Faithfulness of the Storybook Series.

[ZonicZoneCop]

A little thing for the faithfullness, or lack thereof, of the Sonic Storybook games.

 

For example, I happen to know that Genies of the lamp cannot restore life....hmm...

[Chili Dawg]

King Arthur wasn't a blue hedgehog.

[Vertekins]

A little thing for the faithfullness, or lack thereof, of the Sonic Storybook games.

 

For example, I happen to know that Genies of the lamp cannot restore life....hmm...

 

You going by Disney's Genie?

 

Because he said that he simply didn't like resurrecting people because "It's not a pretty picture", not because he was incapable.

[Dr. Mechano]

I'm not sure what you're saying, exactly. Genies don't have one set of rules to follow. They are a ubiquitous institution in fiction, and the rules they operate by vary from portrayal to portrayal, just like any other fictional being. 

[Diogenes]

As fictional creatures, genies can do whatever the hell the writers want them to.

[Vertekins]

A funny thing about SatBK is how it disregards the familial relations of the Knights of the Round table.

 

In Arthurian legend;

 

- Gawain (Knuckles) is Arthur's (Sonic's) nephew

- Lancelot's (Shadow) adopted mother was Nimue (Amy)

- Galahad (Silver) was Lancelot's son.

- And Percival (Blaze) was a male and is actually Lamorak's (Jet's) brother.

 

Yes, SatBK is an adaptation that purposefully isn't completely faithful to Arthurian legend but some fans still use the family reasoning to 'prove' that the real Silver is the son/descendant of the real Shadow even though it's clear as day that their SatBK counterparts are not one and the same as their 'real' counterparts outside the book.

 

By this slipshod 'logic', Knuckles is Sonic's nephew and Jet is Blaze's brother :|

[KittyNakajima]

Well, given the Sonic series is generally an all ages game series with a kid friendly emphasis, I don't think the Storybook series would be 100% faithful to the source material that inspired it. Maybe the general jist of a particular tale to introduce it to younger players or reinvent it for those familiar with it. But not 100% or close adaptation of it.

 

For instance, Sonic and the Secret Rings is very loosely based around tales featured in Arabian Nights/a Thousand and One Nights. The tales themselves are basically stories that Scheherazad told to her husband, King Shahryar so she wouldn't be killed; the king had a prior nasty habit of murdering virgins he married the night prior out of fear of suffering infidelity like he saw with his first wife.

 

Creepier still that Dr. Eggman was the personification of King Shahryar in game. If they had really been faithful, I kind of want to think that all the virgin wives he offed were those cute little critters he stuffs into his machines, or that Scheherazad was actually Metal Sonic.

 

As for Sonic and the Black Knight, Merlina basically glossed over the end of the story in a kid friendly way, but Arturian Legend is even grimmer than that. King Arthur and Lancelot have it out when the former finds out he's been boning his wife behind his back. And it all kind of goes to shit from there.

 

That said, even with a Sonic retelling, a lot of fairy tales/classic stories in print or known today are far more sanitized from their original counterparts. Part of this has to do with variations in the tales due to the fact that they were passed down through oral tradition as they were used as a way of instilling street smarts, as well as for entertainment. People like the Brothers Grimm had the delightful task of compiling these tales and streamlining them into one, general tale.

 

With the advent of schools and better regulation for kids and their general health and safety, fairy tales gradually evolved to the whimsical, "safe" tales that most folks know today.

[Vertekins]

If a Genie's lamp or container has Solomon's Seal placed upon it, the Genie has practically no power to escape. Which makes you wonder why SatSR!Solomon didn't just do that instead of presumably condemning Erazor to only be pardoned from his crimes after he had granted one thousand wishes.

[Uraraka]

A funny thing about SatBK is how it disregards the familial relations of the Knights of the Round table.

 

In Arthurian legend;

 

- Gawain (Knuckles) is Arthur's (Sonic's) nephew

- Lancelot's (Shadow) adopted mother was Nimue (Amy)

- Galahad (Silver) was Lancelot's son.

- And Percival (Blaze) was a male and is actually Lamorak's (Jet's) brother.

 

Yes, SatBK is an adaptation that purposefully isn't completely faithful to Arthurian legend but some fans still use the family reasoning to 'prove' that the real Silver is the son/descendant of the real Shadow even though it's clear as day that their SatBK counterparts are not one and the same as their 'real' counterparts outside the book.

 

By this slipshod 'logic', Knuckles is Sonic's nephew and Jet is Blaze's brother :|

  And Silver is in fact Shadow's son!!!!!

[Chaos Incarnate]

  And Silver is in fact Shadow's son!!!!!

I've never heard anything about that being true, although it's a popular theory that Silver is his descendant for some reason.

[Solkia]

I'm still wondering which Sonic character was Morgan le Fay.

[Uraraka]

I've never heard anything about that being true, although it's a popular theory that Silver is his descendant for some reason.

  I was referring to her logic ... Blaze was Jets sister and stuff ... it was just left out and it was a funny joke that fit right in   but I really don't get the actual joke either...

