Community Editorial: Why We Love SatAM Sonic
8/06, Updated 7/07 - Written by the Saturday Morning Sonic CommunitySonic the Hedgehog has one of the most unique and devoted fanbases around-- But what exactly is it that made all of us fall in love with this simple cartoon show in the first place? The following is a compilation of thoughts from Saturday Morning Sonic community members on what makes the series so special to each of them.
It's Sonic the Hedgehog, what's not to love about this show? The story was great, and it had continuity, so it kept you watching to see what was going to happen next. It was brilliantly written, by a great team of writers. Thank you, Ben Hurst, for making this show memorable, especially in the 2nd Season. Hopefully someday soon, SatAM will make a welcome return. The animated was perfect, which add to the tone of the show and shaped the way the story unfolded. The voice actors did a really terrific job. In my opinion, Jaleel White is Sonic the Hedgehog. He gave Sonic a personality, I just feel that Sonic hasn't got a personality in Sonic X. Jim Cummings and Charles Adler gave a memorable performance as Robotnik and Snively, respectively. Especially Jim Cummings, who portray of Robotnik made SatAM truely memorable, along with the writing of Ben Hurst.
-Graeme Kanu
What I love about the show is its endless amount of originality. This is not a tie in with the games, this is all DiC. The first time Sonic shows he's got an attitude, the whole Freedom Fighter group brought up some great and memoral characters that have NOTHING to do with the games, and even to this day they're all still with Archie Comics. But one thing I find most satisfying is the duo of Robotnik and Snively. Robotnik isn't just about slapstick humor, he's a monster with no heart and he is not the bad guy that proves little threat of taking over the world becauase he's already done so. Then there's Snively. At first glance you just see a little guy who just does as he's told, but he's full of suprises and proves he has what it takes to take on Sonic and company.
Theres another thing I agree with that you stated, PorpoiseMuffins. The people behind SatAM cared about the show they where making, and it shows. They could make 300 episodes of Sonic X, but I would rather watch the original 26 episodes of "Sonic the Hedgehog".
-Saber16
Yeah, definately the quality too. The people who worked on it in all respects did such an amazing job. One thing I think never gets enough credit is the art; not just the animation itself, but the backgrounds, especially season one. They're works of art in themselves! And to think most were just thrown away! What I wouldn't give for a cityscape of Robotropolis to hang in my room!
-Elisto Dragonwings
I'll never forget the first time I saw the show. It was the one episode that had Kat in it. I think that was the one that truly drove home that this was not going to be your happy go lucky, standard Saturday mourning show. I guess it might have been that that appealed to me. This was a break from the norm, and even as young as I was, I appreciated one other thing about the series as well: it didn't try to glorify war like GI Joe or those other battle cartoons did. I mean, in this one the good guys didn't always come out on top, and characters were lost along the way.
I also appreciate the characters themselves, and how their voice actors were able to put so much life into them. As Graeme pointed out, Robotnik was actually a villain here, and he looked and sounded the part. Eggman, on the other hand, reminds me more of a overweight clown that managed to escape from the circus and who couldn't take over the world to save his own life.
Snively was also an excellent lackey... though I use that term liberally. Sure, it was a little clichéd that he was always plotting behind Julian's back, but I will admit that had season three come out, I think the Freedom Fighters would have been in a bad way. He was cunning, clever, and as I realized in the Game Guy episode, definitely had a sadistic streak in him.
Sally was great as well. For the first time in cartoon history, I think, we had a female character whose role did not involve wearing pink and getting into kidnapping situations. Granted, Sal got into a spot of trouble now and then, but no more than the rest of the cast. She was smart, kind, and half the time her plans were all that kept everything together. Plus, the relationship that she had with Sonic was cute in the fact that they kept getting on each others nerves so much.
The rest of the cast was awesome to, though I must say I regret that Antoine never got the chance to shape up and become a real royal guard, as that is something I would of truly loved to see.
Though the series has long since been cancelled, I know it will live on forever. Heck, I've even managed to get my little brother into this, and he agrees that its far better than today's show.
...Wow... that turned out much to be much bigger than I originally intended... I think I'll stop now...
-Red Mage 04
My love for SatAM is more stemming from my general fondness I have for my childhood. Even though I was more of a "Nintendo" fan then a SEGA fan, I still remember this cartoon, and it was a favorite of mine, even if odd showtimes during the second season hindered my attempts to watch it every Saturday.
What can I say that hasn't already been said by others? It was bursting with originality, yet kept Sonic in character and introduced a slew of characters that you wished would have been included in the games.
It finally made Robotnik a villian to be feared, and actually had well thought out plans (for the most part) to complement his menancing figure. And nobody can forget Snively, the classic 90's henchman who was both hilarious and menacing, though his antics were alot more on the funny side.
And yes, I admit I am also fan of Sally who had way more character than alot of Sonic characters today. She had the smarts and wit to complement Sonic's impulse and attitude. Definitely one of my favorite characters of all time.
