The Sonic Show

What if the Sonic Boom TV show was a different TV show? Of course Rise of Lyric would still be the same game, but Sonic Boom would be a completely different TV show.

The Sonic Show (commonly known as Sonic 2016) is an American animated comedy action sitcom that aired on Cartoon Network from November 29, 2016 to August 31, 2019, based off the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise by Sega. The Sonic Show takes a more comedic and sitcom-like approach to the Sonic franchise. It chronicles the adventures of the titual title character (voiced by Roger Craig Smith since 2010) and his friends in the fictional town of Green Hill on South Island. As of 2019, the show's merchandise generated $1 billion for both Sega and Cartoon Network. The show had much popularity among Sonic fans. This is also the first Sonic TV series to be produced 11 years after the anime Sonic X. Throup Van Orman and Van Partible, well known members of the animation community created the show but from season 3 onwards, most of them quit and the show has now been run by Brendan Sawyer, known for working on the Netflix show The Boss Baby: Back in Business (2018-2020) and co-run by Jeff Fowler, who directed the Sonic movies (2020, 2022, 2024) and animation veteran Paul Rudish, creator of the Mickey Mouse shorts (2013-2019; 2020-2023). All three of the developers have stated that they loved working on the show including with the writers and animators especially. It has been described as "a safe working environment." The Sonic Show combines elements of comedy, slapstick, slice of life, and sitcom, despite not having a laugh track like other animated sitcoms.

In February 2014, Sega of America announced that it would be teaming up with Cartoon Network to produce The Sonic Show, which was announced for release in late 2016. Roger Craig Smith and several other voice actors announced they would be reprising their roles as their characters while more information about the show was revealed, including about it being a sitcom, which made many fans skeptical of the show at first but Van Orman and Partible denied the fans' worries, saying that they'll make the show as great as it possibly can, like a combination of Seinfeld and Sonic. Ashton Kutcher was announced to star as Fang the Sniper, an obscure Sonic character from the 1990s, who would not be a villain in the show. Roger Craig Smith among several voice actors would be announced to reprise their roles as their titular characters including Mike Pollock as Doctor Eggman, a role Pollock has been playing since Sonic X in 2003. Production on the first season ended in February 2016 while production on the second season began in December of that same year. The show's first trailer was revealed on March 24, 2016, and a lot of hype and anticipation was led up to the first episode of the show titled The Bowling Game, where Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, among others participate in a bowling championship.

The Sonic Show initially received mixed reviews from critics but in the years following its original premiere, it has received worldwide acclaim from critics, audiences, and fans of the Sonic franchise, praising it for its performances, dialouge, writing, animation, and humor. The show is considered to be one of the greatest television series of all time especially taking inspiration from Seinfield and ''Friends. The Sonic Show was originally created by Van Orman and Partible to rival another Cartoon Network show Teen Titans Go!,'' which took up all the ratings on the channel at the time. While the first season was a success in ratings being able to beat Teen Titans Go! for a short amount of time, the second season received lower ratings due to the network airing Teen Titans Go! more constantly compared to their other shows, causing it to get cancelled after its second season. After a massive spike in popularity one year after it was cancelled, Warner Bros. announced in 2020 that they had commisioned 15 more episodes of The Sonic Show to be released on their streaming service HBO Max. In 2023, the first episode of the third season titled They're Back was released, along with the entire third season in general. The show would later be renewed for more seasons, with many calling it the "HBO Max era."

The Sonic Show has received several awards and accolades as well as nominations. The They're Back episode made the show surpass Velma as the biggest premiere day of an animated TV show. As of April 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery officially owns the rights to The Sonic Show, thus putting the first two seasons (nicknamed the "Cartoon Network era") on HBO Max, now renamed Max. On July 29, 2024, a feature film titled Sonic Revelations was released as a Max original movie.

Episodes
Main article: List of The Sonic Show episodes

Season 1 (2016-2017)
Despite having serious and emotional moments, season one of The Sonic Show does not have a real storyline. Season one focuses on the titular title character Sonic the Hedgehog (Roger Craig Smith) going on several adventures with his best friends Miles "Tails" Prower (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), Knuckles the Echidna (Travis Willingham) and girlfriend Amy Rose (Cindy Robinson). He has a friendly rivarly with Shadow the Hedgehog (Kirk Thornton) but still have alliances. All five of them among several others live in the town of Green Hill, where Flickies are singing, sun is shining, and no harm is done. Except for when Doctor Eggman (Mike Pollock) causes trouble up in his lair along with his henchmen Orbot and Cubot (Kirk Thornthon and Wally Wingert, respectively) Although the first season focuses on Sonic and his friends having fun or relaxing with each other, they usually are seen fighting Eggman and his badniks. They all live in Green Hill on the fictional land of South Island, which is reported to have 2 million inhabitants by Sonic in The Late Night Show with Omochao in Season 2.

In episode 4 of the first season, Fang the Sniper (Ashton Kutcher), Bark the Polar Bear (Tobey Maguire), and Bean the Dynamite (Ed Helms) come to the island looking for $500 billion treasure that they had been searching for for seven years. Although they are unsuccessful in finding the treasure, they make alliances with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and for Fang, with Rouge the Bat. The show also focuses on other characters such as Team Chaotix consisting of Vector (Keith Silverstein), Charmy (O'Shaughnessey), and Espio (Matthew Mercer), Cream the Rabbit (Michelle Ruff) and her mother Vanilla (Tara Strong), Silver the Hedgehog (Quinton Flynn and then Bryce Papenbrook) and Blaze the Cat (Laura Bailey and then Erica Lindbeck), Lucille the Fox (Strong), Honey the Cat (Anna Faris), E-123 Omega (Vic Mignogna and then Aaron LaPlante), Big the Cat (Kyle Hebert) and even obscure characters like Mighty the Armadillo (Rob Riggle) or Ray the Flying Squirrel (Ryan Reynolds).

Season one comes to an end with the episode EggmanLand, focusing on many of the characters visiting Doctor Eggman's new theme park, creatively titled EggmanLand.

