Ken Penders Scrapped Sonic Movie

[Stacy]

I don't think it was going to be Live-Action & with a Human Sonic & Tails...

That would be completely insane!

If Howard The Duck could be spawn into a shitty live action movie so can Sonic.

[Aquaslash]

Any movie would almost certainly be it's own continuity, and at best, borrow elements from the other continuities. Pretty much an OVA 2.0 but on a wider scale. It would in no way, shape, or form, have any bearing on any of the other continuities aside from maybe a design influence for marketing purposes.

Basically, it's how the Transformers movies have nothing to do with any Transformers fiction that came before or after them, yet because of them, there's been a slight shift in the marketing game. Bumblebee saw a lot more usage afterwards, etc.

[DaddlerTheDalek]

If Howard The Duck could be spawn into a shitty live action movie so can Sonic.

Penders wanted a CGI Movie. That's for sure.

[Your Vest Friend]

Any movie would almost certainly be it's own continuity, and at best, borrow elements from the other continuities. Pretty much an OVA 2.0 but on a wider scale. It would in no way, shape, or form, have any bearing on any of the other continuities aside from maybe a design influence for marketing purposes.

Basically, it's how the Transformers movies have nothing to do with any Transformers fiction that came before or after them, yet because of them, there's been a slight shift in the marketing game. Bumblebee saw a lot more usage afterwards, etc.

Isn't that precisely why SEGA wouldn't do a film based on Archie, then? If people are expecting it to have an influence on the marketing to follow, then it'd be impossible to follow on that anyway since 90% of the Archie cast aren't even used in the games and never will be.

Not to mention that an Archie film would isolate Japanese and European audiences since the vast majority haven't heard of Archie Sonic or have heard of it but have no interest in it. Marketing would be a nightmare in those territories.

[Jay H]

The ideas Penders pitched are just...unappealing. It would be much smarter to stay to the canon of the video games rather than Archie/SatAM, as the video games are the more recognizable one. In all seriousness; if I were to pitch a Sonic film, I'd only want to work on it with Pixar, of course with SEGA's approval as well. I may be a bit biased towards Disney/Pixar, but I honestly feel the biggest potential for a great story would be from Pixar having their hands on it. Let alone the fact that they would respect the source material from the games and stay true to it.

[Doctor Sοnic]

Ah yes, I remember I first heard about Ken Penders' pitch at the end of 2002 (I think). I've also seen one of those pictures before: the last one, with all the characters together appeared on the internet in 2006. Its interesting to see the other pics but the artwork certainly is odd in places.

I'm glad nothing ever came of this. Ken Penders is not the right person to helm a Sonic movie.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Doctor Sοnic

[Aquaslash]

Isn't that precisely why SEGA wouldn't do a film based on Archie, then? If people are expecting it to have an influence on the marketing to follow, then it'd be impossible to follow on that anyway since 90% of the Archie cast aren't even used in the games and never will be.

Not to mention that an Archie film would isolate Japanese and European audiences since the vast majority haven't heard of Archie Sonic or have heard of it but have no interest in it. Marketing would be a nightmare in those territories.

More or less yes, however, that doesn't mean that It would be based on anything else either. It would instead tell its own story with the main characters of the franchise as a whole (basically the cast of Sonic 4 episode 2), as well as add some characters and settings of its own. Maybe it'll drag out some character that's been neglected in one of the continuities (for example, the OVA dug out Metal Sonic, who hadn't had a main role in the games or comics since his debut), maybe some other character would get repurposed. (Like Sentinel Prime in the Transformers movies)

Meanwhile, a film based on any existing continuity wouldn't alienate any territory in the slightest. However, that's still a very bad idea for movie making, because you've severely crippled your target audience. You're basically making something for the minority, when you should be making something that appeals to everyone, not just Sonic fans. The aim would be to make new Sonic fans from it, so having to deal with any baggage from other mediums would be a bit unfair to the casual movie goer.

[Nix]

Oh joys, another Sonic fan movie that looks like shit.

This is truly a work of art Penders has created. Just think what could of been! I would of been able to watch a shitty soap opera about anthropomorphic animals while reading a shitty soap opera about anthropomorphic animals! That's two times the shit right there.

[Your Vest Friend]

Looking again at the cast pic, you can tell that Penders had major Knuckles bias even though it's supposed to be about Sonic. Where are the other fucking Freedom Fighters, I'm pretty sure they'd be more relevant to Sonic (the character) than Julie-Su and the Chaotix.

Edited March 22, 2012 by VEDJ-F

[Aquaslash]

I have to agree. I definitely wouldn't want Ken Penders anywhere near any kind of Sonic film.

