''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'' is an American animated television series. It is based on the ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

'' video game series, produced by

Sega of America is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several multi-million-selling game franchises for arcades and consoles, including ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', '' Angry Birds'', '' Phan ...

, DIC Animation City,

Bohbot Entertainment Bohbot Entertainment was an American advertising and marketing company specializing in the children's market founded in 1985, and had traded under various different names over the years. The company produced and distributed programming under thei ...

and the Italian studio Reteitalia S.p.A. in association with Spanish network

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...

. The show aired a total of 65 episodes from September 6 to December 3, 1993. It was syndicated by

in the United States. The show features

Jaleel White Jaleel Ahmad White (born November 27, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Steve Urkel on the sitcom '' Family Matters'' (1989–1998) where he was originally intended to make one appearance. White eventually became the ...

as the voice of

, a fast and wisecracking blue hedgehog, and his companion Tails (voiced by Christopher Stephen Welch), a young two-tailed fox. Set in the franchise's main world of Mobius, the cartoon mainly follows the pair's comedic adventures against the series' antagonist

Doctor Ivo Robotnik Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Naoto Ohshima. He is the main antagonist of Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Eggman is a mad scientist who seeks to steal the mystical Cha ...

(voiced by

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including ...

), and his minions Scratch and Grounder. A spin-off video game, ''

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine ''Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine'' is a falling block puzzle video game developed by Compile and published by Sega. It was released for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive and Game Gear in 1993 and ported to the Master System in 1994. The game i ...

'', was developed, featuring several original characters from the series. Additionally, on November 24, 1996,

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

aired ''Sonic Christmas Blast'', a

Christmas special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared Christmas in literature, in literature and Christmas music, in music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth o ...

which was produced to promote ''

Sonic 3D Blast , known in PAL regions as is a 1996 platform game in the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series for the Sega Genesis and Sega Saturn. As Sonic the Hedgehog, the player embarks on a journey to save the Flickies, birds enslaved by Doctor Robotnik. The ...

'' (originally meant for the ultimately cancelled ''

Sonic X-treme ''Sonic X-treme'' was a platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute from 1994 until its cancellation in 1996. It was planned as the first fully 3D ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game, taking Sonic into the 3D era of video games, and the firs ...

''). The show has been met with mixed critical reception both contemporarily and retroactively: more favorable reviews praised the show's fast pace and positive tone, while less favorable reviews derided the humor and animation styles. In the 21st century, the show produced the

Internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

"pingas", based on an abbreviation of a line spoken by Robotnik in the episode "Boogey-Mania".

Plot

''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'' is a comical, light-hearted and gag-driven adventure series based on the titular character

, an arrogant and mischievous yet kind-hearted teenage hedgehog with the power to move at supersonic speeds. Sonic, along with his idolizing young friend Tails, regularly oppose the main antagonist Dr. Robotnik, his robot henchmen Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts, and thwart their plans to conquer their home planet of Mobius. The series features a short PSA segment titled "Sonic Says" at the end of each episode (excluding "Sonic Christmas Blast"); these segments were written by Phil Harnage and allowed the show to meet the newly implemented guidelines set forth by the

Children's Television Act The broadcast of educational Children's television series, children's programming by terrestrial television stations in the United States is mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under regulations colloquially referred to as ...

Characters

Heroes

Sonic Sonic or Sonics may refer to: Companies *Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in, fast-food restaurant chain * Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities * Sonic Foundry, a computer software company whic ...

(voiced by

A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.) is a blue hedgehog who is the main character of the series. He travels the world and works to defend Mobius from the threat of Dr. Robotnik. Just like in the video games, Sonic can move at fast speeds. He has also shown to be quite cunning and deceitful, using various tricks and disguises to get one over his opponents, especially whenever his speed is nullified. *

Miles "Tails" Prower Miles "Tails" Prower is a character created by the Japanese game designer Yasushi Yamaguchi. He is a major character in Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Tails is an anthropomorphic fox cub with two tails (hence his nickname) who serv ...

