The Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise looks like a massive success. Both films earned impressive box office returns and widespread critical approval. Unfortunately, a lucrative and respected trilogy of crowd-pleasing blockbusters isn’t enough for some studios. The go-to strategy is the Marvel model, which requires creating a shared universe, requiring the audience to watch every piece of content to get the full story. The Sonic movies launched their first spinoff in Knuckles, but it obstinately refuses to use the same cynical tricks to garner views.
Streaming services have a few straightforward ways to sell subscriptions. Netflix relies on its strong library of original shows and movies. Disney+, on the other hand, has exclusive access to a couple of massive IPs that attract fans. Paramount+ is more so the latter than the former. They aren’t dropping groundbreaking hits like Stranger Things, but they do have the rights to massive franchises like Star Trek and the entire Nickelodeon lineup. Sonic is one of their heavy hitters, but Knuckles challenged the ways they can use it.
Knuckles didn’t get much attention
|
Creators |
John Whittington and Toby Ascher |
|---|---|
|
Stars |
Idris Elba and Adam Pally |
|
Episodes |
6 |
|
Release Date |
April 26, 2024 |
|
Rotten Tomatoes Score |
75% from 32 critics |
Knuckles was a massive hit for Paramount, but it wouldn’t appear that way to anyone who looked at it. Knuckles became the most-watched Paramount+ original series and the most popular family-friendly project on the platform. It also inflated the viewership of both Sonic movies by almost 300%. That’s a stunning smash hit for a questionable streaming service. This outlet produced Halo, and Knuckles easily unseated both seasons of that controversial adaptation. It also outperformed PAW Patrol and Spongebob as the streamer’s best kids and family project. This should make the title of this article complete nonsense, but the show’s influence seemed to end abruptly after that initial burst. Knuckles is actually the 24th most-watched show on Paramount this year. It spent more than a month in the international top ten, but it inhabited low spots throughout most of that run. South Park, Star Trek, CSI, Nickelodeon original shows from the 2010s, and the other major players crowded it out of the top five. Knuckles doesn’t amount to much when it’s said and done. That’s less of a commentary on its quality and more of one on the market.
Knuckles has no connection to the movies
The first episode of Knuckles briefly includes Sonic and Tails. The inciting incident sees the echidna warrior agitate his adoptive human mother by maintaining his bizarrely aggressive lifestyle. He gets a couple of comedy scenes with Sonic and Tails before setting out on his new journey. The main plot follows his efforts to teach Wade Whipple, Adam Pally’s comic relief sheriff’s deputy, who has around 15 minutes of screen time in the original films. This includes new antagonists, a full supporting cast, and a narrative arc for Wade. It’s barely a show about Knuckles. By choosing to focus on the human character that no one cares about, Knuckles alienates fans of the franchise. It’s a spinoff with very little time for the character in the title. Most of the show depicts Wade’s struggle to come to terms with his absentee father. Knuckles gets a couple of fight scenes, several decent jokes, and a bold thumbs up at the end. The final moments feel oddly unfinished. Knuckles beats Rory McCann, stands beside his allies, and waits for the credits to roll. The show stands on its own, for better and for worse.
Sonic doesn’t need to be a cinematic universe
Knuckles is an old-fashioned TV spinoff. They made movies, then gave a popular side character a spotlight in a new format. This superficially resembles the traditions found in Marvel and Disney shows, but those programs have entirely different goals. