With his efforts of trying to locate Sonic and the freedom fighters on the ground always failing, Dr. Robotnik's next step was to try from the air. He's going to launch himself a great big spy ship into the atmosphere to locate Knothole Village, then destroy his adversary Sonic the Hedgehog and rule the world. Well, he already does rule the world, but now he'll do it without opposition. When launching his ginormous gizmo into space, it jettisons a rocket booster which crashlands into the forest, not far from Knothole, waking everybody out of a sound sleep. Robotnik, if you're going to spy on someone, it's probably a good idea not letting them know. It doesn't take Sonic and the gang long to figure out this gift came from Robotnik, even taking notice of the giant round ship hovering in the air. Looks like this thing is going to be a problem as it wasn't in the atmosphere a few minutes and it already detected electromagnetic radiation coming from the forest, and so Robotnik launches a stealth bot to investigate. Unfortunately for him, Sally managed to hack into his computers, so they're fully aware the stealth bot was en route. Looks like someone needs to do a better job of encrypting their systems. But with help from a power coupling rigged to two trees, they fry the stealth bot's circuits, so now the only thing to do was go up onto that spy ship and manually shut it down, and they would do it with help from that rocket booster. I'm not sure why this particular booster came with internal controls and a guidance system, as normally their only function is to get a ship up to the proper altitude before being disconnected. So after powering up the booster and leveling the trajectory, Sonic and Rotor ready for blast off. Not really sure why Sonic is bringing Rotor along, even though he is a mechanic, Sally seems much more computer savvy so it would seem she would've been more suited for this adventure, but I guess the writers felt they never do enough with Rotor. Well, there's a reason for that: he's boring. But it could've been worse: he could've brought along Antoine. So hedgehog and walrus blast off into space, bound for the Sky Spy. When they arrive, they suddenly remember one tiny little problem: they had no place to land. Bringing her down in a trench, they crash into a building but arrive in one piece. Now to find the sensors and render that flying basketball useless. Um, shouldn't they have space suits? There's no viable reason Sky Spy would have oxygen on board.
Instantly, Sonic and Rotor are spotted by a surveillance bot, and Robotnik is very surprised to see his arch nemesis on board his ship. Huh, well, since he's got Sonic right where he wants him, Robotnik could just blow up the whole thing right now. Sure, he went to a lot of trouble and used a lot of resources to build it, but wasn't the whole point of building it to find Sonic? Well, you've got him. Of course, Robotnik doesn't think of this, which gives Sonic and Rotor ample time to escape. Botsy alerts all presence on board the Sky Spy that a hedgehog is on the loose. Code Blue. Gotta say, I'm not too worried, because every time Sonic is in a pickle, he races out of it in a matter of seconds, so there's no real tension. How about giving us a scene where he's actually trapped and can't get out, or have Rotor get captured and Sonic has to find him. You know, some tension to go along with our action? But no, instead Sonic infiltrates the robot lounge. Picture the Star Wars Cantina if it were all droids. At least Sonic's robot disguise looks more homemade than the ones he dons in the Adventures series. He butts heads with a robot that has two trombones for a head and tricks him into revealing where the spy sensors are located. Now, are we sure this wasn't originally a script for the Adventures series? This Robotnik doesn't seem like the type to put useless robots on board something as highly advanced as the Sky Spy. Sonic locates the sensor dish and removes the main tube, shorting it out and causing the whole place to start sizzling. Time to make like the wind and blow. He and Rotor commandeer an escape pod and cruise back to Mobius. Glad they left without any opposition. Not a very well guarded ship there. Once back on the ground, the gang realizes they have a short amount of time to deal with the Sky Spy before it crashlands in a populated area. With Rotor's super-charged magnet, they divert it into a non-populated area and turn it into a crater. Of course, Dr. Robotnik was angry that his Sky Spy is gone and his latest scheme of trying to find the freedom fighters went up in smoke, but it just shows he didn't quite think of everything, did he? So our story has a happy ending, and we end on a silly gag of Sonic trying out Rotor's new quill styler machine and giving himself quite the bad hair day.
Harmonic Sonic has good animation, great voice acting, and a simple story and plot, but it could've used so much more. They were obviously inspired by Star Wars, what with the Death Star shaped Sky Spy, the cantina scene, and the overall look of the ship, so why not have some more action sequences? Have robots trying to blast Sonic and Rotor as they flew out of the ship? Have them fight off a bunch of Swat Bots with lasers, have them put in real peril, not just walking in and out. It could have used so much more, but for what it is, it's not bad. About Rotor, I said he was boring, but apparently he has quite the following, or at least someone on IMDb loves him, because every episode page of Sonic the Hedgehog lists every line of dialogue he says, memorable or not. I mean, I don't really have a problem with the character, despite my complaints. I'd take him over Antoine any day. In closing, I recommend Harmonic Sonic, boldly going where no hedgehog has gone before.
Instantly, Sonic and Rotor are spotted by a surveillance bot, and Robotnik is very surprised to see his arch nemesis on board his ship. Huh, well, since he's got Sonic right where he wants him, Robotnik could just blow up the whole thing right now. Sure, he went to a lot of trouble and used a lot of resources to build it, but wasn't the whole point of building it to find Sonic? Well, you've got him. Of course, Robotnik doesn't think of this, which gives Sonic and Rotor ample time to escape. Botsy alerts all presence on board the Sky Spy that a hedgehog is on the loose. Code Blue. Gotta say, I'm not too worried, because every time Sonic is in a pickle, he races out of it in a matter of seconds, so there's no real tension. How about giving us a scene where he's actually trapped and can't get out, or have Rotor get captured and Sonic has to find him. You know, some tension to go along with our action? But no, instead Sonic infiltrates the robot lounge. Picture the Star Wars Cantina if it were all droids. At least Sonic's robot disguise looks more homemade than the ones he dons in the Adventures series. He butts heads with a robot that has two trombones for a head and tricks him into revealing where the spy sensors are located. Now, are we sure this wasn't originally a script for the Adventures series? This Robotnik doesn't seem like the type to put useless robots on board something as highly advanced as the Sky Spy. Sonic locates the sensor dish and removes the main tube, shorting it out and causing the whole place to start sizzling. Time to make like the wind and blow. He and Rotor commandeer an escape pod and cruise back to Mobius. Glad they left without any opposition. Not a very well guarded ship there. Once back on the ground, the gang realizes they have a short amount of time to deal with the Sky Spy before it crashlands in a populated area. With Rotor's super-charged magnet, they divert it into a non-populated area and turn it into a crater. Of course, Dr. Robotnik was angry that his Sky Spy is gone and his latest scheme of trying to find the freedom fighters went up in smoke, but it just shows he didn't quite think of everything, did he? So our story has a happy ending, and we end on a silly gag of Sonic trying out Rotor's new quill styler machine and giving himself quite the bad hair day.
Harmonic Sonic has good animation, great voice acting, and a simple story and plot, but it could've used so much more. They were obviously inspired by Star Wars, what with the Death Star shaped Sky Spy, the cantina scene, and the overall look of the ship, so why not have some more action sequences? Have robots trying to blast Sonic and Rotor as they flew out of the ship? Have them fight off a bunch of Swat Bots with lasers, have them put in real peril, not just walking in and out. It could have used so much more, but for what it is, it's not bad. About Rotor, I said he was boring, but apparently he has quite the following, or at least someone on IMDb loves him, because every episode page of Sonic the Hedgehog lists every line of dialogue he says, memorable or not. I mean, I don't really have a problem with the character, despite my complaints. I'd take him over Antoine any day. In closing, I recommend Harmonic Sonic, boldly going where no hedgehog has gone before.