(voiced by Christopher Stephen Welch in the TV series, Chris Turner in "Sonic Christmas Blast") is a two-tailed fox who is Sonic's best friend and sidekick. Sonic found him as a toddler, apparently abandoned because of his multiple tails, which he can use to fly like in the video games. He usually displays childlike intelligence but has shown to have exceptional skills as a mechanic and a pilot like his video game counterpart.

Villains

(voiced by

) is an evil mad scientist and the

archenemy In literature, an archenemy, (sometimes spelled as arch-enemy) or nemesis is the main enemy of the protagonist — or sometimes, one of the other main characters — appearing as the most prominent and most-known enemy of the hero. Etymolog ...

of Sonic the Hedgehog who uses his robots and inventions in order to take over Mobius. His headquarters is a fortress atop a mountain, where he uses his Robo-Matic Machine to create robots called Badniks to aid him in his plots. While Robotnik's mechanical aptitude can make him a genuine threat, his childish, manic and often egotistical nature greatly overpowers his tyrannical side, always leading to his defeat and humiliation. In the first episode, it is mentioned that he once had a full head of hair, but the constant foils from Sonic caused him to gradually tear it out. * Scratch (voiced by Phil Hayes) is a hot-headed chicken-like Badnik, though taller and more stylized than any specific bird-based one from the games. Originally, Robotnik wanted the Robo-Matic Machine to create a super robot only for it to produce Scratch instead due to a malfunction. Despite this, Scratch has a self-inflated opinion of his talent, despite being only marginally more intelligent than Grounder. * Grounder (voiced by

Garry Chalk Garry Chalk (born 1952) is a Canadian actor. He has provided the voices for Optimus Primal of '' Beast Wars: Transformers'' and '' Beast Machines: Transformers'', as well as Optimus Prime in the anime English dubs of '' Transformers: Armada'' ...

) is Scratch's younger non-identical twin brother, based on the ''

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 1992 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) for the Sega Genesis. Players control Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space station, the Death Egg. Like the fir ...

'' enemy of the same name. He is a dimwitted mole-type Badnik who was created by Dr. Robotnik from parts of Scratch who accidentally sabotaged the building process. He has tank treads for legs and drills for a nose and hands. A recurring gag involves Grounder expressing desire for a mother. * Coconuts (voiced by

Ian James Corlett Ian James Corlett (born August 29, 1962) is a Canadian voice actor, animator, and author. He is the creator of the animated series '' Being Ian'' and '' Yvon of the Yukon'' with Studio B Productions, with notable voice roles including Mega Man ...

) is a cynical monkey-type Badnik who was demoted to janitor duty before the creation of Scratch and Grounder, also based on a ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'' enemy. He is not respected by anyone and seeks to up his status by impressing Robotnik or outdoing Scratch and Grounder. He seems genuinely smarter than other robots (which is always humorously dismissed or unrecognized) using his own styled gadgets in solo attempts at defeating Sonic and is less likely to be fooled by outlandish disguises.

Episodes

Pilot

Main episodes

Special

Production

''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'' was created by DIC Animation City (in association with

whose CEO

Tom Kalinske Thomas Kalinske (born July 17, 1944) is an American businessman who has worked for Mattel (1972–1987), Matchbox (1987-1990), Sega of America (1990–1996) and LeapFrog (1997–2006). At Mattel, Kalinske was credited with reviving the Barbie ...

and newly appointed consumer products director

Michealene Risley Michealene Cristini Risley is a best selling Author, writer, director and human rights activist. She ran for the Americans Elect nomination for President of the United States in 2012. She is currently CEO and Co-Founder of Imbibe Lifestyles, a ...

licensed the characters to DIC), which produced a total of 65 episodes for its one-season, and was syndicated by Bohbot Entertainment, later known as

BKN Bohbot Entertainment was an American advertising and marketing company specializing in the children's market founded in 1985, and had traded under various different names over the years. The company produced and distributed programming under thei ...

International (in the original run, every episode began and ended with the "Bohbot Entertainment Presents" logo), and the Italian Reteitalia S.p.A., part of

Fininvest Finanziaria d'investimento Fininvest S.p.A., also known as Fininvest, is an Italian holding company controlled by the Berlusconi family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi. Structure The Fininvest group is com ...