Season 2 (2018)
Season 2 begins with the episode Dr. Shadow where Shadow becomes a doctor and assists with Sonic after he injures his arm. Several new characters are introduced in the season such as the Bunny Twins, Tia and Sia, Mayor Naka, Amy's parents Mark and Jennifer, and returns other obscure Sonic characters such as Marine the Raccoon (O'Shaughnessey), Wes Weasley (Ryan Drummond), and Cosmo the Seedrian (Amy Birnbaum). In episodes 7 and 9 The Bunny Twins and The Interrogation, Eggman teams up with Metal Sonic (Craig Smith), his ancestor Eggman Nega, and the infamous criminals the Bunny Twins named Tia and Sia (both voiced by Elsie Fisher) to make a plan to dominate both South Island and the world. In the 30 minute episode Fang the Sniper Rules, Fang finally finds his treasure but it is eaten by a whale along with his boat, leaving him, Bark, and Bean stranded on the island, but they do not mind it if they get to spend time with their friends on the island. Tails goes to science camp and meets a plant species the Seedrians. At there, he meets a science camper Cosmo the Seedrian. The two fall in love with each other and eventually start dating. The episode Cosmo, Do You Copy? focuses on Cosmo coming to South Island and Tails and Cosmo having a double date with Sonic and Amy. In the 21st episode, the Chaotix along with Rouge find seven new emeralds buried on Angel Island, the Super Emeralds. According to Knuckles, the Super Emeralds have the power to turn somebody who possess it into the most powerful being in the universe, 100x more powerful then the Chaos Emeralds. When Rouge shows the Super Emeralds to Sonic, he starts to have dejá vu, questioning if he had used the emeralds before. After advice from Knuckles, Rouge takes the Super Emeralds and burys it in her large vault, which has a lot of treasure.

In the 24th episode, Eggman kidnaps Sonic and tells him his evil plan. Nega, Tia, and Sia are knocked out and tied into a chair, and later Eggman as Metal Sonic betrays Eggman after being rejected and neglected and treated like garbage. Metal Sonic leaves South Island and becomes his "Neo Metal Sonic" form from Sonic Heroes. He summons a whole leauge of badniks that he made in Eggman's lair to attack Station Square, while Neo Metal Sonic rules Station Square. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, along with several others go to Station Square to defeat Neo Metal Sonic while Rouge and Fang stay behind. Remembering how Sonic and Shadow beat the Finalhazard, Rouge flys the Super Emeralds and Fang to Station Square. After a battle, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are able to transform into Hyper Sonic, Hyper Tails, and Hyper Knuckles with the Super Emeralds and defeat Neo Metal Sonic, who has transformed into Metal Overlord. At Amy's high school prom, Sonic comes and dances with her. Sonic and Amy have a moment of talking and then they kiss each other. Wes Weasley, who is on the run from the government, hides in the prom room. With a remote control that Eggman made, Wes convinces a student there named Janet (Selah Victor) to press the remote, causing the entire island as well as everybody on it to become frozen, with the exception of Eggman and Wes.

Season 3 (2023-2024)
Nearly five years after everyone on the island got paused, the Station Square FBI capture Eggman and order him to unpause everyone, but Eggman has destroyed the remote and retired from villany. Seeing how much he loved being a villain especially with Orbot and Cubot, Eggman accepts. GUN builds a giant fan (if they can build a giant truck then they can build a giant fan) and unfreezes everyone, who is confused about what happened but are told that it is 2023. After much trouble, everybody goes back to their regular lives.

Sonic Revelations (2023)
In the HBO Max exclusive movie Sonic Revelations, Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot go up to Eggman's grandfather Gerald Robotnik's Space Colony ARK, the place where Shadow was born. While exploring the ARK, they find an secret room filled with three pods containing three different hedgehogs. Eggman opens them and they all wake up. The dark blue hedgehog is Quacksalver (Jason Griffith), who is not a hedgehog but a robot based on a hedgehog, similar to Metal Sonic. He uses his jet boots to fly and shoots lasers out of his eyes.. The black hedgehog is named Dusk (Chris Pratt), which his name is a synonym of Shadow. He has the power to create the power of illusion with a Chaos Emerald, calling it "Chaos Mirage" technique. The dark grey hedgehog who had not been introduced yet is named Terios the Hedgehog (David Humphrey), the original ultimate lifeform that Gerald created but he, Quacksalver, and Dusk, were all abandoned by Gerald after a deadly lab test which took the lives of 4 people. Eggman dresses all three of them up in spray paint and sends them down to New York City to do crimes. In just four hours, Sonic the Hedgehog is wanted for seven counts of burglary and felony. Terios, Quacksalver, and Dusk escape in a black van with the license plate number "S0N1C". The president of the United Federations declares Sonic wanted and on the FBI's hitlist. At South Island, Sonic is having a picnic with Tails, Amy, and Knuckles when the FBI arrives on the island and places Sonic under arrested. He is booted off South Island by Mayor Naka and put into Jail Island, a remake of Prison Island, which exploded back in Sonic Adventure 2. Shadow the Hedgehog closely investigates the incident and sees that in a footage of the van escaping, there was another person disguised as Sonic there. Shadow and Rouge, along with Omega, are determined to find out who framed Sonic. Sonic meanwhile is sent to Jail Island where he is sentenced to 5-10 years in prison. Wes Weasley is seen trying to get his life back together, trying to sell healthier versions of the formerly discontinued Chaos Cola, now named ChaoCola. Wes is sent an phone call by Eggman and Terios to work with them on the Space Colony ARK, which he happily accepts. Dusk comes and picks him up to the ARK, where Quacksalver asks Wes to capture Shadow with Eggman. Eggman denies this and tries to do it himself. Tails, Knuckles, and Amy try to go to Jail Island in order to free Sonic. They talk with the staff and sercurity there to see if they can bail him out, however there is no parole on Sonic's sentence. Eggman sends out Orbot and Cubot to capture Shadow but they do a terrible job. So Terios does it himself, having a stronger connection with Shadow. Shadow is revealed to be telekinetically linked to Terios, which makes sense when he senses Terios before he captures him. They ensue in an all out brawl in Central City before Terios gives the final blow to Shadow to the head and causing him to fall down in an alleyway. Terios takes an unconscious, bleeding Shadow all the way up to the Space Colony ARK, where he is taken care of by Dusk. Omega and Rouge worry where Shadow is, and try to find the clues where he last was. At night, Tails in his Walker mech and Knuckles break into Jail Island to free Sonic. While Tails shoots the GUN robots with his Walker, Knuckles goes and frees Sonic. The GUN robots prove too powerful for Tails' old aged Walker, which gets destroyed.

