Media Essays: The Blue Blur on the Silver Screen

Written by TCH2

And so, the world's fastest hedgehog reaches another anniversary. 34 years since Sonic the Hedgehog first sped his ways onto game consoles and quickly established himself as a rival for Nintendo's Mario. In addition to games, Sonic has also shown off his coolness in cartoons, comics, anime, manga, and, most recently, his own movie series.

Historically, video game movies haven't the best reputation, generally receiving mixed-to-negative reviews at best, with some of the worst examples coming courtesy of Uwe Boll. But with the release of Detective Pikachu, it seemed like the video games movie 'curse' was starting to lift. Since then, we've had video game movies that have received more positive reactions from critics and audiences alike. And Sonic himself is among them. With his first movie having turned five years old this year, I'm going to take you all on a little retrospective and see how these movies came to be.

First attempt:

Our story begins way back in 1993, when Sonic was rocking the TV world with two hit cartoons - Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (later renamed SatAM for distinction). SEGA of America's director of entertainment and consumer products, Michealene Risley, having already brought Sonic to the small screen, sought to take the next 'logical' step - bringing Sonic to the big screen. With other video games being adapted for film at the time and Sonic boasting commercial clout, SEGA had no trouble signing a deal with MGM and Trilogy Entertainment by the summer of 1994.

However, SEGA of America's CEO Tom Kalinske, was skeptical of the prospect of a Sonic movie. The critical and financial failures of video game movies released at the time, especially that of Nintendo's Super Mario Bros, left him worried that a similar fate would befall Sonic, thus dealing a serious blow to the brand. However, this did nothing to deter Risley or SEGA from plowing ahead. They secured a meeting from Scarecrows and The Vagrant screenwriter Richard Jeffries, who had a history with Risley when working on a proposed adaptation of Marvel's Silver Surfer.

With plans to produce a new console - the SEGA Saturn - and a new game titled Sonic X-treme intended to tie in with the movie, Richard Jeffries spared a day to speak with SEGA and Sonic lead programmer/co-creator Yuji Naka. After that, Jeffries spent the next year writing his story treatment for a Sonic movie. The treatment he headed back to SEGA in May 1995, titled Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World, told the following story:

A 12-year-old boy Josh Pinski, described by Jeffries as 'an awkward kid at the most awkward age enduring the most awkward time of his life' due to his parents both ignoring him and being divorced, accidentally brings Sonic and Robotnik into the real game by plugging his SEGA Saturn console, with Sonic X-treme fitted, into his dad's new advanced computer (called an Extremely Radical Intelligence, or XRI) while trying to finish a school essay. Sonic would be a 3D CGI character (it was becoming more practical at the time, as Jeffries said), and would initially struggle to adjust to the real world, especially since he grows weaker, the longer he stays there. Sonic and Josh team up to find the Chaos Emeralds, while Robotnik recruits school bullies to serve as his cybernetic henchmen, known as Bullibots.

Robotnik, who takes to the real world with 'demented enthusiasm, commandeers an amusement park and uses it to kidnap children to mine for the Chaos Emeralds, while robotic clones known as Kinder-Bots, created using the XRI, take their place. His ultimate plan is to digitise natural wonders of the world and recreate them in VR to get rich. Sonic, meanwhile, needs the Chaos Emeralds to regain his energies, as being in the real world has weakened him. Josh agrees to help him both find the Emeralds and stop Robotnik.

Following some wacky events, Sonic is eventually captured by Robotnik, leaving Josh to rescue him. Inspired by a speech Sonic gave him to 'stand up for what you believe in and give it everything you’ve got', Josh lays out a trap for Robotnik to lure the villain back into the game world. There's ultimately a big showdown in the video game world, which ends with Robotnik defeated and escaping. As a side-note, Josh's parents are brought closer together, and they ultimately part ways with Sonic by returning to the real world, while Sonic stays in the video game one. But a sequel tease is included.

Yeah, sounds pretty bizarre, isn't it? But the story treatment was well-received, even by SEGA Technical Institute, designers of Sonic X-treme. However, Risley had reservations, as did the creators in Japan. Furthermore, SEGA COO Shinobu Toyoda wished to change the villain, as he felt Robotnik's tenure as the villain had run its course. Risley disagreed, highlighting Robotnik's popularity in the cartoons and games, as did Jeffries.

But before Jeffries was given the go-ahead to begin writing the actual screenplay, MGM abruptly pulled out of their deal with SEGA. Apparently, the two companies had ultimately failed to reach an agreement that benefited them both. Hoping to remedy the situation, SEGA allowed Jeffries to shop his story around to other studios. So Jeffries went to see Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, who had signed a production deal at DreamWorks. But despite Rossio's daughter loving the story, DreamWorks expressed no interest in Sonic, feeling he was too costly for them and preferring low-cost, obscure characters/concepts for them to breathe new life into.

