Critical Appraisal of Sonic Prime Season 1: A Quirkly Multiverse Adventure that Fails to Stand Out!

By Sarah Lewitinn On Dec 15, 2022

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Sega has had its very own mascot since the blue hedgehog made its way onto gaming systems back in 1991, but they have struggled to match the speeds Sonic does in his games. Along the road, there have been many failures that have come close to outnumbering the successes. However, spin-offs like Sonic the Comic and animated TV episodes have helped to further develop the mythos.

Sonic Prime, which falls canonically between the 1992 and 1993 Sonic games, doesn’t achieve anything particularly innovative or novel in this world. The story focuses on Sonic and his closest group of heroes as they seek to defend the universe from the wicked Dr. Robotnik, with minimal mention of the Chaos Emeralds or Team Chaotix.

The humor is quite obviously geared toward children; there are many oddball jokes and slapstick antics, as well as a running joke about chili dogs. However, there are some charming callbacks to the first game for aficionados of the series, with pixelized memories and recognizable sound effects (such as Sonic collecting rings and the sounds of Sonic’s spin) acting as a delightful aesthetic treat.

The plot is adequate enough, with a longer opening episode that serves to establish the scene for the subsequent 20-minute parts. In essence, Dr. Robotnik has discovered the Paradox Prism, which transports Sonic to a parallel universe in which Robotnik has taken control and turned Green Hill into a nightmare of concrete.

Sonic seeks out numerous resistance fighters in New Yoke City (the parallel world) in a desperate attempt to redeem the universe and rectify the wrongs that have been done in his own world. As a result, Sonic accidentally finds himself thrust into a number of other realms.

It’s important to keep in mind that only 8 of the 24 episodes of Sonic Prime are actually available on Netflix. Episode 8 finishes immediately in the middle of a confrontation, and the Netflix user interface makes no notice that this is part 1 of the series. This is important to know because viewers who enter the show and become engrossed in the action may be perplexed and puzzled by the abrupt ending.

However, the animation is generally quite good, and the characters certainly resemble those from video games. While witnessing the different forms of all these characters through the multiverse serves to inspire creativity, and they’re brilliantly brought to life with some amazing dubbing, Sonic’s banter is comparable to that seen in the most recent feature films.

In spite of all of this, Sonic Prime fails to distinguish itself from the vast majority of other television programs and motion pictures set in the Sonic universe. Although multiversal adventures are currently all the rage, the narrative doesn’t feel very novel. However, despite the fact that this is a pleasant diversion, youngsters are most likely to benefit from it.