. The show's animation was outsourced to four animation studios: * the Chinese and Korean subdivisions of Rainbow Animation Group (later renamed Galaxy Digimation, not to be confused with the Italian studio Rainbow S.p.A.), * the Korean Sae Rom Production (which also at the same time worked on the animation for the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon for ABC), * the Taiwanese and Chinese

Hong Ying Animation Hong Ying Animation Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese-Taiwanese animation studio founded in 1986. The studio has worked on several American and other foreign cartoons. Works Hong Ying animated, inked, and/or painted for the following TV shows: * '' A ...

(which would later work on the animation for ''

Sonic Underground ''Sonic Underground'' ( French: ''Sonic le Rebelle'') is an animated musical television series co-produced by DIC Productions, L.P., Les Studios Tex S.A.R.L. and TF1. It is the third ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' animated series, and the last to be pro ...

''), * the Japanese

Tokyo Movie Shinsha , formerly known as the is a Japanese animation studio owned by Sega Corporation. TMS is one of the oldest and most renowned animation studios in Japan, known for its numerous anime franchises such as ''Detective Conan'', ''Lupin the Third'' ...

(more specifically its subsidiary,

Telecom Animation Film is a Japanese animation studio founded on May 19, 1975. The studio is a subsidiary of TMS Entertainment and is located in the parent company's headquarters building. Telecom Animation Film is a well-established studio known for its production ...

), which coincidentally would later become part of Sega and produce its own Sonic cartoon, ''

Sonic X is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team, and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, ''Sonic X'' initially ran for 52 ep ...

''. Additionally, some of the storyboards were done by the Spanish animation studio Milimetros Dibujos Animados, which also worked on the animation for the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon and the main title animation for ''Sonic Underground''. Pre-production stages of the show (as well as the first season of the Saturday morning cartoon) were handled by Canadian Studio B (later known as DHX Media Vancouver). According to Robby London, DIC originally made a deal to produce only the Saturday morning ''Sonic'' series for the ABC network, which was originally planned to air in the Fall of 1992. The cartoon was to be more light-hearted compared to the final product, as reflected by the episode "Heads or Tails", early promotional material found in Fleetway's ''Sonic the Comic'' and the early issues of Sonic the Hedgehog comics by Archie, which were based on the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon. However, DIC also wanted to expand the show and produce additional episodes for weekday syndication as well, similar to what DIC has previously done with ''

The Real Ghostbusters ''The Real Ghostbusters'' is an American animated television series, a spin-off and sequel of the 1984 comedy film ''Ghostbusters''. The series ran on ABC between September 13, 1986 and October 5, 1991, and was a joint production of DIC Enter ...

'', but

Mark Pedowitz Mark Pedowitz is an American entertainment executive. From 2011 to 2022, he was the president, and then chairman and CEO of The CW, after replacing the former president of entertainment Dawn Ostroff. During his time at The CW, Pedowitz oversaw al ...

, ABC's senior vice president of business affairs and contracts, expected ''Sonic'' to air exclusively on ABC and rejected the idea, telling London "If you guys want to do syndication, be our guest, go with God, but you won't be on our network." ABC would not agree to the deal until London came up with a proposition that DIC would produce a separate, vastly different Sonic show for syndication instead, the result of which became ''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog''. Afterward, ABC was at first willing to air only a single half-hour episode as a prime-time special scheduled for March 1993 (which would become the episode "Heads or Tails") before ultimately delaying it and including it as part of the show which ABC picked up again for a full season, this time airing in the Fall of 1993, alongside ''Adventures'' airing in syndication at the same time. During that time, the Saturday morning

cartoon received a makeover and was made darker and more serious in order to differentiate itself from the syndicated Sonic cartoon. The two shows would be connected through ''

Family Matters ''Family Matters'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC for eight seasons from September 22, 1989, to May 9, 1997, then moved to CBS for its ninth and final season from September 19, 1997, to July 17, 1998. A spin-of ...

