The episode I'll focus on is "Ultra Sonic", considered to be one of the best episodes. The brief story of the episode is that Sonic and the Freedom Fighters, in the middle of an over-arching battle against the industrializing Robotnik, sneak into the Robotnik-controlled city of Robotropolis. Their mission is to decipher the Robotisizer, a machine which turns animals into slave robots, so that thy can build a de-robotisizer. When there, Sonic and his close friend and heir to the throne of the planet Sally bump into Sonic's robotisized Uncle Chuck - the man who acted as Sonic's father during his youth. With the help of a Power Ring, an invention made by Chuck, Sonic and Sally are able to restore Chuck's conscience and they work together to stop Robotnik from harvesting an immense underground power source. Once they have done so, however, Chuck loses control and becomes a mindless slave under Robotnik's power again - meaning Sonic has to leave him behind.
Even the synopsis shows that the show is taking itself seriously. The relationship between Sonic and Chuck is the complete opposite of superficial and unneccesary, neither does it feel like it was thrown in to add some extra drama - the scene where Sonic has to leave his Uncle behind is very well-handled and Jaleel White's normally annoying voice acting has really stepped up from the horrific Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, giving Sonic (who is typically a headstrong, arrogant superhero) a down-to-earth characterisation that other shows never bothered with.
Maybe one of the reasons that the show was aired is because of a similar theme in the pilot episode. Despite being much weaker in terms of quality, there is a mention to the robotisized Uncle Chuck and Sonic and Chuck's dog Muttski (all the protagonists are animals but they have domesticated animal pets? Bit weird). Muttski is encountered during a raid in Robotropolis and Sonic is almost driven to tears because of it - the emotional aspect of this war is heavily shown throughout the series and despite the main characters' optimism Robotnik always has another way to get back at them.
But a brilliant relationship always on display in the entire series is that between Robotnik and his nephew/'assistant', Snively. Robotnik has some of the most intimidating voice acting in the entirety of children's TV ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUa8DLg1TCE ... 3:07 is a particularly brilliant moment) and is massively obese, whereas Snively is a sniveling coward who is short in stature and always stuttering his words. It's not the most in-depth relationship until the second series where Snively begins to insult Robotnik under his breath every time he's given an order, but either way the relationship is presented in a darkly comic way (7:10 in the video above is my favourite moment in the entire series) which gives both characters a similar sense of evil despite their radical differences.
Something that always stood out to me as fantastic is the backgrounds of each individual shot. Excepting the pilot and the occasional one here or there each shot has a unique and beautifully drawn background with a huge attention to detail. This episode in particular has some very good examples of this, such as the shot revealing the underground power source (an enormous crystal, but oil is normally used) or the various extreme-long shots of Robotropolis.
Sonic and Sally are the main characters and appear in every episode but the supporting cast have more vibrant personalities - the other three supporting characters in this episode are: Bunnie Rabbot, a partially-robotisized rabbit girl with a southern US accent who does the heavy lifting and beating up; Rotor, a nerdy walrus mechanic who builds most of the inventions for the Freedom Fighters; and my favourite Antoine D'Coolette, an ignorant and self-idolizing French Canadian coyote with a stupidly over-the-top accent and over-stereotyped behaviour. Antoine is the most cowardly of the lot (which could be seen as offensive to French people as some stereotypes see the French as people who run from fights) and his English is hilariously broken, leading Rotor to correct him often. "Gringo!" he says once after watching Sally and Rotor do all the work, which leads to Rotor rolling his eyes and saying "Not Gringo, Antoine, BINGO." Of course, Antoine simply says, "Yes, that is what I am saying," which almost becomes a catchphrase of his.
The supporting characters may not be as serious as Sonic or Sally but without them the show wouldn't be able to hit the perfect balance of comedy and drama. One of the least entertaining episodes, "Warp Sonic", is all drama and no comedy - even Sonic's uncle in this episode makes jokes with him even after he's just regained conciousness: "Still good-looking and always cooking, eh?", referring to Sonic's annoying love of chili dogs.
In fact, one of the show's very few faults is such a minor thing that it could be passed off almost entirely, and that is the running gag of Sonic's chili dog love. The only reason that this is on here is because the terrible Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog constantly referred to it and now chili dogs have been burnt into my brain as a mark of evil. At one point, Sonic even prioritises chili dogs over the mission he's on occasionally - which leads to the death/robotisization of two allies.
