Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie

Not to be confused with Sonic the Hedgehog (film). "Planet Freedom" redirects here. For the video game, see Freedom Planet.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
1999 North American VHS cover
ソニックザヘッジホッグ (Sonikku za Hejjihoggu)
Created by	Sega Enterprises
Original video animation
Directed by	Kazutaka Ikegami
Produced by	Kōichirō Sugie (ep. 1) Akinori Ōno (ep. 2) Takayuki Sugisaki Naoji Hōnokidani
Written by	Mayori Sekijima Masashi Kubota
Music by	Mitsuhiro Tada
Studio	Studio Pierrot
Licensed by	AUS: Madman Entertainment US: ADV Films
Released	January 26, 1996 (1996-01-26) – March 22, 1996 (1996-03-22)
Runtime	27–28 minutes (individual OVAs) 54 minutes (English dubbed version)
Episodes	2

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニックザヘッジホッグ, Sonikku za Hejjihoggu) or Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie is a 1996 Japanese two-part original video animation (OVA) based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video games by Sega. It was produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Kazutaka Ikegami. It features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Eggman (Dr. Robotnik in the English release), Metal Sonic, and supporting characters created for the OVA.

The first episode was released in Japan on January 26, 1996, and the second on March 22. The series was licensed and dubbed in English by ADV Films, who released it as a direct-to-video film on September 7, 1999, to coincide with the international release of the game Sonic Adventure.

Plot

Part 1

Sonic the Hedgehog relaxes on the beach of South Island with Miles "Tails" Prower when Old Man Owl arrives with a message from the President asking Sonic to come to his office. Once there, they discover Dr. Ivo Robotnik has taken the President and his daughter Sara prisoner. After giving an exposition of how Planet Freedom works (explaining the two "dimensions" of the planet, The Land of the Sky, and The Land of Darkness), Robotnik explains that a giant mecha that he created named Metal Robotnik ("Black Eggman" in the original Japanese release) has turned against him and exiled him from his city of Robotropolis ("Eggmanland" in the original) and sabotaged the Robot Generator, which will explode by sunrise the next day. Robotnik asks Sonic to head to the Land of Darkness to stop it in exchange for the President and Sara's lives. Sara (to Robotnik's annoyance) makes Robotnik play a video game with her and then demands that she go out for a drive, and soon afterwards a large mecha lands in the presidential palace. Sara happily enters it, while Robotnik also gets in (trying to man the controls), and the mecha takes off.

Upon arrival in the Land of Darkness, Sonic and Tails get attacked by several of Robotnik's Badniks and find themselves in a deserted city (part of which resembles Manhattan) known as the 'Ancient Relics' (implying that the Land of Darkness is a post-apocalyptic Earth). There they are confronted by Metal Robotnik, who tries to stop them from reaching the generator. Knuckles the Echidna arrives and rescues them, and all three team up to destroy the mecha. Unbeknownst to them, Metal Robotnik was a non-sentient robot controlled by Robotnik, the same mecha that arrived at the presidential palace earlier on. An annoyed Robotnik emerges from the wreckage; proclaiming that once Sonic arrives in Robotropolis he shall encounter something far worse than Metal Robotnik. The episode ends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles heading to Robotropolis.

Part 2

After entering Robotropolis, Knuckles distracts the Badniks on patrol while Sonic and Tails try to stop the generator in the heart of the city. They arrive just in time, but when Sonic pulls the lever, the machine traps him and scans his body. Knuckles frees Sonic just as the machine crumbles to the ground, revealing Dr. Robotnik's newest robot, Hyper Metal Sonic. Dr. Robotnik and Sara appears in Metal Robotnik's remains, and Robotnik reveals that he lured Sonic to copy his mind, personality, and abilities for Hyper Metal Sonic. Sonic and Metal battle, but Metal easily overpowers Sonic. Tails and Knuckles return to the Land of the Sky, where Tails learns that Metal is out to destroy the planet by digging into the ice caps that hold the Land of the Sky together, allowing lava to emerge and melt the ice. Sonic wakes up in Green Lake City and returns to the Presidential Palace, learning of Metal's goal from the President.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles go to the ice caps, where Sara is being held hostage by Robotnik, planning to marry her so the two will rule over Planet Freedom after the Land of the Sky's decimation. Sonic encounters Metal and the two have a lengthy battle. Tails manages to corrupt Metal's data, and Sonic severely damages him. During the altercation, the President and Old Man arrive and are trapped in their aircraft, but Metal saves them. Sonic realizes that Metal does have emotions, as he was programmed with Sonic's persona and instincts. Metal gets blown into a crack and falls into a subglacial volcano. Sonic reaches out his hand to help him, but Metal rejects it, telling him "there is only one Sonic" before being destroyed by the rising magma. Robotnik states he still has Sonic's DNA and can build a new Metal Sonic, one that does not contain Sonic's good personality, but one of his missiles from the fight inadvertently blows up the disc containing Sonic's DNA. Knuckles then hits Sonic as revenge for Sonic accidentally stepping on him during the brawl, and the two get into a chase, with all the others following behind.

