Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was an animated tv series created by DIC Entertainment and ran from September to December 1993. The show was to be aired on ABC, but due to poor animation they decided not to air it and forced them to make another Sonic  cartoon simply entitled Sonic the Hedgehog.

The series takes place in planet Mobius, where the Mobians live. The series is well known for it's Sonic Sez segments, in which Sonic, Sally and Tails, or any of the characters from the episode tell the viewer about important everyday things such as running away from home, pet care, and even avoiding strangers. The most famous thing about the show is the episode known as "Lovesick Sonic", which contains some of Dr. Robotnik's most famous lines, and the infamous sexual harassment Sonic Sez segment. Most episodes are about Dr. Robotnik creating a fiendish plot to take over Mobius, with Sonic, Sally and Tails always foiling his plans. Dr. Robotnik's two henchmen Grounder and Scratch always try to capture Sonic, but they fail to do so with every attempt.

Grounder is based on the Grounder robots in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Scratch is based on the Clucker robots from Sonic 2 as well.

Series Overview
Animator Pierre De Celles described the show as "fun and humorous". Episodes of the show normally revolved around Sonic, Sally and Tails foiling Robotnik's latest villainous scheme to dominate the zany, colorful world of Planet Mobius. At the end of each episode, Dr. Robotnik's plan would ultimately fail due to Sonic's efforts and his own incompetence.

The plots often used elements loosely borrowed from the storyline of the Sonic video games series. Three of Robotnik's henchbots, Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts, are directly based on badniks that appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The series also incorporated several recurring original characters not seen in the games, such as Robotnik's mother and Wes Weasley, a salesman and con-man, not dissimilar to Phil Silvers. The show's other characters largely consist of non-human creatures, such as anthropomorphic animals and robots.

The end of the show is bookended by an additional segment called "Sonic Says" (or "Sonic Sez", as Tails misspelled it on screen). This segment teaches viewers life lessons about subjects such as alcohol abuse and general safety. The segment was edited out during the original UK broadcasts.

Production
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was created by DiC Animation City and Sega of America, Inc., which produced a total of 65 episodes each for its one season, and was syndicated by Bohbot Entertainment, now BKN International (in the original run, every episode began and ended with the "Bohbot Entertainment Presents" logo). The show's animation was outsourced to four animation studios: Rainbow Animation, Hong Ying Animation, Sae Rom Production, and Tokyo Movie Shinsha.

Another cartoon series based on Sonic, simply titled Sonic the Hedgehog, was produced and launched on ABC's Saturday morning line-up in 1993. Animator Pierre De Celles said in an interview that neither he nor the rest of the staff working on Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog knew about or competed with the other series, which he describes as "serious and heavy"; he also described the staff as too busy to pay attention to the other series.

In addition to the original 65 episodes, DiC also produced an additional episode that originally aired in winter 1996, "Sonic Christmas Blast", which included aspects of the other Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon such as the city of Robotropolis, SWATbots, and a non-speaking cameo by Princess Sally Acorn.