Before the GUN robots shoot Tails, Knuckles and Sonic save him. Human guards come as well and they all escape them. They are intercepted by Mighty, who is working a late night shift. However, Mighty makes an excuse that he fell and twisted his ankle. Amy is outside waiting on the Tornado, wondering why she is put out of all the fun when they come and escape Jail Island. Shadow wakes up on the Space Colony ARK and meets Terios, who tells him that he is his brother. Not knowing Terios' plan, Shadow starts to bond with him, Dusk, and Quacksalver but is skeptical of Eggman, who tries to act all nice and innocent. With spells, Terios and Dusk turn Shadow into an alternate version of himself, Nemesis Shadow. Nemesis Shadow is given the order by Terios and Eggman to betray Sonic and his friends. The plan with Terios, Dusk, Quacksalver, and Eggman is to dominate the world like Eggman had always wished for and turn it into the Eggman Empire. However, Terios, Dusk, and Quacksalver all have different opinions on this as they think that Earth should be their world, leading to non-alliances with all 4 of them. Mighty is fired from his job, causing Ray to get mad. However, Wes Weasley is being held hostage by Dusk. Mighty, Ray, and Wes are kidnapped by Dusk and bought to the Nevada Desert, Area 54 where Dusk plans to lure Sonic in to kill him. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are booted off of South Island by Mayor Naka and have no other choice but to stay hidden in Central City. They all are able to hide in an unoccupied apartment room in Central City. Sonic mopes about who was the one who kidnapped him while Tails and Knuckles try to find evidence that Sonic wasn't the one who robbed all those banks. Amy is in the bathroom washing her hands after showering when Dusk comes in through the wall and kidnaps her, unbeknowst to Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Meanwhile, Nemesis Shadow continues to bond with Terios and to a lesser extent, Eggman. Amy is put into the Nevada Desert with Wes, Mighty, and Ray who are all sweaty. When Knuckles finally realizes that Amy is missing, Sonic gets a call from Dust, saying that if he doesn't come and get Amy as well as Wes, Mighty, and Ray in the next 24 hours in the Nevada Desert in Area 54, then they will all be dead. Police arrive at the apartment after a lady reported seeing Sonic, but they all manage to escape before the police arrive. Nemesis Shadow goes back down to South Island to find Rouge and Omega. Rouge is excited to see Shadow but is soon contradicted when Shadow starts fighting her and Omega. Rouge and Omega end up victorious but Nemesis Shadow goes away. Nemesis Shadow starts to wonder if he really is the ultimate lifeform, having flashbacks about Maria and Gerald Robotnik with Dusk, Quacksalver, and Terios all in tanks. On Eggman's base in Green Hill, GUN soldiers come and raid his lab, thinking that he had something to do with Sonic breaking out of jail. Terios fights off the GUN soldiers while Quacksalver helps Eggman escape. However, Terios and Quacksalver betray Eggman and go to dominate the world on their own, leaving Eggman to be arrested by the GUN soldiers. Knuckles is sent by Sonic and Tails with a mask back to South Island to warn Omega and Rouge that they must save Amy, Ray, Mighty, and Wes but Omega says that Shadow has turned on them.

Dusk takes all four of them to Area 54 where he ties them up. Amy prays that Sonic saves her, Wes is fearing for his life, and Mighty and Ray try to apologize to each other about the argument they had earlier. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, and Omega arrive at Area 54 and are able to get past sercurity, though Omega stays outside. They are able to find Wes, Amy, Mighty, and Ray and before they untie them, Dusk comes and an battle ensues. Wes and Ray escape and they are able to get a secret tape from Dusk's insides after Sonic punches him. They put a tape into an old TV, where Gerald Robotnik reveals "Project Robotnik", an operation that was originally created by Gerald in April 1951 to help humanity and Maria, for the better. The tape that Gerald documents reveals the horrors of Project Robotnik. After a deadly experiment that killed four people and caused Gerald and other scientist to get into a wrongful death lawsuit, Gerald discontinued Project Robotnik and two months late, Shadow the Hedgehog was born surrogate on June 19, 1951 and even shows footage of Maria meeting Shadow for the first time. In another flashback, Shadow sees Gerald talking to scientists with Dusk, Quacksalver, and Terios in tanks filled with green liquid but Maria pulls him back, saying that Gerald would be mad if they had been evesdropping on him. Wes and Ray mourn about this while Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Omega, and Mighty fight off Dusk. Omega is able to knock off Dusk, causing his power to go out. The seven all celebrate but it is interrupted when somebody starts kicking down a door. They all prepare if it is guards, but Terios and Nemesis Shadow are kicking down the door. For 10 minutes, they all have a battle with Wes and Ray trying to have an artifical intelligence program to help them. Even though they all get beaten up ruthlessly by the two, Sonic goes all out on Terios, blaming him for getting him put in Jail Island. On Jail Island, Eggman is freed by several of his badniks from Sonic the Hedgehog '06. Eggman goes back to South Island and gets his equipment and badniks ready to go and get revenge on Terios, Quacksalver, and Dusk. Nemesis Shadow and Terios leave, taking Amy, Mighty, and Ray with them (Ray after he tries to save Mighty), and they all mourn with their efforts having been wasted. Wes tries to cheer them up but Knuckles has an idea. Wes confirms that he heard Eggman was betrayed by the three of them. Before they leave to South Island again, Dusk mentions that he was bullied relentlessly by Quacksalver and Terios on the Space Colony ARK back in 1951, and wants to get revenge on the both of them, and make them suffer. In that, Dusk also joins the team. In Eggman's lair, Eggman plays "E.G.G.M.A.N." while he, Orbot, Cubot, and their other badniks get prepared for battle. That is until Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles show up. Sonic (unhappily) announces that them and Eggman need to team up to stop Terios. Sonic is reluctant at first, but Tails reassures him, saying that whether he likes it or not, Terios and Quacksalver are going to dominate the world and enslave all life on the planet, so they must enlist help from Eggman since he has more equipment they can use. And like that, Sonic, the others, and Eggman all team up together. Eggman announces that earlier he placed a tracking device on Quacksalver, and with that they can determine where they are going. Nemesis Shadow, Terios, and Quacksalver all travel to the

