Sonic X discussion

[Soniman]

In more ways, how is Sonic X anything like a soap opera, it's more comedy than drama from what I seen.

[Tornado]

... In what ways, exactly?

Almost every episode where Chris is the one who drives the plot rather than having a supporting/incidental role reads like a bad self-insert. Especially the ones where Chris is the only one who shows any competency or intelligence (which is most of them).

[Ferno]

I know no-one actually likes the idea of it, but for what it's worth - I sort of LIKED that Sonic didn't get 99% of the screentime. Sonic's always running around exploring and having fun and being a daredevil and the show sort of explored how that is from his friends' perspective. That's not a storyline you could really do in a game because... well you play as the guy, lol.

Never thought about it that way. And it was kinda nice considering all we get in the games these days is Sonic by himself. I still wish he could've had more screentime though. Could've had some Sonic & Tails solo adventure eps thrown in, with a similar action-adventure structure to the OVA, to go along with the "everyday lives of the other characters" eps that the show already had in spades.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Inferno

[pppp]

In more ways, how is Sonic X anything like a soap opera, it's more comedy than drama from what I seen.

Basically take every emotional moment in the show, they're so over the top that it's impossible not to be disgusted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al7YCyIVweY

And before anyone says that 4kids ruined this scene, i've seen both versions. They both suck.

Edited September 8, 2012 by pppp

[Vertekins]

Best moment of the series right at the beginning, hands down.

A-freaking-greed.

X Eggman was such an awesome incarnation of the character that he gives shameless Wesley's exactly what they deserve. That single moment paints this Eggman as automatically amazing, no questions asked. I mean, he already is a very interesting character with his penchant for bastardy combined with his complexity when it comes to his rivalry with Sonic but that scene right there cements him as a man with a pretty remarkable level of transparency, someone who isn't afraid of giving verbal smackdowns and home truths even to a kid.

Anyways, Sonic X...

Chili Dawg already said in a status update how SatAM is a superior show but Sonic X is a superior Sonic show. It makes an...OK effort of assimilating game aspects and plotlines into it's episodes and it's characterizations, though frequently Flanderized, are still much closer to the game portrayals than the other shows.

It's animation was piss poor a large percentage of the time. You only to see it's bad points. I thought the music in the original non-4 Kids mutilated version was pretty catchy and the OFF COURSE songs in episode 52 such as Midori No Hibi and Natsu No Hi were wonderful. They even had Kotoba Ni Dekinai in episode 26!

It had some interesting plots, some extremely weird and/or formulaic ones and episodes that were just plain stupid. Need I mention episodes 40 and 41? Grandaddy of all idiot plots when the characters except Sonic lack even basic knowledge of Astronomy. That said, episode 52 was a damn fine episode and had some genuinely magical and memorable moments.

I still find though that Sonic X squandered a lot of it's potential and it's terrible dub was a nail in the coffin.

[JezMM]

Basically take every emotional moment in the show, they're so over the top that it's impossible not to be disgusted:

And before anyone says that 4kids ruined this scene, i've seen both versions. They both suck.

I love Episode 52. Behold I'm doing the impossible, wooooo.

Never watched the 4kids dub and don't intend to though.

I think there were plenty of gorgeously done emotional moments. Cream vs Emerl. Shadow's flashbacks. Sonic being shot out of the ARK by Eggman (done WAY better than the crappy cut-scene it's based off). Chris suddenly shutting down the portal in Episode 50. The revelation that Sonic could have gone back to his own world any time but never did.

And my personal favourite, the subtle, but beautiful moment of silence before they use the ARK to start up the portal in Episode 50 where you see the ghosts of Shadow and Maria join hands in the control room.

Edited September 8, 2012 by JezMM

[Your Vest Friend]

It's an okay show. I don't like it as much as AoStH but I certainly don't hate like I do SatAM.

One thing that really annoys me is that certain hardcore fans of the show are even more defiant of the fact that Sonic X has no basis in game canon than even hardcore SatAM fans. You'd think that them doing things like changing who convinced Shadow to help the world and completely bastardising Sonic Battle would be a big tip-off.

[DarkLight]

I loved Sonic X and it is mostly the reason why I got into the fandom, but yeah, it's not something I'll defend to death for since I do see it's flaws better than 9 years ago. Chris was annoying, animation could be very inconsistent, and was very odd in handling on how weak or strong certain characters were in random episodes or scenes *glances at Shadow* But despite it's problems, Sonic X does hold a special place in my heart and I'll end this post with saying..

Archie comic version > cartoon version, anyday.

