Sonic X

Sonic X
ソニックX (Sonikku Ekkusu)
Genre	Adventure, Comedy, Science fiction, Drama
TV anime
Director	Hajime Kamegaki
Studio	Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Network	Kids Station, TV Tokyo Jetix Fox Network (4Kids TV),YTV Jetix,TF1 Channel Seven RTÉ Two, Jetix, Jetix Russia TVB Jade (ICU block) CITV, Jetix Antena 3 Jetix and TV Globo Jetix Jetix, Polsat SIC, ntv7 Jetix Jetix Jetix , GMA 7[1] Jetix Jetix Scandinavia, Jetix Scandinavia, Jetix Scandinavia, Jetix, Nova Television Jetix, Sjónvarpið, Jetix Scandinavia BBTV Channel 7,TrueVisions
Original run	2003-08-23 – 2006-05-06
Episodes	78

Common rating
Australia	G 9NET
Canada	C8 YTV
Great Britain	U (DVD rating TMS)
United States	TV-Y7 FV 4KIDSTV TV-G Toon Disney

Sonic X (ソニックX, Sonikku Ekkusu^?) is a Japanese anime featuring video game hero Sonic the Hedgehog, partially based on the storylines of the Sonic Adventure series. It was animated and produced in Japan by TMS Entertainment with the partnership of Sega and the Sonic Team. In 2003, 4Kids Entertainment licensed Sonic X for American U.S. licensing in a joint effort between 4Kids and VIZ Media (it was formerly with ShoPro Entertainment before ShoPro and VIZ, LLC merged into VIZ Media) and distributed by FUNimation. It is also shown in Europe, Australia, Israel, Brazil and (exepting Mexico) Latin America by Jetix, and in Canada by YTV. Originally planned as a 52 episode series which would be inspired by the storylines of the Sonic Adventure series, Sonic X has now expanded to 78 episodes which were shown in Thailand, and France in February and March 2005. As of 2007, the series has supposedly ended its run, although there are rumors that the show may continue (see below). After almost a full season off the air in the US, Sonic X began a "new" run on May 5, 2007, starting with the series' first episode, though it ended with episode 29 on November 17, 2007. However, the show can still be seen at www.4Kids.tv, or on DVD.

Contents 1 Plot Synopsis 1.1 Series 1 (Season 1 and 2) 1.2 Series 2 (Season 3) 1.3 Series 3 (Season 4) Rumors 2 List of characters 2.1 Major 2.2 Minor 2.3 Exclusive characters 2.4 Nazo 3 Series 2 (Season 3) notes 3.1 Thematic Differences 4 Tie-ins 4.1 Comic Book Series 4.2 Toy line 5 4Kids Dub 6 Cast 7 Episode guide 8 DVD Releases 9 Theme songs 9.1 U.S. 9.2 Japan 9.3 Europe/Australia 9.4 France 9.5 Latin America 10 References 11 External links 11.1 Official English sites 11.2 Official Japanese sites 11.3 Other links

Plot Synopsis

Series 1 (Season 1 and 2)

During what seems to be a routine attack on Dr. Eggman's headquarters to rescue Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao, Sonic and his friends are caught in a massive and mysterious explosion that transports them to what, at first, appears to be another dimension. Separated from his friends, Sonic eventually finds himself in custody of a boy named Christopher Thorndyke, who saves Sonic's life after he nearly drowns in his pool. Chris lives in a lavish mansion, funded by his two celebrity parents, with his inventor grandfather. Chris aids Sonic in locating his friends, and it is not long before Dr. Eggman makes his presence known. As Sonic and Eggman race to collect all the Chaos Emeralds (Sonic wants to use them to get home to his own dimension, and Eggman wants to use them to conquer this new universe), Chris must deal with the mental disorder caused by having parents that are too busy to bother taking care of him. The first 26 episodes focus on Sonic and the other's adjustments to Earth and eventually, all of the Chaos Emeralds are retrieved and the chaos power warped parts of their home planet to Earth (like Angel Island). On the second half, the show focuses on the plots of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and a bit of Sonic Battle. In the end, Chris' grandfather invents a dimensional portal to send Sonic and everything else from his world but before Sonic leaves, Chris kidnaps him because he does not want Sonic to abandon him as he feels his parents did. Eventually, with the help of Sonic, Chris comes to terms with his feelings and Sonic returns to his own dimension. However, Chris vows that one day, he will see Sonic again.

