SONIC
X
MAIN
CAST:
Jason Griffith (English) – Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, various
Amy Palant (English) – Miles “Tails” Prower, Boom 1
Dan Green (English) – Knuckles the Echidna, Elmer Johnson, Ghana, various
Jerry Lobozzo (English) – Chris Thorndyke, Chuck Thorndyke
Taeko Kawata (Japanese) – Amy Rose
Lisa Ortiz (English) – Amy Rose, various
Chikao Ōtsuka (Japanese) – Dr. Eggman, Professor Gerald Robotnik (season 2)
Ken Yamaguchi (Japanese) – Decoe, Nelson Thorndyke
Andrew Rannells (English) – Decoe, Bokkun, Mr. Stewart (season 1-2), E-102 Gamma, E-101 Beta, E-104 Epsilon (all season 2), narrator
After three American animated series
and a two-episode
OVA,
Sonic the Hedgehog was finally coming home to his native Japan in a long-form
anime. Sonic X was developed by TMS
Entertainment (which would become a subsidiary of
Sonic’s creators Sega
in 2005) and was designed with a Japanese audience in mind. As a result, it
featured none of the original characters introduced in DiC Entertainment’s
previous programs and relied heavily on established ones from the various games
intermixed with TMS’ original creations.
 |
| Amy Rose with Big the Cat, Cream the Rabbit and Cheese. |
Among the misplaced Mobians was
Sonic’s ever-present sidekick, Tails (Ryō Hirohashi & Amy Palant): the
two-tailed flying fox and inventor. There was also Sonic’s friendly rival,
Knuckles the Echidna (Nobutoshi Canna & Dan Green), who had previously
appeared in animation in the OVA. He’s the guardian of the Master
Emerald, a powerful ancient relic, possesses super strength,
a short-temper and gullible nature, and could float via his dreadlocks. New to
animation was Amy Rose (Taeko Kawata & Lisa Ortiz), a pink hedgehog armed
with a giant mallet who could be bossy, stubborn, and constantly strived to get
Sonic to date her; Cream the Rabbit (Sayaka Aoki & Rebecca Honig), a
well-mannered young girl always in the company of her pet Chao, Cheese
(Hirohashi & Honig); Big
the Cat (Takashi
Nagasako & Oliver Wyman),
a large but gentle cat whose only desire in life is to just be fishing with his
best friend, Froggy (Tomohisa
Asō
& Amy Birnbaum); Rouge
the Bat (Rumi
Ochiai & Kathleen Delaney),
a jewel thief who is capable of altruistic deeds but always has her own agenda—usually
resulting in something being stolen; and the Chaotix,
a team of adventuring detectives consisting of Vector
the Crocodile (Kenta Miyake
& James
Carter Cathcart), Espio
the Chameleon (Yūki Masuda
& David
Wills) and Charmy Bee (Yōko Teppōzuka
& Birnbaum).
 |
| Sonic with Ella, Mr. Tanaka, Knuckls, Amy, Cream, Cheese, Tails, Chris and Chuck. |
Newly created characters included
the rest of Chris’ family: Chuck Thorndyke (Bin Shimada & Lobozzo), Chris’
grandfather who was a scientist and inventor that became fast friends with Tails;
Ella (Kujira
& Pollock), the Thorndyke family maid who could be a force of nature when
made angry; Mr. Tanaka (Naoki
Imamura & Darren Dunstan), the Thorndyke’s butler and
bodyguard who enjoyed meditation and martial arts; Sam Speed
(Sōichirō
Tanaka & Frank
Frankson), Chris’ uncle who led a special unit of the Station
Square Police Department known as the Speed Team
that utilized high-speed race cars; Nelson Thorndyke (Ken Yamaguchi & Ted
Lewis), Chris’ father who was a wealthy industrialist and usually very absorbed
with work; and Lindsey
Thorndyke (Naomi
Shindō & Veronica Taylor),
Chris’ mother who was a famous actress and spent most of her time traveling
from one set to another. Chris’ human friends included Helen (Noriko Hidaka
& Birnbaum), a paraplegic that readily accepted Sonic and his friends; Danny
(Shindō & Rachel
Lillis as a kid, Frankson as a teen), an always-optimistic
athlete who approached everything with enthusiasm; and Frances
(Yuka Shioyama
& Kerry
Williams), a thrill-seeker who loved a challenge but would
always look to protect her friends from harm.
