumping and wants to stop it. So as well as having multiple realities and a story being told by jumping back and forth between periods, we now also have numerous foils trying to stop Sonic. I never knew a Sonic cartoon could be so complex. Being unfamiliar with Shadow, I needed clarification on his introduction. It felt like we were supposed to know already if he was a good guy. The complex and unexplained nature of some plot points is frustrating because it prevented me from enjoying what should be a fun show. Still, the show has a good storyline. I particularly enjoyed the banter between Knuckles and Rouge, as they try to form a resistance that reminded me a lot of the rebel alliance in Star Wars.
Many fun action and fight sequences reminded me a lot of SatAM, right down to Sonic’s wisecracking banter with the other characters, who are constantly irritated by his more casual attitude in life-or-death situations. The dazzling visuals in these sequences add a lot to the gripping factor of the fights. The CGI animation could be better, especially in close-ups of the characters, which make them look like plastic shells with only a tiny amount of fur texture. Still, the wide-angle shots of the environments and machines in this are marvelous.
The second alternate reality, Boscage Maze, is a wild Amazon-type forest where Sonic’s friends live as scavengers. These different realities help give the series variety in terms of visuals and action sequences. But the fact each one has its version of Sonic’s friends makes it difficult to become immersed in any of them. The only consistent character is Sonic, who strangely doesn’t have counterparts in the alternate realities he visits. When he arrives in a new reality, he has to reintroduce himself to new versions of characters we’ve not had much chance to get to know. Also, it didn’t help because I only knew Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles before watching this series.
Boscage Maze is a nice change of pace, with its forest environment and the unseen threat of monsters giving an unmistakable Predator vibe. The living conditions for the group and their routine day-to-day life feels very different from New Yoke. The world also has a very different foil for Sonic to deal with, making the story feel more like an episode of SatAM set inKnothole.
The third reality, No Place, is by far the least interesting. It’s a Waterworld-style setting where everyone is a pirate, with all the action taking place on ships. The fighting and banter feels ripped out of the bad Pirates of the Caribbean films, and I was bored for most of it.
One exciting thing about the voice acting here is that they remain consistent for each character, despite the series having three or four versions for many of them. Shannon Chan-Kent has the most challenging job as numerous versions of Amy Rose. In the original reality, she appears to be a reasonably bland love interest for Sonic, but alternate versions of her are much darker and surprisingly complex. Chan-Kent shows a great range in voicing each of them. Mack also adds a good level of comedy with his performance as the title character.
Overall, Sonic Prime is a fun, gripping, and nice-looking adventure story once you’ve got your head around the overly complex set-up, with a good variety of settings. Some of the characters are underdeveloped, and the last couple of episodes are probably the least interesting, but there is certainly enough to keep younger audiences entertained. I also am satisfied with any series that has a cameo from Jacksepticeye.
Score: 7/10
Sonic Prime is currently streaming on Netflix
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