Sonic the Hedgehog is a massive franchise with many ups and downs. For whatever reason, this show seems to be one installment that many have started to call good. You do you, but I honestly don't get what anyone sees in this. I’m no purist and I’m no giant Sonic fan either, but this franchise has rich lore that could easily be made into an engaging action/adventure series, with humor of course. But Sonic Boom doesn't do that. Instead, it’s a banal Slice of Life comedy with any action/adventure elements shoved into the background, reducing it to a generic, humor-centric All-CGI Cartoon that we’ve seen a million times before.
Judge it on its own merits? I can certainly do that. On its own, detached from any other Sonic installments, it’s still a very bland and cliched cartoon that does nothing to make familiar tropes funny or interesting, as the lackluster writing never elevates any of it beyond blasé fluff. That’s the core issue with Sonic Boom, its “play it safe” approach and lack of ambition. The humor is just stock jokes with predictable punch lines, lame quips and snarking, and the occasional cheap fourth wall break, it’s never inventive or witty, and every episode feels like it was written to accommodate a nonexistent laugh track. Not helping matters is that the plots seldom have any structure, even for a basic barebone story, and instead meander around with no clear goal, which gives the comedy little to work with beyond inane one-liners, thus few jokes resonate much. A Gag Series has one thing to offer, so it lives or dies by the quality of its humor, and the humor in this is a total flat line.
The characters are similarly underwritten. I can say that I like this Sonic and Amy more than their “all attitude and no heart” and Stalker with a Crush counterparts from Sonic X, as they feel more like genuine people here, but even then, they and the rest of the cast are very one-note. Sonic is cocky, Knuckles is dumb, Amy is The Chick, Tails is the Gadgeteer Genius, Sticks is a paranoid conspiracy nut and Eggman is the goofball villain. There isn’t much else to them beyond the sum of their parts, as the writing does nothing to make these old tropes interesting. Oh, and there’s the occasional appearance by Shadow, who has been turned into a parody of the parody of himself from Shadow the Hedgehog (and not in a funny way).
But beyond an appearance by Vector, I don’t get why this show avoided the rest of Sonic’s cast and lore like the plague? I’d be more forgiving if their own content was interesting enough to make up for it, but not only did they barely try to build any sort of intriguing and creative world of their own, but what they did make is about as bland and forgettable as hell. When Dave the Intern is a recurring character, you obviously don’t have a very solid cast.
Overall, this show isn’t horrible but it is frustratingly mediocre, a big waste of time. Go watch Sonic Prime.
A total waste of a Sonic show
Sonic the Hedgehog is a massive franchise with many ups and downs. For whatever reason, this show seems to be one installment that many have started to call good. You do you, but I honestly don't get what anyone sees in this. I’m no purist and I’m no giant Sonic fan either, but this franchise has rich lore that could easily be made into an engaging action/adventure series, with humor of course. But Sonic Boom doesn't do that. Instead, it’s a banal Slice of Life comedy with any action/adventure elements shoved into the background, reducing it to a generic, humor-centric All-CGI Cartoon that we’ve seen a million times before.
Judge it on its own merits? I can certainly do that. On its own, detached from any other Sonic installments, it’s still a very bland and cliched cartoon that does nothing to make familiar tropes funny or interesting, as the lackluster writing never elevates any of it beyond blasé fluff. That’s the core issue with Sonic Boom, its “play it safe” approach and lack of ambition. The humor is just stock jokes with predictable punch lines, lame quips and snarking, and the occasional cheap fourth wall break, it’s never inventive or witty, and every episode feels like it was written to accommodate a nonexistent laugh track. Not helping matters is that the plots seldom have any structure, even for a basic barebone story, and instead meander around with no clear goal, which gives the comedy little to work with beyond inane one-liners, thus few jokes resonate much. A Gag Series has one thing to offer, so it lives or dies by the quality of its humor, and the humor in this is a total flat line.
The characters are similarly underwritten. I can say that I like this Sonic and Amy more than their “all attitude and no heart” and Stalker with a Crush counterparts from Sonic X, as they feel more like genuine people here, but even then, they and the rest of the cast are very one-note. Sonic is cocky, Knuckles is dumb, Amy is The Chick, Tails is the Gadgeteer Genius, Sticks is a paranoid conspiracy nut and Eggman is the goofball villain. There isn’t much else to them beyond the sum of their parts, as the writing does nothing to make these old tropes interesting. Oh, and there’s the occasional appearance by Shadow, who has been turned into a parody of the parody of himself from Shadow the Hedgehog (and not in a funny way).
But beyond an appearance by Vector, I don’t get why this show avoided the rest of Sonic’s cast and lore like the plague? I’d be more forgiving if their own content was interesting enough to make up for it, but not only did they barely try to build any sort of intriguing and creative world of their own, but what they did make is about as bland and forgettable as hell. When Dave the Intern is a recurring character, you obviously don’t have a very solid cast.
Overall, this show isn’t horrible but it is frustratingly mediocre, a big waste of time. Go watch Sonic Prime.