THE HISTORY OF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG.

This week marked the 23rd anniversary of Sega's speedy hedgehog mascot, so it's only fitting I get down to business using him as a kick-off point. But, just who is Sonic and what led to his jumping out of the console and onto Saturday mornings?

The evolution of Sonic from his debut to the present.

In 1990, Sega was losing out to Nintendo in the video game wars. Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. franchise was as strong as ever, especially after the release of Super Mario Bros. 3. Despite the success Sega had porting their arcade titles to their new Genesis system, Sega needed a game that could not only show off what their new system could do, but could offer a character to officially replace Alex Kidd as their company mascot (which Kidd had been unofficially since his debut in 1986) and challenge Nintendo’s Mario.

            Setting to work on that problem was Sega’s Sega AM8 team comprised of Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, Hirokazu Yasuhara, and Manabu Kusunoki. Naka had created a demo featuring an algorithm he developed that allowed a sprite to move smoothly on a curve. The prototype involved a fast-moving character rolling in a ball through a long tube. The Sega AM8 team took this idea and developed a standard platformer around it, choosing to focus on emphasizing speed to both further differentiate it from Mario as well as allow players to complete the levels faster, since there was no game save mechanics in place at the time. They ran through a list of animals they could use for their main character looking for speedy ones that attacked in a ball form. Looking to increase the character’s threat profile, the team added the inclusion of spikes and the list ultimately became a choice between an armadillo and a hedgehog. After several designs, Ohshima’s spikey hedgehog was chosen as the character that would become Sonic. The armadillo would be recycled later into Mighty the Armadillo in the 1993 arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog.

            Originally named Mr. Needlemouse, Sonic was colored blue after Sega’s logo and given boots inspired by the cover of Michael Jackson’s 1987 album Bad, but colored red to represent Santa Claus. Sonic’s personality was modeled after then-governor Bill Clinton’s “Get it done” attitude. He also lacked the ability to swim (unlike Mario) due to the production team's false assumption that hedgehogs couldn't. Initially, Sonic was given fangs and was part of a band with a human girlfriend named Madonna, but Sega of America softened the character for the American audience and removed those elements. Yasuhara fleshed out levels centered around Naka’s original demo in order to best make use of Sonic’s super speed.

Sega AM8 renamed themselves Sonic Team and created the first game called simply Sonic the Hedgehog, although Sonic himself would first appear in the racing game Rad Mobile as an air freshener. The core conflict of the series was derived from the growing battle between developers and environmentalists. Sonic’s objective was to rescue his fellow woodland friends from the clutches of the egg-shaped Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik, who seeks to capture them all and turn them into robots, as well as retrieve the powerful Chaos Emeralds. Robotnik’s design was based off one of the rejected designs for Sonic, selected to make him easy enough for children to draw. Sonic relied on his speed and sharp quills to defeat Robotnik’s robots and traps, as well as collecting rings that would grant him additional lives and resistance to injury.

Sonic vs. Robotnik.

            Released on June 23^rd, 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog was met with rave reviews and fan reaction, spawning a sequel and eventually growing into its own video game franchise. Confident in their new mascot, Sega looked to expand the brand’s recognition by once again following in the footsteps of Nintendo and putting Sonic on TV. In 1993, two major events took place: Sonic became the first video game character to have a balloon in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City, and Sega teamed up with DiC Entertainment (who also handled Nintendo's various Mario cartoons, a couple of which will be discussed here) to bring Sonic to television in not one, but TWO animated series. And one of those was on Saturday morning.

For more on the early history of Sonic, you can check out this documentary.

WHAT IS SATURDAY MORNINGS FOREVER?

            All week long, you had to be chased out of bed to get ready to go to school. But, on Saturday, you were up at or before 8AM without the aid of an alarm. You were already filling a bowl with your favorite cereal and preparing to sit in the living room and watch television for the next four hours.

            Saturday mornings were a special kind of time when you were a kid. For many of us growing up, it was the only time to see programming geared specifically towards us on a continuous basis. Especially in the days before cable and internet streaming.

            Saturday morning television was initially comprised of reruns of programs the three (that’s right, THREE) major networks broadcast during the week, or of cancelled programs that had run their course. It wasn’t until the 60s programmers saw the value of creating original programming for the time period, namely that they could target more kids for advertisers, and commissioned new shows.

            As the 60s rolled into the 70s, parent groups began criticizing some of the content seen on Saturday mornings. Too violent. Too commercial. Too stereotypical. Basically, a lot of the same things you hear brandied about today. Their influence grew and networks generated content rules for the studios producing their shows. Educational content was also slowly worked into the programs, with shows either working lessons into their plots, delivering a lesson at the end, or focused entirely around educating the viewers. Regardless, Saturday mornings continued to thrive well through the 80s.

            In the 90s, things began to shift. The Federal Communications Commission enforced a new rule in 1990 that a network was required to broadcast three hours of educational content per week, as well as tie-in merchandising during children’s hours. Many networks chose to air those three hours on Saturday mornings, replacing more popular shows in some markets with educational ones. First-run syndicated programs were subject to looser rules and standards, allowing more creative freedom and more adult-oriented content than programs designed for Saturday mornings. Cable, originally designed to provide television to those in far-off rural areas, began to become mainstream and new stations made available to everyone. This led to a rise in children-oriented stations such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, making Saturday mornings a bit redundant. And prime-time cartoons made it okay for adults to like cartoons again.

            Many networks opted to discontinue their Saturday morning programming in favor of infomercials or local programming, like news. Some continue to show reruns of old cartoons or imported programs, or have opted to show their content on Sundays instead. For all intents and purposes, Saturday morning television is dead.

            But, we remember, don’t we? We may not remember vividly, but we remember. All it takes is an image, a sound clip, seeing part of an episode and suddenly we’re transported right back to our living rooms sitting in front of the TV and watching those programs again for the first time. With the rise of television released on home media it’s easier to recapture those memories than ever before, and those memories are what we’re here to celebrate.

            Saturday Mornings Forever will endeavor to chronicle every show that ever had an original episode air on Saturday between the hours of 7AM and 1PM. Here, you’ll not only get  the rundown of what the show was about, but whatever behind the scenes information is available, original airdates (including both American and whatever country of origin for imported shows) and a complete episode guide. We’ll explore the creation and legacy of these shows and share in the rekindled memories they might bring. And, in fact, I invite YOU to share some of the memories it might rekindle in you with us. We have a comments section—use it!

           

            Welcome back to the best day of the week. I’m not sure what kind of schedule I’m going to follow in terms of getting things posted as each entry takes a while to research, compile, write down and proofread. But, I’ll try to keep it frequent and consistent. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to experiencing Saturday mornings with all of you again!

--Chris Buchner