Sonic Underground on DVD
12.29.07 By Collin DavidHave you ever woken up in the middle of the night and thought, “I can’t live in a world without more Jaleel White! I refuse to continue my life on this cruel, cold planet unless the universe delivers unto me a greater quantity of Jaleel White!”…?
Yes, there was a time when Mr. White, aka Steve Urkel, was considered the pinnacle of nerd-chic, and a much desired guest star on various programs of low quality, and those are days that are best left forgotten - but when Urkel-mania was in full swing, he was everywhere. The Sonic Underground DVD collection is no exception, with Mr. White providing the voices for Sonic the Hedgehog, his sister Sonia, and his brother Manic, all of whom spout obnoxious catchphrases throughout the series, and never shut the damn hell up. Also, they’re in a band, and also, they’re royalty. If you don’t remember any of this from the video game, you’re right.
If you’re keeping track, just about every other voice in the series is done by the notable Maurice LaMarche. Guest starring Sean Connery. No, I’m not kidding.
This is the third cartoon series based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series, albeit loosely. While the evil Dr. Robotnik remains, we’re lacking the endless search for rings, and we’re also burdened with what seems like a gross under-use of Sonic’s notable super-speed. Of course, this series re-imagines Sonic from infancy, born into a strangely dystopian world that completely lacks the green, spiraling vistas that made the games so unique.
Since the cartoon was made in the late 1990s, the reason for this grey, dead world is the Dreaded Technology, which destroys all things invariably and completely, as clearly evidenced by every cartoon made within this time period. With brainwashing like that, it’s a wonder that we have advanced any technologies at all, or haven’t regressed to the ol’ reliable horse and buggy. These cartoons, bless them, never taught the value of industrial revolution with responsibility and moderation - just that machines do nothing but billow black smoke and destroy lives, create deep chasms between social classes, and must ultimately be destroyed at all costs. Show me a cartoon with a robot and a mammal of some sort, and I’ll tell you which one is the bad guy.
I have to approach the whole cartoon in the same context as Captain N and the Super Mario Brothers shows, reviewed here previously. They were all cartoon contemporaries, and were all loosely based on the popular video games of the time. While Captain N and Super Mario often had self-contained episodes along a general theme of conquering this or that, Sonic Underground makes a very concerted effort to be sequential, and carry a storyline throughout the entirety of the series, including actual developments of powers and a plotline - a very ambitious move for the time. While the writing is agonizingly heavy-handed, and the animation is even more questionable, it still shares the same nostalgia value of everything I grew up with on Saturday mornings, back when the phrase ‘Saturday morning’ was exciting. The show falls safely within the ‘so bad it’s good’ category.
Did I mention that every episode has a musical number in it? Fortunately, we’re spared from the limited voice-acting talents of Jaleel White, and treated to similarly grating voices which sing these songs, all of which share the same ‘Up With People’ lyrics and vibe, set to fairly generic rock / pop music. Alas, I’m just a bit too cynical to really sit through them without wanting something to die. Go love your miserable life somewhere else, Sonic. The 4th disc in this 3 DVD set is actually a CD containing 8 songs from the show, specifically designed to sever vital neurons. It’s late 90s cartoon mayhem at its finest!
It’s also worth noting that these three Hedgehog siblings are supposed to be in their early 20s, not their mid-teens. It makes it a LOT less creepy with the evil bounty hunter pig-guy starts getting all up on her. This is important to note, folks.
The set contains 20 episodes over 3 discs, totaling 8 hours. Despite my terrible unkindness towards the cartoons of my youth, I love them, and can only regard them as essential acquisitions towards either reliving my more glorious days, or at least testing the strength of my current friendships. If anyone will sit down and watch eight hours of this stuff with you, they’ll probably see you through anything.
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Article Tags: , DVD, Hedgehog, Jaleel White, Sonic Underground, Urkel================
Gotta Collect? Then You Gotta Connect - Join our Collectors’ Community!
December 29th, 2007 at 5:40 am
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and thought, “I can’t live in a world without more Jaleel White!
Um, no, I haven’t. Thank the gods for that anyway — I’ve little room to spare!
November 22nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
U know there r some people out there who like this! I AM ONE OF THEM!!!