UTINNI!
Episode 10: Unfair Ball
(AKA Fierce Fight! Sonic Baseball Team)
It’s night, and the X Tornado is flying through the sky. The ship then starts going in some weird direction as the Chaos Emerald power it is acting up. The ship starts flying towards a baseball field, and Tails thinks it might be another Emerald. He decides to sneak in on his own. He reaches the field itself, and is pretty awestruck.
We also get the first instance in the show of him doing his Tails Move (where he spins his tails around for the helicopter thing). I’m not sure whether I’m more surprised that it’s taken them 10 episodes to include it or the fact that I never realized they had yet to use it. It’s guess it’s just one of those things that you don’t realize you’ve missed it until it shows up.
So against what should probably be in his better judgment, Tails walks right up to a man who’s trying to get a lawnmower started to get his attention (are they even bothering to pretend they’re trying to keep a secret anymore?) The guy is kind of freaked by the appearance of Tails, but quickly seems to get over it once Tails begins to explain the situation.
He also seems to understand all that Tails is telling him pretty easily, too. We also learn he’s the groundskeeper.
Side note: I’m guessing that the gem they’ll recover this episode is the Chaos Diamond, seeing how the place is called “Diamond Stadium”. And yes, I know that the white Chaos Emerald is technically still called a Chaos Emerald, but frankly, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. It’s kind of hard to call it a Chaos ‘’Emerald’’ if it’s not green (and thus, not an ‘’’Emerald.’’’
Sorry, where was I?
Oh yes, the stadium. The Groundskeeper mentions that it’s his last day, because the manager is planning to build a new, indoor baseball field. I expect this will become important later.
In the meantime, we have a Chaos Gem to discuss. Tails pulls the Chaos Emerald out from between his…tails (I probably don’t want to think too much about where he was carrying it…) and shows it to the man. Seems he already has the Chaos Diamond with him, and pulls it out of his pocket. Bringing the two gems close together causes them to shoot a beam of light into the air, which catches the attention of Knuckles and Doc Robo.
Robo, for some reason, opens a drawer containing some baseball gear. I have no idea what he could possibly be planning that would make any sense in the grand scheme of things.
Meanwhile, at Chris’, Emma is trying to teach Sonic and pals (minus Tails) proper eating etiquette. While Amy and C&C pick it up easily enough, Sonic isn’t even trying, wondering why they even have to bother with such ‘baloney’.
You tell ‘em, Sonic. Waste of time, as far as I’m concerned. Honestly, what genuine purpose does it serve to have two forks and two spoons in the same meal? They all work pretty much the same in the end.
As Crazy Gramps wonders where Tails is, Bakuun pops in (Chris’s parents really need to invest in a better security system) and he’s wearing a baseball hat. This cannot be leading anywhere good.
Doc Robo, in his foolishness, points out the light of the Chaos Gems, informing them about what’s going on so they have an opportunity to try to stop him, rather than Doc Robo swooping in, stealing the gem(s?), and retreating back to his base so he can instead send a message taunting Sonic about having a gem or gems of his own.
I tell you, it’s times like this I wonder if Doc really even cares. It’s like he WANTS Sonic to beat him.
Now that Robo has spoiled his chances of taking the gems from right under Sonic’s nose, he asks why don’t they be good sports about it (Because you’re a Villain? Because you’re Evil? Because you’re suppose to be serious about your attempts to take over the world? Because it gives you no reason to complain when Sonic beats you and takes the Gem away when you could have gotten your hands on it without him being any the wiser?) and challenges him to a game of baseball.
I already know how this is going to play out – Doc Robo is going to try to cheat anyway, which makes this whole story one giant Idiot Ball since it would be SO much easier to steal the gems and use them to build super-robots to kick Sonics butt later, allowing him to humiliate Sonic even easier than by beating Sonic in a game of baseball.
Who’s holding the Idiot Ball this week? I think that role goes to the Doc. Oh, Eggman.
Eggman, Eggman, Eggman, Eggman…
>sighs, lowers head in shame, and shakes it in disappointment<
Bakuun finishes up by performing the baseball equivalent of More Dakka till Emma grabs him and throws him out. I am disappointed that there was no explosion to be had this visit. The last remark, however, kind of makes up for it.
“What kind of pitch was that?” “I think it was a screwball.”
Off they go to the Stadium, where Tails and Groundskeeper Whatshisname have been holding the gems together for an AWFUL long time. Which is even more odd when he comments he hopes that the wrong people didn’t see it. You don’t think you could have pulled them apart or something sooner, Tails?
Of course, Doc Robo is right there, and wondering where the rest of the people are. Tails, however, proclaims that he’s not going to give up the gems. Good call, Tails.
Without his opponents there, Robo declares himself the winner and takes the Chaos Diamond away from Groundskeeper. He tries to take the Emerald as well, but Knuckles comes to the rescue. Knuckles suggests he and Tails get out of there, showing that he too is using his brain this episode. Before they can leave, however, Sonic makes his entrance.
With the Diamond in Hand, Robo insists they play if they want it back, and deploys his team.
While Tails is ready to dismiss the idea, Crazy Gramps earns his nickname by informing us he’s a fan of Baseball and that he likes the idea of them playing a ‘nice, friendly game’. Yeah, Gramps, because that’s what this is really going to be.
While Crazy “Chuck” Gramps and Doc Robo perform some friendly pre-game banter, Tails tries to tell them they can’t play on the field (he mentions something about ruining the grass, but I don’t know. It seems a tad odd to me) Finally, we also get a Groundskeeper name – Albert Butler – when he tells Tails not to worry about it. After all, the place is coming down soon anyway.
The situation that follows is easily summed up on by Knuckles – “This is sad.”
I agree, Knuckles. I wholeheartedly agree.
Chris, for once proving a sense of intelligent commentary, points out that no, the game is probably not a good idea, and that Doc Robo probably has something up his sleeves. All Crazy Gramps can think is that yeah, maybe Robo is using a corked bat.
>Discouraged Sigh<
Knuckles joins in on the sense of reason by saying that this game is a really STUPID idea since Doc Robo winning would be very, very bad. He gives in and agrees to play when everyone else taunts him as being a chicken.
Ok, so not only is Doc Robo holding the Idiot Ball this episode, he’s made it contagious.
Oh, and even better, one of Doc Robo’s minions is the umpire. Yeah, this will go over REAL well. Oh, and the robots on Doc Robo’s team are specially built for playing Baseball.
The game goes about as well as you might expect.
In an amusing moment, Amy uses her Hammer as her bat. Fun. :-)
Much to my surprise, the game comes out much closer than I expect as they near the end, 32 to 35. Wow, that is a LOT of runs. O_O
Also, the news crew shows up to report on the game. So I think it’s safe to say that Sonic’s prescience on Earth is WAY out of the bag. Any attempts to pretend otherwise are a waste of time. I really can’t see any reason for them to try to justify it anymore.
So anyway, as the game nears the end, Crazy Gramps switches out Mr. Tinaka for a pinch hitter – Cheese. Because being as small as…he? She?...whatever it is...is, it leaves a very small batting window. Knuckles proves to be key player by it being suggested he’s made a lot of home runs.
Way to go, Knucks. Even if you did give into the peer pressure of stupidity.
As the game ties up, it’s revealed that a crowd has begun to form to watch the game.
Chris, unsurprisingly, is revealed to be the last batter. It doesn’t turn out as bad as I expect, though, since he still manages to strike out despite a pep talk from Sonic. Ha, ha.
However, Robo’s Robots also do no credit to Robo’s abilities to build effective robots, since they make some stupid mistakes that pretty much give the game away.