Series 2 (Season 3)

It is six years since Chris let Sonic return to his own dimension. Chris is now nearly an adult, and even seems to have a relationship with Helen. He has been working on repairing his grandfather's dimensional portal. In Sonic's world, a new girl named Cosmo arrives on Sonic's planet, looking for the legendary one who can wield the powers of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Sonic, having been nearly defeated in outer space by a new enemy called Dark Oak, scatters the Chaos Emeralds across the galaxy, in order to prevent Dark Oak from using their power. When Chris uses the dimensional portal, he suddenly finds himself in Sonic's world. His age has regressed all the way back to the age he was when he first met Sonic; however, Chris still has all his memories of the years he spent repairing the dimensional portal. Chris learns that to Sonic, only six months had passed. During their reunion, Dark Oak and his Metarex Army attack Sonic's planet and steal the "Planet Egg" from it. Without the Planet Egg, all the trees and plants on Sonic's planet wither and die. Sonic and his friends decide that Dark Oak must be stopped, and they venture into space to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds. This series is similar to Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog such as Shadow surviving and being released with memory loss for the former and the common Meterex looking like the common Black Arms for the latter. After many run-ins with Dr. Eggman, and the pursuing Metarex Army, Cosmo's dark secret is eventually unveiled: She has been an unwilling spy for the Metarex all along, and the Metarex themselves are actually part of the same race of autonomous, anthropomorphic plants that Cosmo is of, having twisted and modified their bodies for combat after war overtook their planet. They now must depend on the energy of the Planet Eggs to stay alive. When the Metarex enact a plan that could destroy the entire Universe, Cosmo sacrifices herself in order to save everybody with the help of Super Sonic and Super Shadow; much to the grief of Tails, who had fallen in love with Cosmo during the course of their adventure. It is Tails himself who must kill Cosmo in order to release her power, which would halt the advance of Dark Oak and return him to his benevolent form. Her essence is manifested in the form of a seed, which Tails later cultivates. With the Metarex destroyed, Eggman builds an invention that sends Chris home and Chris accepts, willing to leave all his friends to return home. While in Eggman's teleporter capsule on his way to his home dimension, he sees Sonic running below the teleporter. Chris begins crying, and then the machine disappears, supposedly sending Chris back to his own world. Soon thereafter, Dr. Eggman revives his previous rivalry with Sonic. This rivalry, however, is more light-hearted, as if he revived it just for excitement's sake.

Series 3 (Season 4) Rumors

Rumors have begun to circulate about a possible fourth season of Sonic X being in development from TMS Entertainment in Japan, who produced the first three seasons. According to one source,^[2] TMS Entertainment is listing Sonic X among the anime it is producing (although it should be noted that Season 3 has yet to appear on Japanese television, and so that could be another way of saying that TMS intends to air Season 3 on Japanese television at some point in the future).^[3] The open-ended conclusion of the 3rd Season, Episode 78, has also fueled much speculation. There were many unresolved cliffhangers, such as what happened to Chris after he left Sonic's world, what the pot shown at the end of the episode is supposed to represent (this is rumored to be the seed of Cosmo that Sonic found), and what happened to Shadow. TMS has yet to confirm if Sonic X will continue, although it is worth noting that 4Kids Entertainment, the dubbing and distribution company in charge of the English dub of Sonic X, has claimed that the show has indeed ended its run. Even though the Internet Movie Database still lists Sonic X as active in production, there is still a good reason to believe that it's been cancelled.

