Sonic GeneX - 15th Anniversary
A Retrospective - Part 4
Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
Last time on the Retrospective - "During these years, I have streamlined the process of writing these stories to the point that I can complete a pretty impressive amount of chapters each year... Not as impressive as people who live for carpal tunnel syndrome, but there's no need to be in THAT big a rush anyway."
How about tendonitis? How's that for you, past 2BIT?
Anyway, here I am 5 years later. I said there was a low likelyhood I'd be doing this at the 20th Anniversary. I never said anything about 15th. And there appears to be enough to talk about, so I'll have at it! There's like, 2 people who may find this interesting! That's all I've ever needed! (Until life says I need money, anyway.)
In this edition of the "Retrospective", we'll look back the run of Sonic GeneX: the Series. The episodic series did kinda take over the whole "show," so to speak, with only one major break along the way before we jumped into the final story in the whole saga. IS Doomsday the final entry in the saga, though? Yes and no. I'd like to think I'll do more...but never again will it be building to something huge like Doomsday.
SONIC GENEX: THE SERIES - SEASON 2
The longest season, technically, at 15 full chapters, plus a Mario special and... is this where I put the second Christmas special? Doesn't matter, I'm covering the Christmas special separate. This season kind of reboot the series again, and set us on the path toward the ending, though I didn't know it at the time.
It was a bridge season where there was an overarching plot, but the episodes still were following random characters and there was even a bit of backstory thrown in. We learn Fera's tragic past here, cover Sonic Lost World, tease Chaos Hearts (kinda), have an in-universe Halloween Special, and start setting up the Zodiac Council.
I've got a little bit of cut content for this season, including some nice chunks of deleted/alternate scenes! Let's have a look, shall we?
Episode 1 - Alternate sequence
This was happening far away from Station Square, where most of the rest of Sonic's friends live and go about their day-to-day lives. The people here were going about their normal business, completely unaware how close they were to yet another devastating event. It was coming up on the news hour of the day, and many TVs in the city turned to that now-famous news-hound that had survived Eggman's Cloud Carnival and the more recent Time Eater incident, Katie the Coyote. "Brace yourselves, Station Square! Today on SSTV News, I bring you live coverage of yet another press conference called by Richard Jackson Gunner, the GUN Colonel who made a name for himself during the war against the Covenant of Despair, and more recently escaped the time-space incident, having fought to keep our worlds very history safe..." she said, with a bit of a strain to keep from laughing at her teleprompter. "Sorry, that was unprofessional. Anyway, let's hear what he's got to say now." she announced.
2BIT's musings: Maybe I thought this was too lore-heavy and taking too long to get moving. I don't have time to re-read the original chapters to look into it, I must admit.
Episode 2 - 2BIT Rage-Quits Or Something
It was a few days after Sonic's battle against the Deadly Six at Lost Hex. Things were already starting to get back to normal, or what passed for normal these days. Tails was busy tinkering on something in the makeshift garage of his partially rebuilt Mystic Ruins workshop, while Sonic and SPOT were continuing work on the reconstruction of the building, which the Covenant of Despair had destroyed several months ago. The work would have been finished by now if not for Eggman's three schemes in the time since: the interstellar amusement park, the Time Eater incident, and the Deadly Six fiasco. While Sonic was busy with construction, Amy was trying to hook up the new TV she'd brought over to replace Tails's old TV. "Are we sure the wiring is fire safe? I don't want to go through THAT again..." she shouted, hesitating to plug the new flat-screen in. "I did the wiring MYSELF this time!" Tails called from the garage, "I don't know why I let Knuckles talk me into letting him help before, anyway... He lives in a stone altar with no plugs." he sighed. Amy shrugged and plugged in the TV, groaning as the screen lit up and displayed Colonel Gunner's ugly mug for the second time in a week. "Ugh... Soniiic! The GUN jerk is on TV again!" she shouted. Sonic sped down a ladder holding a blowtorch, which he hastily turned off before turning his attention to the screen. Gunner was shaking hands... with Bucky the Rat!
