After 11 Years, Sonic X Has Left The Airwaves

77 Comments

1. And nothing of value was lost that day.

   1. *looks downward* Oh look, people who valued Sonic X! 😛

      1. Besides some veteran Sonic fans the majority of the Sonic X fans would be kids, since it’s a kids cartoon after all. While the show was still playing a long while back I was playing a Sonic demo at a Disneyland building and this tiny little girl passed by and she got so overly excited to notice that I was playing Sonic. She asked me what game I was playing and I sadly had to answer Sonic 06. It appears that the majority of new kids who enjoy Sonic discovered him through the show.

         1. Huh, I think that’s actually where I played Sonic 06 for the first time. Again, I was still unaware of the flaws at the time and thought it looked like a very good game, or at least didn’t seem out of the ordinary. Ah nostalgia. :3

2. So long, Sonic X.

   You were what introduced me to Sonic. You were what put me in misery because I forgot everything about the show and remembered everything wrongly, thus confusing me as I’ve learnt more about the franchise. You were the show that doesn’t have leftovers of a Turkish dub ANYWHERE on the internet other than 2 videos on YouTube, which are probably deleted now as far as I remember. And the 2 videos were recorded from an unofficial dub from a really unrelated channel. You were what I missed the most after the closure of Jetix. You are what reminds me of the good old days right now.

   So long, Sonic X.

3. Wow, I watched the final aired episode today (the conclusion of the “Sonic Adventure” arc). You introduced me to “Sonic Adventure”, “Sonic Adventure 2”, and “Sonic Heroes” (commercial). Today, I’ve lost a friend. I was home schooled (I loved it. I’m going back) so I never had friends, but “Sonic X” was there. Today, I lost a best friend.

   Farewell,

   “Sonic X”.

   1. Me to my friend 🙁

4. Sonic X was a perfect anime. And I don’t mean that to say it’s perfect.

   It had it’s faults….lots of faults…..especially in the dub….But regardless, unlike the other anime that aired alongside it when it first began, Sonic X had the right elements.

   It had familiar and instantly recognizable characters, it had adventure, it had comedy and it had cool plots that were able to draw in the videogame crowd, keep newer watcher from getting lost and overall be an entertaining show without the odd, confusing or alienating aspects of other anime that don’t translate over very well after a couple rounds with the 4-Kids gutting knife. (Fighting Foodons? Ultimate Muscle? One Piece?)

   It was the kind of show that, yes, had it’s problems, but it was still able to captivate the audience, keep them coming back time after time and even inspire some of them to do their own things, similar to Dragonball Z or, indeed, the games themselves.

   After Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon, I think Sonic X was one of the greatest successes of the 4-Kids dubbing machine….even if we had to deal with invisible guns, onagiri “Doughnuts” and Jason Griffith(Who actually wasn’t that bad in the anime IMO.)

5. Rest well Sonic X. Thank you so much for introducing me to the Sonic franchise. I know you probably weren’t the best show around, but you were still good enough for me. If it hadn’t been for you I never would have gotten Shadow the Hedgehog or Sonic 2006, and I never would have moved on to the rest of the franchise. You showed me just how cool and fast Sonic was and I’ll never forget that. Because of you, Jason Griffith’s voice shall always be the voice of Sonic to me, even though Ryan Drummond was ok and Roger Craig Smith isn’t that bad. The point is, I imprinted on this show, and it’s helped given me, I’d like to think, a better perspective of the franchise, that it’s not important if something appeals to all the fans, as long as it appeals to any of them, it’s just as good. I would never have been here if not for that show, and now it’s time for the mantel to be passed on to a new generation of entertainment. New fans shall be introduced to the franchise through this show much in the same way I was, or at least in a similar fashion.

