Why two Sonic cartoons in 1993?

[Mcready]

I remembered when i was 12 back in 1993 as i was excited about a Sonic animated series on saturday mornings, i was excited about it. I saw on one friday in September of 1993 on Fox there was a different Sonic cartoon when i came home from school and was different from the Saturday Morning one which i adore.

It reminds me of back in the 80's when there were two Ghostbusters cartoons.

 

[Old Guy]

Both shows were different. The syndicated version, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, was very comedic. While the Saturday morning version, Sonic the Hedgehog, was more serious and action-packed. I guess they did it to cover their bases. Also, Jaleel White (Steve Urkel) provided the voice for Sonic in both shows.

 

[Spideyzilla]

Why not?

 

[veemonjosh]

As I recall correctly, DiC was originally going to just do AoStH and air it on ABC (which is why the pilot short has such high-quality animation). The executives at the network didn't quite like it, but they thought a Sonic cartoon was a good enough idea to let DiC think up another concept (which evolved into SatAM).

However, rather than toss out all the designs and ideas they had for a lighter series, they decided it would make a nice weekday show. Thus, two series starring the same character were produced side-by-side (which, to this day, I don't think has been done elsewhere).

It reminds me of back in the 80's when there were two Ghostbusters cartoons.

The Real Ghostbusters and Filmation's GhostBusters have absolutely no relation except the term "Ghostbuster".

 

[Wesyeed]

Both shows were different. The syndicated version, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, was very comedic. While the Saturday morning version, Sonic the Hedgehog, was more serious and action-packed. I guess they did it to cover their bases. Also, Jaleel White (Steve Urkel) provided the voice for Sonic in both shows.

Sonic SATAM was the more mature series. I remember back then I noticed there were two different sonic shows and one was more intelligently written and the other like some show for toddlers.

There are actually 3 and now 4 counting sonic underground and sonic x.

You're right. They made two kinds of shows to see which would get higher ratings, and I guess the more looney toony one did... meaning the actually good sonic show got the axe.

 

[TheGunheart]

You know what really got my goat about both shows?

Sonic wasn't allowed to fight robots. The one thing you're allowed to fight to the death in a children's television slot, and they couldn't even do that. In both cartoons he had to trick them in some way.

 

[veemonjosh]

There are actually 3 and now 4 counting sonic underground and sonic x.

Or, if you want to count the two-episode OVA, there's five Sonic cartoons currently.

You're right. They made two kinds of shows to see which would get higher ratings, and I guess the more looney toony one did... meaning the actually good sonic show got the axe.

No...the syndicated series only lasted a season, while the Saturday series lasted two. SatAM was mainly canceled because it was directly up against Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (which, even when ABC tried to switch its timeslot, Fox responded by moving Power Rangers to the same spot).

The only reason it seems like the syndicated series was more popular was because it aired on television longer (through not only syndication, but also USA Network and Toon Disney), which even that has more to do with its lighter tone and the fact that it's 65/66 episodes long as opposed to 26.

 

[PC!]

No...the syndicated series only lasted a season, while the Saturday series lasted two.

Still, Adventures had one 65-episode season compared to SatAM's two 13-episode seasons.

 

[Mcready]

Well here's the story on Ghostbusters on why there are two different cartoons. Filmation sued Columbia in 1985 over the rights of the name Ghostbusters and also wanted to help with their proposed GB cartoon based on the movie but DIC was chosen, so they made a deal for a cartoon each based on their properties. Filmation's GB came out weekday afternoon as it was based on the 70's Ghostbusters while Real Ghostbusters came out weekday afternoons and Saturday Mornings.

Damn Power Rangers for stealing SatAM's glory, too bad it lasted two seasons as i watched it religiously and one of my fave cartoons of the 90's. The Adventures was more for younger kids while SatAM was more for an adolescent audience.

 

[AdamYJ]

I thought it was a pretty neat approach, honestly. Show two different ways a popular character can be interpreted. One was a sunny, bright, comedic "Green Hill Zone" kind of show. The other's more of a dark, action-adventure "Chemical Plant Zone" sort of thing. The light and dark parts of the Sonic games brought to life.

 

[Michael24]

I remember watching a Sonic cartoon off-and-on back then, but I had no idea there were two. I might have seen episodes of the other and just thought they were from the same one.

 

[AdamYJ]

Y'know, I knew there was two because I read an article about it in a video game magazine, I think.

 

[dothesmartthing]

I very well remember Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and the Saturday morning of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic was so popular at that time, Sega must have decided he deserved two different shows to premiere in the same year.

 

[Mist]

Sonic SATAM was the more mature series. I remember back then I noticed there were two different sonic shows and one was more intelligently written and the other like some show for toddlers.

And let's take a look back at some of the intelligent dialogue found in SatAM.

Sonic: Yo Sal! Soon as I find Cat, I’ll blast for the swamp. Be mondo-careful!

