Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA)

Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA)
North American Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie VHS cover.
Genre	Action, Sci-Fi, Comedy, Shonen
Anime
Studio	Studio Pierrot

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (Sonic The Movie for short, sometimes known simply as the Sonic Anime or Sonic OVA) is a two-episode OVA film series based on Sega's best-selling video game 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 Seira. This Sonic anime was made in 1996, where, in its native Japan, it was simply titled Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Sonikku Za Hejjihoggu), and its two 30-minute episodes (Journey To Eggman Land and Sonic VS Metal Sonic) were released over two VHS tapes. ADV Films dubbed it into English, and released both episodes edited together as a direct-to-video film in North America on September 8, 1999 as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.

Loosely based on the game Sonic the Hedgehog CD, the story follows a giant mecha (known as Black Eggman in the Japanese dub, Metal Robotnik in English and Dark Eggman to some fans) who appears in Dr. Eggman's utopian city of Eggmanland and banishes the doctor. The mecha takes control of Eggman's robotic army, to lure Sonic, Tails and Knuckles into the evil dimension The Land of Darkness. Once there, the blue blur finds Hyper Metal Sonic, his clone who shares his memories and feelings, and essentially lives the same life.

World

Unlike the official games continuity, the OVA takes place on a world named Planet Freedom, which is divided into two regions — the Land of the Sky and the Land of Darkness. However, in a reference to the games, one part of the Land of the Sky is called South Island, which is the setting of many of the Sonic games. Like many anime series, Planet Freedom appears to be a crossbreed of a fairytale land and Earth.

In the English dubbed version, the two regions are referred to as being separate dimensions, most probably 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 geological 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 the mountain were destroyed Planet Freedom's rotation would hurl the Land of the Sky into outer space, undoubtedly killing everyone living on it.

The Land of Darkness is the title used to address the actual surface of Planet Freedom, an untamed wilderness where only one individual lives- Eggman. The Land of Darkness may earn its moniker because of its primary resident, or simply because the thick clouds and the Land of the Sky block out most of the sun's light. Despite the gloom, the Land of Darkness is quite verdant, though all of its regions are littered with deadly booby-traps and killer robots designed by Eggman. 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.

Story

File:Sonicanimecharacters.jpg

Left to right; Seira, Sonic, the president, Dr. Eggman and Tails with robots.

Sonic is relaxing like he usually does, listening to dance music outside his house while lounging in a beach chair. When Tails comes out to test his new, jet-propelled bodyboard, he asks Sonic to give it a try. Sonic declines, since he has a great fear of water. Tails' bodyboard however, encounters a flying ship driven by Oji-san, an old and hair-brained anthropomorphic owl, and he is almost about to go into a cliff, being picked up by the ship. Sonic runs after hearing "SONIC!" from Tails. Sonic rescues them, but Oji-san gives news of the President being held captive by Dr. Eggman. Sonic and Tails race to the Presidential Palace, where they encounter Eggman holding the President and his daughter, Sara. Eggman tells Sonic a lie that his city in the Land of Darkness (Robotropolis in the English version as a tie-in with the American Saturday morning cartoon/SatAm), is being held by a metal version of himself called Metal Robotnik, who attacked his good people with a battalion of demonic robots and sabotaged the Robot Generator by overloading it with energy, which would then (supposedly) malfunction and release excess electricity and destroy Planet Freedom within a few hours. (It is debatable whether the story was actually true, or if he attacked his own city, or if the mecha actually did attack the planet on its own free will and was then taken control of by Eggman; this would explain its name being a variation of the doctor's.) After Sonic trusts Eggman, Tails is given a navigational watch from the doctor for his journey, and the two head for The Land of Darkness, Sara goes into Robotnik's ship with him, playing around with the controls. Sonic and Tails enter the Land of Darkness, encountering Badniks, but they soon get to the abandoned city. There, they get into a long battle with Metal Robotnik, eventually making Knuckles save them and destroying the mecha. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles go into the core of the city, where Sonic is held in a glass container which copies his DNA. The protagonists think that the bomb that Robotnik threatened would blow up the Land of the Sky was a dud.