 |
| The President and his unscrupulous aide, Jerome Wise. |
Other characters included The
President (a combination of George
W. Bush and Richard
Nixon, voiced by Tomohisa Asō
& Lewis), who was initially wary of the Mobians but came to regard their
value in defeating Eggman; Jerome Wise
(Kōji Haramaki
& David Lapkin),
the President’s aide who viewed the Mobians as a threat to the President’s
re-election and often worked against them; Mr. Stewart (Michio Nakao
& Rannells), a government agent initially assigned to pose as a teacher at
Chris’ school to keep an eye on the Mobians; and Topaz
(Yukari Hikida
& Jennifer
Johnson), a by-the-book agent of the President’s Guardian
Units of the Nations military organization (G.U.N. for short,
although not uttered on the English version of the show) that was eventually
partnered with Rouge.
 |
| Dr. Eggman with Bocoe, Bokkun and Decoe. |
Eggman, not one to be kept down,
quickly set about establishing new bases and war machines on the planet, as
well as built his own robot army. Among his minions were Bocoe (Shimada &
Dunstan) and Decoe (Yamaguchi & Rannells), who served as his personal
assistants, and Bokkun (Yumiko Kobayashi & Rannells), a messenger robot
that communicated with Sonic on Eggman’s behalf via explosive televisions.
These three robots were all original to the series. The E-Series
of robots were Eggman’s primary soldiers in his attempts at world conquest and
reacquiring the Chaos Emeralds, each with a different appearance and
functionality. Eggman would come to free an ancient and immortal being from
their world called Chaos
to aid in his plans. Chaos was powered by the Chaos Emeralds and could assume
different and more powerful forms the more Chaos energy it was exposed to. To
aid Chaos, Eggman created the E-100
Series of robots which were powered by placing animals
inside of them. The most notable of these robots was E-102 Gamma (Imamura &
Rannells) who would defy his programming and seek to free the captured animals
and his brethren from Eggman’s control. There was also Shadow the Hedgehog
(Koji Yusa & Griffith), a dark version of Sonic created by Eggman’s
grandfather, Gerald Robotnik (Ōtsuka & Pollock). Faster and more powerful
than Sonic, Shadow wanted to destroy the world due to the death of his closest
friend, Maria Robotnik (Yuri
Shiratori & Honig), but ultimately fell into the role of
hero.
 |
| Gotta move fast! |
Sonic X originally debuted on
TV Tokyo
in Japan on April 6, 2003. The series was preceded by two trailers: the first
featured most of the footage that would end up used in the series’ intro as
well as unused scenes featuring unique characters, and the second
was shown by Sega at the World
Hobby Fair video gaming event in February of 2003 comprised of
footage from the first few episodes. Notably, the second trailer ended with a
still frame of the original design for Super
Sonic—a Sonic super-powered by the Chaos Emeralds—that
ended up being changed by the time the episode went to air. Yuji Naka,
then-head of Sega’s Sonic
Team
(the group responsible for developing all Sonic games) served as an
executive producer, and several of the voice actors utilized had previously
voiced their characters in the games. The original anime writers were Chinatsu Houjou,
Hiro Masaki,
Kiyoko Yoshimura,
Koji Miki,
Masahiko Shiraishi
and Yoshio
Urasawa. The anime’s theme, “Sonic Drive”, was composed by Takeshi Aida
and Cher
Watanabe with vocals by Hironobu
Kageyama and Hideaki
Takatori. There were also three ending themes: “Future” by Kazuyoshi Baba
performed by Run&Gun,
“Shining Road” by Shun Taguchi
and Masataka
Matsutoya performed by Aya Hiroshige,
and “T.O.P.” by KP
and URU.
The characters were designed by Satoshi Hirayama, adhering closely to the
original game designs for the established characters.
 |
| Shadow reluctantly working with Rouge. |
4Kids
Entertainment acquired the rights to handle the
localization for the American market. As with their other acquired programs,
4Kids made
extensive edits for content and length. They reduced
depictions of violence (like blood and death), removed instances of alcohol and
sexual innuendos, modified language (removed curses or lessened threats),
replaced gunfire with lasers, and eliminated instances of breaking the fourth
wall. Eyecatch
cards, which displayed information about a character at
various intervals utilizing game-inspired art, were also removed. The only
thing Sonic X managed to escape was having entire episodes cut out of
the rotation; something that befell other 4Kids acquired programs. Rather than
use the games’ voice actors, 4Kids cast all-new ones for the show since the
game cast didn’t live in New York. Norman J. Grossfeld
invited Pollock and Griffith to audition since he knew them from Kirby:
Right Back at Ya! and Ultimate
Muscle. Griffith, in fact, auditioned for the role of Chris thinking it
would be thrilling to be Sonic’s companion, but the producers felt his voice
fit Sonic better. The rest of the cast was found through general
auditions. Sega would go on to decide to recast their games as well with the
4Kids cast for their games made between 2005-10.