List of characters

Major

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Miles "Tails" Prower
• Knuckles the Echidna
• Amy Rose
• Cream the Rabbit & Cheese
• Rouge the Bat
• Shadow the Hedgehog
• Dr. Eggman
• Chaotix (Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Charmy Bee)
• Chris Thorndyke
• Cosmo

Minor

• Big the Cat
• Chaos 0
• Tikal the Echidna
• Emerl
• King Boom Boo

Exclusive characters

For a list of characters exclusive to Sonic X, see List of characters in Sonic X.

• Chris Thorndyke
• Cosmo
• Metarex

Nazo

When Sonic X was first announced, the original pilot to promote the show showed numerous concepts that ended up being changed or left unused by the time the series began to air in Japan in 2003. One of the more mysterious concepts left on the cutting room floor was near the end of the pilot - a glowing silver hedgehog. The only reference the public was given to this hedgehog's name, came from a file name displayed on Sega of Japan's website - Nazo.jpg. "Nazo" translates to "Mystery" in Japanese. Everything known about the mysterious "Nazo" is based on the only image of him, as neither TMS nor Sonic Team have formally commented on what he might be.

Series 2 (Season 3) notes

In late 2004, production sketches, model sheets, storyboards and episode scripts of a supposed Series 2 began surfacing. Many dismissed them as a fan-made hoax as neither Sega nor TMS has officially announced continuing Sonic X beyond the original 52 episodes. It was not until early 2005 that Jetix France began to air the 26-episode "Series 2" shortly followed by a Taiwanese station and on September 10, 2005, 4Kids Entertainment began to air "Series 2" calling it "Season 3". Despite being made in Japan and dubbed into Japanese the show has not yet been aired there.

Thematic Differences

One major difference between "Series 1" and "Series 2" is the fact that "Series 2" is considerably darker and more mature in tone, but still retained the light-hearted elements. Several of the characters sustain serious, nearly-fatal injuries, and several characters even die; such as Cosmo and Molly's deaths during the final episodes of "Series 2." In addition, in the final episode, Shadow disappeared as well, and no one was sure of what happened to him. In the Japanese version, however, he is seen as a shadow by Molly's grave (a scene cut out in the 4Kids dub because it referred rather heavily to the subject of death) having placed a pink rose by it. There is no indication that any of the deaths in the series were ever reversed or negated.

Tie-ins

Comic Book Series

In September 2005, Archie Comics, publisher of the North American Sonic the Hedgehog comics started a Sonic X comic book series based on Sonic X. According to writer Joe Edkin, the first nine issues will take place in the TV continuity between episodes 32 and 33, which falls between the Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 story lines. After this, the stories' chronological positions will vary for some time, although in progressively later points in the series. The series is based off the English version, though for the most part fits the continuity established in the original Japanese version.

Toy line

The 4Kids version of the show was backed up by a toyline. The early figures in this line were in fact re-releases of an earlier Sonic Adventure toyline, criticized by many for awkward poses and poor sculpting. The line has currently moved onto more accurate and updated figures. Taking a concept from the popular Marvel Legends toys, one wave presents each of the five characters in it with part of a generic E-Series robot. Fans who buy the whole wave can complete the robot as a 'bonus' figure. Further waves include the re-release of the first wave with the addition of a special keychain, the Space Fighters collection (depicting the characters in science fiction-style armour) and the Chaos Emeralds collection. Recently McDonald's had released a set of Sonic X disk lauchers one with Sonic, one with Tails and one with Knuckles on the lauchers and the disk themselves.

4Kids Dub

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The English dub of Sonic X, produced by 4Kids Entertainment, has been met with some controversy among fans of the games for several different reasons. In producing the English language dub of Sonic X, 4Kids has been known to dilute, or remove outright, many of the darker or more violent elements of the storyline. Most prominent is the fate of Maria Robotnik - in the original Japanese version, she is killed aboard the Space Colony ARK, while in the 4Kids version, she is merely captured. Similarly, when Chaos first appears and attacks, police are seen to open fire on the creature in the Japanese version, but the scene is removed in the 4kids dub, even though neither Chaos, nor anyone else, sustain injuries. What stands out especially about both these instances is that both remain intact and unaltered in the English language versions of the video games from which they originate - thus, as any audience members who have played the games will already be well aware of the storyline, quite why 4Kids felt it necessary to edit the scenes out is a question that has left many fans irate. In the eyes of some fans, 4Kids has appeared uninterested in researching Sonic the Hedgehog, including the pre-existing characters, terms, and stories, leading to some glaring errors. One of the most famous of these instances was during episode 1, during the Chaos Control blast that sends Sonic and the others into Earth. While research would have indicated that Chaos Control is a power of the Chaos Emeralds similar to teleportation, 4Kids thought that Chaos Control was the name of Eggman's base, and referred to it as such for several episodes afterwards. When Michael Haigney, one of the lead producers and writers for Sonic X, was asked about his previous experiences with the universe of Sonic the Hedgehog, his reply was, "I've never played the game, seen the series or read the comics."^[4] Another controversial move was the removal of all the original music, to be replaced with new music composed by a few of the in-house music composers working for 4Kids. This is a standard practice among 4Kids Entertainment for all the anime that they dub. According to Al Kahn, the CEO of 4Kids, the music is changed so that English-speaking kids will be able to understand it.^[5] This provides for an explanation for the absence of the original opening and closing themes for Sonic X, as well as the three insert songs by the J-Rock band Off Course. All seven of these songs are sung in Japanese by Japanese singers. This explanation does not, on the other hand, explain the absence of the rest of the background music because it is instrumental--thus, it is perfectly understandable as is. Even more controversial, considering this explanation, is that it does not explain the removal of the insert song "Live and Learn," by Crush 40 in episode 38. This song, which debuted in Sonic Adventure 2, is sung in English by American singer Johnny Gioeli. Perhaps more than anything else, fans of the games were upset that 4Kids decided to use their own in-house voice actors rather than hire the video game cast, in one famous instance declining to give the part of Sonic to Ryan Drummond because he did not live in New York. Adding to the controversy was a statement made by Mike Pollock, the English voice actor for Eggman in Sonic X. In an interview, he has stated that during the auditions for Sonic X, he and the other voice actors were given sound clips from the games as a reference tool.^[6] This has led many fans to angrily question why, if 4Kids used the video game sound clips as a reference tool, did they not just hire the video game cast. Overall, like most, if not all, other 4Kids Entertainment anime dubs, Sonic X's dub differs rather significantly from the original source material and was, more often than not, not well received by fans.

Cast

Main article: Cast in Sonic X

Episode guide

Main article: List of Sonic X episodes

DVD Releases

All Season One episodes were released in Australia, and nine episodes of Season Two, but it is unknown if any more episodes will be released. [1] The entire English dubbed series was released in the United States in ten single-disc volumes and two 2-disc sets. They are now re-releasing the dubbed series in Saga Sets, with New World Saga being the first with 13 episodes on 2 discs. (Episodes 1-13) In the United Kingdom, four volumes were released in 2005. Each volume featured two episodes per disc. It was later stopped in 2006 for unknown reasons.

Theme songs

For the United Kingdom, Australia, Latin America, much of Europe, and Brazil, the opening song was performed by a female singer repeating the show's title numerous times, the U.S. ending theme was kept, however, and all of the inserts were edited out of the English version.

U.S.

• Opening

1. "Gotta Go Fast" by Norman J. Grossfeld and Russell Velazquez

• Ending

1. "Gotta Go Fast" (shortened version) by Norman J. Grossfeld and Russell Velazquez

Japan

• Opening

1. "SONIC DRIVE" by Hironobu Kageyama & Hideaki Takatori

• Intro Version 1 (eps. 1-26)
• Intro Version 2 (eps. 27-78)

• Endings

1. "Mi-Ra-I" by:RUN&GUN(English translation: "Future") (eps. 1–13)
2. "Hikaru Michi" by Aya Hiroshige (English translation: "The Shining Road") (eps. 14–39 and 53–78)
3. "T.O.P" by KP & URU (eps. 40–52)

