Sonic Underground is a half-hour animated series that aired on UPN, five days a week. The story is based around a triplet rock band called, Sonic Underground. The members of the band: Sonic, Sonia, and Manic are now looking for their mother, Queen Aleena Hedgehog who was force into hiding by Dr. Robotnik, the current ruler of Mobius. In order to protect her children so that they may become the Council of Four and fulfill the Oracle of Delphius prophecy; Queen Aleena separates the triplets and bestows a powerful medallion to each of them. These medallions can act as both musical instruments and weapons that the triplets can use against Dr. Robotnik, but only when they are in perfect harmony.

Program History

The show itself was, in fact intended to be a prequel to both SatAM and AoStH. (Pratt, 1998) SEGA was even intending to make both Sonia and Manic part of an up and coming game that was suppose to release in conjunction with the show’s debut. (Pratt, 1998)

So why did SEGA and DIC decide to continue to cash in on the success of the character? According to Cynthia Wilkes, director of licensing at Sega of America at the time, “Sonic is our Mickey Mouse, and I thought it was time to reinvigorate the character in animation (Pratt, 1998).” As further developments continued on the project, Sonic Underground would produce a new twist for the series. The show’s theme would be a musical, and the hedgehog trio would form a band. From what Wilkes recalls, “For [DIC] to come up with the whole Sonic Underground theme, with music and introducing the brother and sister, I thought that was ingenious. They thought out of the box with that one. Rather than Sonic’s typical world-and he’s a video game character-they really reached and made him much more contemporary (Pratt, 1998).” Just like with any Sonic series, DIC’s president, Andy Heyward, had to fly to Japan and pitch the new show to the president of SEGA, Hayao Nakayama. After winning approval, DIC would then hire writers and seek for BKN to syndicate the series based on a pre-agreed number of shows with the network.

Reference

Pratt, L. (1998, April 1). Special report: mip-tv – sonic underground. Retrieved from KidScreen.com.