-Sonic Rush
My road to SatAM fandom sprung from when I was but a wee lad, back in 1992. I was four years old, doing the usual four year old thing: watching reruns of Play School. Great days. Anyway, one day, my brother's birthday actually, my old man came home with a big black box, and two smaller black boxes. As soon as I picked up a control and laid eyes on the thing, I was in love. I was actually sent to the doctors a few times with eye troubles as a result of staring bug-eyed at a TV screen for hours on end, and this followed up till I was around 8, grabbing every Sonic-related game I could find. With that said, my love for all things Sonic was well and truly engrained. I went and bought a book called "Friend or Foe", which marked my first introduction to the Freedom Fighters.
Fast forward to 2004 (Yes, two years ago), and I'd lost interest. Until I was actually going through my old things and came upon the book, and wondered just where the hell this Sally, Bunnie, Rotor etc came from. I've not really been a SatAM fan very long compared to some of you guys, but when I started grabbing episodes of SatAM where I can, my interest in it shot up past what I had in the 'official' canon. As of now, I know the show inside out, and I really can't believe I missed it the first time around.
There's a lot to love about SatAM. The fact that it's got a mature, serious plot, with characters you really care about and an outcome you really can't guess, or maybe just the warm feeling you get watching Sonic and Sally's exchanges. In comparison to something like Sonic X, a show with higher production values etc, the charm SatAM has is obvious; a lot of love went into it. The writers poured their hearts and souls into creating this universe and these characters, and it shows. These characters' charm runs deeper than pretty faces or witty one-liners; they have hearts, they have emotions, they have needs, they have flaws. You relate to them, you sympathise with them and you empathise with them. You watch them get hurt and get a little hurt yourself inside. There's a villain who's evil enough to genuinely dislike, but even he has something else beating underneath all those layers.
Yeah, that's probably where SatAM's appeal lies for me. The warmth, the sense of humanity (er... not exactly 'human'ity but you get what I mean), the passion and eternal struggle is what sticks out in my mind. Just like life itself, really.
-Neon Black
What can I say without being redundant here from the aforementioned posts? This is basically the series that broke new ground and pushed the enveloped on how video game cartoons are supposed to be. It may sound bewildering, but the show Boy Meets World always reminds me of SatAM and vice versa. As peculiar as that seems, allow me to expound. In August of 1993, I remember watching TGIF and they had a commercial about the Saturday Morning Lineup preview. I can remember this so vividly that I recall the lyrics to the song that was played in the background. Anyway, one of 2 seconds clips that flashed Sonic the Hedgehog, yet more detailed than its other UPN counterpart. As intrigued as I was at the ripe old age of 12, I ensured to make the effort to watch that "line up special" as endorsed.
Finally the big day came. The announcement of the new SML. The hosts of this milestone event were the cast of Boy Meets World. Within its 30 minute timeframe they showed a 5 minute clip of this "new" Sonic cartoon. I completely blown away, considering that it practically destroyed Adventures of Sonic, hell even one upped it on animation and plot. Anyway, the episode that was previewed was Sonic Racer. The clip depicted Sonic racing a robotic cheetah like thing and briefly showed 2 unknown female characters (a chipmunk and a rabbit) and a french speaking rodent that coincidently sounded like Raphael from TMNT =P
Boy Meets World was a contributing factor to what would be my favorite show of the 90s, since the cast of the show seemed really impressed by that simple 5 minute clip. But to fast forward the other 2 shows were Bump in the Night and Tales from the Cryptkeeper. Quality stuff at the time imo. So in anticipation of this alternative Sonic show, I decided to wake up early at 5am so I wouldn’t miss any details pertaining to the cartoon. Finally 6am slowly came and I was ready to immerse myself into a new tv show. The series debuted with the episode entitled "Sonic Boom."
Though a random episode since it left me in confusion afterwards, I was honestly skeptical about its premise. "I don’t remember any other characters in the games?" "Who’s this princess Sally and all these other characters?" "Who’s this Snively dude assisting Robotnik?" Yes these were valid questions since I was conditioned to appreciate video game cartoons cause they follow the game's story and use its background music. Prime examples would be Pac-Man Adventures, Super Mario Super Show, and the obscure Captain N the Game Master. At the time, I've only watched a couple episodes of Adventures of Sonic, so I wasn’t ready to pass judgment on this particular show.
Fortunately, ABC decided to air SatAM for an HOUR, meaning 2 episodes per saturday. So following Sonic Boom, was Sonic's Nightmare. Side note, don’t ask me how I can recall these memories, I’m just special. Anyway, my initial reaction to this episode was more in a positive level. Knowing that the freedom fighters assumed that Robotnik's crash killed him showed me that this wasn’t going to be a pleasant stroll through Mobius as its syndicated brother. After watching the premiere of this show, I realized that I was in for something epic. So I decided to record every episode that aired to the day of its so called cliffhanging episode.