Characters
Related article: List of Sonic the Hedgehog characters

Main

 * Sonic the Hedgehog (voiced by Roger Craig Smith) - is a blue colored male hedgehog who lives in a wooden house in his neighboorhood. Sonic can run very fast at approximately 100 mph, and his favorite food is chili dogs. Sonic is the straight man of his group, Sonic Team (a reference to you know what). He is very cocky to other people, but can be seen hanging out with people other then his friends, such as Fang, Bark, and Bean, and some other people. Sonic spends his time watching sports on TV, including romance comedies and sports. He is the boyfriend of Amy Rose, which was hinted in season 1 but then later confirmed later on into the show by season 2 as well as the son in law of her parents Jennifer and Mark.
 * Doctor Eggman (voiced by Mike Pollock) - is a mad scientist evil doctor who is the main antagonist of the show. Eggman lives on top of South Island in his lair with his robotic henchmen Orbot and Cubot, plotting ways of defeating Sonic and his friends. Despite hating Sonic, he is shown to have some respect for him, such as when he saves him or when they get trapped in a room together and they have to get along. Eggman constantly berates Orbot and Cubot as well as threatening to send them into the junkyard, which had Metal Sonic in it.
 * Miles "Tails" Prower (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey) - is a orange and white fox who is friends with Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy. Tails is nine and a half years old and is a very smart fox. Tails invents groundbreaking objects, such as a robotic version of Eggman, called EggMecha. Tails is also the pilot of Sonic's Tornado plane, which he later fixes after Knuckles crashes the plane. Tails' favorite food is a corn dog, and has an entire fridge filled with them. Tails' workshop also has a basement where he has many of his lost inventions, similar to Eggman's junkyard.
 * Knuckles the Echidna (voiced by Travis Willingham from 2016-2018, Dave B. Mitchell in 2019-) - is a red echidna with a small nosed beak who is the guardian of the Master Emerald. Knuckles is the guardian of the large emerald, but can be very gullible at time, including be tricked by Rouge or Fang, or being tricked by Eggman. Knuckles' favorite food is a foot long sandwich. Knuckles' home is a shrine on top of a mountain on Green Hill, a little bit near by Eggman's lair.
 * Amy Rose (voiced by Cindy Robinson) - is a pink female hedgehog who has an affection for Sonic. Amy has a piko-piko hammer which she uses to beat up people, including Eggman and his badniks. She hangs out with Cream and Big, who she hangs out with besides Sonic. Amy is shown to have pictures of Sonic in her room, which she considers to be normal for some reason. Amy wears a white and red skirt. By the second season, it is confirmed that both Sonic and Amy are dating, especially in the final minutes of the Season 2 finale.
 * Shadow the Hedgehog (voiced by Kirk Thornton) is a black hedgehog who considers himself to be "the ultimate lifeform." Shadow is shown in the show to be alone at many times, but often hangs out at the bar with Rouge and E-123 Omega. Shadow is an anti-hero, who helps Sonic and his friends defeat Eggman, but is left out of the party many times, and also has a friendly rivarly with Sonic. Shadow also forms a friendship with Cream, who he babysits often. Shadow, despite his slight edginess, has a good heart and will do anything to help people.
 * Rouge the Bat (voiced by Karen Strassman) - is a white bat who hangs out with Shadow and E-123 Omega. Rouge claims to be the world's best treasure hunter, even working with Fang the Sniper to find treasure on South Island. She can manipulate Knuckles to hand her the Master Emerald, and has a friendship-rivarly relationship with Fang. Rouge is sometimes seen talking to Sonic and Tails, but rarely talks to the other people.
 * Fang the Sniper (voiced by Ashton Kutcher) is a purple jeboa/wolf hybrid who arrived on South Island in the fourth episode with his friends, Bark and Bean. Fang arrived on the island because of metal radiation of treasure buried deep within the island, often looking for it with Rouge the Bat. In the first episode he appears in, Fang is also addicted with Knuckles’ Master Emerald, but does not know of its true powers and intentions, and intends to sell it for wealth. Once Fang found his $500 billion treasure like he always intended, his boat and treasure is eaten by a whale, leaving him, Bark, and Bean stranded on the island.
 * Wes Weasley (voiced by Ryan Drummond) - is a tall slightly orange and white weasel who always carries a briefcase with him. Wes Weasley is a greedy businessman who wants nothing more but the cash out of people's pockets with his former corporation, Weasley Co. Wes was wanted by the government for selling one of his products Chaos Cola with drugs in them and selling it to minors, causing his company to get shut down. Weasley then became the principal of Green Hill High under the new name "Ews Leweyas" before getting caught by Sonic, Tails, and Lucille and arrested by the government. After undergoing a major redemption arc in Season 3, Wes became promoted to one of the main characters.

