Sonic Concept Art by DiC: SatAM Concepts Look NOTHING Like The Final Outcome

[SonikkuForever]

I'm just assuming the poor dog was born with a birth defect due to Robotnik's pollution. SatAM was a dark show.

[SonikkuForever]

And here we have Bunnie Rabbot concept #8! She "walks funny but is very strong."

 

[SonikkuForever]

Another early Robotnik design, with a "steel-plate mohawk" and riding clothes. He's starting to look a little more familiar...

 

[VO.SUPER]

I like watching this evolution of the development of the show. I feel that at this point SATam was being converted into a Sonic show. 

[anna]

Question that's slightly unrelated; is there anywhere I can read that version of the SatAM bible with cowboy Tails that was mentioned a little while back in this topic?

[SonikkuForever]

Question that's slightly unrelated; is there anywhere I can read that version of the SatAM bible with cowboy Tails that was mentioned a little while back in this topic?

 

Here it is. It's a 1992 internal document from DIC that someone managed to buy on Ebay a while back. It's written from the perspective of the different characters and gives you an idea of the show's premise (which was pretty much completely fleshed-out by then). Here's some interesting tidbits from the document:

 

- In SatAM, Sally is 14 years old and Sonic is 15.

 

- Rotor's name was once "Boomer", and Snively was called "Quizley".

 

-Besides the cowboy hat, Tails was also supposed to speak in a "deep, gravely Southern accent" , even though he's only four and a half years old (!)

 

- Nate Morgan was going to be in SatAM, but was scrapped. Later, the Archie writers found the old SatAM documents and put him in the comics instead.

 

- Boomer/Rotor had very stinky "Death Ray" fish-breath, which he would use to mess up Antoine's hair!

 

- Antoine was British, not French.

 

- Robotnik was considerably more egg-themed, due to a lab accident that combined his DNA with rotten eggs (an idea which originated in an earlier "Sonic Bible" created by Sega of America).

[Your Vest Friend]

Hmm, the comic has been making a deal out of using old SatAM elements. You got me thinking again...

[Spin Attaxx]

- Robotnik was considerably more egg-themed, due to a lab accident that combined his DNA with rotten eggs (an idea which originated in an earlier "Sonic Bible" created by Sega of America).

Y'know, this is one thing about early Western Sonic media that always bugs me - using egg puns for Robotnik. The early issues of Sonic the Comic giving him a habit of making EGGS-tremely bad egg puns, AoStH Robotnik riding the Egg-O-Matic and only eating eggs, the early bible and StC origin with the lab accident and the rotten egg... and yet they make no sense since he's not called Eggman in any of them (bar an insult from Tails in one episode of AoStH), nor is he in his egg-shaped game body (instead going for the Spherical Fatty McNosehead look).

[Your Vest Friend]

In those cases, it could be seen as an allusion to the idea of a person being a rotten egg instead of the Japanese name being Eggman (although there seemed to have been some awareness of that anyway, if AoStH is to go by).

[E-122-Psi]

Concerning Tails' voice, maybe they meant more along the lines of a kid trying to put on a deep and gravelly accent.

 

Also notice in the documents Sally and Antoine are referred to as 'GIRL' and 'BOY' respectively rather than any species, leaving wonder when the transition into anthro forms began. Bunnie's more fully robotocized form is also referred to here, along with passive attraction to Antoine and Boomer.

 

In addition their comic book surnames are used (Neither Sally nor her father were ever referred to as 'Acorn' in the show itself, while one episode implied Ant's name was Depardu rather D'Coolette).

 

Robotnik also refers to a few other games badniks, Buzz Bomber made it into the pilot, but the rest had comic book only appearances.

[Chaos Incarnate]

 

Man oh man, dem totally radical 90's shades though!

 

*gags*

[VO.SUPER]

Nothing says "dork" more than a pair of 90s shades with glasses straps.

[SonikkuForever]

Here's a version of Rotor. It's marked "not approved", but it ended up being used for season 2. I personally don't care for season 2 Rotor. His appearance changed so much it's jarring - he just doesn't mesh with the rest of the cast anymore.

 

 

 

And of course, your daily dose of Robotnik. Here's "version B" of the last design I posted - same basic shape and costume, but with a more robotic look.

 

[rudeartist]

The more I look at these unused concepts, the more surprised I am that SatAM was so well received. Actually, considering how badly the transformers movies get raked over the coals for not being faithful to the original source I'm actually even more surprised by how forgiving us die-hard Sonic fans are when it comes to SatAM altogether.

[SonikkuForever]

The thing with SatAM is that even if it had nothing to do with Sonic at all, it would still be an excellent series. You just don't get that kind of character development and overarching, dystopian plot in a "children's show".

[rudeartist]

No, you certainly don't. Despite the fact that SatAM had almost nothing to do with the actual games, I still loved it to pieces.

[Cstyler]

Hi there.

Found some more early concepts:

Concept art for the transformation scene (into Super Sonic I suppose). We can see early prototypes of Sonic's friends here.

 

Early concept of Dr. Robotnik with Snivley's prototype: TOADY.

 

More Toady.

 

Robotropolis concept art with a Robo Bat (that looks pretty familiar).