Robo tries to recover by having one of his bots play Metroid and latch onto Sonics head with the intent of exploding. Again, Knuckles to the save.
However, Robo, being the villain he is, runs off with both gems anyway (how he got his hands on the Emerald, I’ll never know).
Crazy Gramps seems relatively OK with the prospect, since at least they learned something about teamwork.
Oh, and the owner shows up, saying he wants to move the old turf to the new, planned stadium. So that particular point did come up, just not quite how I expected (I thought it would result in the owner changing his mind and keeping the old stadium around).
On the bright side, the episode wasn’t as bad as the Tornado X episode, since at least I was able to keep my interest, but it was still a very poor follow up to the beach episode. It wouldn’t have been so bad had it not been for the stupidity required to make the plot work.
edited 6th Aug '10 10:41:52 PM by SpaceJawa
UTINNI!
Episode 11: Fly Spy
(AKA The Beautiful, Mysterious Thief Rouge)
The episode starts upside down. And no wonder since Rouge is doing her bat-hangs-upside-down thing looking at some…building. The choice of music is particularly interesting. Has a jazzy quality to it.
Seems she’s trying to infiltrate a museum of some kind to steal a gem, though for a thief, she doesn’t take much care to avoid the security systems. Nor pay much attention when they start blaring. The guards aren’t much better, though, doing little more to start than watch as she slowly continues to steal the gem and wonder how anyone could have gotten inside.
Their supposed means of keeping her from escaping, locking down the place, doesn’t do much. Though to be fair, I doubt very much that “flying thief lifts off the roof with crane” ever came up during the brainstorming session of potential threats to their security.
The news report the following morning reports that Rouge stole, what else, the worlds largest diamond (If that isn’t a trope already, then why not?) Apparently, it’s also the latest in a string of robberies which she is believed to be behind.
Meanwhile, Amy pops into Crazy Gramps room looking for Sonic, probably to see if he wants part of the pizza she’s carrying. C&C say he’s probably with Chris and Tails, but otherwise don’t know where he is. So they get the pizza instead.
Speaking of those three, they’re up in the Tornado X, probably looking for more Chaos Gems.
Meanwhile, at the White House, the President is determined to strike back against Doc Robo, but unfortunately for them, the wrecked Robo Robots they’ve recovered (oh, is that Misslewrist? Nice Continuity Nod!) show that technologically, the Doc is far beyond what they’re capable of. One agent (Is that Agent Creepypants? It’s hard to say for certain) suggests they ask Sonic for help. Since Sonic can understand their language, the President gives his approval.
Meanwhile, at Chris’ school (nope, that wasn’t Stewart after all. I was WAY off on that one…) where, after he notices Chris painting the Chaos Ruby, lampshades the whole non-green chaos emeralds conundrum. Again, nice insert.
For some reason, Rouge is hanging outside the window and hears Stewart mention what’s probably a false rumor about such a stone being found at a particular old factory. In an improvement over last time, Chris is able to refrain from skipping school to go look for it.
After school, Chris takes his Black Best Friend (Danny’s his name, by the way) home to meet Sonic and co, but Sonic is already on the road. He eventually comes to a sign saying “Factory” with an arrow (yeah, nothing suspicious about that…) but before he goes to check it out, the Tornado X flies overhead and reveals that they added another seat to it, since it’s carrying Tails, Amy, Chris, AND Danny.
When they all go, however, it’s shown that the arrow is the work of Rouge, who no doubt wants the Ruby for herself. She flies to the factory, only to get caught in a trap that I’m a bit confused by, since they try to arrest her.
Side Note: Rouge introducing herself tells me that I’ve had her name wrong all along. Here I always thought she was called Rogue, not Rouge (As in the Rogue Squadron pronunciation as opposed to the Rouge makeup pronunciation. Huh, what do you know? Dang the similarity of those two words! You’ve foiled me yet again!). While I guess it makes sense, I still think Rogue is a better name for her. But oh well.
Seems that yeah, the trap was meant for Sonic, though in finding out they’ve caught the person behind the jewel thefts, they’re not to upset about the mix-up. While Sonic and Co continue to go in the wrong direction, the Government people decide to bring Rouge to talk with the President instead, and she and Topaz do not seem to be getting along very well, though it’s mostly on account of Rouge’s attitude.
They decide to offer her a deal by offering her immunity from her crimes as long as she’s willing to work as a secret agent. Being the rogue that she is, she agrees to it since she thinks it might help her get her hands on the Chaos Ruby, since it doesn’t cross her mind that that was nothing more than false lead.
Back on the road, Sonic and co finally head back to the other way.
Up in the air, a team is flying to what I assume is an attempt to strike at Doc Robo, but due to the team not entirely trusting Rouge, they attach a bomb bracelet to her. The Rouge vs Topaz feud continues to run, and I continue to enjoy it. I’m siding with Topaz, though, personally. I kind of like her.
Back at the factory, Sonic and co arrive to find that – surprise! – there’s nothing to be found.
Meanwhile, on Robo’s island, the team prepares to strike. Not seeing an entrance, Rouge takes the initiative and flies up to hook up a rope so the rest of the team can get in. Surprisingly, Topaz saves her from getting blown up (though give the record of explosions on this show, I doubt it would do much more than singe her hair and give her clothes a smoky dye job) when the team commander mistakes her actions for stepping out of line.
The team moves through the base, and surprisingly, there’s no sign of security systems. Doc just sleeps through the whole thing. It isn’t until they reach the Chaos Gem room that something kicks in, grabbing Topaz, knocking Rouge out of commission, and finally alerting Doc Robo that he has intruders.
More robots enter the room, causing more harm than good when they first put a hole in the floor that exposes the power generator and then start to destroy each other.
It’s also shown just how unlikely it is that these things would have ever stopped Sonic had he come along, since they’re not even able to successfully hit Rouge, and she’s not nearly as fast as he is. I tell ya, Robo really needs to redesign his robot army.
Looking for a way to stop the sound blaster, she cuts off the bomb bracelet (which surprisingly, they never though to set up to explode in such circumstances) and gets the robot ready to blow up just as Doc Robo himself shows up. It doesn’t do much, but it does give a nice fireball for them to outrun.
However, I again say that the bomb was probably never much of a threat to Rouge in the first place, since Robo is right there for the explosion and doesn’t come out much worse for the wear.
I’ve mixed feeling about this one. On the one hand, it was better than the last episode, and introduced a new character that I’ve taken a liking to, but on the other hand, I’m kind of disappointed by the decision to effectively make it spotlight episode for Rouge and make Sonic nothing more than a bit player. I just hope it doesn’t become a regular thing.
UTINNI!
Episode 12: Beating Eggman, Part 1
(AKA Before the Attack on Eggman’s Base)
Scene open on Sonic, laying on the roof as usual and reading a book. He comments that he thinks he’s seen every place on the planet there is to see (yeah, right) except the places he’d have to swim to (oh, right. Yeah, I might be willing to buy that one). Might be about time to get some of those swimming lessons, Sonic.
C&C are enjoying themselves inside when Emma comes in with a snack. A news report comes on with the announcement that the Government is planning to put a stop to Doc Robo. For some reason, this comes as a shock to Cream in the bad sense of the word. They’ll need to explain that one…
Meanwhile Robo is also watching the news, providing a very strong argument about why it’s a stupid idea to announce to the world you’re planning to attack someone soon enough ahead of time for them to plan and execute a preemptive counter-strike. Especially if that someone it so far advanced ahead of you technologically as to put you at an initial disadvantage.
Meanwhile, Knuckles is crawling up a cliff, apparently looking for an Emerald, only for the Tornado X to fly overhead.