The 4Kids version of Sonic X made
its debut on their FoxBox
programming block on FOX
on August 23, 2003. The episodes were adapted by John Touhey,
Michael Haigney
and Lewis, with Kaz
Sano
serving as a translation advisor. Pollock was allowed to make uncredited
rewrites to dialogue whenever he felt something was off. 4Kids gave the series
all-new music by Craig Marks, Joel Douek, John Angier, Louis Cortelezzi, Manny Corallo, Matt McGuire and Ralph Schuckett, as well as a
new theme, “Gotta go Fast”, by Grossfeld, Joe Garrity and Russell Velázquez. International
versions of the show got their own theme, “Sonic X”, by Mark Biagi and Nikki Gregoroff.
 |
| Have no fear: the Chaotix are on the case! |
Despite being designed for a Japanese audience, Sonic X actually performed quite poorly in Japan. In contrast, it was a ratings hit in both the United States and France. This would inspire TMS to focus on making properties that would sell well outside of Japan, as well as continue on with the third season of Sonic X (known as series 2 in Japan). Despite having a full Japanese audio track done, the third season aired first in France on Jetix, followed shortly by the 4Kids version later that same year. The third season wouldn’t be seen in Japan until 2020 when Sonic X was re-aired on Kids Station as part of a promotional campaign for the Sonic the Hedgehog film.
 |
| The Metarex leadership: Dark Oak in front of Pale Bayleaf, Black Narcissus, Yellow Zelkova and Red Pine. |
For the third season, the show was
given new foes in the forms of the Metarex:
a large army of cyborgs and robots equipped with advanced powerful weaponry.
The Metarex traverse the galaxy to claim objects of great power, in particular Planet Eggs. Planet Eggs
embodied the life force of the planet it rests on, causing the planet to begin
to die in a variety of different ways once removed (one planet went from desert
to flooded, one became an ice planet, vegetation died off on another, etc.).
Their leader was Dark Oak (Jōji Nakata with Katsuyuki Konishi as his alter ego,
Lucas, and Matt Hoverman), an incredibly powerful and brilliant schemer capable
of laying out complex plans that resulted in the Metarex’s continued success. Directly
under his command were his generals: Pale Bayleaf (Jūrōta Kosugi & Jim
Napalitano), a resourceful tactician with advanced reflexes, strength and
durability; Black Narcissus (Ken Narita & Sean Schemmel), a vain narcissist
who liked to study his opponents thoroughly, although he wasn’t initially a
particularly adept fighter; Yellow Zelkova (Takeshi Watabe & Lewis), a
dim-witted powerhouse who used brute force as his first course of action; and
Red Pine (Hōchū Ōtsuka & Jonathan Todd Ross), the most cool-headed of the
group who liked to plan carefully. Each one was capable of Mover Mode: the
shared ability of the males of their plant-like species to assume powerful
dinosaur-like forms for a limited time.
 |
| A budding romance between Tails and Cosmo? |
Joining the heroes was a female from
their species, Cosmo (Etsuko Kozakura & Birnbaum), who could communicate
with plant life, jump high and float with her skirt, and unlock the power of a
Planet Egg. Cosmo’s homeworld was destroyed by the Metarex and she was raised
on a space colony until the Metarex came for that as well. She came to find the
legendary one—Sonic—who could wield the power of all the Chaos Emeralds to stop
the Metarex. Unfortunately, Sonic hand to scatter the Emeralds across the
cosmos to prevent the Metarex from getting them, leading to a hunt to retrieve
them that saw Eggman often joining in to help. Tails created the Blue Typhoon, a massive
space-faring vessel, to accomplish this task. Its primary weapon was the Sonic Power Cannon,
which fired Sonic as a projectile. Along for the ride was a now 18-year-old
Chris, who had invented a portal that allowed him to visit Sonic’s world. The
time differences between the dimensions (years for Chris, months for Sonic)
reverted him physically to his 12-year-old self, although he still retained his
mind and experiences from the years that passed.