• Inserts

1. "Kotoba ni Dekinai" by OFF COURSE (Episode 26) (TV-Tokyo Broadcast Only)
2. "Live & Learn" by Crush 40 (Episode 38) (From Sonic Adventure 2)
3. "Natsu no Hi" by OFF COURSE (Episode 52) (International and TV-Tokyo Broadcast Only)
4. "Midori no Hibi" by OFF COURSE (Episode 52) (TV-Tokyo Broadcast Only)
5. "Event: The Last Scene" by Fumie Kumatani (Episode 52) (From Sonic Adventure 2) (Japanese DVD and International Broadcasts Only)
6. "Radical Highway" by Jun Senoue (Episode 72) (From Sonic Adventure 2)
7. "SONIC DRIVE" by Hironobu Kageyama & Hideaki Takatori (Episodes 1, 48, 52 [Hironobu Kageyama only/instrumental], 72)

Europe/Australia

• Opening

1. "Sonic X" by Jetix

• Ending

1. "Gotta Go Fast" (shortened version) by Norman J. Grossfeld and Russell Velazquez

France

• Opening of TF1

1. "SONIC DRIVE" by Hironobu Kageyama & Hideaki Takatori; sung in French by Claude Vallois (Lyrics completely modified but same music)

• Intro Version 1 (eps. 1-26) First Season
• Intro Version 2 only seen in episode 39, also eps. 67-74

• Opening of Jetix

1. "Sonic X" by Jetix

• Endings

1. "Mi-Ra-I" by:RUN&GUN (English translation: "Future") (eps. 1–13) instrumental version
2. "Hikaru Michi" by Aya Hiroshige (English translation: "The Shining Road") (eps. 14–39 and 53–78) instrumental version
3. "T.O.P" by KP & URU (eps. 40–52) instrumental version

• Inserts

1. "Live & Learn" by Crush 40 (Episode 38) (From Sonic Adventure 2)
2. "Natsu no Hi" by OFF COURSE (Episode 52)
3. "Event: The Last Scene" by Fumie Kumatani (Episode 52) (From Sonic Adventure 2)

Latin America

• Opening

1. "Gotta Go Fast" Spanish version by Jetix (season 2)

• Ending

1. "Gotta Go Fast" (shortened version) by Norman J. Grossfeld and Russell Velazquez (English and Spanish versions by Jetix. Seasons 1 and 2, respectively)

References

• Interview with Mike Pollock on Wha-chow, an online radio show at Fireball20xl.com

External links

Official English sites

• SONIC CENTRAL Sonic X website
• 4Kids TV Sonic X website
• JETIX UK Sonic X website

Official Japanese sites

• Sonic Team Sonic X website
• TV Tokyo Sonic X website

Other links

• Sonic Xtra - The unofficial Sonic X Site (Currently being rebuilt)
• teamARTAIL (Sonic X) - Sonic X Release information and Episode screenshots.
• Sonic X: Uncensored A Japanese/English comparison site, covering Seasons 1, 2, and 3.
• Sonic X Japanese/English Comparisons Covers Seasons 1 and 2.
• Sonic X (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

•  • e Sonic the Hedgehog features
Emerald/Ring	Chaos Emeralds · Master Emerald · Rings · Minor power objects · Special Stage (Blue Sphere) · Chaos Control · Super transformation (other media)
Locations	Angel Island (Hidden Palace)  · Station Square · Prison Island · Mobius  · Tiny Chao Garden · Central City · Soleanna  · Arabian Nights  · Minor locations
Vehicles	Death Egg · Dr. Eggman's vehicles (flying fortresses)
Other	Eggman's robots (E-Series) · Mobians (Echidnas) · Eggman Empire · Roboticizer (Roboticization) · Minor technology · Sonic Team · Voice Actors · Evolution of the Sonic Universe
Spin offs	Manga · Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (episodes) (Sonic Christmas Blast) · Sonic the Comic · Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) (episodes) · Sonic the Hedgehog (comic series) (Knuckles) · Movie · Sonic Underground (episodes)  · Sonic X (episodes) (comic) (card game) · List of printed media