Inside, the now officially 4-man T-X is carrying Tails, Chris, Amy, and Chris’ totally-not-a-girlfriend-but-will undoubtedly-become-one-later female friend Francis says I Can See My House from Here. Amy is also holding some kind of controls for reasons I can only guess, while Chris is wearing some new “high tech goggles”. He says he got them from Agent Mr. Stewart. Because that’s not suspicious at all.
They are, of course, bugged so that Stewart can listen in and track them.
Meanwhile, at the White House, the team is planning their previously announced and easily pre-empted strike, complete with a neat little model of Doc Robos island. The tower even pops off. Fun.
Topaz and Rouge continue their rivalry, with Rogue taking all the credit for the intel they brought in.
The attack plan initially sounds like a Hollywood Tactics attack, with a “two prong” assault from sea an air. Little detail is provided. Fortunately, there’s a better plan in place which reveals that it’s really just a diversion to get the robots attention so that a special forces team can sneak in and destroy the generator. Nice.
Also, not having forgotten about Sonic, the President has sent his press agent to Chris’ house to recruit the blue hedgehog to aid in the attack.
I don’t want to knock on wood, but between the buildup and this being a two-part episode, I’ve got a good feeling about what’s coming.
At Chris house, Emma tries to deny the prescience of Sonic, yet is somehow surprised that these guys know what her name is. Seriously? You’d think that would be one of the EASIEST things for them to find out. But she can easily deny Sonic without any surprise that they’ve just walked in and asked for his help?
It doesn’t go any better. Sounds like a dumb move on Emmas part, not even wanting to let Sonic know so he can decide for himself. Though it might not even be a problem if Sonic was in the know about the planned attack on Robo.
Hmmm…maybe I shouldn’t have spoken so soon about how things might turn out.
When the President gets the call that they don’t have Sonic’s help, Rouge waves it off since she’s there. Though being the rogue that she is, she’s really just interested in getting her hands on a chaos gem.
Stewart continues to follow the T-X. Apparently, Sonic’s gang only lost the Chaos Diamond instead of both gems, since Tails is using the Emerald to seek out a third gem.
Stewart comments on it as he continues to follow. “They turned again.”
Thank you, Agent Mr. Obvious.
The T-X Lands in a cornfield, and Tails activates it’s previously secret walking mode. It’s not a full transformer or mecha, but it’s still pretty cool. I thought those engines looked a tad suspicious.
Stewart, meanwhile, calls in to “homeroom”. Shouldn’t have taken those goggles, Chris.
The group finds the gem, only to learn that the X-Cyclone doesn’t have a digging function (and thus, Tails claim that it’s all purpose proves false). Time to dig with your hands, kids.
At the White House, the President approves the new plan of using the likelihood of Robo being out and looking for the gem to improve the chances of them succeeding in their attack. They catch Robo’s attention by sneaking the info in to some infomercial static (totally not suspicious, right?).
Cue Stock Footage. The lucky robot? Some kind of jet engine chicken. Robo flies after it.
Knuckles, meanwhile, learns that the attack is happening while the military finalizes it’s preparations.
Back at the farm, the crew is digging for the gem when Robo shows up. Tails hops in the X-C and preps for a giant robot battle. Sweet. :-)
Chris and Francis run to find a phone to call Sonic.
Seems that robot battle isn’t happening after all, since Tails reverts to jet mode and Turbo Chicken sets his jet in reverse, stopping the T-X in place and blowing away Amy. The Jet crashes to the ground, and then it starts blowing everything else down.
The goggles get blown away too, sending Stewart away from the fight instead of towards it.
Back at Robo island, the assault begins. Lots of missiles are launched, for fortunately for Robo, he has his two Hench-bots who are able to mount a counter-attack.
Guess Robo forgot about that preemptive counter attack. Shame.
While the attack proceeds, the strike team begins their attack.
Meanwhile, at the White House, the President is rehearsing his speech this his “fellow citizens.” So it’s the US in everything but name.
Side note: I’m not exactly impressed by his apparent (lack of?) speech reading abilities. It’s like they tried to make a George W Bush joke that completely misses the mark. Especially since there was no reason to compare him to Bush in the first place.
However, when it comes time for the cameras, he doesn’t have much trouble at all. Back at Chris’, C&C run to tell Sonic.
Meanwhile, the attack continues, and the team infiltrates the base. Knuckles, intent on joining the action, sneaks into a bomb bay. Heh, heh, this should be fun.
Sonic goes to get a lift to the battle, so apparently no one told him what he was up to. Fortunately, Crazy Gramps is there to fill him in, but with no idea where they might be.
Meanwhile, at the farm, everyone is pinned down. Everyone except Amy, that is, who’s brought out the hammer and is crawling her way back by hammering stakes into the ground. She probably got them the same place she keeps her hammer. Either way, I call Rule of Cool. And oddly enough, the appearance feels like what her robot smack down should have felt like.
Go Amy! I’m so glad my expectation of your hammer being worthless proved to be oh so wrong.
Tails also gets back into the fight, switching back to robot mode and picking itself up. Still not enough, since Turbo Chicken still blows it away.
[[Strike:Agent]] Mr. Stewart, having found just the goggles and heading back the other way, gets caught up in the wind and call in Sonic. The cliffhanger leaves us with Sonic on his way to fight Robo, and a voiceover that leaves something to be desired. Would have been much better if they just did the “To be continued” caption and left it at that.
Not a bad first half, but I’m worried I may have spoken too soon about how good the episode had the potential to be.
I’ll just wait and see what happens with Part 2.
UTINNI!
Episode 13: Beating Eggman, Part 2
(AKA After the Attack on Eggman’s Base)
Last episode recap, complete with another shot of the awesome image of Amy slowly hammering her way back into the fight.
Can’t say I’m impressed by the recap guy any more than I am by the ‘tune in next time’ guy, though.
Mr. President once again tells the public what’s going on as Robo’s forces tear through the military.
Oh, and there’s Knuckles, who makes his way to the island by missile surfing. Dude, that is too cool. Once he reaches the building, he starts climbing his way up.
Inside, Doc Robo’s internal defenses start to take show up, and Rouge steps up to take them.
Meanwhile, at the farm, Turbo Chicken continues to blow and hold everyone in place. He steps on the XC and begins to crush it, and that’s when Sonic shows up. He makes surprisingly fast work of Turbo Chicken, not even needing to run to keep from getting blown away. It’s a rather anticlimactic finish, to be honest. Turbo Chicken didn’t even explode!
Spoke too soon, as when Tails remembers the Chaos gem, Turbo Chicken gets up on his feet. I don’t expect this fight to last much longer, since that Ring Sonic never thinks to hang on to is shot out of the XC when Chris presses a button. Sonic flies right through it, and as expected, the fight is over.
Why, again, does he not keep one of those on him at all times?
With Turbo Chicken gone (Again), Tails digs up the Chaos…to be honest, I’m not sure what it might be. It’s yellow, though I’m not too familiar with any yellow gemstones.
…
Chaos Amber, perhaps? I guess that works.
Anyhoo, Tails must be off his game, because Doc Robo also returns and snatches up the new Chaos gem with minimal trouble. Scratch that. Sonic’s off his game too, since he doesn’t stop Doc Robo either.
The crew loads up in the TX, through Chris tries to tell Francis she should stay behind because it’ll be dangerous. Yeah, Chris, you’re one to talk.
Fortunately, Amy and Tails quickly point out his hypocrisy about the situation. Good job, you two.
There’s an over extravagant transformation sequence, and then it’s off they go, with Sonic riding on the outside.
Meanwhile, back at Doc Robo’s base, the team takes out the internal defenses, and the robots organizing the counter attack mistake Doc Robos’ return as another enemy ship.
Good thing his little flier is so maneuverable.