Chris had less screentime, Sonic was shown to be more smart than the cartoon could manage, the S.O.N.I.C.X. organization were alright villains, (Too bad the comic had to end to make way for SU before we could learn anything about their leader) and need I mention the awesome El Gran Grodo?

Edited September 9, 2012 by DarkLightDragon

[Kuzu]

I know no-one actually likes the idea of it, but for what it's worth - I sort of LIKED that Sonic didn't get 99% of the screentime. Sonic's always running around exploring and having fun and being a daredevil and the show sort of explored how that is from his friends' perspective. That's not a storyline you could really do in a game because... well you play as the guy, lol.

I don't mind the focus shifting to other characters, but I think it's a problem when the main protagonist is little more than a plot device with barely a hint of personality. If anything Sonic should have at least 50% while everyone else gets the other half.

[Soniman]

Archie comic version > Cartoon version, anyday.

Pretty much this, the stories are a lot more enjoyable, the characters a lot more likable (I don't have to hear them talk), and Eggman is downright amazing.

It made me tolerate Sonic X as a premise so much more.

[Kuzu]

And Sonic actually has screentime, and personality. I mean the comics don't have much of a plot, in fact they're more akin to stories like Colors, but god it's so much more enjoyable.

[sonfan1984]

Basically take every emotional moment in the show, they're so over the top that it's impossible not to be disgusted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al7YCyIVweY

And before anyone says that 4kids ruined this scene, i've seen both versions. They both suck.

Huh, that SonAmy moment in episode 52 is my favorite part in the whole show. It's just very heartwarming. But of course I've watched the Japanese version first. The music is much more fitting and Amy doesn't make me cringe as much when she's crying her eyes out.

Edited September 8, 2012 by sonfan1984

[JezMM]

^ And of course, the only thing worse than the fact that the 4kids version is posted is also the fact that this scene is the payoff for ALL the scatterings of SonAmy development that appeared in the 51 episodes that came before. Makes me kinda sad that there are probably numerous people who will watch it here completely out of context for the first time and judge it for it. 8C

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Sonic X was bad for most part, Chris is obviously the baddest of the bad egg in the series. They should have called the series Chris & Sonic, because most of the time it's focused on those two with Chris probably having more screentime then the blue blur himself.

When Season 3 was announced, I was happy at first thinking after watching the last episode in Season 2, Chris and his friends/relatives are gone for good. We would finally have a proper Sonic & Friends season. Boy was I wrong. They brought him back. In kid form too, like he never grew up. I don't know who ever thought of adding this kid to the series. He and his family destroyed the series solo. It's no wonder the series got canceled. The story adaptions from the video games were poor and the animators did a horrendous job.

But hey, I would have managed to just about swallow it all up...but then...

...these guys licensed the series. Just when you thought the series couldn't get any worse than it is, these guys did the impossible. Out of all companies, it has to be these guys.

The 4Kids dub on Sonic X was disgusting. Jason was new to voicing Sonic, so Sonic sound really bad for starters. Then 4Kids altered a lot of scenes and translations to make it a dumbed down version for 3 year olds to watch. The lines were more cheesy and stupid than it already was. The BGM for the series was one of the most generic, forgettable sounds ever for a TV show. Episode 52 ENG dub was a disaster. I'll never forget what 4Kids did to it. It's my favorite episode from the JPN dub and 4Kids' version of EP52 was completely different.

If you are planning to watch Sonic X for the first time, even though I wouldn't recommend you watching it from start to finish, I strongly suggest you stay away from the 4Kids dub at all costs.

[#EndyGate]

The second I saw this thread, this is immediately all I could think about :U

[JezMM]

When Season 3 was announced, I was happy at first thinking after watching the last episode in Season 2, Chris and his friends/relatives are gone for good. We would finally have a proper Sonic & Friends season. Boy was I wrong. They brought him back. In kid form too, like he never grew up.

It wasn't like that though. He was trapped in a kid's body but he still had the intelligence and maturity of his adult self. I assume keeping him as a kid was a design choice since he's a recognisable element of the show and messing with his character design might confuse casual viewers and kids, I dunno. He also had pretty much the level of involvement in the plot (reasonable) people said he should have had in series 1.

[123654]

So am I the only person who unironically likes the show.

[Sonictrainer]

I'm surprised that they couldn't do Sonic's head quills right.

[Phos]

Best moment of the series right at the beginning, hands down.

Actually I think the best part is that they have this scene and Chris still can't deal with Sonic leaving. They did this plot like four times.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Phos Type Zero

[Burning Finger]

Ah yes, Sonic X... The series responsible for starting the whole voice war controversy.