Yep, December of 1994 was when the last episode Sonic aired. From that day forth in was in reruns till June of 1995 when it was abruptly replaced with Free Willy. I couldn’t believe that one of the greatest animated shows on saturday morning was cancelled for a **** whale! I was symphony of emotions when ABC cleaned house and made way for its One Saturday Morning that consisted strictly of craptacular Disney programs. That same, my family signed up for this strange new phenomenon called the internet ie AOL. Upon learning its features and benefits I started typing in keywords like Sonic the Hedgehog and the result was hundreds of pages involving the SatAM tv show. Knowing that so many people were devoted to it, I made my decision of what my purpose on this planet was. To become an animation and film major and one day resurrect the tv show in some form. To this day, at age 25 that ambition hasn’t vanished.
-A Knothole Resident
It wasn't until Sept. 17, 1993 that I first encountered the Sonic SatAM, through the ABC Sat. Morning Preview show. When I saw what it was about, I wanted to delve further into the show. I wouldn't be disappointed.
I had never seen, to that point, a 'toon show that wasn't afraid to display some realities of war to it's target audience, and the emotions that came along with it. From, as ABC's old 'Wild World Of Sports' show put it in it's tagline, '... the agony of defeat to the thrill of victory', or some variant of that.
And to see a show with such intense creative depth kinda gave an intellectual balance to that period's ratings monster, the Power Rangers(more on the PR's later). I felt very happy that the SatAM wasn't afraid to be intelligent and entertaining at the same time, like 'Biker Mice From Mars' and 'Gargoyles' ended up being as well.
Ben Hurst, Pat Allee, and Len Janson are frickin' geniuses that I have nothing but eternal respect for, for not pandering to the ones they were attempting to entertain, for the sake of network or SEGA influences. They're probably the single best writing team in animated TV history, with their ability to tug at your heart-strings when telling a story. For that, I thank them!
Marsha Goodman and Ginny McSwain also knew what they were doing when they cast the VAs they did to help bring the charas to life. Jaleel showed that, under his 'Urkelized' exterior, beat the attitude of coolness personified when he unleashed Sonic's soul to us. Kath Soucie brought out the loving and caring essence of Sally that so gripped me. Christine Cavanaugh gave Bunnie a bit of a playful personality that wasn't condescending.
Jim Cummings gave Robotnik the malevolent spirit of the most satanic dictator that ever existed in animation. Rob Paulsen made Antoine the funniest Frenchman in entertainment since Inspector Clouseau. Charlie Adler surfaced a disturbed soul in Snively. Brad Pierce let his, at that time, 'cute' factor shine when voicing Tails, Cree Summer displayed her sitcom experience in making Dulcy, as WWE's Jim Ross'd put it, 'goofier than a pet coon', and Mark Ballou and Cam Brainard gave us different perspectives to Rotor that made our favorite walrus more than just 2-dimensional.
I'd also be remissed if I didn't give Will Windom big-ups for his vocal portrayal of Uncle Chuck, by letting Chuck show no compromise in his love for home and family by repenting for his (Chuck's) sins of the Great War.
Michael Tavera, Noisy Neighbors, Matt Muhoberac, John Zuker, Pete Fausone, Stuart Goetz, Steve Griffin, and Joanne Miller provided a kick-ass SatAM Soundtrack that gave an intense atmosphere to the action of the story. It made my adrenaline level go up to hear it at critical times during each ep. And who wouldn't want to chack out a show that had an opening theme song that SatAM did? It rocked! Just that simple!
All the above elements let me take one wild 104-week TV ride on both ABC and CTV here in Canada. I made it a point of my Saturday Mornings then to not miss a week of the show, first run or rerun. I watched, and later taped, quite a few SatAM eps from CTV(for reasons of consistency), although I should've taped more S1 eps than I did. Still, I got most of S2 on tape, and I still have that tape, on a small shelf in my bedroom.
But, as the saying goes, 'All Good Things must come to and end', and in the SatAM's case, it was far too soon for my fickle palette to tolerate. When I called my local CTV affiliate here, and they said that the SatAM wasn't to be on in the fall of 1995, I thought that just CTV would stop airing it. But when I found that it was on no TV station here, I was crushed like you wouldn't believe. So I just kept my SatAM senses satisfied the best I could for about 2 3/4 years with the eps I taped.
But then, when I was nearing my last 6 months in junior high school, for some reason, that SatAM feeling just went away for a few months. I can't really explain why, but I suppose it's just because much was happening with my family and in my school life that I just lost my focus. It wouldn't be until Nov. 1997, when I encountered an Archie Sonic Comic, on a grocery store newsstand, the the feeling came back to be, big time. Strangely enough, I had no clue, whatsoever, that Archie Comics were making Sonic comic books until then. Had I known that those comics were being done, I'dve had all of them from the start of their publication.
So is life, I suppose. But back to topic.
It would be January 1998 when I started surfing the Internet on a consistent basis. When I found such Sonic sites like Sonic HQ, and The Sonic Foundation (now closed), that's when my SatAM love returned, full blown. So I looked high and low for any SatAM fix I could find, and stumbled into SHQ's Cartoon section. When I found the theme song, I was so happy to hear it again! It made me feel good once again, and made me want to know more about what others though about the show.
