Episode 15: Skirmish in the Skies (English) Raid of Eggfort, the Flying Fortress! (Japanese) The Return of Robotnik(French) Premiered:December 13, 2003 Summary: At his mansion, Chris gives Sonic a cellphone. Sonic's not exactly enthralled by the idea of 24-7 connection to Chris, and when Amy sees the cellphone and has the same idea, Sonic's mind is made, and he drops it and runs. When Amy and Chris are suprised by this, Tails figures Sonic just wants some alone time, to which Amy responds "But why can't he be left alone with ME?!" (great line right there). Chris and the others (excluding Sonic) go shopping in Station Square. As the camera scrolls around to show the Station Square skyline, we get treated to some nice BGM before the next scene begins. At the mall, Cream, Cheese and Ella hang out while Amy tries on a number of tacky dresses. When she opens the dressing room curtain, people give her one quick look and bolt. Maybe she had her fly open. Meanwhile, Tails and Chris are staring at a panda figure, while everyone else is staring at them. One little boy even grabs him by the tails and drags him over to his mother. The mother apologizes, and immediatly runs over to her friend. Her friend rudely tells her kid to "go up to it and make it say something". Things aren't going any better with Amy and Cream. The entire restaurant is staring at their table. Just as they think can't get worse, a number of people start taking photos with those annoying flash-only cameras. Even when they go to the VIP room, the reception isn't much better. ...and (sadly) now on to the action. On the island where Eggman had his base (from Episode 13 and back), a construction crew is scavenging around. When one spots something suspicious (which really doesn't look any different to me than anything else), the ground starts shaking, the fortress starts sinking, and from out of the dust a flying fortress appears, hence the Japanese name. Inside the fortress, Eggman boasts for a moment, making a number of rather good puns(!) ("When will you halfwits realize that it's useless to try to trip me up because I'm always ten steps ahead of you?!"). Decoe and Bocoe continue the repartee for a few moments, before Eggman sets off for Station Square. As Eggman's fortress advances toward Station Square, the heroes are relaxing at home, disappointed by their shopping spree-gone wrong. When Chris notices Eggman's ship approaching through the window, he alerts the others. Eggman takes a moment to bask in the terror he's caused before he unleashes a wave of robots to cause even more damage. Chris and the others run for the car, just as a wrecking ball smashes it. As the dust clears, four robots are shown surrounding the group. Sonic spin dashes straight through one, causing a domino effect, and they all are destroyed. He continues in this manner, destroying more robots. He then runs up a building and strikes a pose, all the while a fanfare is playing. When Eggman fires at him, Sonic does an extravagant race around the town, and then jumps up and attacks. He loses momentum mid-jump and unceremoniously tries to keep himself in the air before plunging down. Just in time, Sam Speed shows up and brings the others home to get the X Tornado. Sonic tries valiantly to destroy the fortress to no avail. Along the hectic ride home, they run into Mr. Stuart and Mr. Tanaka shortly after, the latter having the X Tornado with him. Sonic gets on, and they fly up to confront Eggman's fortress. They realize that they need to lure Eggman away from the city. Sonic taunts him, and Eggman flies off in hot pursuit. When the X Tornado gets struck, it rapidly begins to lose energy. Sonic tells Tails and Chris to fly full speed at the bridge. They initially object, but as usual they go along with it anyways. With the help of a Power Ring, Sonic spin dashes through the fortress and capsizes it. The X Tornado is landed on an aricraft carrier-esque ship, and the episode ends. Plot:This was another one of those so-so first season episodes. Probably the best things about it were the 5 minute shopping scene and Decoe's and Bocoe's dialogue. 6.5/10 Effort: Speaking of them, this is where their voice acting really improves. In earlier episodes, they sound like generic robots, but now they sound humanoid with a slight robotic tint, which is a very cool effect. Despite the fact they have no mouths, it's still easy to tell which one is speaking. The art quality during the crowd scenes is a little iffy, but I can't blame them; crowd scenes are very tedious to do. 6.5/10 Effort 2: Considering the city was being attacked, you'd think Chris would have much more of an incentive to want to help Sonic save the city. Even though Eggman didn't cause anywhere near as much damage as he did in Missile Wrist Rampage, I still think Chris would hate Eggman more vehemently than Sonic and friends. I can see it as a good future plot point. Sadly, it never gets adressed. 2/10
