Sonic Boom Review: Intro Sequence

Sonic Boom is a cartoon that was released to the United States somewhere in late 2014. It was marketed as a new take on the Sonic The Hedgehog universe, set in a whole different world where things have progressed in a different way.




To summarize, Sega can continue to make their games and Archie can continue to make their comics without either suffering from canon backlash. It was a whole new start to a Sonic series... So, with this set up, what did they decide to do with the blue speedster?





Well, their first order of business was establishing that this would not carry any form of continuity, each episode being an isolated 15-minute story that would run two episodes per airing. What this means is that there would be no story connection from one episode to the next. The good news is that this means a viewer could enter the series with Episode One or Episode Eight, and either way you'd be just as aware of the workings of the story as everyone else. The bad news is that... Well, continuity is a fun thing to have. It enables character development, a progressing environment, and an overall sense of an advancing world.

But this is Cartoon Network we are talking about. Continuity has become more of an afterthought when it comes to the shows aired on the channel... I mean, they play Annoying Orange. Seriously.

Because when you think Sonic, you think Tron lights.

That said, the show's intro leaves much to be desired. Sonic X wasn't really the best cartoon, but at least the opening theme was memorable. Hell, the old Sonic SatAM theme was memorable. The opening is what gives the viewer a first impression, a chance to give them a quick taste of what the show has to offer if given the chance to do so. Sonic Boom's intro is 17 seconds of an instrumental song building up... With no payoff. At all. Just as a reference point, Sonic X's intro lasted a full minute. How times have changed.

The series focuses on five characters, each shown during that alarmingly brief intro. Sonic The Hedgehog, Tails The Fox, Amy Rose The Hedgehog, Knuckles The Echidna, and lastly Sticks The Badger.

The team has a more nature-oriented look to them, which means lots of body wraps and in Sonic's case a new scarf. Though I do have a personal nitpick regarding his arms. Up until now, in all forms of media (barring the occasional coloring goof) Sonic has always had skin tone arms. Now they are blue... For... Some reason. Otherwise he remains unchanged. I'll admit the look bugged me at first, but it grew on me over time.

Tails retains his normal look, only with more gadgets adorning his body. Like goggles, a belt, and so on. Of the five, Tails has the best overall look to him. Being a gadget character and a technical genius, everything about his appearance makes sense and only serves to build his image as an inventor. It would make sense for so much effort to go into Tails considering his career as the franchise's #2, being a sidekick to Sonic and having a number of adventures of his own. Characters with so many years under their belt typically get more respect with their designs...

...And then there is Knuckles. Knuckles has a long history of being Sonic's first rival. An initial antagonist or anti-hero that later became a strong ally over the years. The two are good friends and basher bros to the end. He is also an honorable, if rather stubborn, warrior that will fight to defend the Master Emerald and all he holds dear. It is his job, being a guardian and all. In a baffling move, Sonic Boom takes away all that, gives Knuckles a larger body to draw focus to his massive physical strength, and proceeds to write him as a complete imbecile... More on that later.

Amy's hammer had to be scaled down for safety reasons... I assume.

On to the lovely lady Amy Rose. Like Sonic, Amy's new look has plenty of personal gripes to me, but isn't bad. Frankly, I'm not a fan of the new dress. It is more form-fitting, but I think the new design was just an excuse to avoid unintended panty shots. It pays to point out that Amy has a history with those, what with her dress the way it is. Or was. Rather odd when you consider Sticks' attire, even more odd when you consider how rarely you see Amy jumping around in the actual show, but who am I to judge. Also, Amy retains her skin tone arms, which makes Sonic's arms all the more odd to me. Still, she isn't bad per se. It might grow on me over time, as Amy retains her very cute charms for the most part.

Lastly, we have Sticks The Badger, a totally new character created specifically for Sonic Boom. I won't go into much detail on her here since she will mostly be covered over the course of the review as she becomes important. Like Amy, she doesn't have many bandages to her (must be a gender thing) and she is also a rare instance of a main character outside of Archie Comics to NOT be wearing gloves of some form. Yeah, go back to the video and double check. She looks like your typical wilderness native-type character, but her personality and voice don't quite fit most of the time. You'll see why later.

Okay gang, let's not try to rip off Power Rangers THAT much... Oh, they're not trying to? Then why is Sonic, the main star, angled to the side while Knuckles, a supporting lead, is in the center? Odd choice considering Knuckles' later treatment.

I'll cover Eggman as he becomes involved, since this opening doesn't include him much. That said, welcome viewers, to the struggling franchise of Sonic Boom... And if I don't mention it, someone else will. Being made in France, the French opening IS superior to the American one. Par for the course these days, though.