With Jeffries unable to secure DreamWorks' support, he reckoned Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World stood no chance of succeeding, and Trilogy Entertainment ultimately ended their deal with SEGA too, after failing to produce their own story treatment. Thus, Sonic's first shot at a movie fell through.

Second and third attempts:

Later on that same decade, Ben Hurst, creator of SatAM, was interested in making a Sonic movie of his own, hoping to continue where SatAM had infamously left off following its cancellation at the end of Season 2. He consulted with DiC, the company who had produced SatAM and managed to speak with a SEGA executive, who seemed quite interested. Ben then got a call from Ken Penders, one of the writers of the hit Archie Sonic comic series, who'd heard about Ben's plans. Ben offered to include Penders in on the project, hoping they could get in contact with SEGA's higher-ups and negotiate a storyline for the movie that would fulfil SatAM's third season. In turn, Ben also hoped it might inspire future games for SEGA to develop - a win-win situation, as he saw it.

Sounds very promising, doesn't it? Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Penders went behind Ben's back and relayed his plans to SEGA in a 'less-than-flattering way', suggesting he was trying to co-opt the franchise. He'd also written on his message board that 'Ben Hurst doesn't know how movies are made in Hollywood', and claimed HE would be the head writer. As a result, Ben was snubbed by the executive quite dramatically over the phone and his hopes for finishing SatAM were dashed. Thanks a lot, Penders! As if causing the reboot of the comic and cutting the Mecha Sally arc short wasn't enough!

In 2003, Penders tried to pitch his own idea for a Sonic movie to SEGA, titled Sonic Armageddon. And there's even some concept art for it, courtesy of Twitter:

Penders explained the movie would be an origin story and a reset, seeking to resolve SatAM and other plot threads continued in the comic. But after four years, the project was dropped as the death of SEGA licensing manager Robert Leffler, a supporter of Penders, passed away and the corporation suffered a massive upheaval.

While seeing SatAM concluded would have been nice, considering Penders had apparently stabbed Ben Hurst in the back before, not to mention some of the stuff he brought to Sonic as writer or at least tried to...

Yeah, I think I can safely say we dodged a bullet here... big time!

Japan's 'Strange' Production:

Now it is worth noting that, technically, there was an animated Sonic movie released. This would come to be known as 'Sonic OVA' for distinction. 'OVA', for who don't know, means original video animation, which are animated media made specifically for video/DVD, comprising less than ten episodes, but boasting high-quality animation.

However, the reason I used 'technically' is because Sonic OVA was originally two episodes that were combined into one movie when it was dubbed into English by A.D. Vision in 1999 to tie in with the release of Sonic Adventure. Originally produced in 1996 by Studio Pierrot, SEGA Enterprises and General Entertainment, supervised by Sonic creators Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima, and Sonic Team, Sonic OVA was distinguished from other Sonic media by being set on Planet Freedom, and featured a number of original characters - Sara, her father the President and Old Man Owl - alongside the classics Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Robotnik and Metal Sonic. The story was about Sonic, Tails and Knuckles stopping Robotnik from forcing the daughter of the planet’s President, Sara, into marrying him so he can, what else, rule the world. Insert meme here. While doing so, they also have to contend with Metal Sonic (known as 'Hyper Metal Sonic' in this movie), who has all of Sonic powers, memories and traits.

The OVA retains a cult following to this day due to its music, its general faithfulness to the games compared to other adaptations at the time and some iconic scenes, though it has also been criticised for the cheesy voice acting in the English dub and having some rather silly moments. Nevertheless, the OVA has been referenced in various subsequent media, like Knuckles wearing a fedora hat, and the interactions between Sonic and Metal Sonic, most famously the line ‘Strange, isn’t it?’

(It's also possible the term 'Planet Freedom' might have inspired the Sonic-inspired video game Freedom Planet, but who knows?)

Sonic's Actual Film Debut:

Sonic did finally appear on the big screen in an actual film in 2012, but it was as a cameo appearance in the Disney film Wreck-It Ralph, alongside various other video game characters like Pac-Man, Q'Bert, Tapper, Bowser and others. That said, Sonic did make a notable contribution to the overall film; in an homage to the 'Sonic Sez' segments from Adventures, Sonic announces to everyone at Game Central Station to stay safe and alert outside their games because if they die outside their games, they don't regenerate - game over! This proves relevant in the climax - anyone who's seen Wreck-It Ralph will know what I mean.

Sonic would cameo again in the 2018 sequel Ralph Breaks The Internet, where he has a little more to do, notably telling Ralph who the Internet works.

A 'Way Past Cool' Fan Work?

I guess it's also worth mentioning fan contributions as well.

