The Corner Penthouse

NCircle recently released the Sonic The Hedgehog (1993-1994): The Complete Series DVD. Read on to find out more about it...

[ SYNOPSIS ]

On the planet Mobius, the wicked Dr. Robotnik (Jim Cummings) has taken over the Kingdom of Acorn and enslaved its citizens. A small band of Freedom Fighters led by Sonic the Hedgehog (Jaleel White) and Princess Sally Acorn (Kath Soucie) are determined to defeat Robotnik. Joined by Rotor (Mark Ballou and Cam Brainard), Antoine (Rob Paulsen), Bunnie (Christine Cavanaugh), Dulcy (Cree Summer), and Sonic's trusty best friend Miles "Tails" Prower (Bradley Pierce), Sonic and his Freedom Fighters thwart Robotnik again and again in their struggle to free Mobius in this fast-paced, exciting animated series!

[ EPISODES ]

The two-disc set includes all 26 episodes of the two seasons that aired from September 18, 1993 to December 3, 1994. All 13 episodes of Season 1 are on Disc 1, while all 13 episodes of Season 2 are on Disc 2. Each episode runs approximately 22:45, with five chapters per episode, and they do not appear to be edited.

[ SPECIFICATIONS ]

The show is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The show is Not Rated. Audio languages include English. Subtitle languages include English SDH.

[ SPECIAL FEATURES ]

There are no special features.

[ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ]

No digital copy code voucher is included in the standard white 2-disc DVD case, though it does include a slipcover.

[ NOTES ]

Sonic The Hedgehog (1993): The Complete Series is available on DVD from NCircle. This is a great budget-priced release containing only the 26 episodes. Perfect if you want to introduce your children to the series that you grew up watching 30 years ago. If you want extras, Shout Factory released the series in a 4-disc DVD set back in 2007 with various interviews, storyboards, and other such goodies. Needless to say, that set is out-of-print, so it's going for rather inflated prices these days. If you're only interested in the episodes, and don't want to pay high prices, the NCircle DVD set is the way to go.

The show is highly recommended, especially if you grew up in the early 1990s. It has an excellent cast of voice actors, which includes such familiar names as Jaleel White (Steve Urkel on Family Matters), Charlie Adler, Christine Cavanaugh, Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Kath Soucie, Cree Summer, Frank Welker, and William Windom.

This 1993 animated series was not the first adaptation of the 1991 video game, nor would it be the last. It was preceded by The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog (1993), which also featured Jaleel White as the voice of the Blue Blur. All 65 episodes can be purchased as an "episodes only" 6-disc DVD release from Invincible Pictures (UPC: 760137209591), or with a lot of extras on the 2-disc SD-on-Blu-ray release from Discotek (UPC: 875707024099).

In an effort to be as complete as possible, let's see what other Sonic animated series followed. There's Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, a 1996 Japanese two-part original video animation (OVA). It was dubbed in English and released as a single direct-to-video film on DVD on September 7, 1999, and later re-released on DVD on January 13, 2004. Due to the closure of ADV Films, both releases are now out of print and going for high prices.

Jaleel White came back to voice Sonic in Sonic Underground (1999). Although NCircle released a 4-disc "Complete Series" DVD set (UPC: 843501011317), if you want all of the episodes with extras, you should buy NCircle's Volume 1 and Volume 2 DVD sets (each containing 3 discs).

As far as I'm aware, that would be it for Jaleel. The next Sonic series would be Sonic X (2003-2005), a Japanese anime television series that initially ran for 52 episodes on TV Tokyo from April 2003 to March 2004, with a further 26 episodes airing in North America from 2005 to 2006. The American localization and broadcasting were handled by 4Kids Entertainment, which edited it and created new music. The entire 78-episode series was released in two 2-disc SD-on-Blu-ray sets by Discotek: English Language Collection (UPC: 875707770095) and Japanese Language Collection. I do not know if the English release contains the edited 4Kids versions, but I suspect that they do, otherwise they could have included the English and Japanese audio tracks together in the same release.

A decade later we got the next Sonic series: Sonic Boom, which aired on Cartoon Network & Boomerang from 2014 to 2017. This series featured many of the then-current video game voice actors, such as Roger Craig Smith, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Nika Futterman, and Wally Wingert. NCircle released the series on Blu-ray as a Complete Series in Steelbook packaging, and as individual Season 1 and Season 2 in standard packaging. I previously reviewed the Season releases: Season 1 and Season 2.

Almost another decade later, and Netflix would air the (so far) last Sonic animated series: Sonic Prime (2022-2024). NCircle released the series on Blu-ray as a Complete Series in Steelbook packaging. As far as I'm aware, there are currently no plans to release the three-disc three-season set in standard packaging. A review of this set will be posted on The Corner Penthouse tomorrow. (UPDATE: Reviewed here.)

As far as live-action goes, there are currently three theatrical movies (with plans for a fourth):

• Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) is available on 4K UHD Combo Pack, Blu-Ray + DVD Combo Pack (reviewed here), and Individual DVD.
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) is available on 4K UHD (reviewed here), Blu-ray, and DVD.
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024) is available on 4K UHD + Blu-ray, 4K UHD + Blu-ray Steelbook (Sonic Cover), 4K UHD + Blu-ray Steelbook (Shadow Cover), and DVD. (Yes, there is no individual Blu-ray release.)

The theatrical films even spun off a live-action Paramount+ series: Knuckles (2024). All six episodes were released on 4K UHD (reviewed here), Blu-ray, Blu-ray (Steelbook), and DVD.

Phew!

This item has been provided by NCircle for review on this site.