The TX is close behind, and finally they can disregard with the whole attempt at being secret about their existence, since Sonic is riding on the nose and is put on TV for everyone to clearly see.
Inside, Rouge stays behind to deal with another robot while the human squad members continue forward. Another squad of robots appears, pinning town Topaz’s group.
Enter Knuckles, who proceeds to kick @$$ and take names. It’s like his episode 1 self all over again. Just where have you been, awesome Knuckles? I missed you. I guess there was that one episode where Doc Robo convinced you to fight Sonic, but it just wasn’t the same.
While Knuckles and the infiltration team get up to speed (and Knucks sadly makes the wrong conclusion that he’s getting an opportunity to mess with Sonic’s ego), Doc Robo takes a moment to chew out his robot assistants before taking command. He sees the TX on the way, and unleashes as many missiles as he can, though they don’t do any good. Tails cuts a hole in the side of the building, and Sonic makes his entrance.
Robo’s ready for him, however, and activates a Humongous Mecha to try to smash Sonic with.
The infiltration team sets up the charges, and Rouge makes her attempt to steal Robo’s chaos gems. Too bad for her they’re not there anymore. And thus her attempts to stay behind get them all locked in. Nice going, Rouge.
Meanwhile, Robo actually does some damage to Sonic, which is thanks to a pair of Chaos Gems.
He gets a call from his assistant robots, which give him the bad news about the infiltration team. Considering their inability to tell that a group using demolition charges in their generator room are NOT their allies, I think this is another strike against Doc Robo. He REALLY needs to build himself some better help.
Sonic manages to turn things around (somehow) and last long enough to swipe Robo’s Chaos Gems, allowing him to go semi-super and make short work of Robo’s Mecha. And then he starts making short work of the base, too.
With an exit, the team escapes the base just in time for it to get blown to bits. Likewise, Sonic flies out with both gems in hand.
End episode.
So not quite what it could have been, but it was still an improvement over part 1. Put together though, I’d say the two episodes got close enough to the potential I hoped for to leave me satisfied.
edited 17th Aug '10 2:29:40 AM by SpaceJawa
Grant us eyes
With Turbo Chicken gone (Again), Tails digs up the Chaos…to be honest, I’m not sure what it might be. It’s yellow, though I’m not too familiar with any yellow gemstones.
Topez
A corpse should be left well enough alone...
TV Tropes' Sonic Wiki Curator
UTINNI!
Episode 14: That’s What Friends Are For
(AKA: Chase After the Hero Sonic!)
Been too long since I did the last one, but I’m back now!
But I’ve got a bad feeling about the episode based on the name. Hope I’m wrong about that.
It’s a bright sunny day at the White House, where while the headlines celebrate the defeat of Doc Robo, Mr. President is depressed because Sonic is the real hero of the story. Seems he’s everywhere.
The aid panics that (rather than the President getting Re-Elected) the public will elect Sonic President.
To Paraphrase Morbo:
“Presidential Elections DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!”
At least, not if they work anything like they do in the US, which this show had set itself up as resembling thus far.
The Presidents aid suggests that, in order to solve the “problem”, they hold a celebration dinner with Sonic as the guest of honor, effectively allowing President whats-his-name to piggyback off of Sonic’s popularity and be guaranteed to win re-election.
Back at Chris’, Sonic rushes out the door just in time to miss the invitation. Crazy Gramps read the invitation, and everyone around (C&C, Amy, Tails, and Chris) give a cheer when they see that he can bring as many friends as he wants.
I’ve got a feeling that Sonic isn’t going to be interested in attending and throw everyone’s plans off.
Just then, Sonic walks in the door and, as expected, Sonic isn’t going to go. But instead of because of a lack of interest, it’s due to promising one of Chris’ classmates (Helen) that they’d hang out the same night as the dinner.
She’s a kid in a wheelchair, no less. With a dad who’s never there to spend time with her. In other words, a sob story emotional impact disabled kid.
We have a trope for that, right?
Meanwhile, at the White House, the party has started (no one thought to send a reply saying ‘sorry, Sonic has previous commitments’?) and everyone BUT Sonic pulls up in a Limo. The President’s aid panics, more so when the press plan on leaving. He orders a team of MIBs to go retrieve Sonic.
They bust into Chris’ house, which is no doubt illegal, and Ella gives them a mouthful before calling in Mr. Tenaka when they plan to search the house, which has definitely got to be illegal. He unleashes some kung fu moves that quickly send all three out the door.
And so we actually get that trigger pulled on that Chekhov's Gun.
Back at the White House, the people who DID go are enjoying the food. The President is not amused by the failure of his aide’s plan, and it’s about to get worse as he calls in the military.
He is SO getting fired by the end of this episode.
And so begins a country-wide manhunt.
It’s at this point that I consider that even if they do get Sonic there at this point, the plan is going to totally backfire since Sonic is unlikely to be pleased about forcibly being brought somewhere he doesn’t want to go.
Meanwhile, at the White House, the Aide is not doing a good job of keeping the press happy.
At the lake, we get a pair of ‘almost there’s, which is a sure sign that they’re not quite going to make it. Sure enough, the helicopters show up and try to steal the boat. Sonic, being Sonic, gets them away.
Helen happens to be enjoying it.
The dinner continues to be unimpressive, while the military brings out the personal hovercraft.
Wait…what?
That felt…random.
Anyway, while Sonic and Helen have a moment to rest, Helen again reminds us of her situation.
I suspect that information will become important by the end of the episode. Like the President will see to it her family gets some money or a new job or something.
At this point, the two are having fun with the whole chase thing. Till they come to a cliff, where rather than turning around, he runs up it. To where there’s a giant field of flowers. So…did they actually get onto the island after all?
Then the chase continues. Which results in him stealing a helicopter. Nice moves. Then they go to the White House anyway. But it’s too late for the plan to take effect, though the President doesn’t seem to mind at this point. Sonic doesn’t seem to mind the whole ‘let’s try to capture him’ thing either.
And so the episode ends with Helen telling her parents about her adventure, Sonic listening in, and her parents making plans to take Helen to the island.
Ok, so not anything like the ending I expected, but it could have been worse. And the episode wasn’t as bad as I feared it might be.
I still say the President should fire his aide, though.
edited 25th Aug '10 7:14:39 PM by SpaceJawa
UTINNI!
Two in a row, let’s go!
Episode 15: Skirmish in the Sky
(AKA: Raid of Egg Fort, the Flying Fortress!)
We open at Chris’, where he’s bought Sonic a cell phone. Sonic is unimpressed. I don’t blame him. At least it’s consistent with his inability to hold onto a power ring.
Tails and Amy come in to remind Chris that they’re going shopping. Which is, apparently, a universal concept.
Among females, at least. Considering she’s bringing up things like bargain hunting, I have no other explanation for her strong knowledge of and desire to take part in such an activity given what I imagine their homeworld it like.
But who knows, given the whole clothes thing they have going on.
…
I’m putting way to much thought into this right now.
Anyway, Amy is excited when she sees that Sonic has a Cell phone, which he quickly tosses away and bolts for it.
Amy is not pleased.
“Why can’t he be left alone with me?!”
To be honest, I can’t help but feel a tad sorry for her on the matter.
As the shopping crew (Ella, Chris, Tails, C&C, and Amy) drive to their destination, Chris is dismayed that Sonic doesn’t want to be reachable.
Is that Disco Ball they have in their car?
…
The Thorndike car has a disco ball. It’s so ridiculous, and yet I can’t help but love it.
Anyway, Amy comments that Sonic is the kind of guy who likes to be mysterious and likes his space. Chris worries about how to contact him if there’s trouble, and Tails reads my mind – If there’s a problem, Sonic will show up to save the day.