Recurring

 * Vector the Crocodile (voiced by Keith Silverstein) - is a tall 7 feet crocodile who is the head honcho of the Chaotix Detective Agency. He works solving crimes with his friends / associates Charmy Bee, Espio the Chameleon, and sometimes Mighty the Armadillo. Besides being a detective, Vector is shown to be a jazz player during the Saturdays and Sundays, and even helping Rouge find the lost Hyper Emeralds.
 * Espio the Chameleon (voiced by Matthew Mercer) - is a purple chameleon who works with Vector the Crocodile and Charmy Bee in the Chaotix Detective Agency. Espio is quiet, just like Shadow but is more active then the others. During his spare time besides solving mysteries with Vector and Charmy, Espio goes to ninja-training class on the weekends, and has a black belt in ninja classes he attends, even revelling in self discipline.
 * Charmy Bee (also voiced by Collen O'Shaughnessey) - is a bee who is the "scatter-brained funny-kid" of the Chaotix Detective Agency. Charmy is a bee who is very hyperactive and energetic. Charmy is six years old, compared to the much older Espio and Vector, who are obviously much more mature then him. Despite this, Charmy stll has a good attitude and is good-hearted.
 * Cream the Rabbit (voiced by Michelle Ruff) - is a young eight year old peach colored rabbit who lives with her mom Vanilla in a purple colored house. Cream is shown to be naive and gullible, just like Knuckles but is intelligent enough not to fall for many bad tricks made by Eggman or his henchmen. Cream is usually babysat by Tails or Shadow, having the best friendship with Shadow, who teaches her the many ways of life. Cream is also shown to have a crush on Tails in the show.
 * Vanilla the Rabbit (voiced by Ashleigh Ball) - is a tall rabbit with wardrobe clothing who is the mother of Cream and the caretaker of Cheese. Vanilla allows Cream to do almost anything, such as hang out with Sonic and her friends, and letting Tails, Sonic, and Shadow babysit Cream while she's at work. Vanilla cares a lot about Cream as her mother, making the right choices for her daughter and Cheese too.
 * Big the Cat (voiced by Kyle Hebert) - is a large, purple and white cat who is unintelligent but still good-hearted. Big has a friend named Froggy, who he spends most of his time with Froggy going fishing with him. Big is physically strong, and easygoing, as well as sweet. He hangs out with Amy and Cream, and they all form their own team, Team Rose, as a reference to 2003's Sonic Heroes, where Amy, Cream, and Big teamed up.
 * E-123 Omega (voiced by Vic Mignogna from 2016-2017, Aaron LaPlante from 2018-) - is a tall and strong metallic robot who was created by Doctor Eggman, but later disobeyed him and his orders and decided to go his own independent route. E-123 Omega hangs out with Shadow and Rouge at the bar, even sometimes hanging out with Sonic and his friends. E-123 Omega launches several weapons from his arms, such as guns and shields.
 * Orbot and Cubot (voiced by Kirk Thornthon and Wally Wingert, respectively) - are two yellow and red blue-eyed robots who are Doctor Eggman’s henchmen, who are also often threatened and abused by Eggman. Orbot and Cubot usually tell Eggman about how stupid his plans are, but Eggman usually denies this and threatens to send them to a junkyard, but doesn’t in the end. Orbot and Cubot live in Eggman's lair on top of South Island, and the two are not friends, but acquaintances. Cubot is more slow and defective which causes him to speak with more of an accent while Orbot is more faster paced and energetic.
 * Silver the Hedgehog (voiced by Quinton Flynn from 2016-2017, Bryce Papenbrook from 2018-) - is a white silver-furred hedgehog from 200 years from the future. Silver is friends with Sonic and the others, as well as his other friend, Blaze the Cat. Silver hangs out with with Rouge sometimes, but stays in the present to have some people to talk to. Silver's main power is telekinesis, where he is able to levitate objects to float them up into the air and use them to attack enemies such as Eggman's badniks or fight someone. Silver forms a team with Blaze and Mighty the Armadillo called Team Silver.
 * Mighty the Armadillo (voiced by Rob Riggle) - is a black and red armadillo who used to be friends with Sonic and Ray the Flying Squirrel, but has since never been seen. Mighty also used to work with the Chaotix Detective Agency, but has since retired from being a detective, and now lives in a run-down retirment home. When searching for Mighty, Sonic sees a wanted poster for him on South Island, prompting for him to look for him. But when he finally finds him and releases him back into the spotlight, he is soon arrested by the South Island Police. Although, later in the episode, he is bailed out by Sonic.
 * Blaze the Cat (voiced by Erica Schroeder) - is a purple cat who is friends with Silver, also traveling from 200 years from the future. Blaze is the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, which she hides in a shrine on top of a mountain, which is very similar to Knuckles' master emerald. Blaze is normally calm and elegant but tends to conceal her true feelings. Blaze is revealed to be obsessed with red dots, like normal cats are obsessed. She goes to therapy, along with Big the Cat.
 * Bark the Polar Bear (voiced by Tobey Maguire) - is a light beige furred polar bear who is acquaintances with Bean the Dynamite and Fang the Sniper. Bark is a large polar bear, about almost the same size of Big the Cat. His, Fang, and Bean's motivations are the same: they get the $100 million dollar treasure and get off of South Island. After they find the treasure, they intend to get off the island, but their treasure and boat is eaten by a giant whale, leaving them stranded on the island.
 * Bean the Dynamite (voiced by Ed Helms) - is a black-eyed green woodpecker who is friends with Bark and Fang, who helps them look for the $100 million treasure. As his name implies, Bean is obsessed with TNT, bombs, and dynamite as he finds the sounds of them exploding satisfying. After they find the treasure, an unknown hedgehog comes and steals their treasure and boat, eventually leaving all of them to be stranded on South Island.
 * Honey the Cat (voiced by Anna Faris) - is a energetic hyper-active cat with lying-light amber fur with pigtails. Honey meets Sonic in episode 6 and later befriends him. The real reason behind her hyperactivness is because of her drinking coffee all the time, which leads to her getting to hyperactive to the point where she gets several hallucinations, which leads to her going to a doctor. Honey also forms a bond with Amy because of their similarities. She is fast and agile and can jump very high into the air.