"So, for those just tuning in, let me explain once more. Dr. Buck Stein and his band of genetic experiments have recently been cleared of all charges, thanks to the doctor's recent partnership with GUN." Gunner explained, motioning to a pair of tube-shaped machines behind him, "This device, which we have dubbed the GeneXtractor, can separate the abilities from superpowered individuals, and even transfer those abilities to new hosts. Now, I'd like all viewers to observe this footage..." he said, cuing a video to be shown. The screen displayed the recent event in Station Square, when the life-draining weapon from Lost Hex had spread its influence that far. "This near-fatal incident that occurred last week was the result of yet another bout between Sonic and Dr. Eggman. And if that doesn't unsettle you, take a look at some other found footage..." Gunner smirked, showing off the flooding of Station Square from when Chaos attacked. "Our intelligence suggests that Sonic, despite stopping the beast in question here, may have played a part in creating the monster in the first place. Oh, and look at this." Some more footage showed Sonic running up and along walls while evading laser fire from one of Eggman's robots, leaving shattered windows where the lasers missed him. Gunner seemed to be enjoying himself a bit too much, but cleared his throat and tried to look utterly serious once the camera was on him again. Bucky, meanwhile, backed out of the camera's focus. "All right, Sonic is a hero. We grant him that. He put the planet back together when it was shattered. But he shows a lack of responsibility when using his super-speed that causes serious damage and could quite possibly end up causing more harm than good in the long run! In light of the hedgehog's years of heroism, we're going to drop any criminal charges... But I hereby declare that Sonic the Hedgehog's speed should be forfeit, and passed to a more responsible party! And who is more responsible than the patriotic hero who brings him in, hm? So, friends, I am placing a bounty on Sonic's head! Bring him to GUN, and you get his speed! Good luck!" he said, smiling wickedly.
Sonic, Tails and Amy were watching in utter shock at this point. "Gunner's not serious? I mean, does he really think people are dumb enough to try and catch me??" Sonic stammered. Tails looked thoughtful. "I wonder what my life would be like if I had Sonic speed..." he muttered. Sonic looked at him with utter disbelief, while Amy patted Sonic on the back. "Relax! It's not like anyone can catch you!" she pointed out. "I'm more worried about Bucky... This seems awfully extreme to get out of being hunted by GUN..." Tails sighed. Suddenly, a loud rumble was heard coming from the garage! "Waaaagh! I forgot! I left my machine running!!" Tails yelped, rushing to check on his latest invention!
2BIT's musings: I'm thinking I decided after going this far that I wanted to take the plot in a somewhat different direction. And maybe it didn't make sense for Tails' Workshop to STILL be under reconstruction. I'm surprised I had such a long bit saved though, I wonder if the last retrospective had anything to do with this...
Episode 9 - Don't Slip Up, Gemini!
...during my first year in this time period." she said. Copter looked at her sleepily, and she held her mouth.
2BIT's musings: I'm guessing Copter doesn't know she's from the future at this time, but having him "too sleepy to hear her" seemed like BS.
There's some other bits but they aren't too interesting. Except maybe these one-liners from the Mario special, which was centered around the Rio Olympics...
Alternate Crossover? - "Can't we just invite Mega-Man to the Olympics? Everyone likes Mega-Man..."
Game Logic - "I don't care if it breaks the fourth wall, I gotta ask, why can Mario breathe underwater??"
Sticks Reference - They tell me some Badger beat me out... I gotta train up fer next time!
Although the Mario chapter used the Rio Olympics to establish its plot, the real point of it was to have fun seeing how Mario & Sonic deal with each other's worlds. We never actually get to the Olympics in the story because for me, that's not the interesting part of the crossover.
Anyway, I'm gonna pick a couple favorite chapters from the season now. #8, Neon Interlude, was a fun one to do. Just seeing what happens with random meetups at the bar that would not exist in Sega's canon. Of course, the fun part was when things started to escalate toward the inevitable bar brawl, hah. I'd also be remiss not to mention #4, Cry of the Wolf, Fera's late origin story which maybe or maybe not made her sympathetic enough to care about her return.
Also, this is just random, but I had planned to do a telling of Bucky's origins during this season. "Knuckles the Echidna" covers that well enough, though, so that idea got canned.
Next, let's look at season 3...
ARMADA & CHAOS TOURNAMENT
This season was split into two 5-part arcs. An arc running through the whole season involves Sonic growing closer with, and then losing track of, his Uncle Chuck. This season also introduces the final Chaos Relic, just in time to redistribute all of them.
The "Armada" arc centered around the Battle Bird Armada reappearing. GUN assembles a Suicide Squad-esque team of villains to combat them. Along the way Sonic gets caught in a time travel episode that gets Metal Sonic his voice chip back, because I was almost past the point of caring about the Sega games' canon.
There's a few cut bits. Let's have a looksee.
Chaper 3 - Timing's Off
Fortunately, Shadow was busy on a cell phone with GUN as they passed by. "I don't care what you think is in Soleanna, you can't make me go!"
2BIT's musings: This is while Sonic is in the past. It may be just before Sonic 06, but the timing is still not right for this kinda phone call, I think...
Chapter 5 alt line - The Wolf's Eye
She gave back to the church with all she had, and the good lord returned her kindness... One day, her beautiful singing turned a man, a doctor, back from the brink of suicide. In gratitude, he repaired her eye. Do you know her?