In 2011, Eddie Lebron, founder of the independent company Blue Core Studios, announced that he was making a live-action fan-film about Sonic, having already done one for fellow blue game hero Mega Man. Unsurprisingly, fans immediately latched onto this idea, especially when it was announced that Jaleel White, the voice of Sonic in all three of the 90s cartoons, would be returning to once again offer his voice to the Blue Blur. DJ Hazard would play Robotnik.

The 18-minute short drew primarily on the SatAM cartoon, with Robotnik conquering Mobius, using Roboticization to enslave the people, and various resistance groups opposing him, though Easter eggs from other parts of the franchise were also included. Furthermore, it featured cameos from YouTubers James Rolfe (the Angry Video Game Nerd), Craig Skitimas (ScrewAttack), Brent Black (brentalfloss) and Doug Walker (the Nostalgia Critic).

Released in early 2013, the short garnered a lot of positive fan response, who praised the general fidelity to the games, Jaleel White's return, the music, and the various cameos and Easter eggs. However, the effects obviously weren't the best, given it was fan-made, and some felt the film was too short and Jaleel's voice didn't gel well with the generally darker tone they went with.

Still, most notably of all, Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka himself approved of the film on Twitter: https://x.com/nakayuji/status/289673578612396032 How about that?

You can watch this via this link, and see what you think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtCtQpclpY8

Fourth (official) time lucky:

In 2013, Sony Entertainment acquired the film-making rights for Sonic in 2013. As with the first attempt, the plan was to make a live-action/CGI hybrid film in a collaboration between Sony's Columbia Pictures and Marza Animation Planet (the latter of whom had produced various CGI cutscenes for the Sonic games), with production undertaken by Deadpool director Tim Miller and Fast and Furious producer Neal H. Mortiz. The director's chair would be filled by Jeff Fowler, who had frequently worked on Sonic's games before - most notably, doing cutscenes for the 2005 Shadow game and Sonic '06. Writing the screenplay was covered by Patrick Casey and Josh Miller, who had also developed the story alongside Oren Uziel. Originally, there was going to be more explicit game references, but they were mostly cut due to budget constraints as well as not wanting to bog down the plot, with only two levels from the games appearing - Green Hill at the beginning and Mushroom Hill at the end. The final script, Patrick and Josh admitted as not being accurate to the games in a literal sense, though they did reckon it captured the overall feel.

By 2017, however, Sony had put the Sonic film into turnaround. Fortunately, Paramount Pictures managed to acquire the rights, with most of the production team coming with them. Interestingly, and perhaps appropriately, Paramount and SEGA had once been united under Gulf and Western Industries before they were sold off. Upon settling for a release date of November 2019, the production, codenamed 'Casino Night' after a level from the second Sonic game, commenced. In an early draft, the original intent was for Sonic to go 'super' in the finale, as he often does in various games. However, Jeff Fowler decided to put such a transformation off for potential sequels, and instead keep the story simple, focusing on Sonic and Robotnik's origins.

When it came to casting, Paramount scouted around for actors throughout 2018. First, they landed James Marsden as Sonic's cop friend, Tom Wachowski in May. The following month, they secured Tika Sumpter as Tom's wife, Rachel, and, most notably, comedic powerhouse Jim Carrey to play Doctor Robotnik, due to his ability to match Robotnik's generally humorously evil tendencies. Later that summer, for the Blue Blur himself, they cast voice actor Ben Schwartz, known for playing Dewey Duck in the DuckTales reboot and Leonardo in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles among others. Ben had a huge fan of Sonic since childhood and eagerly jumped at the opportunity, saying it was 'the quickest "yes" in the universe' when he was offered the chance.

Then we come to the visual effects and design, and this is where things get really interesting. The effects, done by 5 different companies, brought Sonic to life as a CGI character with a very... human-like appearance, with his fur being more visible (Jeff Fowler essentially saying it was essential, lest Sonic look effectively naked), his eyes being separate (which SEGA didn't approve of), and his arms and legs sporting more muscle definition - all in stark contrast to Sonic's classic cartoony design.

Unsurprisingly, when fans got their first taste of this design upon the release of the teaser poster in December 2019, they were not happy, saying it invoked the 'uncanny valley' effect. Even former designers from Sonic Team were shocked, with Naoto Ohshima saying:

"Sonic is a fairy of hedgehog, so he doesn't need to be designed closer to a real hedgehog even in a live action. Mickey doesn't become a mouse in live action, does he? Because they are fairies who can live on when people believe in them."

Things didn't improve when a second poster, showing Sonic's legs on the Golden Gate Bridge in rather odd positions, was leaked later the same month.

Finally, the first trailer dropped on April 4th, 2019, and... well...

Yeah, that effectively sums up everyone's reaction right there. That is just creepy! shudders I apologise for any nightmares I may have caused...