However, at the same time, I also developed a sense of immature, unnecessary acrimony to a show that was also on at the time of SatAM's airing... Power Rangers. When I read that the PR's were (a) responsible factor in the end on SatAM on ABC, I went out of my way to be angry at those fans and that franchise in general. It's the first time in my life I ever felt truly jaded about something. And it's something that I agreed with for a long time.
But then, along came a small website called Fans United For SatAM, created by former Sonic Pandemonium/Perfect Chaos/Shadow Of Light webmistress Sonique, in Nov. 2000. Understandably, at that time, it was rough around the edges, but I immediately fell in love with the site, and it's vision to bring the SatAM back to respectability again. So I agreed to give whatever help I could to the site, however small it be.
To that end, I dug out my SatAM tapes(I had now bought the DiC 1994 S1 tapes by this point), and started my own little project of creating the Complete SatAM Show Credits list. It was really bad looking at first, as I typed the names in caps, but it would be a little while before I adopted a format for them. In fact, it's takem me to now to compile the FULL list of those who delivered the best show DiC has ever done. It was a labor of love, and I thank all those who have accepted my list to their websites.
But, as we got to late 2001, DiC announced that, in partnership with Lions Gate and Trimark Releasing, that they would be doing the first ever SatAM DVD. This was obviously a time for some celebration within our little circle, as we thought then, 'Yes! The whole series is sure to follow!'. However, when certain, at that time, unknown forces, stopped other DVD's from coming out. It was then that the real reasons for SatAM's overall cancellation became known to us, outside the 'Power Rangers winning the ratings war in the Fall of 94' theory that was most frequently circulated.
We'd later discover that DiC blew it when it came to putting other DVDs out with Lions Gate and Trimark, when Disney's Buena Vista Home Video was still DiC's home video distribution partner, and the following conflict of interest that ensued. It wasn't until communication was established with Ben Hurst, that we'd find out much more as to why the SatAM was canned, and the role that Buena Vista's connected partners, ABC and Disney played in it, as most of us found that ABC wasn't as innocent as we thought they were.
As far back as '01 (I think), Ben told us that the show was canned, not just because of the ratings against Power Rangers ratings, but because of the merger of ABC/Capital Cities and The Walt Disney Co., and that the new ABC President had no respect for the show. It's something that really made no sense to me when I heard it, but I'd later come to know that the corporate world was a convulted mess, as something that happened within SEGA would teach me.
When I saw that SEGA wanted to concentrate all Sonic-related storylines out of the one that existed primairily in Japan, I figured 'Is this really the right creative step to take for them, when the differing multi-regional storylines work pretty well anyway?' At that point, I chose to be a bit rebellious to SEGA, and declare myself part of the SatAM camp to everyone on a formal basis. I got a little annoyed with the 'creative direction' that SEGA wanted to go into, and I separated myself from the games after Sonic Adventure 2.
Then, after the crap that happened in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, I became completely disillusioned with everything I thought I knew. And I became angry at everything as a result, including the whole corporate world. It wouldn't be for 3 years until I finally calmed down enough to cut the crap out of my mind, meaning I had to let go of the pretense in my personality too.
It also meant that I had to stop placing blame on those who didn't deserve it. So, to that end, I had to forgive the Power Rangers fanbase for being very stupid towards them. I went so far as to do a public apology to them on one of their MBs last year. It's probably the most liberating thing I ever did for my soul. It even made me like the SatAM a thousand times more too!
Eventually, I found out that the SatAM had returned to TV over in England on the station PoP TV(or something like that). I also heard of somebody 'Net-named' Coxy who made Ultra HQ ep files for all of us SatAM fans. So, I leaped on the opportunity to DL all the eps, and have them in the absolute best quality that exists! DLing them was the only way I could get the whole series, as it hasn't aired here in Canada since the 1995 cancellation.
Anyway, getting those ep rips inspired me to something. I used to go to the website called Team Artail to listen to SatAM sound clips, that were culled from the show. But I was a little ticked as to the sound quality I had listened to them in. So, I DLed the programs VirtualDubMod and Wavepad, and extracted the audio from the eps, pared them down, and got all the clips I needed to get. I also got a better version of the SatAM Main Theme than what existed on other sites.
Around the time that I had extracted the audio, I had noticed that this site, SMS, popped up. When I found that site, I was very happy to know that there was, once again, another SatAM site online. I was also excited to find that, even after 11 years off of TV, that the spirit of the SatAM was alive and well! If FUS could still be around today, I'm sure this site will be around for a long time to come. And I hope it will be too!
I then decided to contribute those sound files to different Sonic and SatAM sites, as a thank you to all those SatAM fans who let me be among them online! I always look out for those who I consider to either be 'friends' or 'friendly acquaintances', and try to do something nice for them. I also maintain a loyalty to them, and continue to support our common cause, or them in spirit if their chips are down.