Or any other kind of official Sonic product for that matter. The quality of the comics basically used a Rocket Wisp after he left.

In fact, dare I say, he is the main reason the comics had a bad rep. Is that a fair assessment?

[Silencer226]

In fact, dare I say, he is the main reason the comics had a bad rep. Is that a fair assessment?

I think so, because I sure as hell felt that the melodrama and lovey dovey bullshit in the comic was complete and utter tripe. He turned a simple comic about a cartoon hedgehog fighting an evil scientist and going on adventures into a fucking love triangle bullshit infested piece of shit. <--And I don't care if that sentence doesn't make sense, that's how much I disliked the comics, however I've heard they have improved.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Silencer(Tsundere Edition)

[Soniman]

Yeah, the stories are actually about Sonic fighting Eggman and not whether Sonic can manage to get in the sack with three diffrent girls (oh but he's actually Sonic's evil twin in disguise!).

Bleh.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Groosenator032

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Ken's comments from 2002

Ken Penders wrote:The main cast of characters consist of Sonic, Sally, Tails, Bunnie, Uncle Chuck, Jules, Bernie, King & Queen Acorn, Knuckles, Julie-Su, Espio, Mighty, Vector, Locke, Lara-Le, Wynmacher, Snively, Crabmeat, E-102 and Dr. Robotnik. As only the main plotline has been worked out, it remains to be seen what other characters will have speaking roles. At present, I envision a number of characters seen in various incarnations of the games, comic book and animated series will be utilized as "extras" throughout.

Ken Penders wrote:I can at least quell some fears that even if they don't have major parts, characters like Amy Rose, Rotor and Antoine will be seen in the film as the story requires a number of characters at least being seen as the Swatbots round up the citizenry for roboticization. (And

no, none of the three mentioned undergo the process. I don't need unnecessary rumors flying wild on the internet, thank you.)

Edited March 22, 2012 by DaddlerTheDalek

[Indigo Rush]

Indigo's Log

18:54 EST:

It all began as I was browsing an internet forum dedicated to a video game character by the name of Sonic the Hedgehog. I was sitting in front of a lab computer while my typography professor began her lecture on the history and evolution of typefaces. I already knew this topic well, so I figured I'd give my mind a bit of a break after a long day of stock-work at the campus convenience store. We had a lot of new soft drinks on the market, among them Pepsi Next™, but I digress... the point was I needed a break after a long days work.

It so happened that I had come across a topic dedicated to Ken Penders and the latest reveal of one of his asinine escapades. Looking for something to cheer me up, I gleefully entered the topic to see what kind of artwork his troubled mind would create.

What befell my eyes was so terrible, so poorly drawn, so unproportional and so mystifyingly mind-numbing that I had to find a way to wrap my jaw back the rest of my skull. It was at this moment that I realized that everyone in the classroom was staring at me. I should consider myself lucky that our campus is nowhere near a graveyard, because I had let out a scream that was so loud and horrifying that it very well could have awoken the dead.

The professor moved on with the lesson, however I still stared at the computer monitor, absolutely flabbergasted at what had befallen my eyes.

Among the many perspective errors, gaudy shading effects, improper character designs and grotesque proportions, I was bewildered at the content of these images. It had then occurred to me that these were proof of concepts... proposals, if you will, of the Saturday Morning Sonic cartoon-centered feature film. The idea of a film dedicated to the admittedly well-crafted cartoon series is a lost cause and quite a laughable idea, but what confused me was what Mr. Penders had actually proposed in terms of plot and story for this movie...

...a poorly drawn Princess Sally Acorn grasps Sonic in a space station as (what I assume is) the Planet Mobius is being destroyed by some undetermined means... Sonic's... father or mother, I can't be sure, walking into Sonic's room (with a duck-face, mind you) while our hero is playing guitar... while playing the original Genesis game... a form of breaking the 4th wall I would assume, a poor one, but an attempt nonetheless... a cyborg-like Snively Kintobor is seen operating on an anthropomorphic koala bear... or roboticizing it, I'm not even sure at this point, everything has become a horrid blur of fear and pointless desperation at attempting to understand what I was witnessing. A poorly drawn group shot at first seems to be the least offensive, but this doesn't say much considering the quality of work to compare to. Then I noticed Knuckles... and Julie-Sue. Those poor fictional echidnas...

Oh how I wish I could comfort Knuckles, the look of distress and angst in his face is undeniable, and Julie-Sue may be mentally ill. Whether it's Tourette's syndrom or some form of low-functioning autism, I'm not sure... none of their proportions are realistic, their shoes are a complete disregard to their original design, the shading looks like the image was drawn with a dying bold-point Rose-Art marker, it's just so terrible, I didn't know how to react.

