SONIC PRIME: Season One

Season One of SONIC PRIME is a family-friendly, colorful an-imated adventure on Netflix where Sonic the alien hedgehog accidentally shatters his own world and creates a multiverse where multiple versions of the villain Dr. Eggman have conquered one world and intend to conquer all the others. SONIC PRIME: Season One is delightful and spectacular, with a strong moral worldview stressing friendship and self-sacrifice and overcoming selfishness and arrogance while fighting evil, but there are some subjective Romantic elements and cartoon violence, so caution is advised for younger children.

Sonic and his friends find Dr. Eggman trying to extract a multicolored shining gem from a cave in the Green Hill Zone, the lush world Sonic and his friends occupy, so Sonic and his friends spring into action. Against his friends’ advice, however, Sonic charges into Eggman just as he’s removing the gem from the rock. This collision not only gives Sonic quite the headache, but it also warps his universe into a multiverse of alternate timelines, each of them formed by shards of the gem. The collision sends Sonic into an altered time-line called New Yoke City.

In New Yoke City, multiple versions of Dr. Eggman have become successful in their bid for world domination. As the Chaos Council, they rule everything in New Yoke City. The

Council learns about all the different “shatterverses.” They decide to set about conquer-ing all of them, but a resistance forms led by different versions of Sonic’s friends. Sonic takes part in the resistance and sometimes travels to different timelines to fight against the Chaos Council.

SONIC PRIME is the best Sonic series to date. 1993’s ADVENTURES OF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG was fun for children but offered little for adults. Also, SONIC X met a mixed reception for being a very Americanized anime series. However, SONIC PRIME hits all the right notes, offering much for both children and adults, while staying game faithful and family friendly.

The series has high production values. The rendering of the famous Green Hill Zone is nothing short of spectacular. In fact, the opening shot of this well-known game location is a feast for the eyes and sure to flood any Sonic fan’s mind with tidal waves of nostalgia. The 2D, side-scrolling flashbacks in Season One are hilarious and move the story for-ward. Also, the first season’s time travel element and opening up of a multiverse take the Sonic story further than it’s ever gone. In addition, speed shots of Sonic traveling across the beautifully animated Green Hill Zone and gathering power rings are all excellent ele-ments that should delight longtime Sonic fans and a whole new generation of potential fans. Some pieces of the first season, like the password to Tails’ lab, 1992, the year that the Tails character debuted as Sonic’s best friend and sidekick, are a very nice touch. One misstep is the addition of an Eggman baby in the Chaos Counsel. The character is awk-ward and off putting. Otherwise, though, the characters are engaging and consistent with their game source material. The voice acting is also largely very good. Overall, Season One of SONIC PRIME turned out to be a big win for Netflix that had many viewers look-ing forward to the second season.

SONIC PRIME: Season One has a strong moral worldview. It extols the virtues of friendship and self-sacrifice. Characters learn from each other to overcome pride, forgive and work together to overcome evil. This comes to the fore when Sonic, in an opening scene declares, “Home is where your friends are.” Later in Season One, when Sonic eventually realizes his self-centered, arrogant behavior, it allows him to learn, grow and become a better version of himself. This makes him better able to be a good friend and to overcome the dystopian New Yoke City where, as one character puts it, “No one has friends here.” Sonic also discovers that his arrogance, showing off and failure to listen to others leads to his being responsible for the horrors of this alternate reality where Dr. Eggman has won and Sonic’s friends are nearly unrecognizable. This part of the series is strongly biblical in demonstrating the synergistic power that relationships can have, something that selfish people can never experience. It also becomes the key to fixing the shattered mess of multiple timelines. Also, in one of the new timelines, Sonic’s friend Amy Rose, now named Thorn Rose, learns that her environmentalist “harmony with na-ture” idolatry in her jungle world has separated her from her former friends and left her lonely and bitter.

The positive elements in SONIC PRIME: Season One are slightly mitigated by some subjective Romantic elements where the restoration of relationships sometimes occurs to

the detriment of positive values like truth. MOVIEGUIDE® also advises caution for younger children for cartoon violence.