The rest of the group agrees.
At the mall (which has a dock and a large cruise boat parked outside), C&C and Amy go with Ella to try on clothes, while Tails and Chris check out the toys. Tails can’t help but notice that everyone is staring at him. One kid mistakes him for a toy and asks if they can buy him.
Their meal isn’t much better, since nobody can seem to take their eyes off them. Seems that being public knowledge isn’t so great for them after all. Which is surprising in that the show is actually covering said issue, yet it’s also a fun to see them try to tackle the issue.
And then there’s a paparatzi.
I don’t know, I somehow get the feeling that Chris should have some level of experience with this, given who his mom is. But who know, maybe he does.
And despite going into the VIP area, things don’t improve much.
Meanwhile, at the wreckage of Doc Robos base, the cleanup/recovery crew discovers something that isn’t suppose to be there. No doubt the hiding place for the flying fort the title mentions.
The ground shakes, the wreck falls to the ground, and a giant flying machine lifts up into the air.
Look out, world. The Doctor…
…is IN.
…
Yeah, I went there.
So yeah, it seems that Doc Robo DID have a plan in place for the President’s attack, but rather than go with the pre-emptive counter-strike I expected he instead built a bigger, better, flying base.
I don’t know whether that was a better plan or not. Probably runs on Rule of Cool. At least the Doc knows how to pull of a return.
Unfortunately, his less than brilliant henchmen are still around too. What, didn’t have time to build replacements? Possibly more competent ones?
Can’t argue they don’t have a sense of humor now, though.
Doc Robo heads for the city, and so the (non preemptive) counter attack begins, which the Doc deploying wrecking ball robots. Sadly, the crazy disco ball car is destroyed too.
Alright, Amy, you ready to spend some Hammertime?
Sadly, no. But Sonic shows up, so it’s not a total loss.
Like they said, if he’s needed, Sonic will find a way to be there.
Tails even says as much. I love it when this show manages to read my mind like that.
Also, the henchmen robot humor is starting to cross from humorous to annoying. Please stop now.
The fight continues with Sonic being unable to reach Robos ship, and Tails comments that they need the XT. At which point who should appear but Uncle Sam.
Sonic starts having trouble with a new group of robots, which are apparently equipped with “Speed Seeking Detectors”. Yeah, I’m not even going to TRY to figure that one out.
Anyway, he manages to hijack one and tries to get to the ship with it, but Doc hits the self destruct. And then deploys a lot of mini robots with lasers.
They also go after Sam’s vehicle, and nearly shoot it up before [[scratch:Agent]] Mister Stewart shows up. With a mirror that bounces the shot off at another robot. How convenient.
As they continue on there way, Mr. Tinaka also shows up, driving a large truck carrying the XT. They quickly get Sonic a ring.
$#*^ just got real.
They get up in Doc Robo’s face and taunt him, which gets them to follow him away from the city.
Also, Henchbot 1 and Henchbot 2 – shut up already.
As they fly out over the ocean, Robot has his ship unleash its Wave-Motion Gun. Which, seeing how our hero has to live, misses and does nothing.
I don’t get why he didn’t just shoot it at the city to begin with. Other than because the shopping crew had to live.
Ok, never mind. It did do something after all – it didn’t destroy them, but it did do some heavy damage.
Sonic has them fly him towards the bridge. And this time, he takes 2 rings instead of just one.
$#*^ just got MORE real.
He flies through the ship, blowing it.
Again, WHY DOES HE NOT JUST CARRY THOSE THINGS WITH HIM EVERYWHERE?!
As they land on a nearby Aircraft Carrier, they look out on the sinking ship and comment that they’re likely to see Doc Robo again in the near future.
Tidbit complaints here and there aside, I have to say that I really enjoyed this episode – it falls way on the positive side of the scale from what’s been shown thus far, and I wise I’d been watching it without pausing to comment on the events as it went on.
The holdout, though, is the matter of Sonic and his rings. It gets frustrating the way they keep getting pulled out like a Deus Ex Mechina and make it clear that any battle he has them in is basically a Curb-Stomp Battle, yet they don’t even bother to handwave the matter of him not holding on to one or two of them at all times. It’s like an Idiot Ball that’s been injected into the bloodstream of all the main characters.
But yeah – otherwise, really enjoyed this one.
edited 25th Aug '10 8:33:45 PM by SpaceJawa
I'll take this cupcake... AND EAT IT!
Speed seeking detectors... I think Robotnik had one of those at some point in one of the other cartoons. In fact, rings seem to work the same way there, only Sonic tends to keep it handy when he knows he's going to be facing something.
How — and when — do you tell a philosophy it's adopted? What do you do when it wants to meet its birth adherents?
UTINNI!
Episode 16: Depths of Danger
(AKA Aim for it! Sunken Ship in the Southern Seas)
Open on a rather annoying recap of the last episode that asks whether Doc Robo survived (Duh!) and where could he be (hidden!)
The President isn’t happy about the lack of solid intel on the mad doctor. I don’t blame him. He also hasn’t fired his aide yet. Which I can blame him for.
Below the surface of the water, Doc Robo and his henchbots are hiding by remaining quiet. When the nearby ship looking for them moves on, he orders the bots to go repair the ship. They worry about short-circuiting and rusting. Well I sure hope so (but I sadly suspect they’ll be alright.)
Meanwhile, at Chris’, the gang (minus Sonic, of course) is eating and prepared for desert when Crazy Gramps comes in with good news. They now have their official documentation to prove who they are. You know, because there are plenty of other talking two-tailed foxes and pink hedgehogs running around. Also, Tails gets a bunch of licenses that serve as a catchall for any aircraft he might want to build and travel around in.
I agree Tails, that is a lot of licenses just to fly. On the other hand, it’s kind of fun to watch them at least try to address the issue.
I like Amy’s passport photo, too. She’s not to pleased by it, though. Though her attitude towards it doesn’t exactly serve to prove her argument of not being a lunatic.
Sonic comes in, and seems a whole lot less annoyed by the idea than I expected. To be honest, it almost feels out of character for him. I mean, didn’t he go just about anywhere he wanted to before?
Outside, everyone gets ready to ride off to wherever in the…did he say X-Tornado? I could have sworn it was the Tornado-X. Huh. Maybe I’m just going too long between episodes.
For the first time, Crazy Gramps also asks Mr. Tinaka to go keep an eye on the group. Oh, so NOW you’re concerned. Unlike all the other times when they flew off.
They fly off towards a beach while Sonic naps on the back end. I’m just going to ignore the sheer ridiculousness of that little image.
On the way, however, they get interrupted as the plane’s Chaos Gem detector picks up a reading. The ship starts to shake, and Tails comments the same thing happened when he located the Chaos Diamond. Which mean the plane is about to go into the ocean.
No doubt the thing transforms into a submarine, too. X-Whirlpool, perhaps?
Ok, so they don’t crash into the water, but they do find a landing spot at what appears to be a resort. And of course, people start staring. I wouldn’t hold onto those hopes of keeping a low profile if I were them. Soon enough, a crowd chases after them to get Sonics autograph.
They all manage to escape (till they have to go back to the plane, at least), and they figure out that yes, they are going to be bothered by “normal” people anywhere they go.
They notice that Sonic is gone, and Chris concludes that he must have gone to look for the Chaos Gem. You know, the one that’s under the water. The water that Sonic hates.
He quickly brightens up, fortunately, and goes to figure out a way to keep Sonic breathing while he goes underwater.
Quick shot of Cream and Amy in the water enjoying themselves, followed by a pretty sweet quick shot of Tails and Cheese chillin’ on the beach with some Cool Shades.