I wanted to watch this show so bad when it first came out back in 2003. Every Sonic fan on the web was watching it, I mean this was back during the days of the "Sonic X-Treme Forums" and "SonicAnime.net" (good times). But I couldn't watch it because of my slow ass dial-up internet (lol dial up), so when ever I would try downloading an episode the download would time out and I'd be lucky if I got to see 5 mins of the episode. It sucked so bad, reading the episode talk backs I felt like I was missing out.

So I kept hoping Sega would make an announcement about an english dub, and months later the dub was announced for a Fall 2003 release on the Fox Box. Man, I was pumped and I couldn't wait for it to come out. But when it was revealed that 4KIds would be handling the dub everyone feared the worst and attitudes towards the upcoming dub changed. But I still couldn't wait, I wanted my Sonic X!

Lots of buzz for the Japanese version and the dub went on as the Summer passed by, one of the biggest topics regarding the dub was whether or not the game cast would reprise their roles for the anime or would 4Kids recast, we even has Ryan Drummond posting on Sonic X-Treme and SonicAnime forums expressing his interest on reprising the role for the show and to let our voices be heard by Sega and 4Kids. Unfortunately we all know what ultimately happened so I won't go any further than that. I will say however that I didn't like the new voices that much when the dub started, but they eventually grew on me and I even ended up liking most of them better than the cast in the games. But enough on that.

August 23rd came and the first episode of the dub premeired on the Fox Box Saturday morning, and while most people online hated it, I loved it. But this is coming from someone who's barely seen the original at the time so what do I know. But I didn't care, Sonic was back on TV again thats all I cared about.

I think the day the dub premiered Mike Pollock also started getting involved with the fan base on the forums with his "Ask Itsamike" thread, and boy were a lot of people harsh on the guy. The man had guts I say, these were some dark times in the online Sonic community.

Anyway, the show definitely did not live up to the hype, I mean loved the show when it was "new", but now I finding myself not really caring for it and wishing it were better. But I also think the show gets more hate than it deserves, especially the 4Kids dub. The animation for most of the series looks terrible but there are also some episodes that look great and really stand out.

The show lasted 78 episodes, and ran in endless loops of reruns after the series ended on FOX and The CW, up until recently. Saban now holds the rights to the series, and they have a Sonic X page on MyVortexx.tv, so expect to see it on Vortexx some time soon.

There really isn't much else I can say about the series that everybody else already hasn't. I don't think its the worst form of Sonic animation, that title goes to Sonic Underground. I like it for what it is, but it really could've been so much more than The Chris Thorndyke Show, w/ Sonic and friends.

Edited September 9, 2012 by Kamina

[Dejablue]

Sonic X. The birth mother queen of all recolors.

[batson]

I feel that while the show was pretty lousy during its first run, i do think it made a significant leap in quality during the third season. I know that many people dislike the basic "in SPACE!"-premise of that series, but personally i am pretty much neutral on in. Regardless of that one thinks about that premise however, i definitely think that the shows scripts got a lot better. The last 12-10 episodes or so in particular managed to build up some real suspense that was nearly always lacking in the first two seasons. The third season also handled the cast much much better. Sonic was around to interact with his friends a lot more, Chris became a tolerable character (if still bland though), Amy seemed to actually first and foremost be focused on the mission rather than on Sonic's non-existant dick, Knuckles might still have largely been a comic relief but they at least made up for this to a certain extent by occasionally have him out-badass Sonic, and Tails got an opportunity to show sides of himself that made him not only a deeper character than in the first two seasons, but also a deeper character than he ever has been in the games. Im especially impressed with how the big climax of the series managed to get nearly every major character involved in their own significant way.

I feel that during that later part of the third series, Sonic X (as badly animated as it still was) managed to stop feeling like a dumb, boring Pokemon-esque sub-par kiddie anime show, and instead started feeling like one of those more well-thought-out shonen series like Naruto or One Piece. Not as good as any of those perhapes, but still closer to those than to Pokemon.

[Kuzu]

I dunno. I feel like the animation became a lot worse in Season 3.

[DarkLight]

I'm surprised that they couldn't do Sonic's head quills right.

It probably wouldn't have looked right if they drew all 6 quills.

Edited September 9, 2012 by DarkLightDragon

[batson]

I dunno. I feel like the animation became a lot worse in Season 3.

That's probably the case, and i will admit that sometimes the animation got so bad that it completely halted any potential drama or suspense simply by looking to damn laughable. But all things considered, id still say that season 3 was far superior to the first two, even if not in terms of animation.

Edited September 9, 2012 by batson