Sonic Christmas Blast

Sonic Christmas Blast (originally titled An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas) is an Christmas television special that originally aired on the USA Network on November 26, 1996, spun off from the animated series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, which itself was based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series.

Synopsis

Christmas Eve has come to Robotropolis, and everyone in town has gathered around the Jumbotron in the middle of the square to see Santa Claus (actually a robot duplicate of him, but they do not know this) make a very important announcement - he's retiring. He claims to have found a "perfect replacement" in the form of Robotnik Claus (Dr. Robotnik in a Santa suit), who says that he is making a few slight changes to the holiday. The kids who don't know any better line up in the mall to sit on Robotnik's lap, only to find out that, in true greedy porker fashion, he demands that the children give him presents for Christmas. When one kid objects to this, Robotnik orders to have him taken prisoner.

Meanwhile, Sonic, after having a talk with Princess Sally, goes to meet up with his buddy Tails, whom he recruits to help him find Sally some Christmas presents. This confuses the little fox, because Sonic just agreed with Sally that they wouldn't give each other anything this year. Sonic explains that he and Sally made this same agreement last year, but she ended up getting Sonic a bunch of cool stuff anyway, like a ring on his finger with a mysterious squiggle mark. Sonic, on the other hand, took the "no presents" agreement seriously and got Sally nothing last year. This year, though, he has figured out that when a girl say she wants "no presents, she really means two stores full."

The two arrive at the Robotropolis mall only to find that all the stores are completely empty. Trying to figure out why, Sonic runs into the kid Robotnik tried to imprison earlier, who explains that Robotnik has taken over Santa's position and has sent his Badniks to steal all the presents in the stores. Just then, Scratch and Grounder, Robotnik's bumbling henchmen, show up with the Robot Santa from earlier and attempt to do away with Sonic, but typically fail to do so. Sonic then disguises himself as a garbage man and tricks them into telling him that the real Santa Claus is being held in a cave seven miles south of the North Pole. Upon realizing that they've just been tricked, Scratch and Grounder go to Robotnik's fortress to alert their boss of this. Robotnik orders them to alert the SWATbots he has guarding the cave in which Santa is being held.

Accompanied by Tails, Sonic arrives at the cave, defeats the SWATbots, and frees Santa, but it doesn't change the fact that Robotnik still has every Christmas present in the entire world, and Santa fears it would take them too long to retrieve them and distribute them to their intended recipients. Fortunately, Santa recognizes the squiggle on Sonic's ring from an ancient cave painting that reveals the secret of achieving ultimate velocity. The one who wears the sacred ring (Sonic) must pass three tests of skill, the first being a treacherous climb up a really skinny mountain. After Sonic does that, he then has to go snowboarding down the mountain and then ride a bicycle through dangerous territory.

Sonic passes the tests with flying colors (in spite of Scratch and Grounder's attempts to stop him) and achieves ultimate velocity, but to no avail, Santa fears, because it's almost Christmas morning, and they still need to retrieve the presents and distribute them. Fortunately, Sonic is able to use his new super speed to zip to Robotnik's fortress and snatch the stolen presents (as well as Robotnik's Santa Claus outfit for some reason), and then distributes the presents to everyone on Mobius, including Sally. In the end, Santa is so impressed with the job Sonic has done, that he decides to retire after all, and turns the job over to Sonic.

Broadcast history

Sonic Christmas Blast was first aired on the USA Network, which had the broadcast rights to the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons at the time, in 1996 and 1997. Afterwards, when the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog reruns were picked up by Toon Disney, the special was shown as part of the channel's Christmas marathons from 1998 through 2001, even airing as part of a "Toon Disney on Disney Winter Break" programming event on the main Disney Channel in December 1998. As of 2019, the special (along with DiC's three Sonic cartoons) now airs on Starz Encore Family.

Availability

The special was first released on VHS by Lions Gate Entertainment on October 16, 2001. It was released on VHS again by Sterling Entertainment Group two years later; this release also included two episodes of the later Sonic cartoon Sonic Underground. A DVD of this release was also put out at the same time, with another episode of Sonic Underground included as a bonus feature. The DVD would later be reissued by NCircle Entertainment in 2009.

In addition, Sonic Christmas Blast was also featured on Shout! Factory's DiC Animated Christmas Blast compilation DVD set, as well as on the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Volume 3 DVD set. Most recently, it has also been made available on iTunes alongside Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas.

VHSLions Gate Entertainment
October 16, 2001

VHSSterling Entertainment Group
November 13, 2003

DVDSterling Entertainment Group
November 13, 2003

DiC Animated Christmas Blast DVDShout! Factory
September 9, 2008

DVDNCircle Entertainment
September 29, 2009

Trivia

• As suggested by the original title, this special was made with the intention of tying in with Sonic X-Treme, a Sonic video game that was supposed to be released for the Sega Saturn in the holiday season of 1996. However, Sonic X-Treme was delayed (and eventually cancelled the following year), so the special's title was changed to fit with the Sonic game that did come out in time for Christmas that year, Sonic 3D Blast. A brief plug for this special was given, using the original title, in the fan mail column in issue #41 of Archie Comics' the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book.
• Although the special is based mainly off of the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog series, the character of Princess Sally comes from the Saturday morning Sonic cartoon that ran at the same time as Adventures (which was titled simply Sonic the Hedgehog, but called Sonic SatAM by fans to differentiate from the games and the other show), though here she is colored with her color scheme from that show's pilot, "Heads or Tails". She also does not have any actual lines, except for some vocal gasps provided by Tabitha St. Germain; this is because Kath Soucie (who had voiced the character on SatAM) was unable to reprise the role as she was under contractual obligations to voice Lola Bunny in Space Jam. Other elements from SatAM used here are the town name being Robotropolis (albeit pronounced differently) and the drone Badniks being referred to as SWATbots (though they do not resemble the ones seen on SatAM or any other Sonic media that featured SWATbots).
• Sonic's hands frequently shift between having four and five fingers throughout the special.
• When disguised as a garbage man, Sonic tells Scratch and Grounder they'll have to pay a fine of 10,000 Robotnibucks. But in previous episodes of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, the currency was referred to as Mobiums.
• The scene where Sonic uses a snowboard is likely based on the levels in which he uses one in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for the Sega Genesis and Sonic Triple Trouble for the Game Gear.
• When Sonic zips into Robotnik's fortress, the lights and decorations on Robotnik's Christmas tree disappear before he even touches it.

Cast

External links

• Sonic News Network: Sonic Christmas Blast
• Sonic Christmas Blast at the Internet Movie Database
• Platypus Comix's review