The Fastest Thing Alive

Everyone’s favorite super-fast blue hedgehog (because really, how many others are there?) has appeared in a few different cartoons during his lifetime. I watched the syndicated Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog back when it was on, and I saw several episodes of the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon more recently. What was consistent between these series was Sonic’s cocky attitude, his love for chili dogs, and that he was voiced by Jaleel White (best known for playing Steve Urkel on Family Matters). Otherwise, they were pretty different. I get the impression that Adventures was kind of intentionally stupid, generally featuring Sonic outwitting Dr. Robotnik and his brainless robot henchmen with disguises and the like. The Saturday morning show took the premise a bit more seriously. Not THAT seriously, but the plots made a lot more sense. Here, Sonic was the leader of a group of Freedom Fighters based in the woods of Mobius. (I’m sorry, but whenever I hear the term “Freedom Fighters,” I automatically think of the George Carlin joke, “If firefighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?”) Their goal is to take down Robotnik’s evil empire by destroying his machines and stopping him from roboticizing the inhabitants of the planet, which I guess is actually pretty close to what I see as the main theme of the games. Robotnik himself is presented as a more serious threat in this show than in Adventures, which makes him a pompous buffoon. The voice of the Adventures Robotnik was blue singer Long John Baldry, while the Saturday morning voice was Jim Cummings, known for a lot of Disney voices including Pete and Darkwing Duck.

The Saturday series also featured more original characters in starring roles, and tended not to use Tails as much. I have to say I probably would have liked the Saturday cartoon more if I’d seen it when I was younger. I have a nostalgic fondness for Captain N and the Mario cartoons, which objectively speaking weren’t all that good, but Sonic just didn’t feature as prominently in my formative years.

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