The first trailer received almost universal backlash. While the humour, references and Jim Carrey garnered some praise, Sonic's creepy design (especially his teeth) and the choice to use 'Gangsta's Paradise' by rapper Coolio were heavily panned. Fans hated it; critics hated it; and general audiences hated it. Interestingly, Yuki, Naoto and Hirokazu Yasuhara, head designer of the early Genesis games, tried to find stuff to look forward to, like saying Sonic's design did look familiar if one squinted, and Naoto doing fan art in good will despite his worries.

So yeah, it seemed like the Sonic movie was doomed to be just another bad video game movie. And given how fans had responded to Sonic's games over the last decade in terms of writing, it would not do well for Sonic's reputation at all.

But then... something remarkable happened.

Almost a month after the first trailer gave everyone nightmares, Jeff Fowler announced on Twitter that Sonic's design was going to be completely overhauled to better match his game counterpart saying:

'Thank you for the support. And the criticism. The message is loud and clear... you aren't happy with the design & you want changes. It's going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be...'

That's right! The studio actually listened to public backlash and sought to repair the damage before it was too late! How often does that sort of thing happen? And no, it wasn't a PR stunt or anything; a CG artist stated Paramount executives had insisted on the original design, reckoning it would be similar to how people reacted to the live-action Transformers and 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies - hated by fans but accepted by general audiences. Boy, were they wrong!

To redesign Sonic, Tyson Hesse, creator of webcomic Boxer Hockey, was brought on board to serve as co-producer. Tyson had previously done art for the Archie and IDW Sonic comics, and animated promo material and cutscenes for Mania, Team Sonic Racing, Origins and Frontiers, so it was easy game to give Sonic a better design. The eyes were enlarged (but remained separate); Sonic's classic white gloves and red sneakers were added; and his limbs lost their muscle definition. Marza Animation Planet, one of the five original VFX studios, oversaw the editing of all of Sonic's scenes to incorporate his new design. To avoid working the artists overtime, the release of Sonic's first film was delayed from November 8th 2019 to February 14th 2020 to allow more time. The whole thing took five months to complete and added $5 million to the initial $90 million budget.

The second Sonic trailer was released on November 12th, revealing Sonic's new design. And it is said that fan cheers were heard all across the globe. Everyone loved the better look, including Yuji Naka, as well as the humour, tone and more appropriate choice of music 'Supersonic' by J.J. Fad, and 'Blitzkrieg Bop' by the Ramones, as well as a rendition of the iconic Green Hill Zone theme. SEGA themselves were so pleased by Paramount's wise decision that, where previously they'd sought to disassociate with it all, they now openly supported the film with merchandise, having Sonic's new design as an unlockable on Sonic mobile phone running games, and even playing the trailer in the background of Phantasy Star Online 2.

However, the original Sonic design wasn't forgotten, and would eventually find stardom as a supporting character in the 2022 film Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, due to Moving Picture Company being involved in both films.

Release:

And so, after all the failed attempts, cameoing in two Disney flicks, a fan contribution, and an initially unpromising promotion, Sonic the Hedgehog finally blasted onto the big screen in his very own movie on Valentine's Day 2020. Despite coming out during the time of the COVID pandemic, the movie was still a smash-hit success, setting a new record for a video game movie's opening weekend in North America and grossing over $320 million. It garnered mixed reviews, who highlighted the humour, acting (especially that of Ben and Jim) and visuals, but criticised the whole buddy road trip plot and product placement. Audiences, meanwhile, showered the movie with praise for its various mythology gags, heart, humour, acting and surprisingly good new characters, chief among them Tom Wachowski, Sonic's human friend, and Longclaw, Sonic's foster mother, who only appeared in the opening scene. However, they too agreed the plot was too well-trodden and lamented the fact of more blatant Sonic material.

Still, the film was successful enough to launch a entire franchise that has thus far produced two hit sequels...

...a spin-off focusing on Knuckles...

...and three shorts. And more are in the works.

The successful release of Sonic's first movie seems to have coincided nicely with a renaissance in Sonic media overall. The modern games, having become a joke among fans over the 2010s due to the writing of Ken Pontiac and Warren Graff, made an impressive improvement with Sonic Frontiers under comic veteran Ian Flynn's writing. The IDW comics continue to explore the Sonic world and characters in interesting ways. And Sonic merchandise have undergone a resurgence in popularity.

Conclusion:

So there you have, Sonic fans. That's the story of Sonic's rocky but ultimately triumphant journey to the silver screen. I hope you found it all very interesting; I certainly did! It's clear that no wonder what troubles the Blue Blur encounters, he always manages to find a way through. After all, Sonic's story is only over when he stops running. And it takes more than real-world difficulties and behind-the-scenes troubles to stop this hedgehog's running! Here's to 5 years of one of the best video game movies in recent years! And here's hoping for more!

What do you think of the previous attempts? Do you reckon they might have been successful, had they seen the light of day? Let us know in the comments.