Then I came across what I could only describe as Sonic's... parents?

Oh... oh my word... what....

Uncle Chuck! What have they done to you...

...Sonic! My beloved hero, where is your left arm?! What happend to your eyes, your mouth, your feet... everything!

...

Eventually I had to close the tab and watch 3 minutes of Nyan Cat to numb my mind once again... anything to silence the pain. But it didn't work... nothing could deafen it. I was ruined.

No... I am ruined. I can't bring myself to open up another piece of fan-artwork again. This isn't like a scribbled crayon drawing where you can expect something to be bad... no, I came into this topic with the wrong mindset, and it has scarred me. I'm left to wonder if this was Ken Pender's intention, to violate and mentally ravage the minds of well-meaning and innocent Sonic fans... I've tried to look at the man in a sympathetic light, but I can't bring myself to withhold my sorrowing anger.

I need bleach. I need the strongest bleach in the known world, and I need someone to open up my skull and prepare it for a thorough scrubbing... I need to forget this if it's the last thing I do...

PENDERS...

tl;dr: Holy mackerel, that's bad artwork

Edited March 23, 2012 by Indigo Rush

[TimberWolf]

Oh thank every single deity ever imagined, yes even the Flying Spaghetti Monster and L.Ron Hubbard's meth creation, that this never happened.

[Old dead account]

Ugly as fuck.

[Vertekins]

At least I got some good out of it.

Riotous laughter over how arse-clenchingly, eye-wateringly awful this is.

EVERYTHING about this proposal sucks balls. From Pender's fan-characters, Mobius' apparent destruction, the godawful "artwork" and the premise which resembles the tone of Sonic the Hedgehog as much as Saw resembles Barney the Purple Dinosaur. And why the hell is Sally next to Sonic rather than, say, Tails? Oh yeah, I forgot. Character-favoritism.

The only boggling thing about this considering this is Penders' work is the way the Dark Legion isn't anywhere to be seen. You know, considering they're such wonderful characters?[/sarcasm]

I don't see why the heck SEGA would want this shit to have more prevalence than their game series. Jolly good it was turned down.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Verte

[Octarine]

Ken's comments from 2002

I can at least quell some fears that even if they don't have major parts, characters like Amy Rose, Rotor and Antoine will be seen in the film as the story requires a number of characters at least being seen as the Swatbots round up the citizenry for roboticization. (Andno, none of the three mentioned undergo the process. I don't need unnecessary rumors flying wild on the internet, thank you.)

"Don't worry if your favourite main characters were shoved out of the spotlight by Crabmeat and my Mary Sue echidna squad; you'll still get to see them as helpless damsels in distress with no lines! And don't worry, guys, there's no way I'll let them get turned into robots. Wouldn't want them actually doing anything, y'know."

[Silverfang]

This is Pixar's final response to Penders, work of art.

Lmao!!! Even the shredder rejected Penders @ 0:28-0:33

This picture is insanely better than any of penders work.

Edited March 23, 2012 by Silverfang

[krazystitch]

As much as I would like something like a Sonic movie..I'm so glad they didn't let it be something like this. Repeated a ton of times, but for a valid reason, that artwork is absolutely disgusting. A movie with characters from the Archie series is one that should never be made, no matter what. Not only because it would be awful, but most people wouldn't even recognize them all that well anyways.

Any movie where it has some kind of cyborg Snively working on a Teddy Bear or one where they can't even get Sonic's SHOES right

Is one that I don't want to see.

[Abominal SnowTaz]

My God....Indigo beat me to the joke. That's how bad it is....

[Chili Dawg]

Those images really speak to me.

They say now, I'm gonna kick Penders' butt twice as hard.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

As much as I would like something like a Sonic movie..I'm so glad they didn't let it be something like this. Repeated a ton of times, but for a valid reason, that artwork is absolutely disgusting. A movie with characters from the Archie series is one that should never be made, no matter what. Not only because it would be awful, but most people wouldn't even recognize them all that well anyways.

Any movie where it has some kind of cyborg Snively working on a Teddy Bear or one where they can't even get Sonic's SHOES right

Is one that I don't want to see.

To be honest, I thought those were his feet.

[TimberWolf]

To be honest, I thought those were his feet.

... I don't know what mutation or disease would cause someone's feet to morph into that unnatural shape.

[C.J]

Those screenshots look creepy especially the second and last ones o_O it actually scared me everyone looks odd in the last pic especially Sonic and Knuckles smiling with WIDE eyes, next to Knuckles JS looks like she's stoned o_o