Episode 16: Depths of Danger(English) On Sight! The Sunken Ship in Southern Sea (Japanese) Diving in the Seas of the South (French) Premiered: January 17, 2004;Why it premiered over a month later is unknown; usually episodes premiere once a week Summary: Chuck hands out ID cards and passports to Sonic and co. In addition to these, Tails gets a number of permits that allow him to fly his inventions. Yeah, it's never incorporated any other way, but I thought it was a good scene. Along their trip, the Chaos Emerald powering the X Tornado starts flashing, and they realize there's a Chaos Emerald nearby. The Chaos Emerald is underwater, so Sonic has to find a way to get it, since they don't have a boat. In the town they land in, Sonic gets hounded by a mob of fans seeking his autograph. On a secluded corner of the beach, they plot out how exactly they're going to get that Chaos Emerald. After many humorous attempts to get underwater, Chris finally decides to just get scuba gear. As always, Eggman appears on the scene. Sonic finds the Emerald, but then is ambushed by Eggman's newest robot Klarken (probably a parody off "kraken" a giant squid monster), and he almost drowns in the battle. Sam Speed (no pun intended) speeds in on his waverunner and saves Sonic. Plot: For the first few minutes, it seemed like a carbon copy of The Last Resort (episode 9), but it gets more interesting as it goes on. The plot's a little cliche and was very predictable, but at least it had some good dialogue. 7/10 Effort: The water animation was downright amazing, there's no denying that. The "attempts to get underwater" scene was probably one of the funniest scenes in the entire first season. During the bell scene there's this weird change between the Dub DVD version and the TV airing. In the DVD Sonic and Chris are each holding a blank(ed) sign. In the show, they are holding nothing, and the art's a little different (Chris' hair is smooth at the back). The TV version is quite the improvement; it looked a little odd for them to be holding blank signs, and you can't tell they were holding something in the show edit, either. They did a darn good job of editing it out, too. Oh, by the way, Chris' sign in the Japanese version said "Good kids won't study this and try it at home" and Sonic's said "You mean I'm not a good kid?". 9/10 Effort 2: Considering this was mainly an action plot, there's not really too much emotion to be fitted in. Despite that, the "attempt to get underwater" scene was cute. 6/10
Episode 17: The Adventures of Knuckles and Hawk (English) Knuckles! Clenched Fists of Anger (Japanese) Claw Devil(French) Premiered: January 24, 2004 Summary: This episode goes entirely from Knuckles' perspective. While he is searching for a Chaos Emerald in a temple somewhat resembling the one later seen in the Sonic Adventure story arc, he saves a man called Hawk from the walls that are closing in on him, and the two become allies. A few weeks later, Knuckles finds out Hawk found a Chaos Emerald and heads into a seedy bar in a Chinatown-like area. After a case of mistaken identity, Knuckles finds his way there. Instead, the manager leads him into a trap where he comes across Hawk, who has fallen victim to the same trick. Knuckles has an idea after seeing a hidden speaker in the wall, and begins a quiet conversation with Hawk. When the person listening in on the other end turns the volume up, Knuckles screams into the speaker and knocks him out cold. He and Hawk break out and go to find the Emerald. Unbeknownst to them, Rouge and E-91, a robot ninja of Eggman's, are following. When Knuckles digs it up in an abandoned subway, E-91 attacks and the building collapses. Thankfully Hawk and Knuckles escape (Rouge never entered; she got knocked out by E-91). The next morning, Knuckles find the Shovel Claw, which Hawk found in that temple mentioned earlier on, and lets him keep it. They return to the subway and dig up the Chaos Emerald through the rubble. When Knuckles resurfaces he finds out Hawk has been captured by Eggman and E-91. They