   Some existing fans may not agree with how different it is, but Sonic X faced the same treatment, and whether you liked it or not, Sonic X has become deeply ingrained as a part of the fandom, and although it’s a quirky relationship, I think it remains due to a strange sort of love that the fanbase has towards anything Sonic, even if not all of them agree about it’s quality. I think Sonic Boom might have a similar fate in the end. Not everyone will agree about it’s quality, but it will nonetheless remain as an integral part of the fandom, just as Sonic X has. Even if you won’t like it, you’ll still be able to make jokes and funny animations based off of it, and the memes from that show will probably be just as abundant.

   In the end, Sonic on TV was always meant to capture your interest if for some reason the games hadn’t yet. And the torch in a sense has never left the hands of it’s character, the hands were just never drawn the same way. AoStH and SatAM handed the torch down to Sonic Underground, SU handed it over to Sonic X (unless that OVA counts, then it passed it down to SX), and now SX is handing the torch over to Sonic Boom. SB will probably have more of a backbone with it’s own game spinoff to give it structure, but how it holds up will ultimately be up to everyone else. I think it has a good chance though. At the very least, it might not be the best Sonic show that could be offered, but it’ll still be good enough for me and whoever else decides to hop aboard the franchise because of it.

   Rest well Sonic X. You shall not be forgotten, especially by me. Thanks for bringing me here. 🙂

6. Sigh, rest well Sonic X, maybe someday you’ll return. I mean, if Nicktoons can air DBZ Kai, then maybe sometime down the road Nick or Cartoon Network can pick up Sonic X and start airing it, or maybe a true DVD release with an un-cut version available?

   *sigh* But why does DBZ Kai still have to air? It’s just a lesser version of the original anime, all the filler was cut (some I understand, but the episodes like Gohan in the Saiyan saga should have stayed, they built up his character) and the colors being duller than that of the original. Yet Ultimate Tenkaichi went out of it’s way to comepletely redraw and remake certain scenes, why not do THAT if you’re going to air DBZ again? Not just a slightly remastered version with cut episodes.

   Welp, at least I got Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure to watch.

7. I may have not been a fan of Sonic X and i did see all the episodes kinda sad to see it go (eventhough Chris Thorndyke still sucks) but i hope Sonic Boom dose better

8. Good riddance.

9. Tsk. Eh. Never liked the English dub, so I’m not exactly shedding any tears over this.

10. Goodbye Sonic X. You weren’t the best anime, with your hilarious off-model moments, awkward tropes, and Cream’s voice acting in the US.

    You were, however, a source of my fascination when you came out. I remember watching, and still having, a couple of small, subtitled RealMedia files of your episodes, whenever they came down on SoaH, subbed by a French person who just happened to know enough English and Japanese to make it viable.

    I remember the Kotabi Ni Dekiani episode, and how mad I was that got removed from International airing, and that was only when I got to see it on a rerun, because our local partner replaced episode 26 with a football game.

    I remember your Adventure and Battle adaption as being decent little pieces on their own, things that could be bundled up and sold in their own OVA sets, if they so desired.

    I remember having manic talks with my sister, like I always did back then, about maybe, just maybe, ADV getting it, because they did such an awesome job on the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA. Alas, ADV isn’t even around to hope for that anymore.

    And so, as you leave the airwaves, a little something of me goes with you. Eleven years have I watched your rise and fall, from the first episode in Japan, with the ever awesome Sonic Drive, to the first US airings, with the more regrettable Gotta Go Fast!

    You may not be the best anime, but you have a well-deserved place in my heart.