'' star

portraying Sonic in both series; ABC itself was airing ''Family Matters'' during both shows' run, keeping White busy playing Sonic on two different series alongside his ''Family Matters'' role as

Steve Urkel Steven Quincy Urkel is a fictional character on the American ABC/CBS sitcom '' Family Matters'', portrayed by Jaleel White. Originally slated for a single appearance, he broke out to be the show's most popular character, gradually becoming it ...

. The theme song is composed by Clark Gassman and it is a combination of the main theme from the 1991 video game as well as

In the Hall of the Mountain King "In the Hall of the Mountain King" () is a piece of orchestral music composed by Edvard Grieg in 1875 as incidental music for the sixth scene of act 2 in Henrik Ibsen's 1867 play ''Peer Gynt''. It was originally part of Opus 23 but was later ex ...

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

and

Flight of the Bumblebee "Flight of the Bumblebee" () is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) for his opera '' The Tale of Tsar Saltan'', composed in 1899–1900. This perpetuum mobile is intended to musically evoke the seemingl ...

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ALA-LC system: , ISO 9 system: .. (18 March 1844 – 2 ...

Broadcast and distribution

First-run broadcast

The series was shown through syndication in the United States in the fall of 1993 on either weekday afternoons or mornings, depending on the TV station. In the United Kingdom, the series was screened on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in 1993 on Sunday mornings at 9:00, but with the "Sonic Says" segments edited out. They were also edited out on

The Children's Channel The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, Asia and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat satellite ...

and the UK

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

releases of the series. The weekday morning airings in Australia on

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

as part of

Agro's Cartoon Connection ''Agro's Cartoon Connection'' is an Australian children's television show that aired on the Seven Network from 1990 to 1997. Shown on weekday mornings, it was primarily hosted by Agro, a puppet played by comedian Jamie Dunn. It was originally ...

retained the segments. The cartoon was broadcast in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

RTÉ Two (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, television, RT� ...

from 12 September to December 1994 on weekday afternoons with the segments retained also.

Rebroadcast

re-aired the original episodes of the show in the United States from 1994 to 1996 (with an additional Christmas special ordered by

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

to be produced for the Christmas season of 1996 to ride on the coattails with the release of ''

''). The series later returned to syndication as part of the

block from 1997 to 1998, and later BKN Kids II from 1999 until 2000.

Toon Disney Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Branded Television, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children aged 7–11, and older children and adolescents aged 8� ...

would start broadcasting the series in September 1998, and aired on the channel until 2002.

This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) was an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally ...

subsequently aired the first 13 episodes of the show from 2010 to 2011 on their

Cookie Jar Toons ''Cookie Jar Toons'' (also known as ''This is for Kids'') was a daily children's programming block on the This TV digital broadcast network when it was partially owned by the former Weigel Broadcasting (seven years later, the network was acquired ...

block. 20 episodes of the series were also available on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. From December 2018-November 2020, reruns of the series began airing on

Starz Starz (stylized in all caps as STARZ; pronounced "stars") is an American pay television network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, ...

. Later starting on September 3, 2019, the show aired its reruns on the streaming service

Pluto TV Pluto TV is an American free ad-supported streaming television service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Founded by Tom Ryan (business executive), Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in ...

for the first time. In 2024,

MeTV Toons MeTV Toons is an American broadcast television network owned and operated by Weigel Broadcasting in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on June 25, 2024, as a spin-off of MeTV, the network's programming mainly consists of classic an ...

aired the Christmas special as part of the network's "Tis' the Season for Toons" event.

International airings

In the UK,

Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

re-aired the show with the "Sonic Says" segments restored. In Italy, the show aired on

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is aimed at both a young adult and adult audience. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, was or ...

