Sonic Prime

So my experience of Sonic is having been a fan since the first games, both 90s series (SatAM and that... not so good one), Sonic Underground, Sonic X, the anime movie, Sonic Boom, the comics and of course all the games... You get the point- I'm an absolute nerd but I know Sonic 😆😆 What I love about this new series is you can absolutely tell this was made by other Sonic fans! I've wanted something exactly like this since the SatAM series that abruptly ended and most of us never got over lol.

The voices are slightly jarring, but only because of what we've been used to. I find them fitting and actually love the new energy they bring.

Given I'm in my 30s I probably shouldn't comment on the humor of a show for kids with a Y7 rating lol. But there's enough for the adults to be amused and entertained.

This long time Sonic fan is presently surprised.

Sonic Prime is a new show that is exclusive to Netflix, and it takes Sega's mascot in a whole new direction. As Sonic and his friends (Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Rouge) get in a battle with Dr. Eggman over the Paradox Prism, a jewel that can reshape the world of Green Hill to the evil doctor's liking, Sonic ends up shattering the prism as Eggman is about to rip it out of the ground. This results in Sonic being flung into the Shatterverse, a multiverse where he sees worlds with different versions of his friends, and even Eggman himself. Now he must travel between these worlds to find the shards of the Paradox Prism in order to get back to his own universe.

This series is a good one. With the voices, everyone has new VAs (due to this being made by WildBrain, a company in Canada, so because of that, the cast is mostly Canadian. Deven Mack takes over as Sonic, and I like him, as he actually channels the energy Ben Schwartz had for the movie version of the heroic hedgehog. In fact, all the actors do a good job doing their roles (which includes Ashleigh Bell as Tails, Shannon Chan-Kent as Amy, Kazumi Evans as Rouge, and even Brian Drummond as Dr. Egmman), with the only I am not liking being Normal Universe Knuckles, as they made him sound like a stereotypical strong man and his character all about smashing things (and not worrying about the Master Emerald, making me wonder why Sega keeps doing the rad red echidna powerhouse so horribly). At least his counterparts are better (as they get a different VA in Vincent Tong).

The series is great as it has a storyline going through each episode. While there only three alternate worlds at the time of this review (hopefully, the second and third seasons will add new worlds), it invents new takes on Sonic's friends (like Amy Rose as a robot named Rusty Rose, and Knuckles as a pirate captain named Knuckles The Dread), and the series is full of references to the games.

The new Sonic content since at least the second movie, makes me realize how big of a problem the previous Sonic writers were. Still up to this day, I have to deal with a Sonic Colors/Boom PTSD. I hated the sarcastic, nerdy, dead inside comedy. Sonic Prime is the kind of energy Sonic should always have. The content is great for fast paced action and even fun humor.

The lore isn't religiously respected but it's not super outrageous neither. The characters are acting like themselves and their other versions are interesting for most of them. I'd say the weakest part was the forest universe and they don't drag it for too long. Also it's not an episodic deal, it's an actual series, so we revisit universes and there's a progression. If you liked the older Sonic stuff (before 2010) or you're a normie, it's an enjoyable show.

You can really tell by the end of the first season that the writers really care about the source material. The character designs are well done and full of life; the animation is simple, but it shines where it needs to shine, and has some pretty great texture work and VFX. The writing is pretty interesting and the way that the story develops really builds up this whole adventure. I thought it was pretty clever and full of heart as well, I found myself laughing at a couple of the jokes and had a pretty great time watching it. This has a ton of potential for the future, hopefully it gets more episodes, but I'm interested!

In the lush green area of Green Hill, Sonic the Hedgehog (Deven Mack) along with his friends Miles "Tails" Prower (Ashleigh Ball) a two tailed technically proficient fox, Knuckles the Echnida (Adam Nurada), pink hedgehog Amy Rose (Shannon Chan-Kent), and Rouge the Bat (Kazumi Evans) have seemingly foiled another one of Dr. Eggman's (Brian Drummond) plans only for it to have been a trick to help open the path to Eggman's true goal the Paradox Prism. During a battle with Eggmam, Sonic inadvertently strikes the prism and winds up in a dystopian world where Dr. Eggman along with his Chaos Council rule over the industrialized autocratic New Yolk City which is an alternate Green Hill. Now with alternate versions of his friends Sonic must face new threats in an attempt to return home.

Sonic Prime is the sixth animated series featuring Sega's anthropomorphic blue Hedgehog following previous versions such as the three DIC produced series from the 90s Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (aka Sonic SatAM), and Sonic Undergorund, as well as the TMS produced anime series Sonic X and the CGI series Sonic Boom. Produced as a co-production between the United States, Canada, and Japan (hence why Colleen O'Shaunghnessey doesn't reprise her role as Tails from the video games due to Canadian content and union laws) the series was made for streaming service Netflix with a planned total episode count of 24 episodes covering the story. The series is written by noted writing collective Man of Action with creative consulting from Ian Flynn who has penned a number of Sonic comics for Archie, Boom, and IDW. Now with the first 8 episode season dropping on Netflix, I'm pleased to say this will be a welcome treat for fans of this franchise.

For the most part the series is arranged in such a way that pretty much anyone can enjoy this show even if they've not played a Sonic game or read a Sonic comic, but the show does expect its audience to be at least somewhat familiar with these characters (for example Shadow the Hedgehog is a recurring character and the show doesn't do the best job of re-introducing him but it's not a major hurdle). Once the show kicks off with its premise Sonic is the pretty much the only constant in the series as the rest of the cast are given alternate versions of themselves that contrast with how the audience knows them. For the most part I thought Deven Mack does a decent job as Sonic and he manages to convey the titular blue hedgehog's personality quite effectively with his voice over performance and he makes a good proxy for which the uniqueness of the other worlds to bounce off against. The show also delivers some enjoyable dimension hopping shenanigans with the novelty of seeing different worlds and different takes on established characters such as a battle hardened version of Tails named Nine or pirate or caveman like versions of the rest of Sonic's friend lending themselves to some unique setpieces with Shannon Chan-Kent as Amy Rose and her various incarnations a lot of fun playing the various versions of the character including the secondary antagonist Rusty Rose. The action is very on point for the series with the show delivering some unique and inventive fight sequences tailored to the various environments although on occasion the action beats can maybe last a bit too long at the expense of building character.

I think people will be really pleased with Sonic Prime as an entry in the franchise and if you enjoyed Sonic SatAM or the idea and marketing of Sonic Forces (that was a pretty big lie) you'll definitely get what you're looking for here.