The Metal Robotnik appears, eventually crumbling, revealing Eggman and Sara in it. Knuckles falsely accuses Sara of being behind his scheme, and in reply she cries a river and reveals that "The robot and the machine going haywire were all part of Robotnik's evil scheme," which Eggman does not deny. He shows Sonic a metal version of himself, Hyper Metal Sonic, and the two get into a fight. Metal wins, and Tails and Knuckles go back to the Land of the Sky, where Tails finds out that Metal Sonic is out to destroy the world by hitting the Ice Caps and blowing it up. The blue hedgehog wakes up in Green Lake City (a heavenly shrubbery), and thinks about Metal Sonic knowing everything he does, or has done. Sonic gets to the workshop, and hears all about the Ice Cap dilemma from the President (much to the dismay of the President and Tails). Sonic, Tails and Knuckles go to the Ice Cap, where Sara is being held captive for marriage at the North Pole she is being forced into. (Dr. Eggman's main goal in the movie is to destroy the world, leaving only he and Sara to marry and have children. It is possible that he wanted to destroy everyone else first, because their marriage would be illegal otherwise.) Sonic encounters Hyper Metal Sonic, and the two have a long fight. Tails corrupts Metal's data with the navigation watch Eggman gave him before, and Sonic is able to do serious damage. At the same time, however, the President's ship is destroyed. Metal Sonic saves the President and Sonic realizes that Metal does have emotions, as he was programmed with Sonic's DNA. Metal gets blown into an ice crack in a scene inspired by The Terminator, where Sonic tries to save him, but Metal says, "There is only one Sonic" and is destroyed by falling into the magma. While Sonic is smarting from his injuries, Eggman says that he still has Sonic's DNA, and reveals his plans to create a superior, emotionless replica of the blue blur. A design failure of his (a robotic turtle) blows up the CD that the DNA is inside, thwarting his plans. After, Knuckles hits Sonic on the head (because in the fight, Sonic stepped on Knuckles by accident) and the two chase each other. The whole cast is seen following behind Sonic before Sonic races off and the movie ends.

Trivia

File:SonicAnime-middle.jpg

What appears to be Sonic giving Robotnik the "finger".

File:SonicAnimeDVDMole.JPG

The "Knuckles is a mole" error from the DVD.

• In the original translations, Knuckles was presented as a mole and not as an echidna, it also stated that he was an 'accomplished flyer' when he cannot fly but can only glide. This mistake even re-occurs in the character bios featured in the DVD release.

• Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie was also edited for age-appropriate issues as the anime was originally aimed at teenagers similar to the game Shadow the Hedgehog. Most of the censorship issues mainly concern not translating certain Japanese profanities, but in the scene where Sonic is supposed to show his middle-finger at Black Eggman, ADV changed the scene so that it seemed that Sonic was holding up his index-finger to Metal Robotnik. This edit is not present in the Region 1 DVD. However, because this is an OVA they did not censor all suggestive themes from the movie, such as the scene in which Sara shouted at Metal, calling him a "pervert" for accidentally looking up her dress. It also had a scene where it looked like Tails was slapping his butt at Metal Robotnik, a scene were Tails falls onto Sara's breasts, holding onto them with his hands (then apologising profusely) and another scene where Sonic had hurt his groin, and a scene where Eggman gropes Sera (though this is a scene that is very 'hidden')

• In various points in the movie Sonic, Tails and Metal Sonic teleport just like in the Dragonball Z series. In the cases of both Sonic and Hyper Metal Sonic, however, both characters are capable of traveling at supersonic speeds. Therefore, this could be interpreted as the character traveling too fast for the naked eye to track, thus making it appear they teleport

• Sonic is animated in the same style as the Sonic CD intro and ending movies, though neither Tails nor Knuckles were seen in that game.

• The hat Knuckles wears never appears in any Sonic game, but it is a minor plot point in the Sonic the Hedgehog comics published by Archie. In that series, it is a gift from one of his ancestors, and a story arc showing a possible future for the characters depicts Knuckles wearing that hat regularly. The fact that he is depicted as an avid treasure hunter might suggest the hat was added to give Knuckles more of an Indiana Jones look.