threaten to drop him off a building unless Knuckles gives them the Emeralds, but Hawk tricks them and escapes, beginning a long four-way chase scene between Rouge, E-91, Hawk and Knuckles. Knuckles gets trapped by E-91, but Hawk saves him from an electrocuting net and short-circuits E-91 by . Plot: This was definetly one of the better episodes in the first season. I loved the fact that it centered completely around a character other than Sonic. Only one other episode does that in the entire show. (A Revolutinary Tale). It was darker than most the other 1st season episodes, which was a plus. There were a lot of good plot twists, too. 8.5/10 Effort: Hawk had a fairly good voice actor. I also noticed quite an improvement in Knuckles' voice-acting, as well. It's good to see TMS are trying to make more engaging plots, and 4kids are willing to keep them intact. 7.5/10 Effort 2: There were quite a few points in the episode which served as good emotional centers, such as Knuckles' departure (and the rest of the end scene, for that matter) and when E-91 held Hawk hostage. These scenes ran well without interfering with the action, which made them even better. 9/10
Episode 18: The Dam Scam (English) Huge Shootout on the Savannah! (Japanese)Why they call it that is beyond me, there isn't a shootout in any of the versions. Battle on the Savannah (French)Now that's a bit more accurate. (OH MY GOSH! The French version did something right!) Premiered: January 31, 2004 Summary: While searching for a Chaos Emerald, Sonic, Tails and Chris (the others are not with them) get shot down in an ambush by Dr. Eggman and land on what is, judging by the wildlife, presumably part of Africa. Tails repairs the X Tornado and chats with Chris, while Sonic races a cheetah. Unfortunately, the wings on the X-Tornado are broken, so they use it to walk around. That goes awry, too. Tails and Chris find out someone is trying to make a dam, and Chris wonders why they're building one when there's no river around. Two managers with cheesy Slavic/Russian accents (there is a difference between the two, but I can't tell exactly what), Boris and Sergei, tell Tails and Chris to buzz off. Tails yells at the animals for not asserting themselves. Chris wonders why he's so upset. Tails then explains that back on his world, he used to get picked on by the other animals for his mechanical skills and having 2 tails, but then he met Sonic. Chris and Tails lead a strike to stop the dambuilders, which works. Boris and Sergei flee and meet up with Eggman, (indirectly) calling him a "crazy weirdo". Eggman chases after them in a monkey robot, E-65. Sonic can't fight the robot, since it blends in with all natural materials (such as dirt, rocks and plants) so he lures it to the dam site. Eggman realizes this flaw in E-65's camouflage and destroys everything metal so E-65 can camouflage, destroying all the equipment in the process. Plot: This was a pretty good episode. It wasn't the best episode, but it was above average. I've seen quite a few plots like this before, and it's good to see them used in a series with anthros as the stars. This is pretty much your basic "save the environment" plot. Plots such as this usually follow: The main hero/es go/es to a place to have a picnic (or something along those lines), they see/hear construction going on and investigate. They see machines tearing up the land (or something along those lines) and talk to the head honchoes. The main hero/es then do some investigating, find out the construction has some sort of legal flaw, get others to protest, and save the day. These types of plots are used fairly often. Carl Hiassen uses these as major plot points in his books (such as Hoot), and it even served as an underlying plot in Once Upon a Forest and the Fern Gully movies. 7/10 Effort: Tails had some great voice acting, especially in the scene about his past. He sounds so cute when he's sad, in fact, he sounds even cuter than Cream. Boris' and Sergei's cheesy accents were funny; in fact they were so bad they were good. 7.5/10 Effort 2: Even though Tails' flashbacks were short, they still added a solid emotional core to thise episode. Sadly, I expected to see more about what would happen if the dam was built. To see what would happen to the animals then could have made the emotional core even stronger, but unfortunately that never happens. 8.5/10