 |
| Sonic and Shadow going Super. |
At 78 episodes, Sonic X was
the longest-running Sonic animated series until it was passed by Sonic Boom in
2017, which ultimately topped-out at 104 episodes. It was also the longest
consistently-aired of the Sonic shows with reruns being continually broadcast
in various territories. Following 4Kids’ bankruptcy in 2012, Saban Brands’ Kidsco Media Ventures acquired
their rights to the series until 2014. As of 2015, the
American rights for Sonic X lie with Discotek Media.
 |
| The comic series from Archie Comics. |
ShoPro licensed extensive waves of
merchandise for the show in North America, which included toys, bedding,
towels, backpacks, stationery and pajamas. Toy Island produced a line
of action figures for the 4Kids version, which actually began as repacked
versions of their line
for Sonic Adventure. Eventually, more on-model figures were
produced. FEVA distributed the toys in the United Kingdom, which also included
a radio-controlled
Sonic by Spin Master. While Archie Comics had the Sonic the
Hedgehog license, they began a tie-in series for the anime also titled Sonic X.
Beginning in 2005, it was originally set to be a 4-issue mini-series, but high
demand turned it into an ongoing series that ran for 40 issues (the same thing
happened with their main Sonic title).
The comics would follow the premise of the show, but greatly expand some of the
concepts and characters introduced; such as a new G.U.N. agent, Captain Westwood,
starting the secret group S.O.N.I.C.X.
(Society for Observing and Neutralizing Inter-dimensional Creatures and
Xenomorphs) comprised of characters somehow wronged by Sonic, such as Jerome
Wise. Some of the issues would be reprinted by Jetix Magazine in
the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland. In 2003, McDonald’s featured five LCD
sports games in their Happy Meals based on the show; with two featuring
Sonic and one each for Tails, Knuckles and Shadow. Another one with Big the Cat
arrived the following year. In 2007, they’d release another collection of spinner toys. LeapFrog Enterprises released an
educational Sonic X math game for its Leapster handheld consoles in 2005,
and the Vortexx Sonic X
website featured the browser game Sonic X Ring Thing.
There was also a collectible card
game produced by Score
Entertainment where two players competed to score three Chaos Emeralds in
order to win a game. Between 2005 and 2007, six novels
were published by Grosset
& Dunlap. Four of them were written by Charlotte Fullerton and the last
two by Paul Ruditis and Diana G. Gallagher,
respectively.
 |
| The complete series. |
Victor Entertainment
and Universal Music
released 13
DVD
and VHS
compilations in Japan between 2003 and 2004, with
Hi-Spec editions of the first 10 released with bonus features and better audio
quality. 2004 also saw the release of a Game
Boy Advance Video containing episodes from the first season,
with a second
one
planned but eventually cancelled before release. The first 52 episodes were
released in the United States by Funimation
in 10
VHS
and 10
single-disc collections released from 2004 to 2006.
Beginning in 2007, they were combined and re-released as four “Saga” sets: New
World Saga, Chaos
Emerald Chaos, Chaos
& Shadow Sagas and The
Egg Moon, Emerl & Homebound Sagas. The final season
was released between two collections: The
Complete 5th Season and
So
Long, Sonic. In 2016, all the
collections were condensed down into
two,
while in 2019 the complete series was released for the first time onto Blu-ray
by Discotek. Warner
Home Video and Jetix
Consumer Products handled the various European releases. episodes.
Future Publishing’s
Jetix Magazine released their sixth
and ninth
issue with DVDs containing an episode of Sonic X along with an episode
of Robot
Wars and Totally Spies!,
respectively. MRA
Entertainment released 17
volumes of three-episodes each in Australia between 2005 and
2006. Focus
Filmes released three
DVD collections in Brazil beginning in 2016.
Season
2:
“Revenge
of the Robot (Gamma the Wanderer)” (11/2/03 JAP, 10/16/04 US) – While Sonic
infiltrates Eggman’s underground base, Gamma wanders around freeing the animals
captured by his fellow robots.
Season
3:
“A
Revolutionary Tale (Upon a Destroyed Planet)” (4/8/05 FR, 2/18/06 US, 4/16/20
JAP) – Eggman’s group arrives on Cascade tracking a Chaos Emerald signal and
discover one of the group of heroes protecting the planet may be working with
the Metarex.
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