And then, came the day of Sept. 18, 2006. The announcement of the SatAM DVD Boxset. I can't even begin to tell you how elated I was to have heard that very pleasant news! I just went absolutely crazy when I found out that the SatAM, after a 4 year political struggle behind the scenes, would be coming out in full-series format, with a heap of bonuses. But what made me happiest was that the supporters of the show would have a direct hand in the ideas process for the construction of the Boxset, and that fan-creations would be used on the packaging directly.
I'd never known of a company before Shout! Factory that truly cared about how the SatAM fans had felt and thought, given the fact that a lot of those fans had been jilted for the longest time by SEGA and Disney/Buena Vista, which caused the lackluster 2002 DVD release to go forward.
But something had also happened that dismayed me a bit. The SatAM FanComm, after a long period of dormancy, had finally opened up about things, and sadly, some negativity seeped in to all the chatter. I should have been more communicative to tell people not to unnecessarily get at each other's throats over the Boxset, but I was afraid to warn anyone, for fear of getting laughed at by the FanComm. I should have let my thoughts on that be known, instead of staying silent on it like I did.
But then, we finally got to Launch Day, on March 27, 2007. It was a day where, for the first time in 11 1/2 years, the SatAM Fans could finally exhale...our SatAM DVD Boxset had been placed on store shelves, ready for all of us to bag it. It would be that way for the U.S. stores, but sadly, Canada missed the boat on the launch, due to a snafu in the distribution department. I had even went into 11 stores around here to try to find the Boxset, but sadly, it was all for naught. I even nearly broke my legs going from one part of town to another within a 4 1/2 hour span and about 4 miles walked to try to locate a DVD set. And that hurt afterward...:P
So, Canadian SatAM fans had to rely on other means with which to get the Boxset. While many of them bought online, I took a more unorthodox approach, going the greeting card mailing route with a fellow SatAM fan in the U.S(who happens to run SMS, by the way….big thanks to him from me! J ). I had mailed the card to him, with 2 U.S. $10 bills, back in early May 2007. It took a week for the money to get to him, and when he got the cash, he got me a Boxset of my own.
And then, on May 18, 2007, I got a post office slip in the mail, telling me a package was waiting for me at the very postal outlet I mailed the card from. To be honest, I was nervous as hell when I was walking to and from the post office. My knees were shaking a bit too. XD But when I returned home, and opened the package, and saw the SatAM DVD Boxset in front of my face, my face just lit up into the biggest grin you'd ever see! I was incredibly happy to finally have that Boxset in my hands..so much to the point that I took a pic of myself with it in my hand and on my cheek the very day I got it. :D
It also seemed to mark the end of a rather long struggle for me as a SatAM fan. I have been for so long, the only fan of the SatAM in my city, and it was like a massive weight taken off me when I got the DVD. And it felt really wonderful not to have it on me anymore. :D
But ever since May 18, I've since found out that I'm now no longer my city's lone SatAMer...there's another fan of the show who lives in my city's East side that I've begun chatting with recently...it's really sweet to know that I'm now no longer alone here as my city's biggest SatAM fan. :')
So, in closing, I want to say that I will always be around either here, or other SatAM fan sites, for a long time to come. I will continue to support all of this until us SatAM fans can get a decent conclusion to this story that Ben, Len, and Pat started 15 years ago! The spirit of SatAM will never die! And we have to make sure it doesn't!
-Ronic
WOW, now thats a question thats gonna end up with a huge heartwarming answer.
Well, at the age of 6 I was once flipping thru channels one Saturday morning. And to my surprise I found Sonic the Hedgehog. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was jumping up and down in excitement to know that my favorite videogame character was on TV. I watched with great excitement and I laughed and was awestruck by my hero.
Well, it was all great until one morning, I waited and waited, and the show never came on that day. I waited again for another two weeks, and then I began to cry, wondering if my favorite character and show would ever return. Well, a few years past, and I was shocked to find my favorite show again. I remember at age nine one morning I got up at 5:50, and then I went to watch Sonic the Hedgehog at 6:00, I was psyched to know that my favorite character was back on USA. I watched it again and taped the episodes for future reference. Well, I kept watching it until... one day, that last day they showed it was the cliffhanger. And after that episode, I never saw Sonic the Hedgehog ever again.
I eagerly waited for years and years for my favorite blue friend to appear back on television, but it turns out that USA stopped showing their morning block, ever since. Not once have I seen it after that dreadful event. Well, a few years later, I caught a few episodes of Sonic Underground on some weird channel, but it was at 5:00 AM, really early, so I caught a few episodes and thats it. I thought that my favorite show was making its crazy return, but sadly it didn't. But I was psyched to see Manic, the coolest of the 3 characters. But after the last time I saw Underground, that is the last time I'll ever see any more new appearances of the little green guy.