Episode 19: Sonic's Scream Test (English) Ghost of the Old Castle King Boom Boo (Japanese) The Haunted Castle(French) Premiered: February 7, 2004 Summary: While filming with Chris' mom (who is an actress), the cameraman has to remove an hourglass statue from a pedestal.That doesn't seem like an important detail, but trust me, it is. Sonic and the others stay at an old castle which actually has ghosts in it. That night, Chris' mom gets possessed and disappears. Cream, Ella and Amy go to find Chris' mom, but the former two get pulled in. Sonic and Tails arrive in time to save Amy, but Tails gets pulled in. Chris and Amy decide to save them, but then get tricked by Sonic (who has gotten possessed) to put the hourglass statue uso that the moon side is facing upward (which will strengthen the ghosts). The ghosts then gain more power and King Boom Boo appears. Chris reverses the statue so the sun side is up. Sonic becomes unpossessed and knocks the ghost out of Amy. Sonic, Chris, and Amy then escape. Plot: This is probably the weirdest episode in the entire show. The plot was very un-Sonic X-like, and it didn't feature Eggman, his henchbots, the X Tornado, or many other elements of Sonic X. I like that this episode gave someone other than Sonic (in this case Chris and Amy) a chance at being the heroes, especially considering Chris and Amy aren't usually the direct heroes. 7.5/10 Effort: The light animation was downright awesome. They really went the whole hog(no pun intended) on special effects this episode. The ghost laughs were a little too Boo-ish for my tastes, but it worked for me. 9/10 Effort 2: There really should have been more of an emotional core to this episode. Look at it this way: Half the cast disappears, and there's barely a reaction the next day. Then, the remaining members find out that their friends have been posessed. They realize they need to defeat the ghosts to save their friends, but they don't want to risk injuring their friends. I can't believe that the first was adressed briefly, and the second wasn't at all! Talk about squandering a good opportunity! 3/10 (for what little they did)
Episode 20: Cruise Blues (English) Departure! Egg Fort 2!(Japanese) A Beautiful Cruise(French) Premiered:February 14, 2004 (Valentine's Day) Summary: The episode begins on the ocean floor, where the Egg Fort (remember that from episode 15?) has just been fixed up by Decoe and Bocoe. Speaking of them, they've gone back to their more robotic voices. More on that later. Anyways, as soon as Eggman starts it up, the turbines break down. He then decides to use a new unseen ship he made. Cut to the heroes. Chris and co. are going on a cruise, and everyone is having a good time-well, except for Sonic. Later in the night, Amy confronts Sonic, who has been racing around the ship most of the day. She gives him a little pep talk, and he goes on his way-for about three seconds. He then passes out, to which Amy remarks "He collapsed! I was too overwhelming!" After Chris says he'll call his dad (since they think Sonic's seasick), the theme song kicks in after about 5 minutes. The next day, it's apparent Sonic was faking it, as he prepares to board a helicopter. His hopes are crushed when he finds out that the ride wasn't for him, it was to bring a group of senior citizens to show the other how to relax. When Chris tells Tanaka (who was on the helicopter as well) that he only needed the helicopter to take Sonic home, Tanaka goes into a brief rant, and the helicopter takes off. Sonic then tries to jump ship-fifteen times. And finally we see Eggman again. It turns out he's got another base. When Decoe (begins to) name it, Eggman interrupts, saying "I'm the boss, I'll do the naming!". He then names the components Decoe 2, Bocoe 2 and the XL Super Ultra Eggman Extreme. Decoe and Bocoe object, and Eggman lists some other names, ranging from the reasonable to the ridiculous. For his third attempt, Sonic tells Tails that the X Tornado must be lonely to make Tails feel guilty and bring the X Tornado to the boat(so Sonic could escape on it). After that fails, he toys with Amy's affection which ticks Amy off; Sonic was planning to make it look like Amy was going insane from the trip so they could go home. Of course, Amy's always a bit crazy, so that couldn't have been too hard to do. Sonic tells Chris and Chuck about her reaction. Speak of the devil. Amy and Cream enter moments later. At the Thorndyke mansion, we FINALLY see Bukkon, who drops by to say hi. When he realizes no one's home, he gets a little teary-eyed, before he runs into Ella. After she tells him (put nicely) to