Today marks the 20th anniversary of one of Sonic’s most inventive, craziest, and funniest cartoons: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog! One of my strongest nostalgic connections to the Sonic franchise was this 1993 cartoon series. It was the only cartoon of my childhood which I remember watching from the very beginning. While I was a huge Ninja Turtles and The Real Ghostbusters fan, both cartoons were at their heights a few years before I began watching.
When The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (hereby known as AoStH) premiered, I remember exactly where I was. It was September 6th 1993 and I was eating breakfast in our kitchen, catching the first episode (in airing order, not production order) “Best Hedgehog”. The image after the break is a pretty accurate representation of what I saw. Yes, despite it being 1993 we still had an old black and white in our kitchen.
By that point in my Sonic fandom, I owned Sonic 1 and 2 for the Genesis and had picked up the first issue of the Archie Sonic comics. So seeing Sonic in a cartoon, talking no less, was a huge deal. I caught the first act of the premiere upstairs, and then ran downstairs to see Sonic in color. Looking back, “Best Hedgehog” was a very odd premiere episode. The true first episode, “Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad”, actually introduces the main baddies Scratch and Grounder. “Best Hedgehog”, however, puts new characters Lucas and Lucinda at the forefront.
I remember being confused, I wasn’t sure if these characters appeared in a game that I missed (they hadn’t) or if they were intended to be secondary characters for the rest of the show (they weren’t). Despite the confusing aspects of the premiere, I was hooked on the show and didn’t miss a single episode. I even began recording the show and soon amassed a stack of a dozen VHS tapes.
Since then, I’ve grown up (how much depends on who you ask) but still enjoy watching the occasional episode on DVD. As a kid, I never would have thought that I would one day be able to own the entire series on magical discs. If you’re a fan, revisit your favorite episode on DVD, VHS, Netflix, or YouTube. If you’ve never seen an episode, check out the four-parter “Quest for the Chaos Emeralds” which includes the episodes “Blackbot the Pirate”, “Hedgehog of the Hound Table”, “Robotnik’s Pyramid Scheme”, and “Prehistoric Sonic”. If you aren’t a fan… then why did you read all of this? Happy anniversary Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog!
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Great article! I absolutely loved this show as a child. When I was in the hospital I made sure to watch it every morning.
I totally feel everything that you wrote. =)
My experience was very similar to yours, maybe the only difference is that I saw the episodes on the nowadays extint TCC channel. And never saw the episodes in black and white TV. Other than that, very similar.
Happy Birthday AoStH!
Oddly for a period we (myself and my siblings) had the mega drive hooked up to my Dad’s college black and white TV. It sure made the special stages in Sonic 3 a challenge (differentiating between grey and slightly darker grey orbs).
I absolutely loved this mental series, having one of the VHS releases meant repeatedly watching Wes Weasely perform the same scams (over and over).
While I didn’t care for the show too much back in the day, I do enjoy it more now, because I realized the best parts of the show are not Sonic and Tails at all, but Dr. Robotnik’s crazy highjinks and self-humiliation. “Quest for the Chaos Emeralds” is definitely the best four episodes.
At last. 20 years of PINGAS!
You know, one of the strangest things about the order the episodes actually aired was that “Sonic the Matchmaker” aired 9 days before “Robotnik Jr.” did. The rest of the episodes introduced characters properly, at least, if not strangely.
I actually saw “Tails’ New Home” first, ’cause it’s not like I was going to wake up early on a day I didn’t have school. And really, that episode probably made for a better “first episode” to see.
And even to this day Scratch and Grounder live on through Orbot and Cubot. Happy belated 20th you nincombots.
Lol, that’s true metal and even Scratch and Grounder correlated to some Sonic 2 & 3 enemy game characters (I think)