Sonic Prime is an animated television series based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series, co-produced by Sega of America, Netflix Animation, WildBrain Studios and Man of Action Entertainment. It is the sixth animated television series based on the franchise.
The first season, consisting of eight episodes, was released on Netflix on December 15, 2022. The second season, also consisting of eight episodes, was released on July 13, 2023. According to WildBrain Studios, the show would have 23 episodes in total, including a double length series premiere. The third and final season, consisting of seven episodes, was released on January 11, 2024.
A comic book adaptation of the series is in the works with IDW Publishing and is set to release in November 2024.
During a battle with Dr. Eggman, Sonic shatters the Paradox Prism, a crystalline artifact with reality-bending powers. This drastically warps reality and creates the "Shatterverse", a new section of the multiverse with five alternate dimensions called "Shatterspaces", each of them formed by one of the Prism shards and inhabited by alternative versions of Sonic's friends (Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Rouge and Big), but lacking their own versions of him.
Sonic first arrives in New Yoke City, a futuristic dystopian version of Green Hill ruled by a group of Eggman variants who call themselves the Chaos Council and used the power of its shard to conquer it. After learning of the Prism's existence, they seek to conquer the Shatterverse by obtaining all five shards, but are opposed by Sonic and a resistance formed from the City's inhabitants. While attempting to reassemble the Prism and restore his reality, which became the dull and lifeless Ghost Hill following the Prism's shattering, Sonic ventures to other Shatterspaces to retrieve the shards before the council can, including the Boscage Maze, a jungle world with feral versions of his friends; the No Place, a flooded world with pirates; and the Grim, a barren wasteland. Along the way, he befriends the respective versions of his friends and helps them with their problems, including Nine, the New Yoke City version of Tails who has grown bitter and untrusting due to not having Sonic to help him with bullies, Rusty Rose, the New Yoke City version of Amy who was converted into a cyborg by the Chaos Council and struggles to figure out her loyalties, and Dread, the No Place version of Knuckles whose obsession with claiming his realm's shard as his personal treasure ends up alienating him with his crew. Later, Sonic's rival Shadow, who managed to avoid Green Hill's destruction by using Chaos Control, reluctantly agrees to help him. Once the Chaos Council's plans for domination begin to endanger the Shatterverse, the natives of each world join the war against them and work with their counterparts.
Eventually, the Paradox Prism is reassembled, but Nine, worried that restoring the primary universe could potentially destroy the Shatterverse and out of anger at Sonic for trying to mold his personality to match the primary Tails, takes the Prism for himself, wanting to use it to terraform the Grim into a new home. However, use of its power threatens the stability of the other Shatterspaces. Believing that the remaining Prism energy from Sonic's body could be the key to stabilizing the Prism, he creates an army of robotic versions of Sonic and his friends to hunt him down and extract it from him, although it will kill him in the process. This forces Sonic, Shadow and the rest of the Shatterverse's inhabitants to form a truce with the Chaos Council to stop Nine. Ultimately, after a climatic battle, Sonic and Nine make amends after the latter realizes the consequences of his actions, Rusty sides with the resistance after bonding with the other Amy variants: Thorn Rose and Black Rose, Dread lets go of his obsession and appoints Black as the new captain of the crew, and the Chaos Council are banished to the void for their misdeeds. Sonic then decides to use his energy to restore Green Hill and stabilize the Shatterspaces, allowing them and their inhabitants to continue existing, although doing so nearly kills him. After saying farewell to the Shatterverse denizens, Shadow gets Sonic to the gateway in time and they return to the battle with Eggman before the shattering, and manage to prevent him from obtaining the Prism.
Sonic Prime was officially announced in February 2021, though the development of the series was initially revealed in a deleted tweet in December 2020. The series has 23 episodes overall. Colleen O'Shaughnessey, known for portraying Miles "Tails" Prower since 2014, responded to a tweet on Twitter that she would not be reprising the role in the Netflix series, due to Canadian content and union laws meaning that a large portion of voice actors portraying roles in Canadian television programs have to be Canadian. In May 2022, it was announced that Deven Mack would voice the titular character for the series.
The series is made by Man of Action and WildBrain Studios, in their second collaboration on a video game based series after Mega Man: Fully Charged, along with Netflix Animation and Sega's animation studio Marza Animation Planet. One of the writers, Duncan Rouleau, stated that the series will be set in "the video game universe created by Sonic Team" and that "possible Sega crossovers are not ruled out." According to executive producer Logan McPherson, the series is canon to the games' timeline. In June 2021, concept art of the series was discovered on a now deleted artist's portfolio.
Duncan Rouleau later confirmed that Ian Flynn, who has written for the Archie, Boom, IDW series and the newly released Sonic Frontiers, would be a consultant. Additionally, The Willoughbys director Kris Pearn worked on the series as a creative consultant with My Little Pony: Equestria Girls director Ishi Rudell as an episodic director.
The first season of Sonic Prime, consisting of eight episodes, was released on December 15, 2022. The first episode premiered on Gamefam's Sonic game on Roblox, Sonic Speed Simulator, on December 10, 2022. The first episode of the first season premiered on YouTube on December 24, 2022.
Season 2 was released on July 13, 2023. The first episode of season 2 premiered on YouTube on July 4, 2023. On July 14, just a day after the release of the second season, writer Duncan Rouleau revealed that the third season will be released at some point in January 2024. Four days later on July 18, 2023, the second episode of season 2 premiered on YouTube. The third season was released on January 11, 2024. The first episode of season 3 premiered on YouTube on January 5, 2024. The second episode of season 3 premiered on YouTube on January 18, 2024.
The first season of Sonic Prime was released on Blu-ray and Digital by NCircle Entertainment on March 12, 2024, with the second season being planned for release on August 27, 2024.
On December 20, 2022, Netflix announced that Sonic Prime was ranked number five of the top 10 on English television to be watched with 27.7 million hours watched between December 12 and 18.
Sonic Prime received generally positive reviews from critics with praise given to the voice acting, story, and animation; but some criticized its writing, with a few calling it "repetitive". On Rotten Tomatoes, season one has a score of 60% based on reviews from 5 critics.
Polly Conway of Common Sense Media said that it is a fun, frenetic animated series that touts teamwork but that it features violence. Kennet Seward Jr of IGN gave season one a score of 8 out of 10, calling it a "fun and family-friendly" show for new and old fans, said "Sonic Prime is a fun and overall entertaining, family-friendly show. Sitting tonally between the 1992 Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and 93’ Sonic the Hedgehog – which features a similar 'freedom fighters seeking to overthrow a cruel leader' vibe – it offers an exciting look at the past while presenting some new ideas. It has some issues concerning pacing and the abrupt ending of the first season won't do it any favors. That said, Sonic Prime should be well received by new and longtime franchise fans."
Joshua Kristian Mccoy of Game Rant gave Prime 3.5 out of 5, labeling it "very good" and also calling it a lot of fun: "Sonic Prime is yet another argument for Sonic as a TV star first and a game character second. Sonic fans will love the showcase for their favorite characters and the fast-paced action. Despite some weak writing and a bit too much repetition, Sonic Prime is a lot of fun. Enjoy the Blue Blur's journey into the multiverse."
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