Continuity

The OVA is generally believed by Sega and the Sonic fanbase to be an alternate continuity to the games series. Newer, often American or European, Sonic fans sometimes mistakingly consider this to be part of the official Sonic the Hedgehog canon, the Japanese continuity. There are some instances of the mini-series being true to the games which seem support this theory, including scenes that resemble and likely inspired the team actions in Sonic Heroes. However, there are some elements that make any connection seem impossible.

The first and most noticeable thing is that in the games, Sonic meets Metal Sonic in a different way. However, the Metal Sonic seen in the games is more similar to what Dr. Eggman was planning on creating near the ending of this series, in terms of not sharing characteristics of his flesh and blood brother in arms. Also remember that the robot seen here is never credited as Metal Sonic, but as Hyper Metal Sonic. It is possible that the anime's Metal is a prototype of Metal Sonic, and that the games' Metal is what Eggman is planning on creating later on during this story, before his design failure thrawts his plans. While that is most likely what the anime story would tell you, most of the official Sonic game sources would probably tell you otherwise, in one way or another.

Another problem is that Knuckles is apparently a mole(And is DUMB AS HELLAND AS IF HE WERE A MOLE THEY SHOULD'A ASK'DE SONICTEAM FIRST IF HE WAS OR WANT AMOLE!!) with no intention of guarding the Master Emerald here. While this hero spends no time with his Emerald here, he, according to the official game canon, does indeed enjoy treasure hunting, despite his duties. And while ADV Films considers him to be a mole, there is no evidence that he was ever intended to be a mole, other than the fact that the president's daughter sometimes referred to him as "Mr. Mole," although that was undoubtedly intended to be a cute characteristic of her, and other than the scene in which Knuckles is avoiding being hit by Sonic, that unmistakably recalls the game whack-a-mole. It's also worth noting that the movie's official description claims that he is actually a mole, but the writer of the article was presumably not a player of the games, or chose to only include what was apparent from the movie in and of itself (actually, Knuckles is an echidna).

In the Japanese game continuity (and possibly the American as well, though this is somewhat disputed), Sonic lives on Earth. Here he lives on a planet called "Planet Freedom," but this planet is very likely Earth in the future; the ruins underground are probably the remains of New York City, and when Knuckles speaks about what will happen if Metal reaches the North Pole, the Americas can be clearly seen after The Land of the Sky spins into space. If this is the case, and if the anime is part of the official continuity, this would mean that the games take place in the future as well. And even if Planet Freedom is not Earth, the anime could still be incorporated into the games continuity with the explanation that the reason for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles to be residing on Planet freedom is to keep an eye on Eggman, since he has built a huge base on it (his so called "Robotropolis").

Some fans conclude that the series must be canon, since it was in part overseen by Sega and Sonic Team. However, the same applies to Sonic X, which differs from canon also. (Due to a number of reasons, but perhaps most evident in the fact that in that show, Sonic and the other sentient animals came to Earth from another world.)

Note that the "official Sonic canon" is debatable, as hardly any official licensed Sonic stories coincide with each other completely. At the time this anime was created it did not differ as far from official cannon as it does today. This is mostly a result of the Sonic Team games based on Sonic (which have first priority in Sonic fandom most of the time) steering the story in a different direction. It is possible that this anime was originally intended to be part of the Sonic canon, though it could be considered alternate universe at this point.

Voice artists

English

• Martin Burke - Sonic the Hedgehog
• Lainie Frasier - Miles "Tails" Prower
• Bill Wise - Knuckles the Echidna
• Edwin Neal - Dr. Rodicknik

Japanese

• Masami Kikuchi - Sonic the Hedgehog
• Hekiru Shiina - Miles "Tails" Prower
• Yasunori Matsumoto - Knuckles the Echidna
• Junpei Janikuchi - Dr. Eggman

References

• "Sonic HQ Cartoon Info - Sonic the Hedgehog (Japanese OAV)". Retrieved 2006-05-03.

External links

• Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie at IMDb