Yo, I got ta be sayin’, I don’t care how bad this episode is from this point out, that shot totally makes it worth it.
>Screenshots<
Ok, I take it back. Chris doesn’t brighten up at all. His genius idea for keeping Sonic supplied with air? An air hose. You have GOT to be kidding me. >_<
Sonic is not amused. He gives it a try anyway. Naturally, things quickly line up for it to fail spectacularly.
Completing the picture is a nearby crab that just screams “evil!”. He’s going to cut the air hose. I just know it.
That is, of course, exactly what it does. It’s kind evil about the way it does it, too. Flying out of nowhere in a ninja action pose. Yep, that’s one evil crab right there.
Oh, he grabs Sonics tail, tool. Yep, Evil.
Attempt 2 is, dare I say it, worse. His new brilliant plan? A diving bell.
And yet, despite calling it “the most ding a ling thing” he’s ever heard of, he still gives it a shot.
Look, just go ask tails for help already and save us all a lot of agony and embarrassment, ok?
The diving bell, of course, fails just as poorly as the air hose.
Plan three? Diving gear. Dude, it took you this long to figure that out? That would have been my FIRST idea.
Chris, you are full of FAIL, you know that?
Sonic is equally annoyed by this turn of events.
While shopping for the scuba gear, we learn that the government now has a “Sonic Budget” to cover the expenses. I don’t know whether to declare it a brilliant idea or a stupid one.
Likely in the interests of avoiding a storm of fellow gem-hunters, they keep the real purpose of their diving on the down low.
Curiously, rather than the big tanks I was expecting, they’ve got Episode I-esque Jedi breathing thingies. Convenient.
Meanwhile, Doc Robo’s ship is finally back in the air. Sadly, his henchbots are still working.
He turns on the TV in time for us to learn that, just like every other celebrity, the station has a “Sonic Update”. The news of his vacation is not taken well by Doc Robo or his henchbots.
Under water, the use the Chaos Emerald to find their way to the next gem. It leads them to a shipwreck. Bakoon shows up above water, surprised to see that the only one on the boat is Cheese.
Rather than do the smart thing and take Cheese hostage, Bakoon flies right back to Doc Robo, now catching some sunrays, and returns to sender. They prepare to submerge Robo’s flying machine.
Underwater, Sonic and Co find a pile of gold and figure they’ll have to dig through it to get the gem.
Cue the evil crab! With Chaos Gem in hand!
Sonic confronts the Crab and gets it to toss it to Amy. Unless it saw Doc Robo behind them.
Sonic stays to take care of the jellyfish robot that Robo deploys, forgetting the OTHER reason he doesn’t like water. No traction for running.
Up above, everyone minus Sonic gets aboard the ship, at which point Mr. Tinaka shows up.
Sonic gets tossed out of the water, but his situation doesn’t improve. And then Uncle Same shows up. Yeah, that’s not a contrived appearance at all. He gives Sonic a boost through waterskiing.
In what’s like only the second time thus far that Tails has done his signature move (you know, flying?), he gets Sonic a ring.
You know, the one he NEVER CARRIES WITH HIM!
Seriously, he can be expected to carry documentation around but he won’t carry a power-up ring?
It, of course, gives him a One Hit KO against the jellyfish robot.
-_- sigh…
Definitely not a good follow up to the last episode. Still worth it for the shot of Tails and Cheese chillin’, thought.
edited 1st Sep '10 6:30:11 PM by SpaceJawa
UTINNI!
Been a while since I was at this. Seems about time I try to get it going again.
Episode 17 - The Adventures of Knuckles and Hawk
(AKA Knuckles! Clenched Fists of Anger)
I have no idea where the scene is, but it’s a river. And Asian music is playing while a familiar voice narrates. It is…Knuckles, and he’s riding on the front of a boat and mentioning “Hawk” (He’s a hawk, isn’t he?) before going to a Flash Back.
The scene (apparently months ago) is set at some kind of jungle ruins. Think Aztek or Mayan. And…Knuckles will apparently be narrating the episode. As much as I like Knuckles most of the time, I am not particularly pleased by this decision.
The place is described as being eerie and quiet (everything except Knuckles voice) when someone cries out for help due to being between a pair of crushing walls. Knuckles saves him by breaking the walls.
“Weeks later”, he’s in China (or maybe it’s Japan) and says he’s looking for a guy called Jax, paying no attention to all the stares he’s getting. Until someone mistakes him for Sonic. He does not take the mistake well. But he gets where he’s going anyway. I’m also getting the impression that Jax and Hawk are the same person. Or maybe Jax is the guy who’s going to tell him where Hawk is.
Some of the people in the bar he goes into don’t take well to Knuckles attitude, and a Bar Brawl nearly breaks out. It’s averted when a big guy comes in and warns that Knuckles is probably better off not messed with. The guy also knows where to find Hawk.
There’s also a couple of shady guys in the corner, which I guess are Doc Robos Henchbots only moments before it gets confirmed.
The big guy leads Knucks down the stairs of a dark, creepy building (I’ve noticed now that the narration hasn’t been nearly as big as I feared – that’s good) and when big guy points him through a door, both of them prove Genre Savvy when Knuckles first says “you first” then big guy complies and leaves Knuckes to fall through a Trap Door.
It’s a small, long one too, giving Knucks the time he needs to catch himself. In the cell is the guy he saved at the beginning of the episode. Guess Hawk isn’t a Hawk after all. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad disappointed by this.
Meanwhile, at Doc Robo’s ship (I like the Happy Eggman logo on the side :-D) Robo gets the report on the situation and puts some ‘plan’ into action. In a case of good news, bad news, the slots wheel is gone, but it’s just been replaced with a button and a bunch of flip cards.
Back in jail, Hawk-man describes the item he found, which Knuckles identifies as a Chaos Gem (Red from the sound of it, making it the Chaos Ruby) and fantasizes about being back home guarding the Master Gem “without a care in the world”. Yeah, because that’s always worked out before.
It’s like the writers are begging us to create a Cargo Ship.
> Eye Roll <
And yet, it’s so sad and pathetic when you think about it. Knuckles, you really need to get a life.
Hawk-man almost reveals to Knuckles the place he hid the gem, but is stopped when Knuckles points out the Obvious Bug in the room. Then he shouts into it, a nasty surprise for the guy listening in on the other side. And then they tunnel out.
As the catch a taxi (a bike-pulled taxi, that is) Rouge is seen following. How she knows they’re there and why she’s not still working for the United States of Expy I’ve no idea. She gets K Oed from behind by the Taxi man, however, when they head down an abandoned subway station.
Knucks and Hawk-man find the Chaos Ruby under a subway rail, only for Doc Robo to show up and call Knuckles “Knucklehead” (heh, heh, that’s a good one.)
Or not. It’s a Hologram. The real threat is the taxi driver, revealed to be E-91, “The Lady Ninja”. I see a resemblance to Bakuun in her.
The two fight in an effort to keep the gem out of each others hands, with 91’s chain turning into an Epic Flail to start off what’s a pretty good showdown. Rouge comes to up above, and points out the obvious before fleeing at the sight of Robo’s ship.
Knuckles and Hawk-man hang out in some building, where Knuckles finds some “Shovel Claws” while smashing stuff. Seems Hawk-man found them in the temple where he first met Knucks. This makes Knuckles very pleased, and so he heads back to dig his way to the Chaos Ruby. It doesn’t take him very long, either. Long enough for Doc Robo to take Hawks prisoner, though.
An exchange is arranged, where they all show up at a construction site. Knuckles tosses E-91 the bag (I’m guessing the Chaos Ruby isn’t in it anymore) but Rouge shows up too and intercepts with some kind of large metal playing card or something. Mêlée à Trois, anyone?
