The second season of Sonic Boom (the TV show, not the SatAM episode) has gone into production, at least according to French website Mediakwest. This was announced today at the MIPCOM trade show by LER, the distributor of the series outside of the US and Asia (not including Japan). The amount of new episodes that are being produced is unknown, but if it’s the same amount as the first season we’ll be getting another 52 episodes.
The first season has already finished airing in France at this point, with the US only having to catch up to the last six episodes. The season finale will feature the first appearance of Shadow on the show, which I’m sure Mike Pollock is overjoyed about.
[Via TSSZ News]
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It looks like we’ll be getting more of Sonic Boom, as a job ad that SEGA put up a couple of days ago confirms that the TV show continues production. The job listing is for a “Director of TV Series Production and Distribution” who’ll oversee the production and distribution of the show. This also involves helping the CCO “evaluate business models for new opportunities/subsequent seasons of Sonic Boom“.
When the show was first revealed, SEGA mentioned in their press release that the show had an initial order of 52 eleven-minute episodes. It could be that the new episodes that are being produced are still part of this initial order, though of course it’s also possible that they’ve started production on a new season. You can read the full job listing after the jump.
[Via: The Sonic Stadium]
Turns out that the Sonic Boom games being terrible didn’t completely ruin the series. Turner Broadcasting sent out a press release today that says the Sonic Boom TV show will be a returning series in Cartoon Network’s 2015-2016 series. Seeing how only a quarter of the show’s first season has aired though, this likely means that they’ll just keep on airing the rest of the episodes rather than a new season being produced.
Other notable non-Sonic related stuff coming up is a Powerpuff Girls reboot (seemingly in the same style as last year’s CGI special) and a direct-to-TV Regular Show movie.
Straight from Sonic Boom (the event, not the TV show), SEGA just announced that Sonic Boom (the TV show, not the event) will premier in the US on Cartoon Network on Saturday, November 8th. So we’ll be able to see the show before Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal are released. A sneak preview was shown as well, with the reaction to it being very positive.
As for Europe, the show won’t be appearing in most of that region until Autumn 2015. Well, unless you’re French, the show will air at an earlier unannounced date there. Apparently being in the country where the show is produced has its benefits. The rest of you Europeans can just sit and reflect on just how many more things called Sonic Boom we’re going to get.
Update: SEGA just released the sneak preview online for all to see, be sure to watch it above!
Game News
SDCC 2014: We See How the Sonic Boom TV Series is Made Along With a Bunch of New Characters
With the San Diego Comic Con coming up, SEGA is already showcasing some new Sonic Boom stuff. First up is this behind the scenes video about how the animated series is made. It shows various people who work on the series saying some stuff and we see some work in progress stuff. But more importantly, at one point in the video you can see concept art of Eggman playing volleyball with Orbot and Cubot in the background. We at Sonic Retro hope that there will be an entire episode dedicated to this piece of concept art, because there really needs to be one.
And now for something all Sonic fans like for sure: new characters! All of whom will appear in Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, with some also popping up in the animated series. Sadly only a couple of them are recolors of Sonic, but I’m sure that there will be a lot of fan-art of at least one of them. All of them can be seen in the gallery below, you can read SEGA’s blogpost about them if you want to know more about them.
Do you like the humor in Sonic Boom, but you don’t want any of that “having to put effort into playing a game” stuff? Well, this new trailer for the tv show shows off plenty of that. While part of this trailer was already seen in the first trailer, it does show plenty of new plot and funny jokes from seemingly the first episode.
It also has Eggman standing on a tiny hoverboard. Yes, Eggman on a tiny hoverboard.
The first new character for Sonic Boom has been revealed. This character had already been spotted in a leaked poster and concept art and at the time some thought that she may be Marine the Raccoon from Sonic Rush Adventure, but it turns out that she’s just called Sticks. And no, her name doesn’t end with “the Something”, though she is a badger.