. In Spain, the show aired on

. The show was re-aired on in Australia on Saturday mornings on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

as part of

Cheez TV ''Cheez TV'' is an Australian children's cartoon show hosted by Ryan Lappin and Jade Gatt that aired on weekday mornings on Network Ten. It began broadcasting on 10 July 1995 and it ended on 31 December 2004 with the presenters leaving. After ...

from 1993 to 1999, and also aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

and

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

. In Brazil, the show aired in January 1996, on

Rede Globo TV Globo (stylized as tvglobo; , ), formerly known as Rede Globo de Televisão (; shortened to Rede Globo) or simply known as Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965 ...

on the block ''

TV Colosso ''TV Colosso'' (also known as ''The Hot Dog Channel'') was a Brazilian children's television series produced by Rede Globo, that began on April 19, 1993, and finished on January 3, 1997. The show utilized puppets, body puppets, remote-controlled ...

''. Only the first 22 of 65 episodes aired in Brazilian Portuguese, as well as the Christmas special. The show also aired in Sweden on

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

, in Portugal on

SIC The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; ''thus'', ''so'', and ''in this manner'') inserted after a quotation indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated as found in the source text, including erroneous, archaic, or unusual spelling ...

, in The Netherlands on RTL4, in Germany on

Kabel 1 ''Kabel Eins'' (; meaning Cable One) is a German free-to-air television channel that was launched on 29 February 1992 as ''Der Kabelkanal'' (). It is owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. It is largely known for airing classic American films as wel ...

and

RTL II RTL Zwei (stylised as RTLZWEI), formerly spelled RTL 2 and RTL II, is a German-language television channel that is operated by ''RTL2 Television GmbH & Co. KG''. RTL2 is a private general entertainment ''(Vollprogramm)'' tv channel on the bas ...

and in 2000 in Arab countries on

Spacetoon Spacetoon ( or ) is a pan-Arab free-to-air television channel that specializes in animation and children programs. It began broadcasting on 15 March 2000 in Bahrain TV, and it is currently headquartered in Dubai. The channel targets children ...

and Qatar Television. In September 2003, DIC revealed a new international package consisting of ''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'', ''

'' and the ''Sonic Christmas Blast'' special, titled "Totally Sonic!". The package would also feature digitally re-mastered, color-enhanced versions of the shows with new contemporary music, as well as bonus director's cut "Secret Sonic" episodes. The series also aired on

KidsCo KidsCo was an international children's television channel active from 2007 until 2014. It was a joint venture between Corus Entertainment, DIC Entertainment (later part of Cookie Jar Group) and NBCUniversal whose content was mainly commission ...

, as with many other DIC-produced cartoons. In the Philippines, it aired on

Yey! Yey! (stylized as YeY!) is a Philippine children's pay television channel created by ABS-CBN, and was one of the freemium channels of ABS-CBN TV Plus. Yey! was the second animation channel of ABS-CBN, after Hero TV. The channel aired Filip ...

in 2020 everyday at 2:00 pm.

UK broadcast history

*''

'' (1993–1997) *''

'' (1995–1998) *''

POP Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

'' (2004–2010) *''

ITV2 ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the fiv ...

'' (4 October 2004 – 31 December 2004; as part of GMTV2 kids)

Home media

North America

In 1994,

Buena Vista Home Video Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) is the home entertainment distribution arm of the Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...

through their DIC Toon-Time Video label, released 6 VHS tapes of the series each containing 2 episodes.

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

has released all 65 episodes of the series on DVD in Region 1 in three-volume sets. The first volume, released on July 17, 2007, features the first 22 episodes along with two featurettes: "A Conversation With Artist Milton Knight" and "How to Draw Sonic the Hedgehog". The second volume was released on December 9, 2008, and features episodes 23–44 with the featurette "How to Draw Dr. Robotnik". The third volume was available on March 16, 2010 exclusively via Shout! Factory's website as a Shout! Select title and contains the final 21 episodes of the series, plus the "Sonic Christmas Blast" special and the featurette "How to Draw Tails". These episodes were compiled in production order instead of airdate order. All three sets were discontinued in 2012 along with ''

'' and ''

'' after Shout!'s deal with

Cookie Jar Entertainment The Cookie Jar Group, commonly known as simply Cookie Jar and formerly known as CINAR, was a Canadian animation studio, media production and distribution company that existed from 1976 until it was folded into DHX Media, now WildBrain, on Dec ...

expired. Between 2008 and 2010, NCircle Entertainment released a number of single disc releases of the series, each containing 4 episodes (in random order), as well as two volumes of 4-disc collections in 2012, with each volume containing 16 episodes. Invincible Pictures re-released the complete series set on August 13, 2019 (originally scheduled for April 9, 2019 and July 16, 2019). The series along with its successors ''

'' and ''

'' is available on the streaming services

Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...

and

Tubi Tubi (stylized as tubi) is an American over-the-top ad-supported streaming television service owned by Fox Corporation since 2020. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In 2023, Tubi, Credible L ...

