Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)

• Sonic (the) Hedgehog (voiced by Jaleel White as a young man, Tahj Mowry as a boy) – Sonic is the main protagonist of the series. He is able to run at superhuman speed, and is the only freedom fighter capable of using magical rings called Power Rings. Sonic has an impatient and head-strong personality. But is also fearless, heroic, and well-meaning. He always mockingly refers to Robotnik as "Ro-butt-nik".
• Princess Sally Acorn (voiced by Kath Soucie as a young woman, Dana Hill as a girl) – A chipmunk who is the rightful princess of Mobotropolis and Sonic's love interest. As a strategist for the Knothole Freedom Fighters, she is knowledgeable and the voice of reason. However, Sally tries to keep Sonic grounded.
• Bunnie Rabbot (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) – A rabbit with a southern accent. Half of her body was roboticized, leaving her left arm and both legs mechanical. She is skilled in martial arts, and desires to be returned to normal.
• Antoine "Ant" Depardieu (voiced by Rob Paulsen) – A coyote with a French accent whose awkwardness often places the others in danger and gets him captured. He has some difficulty speaking English. He has unrequited romantic feelings for Princess Sally, and attempts to impress her. However, his selfishness hinders this goal. Sonic often teases Antoine over his shortcomings.
• Rotor (voiced by Mark Ballou in season one, Cam Brainard in season 2) – A walrus, and the mechanic of Knothole Village. He provides the Knothole Freedom Fighters with useful inventions, and accompanies them on infiltrations.
• Tails (voiced by Bradley Pierce) – A young fox who idolizes Sonic. While usually left behind in Knothole, he proves useful in deadly missions.
• Nicole (voiced by Kath Soucie) – A portable computer that Sally uses to hack into Robotnik's technology. Nicole speaks in a female monotone, and exhibits artificial intelligence. It is indicated that Sally received Nicole from her father.
• Dulcy (voiced by Cree Summer) – A young dragon, who provides the Knothole Freedom Fighters with transportation. Sporting powerful lungs, Dulcy can blow enemies away and freeze them with ice breath. She has trouble landing, and often crashes mid-flight. She was introduced in Season 2.

• Dr. Julian Robotnik (voiced by Jim Cummings) – A warlord who seeks to cover Mobius in machinery and transform its population into robotic slaves by roboticizing them. He is chiefly opposed by the Knothole Freedom Fighters. Robotnik's obsession with destroying Sonic is often his downfall. In this version, his real first name is Julian, adopting the moniker "Robotnik" after his takeover.
  • Cluck (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) – A robotic chicken, and the only creature Robotnik shows affection towards.
  • Snively (voiced by Charlie Adler) – Robotnik's assistant and nephew. He is constantly abused by his uncle. As such, Snively hates Robotnik and plots behind his back.
  • Swat-Bots (voiced by Jim Cummings and Frank Welker) – Robotnik's primary henchmen and foot soldiers.
• Naugus (voiced by Michael Bell) – A powerful sorcerer, who resents Robotnik for imprisoning him within the Void. He desires retribution, but he cannot escape without crystallizing.

• Sir Charles "Chuck" Hedgehog (voiced by William Windom) – Sonic's uncle, and the inventor of the Roboticizer before Robotnik stole it. He was roboticized and made into one of Robotnik's slaves, until Sonic restored his memory. He serves as a spy for the Freedom Fighters. According to Robby London, he was named after the writer and animator, Chuck Menville, who passed away in 1992.[7]
• Ari Ram (voiced by Dorian Harewood) – A Freedom Fighter who worked as a double agent for Robotnik, only to be betrayed later and trapped in the Void.
• King Acorn (voiced by Tim Curry) – The former king of Mobotropolis and Sally's father. He was banished to the Void during Robotnik's takeover, and like Naugus, cannot escape without crystallizing.
• Lupe Wolf (voiced by Shari Belafonte) – Leader of the Wolfpack Freedom Fighters, and one of the Knothole Freedom Fighters' allies in the fight against Robotnik.