This new character is voiced by Nika Futterman, who describes her as really intelligent, but that the things that she says just come off as really strange. Or in other words, she’s the crazy character who comes up with conspiracies that don’t really make sense and puts sports tape around her boomerang. She’ll pop up in both the Sonic Boom games and TV show and will be best friends with Amy Rose. You can read SEGA’s official announcement and see some more art of her after the jump.
It’s not often that we get a look at how Sonic games are made, so it’s surprising that SEGA suddenly released a behind the scenes video for Sonic Boom. While there’s not much new info, it does show a lot of new concept art for the game and a couple of voice recording sessions for the TV show. There’s also one very small bit of new gameplay that you will probably miss if you blink.
The cast for the game and TV show was also revealed, which confirms that Orbot and Cubot will be present in this spin-off. It also shows that Tails now has a new voice actress, with Colleen Villard replacing Kate Higgins. This isn’t the first time Villard voiced a Sonic character, as she is also the current voice of the beloved Charmy the Bee.
[Source: SEGA Blog]
Animation, Game News
New Spin-off Franchise Sonic Boom Revealed, Will Have TV Shows and Video Games [Updated]
[Updated: Game details and Western exclusivity]
So today was a bit of a big deal in the Sonic franchise. After all the rumors, leaked photos and a leaked trailer, we finally have solid info on this Sonic Boom thing. First off: it’s not a reboot, but a spin-off franchise that will co-exist with the modern Sonic games, Boom providing a different take on familiar faces. A TV show, two new video games and toys are being developed and will be released later this year. So let’s dig into this thing! First up: the TV show. Originally announced last year, we now actually have details of how it will play out. The series is being produced by OuiDO! Productions and will air on Cartoon Network during the 2014/2015 season. The 52 episodes ordered will each be 11 minute self contained stories, with no over-arching plots. Among the situations the cast will get wrapped up in are “Knuckles becoming mayor” and “Dr. Eggman faking an injury so he can take Sonic to court.” The primary characters all play their own roles, such as Tails being the go-to Mr. Fix-It and Amy being an archaeologist, using her knowledge to help out the group as they explore new lands.
Then there is what a lot of you might care more about: the new video games. The first game is for the Wii U, and is the final of the three exclusive Sonic titles for Nintendo systems. Unlike every major title over the past decade and a half, Sonic Boom is not being developed by Sonic Team, but by Big Red Button Entertainment. The studio consists of ex-Naughty Dog staff, including Christian Senn. Known around these parts as lead designer on the cancelled Sonic X-treme for the Saturn, Chris’s official title at the studio is Lead Level Implementer. Sure, it’s almost 20 years later, but Chris finally gets his crack at the Sonic franchise.
Led by Bob Rafei of Jak & Daxter and Uncharted fame, Sonic Boom is being described as a “wide linear” game, with interconnected levels branching out from central hub worlds. Focusing on more than just speed, Naughty Dog’s heritage will have some influence on how the title will play. Also, for the first time in a long while, the core four will be playable, with at least two on screen at all times, and all four being involved in boss battles, each character having their own unique attributes. Other known details: Funky Rustic is contributing sound to the game, it uses CryEngine 3, will feature four player co-op and the most important detail of all: the trailer uses Skrillex music.
The other announced game will land on the Nintendo 3DS and is being made by Dimps Sanzaru Games, known for the latest Sly Cooper title. There aren’t really any details for this game yet, but apparently Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is a pretty solid game, so it seems to be in good hands.
In the wake of these announcements, gameing site Polygon interviewed Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka, who revealed that the entire Sonic Boom line was designed with a Western audience in mind. While Sonic Team still has a supervisory role, Big Red Button has creative control, and as such there are currently no plans to bring either the show or the games to Japan. Could this change in the future? Maybe, but for now Japanese Sonic fans are going to have to deal with the import shops if they want to check out this new take on the hedgehog.
There’s also a toyline in the works, which is being made by Tomy. While no imagery of the toys were released in the media frenzy, you can see plenty of screenshots and concept art for the game and TV show after the jump.
[Source: SEGA Blog]