2BIT's musings: I think I simplified the story of how her eye got fixed. Hopefully made it less...awkward, too.
Chapter 5 - TRUE Power of the Chaos Claws???
punching the claws through the streaks to seemingly shatter reality itself in that space! Guard stared in surprise, then leapt to safety as a bomb flew out of the hole Kukku had slashed in reality! "I have done my research, actually. The Chaos Claws can claw open holes...in time! I'm getting a bit of help from myself as I battle that pesky fox kid. Thanks, me! Keep missing the fox! I mean, you lose anyway..."
2BIT's musings: I didn't want anything too complicated for any of the Relic powers. So, this idea was cut.
Chapter 10 alt ending - Star-Crossed Lovers
"I am ashamed of you... That's because I know the kind of person you can be. You're better than this mad obsession with power. There's a goodness and light in you that you don't even believe is there... but it shines through and touches everyone you meet. You're a hero, Copter... a hero that I... love." she said, tears forming in her eyes. Copter was barely listening, and slowly turned away from her. "...I'm not that guy, Gemini. I'm darkness. I'm... a cancer. You're best with me out of your life. Everyone's best with me out of their lives..." he said, walking off into the woods. "Copter! C-copter!?" Gemini shouted, rushing after him only to be unable to find him once he'd passed behind the trees.
2BIT's musings: I've always wondered if and when there'd be a right time for Copter and Gemini to admit their feelings to one another. This...wasn't it. I mean, some may say it'd lead to a better story, but that wasn't the story I wanted to tell with Copter's turn as Aries. Anyway, surprisingly, this is all I got for Chaos Tournament...
Well, I do have the list of all 100 competitors for the Tournament of Chaos! I didn't create a tournament chart because that isn't how it worked, but the list helped inform which characters I could use for the arc. Some characters didn't actually appear in the story at all, like Sticks the Badger!
Tourney Competitors - Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Silver, Copter, Punchy, Gemini, Rainbow, Kosmo, Amy, Blaze, Guard, Conan, Lospecter, Cream, Rouge, Omega, Vector, Charmy, (21.) Espio, Zipp, Vortex, Heather, Crash, Spiny, Zeke, Whisk, Ridley, Lucky, Carrie, (32.) Talon, Marine, Big, Alpha, Jet, Wave, Storm, Metal Sonic, (40.) Nack, Terra, Firma, Jolt, Freeze, Bean, Bark, Mighty, Gator, Razor, (50.) Fera, Violet, Daisy, Patch, Eddie, Basker, Infin, Anubis, Deathbringer, Aquarius, (60.) Zavok, Zazz, Zomom, Zeena, Zor, Zik, Bucky, Katie, Chet, Zim, (70.) Slash, Sting, Shade, Captian Whisker, Johnny, Rick, Fred, Adam, Evelyn, Cuthburt, (80.) Agent 77, Spy, Hoover, Orbot, Cubot, Sticks, Char, SPOT, Speedy, G-Mel, (90.) Techno Sonic, Dave(Burger Shop), Tommy, Loskeletor, Nova, Agent 32, Agent 64, Dr. Nammad(via robot), Tabitha, 2BIT, (100.) 8BIT
That's exactly as it appears in my notes, the numbers being for reference to ensure I hit 100. I actually had to remind myself that Dave the Intern worked at the Burger Shop. I think I replaced 8BIT with another character later on. Interesting that a character as late into the list as Tabitha actually made it to the finals! (you'd figure I'd be grasping at straws there)
So, favorite chapters of this season... #4 was titled "7 Short Stories of GeneX" and was looooosely based on the Simpsons episode with all the short stories about Springfield. (Basically in title only.) Conan's origin story snuck its way in here. I also had some fun with #8, Race to Win, which was the second round of the tournament and was centered around a huge road race. The Series was a fun opportunity to do oddball plots like these, every chapter being something totally new and untethered to the whole "stage structure" of my earlier work.
The year also ended with a prologue to season 4. It was a short thing just designed to set up a bit of mystery to invest the reader before Sonic Forces came and caused a distraction. I'll talk about how much planning I did for the Forces arc somewhere else...if I remember. I have a lot to do & I'm working on this retrospective in my spare moments.
ZODIAC IN TIME
If the second season was the longest, this season was the biggest. I started doing shorts to pad it out (and to be able to keep doing "random" plots), and I also added Chaos Hearts to the mix, and in the same year the Forces story Infinite Crisis occurred. This section is specifically for Zodiac in Time, though.