Well, many years later, I happened to find torrents to the show that I once watched and downloaded all the series that was available. To this day, I still watch all the reruns and enjoy every little bit of Sonic SatAM and Underground. Today, I have dreams of one day making a huge contribution to the Sonic Fanbase. I have tried a few times to help bring the show back, but it was all for naught. One day, I decided that I would enter animation and make up some crazy ideas to help get the show back on its feet. Although I am only 18 still, I really do hope that I may be able to do something for something that brightened my mornings every Saturday or weekday. Hopefully a few years from now, I may be able to do something great that people will definitely enjoy. And that fire to keep believing still burns, and I will do what it takes to be able to see my favorite show on TV screens everywhere, including Sonic Underground, and watch my favorite little hedgehog do more cool stuff in the future.
-Rave
I began to really love the show as everyone else like something: when I lost it... I mean, as a kid, I didn't realise how important it was to me, but when the show stopped airing, I did realize that my tapes were all what remained of my dreams... But now I can really say why I love the show! The music is great, there are some evil characters who aren't just comic relief (well, at least not most of the time), it was an educative show (I learned how friendship and cooperation is the best weapon to defend yourself and to respect nature)...
But the main reason why I like Sonic SatAM is: it makes me dream. Dream of a better world, dream of people who are working for it even if we don't know it, dream of a place where the people are as pure as the environment. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one!
-Thony Hedgehog
I loved this show ever since it came out in 1993-95. I just fell in love with the characters. It made me feel like I was their friends. The characters are so full of love, friendship, and family love too (Sonic and Uncle Chuck, Sally and her father, King Acorn). I love Sonic and Tails' brotherly relationship too. The show taught me to keep going no matter what happens. I can see they don't give up too easily. I love it when they share emotions and express how they feel, especially with Sonic and Sally. This show really does teach you about life, and not giving up. This show has a lot of memory! I can't wait for the boxset!! I was squealing over this! XD
-JayFoxFire
Why do I love it? Ah... not righly sure that I do. Under modern (re: present-day me) scrutiny, parts of it don't hold up as well, mainly because, well... let's face it - it was a kids' cartoon.
A better question would be, why did I love it so? Good question. One thing it didn't take me too long to recognize: this show was different from the rest. Judging it against the unrepentantly cartoonish Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, my comprehension may have been sketchy, but I could certainly tell the difference.
Adventures was colorful, kiddy, and simplistic with that irritating salesman guy. SatAM was far more serious, with engaging characters and comparatively complex plots. In fact, I'm not quite sure I understood them all. Keep in mind that I was pretty young at the time. Lots of stuff went over my head. But I could tell this much: they had put effort into this one. There was something going on here. This was, in a word, good.
Among other things, SatAM introduced me to what I've become a bit of a sucker for now: the over-arching plot. I remember watching The Doomsday Project and, a ways into it, the remaining Freedom Fighters contemplating use of the Deep Power Stones - and I remembered them from Drood Henge a few weeks back. Whoa. New concept. Sweeet.
Of course, I also remember wanting them to put the pointy halves together and go down the "cataclysmic destruction" path from Nicole's earlier analysis.
Nicole is so cool. I'm pretty sure she was my favorite character.
Back to The Doomsday Project (mainly because I don't remember a whole lot from the other episodes). Again, wasn't comprehending a lot at the time. But the episode was an effective one insofar as I got the 'this is it' sentiment. The machine's "diamond glass" defense was surprisingly intimidating. I could've sworn Sonic actually got shocked by it at some point. When Sonic and Sally were wrecking the place, I was looking forward to its destruction in particular.
That brings me to this: SatAM really made me root for the heroes. A lot of cartoons: bland. Adventures, much as I liked Sonic by default, gave me little to root for him against. Power Rangers got it right about once in the series with a cliffhanger I only saw the resolution to this year (somewhere in the Green Ranger saga). But Sonic, Sally, and company were truly well-developed characters that the viewer cared about, and that's the key to making a tense scene electrifying.
*Rimshot*
Was it groundbreaking? Quite. The Doomsday Project brought the viability of animated story arcs to light (probably why, today, I hold out hope for the 1981 Spider-Man cartoon) and had characters modern shows could probably learn from.
Will I buy the DVD? Maybe. It depends on the special features, methinks, mainly how it goes about addressing season three.
Was it a good show? Don't doubt it.
He's the fastest thing aliiiiive...
-Caswin
What's not to like about SatAM?
Sonic SatAM did to SEGA's Sonic what Batman: The Animated Series did to the Batman series.
It redefined the series in ways that can still be seen in today's incarnations.
The unique storyline, the awesome soundtrack, the memorable characters...
Over a decade has passed since its abrupt cancellation, and the fanbase remains as strong as ever.
With the highly anticipated DVD release of the complete SatAM series in March, and the possibility of a SatAM movie in the future, perhaps this will give the much needed attention that this series needed during its initial run.
Maybe it'll even lead several of the old fans back to the series (ten years is a long time to wait, after all)!
SEGA, DiC, and every other big wig company that had a part in showing the series to the world will soon see just how many people actually love Sonic SatAM!
Show your support and buy the DVD!
Heck, all this time searching for every episode, not even YouTube can come close to this deal!
Let's do it to it!
-EliteGamerX
I can honestly say, with the risk of being branded the worlds biggest fan boy, that Sonic SatAM was a major corner stone in my life.
Now hold all laughter till the end, I do have good reasons for saying this, and I'm not trying to pointless plug a great show.
I was born with the family curse, a bad heart and flat feet. So needless to say, I was never cut from the sportsmen cloth, and spent a lot of time with either a book in had or in front of the tube. (That’s not to say I didn't spend a great deal of time outdoors, but I digress.)
At an early age, I got real picky about my TV, what shows I watched and which ones I liked, and it was obvious to my folks that I had the makings of a ToonHead. This fact, can probably be blamed on my father, who turned me on to Disney cartoons at a very early age.
I did the Disney thing for a long time, still do to an extent, but cut my losses after Lion King, when it seemed like every movie had the same plot. Watched a lot of Disney cartoons on after school, and Garfield and Friends on Saturday. But I still didn't really have the bug yet, not till I saw Sonic.
I was also turning out to be a bit of a nonconformist, a trend I still cling to today. So when everyone in high school was going Power Ranger crazy, I sat alone as what seemed like the only person who didn't give a rats rear end about it. "You don't watch Power Rangers?" "No, I find it boring and vapid." "Does that mean you think it stinks or something?" Oh yes, I actually had that conversation.
So, when I got a SEGA Genesis, I was a little more than thrilled. Up until then I was still rocking out on my NES and yes, my old Atari as well. Oddly, I didn't get a Sonic title with mine (must have been the cheep set up or something), but it was still cool.
So one fateful Saturday afternoon, after a frustrating hour of trying to beat one of the games I had, I shut the system off, and there was Sonic, or rather there was Sally, but you get what I mean. I actually stopped mid sentence to sit down and watch it, the episode was Super Sonic.
Can't say for sure what happened, but things just kind of clicked. I started tapeing the show like crazy, going without lunch at school so I could buy more tapes.
I also starting drawing Sonic related stuff on every scrap of paper I could find. (Most of these I do have, and no, nothing could make me show them to anyone. They are that bad.) I also went so far as to start tracing stilled frames just so I could, I don't know, be more involved with the show?
I loved it, and everything about it. After an episode was over, I watched it again, because I just got so wrapped up in the story. I wanted nothing better than to wake up some morning and suddenly be a Freedom Fighter, help fight Robotnik and explore Mobius.
The characters meant something to me, and you felt for what they were going through. And, as is a rarity on shows now, you felt like if you could jump through the screen, they would befriend you no mater what, it was like you knew them, and you were one of them, no questions asked.
It was also and escape for me. For as much as I liked the show, I didn't hit my obsessive state till 95', when I hospitalized for major heart surgery. I spent a month wired up to machines, subjected to all sorts of weird crap, and basically flashing every nurse and orderly in the hospital, not by choice mind you. So, I didn't have a lot to do but suffer as nothing short of a morphine drip did me any good, and watch movies. So I watched Sonic, and for a little while I was able to get away, forget about where I was and what I was doing. A precious escape the kept me from going nuts I'm sure.
After that, I was hooked. When they stopped showing episodes, even in rerun, I was crushed, and turned to Archie for moral support! Hahah!
My artwork started to pick up, I branched out into the animation field, and saw a lot of great new things, but I always stuck by SatAM as my favorite show. Even as the years passed, my tapes were my treasure, and I took great care of them so they wouldn't be lost. Sadly, time and too many trips in the VCR have all but killed my tapes, even the copies I made. Thank God for the DVDs next month or they would probably be lost to me forever.
But, for me, it all started with SatAM. Thanks for the ride Ben, even though I never got off.
-Ross S.
Maybe it is because I have Asperger's and am prone to what I call "flares"...total obsessions. I am a Catholic, and one Lent I decided to attend Morning Mass (I worked second shift, part time then) for Lent on weekdays. I would watch AoStH to help me keep awake until it was time to leave for Mass. Then one Saturday I woke up early and checked the listings for TV and saw "Sonic the Hedgehog" as one. "That is strange," I thought, "they list my weekday 'Sonic as Adventures of Sonic.' Maybe this is different."
It was.
It was a cartoon that could be enjoyed seriously by an adult (I was in my mid-thirties). Everything said here is true. I even loved Snively and Antoine, perhaps because I have personality problems of my own, and can sympathize.
-Tom Mazanec
This is truly one of the best cartoons ever made. It came at a time when Sonic was at his best-- when SEGA and Nintendo were at war with each other. He had already caught the attention of many fans throughout the world, including those who have been fans of Mario. Yet, in order to prove Sonic's excellence, DiC came out with 2 Sonic cartoons with SEGA's permission in 1993. This version (SatAM), and AoStH. Personally, this one caught my attention more. In fact what caught my attention was that it tried to be different from the average cartoon.
It aired on early Saturday mornings on ABC during it's run from Sept. 1993 to June 1995. If people hadn't already noticed, there were commercials on ABC that contained footage of SatAM. Since I had already owned a SEGA Genesis along with Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, I decided to watch the show one day in September 1993. It totally blew me away.
The intro is one of the best I have seen from a cartoon. It shows Sonic blasting through Knothole Village, later breaking into Robotnik's headquarters. I could explain in further detail but I don't want to spoil it to others who haven't seen the show yet. But what is most interesting is that I see characters in the series I have never seen before. A squirrel known as Princess Sally, a half roboticized rabbit known as Bunnie, a coyote known as Antoine, and a walrus known as Rotor. Each of them had their own personality and their own views on Sonic, as well as their strong points and weaknesses. Together they were known as the Freedom Fighters, a group of mobians who had escaped from Robotnik to take cover in Knothole Village. A secret site found in the Great Forest.
The animation was perhaps stunning at the time, giving the show a dark feel that wasn't found in many other Saturday cartoons. The characters had actual emotions, and the story was excellent. Jim Cummings really stood out as Robotnik, in my mind he was Dr. Robotnik. He gave a voice that sounded evil and enough to chill some fans of Sonic out of their seats. In fact, he was all around bad. Jaleel White, best known as Steve Urkel in Family Matters, was a great choice for voicing Sonic. He gave him a cool attitude that was a fair bit annoying but still tolerable for many fans. Kath Soucie did a terrific job as Princess Sally. She gave her a role in which she cares and flirts over Sonic but is smart enough to know what is going on. In other words, she was a stand out character. The three characters I mentioned were pretty much excellent throughout the series, with little to no flaws.
What stood out above all was the continuity and the character development. I did like the first season a bit, but it was the second season that really took those points into effect. The 2nd season felt as though they weren't just episodes, but more of like chapters of a big long story, which made the show stand out. Character development plays a huge role in this cartoon. In fact, this had episodes which actually had the good guys losing in the end. There were parts where Sonic was crying and Sally was simply just upset by the way things were going for them. This cartoon wasn't afraid to bring up the bad things of life, which I would much rather see than a happy-go-lucky cartoon in which everybody is happy all the time with no emotion whatsoever.
I must bring up the bad news. Just when things were really starting to look good, just when the cartoon itself started to become very popular, the show was canceled after two seasons. I was heartbroken, if not angry that someone had torn off what could of been a Sonic legacy that may have lived to this day. The ABC President who canceled the show had no idea of the impact that happened afterwards. This easily could of been a saga along with DBZ, but it never happened. In short, this cartoon was easily forgotten. And soon afterwards, things started to fall apart for Sonic.
This was truly the very last of those great American cartoons made, a show that is more effective than any of the cartoons you see today. For years, I thought no one cared for SatAM anymore. Archie Comics made a series of their own based off the cartoon, but over time they had been degrading. Those who have seen this show had been touched by the characters, the continuity, the storyline, everything. While SatAM has lost a lot of fans over the years because of hopelessness and simply because they lost interest, the few of us remaining haven't gave up hope for what this great gem cartoon has given to us.
-Cybermax
I will probably be just echoing everyone else on this thread. But SatAM was/is/will always be the best in my opinion because it's well written. It's amusing, and the humor isn't immature like, say, Ed Edd and Eddy. My favorite part about the show is how the characters interact. It's so fun to watch them hang out like a huge family. It's also a very cool show. A very, very, cool show.
-Yoshiru
Wow, there is just so much to love about SatAM. The depth of the show, which seemed to delve far beyond the usual cartoon... The beautiful art that is just over flowing at times. The detail of the city, the color of the forest... Just wonderful. I was enchanted by the deep emotional bonds the characters seem to share, especally Sonic and Sally. And I supose on a personal note, this show was a very enjoyable and happy part of a childhood that was anything but. Things were hard and I needed the escape and fantasy the show offered.
-freedom4
SATAM just came by at the perfect time for me. It was January 1994. I was 11 years old (almost 12) and we had just that big earthquake here in Los Angeles. I was living with my family in a motorhome parked in front of my house during reconstruction. We had a tiny black and white TV that only got one channel and I used to watch AoStH right before I went to school in the morning. It was the only thing on and I thought "Hey! This is awesome. It don't get better than this!"
When we moved back into the house I saw "Sonic" listed as being on Saturdays on another channel (2 episodes back-to-back). As I settled down for what I thought was AoStH I realized "Holy crap! What the--??"
Boom. Done for life. Saturday's 8-9 became my don't-bug-me time. Thank god I recorded them and not a day has gone by in all those years when I don't think of it.
Without Sonic I never would have met my first boyfriend (legandary Sonic midi-artist Ergon), been to the Comic-Con all those times, been involved in voice-overs, worked in the entertainment industry, or frankly be who I am today with my values and morals. I've met a lot of fans and they were all honestly good people. I think that's what this show taught us; that you have to take the good things with the bad. Sometimes bad things happen and you have to overcome them. I think people can just deal better in real life with that knowledge. I don't really think many fans have gone on to be career criminals.
I'm at a point in my life where I actually need this show to help me get through some hard times. To know that I can escape into this world has been a big help to me, and I'm so grateful to the people that pulled this show out of thin air and gave it to us.
-AmyRose82
