Sonic: Live in Sydney is the collective name of two Sonic the Hedgehog-themed musical stage shows performed from 1997 to 2000 at Australia's SEGA World Sydney. The show combined elements from two major Sonic cartoons, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) (including the former’s version of Dr. Robotnik and having Sally from the latter as a major character), and underwent a major Retool in 1998.
The first version of the show, and the most widely known, was performed by costumed actors and dancers in the major roles. The show's plot is set in an alternate timeline based around the Saturday Morning animated series and the Sonic 3 video game. Dr. Robotnik's Death Egg crashes in Australia instead of Angel Island, causing him to attempt a takeover of Sydney with his freeze ray and changing all the Goodniks into his evil Badniks. Luckily, Sonic, Tails, and Princess Sally crash-land their biplane and set out to foil his plans. This version of the show received a soundtrack release on CD (which nowadays is the only way to know about this version). After Sega expressed disapproval for being very slow paced, extremely corny and not "dynamic" enough, they ordered this version to get a retool.
The second version of the show, informally termed the Sonic the Hedgehog Puppet Show, featured puppets of the characters and had new songs and a different plot. The story involves Robotnik creating what he thinks will be the ultimate robot to beat Sonic, but the resulting creation, Grounder, isn't too bright. With the help of Tails and Sally, Sonic defeats Grounder while Robotnik escapes. This version of the show never received a CD release and very little is known about it.
General information about both versions of the show, including pictures, can be found here
and here. The CD recording of the first version of the show, including all three songs and the entire show, can be heard and downloaded here.
These show contain examples of:
- Advertised Extra: Knuckles is constantly shown for the art of the show, but isn't featured in either version.
- Adaptational Dumbass: Tails, normally a Gadgeteer Genius, is pretty ditzy here.
- Adaptation Species Change: Sally is changed from a chipmunk to a marsupial, as there are no native chipmunks in Australia.
- Artifact of Doom: Prolonged exposure to the Chaos Emeralds made Robotnik sick of goodness and desire chaos, leading him to try and take over the world.
- Canon Foreigner: The puppet show had an original character in a bird who narrated the show.
- Canon Welding: While the show is set in its own continuity, elements from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic and Robotnik's characterizations) and Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) (Sally Acorn) are combined with those of the games (the Chaos Emeralds and the Death Egg).
- Card-Carrying Villain: Dr. Robotnik is proud of being big, bad, and mean, as detailed in his villain song.
- Covers Always Lie: Knuckles received official art for the show, and is seen on the CD booklet, but isn't featured in either version.
- Freeze Ray: Robotnik captures Sally with a freeze ray after using new boots to distract her.
- Hidden Depths: Sally's impressive singing abilities which Sonic and Tails use to find her and which she uses to sing her song "Thank You for Being You". Even Sonic and Tails comment on it.Tails: Wow! I never knew Sally could sing like that!
Sonic: Yeah! What a great set of tonsils! - "I Am" Song: Sonic's "What Are We Waiting For?" describes his cool attitude and determination to stop Robotnik.
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Sally's Ugg boots get worn out from walking everywhere to find Robotnik, leading him to use "Egg boots" to lure her out and kidnap her.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While attempting to figure out how to use Robotnik's ray gun to unfreeze Sally, Tails accidentally causes Sonic to shoot her while it's on the "Sing" setting, causing her to sing about her love for Sonic.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping:
- Adrian Payne's performance as Robotnik tries to sound faithful to Long John Baldry's version of the character, even mimicking his British accent. However, occasionally his Aussie accent would slip in from time to time.
- This is also true of Tails and Sally, despite both having American accents.
- Take Over the World: After being driven out of Mobius, Robotnik plans to take over Earth, starting with Australia.
- Villain Song: Robotnik gets "Give Me Chaos," detailing his plan to take over the world with the help of the Chaos Emeralds.
- Villainous Crush: Robotnik develops a crush on Sally Acorn, much to her disgust. Once he captures Sally, he asks he why she likes Sonic, but not him.
- Wicked Cultured: When not trying to destroy Sonic or woo Sally, Robotnik enjoys listening to opera, specifically Largo al Factotum from The Barber of Seville.