There were 3 plots to this season; one centered around the Zodiac Council, an origin story for the Lost Ones, and the wedding of Punchy and Rainbow, the most stable couple in the series. Each of these plots probably deserved their own year to breathe, but I didn't want to take too long getting to Doomsday, so this was kind of a wrap-up season to a degree.
This season also had a musical element throughout, mostly brief songs sung by Bard the Fox in the past era, but the wedding itself was a two-part musical story with several original songs I wrote for it. Why? Truthfully, I love music, and I love music in movies & shows & such. And even though I couldn't perform the songs, I wanted to do something along the lines of a musical for a long time.
I had to figure out who all the Zodiac characters would be really fast, and I had to choose a leader. Several of the Zodiacs were converted from existing characters, like Copter and Razor. In my research, I learned of a little-known 13th sign, Ophiuchus, so that became the leader. So, no, snake villain was in no way based on Lyric.
I did consider other ideas for Zodiac members... Some ideas included Shade, Conan, Emily, Fera, Marine, and even Sonic himself. I don't remember my thought processes behind all these, but in many cases I think it was just me trying to figure out who should even get a role in the season...
There aren't many deleted bits here, weirdly enough. And they're nearly all rejected song verses. So... I guess, here they are!
Chapter 2 - Rainbow Reads Ahead
It's gonna be in chapter 7, One. Or chapter 8. Not sure. It's a two-parter." Drat you, Rainbow. You had to do it.
2BIT's musings: This wasn't BIT Squad, so that kinda 4th wall break was out of place.
Chapter 2 - Lospecter/Spiro Stealing Spotlight
Mighty Rex the Hedgehog! Our leader and a hero!
The great Rex the Hedgehog! ...And, uh... his sidekick Spiro!"
2BIT's musings: A song specifically about Rex the Hedgehog shouldn't give a random sidekick the last word.
Chapter 5 - Don't Exactly Rhyme
Here we are...'neath setting sun and rising stars...
Surrounded by beauty and love...
2BIT's musings: ...I got nothin.
Chapter 8 - Last Fist Bump
We fought side by side with them, shared a fist bump...
...No!! Your time is over, weakling! I'm back and Felicia is dumped!
2BIT's musings: I believe I shortened this to make it flow better, probably. Weird this is the only deleted bit from the full-on musical!
The season also had shorts, as stated. I don't much remember them unless they had important plot bits, like Conan's little clash with Knuckles or Talon discovering his powers.
Simply put, my favorite chapters here were the full-on musical. I don't care how silly it may read, I had a blast putting it together. Loved giving Lospecter his own bad guy song. Having Fera's proper return happen through song was also a highlight. And the Heartless popped in since this was also a Chaos Hearts crossover. This two-parter had it all. I also quite enjoyed the other endgame chapters in this season, in my mind this season probably ended stronger than any other... (Though I did take heavy inspiration from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep for the Lost Ones' origins. If you ever wondered about that, here I am admitting it.)
COUNTDOWN TO DOOMSDAY
There is NO cut content for season 5. I guess I had no time or energy for do-overs. I was indeed growing exhausted with keeping this series going year after year by this point...and I still had to finish Chaos Hearts. So, I made this the shortest season. The idea was that there'd be a bit of a time jump between each chapter, but I think the shorts went a long way to make it feel less like it was skipping ahead a ton. Unlike the previous season, the shorts were given proper chapter numbers (in decimal form) and treated as part of the story by me.
This season was all about setting the table for Doomsday, and that meant tying up all the remaining loose ends. Dark Copter was brought in as the essential big bad of the season. The Robians from Infinite Crisis were de-robotisized. Fera rebuilt the Covenant of Despair and was subsequently betrayed by them, and Gunner made his big move. It all ended with a sudden unleashing of all the Experiment Dark Forms and the Doomsayer making his Doomsday prophecy one last time.
Despite all the serious work that needed to be done here, I still found time for more zany shenanigans. There was another, much shorter bar episode, a short crossover with Chaos Hearts which set the stage for that story to end, and probably my favorite chapter of the season; #3, Ray's Odyssey. This was Ray FINALLY making his appearance in the series, but he was cursed to dance whenever he heard anything resembling music. It was fun having him and Mighty fumble their way into various characters as they searched for the means to lift his curse. Another favorite moment of mine is from #2.8, Echidna Training, in which Punchy's training with the Chaos Boots goes awry due to having to also watch out for baby Aurora.
Anyway, this is enough babbling on about "The Series." It had 5 seasons and about 67 chapters, give or take, and depending what you count. So, the collective "Series" is technically the longest story I wrote. But I don't count it as one story, so...yeah.
Anyway, next time on the Retrospective, we'll look at Infinite Crisis, the GeneX Anniversary Specials, the second Christmas Special, and at least some of Doomsday...
To be continued...