    1. As an addendum, something i forgot til after I was viewing my post; a source of two SoaH fandubs, with me cast on as Amy, and Cult’s, as Rouge, and a short-lived fandub of Sonic Adventure DX, with me as Amy. It was a much different time…

11. Goodbye and Good riddance. Trash anime.

    1. Still better than Attack on Titan

       1. I don’t watch attack on titan, but I do hear it is pretty popular so I’m sure saying Sonic X is better is saying a lot… … and I couldn’t agree with you more. 😉

       2. 1. http://38.media.tumblr.com/d57e6c17290ddf49bb49fef6d4487199/tumblr_nbgng6yz8s1qmiyy8o1_400.gif

12. I don’t even know where to begin. Sonic X jumped into my life at the perfect timing and entertained me to the fullest. I enjoyed every minute of Sonic X to no end. I was nine back when I discovered the show. I was switching into a new school for 4th grade and was leaving all my friends behind. Along with my new school, I needed a new interest. I had probably watched every existing episode of SpongeBob by that time, Avatar the Last Airbender was coming to a close, Danny Phantom rarely got new episodes anymore, Kim Possible was ending, the character Poof was really beginning to bring down the fairly oddparents, Cartoon Network was beginning to go down the drain, and I couldn’t watch television for more than 7 minutes without seeing a gosh darn advertisement for High School Musical 2. Yeah, 2007-2008 was a time of big change for Nick, Cartoon Network, and Disney. It was mostly bad change looking at what we’ve got now, but I’m getting off track a bit. So with my three main channels making a turn for the worse, I needed to look elsewhere for good entertainment. I discovered a very nifty flash game called ultimate flash sonic which I believe is what introduced me to the series. Since it was a flash game, it was obviously short on content. I needed more Sonic, but I didn’t know where to get it. (I didn’t have a Wii yet but I did have a gameboy advance sp which I played a very large amount of Sonic Advance and Sonic Battle on but I’m omitting that craze from this story so my comment isn’t too long.) I came across this search engine called “Google” where I was told you could search anything there and find results. I needed a new TV show to watch due to the drought on Nick, Disney, and CN and I was really into Sonic the hedgehog so I began my google searching for a sonic tv show. I came across these very odd shows which featured a cast of characters unknown to me which drove me away pretty quickly. (I would discover later on in my years that those shows were “Adventures of” and SatAM) I was beginning to lose hope. Then that one night came. Sonic X: 4kids.com. I watched the first three episodes “Chaos Control Freaks”, “Sonic to the Rescue”, and “Missile Wrist Rampage”. I was ecstatic. Everyone was there! Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Eggman, Cream, and even the Tornado! I was so ready to watch the next episodes the next morning that I couldn’t sleep that night. Sonic X would bring me to be the Sonic fan I am today. It was probably one of the greatest days of my childhood life. That was a long time ago. Ever since I discovered the series actually launched many years before in 2003, I have been eagerly awaiting the next Sonic TV show for all these years. So with the announcement of Sonic Boom about a year ago, I was ready. Now here we are today; Sonic X finally hangs up its uniform for good and Sonic Boom’s launch grows ever closer. Thank you Sonic X. Thank you for the amazing journey you brought me on both in and out of the actual show. Three cheers for Sonic X’s long run and also to Sonic Boom that it runs full-speed to success. 🙂

    1. I very highly value this comment.

13. I’m still gonna pass the DVD’s on to my nephews. ^_^

14. Original Dub or not at all. I tried to tolerate the 4Kid’s dub and they just butchered one episode after another, even more so towards the end. Fair enough it’s achieved a lot more than other Sonic shows have, but I’m kinda glad to finally see the 4Kid’s dub finally off the air. It was an insult to the original which, while very weird and quirky at times, had some genuinely great and genuinely touching episodes.

15. “The Vortexx block will still live on in fragments. Nicktoons is currently airing Digimon Fusion and Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal. Toonami recently picked up Dragon Ball Z Kai.”

    I doubt Nicktoons and Toonami will keep these shows for long.

16. Why are people acting like that they’re never going to watch it again, I pretty sure you can buy DVD’s

17. WHEN this day came…… My childhood was lost :/ , when I came to my new house in the early 2000s I watch pokemon, yugioh, but then one day I saw an episode of sonic x I was hook to this to this day forward now everyone , if it wasnt for 4kids we couldnt have a great sonic voice cast . Mike I AM greatful having you in those weather sonic x or kirby you still have one part of my childhood RIP 4kids

18. “Farewell, Sonic X. Forever.”