While Knuckles grabs Hawk-man, Rouge flies off with the bag and 91 is in hot pursuit till her glider gets blasted, and in turn cuts open the bag with a ninja star. Ok, so the Ruby actually was there after all.
Knucks and 91 go for it, both miss. Hawk-Man picks it up, 91 goes with a chain, Knuckles intercepts with a plate, denying the steal. Rouge decides to wait on the sidelines till things cool down. Hawk-man runs into a dark alleyway, where 91 gets the steal from the shadows. She tries to escape, but gets blocked. 91 uses her Victoria's Secret Compartment (well, suppose that answers the question as to why Robo went to the trouble of giving her rather noticeable lady parts), and they fight. It’s quick before She unleashes some laser ropes (don’t ask me, I’ve no idea) but falls when it’s revealed that she’s not water-proof.
Oh well. She doesn’t blow up entirely, and Knuckles punches her into a Twinkle in the Sky, so who knows, maybe she’ll return at some point. With water proofing, this time.
Emerald in hand, Knuckles and Hawk-man say their goodbyes and Knuckles sails off, but gets an odd message while he’s on his way. Something involving the master emerald and “The servers are the seven chaos”.
That’s definitely a Chekhov's Gun of some kind. Waiting to see what it means.
But overall, a pretty good episode. Nice change of pace from the usual, too.
edited 19th Sep '10 1:37:33 PM by SpaceJawa
Well, considering that the Master Emerald contains one of his female ancestors, maybe he's so attached to it because until Sonic Chronicles, that was the closest he could get to doing it with one of his fellow echidnas.
edited 22nd Sep '10 9:46:32 PM by Cliche
UTINNI!
Episode 18 – The Dam Scam
(AKA Huge Battle on Savanna!)
The Tornado-X (Or is that the X-Tornado. Dang this show and it’s confusing plane names) are flying over what is apparently a large wildlife preserve. Likely some kind of savanna, give the alternative name.
Tails decides they should land and take a closer look (with Lion running about? Are you mad?) and Sonic, standing on the nose, nods. But then the radar notices there’s something behind them.
Who should it be but Doc Robo in his massive airship. They open fire, but Tails outmaneuvers the attacking long enough for Sonic to stretch out and, for once, make use of a ring that he’s already holding.
All I can say is that’s it’s about dang frikken time!
He goes spinball and quickly causes the ship to begin a crash routine. I kind of expected that Doc Robo would have some sort of countermeasure for the spinning trick, but no. That leaves me disappointed. Tails tries to bring the Super Mecha Tornado in close to retrieve Sonic, but with the help of some Conspicuous CG the plane gets hit by debris from Doc’s flying fortress and begins a crash landing of its own.
The downed ship sits on the ground as a (no doubt hungry) panther watches nearby. Tails declares it fixed, but considering the amount of episode we have left, I’m doubting it. Especially since the ship is still missing a wing or two.
Chris, pointing this out in a moment of intelligence, has Tails remind him that they don’t have to fly. He just had to get its mech mode active. Works for me.
Ok, guess that won’t do it either, since the leg falls off.
Since Chris lacks the skills to help fix their transportation, he occupies his time by talking. And checking to see if his phone works (he has no signal). Really, you didn’t think to try calling before? You know, see if someone might be able to send help? And just maybe call in the army to hit Doc Robo while he’s down?
A now bored Chris goes to lie down under a tree, rather than stay safe and wait inside the ship where a large cat can’t get him. He also points out that the place is different from home.
Well, duh. It called the wild for a reason. Chris says it’s because time seems to move slower there, but I like the more obvious version better.
Tails says it feels familiar, which kind of makes sense. He also says that he would like to start up an engineering company in ‘our’ world someday, which also makes sense. Kid could make a fortune with the skills he’s packing.
And, just like that, the plane is apparently ready again. Somehow, I doubt it. Though it didn’t take nearly as much time as he originally predicted.
Ok, never mind. Next scene is of the TX-Mecha walking away, so I guess they got it working.
NEXT scene takes us back to Doc Robo, who’s busy cursing Sonic. That is, till he sees a bunch of crocs (or are they gators?) outside the door he popped open.
And so he deploys…
…
He, um…deploys a large ape robot. That I’m assuming is mean to be a female ape, given the way it has a pair of cockpits that are…placed in a rather particular pair of locations.
Yeah…
Probably best if I don’t think about it too much.
It becomes hard not to, though, when it starts growling with a noise that sound rather masculine.
Frankly, I’m just going to come out and declare the whole E-65 robot a creepy concept.
Worse, it’s driven by the hench-bots. They inform Doc Robo that they’re about to take off, and what do I see but a split second of the crocs, but now they appear to be upside down. Did he just kill those crocs bare-handed?
Probably not, but I’m going to continue to assume as much, because it’s far too hardcore an idea not to go with.
Doc Robo: He slays crocodiles bare handed – without breaking a sweat.
Meanwhile, Sonic is enjoying he amount of running space he has, but is apparently going at a particularly slow pace, given that there’s a cheetah he finds which is easily keeping pace. Until he lifts the cheetah up above his head and goes full speed.
The cheetah is noticeably surprised. As am I. Considering how far he’s running, I also feel a brief moment of pity for the poor cat.
Nearby (the wildlife preserve is in the background, so it much be nearby) a construction crew is working. Tails and Chris stand in the TX-Mecha just outside, wondering just what they’re up to, since it’s implied that no one should be building around this area in the first place.
A couple of men in suits with German/eastern European accents (one of which is called Boris) stand and shout orders. Chris and Tails walk up to ask what they’re up to. The are, apparently, building a dam. Which is odd, considering there’s no apparent rivers nearby. Tails, surprisingly, doesn’t know what a dam is, which is no doubt for the benefit of kids at home who also don’t know what a dam is.
Tails and Chris also take notice of the lack of water nearby. We get no explanation, just an image of a number of animals standing in a line nearby which one of the men calls ‘too nosey’. In addition to being made up of a compilation of creatures that would normally be enemies, such as a lion and cheetah and a bunch of critters that they would normally eat if given such an opportunity (free food? Standing around watching a bunch of metal trees and small squishy animals? Happy happy joy joy yum, yum, yum!), they also appear to have faces meant to attract pity.
Ah frikken crud. I can already smell what this episode is suppose to be. It’s a Green Aesop episode, isn’t it? I got a bad feeling about this.
Tails asks about what will happen to the wildlife, not-Boris says he doesn’t care, and introduces some big guy named Ivan who apparently can keep wildlife attackers away bare handed. But is he more hard-core than Doc Robo, he who kills crocs bare-handed without breaking a sweat?
I very much doubt it.
They foreign guys tell Tails and Chris to get lost, so Tails just turns and shouts at the animals, calling them wimps and that they deserve to loose their homes. And the animals hang their heads in shame.
If we reach a point where the episode has the animals revolting and attacking the dam construction site, I’m not even going to bother finishing to see how it ends.
We then get some sort of odd backstory for Tails and his friendship with Sonic, starting with some bullies smashing a random piece of technology built by Tails, then Tails wandering through the forest, then Sonic speeding by, prompting Tails to declare him to be ‘cool’, following, and then finding a random plane sitting on a beach, Tails saying he can make it faster (without any consideration as to the idea that it might, I don’t know, already BELONG TO SOMEONE ELSE!), painting it blue, and Sonic showing up and liking the changes Tails made.
On a side note of something good actually coming out of this episode (aside from assumed off-screen hard-core Doc Robo), we get a reference to Tails’ real name.
The wildlife, meanwhile, just stand around and look sympathetic.
