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, they quit and the show has now been run by Brendan Sawyer, known for working on the Netflix show The Boss Baby: Back in Business, and co-run by Jeff Fowler, who directed the Sonic movies, and animation veteran Paul Rudish, creator of the Mickey Mouse shorts. 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, 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 in March 2016, and a lot of hype and anticipation was led up to the first episode of the show titled The Bowling Game.

The Sonic Show 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 in 2019, 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 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery owns the rights to The Sonic Show, thus putting the first two seasons (named the "Cartoon Network era") on HBO Max, now renamed Max.

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.

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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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 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
 * 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

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 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 December 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 M. Morrow, who worked with Rudish on the Mickey Mouse shorts.