Others

 * Jet the Hawk (voiced by Michael Yurchak) - is a green and white hawk and the leader of the Babylon Rouges. In the hoverboard racing tournament, Jet and his allies Wave and Storm compete against Sonic and his friends as well as other teams in the tournament. But in the end, they end up losing.
 * Ray the Flying Squirrel (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) - is a yellow flying squirrel who was friends with Might but has now since disconnected from their friendship and bond. After Mighty is bailed out of prison by Sonic, Ray and Mighty reunite and start their friendship again, doing the things they never got to do. Ray now works at an doctor at South Island Hospital.
 * Lucille the Fox (voiced by Tara Strong) - is a 16 year old young red fox who is friends with Cream, Amy, and Cheese and is the sister of Samis and Anton. Lucille is shown to be very bossy, disobedient, and rude at many times especially with Sonic, but is good-hearted to Tails.
 * Samuel the Fox (voiced by Max Charles from 2017-2019, Tyler James Nathan from 2023-) is a six year old young red fox who is Lucille and Anton's brother. He is clumsy but kind and has an obsession with paper planes.
 * Anton the Fox (voiced by Chris Crawlford) - is a three year old fox who's sinlings are Lucille and Samis. Anton is shown to be very innocent and is taught the ways of life, especially with Sonic.
 * Cheese (voiced by Ryō Hirashi) - is a chao who is the pet of Cream and her mother, Vanilla. Cheese is Cream's best friend besides Sonic and the others, going with her on her own adventures. Cheese also always plays with Cream in tea time and playtime, playing as her characters with her and her mom, and even Shadow.
 * Wave the Swallow (voiced by Kate Higgins) - is a purple swallow who is the mechanic of the Babylon Rouges with Jet and Storm. Wave is the most intelligent of the trio and has an IQ of 320, easily surpassing Tails and Eggman's IQs of 253 and 254, respectively. Wave's father was apart of the previous generation of the Babylon Rouges, and continues to pass on his legacy.
 * Omochao (voiced by Laura Bailey in 2016, Erica Lindbeck from 2016-) - is a robotic Chao with a propeller on its head. Omochao is a robot created by Tails that serves as a "guide instructor" for people. Many (almost every) people on South Island hate Omochao because of how "obvious it is."
 * Metal Sonic (voiced by Roger Craig Smith) - is a evil robotic metal version of Sonic who was created by Doctor Eggman for the sole purpose of defeating him. Metal Sonic occasionally appears to fight Sonic, but usually ends up losing. Metal Sonic at the end of season 2 turns into Metal Overlord but is defeated by Hyper Sonic, Hyper Tails, and Hyper Knuckles.
 * Eggman Nega (also voiced by Mike Pollock) - is a sinister, ruthless, corrupt, greedy, power-hungry mad scientist who is an ancestor of Eggman who arrives on South Island to dominate it, until Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles change his mind.

Full voice cast

 * Roger Craig Smith as Sonic the Hedgehog, Mayor Naka, and Metal Sonic
 * Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Miles "Tails" Prower and Charmy the Bee
 * Mike Pollock as Doctor Eggman and Eggman Nega
 * Travis Willingham as Knuckles the Echidna (2016-2018)
 * Dave B. Mitchell as Knuckles the Echidna (2023-present)
 * Cindy Robinson as Amy Rose
 * Kirk Thornton as Shadow the Hedgehog and Orbot
 * Ashton Kutcher as Fang the Sniper
 * Ryan Drummond as Wes Weasley and Adventure Sonic/Sonic #1
 * Karen Strassman as Rouge the Bat
 * Keith Silverstein as Vector the Crocodile
 * Michelle Ruff as Cream the Rabbit
 * Ed Helms as Bean the Dynamite
 * Tara Strong as Vanilla the Rabbit and Lucille the Fox
 * Matthew Mercer as Espio the Chameleon
 * Kyle Hebert as Big the Cat
 * Wally Wingert as Cubot
 * Quinton Flynn as Silver the Hedgehog (2016-2017)
 * Bryce Papenbrook as Silver the Hedgehog (2018-present)
 * Laura Bailey as Omochao and Blaze the Cat (2016-2018)
 * Erica Lindbeck as Blaze the Cat and Omochao (2023-present)
 * Tobey Maguire as Bark the Polar Bear
 * Erica Schroeder as Blaze the Cat
 * Vic Mignogna as E-123 Omega (2016-2017)
 * Aaron LaPlante as E-123 Omega (2023-present)
 * Rob Riggle as Mighty the Armadillo
 * Ryan Reynolds as Ray the Flying Squirrel
 * Anna Faris as Honey the Cat
 * Michael Yurchak as Jet the Hawk
 * Kate Higgins as Wave the Swallow
 * Chris Crawlford as Anton the Fox
 * Ryō Hirashi and Dee Bradley Baker as the Chao
 * David Humphrey as Terios the Hedgehog
 * Jason Griffith as Quacksalver
 * Chris Pratt as Dusk the Hedgehog

Conception and writing
Back in 2002, one year after Sega left the console market and became third-party developers, Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust pitched the idea of a Sonic TV show to Sega of America, with Faust and McCracken working on the show alongside Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. The show would have aired on Disney Channel and would have lasted for four seasons, with 26 episodes in each and 104 episodes in total. The series was surprisingly able to make it far, even having an entire pilot made titled The Sonic Show, taking a Seinfield sitcom approach which the later show would inspire. However, McCracken and Faust found it difficult to work on the show at the same time and thus abandoned the show. Unable to find someone else to take the helm, Sega abandoned the project. In 2017, the pilot was found and dumped online. According to the former voice actors of Sonic and Knuckles Ryan Drummond and Scott Dreier, the show would have featured the voices of Drummond and Dreier as Sonic and Knuckles respectively, Jennifer Douillard as Amy Rose, Deem Bristow as Doctor Eggman, and Tara Strong providing the voice for Tails replacing Connor Bringas from Sonic Adventure 2. According to David Humphrey, Shadow would have also make an appearance in the show.

In 2005, Sonic X (2003-2005) had aired its third and final season in Japan and in the US on 4Kids. Takashi lizuka, head of the company that makes the Sonic games Sonic Team had pitched to Sega an idea of another TV show following the canon timeline of the games like a fourth season of Sonic X or a seperate television series, even adapting the story of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). While Sega and Sonic Team adored the idea, 4Kids were not interested in making another TV show based off Sonic, so lizuka tried pitching it to other networks such as Fox, MTV, and even Adult Swim at one point, but all networks refused the idea of a Sonic television series, with some considering that Sonic X was the perfect place to end a Sonic TV series, as even 4Kids thought so. In 2006, Sega and lizuka completely abandoned the idea of a new Sonic TV show, and had thrown the script in the garbage, literally by Sega executives at the time.