    Now, let’s take a moment to listen to the theme song that started it all:

19. I was just surprised it kept on for so long more than anything to be honest.The show itself is up for you to decide I find,but I’d be lying if I said I don’t remember getting up every Saturday to see every new episode back when it first began running.Now that I think about it I almost feel like I’m going to miss the show…eh either way I have Sonic Boom to look forward to soon enough.Onto the next show I guess.

20. Sonic X‘s successor is not Sonic Boom far from it! I would love them to make a new television series based on the Archie comics possibly or at least the same style as Sonic X. I don’t want corny humor and the show to be childish! There needs to be a balance between serious and silly, mature and immature think of it like life, we have our silly moments where we act juvenile but we can put on our game faces when there are threats to our family, friends and environment. Kids need to see and learn more than fart jokes a more mature Sonic teaches kids and everyone there is a time and place for humour and fun but when shit gets real that’s when its game face time!

    1. I agree with you. Sadly, there has been a lot of corny humor shows floating around for a while now. Cartoon Network only puts on shows for laughs (Adventure Time, Regular Show, Clarence). While they may not be bad shows, none of them have that perfect balance you explained above. Disney Channel is all live-action now so forget that. (Phineas and Ferb I believe strikes a good balance, but comparing the air time it gets to all of Disney’s other corny sit-coms, it is practically non-existent). Nickelodeon is just lost, and it pains me to say it. Besides the Legend of Korra which is actually about to begin its final season, Nickelodeon has nothing with that perfect balance you explained above. I just hope Sonic Boom, since it is supposed to be humor-based, plays out a bit more like SpongeBob (Seasons 1-4) when at the end of an episode everyone knows what’s right and what’s wrong and it is always a happy ending. You could have a good laugh about it. Very much unlike modern SpongeBob where some episodes end very cruelly and maliciously leaving a bad taste in your mouth. Anyways, I really hope the people behind Sonic Boom were telling the truth when they said that they knew what they were doing. If Sonic Boom flops, I’ll be very depressed.

21. Aw, too bad. Loved that show. Still do.

22. I have great memories of watching Sonic X.

    Yes, it had Chris Thorndork, and a lot of time was dedicated to his not-character development. But still, it was pretty cool.
    I got to like a lot of the other anime-exclusive characters like Mr.Tanaka, Bokkum and Dekko (was it? Basically the cubot and orbot of this show).

    And my favorite part of the show had to be the Sonic Battle arc.

    Watched it in Japanese with English subtitle, because I couldn’t STAND what they did to the English soundtrack and voices.
    Not to mention the censorship.

    1. Bocoe and Decoe you’re thinking of. Bokkun was the whiny little messenger bot thing.

23. A mediocre anime adaptation with a terrible, heavily edited English Dub bites the dust to make way for a new mediocre CG Comedy show with no plot.

    …Why do all Sonic shows have to suck? I only liked the OVA… fffffffffffffffffff

    1. I feel your pain…100% agreed

24. Ah, Sonic X…I’d be lying if I said I miss you. I’d also be lying if I said you didn’t have a big impact on my life anyways. For better or worse, you introduced me to the Sonic characters and got me interested enough in them to get into the games and comics. You still hold the crown for being the most faithful adaptation of the video games and for having the best action scenes. You gave us Mike Pollock, who still voices Eggman amazingly to this day. You also added a bunch of random stuff that went nowhere that the fandom still latches onto (Dark Super Sonic, anyone?). You introduced the idea of Shadow’s inhibitor rings and gave some humanity to the humans, who were usually just in the background in the Adventure games.

