#sergeant doberman

[Several explosions can be seen and heard in the distance. Sergeant Doberman walks up to see the explosions in the distance. He then walks up to Sonic and Tails.]

Encounter by JoeAdok

Time for more Sonic fun! This episode was not only a pretty entertaining one but it was also based on the Sega Genesis game, Sonic Spinball!

This fellow, along with the donkey in this episode, has a fun kind of Spumco look to his design.

The story begins with two sculptors making some pots together.  The two are lamenting what a jerk Robotnik is, and as if on cue, they're zapped with a weapon by Robotnik, whom just showed up in their village!

The ammo belts are concernering. Are they just gonna murder people if the stupidity ray fails? Robotnik and his badniks are decked out in Commando gear, and  Robotnik is using his new weapon, "The Stupidity Ray" to apparently give people severe enough brain damage that they have trouble figuring out how to resist against him. Sounds like a pretty dangerous weapon that could cause Mobians to start voting republican!

Thankfully, Sonic and Tails have been tipped off onto Robotnik being sighted in the village, so they're already on their way to stop him. As Sonic is busy weaving between Robotnik's weapon fire, we see that Sergeant Doberman is in town, trying to recruit new soldiers for his army against some unknown purpose. Last time I saw the Sarge was in the adorable "Tails New Home" episode, and he was a fun parody of a macho-military american meatheads, so it's fun to see him starring in another episode. Likewise, we also see that the scam artist salesman Wes Wesley is trying to get some guy to buy a blank encyclopedia in town. During the action, both the Sarge's new recruit and Wes' potential customer get zapped by the Ray, and quickly become eager to mindlessly obey an authority figure and spend their money recklessly.

A cool Ren & Stimpy  lookin’ donkey. Real life donkeys are adorable and I want to look up videos of them now... Sonic eventually stops Robotniks assault by, rather oddly, launching a donkey to land behind him, and the donkey then kicks Robotnik really far into the air! Donkeys are cool. :) With Robotnik separated from his weapon, both Wes and The Sarge get the idea that they could use it to control people to fit their own personal agendas of recruiting an obedient army and scoring a crowd of eager shoppers. The two begin to bicker and even get into a physical alteration, which Sonic eventually manages to break up (for the time being) by smashing the gun with a rock. Robotnik tells everyone that  this isn't the end of his new weapon and he is now just going to build a larger version that he can use on all of Mobius, and it is being held safely at his pinball fortress.

Even though Sergeant Doberman is a jerk, he has a cuteness about him - because dogs are cute!

Tails calling himself “Mustard” was odd but funny and adorable. Sarge and Wes ask to help Sonic get into the fortress, and despite their constant bickering, he agrees.They actually do manage to be of use at times, such as Wes knowing that he can rust the front door down because it's his company that actually sold most of the building supplies to Robotnik for the fortress. There's a lot of action going on as they work their way to the top floor, and we see some scenery that resembles the Lava PowerHouse level from Sonic Spinball, as well as a big scorpion robot likely inspired by Scorpius form the Toxic Caves (though sadly, this version doesn't have a big creepy Robotnik face).  Amusingly, some Super Mario sound effects can be heard while they are bouncing inside the pinball traps, too.

Tails wearing a cute little pilots google thing! Just like he does in the Sonic OVA. :)

The look on Sarges face when Wes pulls his pants off... Once they reach the top floor, Wes and Sarge begin to fight with each-other once again, and in all the chaos, Robotnik ends up being zapped by his own ray gun, and then curiously pulls the way-too-easy to activate self-destruct lever for the fortress. Thankfully, Sonic and Tails make it out of there okay, and as do sarge and Wes. The building is blown in half, sending the top floor flying away with a now brain-damaged Robotnik causing trouble for Scratch and Grounder with his curiosities.

Robotnik’s packin’ heat!

One of the cooler interior shots of the pinball fortress, likely based on the Lava PowerHouse” from Sonic Spinball. The Sonic Says segment repeats a scene from the end of the episode, where Robotnik gets zapped, but this time, Sonic speaks to the camera about how "staying in school will keep you from being stupid". I'm pretty what he means to say is that staying in school will  provide you with knowledge (if republicans haven't banned it form you local school yet). While certainly a well-intended message, I feel this sort of thing is way more nuanced - especially in our current political climate where I can only imagine what all you poor youngsters have to deal with given that conservative politicians are obsessed with making sure children never actually get to learn anything about the world around them.

Scratch and Grounder spend most of the episode just being cute. They’re good at it!

Sarge’s gun has a muzzle that looks like a glue gun but it fires bullets! Weird. Otherwise neat looking gun, though.

Overall, this is a pretty fun episode. There's lots of action, a few good laughs, and the Sonic Spinball references were neat. Sarge and Wes are both entertaining sends ups of american military fetishism and sleazy capitalism, which are good things to see poked fun at especially in a show aimed at kids. However,  It is surprising that Sonic didn't take the threat of Wes and Sarge's intentions more seriously, as they were both planning to steal that gun and do some really horrible things! Perhaps it was because he assumed that like scratch and grounder, they were too childish and interested in their petty quarrels to actually accomplish more serious harms to anyone. Til next time Sonic fans, stay cool, and be kind to each-other! And watch out for Wes Weasley trying to make you buy a blank encyclopedia at gunpoint...that’s no good!

Wes also has a pretty neat looking, colorful gun.