In 2013, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (2008-2010) creator Throup Van Orman expressed interest in adapting a TV show based off the Sonic the Hedgehog property. Van Orman stated that the interest in the show after playing Sonic Unleashed (2008) and Sonic Generations (2011), as well as watching the television animated DiC series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993), seeing potential in a slapstick like Sonic show. Van Orman did not pitch the show to Sega of America until October 2014 where he reportedly was recorded entering Sega of America headquarters with a 15-page script in his hand. After that, Van Orman announced on his DeviantArt that Sega had approved of the show and announced that production would start shortly after the release of Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric (2014). After Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric released in November of that same year (to obviously generally negative reviews), Cartoon Network Studios and Sega announced a collaboration between each other to produce the first Sonic television series since Sonic X 9 years ago, to premiere in mid-to-late 2016 on Cartoon Network, with Van Partible, creator of another Cartoon Network show Johnny Bravo (1997-2004), also announced to co-create. The first thing that began with production was the writing on the episodes. At first, the series was given the codename Sonic: The Series, but was then renamed The Sonic Show. Van Orman and Partible hired several well known members of the animation community to work on The Sonic Show. These included Kent Osborne who worked with Van Orman on Flapjack and also worked on SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-present), Craig McCracken the creator of The Powerpuff Girls (1998-2005), Daron Nefcy who would go on to create Star vs. the Forces of Evil (2015-2019), Paul Rudish, the developer of the Mickey Mouse shorts (2013-2019, 2020-2023), Lauren Faust, wife of McCracken and creator of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (2010-2019), Chris Savino, creator of The Loud House (2016-present), animation partners Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone known for their work with Warner Bros. Animation and who also directed the 2002 pilot, Craig Bartlett, creator of Hey Arnold! (1996-2004), Aaron Springer, creator of Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer (2017) who also worked on SpongeBob, and Clayton McKenzie Morrow, who worked with Rudish on the Mickey Mouse shorts. All eleven writers were able to write all 26 episodes of the first season in three months. Partible and Van Orman also helped with some episodes, with Van Orman writing and directing the first episode.

South Island was going to be shown like how it was in the 8-bit Sonic the Hedgehog game in between levels, but after writer Kent Osborne jokingly asked AI to make a picture of South Island, Chris Savino absolutely love the results so he and Brandt drew a more different version of South Island. The drawing on the side was made by AI. The actual drawing Savino and Brandt made was used for the show. In season 3 of the show, South Island was given many more locations, each of these locations being based on actual locations from the IDW comics. Ian Flynn was promoted to writer in season 3, along with 2001-09 Sonic writer Shiro Maekawa and famous duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Writing lasted for three months with all 26 episodes completed on February 19, 2015 after Partible announced the show had finished its writing stage.

After the writing, production on the show officially began. On October 23, 2017, when writer and director Chris Savino admitted to sexually harassing women, he was fired from The Sonic Show. The final episode that Savino worked on was the episode, Besties, which was completed before the allegations arose. Despite participating in the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, the voice actor of Fang the Sniper Ashton Kutcher still participated in the show. In season 4, Fang had a less prominent role. The SAG-AFTRA strike does not affect video games or animated television series, allowing people to continue working on the show without any problem.

Casting
Roger Craig Smith announced he would be reprising his role as Sonic the Hedgehog in the show in April 2015. Van Orman and Partible wanted Kate Higgins to reprise her role as Miles "Tails" Prower after she was replaced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey in Rise of Lyric as well as Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal. But they later changed their mind and went for O'Shaughnessey. Mike Pollock and Cindy Robinson announced the reprisal of Doctor Eggman and Amy Rose, respectively. Travis Willingham and Kirk Thornton were announced to as Knuckles the Echidna and Shadow the Hedgehog with Thornthon reprising his role as Orbot and Wally Wingert as Cubot, Eggman's henchmen who first appeared in Sonic Colors (2010). Fang the Sniper, an incredibly obscure Sonic character who only appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble (1994) and Sonic the Fighters (1996).

Animation
Van Orman and Partible became interested in having an experienced animator for their cartoon. Cartoon Network was most notably interested in having a style similar to the new Sonic Archie Comics. Tyson Hesse, a writer for the Archie comics, was hired by Partible and several of the writers to be the animation director for The Sonic Show. At that time, Hesse was also known for his work on The Amazing World of Gumball comic book series. According to Hesse, it would take approximately 55 people to animate an entire episode of the series. The storyboard art would be done at Cartoon Network Studios with usually Hesse as the main storyboard artist or animation director and then the animation would be outsoucred to Rough Draft Korea, also known for doing work on another Cartoon Network series The Looney Tunes Show(2011-2013). One positive reception of the show is the unique art style of using the IDW Comics style, but Hesse confirms that the series was being developed before the Archie Comics Sonic series was discontinued in 2017 and before the IDW Comics were confirmed. Uniqually, unlike other shows which used flash animation or computer animation, almost every episode of the first season of The Sonic Show used cel-animation, but later switched to more traditional style animation starting with S1E26 "EggmanLand".

Broadcast
Originally scheduled for release in 2015, Van Orman later delayed the show to 2016 for Sonic the Hedgehog's 25th anniversary, for fans to wait for other Sonic projects in 2017 such as the 2D platformer Sonic Mania and the then unknown game, Project 2017. Some people criticized how it would be released in November instead of June (Sonic's anniversary month) but Van Orman and Partible said it was always like that. The Sonic Show had a worldwide premiere of its first seven episodes for its Cartoon Network premiere on November 24 and an exclusive interview with the celebrities who star in the show Ashton Kutcher, Anna Faris, Rob Riggle, and Ryan Reynolds. After several months of hype and anticipation, the series made its official premiere on Cartoon Network on November 29, 2016 with the episode The Bowling Game. After foiling another one of Eggman's schemes in Station Square, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, among many participate in a bowling game to get a lifetime of free ice cream. The Bowling Game garnered 2.63 million viewers on its premiere day, being able to beat Teen Titans Go! 's recent episode TV Knight 's ratings of 1.32 million, with Van Orman calling it a huge success for the crew. For season 1, it had been one of the first times that a show was able to surpass TTG! in ratings. The creators of TTG! Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic approached Van Orman and Partible in 2017 about creating a crossover between The Sonic Show and TTG!, however they denied. In April 2017, when the last episode of the show aired on Cartoon Network, Drymon and Nefcy confirmed that a second season was in development at Cartoon Network Studios, following the season's large success.