go away, Bukkon runs up and hugs her. She takes pity on him, and promises to make him brunch. He apologizes for all the times he's caused trouble before causing it again. Yep, he gives her a bomb. Back on the yacht, Tails and Chris are admiring the glaciers. When Chuck comes out, Chris asks him why Amy's still upset with Sonic. Upset is putting it mildly. She's chased him up the radio tower. Finally, Dr. Eggman shows up and attacks. Sonic finally gets something to do and defeats him. Ironically, when a plane arrives to pick up Sonic, he decides to stay on the ship. Plot: This is one of, if not, the funniest Sonic X episode. While the plot was so-so and the ending was a little predictable, the humor evened things out. 9/10 Effort: Unlike most episodes, the jokes were not puns or dialogue,they were in the action. Usually, this technique isn't used in cartoons; in anime, it's almost nonexistent. It's nice to see an attempt to transcend the differences between anime and American cartoons, something Sonic X is able to do very well for the most part. 10/10 Effort 2:Here, the emotional core laid in the humor. The entire episode is loaded with a nice mix of both humor and emotion rolled up into the same scenes. Kudos to 4kids! 10/10
Episode 21:Fast Friends (English) Speed Match! Sonic vs Sam (Japanese) With Great Speed (French) Premiered: February 21, 2004 Summary: To gain voter's support, the president's aide (Jerome Wise) decides to have Sonic and Sam Speed race (I don't see why that would gain voter's support, though). Sonic declines the challenge, and Jerome, in desperation, calls Dr. Eggman, begging him for help. Eggman is skeptical, but Jerome promises him front row tickets to an ice-skating show (what?). Eggman is about to say no when Decoe and Bocoe beg him to do it (they want to see the ice show badly) and promise him they won't complain. Eggman then sends out a kissing robot to pester Sonic until he agrees to race. Sonic agrees, and they race. Sam cheats by using a shortcut, but then Sonic gets back at him by sitting on the hood of his car and hitching a ride. At the end of the race, it appears to be a tie. However, on a very close zoom-in, it's revealed that Sonic wins. Jerome gets fired because the government found out he negotiated with Eggman. Plot: This was a so-so episode. The plot wasn't that great, neither was the dialogue, the voice acting, or the animation (well, the animation is not that great in Sonic X anyways). At least the race was somewhat interesting. 7/10 Effort: Sam Speed and Jerome Wise have okay fairly good voice actors. Other than that, I have nothing to note. 6.5/10 Effort 2: Read the last sentence of the last paragraph. 4/10
Episode 22: Little Chaos Lost (English) Summer Vacation Chao Observation Diary (Japanese)And this is why 4kids doesn't keep the Japanese names. A Beautiful Discovery (French) Premiered: February 28, 2004 Summary: Sonic and friends, along with Mr. Tanaka (Chris' butler), Francis, Danny, and Mr. Stuart, go on a camping trip in Mr. Tanaka's homeland (presumably Japan). Cheese (Cream's chao) gets lost, and Chris, Danny, Mr Stuart, Cream and Francis go out to find Cheese (Sonic is exploring the nearby city and Amy and Tanaka are preparing dinner). They come across a colony of chao. Then the biggest suprise of all happens:Cheese is revealed to be female! For some reason (maybe it's the bowtie) people always assume Cheese is male, and it even says so on Wikipedia (which isn't saying a lot; Wikipedia has the reliability of a supermarket tabloid). Eggman sees them and attacks them with E-66 thinking they're looking for a Chaos Emerald. E-66 down the mountainside, since it was too unwieldy. Unfortunately, the mud begins to run off into the river that leads to the chao's water supply (the chao need clean water to survive). They try to fish out all the mud, but then Sonic comes and gets it out with some sort of whirlpool attack. At the end of the episode, Tanaka states that he found the garden when he was younger. Plot: This episode was a little dull. There was very little humor, good dialogue, excitement, or animation. In fact, the most exciting thing was finding out Cheese is female. Also, this episode features the last appearance of the Select-o-Matic, and thank goodness too, it was getting corny. 4/10 Effort: The chao sound very good, by the way. I don't think their voices were computer done. 6/10