• Shari Belafonte - Lupe
• Michael Bell - Naugus
• Crystal Cooke -
• Tim Curry - King Acorn, Keeper of the Time Stones (in "Blast to the Past" Pt. 1)
• David Doyle -
• Dave Fennoy -
• Alaina Reed Hall - Female Nasty Hyena (in "Fed Up with Antoine")
• Dorian Harewood - Ari
• Gaille Heidemann -
• Dana Hill - Young Princess Sally
• John Kassir -
• Katie Leigh -
• Nancy Linari -
• Victor Love -
• Danny Mann -
• Tahj Mowry - Young Sonic the Hedgehog
• Hal Rayle -
• Lindsay Ridgeway -
• Charlie Schlatter - Griff (in "Warp Sonic")
• April Winchell - Rosie (in "Blast to the Past" Pt. 1 and 2), Ro-Becca (in "Ro-Becca")

The Saturday morning series differs from the daily Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, which premiered the same month. While Adventures is lighthearted and comical, Sonic the Hedgehog featured a comparatively complex plot and dramatic atmosphere. It explored unusual story concepts for animation, including losing loved ones to war[19] and relationships focusing on young couples.[20][3] At ABC's request, the second season included episodes devoted to humor, while darker and dramatic elements were reduced. Other changes include Princess Sally donning a jacket for season two, and Rotor receiving a new design.

ABC also ended up, in some weeks, airing back-to-back episodes of this show during the 1st season, while in Season 2, each time slot for the show was for a single episode only.[21]

After the program's initial run, it appeared on the USA Network's Action Extreme Team block from June 1997 to January 1998. ABC did not replicate this, replacing Sonic with reruns of Free Willy. Sonic the Hedgehog aired in Canada on the CTV Network, with a bonus summer run between June 10 and September 2, 1995. It has not been rerun on broadcast or cable television in Canada since its cancellation on CTV, but was present on the Shomi video-on-demand platform until its November 30, 2016, closure. From 1994 to 1996, it had a complete run on the UK television on ITV and Channel 4, In December 1994, the first season was broadcast in the Republic of Ireland on RTÉ Two.[22] On September 2, 2016, reruns of the series began airing on Starz. [23] As of 2020, the show can be found on Pluto TV and on demand at CBS All Access.

This show has never been reissued on DVD after its expiration in 2012, but the remaining copies are available on Amazon and eBay with expensive prices. However, the complete series is available to purchase and download on iTunes.[24][25]

Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic book was initially based on the Saturday morning cartoon.[26] From its earliest issues, the book shared the characters and story premise established within it. However, the comic differed in that it featured humorous plots modeled after the weekday show.[27] After writer Ken Penders had the opportunity to view the Saturday morning program, the comic gradually became adventure-driven.[28] The comic series shifted focus again after ABC cancelled Sonic the Hedgehog, developing into a relationship-based superhero story, and following a reboot, Archie's Sonic was primarily inspired by the video game series. Nevertheless, the characters and locales from the Saturday morning cartoon remained prominent until the comic's cancellation in July 2017.[26]

Several video games were intended to use elements from the TV series, although only one was completed. This was Sonic Spinball, released in 1993 for the Sega Genesis. It contained characters from the show, including Princess Sally, Bunnie Rabbot, Rotor and Muttski. The characters were also planned for use in another game, tentatively titled Sonic-16.[29] A prototype was created by the Sega Technical Institute. Yuji Naka disliked the project, and it was cancelled without further development.[29] Directly afterwards, the same team worked on Sonic Mars. Prior to cancellation, this would have featured Princess Sally and Bunnie Rabbot as playable characters.[30]

In 2002, writer Ben Hurst attempted to pitch an animated film in order to revive the series.[31] Hurst said that he proposed his idea of "a feature film to be the Third Season of SatAm" to a Sega executive, who was interested in the project, and that he later received a call from Ken Penders, head writer of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series by Archie Comics, who had been alerted about the movie. He stated: "I generously offered to include him in the effort and told him my strategy. Get Sega to become invested in the idea by hiring us to interview their creative game designers, execs, etc. and see if we could develop a story line that would fulfill the third season - and simultaneously give them creative ideas to develop new games."[31] However, he stated that after calling Sega back, his contact's demeanor had completely changed, angrily stating that Sega is paid to develop Sonic projects, rather than paying others to do so. Hurst theorized that, "Penders had related my strategy to them in a less-than-flattering way ... Then [Penders] dropped hints that he would be the writer for a big Sonic Feature Film."[31] Penders pitched Sega his own concept for a movie, titled Sonic Armageddon.[32] He created four concept arts and a homemade pitch video, but the project never saw fruition due to what Penders described as "massive corporate upheaval."[33]