, as well as the official WildBrain YouTube Channel. Under license from

41 Entertainment 41 Entertainment LLC (41E) is a privately held American animation company that develops, produces, and distributes popular television shows. Allen Bohbot is the founder and managing director of 41E. History Allen Bohbot founded Bohbot Entertain ...

and Invincible Entertainment Partners,

Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. History Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retr ...

released the complete series on standard definition

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on February 22, 2022. The unaired pilot and the Christmas special '' Sonic Christmas Blast'' were included as bonus features, as well as commercial bumpers and commentary by storyboard artist Milton Knight.

DVD

Blu-ray

United Kingdom

Throughout 1993–1994, Abbey Home Entertainment through their Tempo Video label released 8 VHS volumes of the series each containing an assortment of episodes. PolyGram Video through their 4Front Video label would also release a VHS tape of the series in 1997. In Region 2, Delta Home Entertainment released ''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Complete Series'' on DVD in the UK on June 11, 2007, as well as a number of single disc releases of the series, each containing 4 episodes (in production order).

DVD

Reception

''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'' received a mixed reception. Randy Miller III of

DVDTalk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

said, "While it's obvious that ''The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'' 'sic''won't ever be mentioned in the same sentence with

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio based in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It has a strong presence in the animation industry and has exp ...

(except for this one), there's enough goofy fun here to entertain any resident of the 16-bit gaming era." Michael Rubino of

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose revie ...

criticized the series for being dated, contrived, and bloated with chili dog jokes. ''GamesRadar'' listed the series as one of "the worst things to happen to Sonic." It commented that it "made '' Ren & Stimpy'' look like a rigid, strictly story-driven opus of animation", and criticized the supporting cast as "wholly uninteresting, unfunny and just all around annoying." Emily Ashby of

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

gave the series an overall rating of 3/5 and noted that while the show's pace is "frantic", "the series emphasizes positive themes for kids about personal safety and interpersonal relationships." Bob Mackey of ''

USgamer Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and ot ...

'' wrote that the show's attempts to emulate ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' and ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' "were done in by the lack of quality control that typically plagued 65-episode syndicated series", and that "the zippy, timing-reliant slapstick ''Adventures'' relied on never stood a chance against the animation sweatshops DIC regularly used to pump out their nearly endless supply of televised content."

Ian Flynn James Ian Flynn (born May 31, 1982), also known by his Internet pen name Ian Potto, is an American-Canadian comic book writer. He was chief writer for Archie Comics's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' since issue #160, after the departure of the previous chi ...

, writer for the ''

'' comic book series by

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

, remarked that ''Adventures'' was the closest to "

etting Etting (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Ettinge'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France. The village belongs to the Pays de Bitche. See also * Communes of the Moselle department ...

''Sonic'' right" despite "fail ngon the details", although he observed that the show's gags were "polarizing" and that the guest characters "ranged from tired tropes (Breezie) to ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' knockoffs (Da Bears)". Pierre DeCelles, who worked on the show as a Senior Animation Director at Hong Ying animation studio, has described the show as "fun and humorous". The show's characterisation of Robotnik has become iconic within the ''Sonic'' fandom. Robotnik's remark "Snooping as usual, I see" from the episode "Boogey-Mania" gave rise to the

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

"Pingas," first featured in a 2007 YouTube Poop. The quote has been widely referenced on YouTube since the late 2000s, both in videos and in music remixes, and in the ''

Sonic Boom A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to ...

'' television show and Archie comic series.

Notes

References

External links

''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog''
at

DHX Media WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of children's television programmin ...