Effort 2: This episode should have quite a bit more emotion in it. Cheese gets lost, and all Cream does is gasp. I'm surprised she wasn't more worried than that. C'mon, 4kids I know you can do it! Just look at Party Hardly! Also, I can't believe how flippant Chris and the others were about the chao. They were upset, sure, but you'd think they'd be a lot more concerned that the chao could die (though the chance of that happening in Sonic X is close to none)1/10
Episode 23: Emerald Anniversary (English)This is only made better by the fact there actually IS an Emerald Anniversary; I believe it's the 30th year of a marriage. I don't know if that's what 4kids were getting at, but it works for me. Mayhem! 6 Chaos Emeralds (Japanese) The Sixth Emerald (French) Premiered: March 6, 2004 Summary: Chris' dad buys a ring for his and Lindsey's (Chris' mom's) anniversary. Unbeknownst to him, the gem is a Chaos Emerald. When he shows the ring to Sonic and friends, the emerald causes a reaction with Sonic's chaos emeralds (he has 4 at this point). Later on, before Mr. Thorndyke bestows the ring, Knuckles meets up with Sonic, and Sonic explains the situation to him. When Chris' dad opens the box holding the ring, both Knuckles' and Sonic's Chaos Emeralds react. Eggman sees the light caused by the reaction, and so do Rouge and Topaz. The three head after the emerald. When they arrive, the anniversary turns into a scramble for the Chaos Emeralds. Eggman manages to get the Chaos Emerald on the ring, but the rest are safe. Plot: Did TMS(the company that originally made Sonic X;4Kids only dubbed it) also make Kirby:Right Back At Ya? If they did, there's a pretty good chance the plot for this episode was plagarized from "The Thing About the Ring" which had a somewhat similar plot. Anyways, back to the review. This episode starts off a little dull, but it quickly gets more interesting. The chase/fight scenes were very funny and interesting. There were also some good lines sprinkled here and there. Slapstick was also used well. 8/10 Effort: The art quality wasn't all that great at the beginning of the episode, but it drastically improves. The SPFX are also very good. 5/10 Effort 2: While I think the main plot point (Mr. and Mrs. Thorndyke's anniversary) of this episode should've been addressed more, most the emotion in this episode was in the humor, and I credit that. As I mentioned before, I think the episode should have focused more on Mr. Thorndyke's indecision about Mrs. Thorndyke's anniversary, and what he should do. I've seen other plots similar to this (like in the aforementioned Kirby episode) and they typically work out well. 6.5/10
Episode 24: How to Catch a Hedgehog (English) Sonic's Running Wild! Capture Him!(Japanese) There are 2 names for this episode, the other being "Wild Sonic! Strategic Capture Operation" but I've seen the former name more, so I'm going with it. It also makes more sense. The Crazy Racer (French) Premiered: March 13, 2004 Summary: While saving Amy from one of Eggman's robots (the name isn't mentioned) Sonic gets a data-chip thingy stuck down his ear canal. Later, the chip turns on and Sonic starts running out of control. Tails, Chris, Chuck, Amy, Ella and Tanaka head into the desert to stop Sonic. Their first plan involves shooting a bubblelike thing at Sonic which will cause him to float in midair. Unfortunately, the bubble causes Sonic to float too high. Knuckles meets up with Chris and the others before the second plan. For the second plan, Knuckles rolls a giant hamster wheel at Sonic, trapping him in it until he gets tired. Then Chuck can see what's wrong with Sonic. This plan almost works, but the wheel can't continue spinning at high speed for too long, so it breaks. Sam Speed gets called in to help with the third plan. He and Sonic "race" in two lanes. In lane 1, where Sonic is supposed to be running, there is a puddle of goop that Sonic will get stuck in. Sam forgets that it's supposed to be a trap and starts a real race with Sonic (which was a nice plot twist) and goes through lane 1 under the excuse that he is "number 1". Sonic heads back to the farm where he saved Amy and destroys the robot. In the process, the chip in his ear fell out. Plot: Overall this was a pretty good episode. It definetly had its humorous moments and it starred the first (and I believe the only one in the dub) appearance of the chibis (miniature versions of Sonic and friends). The plan moments were great. 8.5/10 Effort: The plans were creative and wel-thought-out, but that's about it for this episode. 6.5/10 Effort 2 There wasn't too much opportunity for an emotional core in this episode, so I'll let it slide. 6/10