Production and release

The OVA series was produced by Studio Pierrot, Sega Enterprises and General Entertainment under the supervision of Sonic Team, Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima. It is directed and storyboarded by Kazutaka Ikegami, with Mayori Sekijima handling the story structure, Masashi Kubota writing the scripts, Tsuneo Ninomiya designing the characters and Mitsuhiro Tada composing the music. Both episodes feature the ending theme "Look-alike," composed and arranged by Tada and written and sung by Riyu Konaka. The OVA was distributed by Taki Corporation in Japan on a rental-only basis between January 26 and March 22 before a retail release on May 31, 1996.

ADV Films announced they had licensed the OVA series at Project A-Kon 9, which took place in May 1998. It was dubbed in English and released as a single direct-to-video film under the name of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie on VHS and DVD on September 7, 1999, to coincide with the international release of Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast. In Australia and the United States, the OVA was released on DVD with both English and Japanese language tracks, together with English and Spanish subtitles. In Taiwan, the OVA was broadcast on the Shouhua Cartoon Channel in its original language with Mandarin subtitles, while in Hong Kong the OVA was dubbed into Cantonese and shown on TVB Jade. The OVA also received a Korean dub in South Korea under the name Sonic Vs. Metal Sonic that was released on VHS.

Discotek Media attempted to license the show for a Blu-ray release in North America. However, Sega was unable to locate key documents related to the OVA's music or voice actors.

Reception

In the United States, the OVA reached number 7 on the Billboard video sales chart and number 6 on the Billboard kids' video sales chart. The March 1996 issue of the DieHard Magazine gave the OVA a positive review stating that "all in all, the artwork looks amazing, plus it's an O.V.A., so the artists have been given quite an extensive budget. The animation is much cleaner than you could ever expect from a TV show, but the characters on-screen presence is what really makes Sonic so cool. It's like playing the game, but in anime form. After the U.S. Sonic cartoon has been canceled, this anime is definitely a good choice."

Henry Gilbert of GamesRadar approved of the concept of a colorful, fast-paced anime Sonic, noting the fights between Sonic and his evil counterpart, Metal Sonic, as "cool". This is unfortunately accompanied by "scenes of slapstick humor, anime cliches, and childish voice acting" as well as the "perpetually annoying" Sara. Chris Shepard of Anime News Network praised the OVA for its non-traditional action and said it was "good for Sonic fans". He called the English dub poor, and said the story "strayed from the video games a little too much" and it was "very basic". John Sinnott of DVD Talk said "it didn't really pull me in at any time".

Legacy

The 2024 Knuckles miniseries has Knuckles wearing the hat he dons in the OVA. The Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics series contained various references to the OVA; in issue #101 the character Metal Robotnik appears in an alternate universe story, although his coloring altered from red to blue. Knuckles the Echidna also dons his hat from the film numerous times across the comic's run.

IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog series also contained many references to the OVA. In its Scrapnik Island miniseries, the character Mecha Knuckles from the game Sonic Advance returns with a new beaten up design wearing a tattered version of Knuckles' OVA attire. In the final fight against Mecha Sonic in the miniseries, there are many homages to the film, including a scene mirroring the final interaction between Sonic and Metal Sonic in the OVA. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023) features Knuckles wearing a hat similar to the one from the OVA.

See also

• Sonic X

External links

• Official Pierrot Minisite (in Japanese)
• Official Bandai Channel Minisite (in Japanese)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia