Audio Play / Sonic and Tails R

"Did you miss me?"

—Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic and Tails R is a fan-made audio play created by Emi Jones and Doryan Nelson, based off of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

It opens with a classic battle between Eggman, Sonic, and Tails, which takes a turn once the latter reveals that he's recently found the seventh Chaos Emerald. When Eggman attempts to steal all seven from Sonic with a tractor beam, they end up shattering and spreading out all over the world. This sets the stage for Sonic and Tails to embark on another globetrotting adventure to find and restore them all.

While an unofficial fan project, it is notable for having several official voice actors (both current and former) involved with it, most notably the return of Ryan Drummond as Sonic, reprising his role as the main character for the first time in over 15 years. It's also laden with Continuity Porn, with numerous Call Backs to the games (mostly the ones Drummond voiced in).

The first episode can be watched here.

Has no relation to Sonic R. (The "R", in this case, stands for "radio".)

Following the conclusion, a webcomic was announced named Sonic and Tails R Plus, filling in some of the story's missing details. In January 2023, a second series was confirmed to be in production, this time with Sonic and Tails facing off against an unknown entity.

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The play features the following tropes.

• Attack Its Weak Point: A justified example in Episode 9. Super Sonic and Super Tails need to find a way to get inside the Egg Ghidorah so they can retrieve the Chaos Emeralds and power it down. This means finding a weak spot in its armour, which eventually turns out to be the barrel of its Wave-Motion Gun.
• Batman Gambit: The series starts with Eggman attacking Tails, but his goal isn't to kill the fox. It's not even to kill Sonic when he inevitably shows up to help (though he makes it clear he'd very much love to do so). His goal is to steal the Chaos Emeralds that he knows Sonic will have brought with him when he shows up. The first chapter of Plus reveals he even sent an E100-series robot after Sonic, knowing it would tip Sonic off about the ambush and ensuring he'd show up. It nearly goes off without a hitch.
• Beyond the Impossible: The Chaos Emeralds have unlimited power, so you can't possibly make them any more powerful than they already are, right? Wrong. Eggman finds a way.

• Call-Back:
  • At the start of the first episode, Tails shows off the 7th Chaos Emerald to Sonic and notes that he came across it during one of his test flights - just like he did near the beginning of Sonic Adventure.
    Sonic: Some things never change.
  • When Knuckles declines to help out the duo due to his duties as guardian, Tails decides to use the jewel radar from the Japanese manual of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 to find the shards instead.
  • Sonic and Tails have so far visited both Adabat and Holoska.
  • Amy greets Sonic by glomping him, just as she tried to do in several previous games. For once, it actually is him this time.
  • Episode 3 opens with Sonic hearing sirens and asking, "Huh? What's up?", just like in the opening cutscene of Sonic Adventure. He then ends up getting chased by the police himself, culminating in him tearing off a helicopter's propeller blade and using it as a skateboard in an obvious Call-Back to the City Escape level of Sonic Adventure 2.
  • Episode 4 cranks it up to outright Continuity Cavalcade levels. To wit: Silver repeats his memetic "IT'S NO USE!" line, a group of Eggman robots show up in the Egg Hawk to attack the heroes, Tails comforts a Chao using his petting dialogue from Sonic Adventure 2 ("Everything will be okay!"), and later, he recalls how he single-handedly saved Station Square from a missile attack.
  • In Episode 5, Sonic and Tails' confrontation with Eggman at the beginning contains several lines recycled from Sonic Adventure, such as Eggman gloating "Four! Count 'em, four Emeralds!", and Sonic calling Eggman a "giant talking egg". Later, Sonic and Tails using their Team Blast from Sonic Heroes to dispatch a group of Eggman robots.
  • In Episode 6, Shadow's role as a high-ranking G.U.N. official - something established during Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) - is an important plot point.
  • In Episode 7, as Sonic and Tails prepare to land on the Egg Carrier 3, Tails notes that unlike in Adventure, he remembered to install the landing gear this time. Big's random cameo aboard the Egg Carrier 3 calls to mind his background appearances in Adventure 2. Later on, Eggman repeats several of his lines from earlier games, including his threat to Classic Sonic in Generations ("Take a good look! It'll be the last thing you ever see!"), and his notorious "No way, I can't believe this!" and "Get a load of THIS!" lines from Adventure.
  • In Episode 8, both Sonic and Tails recognise Tikal from the events of Adventure, and repeatedly Call-Back to its events over the course of their conversation. At one point, Tikal turns into a Hint Ball, calls out "This way!", and zooms off, something she did quite frequently during that game.
  • In Episode 9, Eggman refers to Sonic as "my admirable adversary", just as he did in Adventure 2.
  • In Episode 10, it's explained that Big used the damaged Tornado 2 to escape the Egg Carrier 3 before its destruction, just as he did in Adventure.
• The Cameo: Aaron Webber, the man previously responsible for Sonic's meme-tastic social media presence, voices one of the police officers in Episode 3.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Downplayed, but starting with the Downer Ending of Episode 7, the series noticeably cuts down on the jokes and Continuity Nods and starts taking itself a lot more seriously.
• Chekhov's Boomerang: During the climactic battle in Episode 9, Eggman employs the same tractor beam he used in Episode 1 to shatter the Emeralds.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Having run into Big aboard the Egg Carrier 3 in Episode 7, Sonic and Tails later meet him again after its destruction, and it turns out he escaped in the Tornado 2.
• The Chessmaster: Eggman is once again depicted as this, as his plan involves Sonic and Tails collecting all 7 Chaos Emeralds for him to swipe via tractor beam. When this backfires, and the Emeralds get shattered into pieces, Eggman adjusts his plans and instead finds a way to re-assemble the Emeralds in a way that make them even more powerful than before, and then steals them from Sonic and Tails for a second time.
• Cliffhanger: Episode 7 ends with Eggman in possession of all seven Chaos Emeralds, all of which are now corrupted, and in the process of blasting Sonic and Tails to smithereens with a laser powered by them.
• Downer Beginning: The story begins with Eggman using a tractor beam to steal the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic, with the ensuing struggle causing them to shatter and disperse across the world.
• Downer Ending:
  • Episode 5 ends with Eggman ambushing Sonic, knocking him out, and stealing the fifth Chaos Emerald.
  • Episode 7 ends with Eggman in possession of all seven Chaos Emeralds, and in the process of using them to vaporise Sonic and Tails.
• Everyone Has Standards: In Episode 6, Shadow stays behind when Sonic spots the Egg Carrier in order to reprimand the G.U.N. agents who used an unauthorized mech to attack them, endangering several civilians. Aloof though he may be, endangering civilians is not something he will abide by.
• Fastball Special: In Episode 4, Silver and Sonic appear to finish off the Egg Hawk in this way, with Silver using his telekinesis to launch Sonic into it at high speed.
• Feed It with Fire: Eggman does this when he fires a massive beam of Chaos energy at Sonic and Tails. To be fair, even they don't know they have the ability to absorb Chaos energy, but once Tikal tells them, they simply absorb the beam's energy and use it to go Super.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In Episode 6, the G.U.N. officers voice relief that their general isn't around, which means they have no rules or protocols keeping them from using excessive force against Sonic. Shadow's remark, and that he's a member of G.U.N., indicates that their superior isn't as far away as they thought.
  • In Episode 2, Tails manages to repair one of the shattered Chaos Emeralds without really understanding how he did it. It turns out that the Chaos Emeralds bend to the wills of those with strong hearts, and that includes Tails, so he fixed it by simply willing it to be fixed.
• Friendly Rivalry:
  • For all of Sonic and Knuckles' conflicts, it's clear that they have a mutual respect for each other, with Sonic acknowledging Knuckles' detection skills and Knuckles trusting that Sonic will be able to find the Emeralds again.
  • In Episode 6, Shadow shows a bit of admiration towards Sonic and reaffirms himself as The Only One Allowed to Defeat You, as well as acting slightly snarky towards Sonic's ideas.
• The Glomp: Amy subjects Sonic to one early in Episode 2, with apparently enough force to knock him to the ground.
• Graceful Loser: Eggman takes the loss surprisingly well and just goes home in Episode 10, to Sonic and Tails' confusion
  Eggman: I lost and you won. I can admit defeat when I'm beaten. Oh, I almost forgot. Looks like we know the answer to our little emerald experiment, Sonic. Your willpower is stronger than my genius.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: In Episode 8, Tikal explains that only those with strong, kind hearts, like Sonic and Tails, are able to harness Chaos energy to its fullest extent. This translates into them being able to absorb the energy from Eggman's Chaos Emerald-powered Wave-Motion Gun and use it to activate their Super Modes.
• Hilarious Outtakes: After the first series wrapped up, a blooper reel animatic was released to showcase some of the goofs that happen behind the scenes.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Tails spends most of Episode 9 getting accustomed to his newly-unlocked Super Mode. He even has to relearn how to fly, since the physics for doing so are considerably different.
• Incoming Ham: When Sonic and Tails arrive in Adabat in Episode 2, they're discussing their next steps when they're interrupted by a faint but very distinctive cry of "SONIC!" The cry grows louder and louder, and by the time Sonic realises who it belongs to, it's too late. Cue The Glomp.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • Sonic's first line - and, by proxy, Ryan Drummond's first line as Sonic in 16 years - is "Did you miss me?"
  • In Episode 9, when Eggman (once again) has Sonic and Tails on the ropes, he remarks about how long they've been battling one another and remarks, "Why, if someone told me it's been thirty years, I'd believe them!" The episode was released during Sonic's 30th anniversary celebrations.
• MacGuffin Delivery Service:
  • Eggman attempts this at the start of the series, waiting for Sonic to pull out the seven Chaos Emeralds and then trying to steal them via tractor beam. Unfortunately, the ensuing tug of war ends up shattering them instead.
  • Late in Episode 3, Sonic and Tails realise they can turn this back on Eggman by using their radar to track the corrupted Chaos Emeralds in his possession, and then swipe them back from him when the time is right. It doesn't work, and instead Eggman just swipes their Emeralds. Again.
• Mythology Gag:
  • One of the cops in Episode 3 is named Tom Wachowski.
  • In Episode 5, Tails mentions that the Egg Hammer units are made of polymer alloy.
  • During Sonic and Shadow's fight with the Jumping Fox G.U.N. mech, the music playing during the fight is "Boss: G.U.N. Mobile" much like the fights with the Bigfoot, Hot-Shot, and Flying Dog mechs in Sonic Adventure 2.
  • In Episode 7, the Egg Carrier 3's security system refers to Sonic as "Hedgehog Priority 1", a nod to Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) and Sonic Underground, where SWATbots consistently refer to him as "Priority 1: Hedgehog".
