Jump to content

Sonic the Hedgehog (OVA)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 74.178.177.227 (talk) at 18:56, 6 November 2012 (→Voice artists). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other uses, see Sonic the Hedgehog (disambiguation).
Sonic the Hedgehog
North American Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie VHS cover.
ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ
(Sonikku za Hejjihoggu)
GenreAction, Science fiction, Comedy
Original video animation
Directed byKazunori Ikegami
Produced byNaoharu Hokutani
Akinori Ohno
Koichiro Sugie
Takayuki Sugizaki
Written byMasashi Kubota
Music byMitsuhiro Tada
StudioGeneral Entertainment
Studio Pierrot
Sega
Sonic Team
ReleasedMay 31, 1996 (Japan)
September 9, 1999 (USA)
Runtime58 mins.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie is a two-episode OVA film series based on Sega's best-selling franchise Sonic the Hedgehog.

The anime features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik (Eggman in the Japanese version) and a few supporting characters, such as the human Sara. This is also the only Sonic animated production that features Metal Sonic. This Sonic anime was made in 1996, where, in its native Japan, it was simply titled Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ, Sonikku za Hejjihoggu), and its two 30-minute episodes ("Journey to Eggmanland" and "Sonic vs. Metal Sonic") were released over two VHS tapes. ADV Films dubbed it to English, and released both episodes edited together as a direct-to-video film in North America on September 9, 1999 as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.

Story

The start of the story opens with Dr. Robotnik creating Metal Sonic. Sonic and Tails are enjoying a peaceful day at the beach.Sonic is relaxing outside the ruins of a crashed Boeing 747 and USS Enterprise, along with a Saturn V rocket, while Tails trying out his new Jet-Propelled Bodyboard in the process. While relaxing Sonic saves Oji-san (called "Old Man" in the English dub),who seems to have a message for them,from the President. When the President's messenge comes telling Sonic to come to his office. Once there, they find out that Doctor Robotnik has kidnapped the President and his daughter in order to get Sonic to take care of a problem: a giant mecha appeared in Doctor Robotnik's utopian city of Eggmanland (called Robotropolis in English dub as a tie-in with the Sonic cartoon) and banishes the doctor and sabotages the Robot Generator, which will explode in less than a day. Robotnik asks Sonic to head the Land of Darkness to stop it. Once there, Sonic defeats the mecha, who turns out to be Robotnik himself who lured Sonic to his base in order to copy his memories, personalities, and knowledge for his new robot, Hyper Metal Sonic, a Sonic-shaped robot who shares his memories and feelings, and essentially lives the same life as Sonic himself.

In the English dubbed version, the two regions of Planet Freedom are referred to as being "separate dimensions", most likely due to a translation error.

The Land of the Sky consists of an unknown number of continents that drift high in the stratosphere of the planet, all of them connected to a massive ice formation (referred to in the dubbed version as a glacier, but more likely a mountain) which also serves to anchor them to the planet's surface below, much like the Little Planet from Sonic the Hedgehog CD. According to Knuckles of this continuity, if this ice network was destroyed, Planet Freedom's rotation would hurl the Land of the Sky into outer space, undoubtedly killing everyone on it.

The Land of Darkness is the title used to address the actual surface of Planet Freedom, a post-apocalyptic wilderness where only one known individual lives: Dr. Robotnik. Most of its terrain is untamed and mountainous, but Sonic and Tails eventually reach a very modern city, where they see that the ruins of buildings are crumbling into the sea. This is where Robotnik's empire of Eggmanland is located (landmarks strongly suggest that it resides in what was once Manhattan). The Land of Darkness may earn its name because the thick clouds that block out most of the sun's light. Despite its gloom, the Land of Darkness is quite verdant, though all of its regions are littered with deadly booby-traps and killer robots designed by Robotnik. The Land of Darkness can only be accessed in one of two ways: by a whirlwind-like "portal" in the Land of the Sky, or by chancing into a warp zone; an extradimensional link between two points on Planet Freedom. The city and look of the land strongly imply that Planet Freedom is a post apocalyptic Earth that was built upon with floating islands known as the Land of the Sky.

Censorship

Due to the number of scenes that would be offensive to Western audiences, the following scenes were edited or removed from the 1999 VHS release of the film:

  • In a daydream when Doctor Robotnik proposes to Sara, she is shown pregnant and breastfeeding one of their future children.
  • Robotnik groping Sara.
  • Sonic giving Metal Eggman the middle finger, which was edited to look like an index finger in the VHS.
  • Metal Sonic accidentally looking up Sara's dress when he crashes through the bottom of Eggman's ship, resulting in Sara repeatedly kicking his head, calling him a pervert. In the same sequence, Sonic also appears to injure himself after falling onto the ship, landing on his groin. Also, Sonic is synched with Metal Sonic and essentially feels what he feels, he even blushes.
  • During the second fight against Metal Sonic, Tails, after the Tornado is shot out of the sky, falls down a hill and starts to roll into a snowball and crashes into Sara and Knuckles. When the snowball clears, Tails is revealed to be holding on to Sara's breasts. Knuckles notices this, and is heard to mention that he "Never thought he'd stoop that low".[1]

Both DVD releases include all the above scenes and are regarded as fully uncut.

Cast

Voice artists

Japanese

English

References

  1. ^ "Sonic the Hedgehog - The Movie (OVA) Dub 720p HD".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(OVA)&oldid=521708436"