'Sonic Prime' Season 1 Review
Image Source: Nintendo Life
Sonic Prime is the latest animated outing for the world-famous blue blur and is the first to be exclusive to Netflix. The first season was released on December 15th of last year. With a focus on alternate dimensions being explored through the Shatterverse, this new series offers plenty of excitement, adventure, and plenty of heart.
This season begins with a fight between Sonic and his friends against Dr. Eggman, as per usual. This time, Eggman has gotten his hands on the Paradox Prism, a mysterious gem with extremely varied and mysterious powers, even capable of manipulating time and space itself. However, Sonic breaks the gem, engulfing everyone in the explosion and creating the Shatterverse, a collection of alternate versions of Sonic’s world, dubbed Shatterspaces by some of the characters. One Shatterspace that is a huge focus is New Yoke City, a world in which Green Hill Zone is controlled by the Chaos Council, a group of Dr. Eggman doppelgangers consisting of an old man (Dr. Done-It), an eccentric and flamboyant young adult (Dr. Deep), a moody teenager (Dr. Don’t), a baby (Dr. Babble), and the leader, Mr. Doctor Eggman. This Shatterspace is also the first one that Sonic encounters, and he is initially confused as to what is going on. Though he recognizes his friends, they don’t recognize him, and they have different names and personalities.
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Sonic’s interactions with these alternate versions vary. When he first meets Nine, the fox initially is hostile towards him, but they quickly become something of acquaintances as Nine (the New Yoke City version of Tails) helps him navigate this new world. The Chaos Council, however, immediately sees this intruder as something of a threat, but they soon realize the energy within him caused by his interaction with the Paradox Prism could be an asset to powering New Yoke City, so they decide to experiment on him and ultimately attempt to extract his energy. Rebel Rouge and Renegade Knuckles are curious about this newcomer but ultimately see him as a powerful potential ally for the Resistance.
Image Source: What’s On Netflix
There are other Shatterspaces that are explored as well, however. For example, the next Shatterspace that Sonic explores (after accidentally being transported there by touching a piece of the Paradox Prism) is a jungle world divided into tree-dwelling scavengers and a land dweller, both groups fighting over resources. Another sees him sailing the high seas with pirate versions of his friends. Ultimately, Sonic’s goal is to find the pieces of the Paradox Prism and put them back together, hopefully piecing the universe back together as well, uniting the alternate versions of his friends in the process.
Several themes are explored in this first season. One that is important for Sonic’s character arc is redemption and taking things for granted. Sonic is the one that ultimately caused the creation of the Shatterverse due to him ignoring the warnings of Tails not once but twice. It is this realization that ultimately is an important part of Sonic’s character arc and sets his course of action for the rest of the series. Sonic is shown to be careless, reckless, and overall kind of thoughtless at times, and this is expertly shown through flashbacks to not only the battle in the first episode from different perspectives but also to events that happened earlier in the canon history of the show, such as a picnic with Sonic and his friends where Sonic dismisses Amy’s sentimentality over a palm tree that they have so many memories around. When remembering this, however, he realizes that the palm tree binds them together, making him see something that he had overlooked before. In addition to these powerful character explorations, the writing is filled with snappy jokes and references to the games and even other media within the franchise, making it stand out among other animated entries in the Sonic franchise.
Image Source: Nintendo Life
The animation is rather fluid and expressive, especially when compared to the previous CGI-animated Sonic cartoon, Sonic Boom. Sonic is even shown crying tears in a certain scene. Furthermore, the designs for the characters remain faithful to the games while also creating their own identity and style, particularly with the alternate versions of the various characters. A highlight within the animation is the abundance of stretch and squash present, which really helps in showing Sonic’s speed. Lastly, the lighting and effects present are also extremely helpful in creating the mood for each Shatterspace.
Regarding the voice acting, it is superb. Sonic Prime features an all-new Canadian cast for the franchise. Deven Mack does an awesome job as Sonic, with his take sounding similar to Ryan Drummond and Roger Craig Smith combined. Brian Drummond also does an excellent job as Dr. Eggman, and he perfectly embodied the evil genius, sounding like a mix of Mike Pollock and Deem Bristow with a mix of his own Vegeta performance thrown in. This cast does a tremendous job overall with not just their vocal choices but also their acting choices as well, making each episode a joy to watch as well as an emotional rollercoaster.
Image Source: Push Square
Sonic Prime is an excellent addition to the already vast library of animated Sonic content. With its surprisingly mature storytelling for a kids’ show, expressive animation, and superb voice acting, it is perhaps up there with the best in the franchise. A lot of love and care went into the making of this series. There are some slightly confusing and contrite plot elements, but the good most certainly overshadows the bad. If you haven’t gotten the chance to see Sonic Prime yet, definitely watch it!
Rating: 10/10
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Sources: Sonic News Network
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