When the first episode of Season 2 titled Doctor Shadow aired on May 28, 2018, it had garnered an average of 2.02 million viewers, beating the TTG! epiosde Bro-Pocalypse, which also aired that same day. As Season 2 would go on, the ratings would get lower and lower. As with 2017, Cartoon Network would air more episodes of TTG!, along with to promote its then upcoming movie Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. When asked on the second season's lower ratings compared to the first, writer and director Aaron Springer stated "It's no big deal. The first season was successful in ratings so there's a chance that this season is going to do well also." However, Springer would be proved wrong as the season would get lower and lower ratings as a result of not only TTG!, but other shows such as Summer Camp Island (2018-2023), The Powerpuff Girls (2016-2019), and Craig of the Creek (2016-present) with one episode even getting 0.08 million viewers. There was a slimer of hope as the 30-minute special/episode Fang the Sniper Rules got 2.49 million viewers, the most the show had gotten in ratings since the Season 2 premiere. As time would go on, especially in August 2018, The Sonic Show would lose interest in both critics and audiences, with most of the only people watching being fans of Sonic the Hedgehog, with some critics and audience members scattered around. McCracken and Faust were hopeful that the show would get renewed for a second season, but according to Daron Nefcy, the following day Cartoon Network Studios told the crew about canceling the show due to low ratings, causing most of the crew members to walk out of the room and protest to the idea. Despite this, on September 31, 2018, president of Cartoon Network Christina Miller announced the cancellation of The Sonic Show as well as competition from other shows on both Cartoon Network and other channels such as Disney Channel. On November 13 and November 17, 2018, the two-part finale Metal Sonic Rises was premiered on Cartoon Network, marketed as the series finale. The finale focuses on Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, among others teaming up to stop Metal Sonic from dominating Station Square and the world. The first part had 2.23 million viewers while the second part gained 2.54 million viewers, making it a total of 4.78 million viewers. In case the show would somehow get renewed, writer Ian Flynn made the show have a cliffhanger where all the characters would get frozen by Eggman and Wes Weasley. On the day of the second part (November 17), all of the writers and directors gathered up outside Cartoon Network Studios to take one last photo together before the show ended.

When The Sonic Show was renewed for a third season in 2020 by Warner Bros. Animation to be released on HBO Max (now titled Max), many of the writers returned but some did not. The third season allowed more writers to come in and spread new opportunites such as iconic film duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, best known for directing films like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), The LEGO Movie (2014), 21 Jump Street, and creating television series such as Clone High (2002-2003, 2023-present). There is also Shiro Maekawa, who wrote many of the Sonic games such as Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Adventure 2 (2001) and Black Knight (2009). Thurop Van Orman and Van Partible announced that they would not return for the third season, and their places as showrunners were taken by Brandon Sawyer, Paul Rudish, and Jeff Fowler. Fowler is known for directing the Sonic movies, Rudish developed The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, while Sawyer worked on The Penguins of Madagascar show and its movie as well as The Boss Baby: Back in Business. Conception on the show started in mid to late 2020 while development started in early 2021. Season 3 of The Sonic Show was released on Max on December 25, 2023, five years after the original show ended. The first episode released was They're Back, an episode where Sonic and the others on the island are unfrozen by Eggman and the FBI. The third season expands on the locations of South Island including introducing new characters. In this season, Wes Weasley was promoted to a main character. The 60-minute season 3 finale aired on July 24, 2024 titled Sonic: Into the Hedgehog Verse, where Sonic meets several different versions of himself. At the end of SItHV, there is a mid credits scene where Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot go up to the Space Colony ARK, created by Eggman's grandfather Gerald Robotnik, leading up to Sonic Revelations.

Initial response
Upon its debut, the first season of The Sonic Show received generally mixed reviews from critics and audiences but more positive reviews from fans of the Sonic franchise. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has an approval rating of 58% with an average rating of 5.9/10. Its critical consenus reads: "Although the later seasons improve much better in quality, The Sonic Show 's first season means well and is sometimes charming, but its first half is an entirely mixed bag." It was praised for its humor, unique animation style, characters, and performances but was criticized for its sometimes lackluster jokes, weird concepts, and misrepresentation of most characters. IGN writer Scott Collura gave the first episode The Bowling Game a score of 8.2/10, stating that "Cartoon Network brings us a whole new sitcom-like version of Sonic the Hedgehog - with really fun results." Metacritic however gave the first season an 64 out of 100, meaning "generally favorable reviews." Randy Schiff of The Buffalo News criticized its inspiration from the 1994 TV show Friends, calling it "sometimes not good" but praised the writing and cel-animation, as well as the involvement of several members from the animation industry such as Chris Savino (that didn't age well), Lauren Faust, Paul Rudish, and Craig McCracken. Scott Sandell of the Los Angeles Times called the first episode of the series to be "very lackluster", since every Sonic fan already knew about every character. David Fear of Rolling Stone complimented the inclusion of obscure characters in the franchise such as Mighty the Armadillo, Honey the Cat, Ray the Flying Squirrel, Fang the Sniper, and Bark the Polar Bear and Bean the Dynamite but criticized how underused most of the others where such as Silver the Hedgehog, Honey, Mighty, and Ray. Fear also praised the celebrity voice actors in their roles. Kyle Smith of The Wall Street Journal was divided on the show, praising it for its writing and animation, but criticizing it for underusing its characters, and its weird concepts. Kevin Maher of The Times gave the show 3/4 stars, saying that "he had a very fun time watching the show and also laughed at almost every episode."

Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "The Sonic Show is an actually funny show with numerous jokes that land very well, as well as its stellar animation direction from Tyson Hesse and the performances from both the voices and the celebrity stars." Joe Williams of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave the show two and a half out of four stars, calling most of the jokes lackluster but praised it for its writing, characters, and serious moments.