    Course, you also gave us a Mexican maid voiced by a man, a ridiculous excuse for an officer specializing in catching speeders, a random teacher who is stalking children because he is actually a secret agent trying to find out more info on Sonic…who am I forgetting? Oh yeah, Chris Thorndyke. Nuff said. But I loved you to death as a kid, so before we part ways forever, here is a parody I made for you this year:

    http://youtu.be/zBCA5plZTnI

    1. Okay, this made me laugh. A lot. Everything in it was true, and it had a nice “Transhimation” feel to it. (search Trashimation on YouTube, they’re hilarious.) XDD

       1. Glad you liked it! Can’t find “transhimation” anywhere, though. You sure that’s what they’re called?

          1. Oh wait, nvm, it’s “trashimation” not “transhimation.” My bad! I can see the similarities now…

          2. No, no. It’s MY bad, actually. Damn typos… XD

    2. “WE LOVE YOU CHRIS!” lol 😀

       1. No we dont

25. Wow….Im old…I remember watching it when it was new ;(
    memories

26. Sonic X was nostalgic. I remember my mom had a VCR, and I recorded Sonic on it first thing. Keep going fast, Sonic.

27. Some of the “good riddance” comments here are really breaking my heart, but it also feels so nice to see so many other people appreciate the show for the same reasons I have, despite its many faults.

    Just goes to show that no matter how many people dislike something, there will still be just as great a many people who will love it. If that’s the case, then I think Sonic Boom will be just fine. 🙂

    1. Doesn’t “Good Riddance” simply mean “goodbye” though? Either way, I’m glad this comment is here, and I agree with you.

       1. Yes, that’s what it means, just in a negative way. I get the feeling a lot of the negative comments are from those who’ve only seen the US dub.

          I’ve not seen the JP dub, but I want too.

          1. So do I, but I haven’t found the time or energy for it yet. Also, I’m just too used to the 4-Kids cast, so an entire series of Japanese voice acting when I’m used to English is going to be a strange experience. And typically I tend to prefer dubs over subs, but I don’t mind either one.

          2. Thank you for the explanation.

          3. The Japanese version is far superior. The writing’s more tolerable, has jokes that are actually funny (some of which, are more ‘adult humor’), and voice acting that won’t make your ears bleed. Oh, and the Japanese OST is completely different from the 4Kids dub. The SA2 Arc even used Live and Learn by Crush 40 at one point.

          4. @Tomoki
             “…and voice acting that won’t make your ears bleed.”
             Yeah, but I’d rather actually UNDERSTAND what the voices are saying instead of reading subtitles at the bottom of the screen the entire time while all the action is happening on the center of the screen. In fact for any anime with english subs, you are not “watching” it. You are READING it. You might as well be reading a book and imagining the sounds and pictures in your head. I’d take English dubs over English Subs ANY day. At least I’m actually watching the English dub.

       2. “Good riddance” is a spiteful way of saying “goodbye”. You would typically say it if someone you didn’t like was leaving…thus, the comments of everybody who didn’t like Sonic X. I’ve never seen a single moment where “good riddance” was used in anything but a negative manner. But anyway, point is I don’t appreciate the “nothing of value was lost” and “good riddance” comments, but I realize that that show wasn’t for everyone and I’m not about to start a flame war over it. I just know that I and a lot of other Sonic fans loved and appreciated the show in our own ways and we will all really miss it…well, unless you wanted to see it on the internet, but it’s just not the same. And thanks for agreeing with me. 🙂

          1. Thank you and you’re welcome. 🙂

28. Ok, Tristan, or um, somebody, whoever’s active right now? I lost my comment again. And it wasn’t even that long. It was like 4 lines and now it’s filtered for no good reason again or something. Can somebody please retrieve it for me? Thank you.

    1. It was in the spam folder, like usual. Pulled it out of there and approved it. =)

       1. Thanks! 🙂

29. A bit overdue… I hated that show, it was terrible. Sonic Boom looks quite a bit better.

30. Good riddance.

31. It’s been 11 years and Tails still hasn’t got laid yet!

    1. The agony!

32. and nothing of value was lost, atleast boom looks better than this garbage ever was so far.

