The forty-eighth episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and the first part of the "Quest for the Chaos Emeralds" saga.
Robotnik forces Professor Caninestein to build him a time machine so he can go back in time and steal four Chaos Emeralds of Invisibility, Invincibility, Immortality, and the Power of Life. Robotnik's first destination is Captain Blackbeard's pirate ship, where he turns Blackbeard into Blackbot to seek out the Emerald of Invisibility. Professor Caninestein invents a pair of Atomic Relativity Boots for Sonic so he can travel back in time and stop Robotnik's plans.
This episode provides examples of:
- Brain with a Manual Control: When Robotnik roboticizes a whale, he uses it to swallow Sonic and Tails. Sonic makes his way to the whale's robotic brain and reprograms it so the whale will take him and Tails to Shark Island.
- Gotta Catch 'Em All: Once Robotnik collects all four Chaos Emeralds, he will become a powerful being which he dubs Supreme High Robotnik.
- Impact Silhouette:
- Sonic and Tails leave holes shaped like their bodies in the sail of Blackbeard's ship when they travel back in time.
- Robotnik leaves a Robotnik-shaped hole in the sail when Scratch and Grounder fire a cannon at him.
- After Sonic has Blackbot fall from the mast of his ship, Blackbot leaves a Blackbot-shaped hole in the ship deck's floor.
- In Name Only: This episode is the first in a four-part story arc that deals with collecting the Chaos Emeralds. However, they look and work completely differently from their video game counterparts, and there are four of them instead of seven. More importantly, each of the four has a different ability while the classic seven possess limitless energy.
- Insane Troll Logic: After being stranded by Robotnik who takes his time boots, Sonic writes a message in a bottle. Somehow, it reaches Caninestein in present time, sending a new pair to him.
- Invisibility: The Chaos Emerald of Invisibility grants its holder the power to be unseen by anyone. Even the Emerald itself is invisible, which make the search a little difficult for both sides.
- Near-Villain Victory: After exposing Sonic with sand, Robotnik snatches the Emerald of Invisibility from him and becomes invisible. He then pulls Sonic's Atomic Relativity Boots off and destroys them so Sonic can't follow him through time. Sonic comes up with a plan of his own; he writes a note, puts it in a treasure chest, and buries the chest so that in the future, when the chest is dug up, Professor Caninestein will read the note asking him to send him another pair of Atomic Relativity Boots.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Robotnik turns Blackbeard into Blackbot, making him a robot pirate. Prior to his roboticization, Blackbeard tells Scratch that he's a blackbeard and pulls out a pair of nunchucks, making him the pirate equivalent of a ninja.
- Noodle Incident: Early in this episode, Scratch mentions having sent away for a vacuum cleaner to clean Robotnik's laboratory, which he mistakes the time machine for.
- Pirate Episode: In this episode, Robotnik travels back to Blackbeard's pirate ship, where he turns Blackbeard into Blackbot to help him seek out the Chaos Emerald of Invisibility.
- Reused Character Design: Early in this episode, when Sonic hangs out at the beach, he sees a female hedgehog who resembles Breezie, but with grey skin and blonde hair.
- See the Invisible: Sonic uses the Chaos Emerald of Invisibility to become invisible and attack Robotnik, Scratch, Grounder, and Blackbot. Robotnik tosses sand at Sonic to expose him.
- Shout-Out:
- Professor Caninestein is an obvious parody of Albert Einstein.
- Robotnik uses a cartoon version of Rod Taylor's Time Machine to search for the four Chaos Emeralds.
- At the end of the episode, Sonic tells Tails, "We're headin' Back to the Future, Juice Factor Nine!"
- Suddenly Shouting: This exchange between Robotnik and Professor Caninestein at the beginning of the episode:Prof. Caninestein: I can't go through with zis! My theories of time und space were developed for peace, not for your evil schemes!
Robotnik: Oh, that's all right, Professor. You don't have to do anything you don't want to... AS LONG AS YOU DON'T MIND BEING THROWN INTO A DUNGEON FULL OF SNAKES AND EATING DEAD SPIDERS FOR THE RRRREST OF YOUR LIFE!!! - Surrounded by Idiots: Dr. Robotnik mentions he's surrounded by defective circuitry.
- Tempting Fate:
- After Tails tricks Scratch into destroying Grounder, Sonic says to Robotnik, "The least they could do is give me a challenge!". Blackbot then sneaks up behind Sonic and tries to attack him.
- When Robotnik, Blackbot, Scratch and Grounder reach Shark Island, Blackbot warns Scratch and Grounder to be careful of the booby traps on it. Grounder then says, "Booby Traps? Ha! Who does he think we are, boobs?", and he and Scratch get caught in a Tree Buchet and bounced around.
- After Sonic and Tails recover the treasure chest with the Chaos Emerald of Invisibility inside it, Sonic says, "We gotta get rid of this thing before Robuttnik gets his sinister fingers on it!". Cue Robotnik and Blackbot respectively capturing him and Tails.
- Time Machine: Robotnik forces Professor Caninestein to build him one so he can travel back in time and seek out the four Chaos Emeralds. Professor Caninestein invents Atomic Relativity Boots for Sonic (designed to enter a time warp via speed of light) so that he can follow Robotnik and stop his plans.
- Time Travel Episode: This episode is the first of a four-episode arc involving time travel.
- Treasure Hunt Episode: This episode plays out like one, with Robotnik taking over Blackbeard's pirate ship, turning Blackbeard into Blackbot, and the treasure being the Chaos Emerald of Invisibility.
- Unreliable Illustrator: Despite this episode being animated by TMS Entertainment, a higher-quality animation studionote , even it isn't immune to animation errors. The pupils of Sonic, Scratch and Professor Caninestein are often overshadowed by the light reflecting into them, and Robotnik also looks less comedically obese than usual in a few scenes (which the animators poke fun at by having his stomach flop down to its original position after his Take Over the World declaration). The animation itself gets choppy during extremely wide shots.
- Unwilling Roboticization: Robotnik uses his Robot Transmogrifier Ray to turn Blackbeard into Blackbot to serve his evil purposes. He also uses it on a whale to get it to swallow Sonic and Tails after they fall into the water.
- Walk the Plank: Blackbot makes Tails do this after he captures him.
- "X" Marks the Spot: Shark Island, the location of the Chaos Emerald of Invisibility, is shaped like a giant X. On the island, Blackbot leads Robotnik, Scratch, and Grounder to the X that marks the location of the Chaos Emerald.