[Chaos Incarnate]

  I was referring to her logic ... Blaze was Jets sister and stuff ... it was just left out and it was a funny joke that fit right in   but I really don't get the actual joke either...

My bad, I apologize. I still don't understand that theory at all though, where exactly did it come from? 

[Salamander]

How many purchasers of the Storybook games, on average, will know in detail every facet of the original stories the games are based on?  What if we expand further - how many people in general, on average, will know every detail?  I've never played the Storybook games, but from what I know about them, they were based on the broader aspects that everyone knows about the stories in question - for instance, just about everyone knows that there's a King Arthur and a Lancelot and a Lady of the Lake...  And that was the sensible thing to do, because it also gave them greater flexibility in constructing the stories for those games.

 

You also have to bear in mind that these stories have been retold over and over again anyway; there is no "true" version for the developers to be faithful to.  And that too is probably for the best.

[DarkLight]

You going by Disney's Genie?

 

Because he said that he simply didn't like resurrecting people because "It's not a pretty picture", not because he was incapable.

 

Well, not to discredit your point and say he's right on something, but one could reason that Sonic made it a top priority to revive Shahra before restoring the world itself because he might not get to with his second or last wish. If we're meant to assume Sonic knew that bringing the world back meant bringing back it's "genies can't bring back the dead" rule (which may or may not exist since there is no set of rules that neither Shahra or Erazor explain), then making any wish to bring back Shahra null and void had he wished for the Arabian Nights first.

 

Or he could've just wished for her life back first because she was just good friend who was deeply troubled by her conflicted feelings for Erazor. Since once again, it's never specified that genies have any set of rules besides the notion that each genie's power varies from others like Shara's magic not being as strong as Erazor's when Sonic asked for the Flame Arrow to be removed or when confronted with the Scorpion boss.

Edited October 21, 2013 by DarkLight

[Vertekins]

Well, not to discredit your point and say he's right on something, but one could reason that Sonic made it a top priority to revive Shahra before restoring the world itself because he might not get to with his second or last wish. If we're meant to assume Sonic knew that bringing the world back meant bringing back it's "genies can't bring back the dead" rule (which may or may not exist since there is no set of rules that neither Shahra or Erazor explain), then making any wish to bring back Shahra null and void had he wished for the Arabian Nights first.

 

Or he could've just wished for her life back first because she was just good friend who was deeply troubled by her conflicted feelings for Erazor. Since once again, it's never specified that genies have any set of rules besides the notion that each genie's power varies from others like Shara's magic not being as strong as Erazor's when Sonic asked for the Flame Arrow to be removed or when confronted with the Scorpion boss.

 

This is...really interesting actually.

 

If Erazor absorbed everything that made up the book as Alf-Layla then it does make sense that he's altered his reality to the point that he's changed the rules by literally consuming them. So yeah, it does possibly make a lot of sense that Sonic's first demand before everything else was Shahra's resurrection before restoration of the book and therefore it's rules if Erazor was bound by the 'No returning anyone back to life' clause regarding his powers.

 

But I do like to think that her revival was his first priority because she's a good friend who sacrificed her life for him and being an example of his forgiving and kind nature, hence his priorities being to his friends first and foremost.

[Zaysho]

By this slipshod 'logic', Knuckles is Sonic's nephew and Jet is Blaze's brother :|

 

And Blaze is a man

 

I'm personally OK with the Storybooks not being 1:1 to adaptations. I grew up with Looney Tunes and Tex Avery cartoons where they would take these classic tales and utterly turn them on their heads for the sake of the story. It is kind of funny to think about the relationships of the original characters (both Sonic and King Arthur) and how they were reapplied to the King Arthur characters (no matter how arbitrary). I like to think you can't take these interpretations too seriously, when the game establishes that the original Arthur was an illusion created by Merlin and his granddaughter sought to keep the world from falling apart by tricking Sonic into obtaining the scabbard Arthur used. To me, it just says that the characters are who they are in name only, and may not even be the original incarnations much like the case with Arthur. Their appearance may have even been an illusion simply because of Sonic's presence in that world (meaning he saw qualities of people he knew in his life in these characters and the game is essentially seen through Sonic's eyes--if that makes sense).

[Vertekins]

A cool thing about Faraway Avalon in SatBK is that if you look at the background in the stage, you can see apples growing. Merlina also mentions how Arthur departed for Avalon after he was struck down by Mordred.

 

Avalon in Arthurian legend is famous for it's apples thriving all year around (In fact, it's name can roughly translate to "Apple Island" in Middle Welsh) and for being the place that Arthur was taken to after he was wounded by his illegitimate son Mordred.

[iDEATH]

Having played neither game i can't really comment properly, but I'd assume that rather than do much research into the original stories that the games are based on, they'd have adapted the version of the stories held by the general public.

Most people don't know the actual ins and outs of those stories but have a general understanding of the plots.

 

I'd be more surprised if the games did follow the stories properly.