    1. >Boom better than X
       

33. Sonic X was shit. Tbh, It did have a few good moments, but for the majority of the time it was trash.
    The sad part is, it doesn’t seem like Sonic Boom took any lessons.

34. Not only have we lost Sonic X on the airwaves but saturday morning cartoons on basic TV. It’s sad to see so many comments saying “I don’t care, good it’s gone, we have the internet now”.
    Vortexx very much does suck…editing JLU, Armored Adventures and TF Prime but at least they left Spectacular alone with it’s innuendo.

35. It’s the end of traditional Saturday morning cartoons now. CBS, ABC, and now The CW have E/I blocks form Litton, and NBC has select programming from Sprout. Fox stopped their Saturday morning block in 2008 (but recently started a 2-hour E/I block). Even This TV’s daily morning block (AoStH and Underground aired there from 2010-2011, along with other older DiC shows like Inspector Gadget) was discontinued. As far as I know, Retro TV still does their retro Saturday morning block (which shows old Filmation shows), but I’m not sure for how much longer.

    As for Sonic X, I know that it was also available on Kabillion on demand, but it is getting pulled from there as well (other Saban shows on there, like Power Rangers Lost Galaxy and Digimon Data Squad, don’t seem to be). Not sure about Hulu though.

    1. WHAT?! They better not pull it from Kabillion! That is like the only way to watch it on TV now!

36. 11 years is incredible really. This is a bit of a bummer I suppose but nowadays whenever I re-watch Sonic X I only go for the Japanese version since as I got older the 4kids one started to stand-out as something that was hard to bear concerning the dialogue, voice-acting, and god-awful music. I love the music of the subbed version so much.

    It’s “technically” the same show I guess. Technically.

37. @Kabam: That’s a shame. There’s nothing wrong with reading, and it doesn’t hurt to train yourself to read with moving pictures. I used to be like you and only watch English dubs, but I got tired of unfaithful, heavily-edited translations, poor voice acting, and waiting a year or more for various anime to make it stateside. If you’re okay with that, then more power to you.

    Sonic X was poorly handled, and it’s English dub is even worse. They changed the music, censored various things such as guns, profanity, and even changed some of the sound effects, toned down the emotional scenes, and removed anything that hints at death; they even censored Maria’s death in the SA2 arc! The Japanese version just felt more Sonic-y all around. In all honesty, because of X’s Japanese version, I’ve come to prefer that cast over any of the English ones. They’re the most consistent, the most seasoned, and I generally just like their take on the characters better. But hey, that’s just me.

    1. I’ll take your word for it. Thanks for replying. I get annoyed at the fact that Japan has a jump of several weeks when it comes to the Pokemon anime so I can only imagine how horendous waitinng a year or more must be. I feel that the dub is what they are willing to give us. If they release the dub than I will trust them enough to believe it is of quality. Sadly, that is not always the truth when it comes to shows such as Sonic X. But hey, if you are a nine-year-old kid who is entertained by Sonic X simply because it is Sonic, than I guess it doesn’t really matter.

       1. I suppose, so. I watched the dub of X when I was a kid, and always found it a bit weird, but still watched it for the most part. Then I discovered the Japanese version online, and never went back.

38. Toonami recently picked up Dragon Ball Z Kai

    Thank god !

39. Hey, Donnie. My reply to Tomoki’s comment right above was not displayed. Could you put it up there for me? Thank you.

    1. Yep. It was in the spam folder. I noticed a trend: this issue seems to become gradually more common as an article’s comment section gets more populated.

       Strange. Either way I found it, removed it from the spam folder, and it should display right. =)

       1. Much appreciated! Thank you.

40. It makes sense why they would cancel.Sonic boom is coming out and it wouldn’t make sense to have two TV shows baised on the same franchise both air on separate networks

41. This was what introduced me to Sonic… I’ll be sad to see it go.

Comments are closed.