Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

First broadcast in September 1993, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (or AoStH for short) has been running in cartoon syndication ever since. It follows the escapades of world-known video game hero, Sonic, a speedy blue hedgehog and his best bud, Tails, a flying fox with two tails, as they stop the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his array of vicious robots from taking over the planet Mobius.

Related Topics:
September - 1993 - Cartoon - Syndication - Sonic - Tails - Dr. Ivo Robotnik - Mobius

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Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is a fast-paced cartoon with a lot of slapstick humor, akin to such shows as Ren and Stimpy or Tiny Toons. The show features very few characters, usually just Sonic, Tails, Robotnik and his two hench-bots Scratch and Grounder. The plots often loosely followed the storyline of the video games series, although at the time the Sonic games were still quite new, and lacking much plot or character development, which was in turn filled in by the show's writers.

Related Topics:
Slapstick - Ren and Stimpy - Tiny Toons - Scratch and Grounder

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When the show ended, the new Sonic cartoon that replaced it (Sonic the Hedgehog, see below) took the characters in a far more serious direction. Most of the characters and settings established in Adventures never re-appeared in this new series. A vast array of comic books were in turn released based on the new Sonic show, making Adventures little more than a footnote to many Sonic fans today.

Related Topics:
Sonic the Hedgehog - Comic book

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Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was created by DiC Entertainment, who produced a total of 65 episodes for its first season. The first episode was "Best Hedgehog" (shown Sept 6) and the last was "Hero of the Year" (shown Dec 3). DiC ceased production on this comical interpretation to spend more time on its darker interpretation, dubbed just Sonic the Hedgehog (commonly known as SatAM), a series launched on ABC's Saturday morning line-up. A second season of Sonic the Hedgehog (commonly referred as the "Lost Season" by fans) had begun preliminary development, but it never got aired. Two other episodes in that season were in the works prior to the cancellations.

Related Topics:
DiC Entertainment - ABC

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This wasn't to be the end of AoStH, however, for DiC created one more episode in the winter of 1996, "Sonic's Christmas Blast" - which ended up being a strange mix of AoStH and SatAM, as it features Princess Sally in a non-speaking cameo, and has Sonic and Tails visiting Robotropolis, which has a human population and a name pronounced with two "T"s. (Interestingly, the letters page of issue #41 of the Sonic comic book mentions the special as "An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas", suggesting that it was originally intended to promote Sonic X-treme, which wasn't released in time and was eventually cancelled; the special's name was changed to match the game that did come out, Sonic 3D Blast.)

Related Topics:
1996 - Princess Sally - Sonic comic book - Sonic X-treme - Sonic 3D Blast

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Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was most recently shown weekdays at 8:00am Central Time on Toon Disney. Robotnik was also the featured villain occasionally on the "Chillin' with the Villains" marathon block. He was even in their commercial for it.

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In the UK, AoStH can be seen on the satellite channel POP.

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Of the three American Sonic cartoons, AoStH has the most references to the games (at the time AoStH was out, there were several games released in North America at the time of the production).

Related Topics:
American - North America

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AoStH characters are seen in the 16-bit (for Sega Genesis and Sega Mega Drive) and 8-bit (for Sega Game Gear and Sega Master System) versions of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.

Related Topics:
16-bit - Sega Genesis - Sega Mega Drive - 8-bit - Sega Game Gear - Sega Master System

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More recently, a "Sonic Says" segment about sexual harassment became widely parodied on YTMND.

Related Topics:
Parodied - YTMND

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