Episode 25: A Dastardly Deed (English) The Last Chaos Emerald (Japanese) The Last Emerald (French) Premiered: March 20, 2004 Summary: While Knuckles goes looking for the last Chaos Emerald, he runs into Lucky, one of Eggman's robots. Lucky goes wih Knuckles to Chris' mansion (why Knuckles let Lucky come along is beyond me). Knuckles then tells Chris his plan: The only way they can go home is to make a truce with Dr. Eggman. Chris then tells Knuckles that it won't work; that Sonic and Eggman would never agree to a truce. Chris never tells Sonic about Knuckles' plan and leaves the next morning, taking the 4 Chaos Emeralds Sonic and friends found with him. When Knuckles and Chris arrive at Eggman's base, Eggman tells them to leave the emeralds with him. Knuckles and Chris are suspicious, but they give Eggman their emeralds. Eggman ejects Knuckles from the ship and Chris is held captive. Lucky, who got left behind, finds the last Chaos Emerald. Plot: Oddly enough, this episode was actually quite a bit better than the episode it leads into. Even odder(is that even a word?) the next episode is the climax of the first season. I'd say it's slightly above average. 7.5/10 Effort: Lucky sounded annoying but cute. 6/10 Effort 2: I was quite glad to see Knuckles actually CARED about Chris. In earlier episodes, he is virtually indifferent to him (probably because they only met a few times before this). He at least attempted to rescue him, even though there was no hope of it. 7.5/10
Episode 26: Countdown to Chaos (English) Pretty apt title, considering the episode takes a nosedive towards the end. Birth! Super Sonic (Japanese) Super Sonic is Born (French)Both the Japanese and French names completely spoil the surprise. Premiered: March 27, 2004 Summary: Sonic is in hot pursuit of Dr. Eggman, who has captured Chris (How does even know Chris got captured? Eggman never told him. Maybe it just an assumption...).Eggman heads to the dump where Lucky found the last Emerald. A whole bunch of military machines show up, and a shootout begins between Eggman and GUN (they are never officially called GUN, but since the games call them that, it's possible they're the same thing). During the shootout, Sonic attempts to get the Chaos Emerald from Lucky, but Eggman takes it and uses it to activate his newest creation, the Eggsterminatior (for Pete's sake, it's about time he got a robot called that...). Sonic tries to fight it, but he gets severely beaten. Chris, who is watching in horror at the sight of his friend getting beaten to death, breaks free and removes the Chaos Emeralds from the Eggsterminator. Knuckles breaks through the Eggsterminator's window. Chris somehow falls out and is caught by Rouge, who is only interested in the Emeralds. Chris falls from her grasp along with the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic gets thrown into the water. A few minutes later, he resurfaces as Super Sonic, destroys the Eggsterminator and inadvertently causes Chaos Control. They supposedly enter another dimension where Sonic revives Chris. There is a whiteout and they are back on solid land (whether they are in Chris' or Sonic's dimension is unknown, though I believe they are in Chris'). Eggman is holding a tablet of some sort, and two islands have appeared in the harbor. Plot: Considering it was the final episode of the first season, it was incredibly anticlimactic. The episode was very predictable, and there were very few exciting or humorous moments. The ending wasn't too great. About the only good thing in it was Eggman with the tablet. That was pretty intriguing, though I had to rewatch it to see what it actually was. 7/10 Effort: The lack of this ruined what would have otherwise been a decent episode. At least the SPFX were good. See below for more details. 5/10 Effort 2: There were loads of opportunities for emotion to be squeezed in. Every one of these were squandered. Completely and utterly squandered. There was very little emotion for the entire episode, even in (would-be) dramatic scenes, such as when Sonic fell and when Chris broke free. There is one thing I can commend this episode for. This was one of those occasional episodes where Eggman was genuinely evil. He showed no remorse and actually enjoyed beating Sonic to death when he could've easily (and more humanely) just have drowned him in the water. 2/10 (I added an extra point just for that bit about Eggman)