• Never Say "Die": Eggman usually replaces the word “kill” with other words or expressions. Averted in Episode 8, when Tails flat-out asks Tikal whether he and Sonic are dead (they aren't).
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Eggman learns the hard way that firing a beam of pure Chaos energy at a hedgehog who is able to absorb and harness said energy isn't the best idea.
• Once More, with Clarity: Episode 8 ends the same way as Episode 7, with Eggman blasting Sonic and Tails with a Wave-Motion Gun powered by all seven Chaos Emeralds. This time, however, the listener knows that they're capable of absorbing the Chaos energy fired by the weapon, and sure enough, the scene carries on to reveal that they did exactly that.
• Our Hero Is Dead: Episode 7 ends with Sonic and Tails being blasted by a Wave-Motion Gun powered by the seven corrupted Chaos Emeralds. Episode 8 establishes that they not only survived the attack, but absorbed it, using the Chaos energy it fired to unlock their Super Modes.
• Power Limiter: Episode 3 reveals that the Chaos Emeralds' brilliant-cut form acts as some sort of limiter, but Eggman has found a way to reassemble the shattered Emeralds in a way that bypasses the limiter and makes them even more powerful.
• Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: One of the Hilarious Outtakes has Ryan Drummond (in-character as Sonic) doing this.
  Sonic: A massive police helicopter blocks the path!
• Rhetorical Question Blunder:
  • In Episode 1, as Sonic prepares to activate his Super Mode:
    Sonic: Hey, Eggman! What do you get when you cross a hedgehog with seven Emeralds?
    Eggman: Phase Three!
    Sonic: Phase Three?!
    [cue tractor beam]
  • Narrowly averted in Episode 9:
    Super Sonic: Hey, Eggman! Where's the weak spot on this thing?
    Eggman: Down this barrel!
    [cue Wave-Motion Gun]
    Super Sonic: Whoa! [narrowly dodges] ...thanks for the tip! [dodges a few more blasts] ...two seconds to recharge. [waits for it to fire again, then flies in before it can recharge]
    Eggman: ARGH! Curse you, Sonic!
• Series Continuity Error:
  • The premise of the radio show is about Eggman shattering the Chaos Emeralds, and the heroes react as if this was a shocking turn of events that never happened before. Except that, in the main series, this already happened: In Sonic Battle, Eggman shattered the Chaos Emeralds to power his E-121 Phi line of robots, and during that story Emerl and friends destroy those robots, gather the pieces, and use them to power up Emerl. Dr. Eggman shattering a Chaos Emerald was also the plot of Sonic Blast.
  • In Episode 9, Tails reacts to entering his Super Mode as if he's never done it before, even though he can do it in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Even if one ignores that game's transformation as a what-if as Takashi Iizuka has said, Tails obtained a Super Mode form in Sonic Heroes and helped Sonic stop Metal Sonic.
• Shout-Out:
  • The three-headed, dragon-like Humongous Mecha with which Eggman attacks the heroes in Episode 9 is named "Egg Ghidorah".
  • One of the Hilarious Outtakes has Ryan Drummond mispronounce Eggman as "Eggmin" and joke that his name is "Carl Eggmin". In the animated version of the blooper reel, this is accompanied by a drawing of Carl Wheezer with Eggman's moustache.
• Spoiler Cover:
  • Episode 3 is a minor example. Its artwork (shown in the video's thumbnail) depicts a handcuffed Sonic using a helicopter blade as a skateboard, spoiling a huge chunk of the episode's plot.
  • Averted by Episode 9. While its artwork depicts Super Sonic and Super Tails, its thumbnail is just a black background with a yellow question mark, presumably to avoid spoiling that Tails also has a Super form.
• Theme Music Power-Up: In Episode 9, as Super Sonic and Super Tails fight the Egg Ghidorah, a version of the series' theme song plays, this time with lyrics performed by Tony Harnell (of "Escape From the City" fame) and Emi Jones.
• Villain Ball: In Episode 9, Sonic asks where the Egg Ghidorah's weak spot is, and Eggman tells him. Granted, said weak spot happens to be down the barrel of a Wave-Motion Gun, but still not a smart move.
• Vocal Evolution:
  • Ryan's performance of Sonic notably sounds older, seasoned and more relaxed than how he used to sound back in the Dreamcast era.
  • Since he's not voicing Sonic at the same time for once, Jason's voice for Shadow isn't as intense as before as a means of making him sound different. Also, since he's not dubbing over Shadow's lines from Japanese, this allows him to have more range for the dialogue, allowing him to sound more playful when needed.
• Wham Episode: Episode 7. Eggman breaks Tails' Emerald radar, snatches and corrupts the last two Chaos Emeralds, has Sonic and Tails shackled and at his mercy, and the episode ends with him seemingly vaporising them.

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