Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA)

For other uses, see Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic the Hedgehog
North American Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie VHS cover.
Genre	Action, Science fiction, Comedy
Anime
Studio	General Entertainment Co, Ltd.1
Released	Japan: May 31, 1996 North America and Europe: 1999

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (Sonic The Movie for short, also known simply as the Sonic Anime or Sonic OVA) is a two-episode OVA film 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 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 Eggmanland" and "Sonic vs. Metal Sonic") were released over two VHS tapes. ADV Films dubbed it to English, and released both episodes edited together as a direct-to-video film in North America on September 9, 1999 (which coincidentally, is the same day as the North American release of the Sega Dreamcast video game console, as well as the Dreamcast game, Sonic Adventure.) as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.

Basic Plot Summary

Sonic and Tails are enjoying a peaceful day when the President's messenger comes asking Sonic to come to his office. Once there, Doctor Eggman has kidnapped the President and his daughter in order to get Sonic to take care of a problem: a giant mecha (known as Black Eggman in the Japanese version and Metal Robotnik in English dub) appeared in Dr. Eggman's utopian city of Eggmanland (called Robotropolis in English dub as a tie-in with the Sonic cartoon) and banishes the doctor and sabotages the Robot Generator, which will explode in less than a day. Eggman asks Sonic to head the Land of Darkness to stop it. Once there, the blue blur defeats the mecha, who turns out to be Eggman himself who lured Sonic to his base in order to copy his memories and knowledge for his new robot, Hyper Metal Sonic, an evil Sonic-shaped robot who shares his memories and feelings, and essentially lives the same life as Sonic himself.

In the English dubbed version, the two regions 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, much like the Little Planet from Sonic the Hedgehog CD. 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. Eggman. 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 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. 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.

Detailed Story

Journey to Eggmanland

The story begins with Sonic relaxing in a beachchair and listening to electronic music outside the ruins of a crashed Boeing 747 and USS Enterprise, which serves as his house. When Tails comes out to test his new, jet-propelled bodyboard, he asks Sonic to give it a try. Sonic declines, because he doesn't like water and can't swim. Tails' bodyboard, however, encounters a flying ship driven by Oji-san (called "Old Man" in the English dub), an elderly, harebrained owl who has no intelligence, and he and Tails almost collide with a mountain before being rescued by Sonic, after Tails has to yell at him. Afterward, Oji-san acts dumb and Sonic guesses that the president wants them at the presidential house right away. Sonic and Tails race to the Presidential Palace (Presidential House in dub), where they encounter Dr. Eggman holding the President and his catgirl daughter Sara hostage.

Eggman tells Sonic that his city of Eggmanland (Robotropolis in dub), located in the Land of Darkness, has been seized by a giant mechanical version of himself called Black Eggman (Metal Robotnik in the dub), who sabotaged the Robot Generator by overloading it with energy, which will malfunction and destroy Planet Freedom within a few hours.

After he gains the trust of Sonic, Dr. Eggman gives Tails a navigational watch for his journey. The duo heads for the Land of Darkness, using Tails' biplane, the Tornado, to fly beneath the clouds of Planet Freedom to stormy wasteland below. Sonic and Tails navigate through woodland area and reach the apocalyptic ruins of what appears to be New York City. There, they get into a long, grueling battle with Black Eggman. Knuckles becomes involved near the end and saves them both, and all three team up to destroy the robot monstrosity.

Sonic vs. Hyper Metal Sonic

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles go into the core of the city and narrowly deactivate the Robot Generator. Sonic is suddenly encased in a strange cube that copies his DNA, and the entire area collapses around them.

The crumbling husk of Black Eggman crashes through the floor, revealing Eggman 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 Eggman, which he 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 learns that Metal Sonic is out to destroy the world by digging into the ice caps that hold the Land of the Sky together, allowing lava to emerge and melt the ice. 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 Presidential Palace, and 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 held captive for marriage at the North Pole (Dr. Eggman's main goal in the movie is to destroy the world, leaving only he and Sara to rule Planet Freedom). 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 arrives and is trapped in his doomed aircraft. Hyper Metal Sonic 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 the subglacial volcano, where Sonic tries to save him, but Metal tells him that "there is only one Sonic" and is destroyed by the magma. After Eggman states he still has Sonic's DNA and can re-build Metal Sonic, one of his missiles from the fight comes back and blows up the disc containing Sonic's DNA and everyone but Eggman laughs. Afterward, Knuckles hits Sonic on the head (as Sonic stepped on Knuckles' head by accident during the fight) and the two chase each other. The whole cast is seen following behind Sonic before he races off.

Censorship

File:SonicAnime-middle.jpg

An uncensored image of Sonic putting up his middle finger up at Robotnik. Some VHS releases removed the finger. (Note, due to the way it is drawn, it appears Sonic is actually lifting his index finger.).

• In a scene where Sonic is supposed to show his middle finger at Black Eggman, some fans say that 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.
• Sara calls Metal Sonic a "pervert" when he and Sonic crash into Eggman's ship and he crashes through the bottom and accidentally looks up her dress. Sonic, who basically sees, feels and thinks everything Metal Sonic does, has an adverse effect on this event. However, it could have possibly been the effect of him landing on his groin on Eggman's Eggmobile.
• In one scene, Miles "Tails" Prower accidentally grabs Sara's breasts. This causes Knuckles the Echidna to state, "I never thought you'd stoop that low."
• In a daydream when Eggman proposes to marry Sara, she is shown pregnant and breastfeeding one of their many (Eggman) children.
• When Knuckles the Echidna was caught in the 'goop' Robotnik (Eggman) was shooting at the trio, Knuckles shouted, "Now I'm stuck!". In the original Japanese OVA, he was supposed to shout, "SHIT!". This was removed in the English dub for various reasons.
• People thought that Dr Eggman Said the F bomb but said "Darn!"

Voice artists

Japanese

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

English

• Martin Burke - Sonic the Hedgehog
• Lainie Fraiser - Miles "Tails" Prower
• Bill Wise - Knuckles the Echidna
• Edwin Neal - Dr. Robotnik/The President
• Sascha Biesi - Sara
• Charlie Campbell - Old Man Owl
• Gary Dehan - Metal Sonic

References

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

External links

• Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie at IMDb
• Sonic the Hedgehog OVA