Death is a constant threat being faced by the Freedom Fighters. In many episodes Robotnik builds machines that serve to kill or entrap animals - one of the darkest lines Robotnik has is when he interrogates a captured Freedom Fighter.
"I have machines of all kinds, marvelous machines. They can do things you would not believe."
This is the point during the first episode I watched that I sat forward and began to pay attention - I genuinely thought that I had misheard the show so I re-wound it and played it again to the same result. 'Torture?' I thought. 'No way.' At the end of the episode, Sonic returns to Robotropolis quickly to rescue the captured Freedom Fighter and rescue him, but the cell he was kept it in empty - there is no sign that he was ever returned to the cell after the meeting with Robotnik and his 'machines'.
The terrifying influence that Robotnik's prescence has on the Freedom Fighters' lives is more than physical. In an episode that otherwise contains no allusion to Robotnik at all (the episode is about the private lives of the Freedom Fighters and how powerless they are to weather and circumstance) Sonic has a nightmare about Robotnik, leading him to trash Antoine's hut, driving Antoine literally insane as he is normally a clean freak.
The series had two seasons and the second season is filled with very small references to an unknown project called "The Doomsday Project". The season also is about Sonic and Sally teaming up with other Freedom Fighter groups which she gets told about by her essentially dead father, the King of Mobius, for a final assault on Robotropolis to end Robotnik's reign once and for all. The build-up to the final two episodes is enormous, and they do not disappoint - Spyhog is the tale of Uncle Chuck, now able to control his robotic body, being discovered as a spy by Robotnik and revealing the location of the Freedom Fighter's hideout (which also includes a scene where Snively tortures Antoine by making Escargots (or snails) with margarine instead of butter). Pressured by time but scared of failure, the Freedom Fighters deliberate too long and The Doomsday Project begins in the following episode, which leads to the hideout being destroyed and the Freedom Fighters being forced to assault despite not being prepared. It is implied that many lives are lost in the ensuing battle and Sonic and Sally have to use a last resort in the Deep Power Stones, two incredibly powerful sources of energy, to destroy The Doomsday Project, and with it, Robotnik, in an amazing sequence with jump cuts, video distortion and frantic audio giving the impression that Robotnik has definitely been finished.
But with The Doomsday Project's destruction, the entirety of Robotropolis is destroyed also. Every robotisized animal that existed there is presumed dead - something that was supposed to be lamented on later. But before the end credits roll a mysterious capsule appears in the wreckage of Robotropolis, and out climbs Snively. He relishes in Robotnik's death and swears revenge on Sonic for killing him messily, leaving him to clean up Robotropolis and restore it. "But this time... I'm not alone!" he exclaims hysterically, and two Sonic-like red eyes appear in the darkness of the capsule.
Then the series was cancelled and never seen again. One of the writers for the series claimed that the third series was going to feature a character from the comics that was never shown, but apparently the show was cancelled because the third season's writing was "too dark and depressing" with a large focus on the lives lost in the Battle of Doomsday.
There's no doubt that Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM was quite more adult than other children's shows at the time and it had something rather unique in the fact that it was a drama in a time where comedy was ruling the children's market with Ren and Stimpy and later Spongebob dominating the scene - but shows like Avatar: The Legend of Aang may even have drawn inspirations from this show with its memorable set of characters but deep and intruiging themes which to this day are still shunned for children's TV. Sonic Underground was the spiritual successor to Sonic SatAM and it captured some nicely dark moments in it but it tried too hard to be 'cool' and 'down with the kids' with increasingly awful songs each episode (each with the most vomit-inducing music videos ever) so it flopped.
Will there ever be a real heir to the throne of Sonic SatAM? Possibly - but it's unlikely. Avatar's sequel series The Legend of Korra has been unsuccessful in capturing the essence of The Legend of Aang, and Sonic's last attempt at a TV show was the Sonic X show based on the Sonic Adventure games on the Dreamcast. While the show wasn't bad, it wasn't good either and was very different to the three Sonic series that preceded it, similar to how the Sonic Adventure games were a radical change from the side-scrolling platforming seen in previous games.
Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM is a fantastic show with a nice variety of well-acted characters (as racist as they might seem) and well-thought-out storylines that not only engage the viewer but also invites them to think - a rarity in children's TV. If I was going to recommend a kid's TV show that wasn't Avatar or Tom & Jerry this would be it. I love this show and there needs to be a third season.
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