Sonic: Hey Sal, don’t you call me a fool, ‘cuz baby you know that I’m way past cool! Way past cool!

Sonic: Nuh-uh, no way man! Ballads make me wanna hurl! Ugh! Chunkage contained.

Tails: Wow! How fast did we go Sonic?
Sonic: We were scootin’ and rootin’ lil’ bro.
Tails: No way! Scootin’ and rootin’?

Yes, SatAM was a very intelligent, mature series.

AoSTH had some pretty awful animation, but stuck somewhat more true to the games by only having Sonic and Tails as the stars, instead of introducing a bunch of generic furries. Also Robotnik was his regular goofy self instead of some Darth Vader knockoff found in SatAM.

 

[Old Guy]

two series starring the same character were produced side-by-side (which, to this day, I don't think has been done elsewhere).

Back in the `70s, weren't Superfriends and The Adventures of Batman airing at the same time?

 

[Wesyeed]

And let's take a look back at some of the intelligent dialogue found in SatAM.









Yes, SatAM was a very intelligent, mature series.

AoSTH had some pretty awful animation, but stuck somewhat more true to the games by only having Sonic and Tails as the stars, instead of introducing a bunch of generic furries. Also Robotnik was his regular goofy self instead of some Darth Vader knockoff found in SatAM.

I don't know how you can recall the dialogue in the series so well or maybe you have some episodes on your harddrive but I'm somewhat insulted that someone would defend that atrocity of a series that over threw the better, yes, more mature sonic show. The difference between the two is night and day. LITERALLY. Sonic SATAM is darker artistically than the ridiculously cutesy pootsy stupid show that pissed me off every time it aired. And the theme song kicks its ass all over the map.

Who would defend bumbling doofus robotonic, though yes I agree I enjoyed that version same way I enjoy old school shredder. touche sir or mam and good day.

 

[veemonjosh]

And let's take a look back at some of the intelligent dialogue found in SatAM.

Yes, SatAM was a very intelligent, mature series.

To be fair, I think all of those quotes (or nearly all of them) were from the first episode (in production order). That episode isn't exactly an accurate representation of the series as a whole.

Back in the `70s, weren't Superfriends and The Adventures of Batman airing at the same time?

Okay, that's true...

And I guess a more recent example would be Batman in both Justice League Unlimited and The Batman.

 

[Mist]

I don't know how you can recall the dialogue in the series so well or maybe you have some episodes on your harddrive but I'm somewhat insulted that someone would defend that atrocity of a series that over threw the better, yes, more mature sonic show. The difference between the two is night and day. LITERALLY. Sonic SATAM is darker artistically than the ridiculously cutesy pootsy stupid show that pissed me off every time it aired. And the theme song kicks its ass all over the map.

I bought the DVD for nostalgia. I was pretty astounded at how awful the dialogue was. I didn't remember it being that bad as a kid.. Sonic says the words "yo" "cool" or "mondo" in almost every sentence.

I found transcripts of episodes online, which is where I got those dialogue snippets.

SatAM has better animation than AoStH yes, but nothing was dark about it. At all. It was a typical kids cartoon with cheesy dialogue.

And I agree that SatAM's intro was far better. I loved the intro. Too bad the rest of the show is generic furry garbage made by guys with hard-ons for Star Wars. (Swatbots were knockoffs of Stormtroopers, there was a wizard who talked just like Yoda. Snively was a lot like Darth Vader's second-in-command guy who I don't know the name of, and Nicole was like R2-D2.)

SatAM is just embarrassing to watch. Yes, AoStH had some pretty terrible animation, but it did have some humor to it, and unlike SatAM, never took itself too seriously, which makes it somewhat watchable.

Who would defend bumbling doofus robotonic, though yes I agree I enjoyed that version same way I enjoy old school shredder. touche sir or mam and good day.

Because being a bumbling idiot is how the character was intended. Yes, Robotnik has an evil side too, but SatAM showed him as being ONLY evil. His voice was way too dark and he lacked any of his humor.

Not to get off-topic, but I liked Robotnik's Sonic Adventure incarnation best, because it managed to blend both his comical and evil side. He was a bumbling narcissistic moron who would throw temper tantrums, but also had his moments of darkness, like blowing up an entire island (That people were probably ON during the explosion!) sent Sonic falling to his doom from space, and pointed a gun to Amy's head.

 

[TheGunheart]

It doesn't help that Sally was a Mary Sue and Sonic was only allowed to run fast. Apparently, no one saw the animated scenes from Sonic CD, where he was using Parkour and all sorts of other cool stunts to stylishly take down robots.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

It doesn't help that Sally was a Mary Sue and Sonic was only allowed to run fast. Apparently, no one saw the animated scenes from Sonic CD, where he was using Parkour and all sorts of other cool stunts to stylishly take down robots.

No, no one had. It wasn't out yet.