Knuckles

The Sonic the Hedgehog movies is a hot movies, and with the third one on its way, Paramount and Sega bring us Knuckles, a six episode miniseries released on Paramount+

After the events of the second movie, Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) is having a hard time adjusting to living a normal life, being raised to be a warrior. After he is grounded by Maddie for his warrior shenanigans, the ghost of Chief Pachacamac (voiced by Christopher Lloyd), he is given the task of training Wade Whipple in the way of the echidna warrior, as he plans to compete in a bowling championship in Reno, Nevada. However, the two are now in a misadventure, as two rogue G. U. N. Agents (played by Alice Tregonning and Scott Mescudi, the latter known for singing The Stars in the Sky in the second movie's sountrack as Kid Cudi), are hunting Knuckles for a man known only as The Buyer (played by Rory McCann), a former associate of Dr. Robotnik's who is seeking Knuckles for his power.

Watching this, I can say this show is okay, but not perfect. The miniseries seems to be rehashing the buddy road trip ideas seen in the first Sonic movie, only with Knuckles and Wade in place of Sonic and Tom. Also, despite being named Knuckles, the story sadly has Wade and his family taking center stage, as the story is based around Wade's passion for bowling, and his family, which includes Wanda, his sister from the FBI (played by Edi Patterson), mother Wendy (played by Stockard Channing), and father Pete (played by Cary Elwes). However, they do manage to bring in Tika Sumpter back to reprise her role as Maddie Wachowski, and Ben Swartz and Colleen O'Shaughnessy reprise their roles as the voices of Sonic and Tails (even though they appear as guests in the first episode).

Throughout the six episodes, they have managed to put in easter eggs to the Sonic games like they did in the movies, and the story is kind of interesting, but it suffers from having too much drama and not much action, but I guess it works somewhat, as the show does focus on Wade, a character who was a supporting role in the movies, and gives him his time to shine in what is otherwise an okay underdog story where he is given advice from a red echidna. Mostly for Sonic fans and those who want more Sonic and have trouble waiting for the third movie's release.

This show isnt really a knuckles show. Wade and his storyline takes center stage, with knuckles being a side character at best. Some episodes literally being only 5 minutes screentime and a few lines of dialogue. In honestly I expect there to be a youtube video titled "Knuckles but only when knuckles is there" and with a length of about 30 minutes at most. The man Villain is laughable as there is no real reason for him to be a villain and after knuckles and have only one scene with Knuckles only to end in 5 minutes. The show is more the "Wade show" and happens to be in the sonic movie universe.

Plot is anything to write home about and nor do I expect it to be, but in Sonic 2 they seperated the human characters from sonic and friends, making the film all the better, the show focuses too much on the humans and fails to explore the named character, thus pushing him aside.

Yeah, this is more the Wade Wipple show instead of Knuckles, but once the Echidna is on screen, it's gold. Idris Elba is spot on making this character take himself very seriously, which leads to some great comedy moments in episode 1. But the scenes with Wade, his family and the bowling tournament made it look like you're watching something else.

The sister character, Wanda is just too psychotoic to be in a Sonic show. SHE STABS HER BROTHER IN THE ARM WITH A FORK! Also she doesn't get punished for her behaviour. This scene got the show a 12 rating in the UK, also what if kids try to copy that scene?

Cary Elwes has fun playing the narcissist bowling champion, I thought the cup of tea in the bowling ball was funny, though.

Overall, an average show. Hopefully Sonic 3 will be better. Hopefully no one gets stabbed in the arm next time.

Knuckles is a type of series that is more of a promotion for Sonic The Hedgehog 3. I'll say that there are some redeemable things it got right such as great visuals, enjoyable action scenes and good acting. But I feel that the story for this miniseries relies more on Wade than giving Knuckles a story arc, which can sometimes make it sound like a generic bowling story and that Knuckles himself can often be treated more of a side character. I think this series will be a lot more suitable for those that are huge fans of the Sonic films. However I know that not everyone has Paramount Plus, so you probably won't miss much from it. Considering we are getting another Sonic movie right at the end of this year, maybe I can look at this series as a side project and would just save the real fun for it. Maybe Paramount Plus will do more of this in the future with other characters having their own series perhaps after the events of the third film seeing the direction how the franchise will probably go. As this series has given Knuckles his own arc after the events of the second film, at least it tried.

This show is stuck in this awkward spot where it looks great, but the show's reluctance to have any mature moments drag it down. Adults aren't allowed to be adults, and every line has me waiting to groan at a punchline. The villains are used for gags that ruin any sense of intimidation they could otherwise have had. The show has its great moments - the expressiveness of the characters is very fun to watch - but it's overshadowed by a reluctance to take itself seriously or respect its characters. The show focuses far more on Wade than the titular character, action scenes are inconsistent with how they use their powers and technology. While there are high points, overall it's generally disappointing.