Much like ReBoot's second season, only that built up the importance of everything by the 4th to last episode of the season. Here, it was imperitive from minute one that every minute detail was going to be important in the grand scheme of things. And that's saying a lot for a show based on a video game that admittedly didn't have much in terms of story. And especially says a lot for one with such a massive deviation from the ideals of what that video game was. Also, much like ReBoot's second season, the show would suffer a similar fate. But we'll cover that after we recap The Doomsday Project.
We open in at the Doomsday Project as Robotnik and Snively are admiring their device, which in 24 hours will control all of Mobius. Meanwhile, Sonic and Rotor are testing special grenades that will help to destroy the machine. He later goes to Antoine (who is sleeping and being useful as always).
As the two converse, the ground opens up from underneath them, releasing one of the doomsday pods that we saw back in "Cry of the Wolf". It lays waste to every nearby plant as the duo warn the other freedom fighters. Sonic saves Rotor before his workshop is destroyed, then uses one of the grenades to destroy the pod. Sally sends messages to the other freedom fighter groups as they learn that the doomsday project can create hundreds of pods and there's already hundreds outside.
They assemble the other freedom fighters, and begin their assault. Since a frontal attack is out of the question, they need to find another way. Their strategy, dropping teddy bears from a plane as a diversion. That doesn't work as Robotnik is on to them and sends the ground forces. Sonic blows a hole into the project and enters the machine. Apparently Robotnik was waiting for this, and has a guest for them.
While the other freedom fighters get caught, the rest continue to travel through the machine. They run into the egg robots from "Game Guy" which can sense Sonic's motions. He picks up the speed and manages to make them explode. They make it to the construction plant. With the plan blown, Sonic plans to go on his own, as Robotnik watches. He only wants Sonic, so he'll let the others go, all while Snively is mouthing off more than usual.
Sally gives Nicole to Sonic while they hitch a ride on one of the pods. She leads him to the main control room. He sets up some explosives to the generator and let's them blow. However, it proves to be ineffective. In fact, Robotnik was expecting him. He traps Sonic in a roboticizer and gloats over his victory. Sonic uses a power ring to try and deflect the device, but Robotnik had that planned too and it proves to be tougher than one ring. So Sonic uses three power rings to put an end to the roboticizer.
Sonic returns to the freedom fighters to tell him that he was unable to stop the doomsday device. He warns them of the diamond glass in the control room. Uncle Chuck says that their last hope is the power stones. They still have one, but they need to find the last one at Robotnik's place, which Robotnik stupidly just leaves in his control room at Robotropolis without any security. Though considering Robotnik thought one of the stones was destroyed, that does make sense somewhat.
Sonic and Sally (despite Sonic's concerns) work together to use the power stones and one remaining metal eating grenade to enter the doomsday device. They use that last grenade on a pod and arrive back into the control room. They combine the power stones, giving them both super speed and the power of 10,000 power rings, and destroy the control room, and the doomsday device.
Robotnik escapes on his plane, leaving Snivey to escape on his own. The doomsday device is destroyed and Sonic and Sally celebrate with the rest of the freedome fighters. No more Robotnik, and no villain left for Sonic to defeat.
And they all lived happily ever after.
OR DID THEY!?
A pair of glowing eyes can be seen as we end the episode. Man, I can't wait for what's going to go down in season thr-oh right.
Sadly, much like ReBoot season two, ABC pulled the plug on Sonic SatAM on its second season. There really is no concrete reason why. Some say it had to do with ratings as the show was airing at the same time slot as Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and wasn't bringing in the numbers. Personally I just believe that ABC wasn't fond of keeping too many shows airing beyond a season or two. Whatever the reason, it was perhaps the first real disappointment for me when it came to a shows cancellation. I couldn't wait until the fall of 1995 to see what was going to go down, but instead the show never returned. Dic tried again with a similar concept in Sonic Underground, but as I covered many an era ago in Tooncrap, it wasn't exactly one I was on board with.
So, the mystery of the glowing eyes and Snively's dominance was left as just that. Though thankfully some answers were eventually given about how the third season would have gone down. The glowing eyes were Naugus, who Snively somehow got out of the void. Eventually Naugus would become the main villain of season 3. There was also plans to continue the development of Tails as well and a much more darker feel. So, knowing all of that, it makes the fact that Sonic SatAM was cancelled before its time an even bigger shame. But thankfully, the story of the SatAM universe never truly died.
The Sonic SatAM universe continued to live on through the Archie comics, building not only on the show's continuity, but that of the video games. And it's still going on strong almost 25 years later. Even with new, rebooted designs, the adventures of the freedom fighters lives on. Not to mention a fan comic comprising of the scrapped season 3, which you can find right here. And the show lives on through its many fans. In the end, while it was brief, Sonic SatAM's legacy still lives on. A crazy little action series based on a fast blue hedgehog that spawned a unique and amazing show. Not perfect in many places, but still one of my favorite cartoons of all time. And this recap helped prove that.
And for its finale, The Doomsday Project is a perfect way to end the season. Everything we've built up leads up to this, with plenty of action and memorable moments. I will say that the new freedom fighters being easily captured was kind of lame, and perhaps the episode could have benefited from two parter instead of just one twenty two minute episode, but what we get is still a memorable adventure reaching its apex, and ending us on one of animation's biggest cock teases. The Doomsday Project is an excellent end to one of the best seasons of any cartoon ever.
And thus ends my adventure through Sonic SatAM. Perhaps I took too long in getting here, making the rapidly part of this title a bit wrong, but in the end, the experience was worth it. Sonic the Hedgehog was a big part of my childhood, and this show was the central piece behind that. It was the reason that I wanted a Sega Genesis, which led to some of my favorite games of all time. It also led to the first comic book series I ever read on a regular basis (before I tapped out sadly). While I fell out of Sonic throughout the years, this show, and this era of an Urkel-Voiced cartoon hedgehog in a too-serious world of freedom fighters and swat bots based around a video game from a system with "blast processing", will always be special. And while it was a brief time, it will always be way past cool to me.
Thank you for following Retro Oasis over the past year. This has been our most productive year ever, and we have many great projects on the way for 2017. Have a Merry Christmas, a happy new year, and we'll see you in 2017 for even more nostalgia, even more reviews, and even more fun.