This causes Tails to turn back around and start threatening the construction bosses, who basically threaten to bury him alive if he bothers him anymore.
Chris comments that they’ll need help.
Cue the line of animals who look determined to do something. Next thing you know, Tails is riding an elephant outside a town with a crowd of people listening as he tries to rally their support. Next thing you know, the crowd is outside the dam construction site protesting.
I watched a minute or so more, but at this point, I think I’m done with it. The episode seems to be going in about the direction I expected of it, so I’m not going to bother to finish it and find out if I’m right or not. I have no need to have an anvil dropped on my head like I’m expecting the end to be designed to do.
I’ll stick around for the next episode, but this is definitely a black mark on the show’s permanent record.
Bright spot of it, though, remains an assumption of Doc Robo getting hardcore, even if there’s no real reason to assume as much and it all happening off-camera.
edited 13th Oct '10 11:01:48 PM by SpaceJawa
If you're curious, there are episode summaries.
Egg dude needs to take some cues from Team Rocket. At least they got blasted off enough times to realize they should bring anti-protagonist protection, even if it doesn't help.
UTINNI!
Episode 19: Sonic’s Scream Test
(AKA Ghost of the Old Castle, King Bomb Boo)
There’s some kind of castle on an island (probably the one mentioned in the title) and creepy laughing. Again, probably having something to do with the title (well, sub-title).
Sonic, meanwhile, just naps on a wall. Below, there’s a movie shoot in the work. Looks like Chris has been allowed to visit his mom on set. Ella has apparently been given a part, too.
After a cut, Chris’ mom is introduced to Tails and Amy, but seems totally oblivious to the fact that they’re not human.
Sonic decides to look inside the castle, just as one of the film crew decides to move a stone thingamajig he apparently didn’t see before. Obviously, it’s haunted, and moving it causes something bad to happen. Until he doesn’t move it and moves the camera instead.
That doesn’t seem to do any good (you think they would have figured this stuff out sooner), so it gets moved again and put on the ground. Clearly, this will cause a lot of bad stuff to happen till they put it back.
We get the first signs of this when night hits and the moon matches the symbol on the stone thingy. During a shot, one of the crew hears a noise. No one has any idea what it is.
Later, during the night, Chris comes to say good night to his mom. The sound guy tries to find the source of the noise. The “girls” have a sleepover in Ellas room. The sound guy discovers the source of the noise, which look like sewn-together ghosts. Oh, and the Mirror in Linday’s room gets Haunted. Which apparently results in her going missing, since soon after we have everyone looking for where she went to.
Sonic, BTW, has found the stone thingy and takes a moment to try to figure out what it is.
As Ella, C&C, and Amy try to look inside the castle, ghosts pop up, scaring them.
Sonic hears this and says “Sounds like Amy!”
Aw, he cares. :-3
Anyway, Tails and Chris come around a corner to see Amy holding onto Ella’s arm…which is sticking out through a wall or something.
It’s a rather creepy image, if you ask me.
Ella gets pulled through the wall, and Sonic appears just in time for the ghosts to vanish, giving Sonic an opportunity to say he doesn’t believe in them. Till ghost doll heads or whtchamacallits appear. Sonic throws the stone thing (hourglass, I’m guessing now) at the wall, revealing an evil-looking pink portal. Ghost arms pop out, and when Sonic can’t attack them, he changes his mind.
Then Tails is taken into the wall, too.
Sonic goes next. But not before he throws the stone hourglass to Chris. Amy doesn’t take well to Sonic disappearing.
Like I said, the stone thingy is the reason behind all this.
To be honest, I’m a tad surprised. Usually they at least give a warning to the intruders before someone does something wrong to make the haunting happen.
The next morning, Amy and Chris go find the pedestal, which has on it “Appears under the moon, disappears under the sun.” Which no doubt has something to do with the moon and sun carvings in the stone.
Feeling some kind of breeze from the base, he guesses there’s a hidden passageway.
It now occurs to me – why is there no sign of investigators anywhere? You’d think they’d be more concerned about people disappearing or something.
Unless Chris and Amy are the only ones left…<_<
But then again, you’d still think they’d get something resembling help. :- Anyway, Amy opens the passageway with her hammer, and starts to go down, when Chris answers my question by suggesting they get the police.
Funny how that works out, isn’t it?
But Amy’s determined to go down anyway, and Chris follows.
Meanwhile, we get an image of the people the ghosts have kidnapped, and discover that the little buggers are a lot creepier on their end than they are on our end.
- uuuugh…*
Those teeth… Those eyes...
As Amy and Chris reach the bottom, they’re attacked by some of the ghosts, only for them to run off when Amy holds the stone hourglass up above her head. She takes this as an invitation to charge in further to scare them back.
As they enter a door, Amy intelligently hold the hourglass in first to clear out any ghosts. Too bad for her there aren’t any there. In the center of the room is a large octagon.
Up above, they see Sonic through some kind of window to the ghosts realm. He gets their attention, only but then his voice changes, he says he’s always loved Amy, and they should put the stone hourglass into a space in the wall (probably the window). Either Amy didn’t notice the change in Sonic’s voice, or she’s too taken in by the supposed confession, because she apparently doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with this particular picture.
Sonic tries to tell her not to follow through with this, but she’s too caught up in her hopes of rescue to notice. Chris, acting with intelligence, says it’s probably a bad idea. Amy, of course, doesn’t listen.
Nice going there, Amy. |:- The moon starts glowing, and opens up the ceiling so the boss ghost can come to the real world. When it thanks her, Amy finally catches on to the fact that she just got played for a fool. Try as she might, she fails in her attempt to strike back, and gets possessed in the process. She’s sporting the creepy ghost face, too.
Oh, goodie. That means it’s just Chris left to save the day.
Aaaaaand all he can do is run from Hammer Crazy Amy and shout to Sonic for help.
She’s about to smash Chris, but pauses long enough for Chris to realize how to fix things – he just had to put the hourglass with the sun side up.
Which, apparently, only frees Sonic. Uh…Ok?
Amy’s happy enough about it, though.
Now that’s he free (and once he gets Amy to stop hugging him), he quickly proceeds to KO the mini ghosts. They have ‘X’s on their eyes as a result, which considering they’re already dead makes for a pretty amusing image.
Amy makes her own contribution by letting loose with her Hammer.
Also, I was apparently wrong. The hourglass thing did free the others as well, it’s just we only saw Sonic because he was the only one conscious.
That changes as Chris wakes up the others. They skedattle out of there after Tails tosses Sonic his Deus Ex Mechina ring.
Chris first grabs the hourglass, which I’m guessing he’s planning on putting back on the pedistal. Lindsay the mom is totally oblivious as to what’s going on.
They make it out, and in a highly-hyped moment close the place back up and slam the hourglass back down. Except Chris puts it moon-side up.
I’ll avoid asking why they don’t just turn it around on the grounds that they don’t want to risk having the fight the ghosts again.
Lindsay is still oblivious as to what just happened.
Oh, and NOW we get the warning about the place being haunted.
If nothing else, at least it was better than last episode.
Man, I wish I had started following this blog sooner.
Regarding the multicolored emeralds: I've heard that in Japanese, the word for emerald is the same as that for gemstones in general. Also, emeralds are a type of beryl, which can come in several different colors.
UTINNI!
Well, I suppose that Chaos Emerald has a better ring to it than Chaos Beryl. Though on the other hand, they already lampshaded the multi-colored Emerald question, so at least on the dubbed side of things I figure it's really just a Fridge Logic issue that's not worth worrying too much about beyond nicknaming each of them as they show up.
^ Ditto. It's not exactly something I'd bring up in casual conversation...
Experience has taught me to investigate anything that glows.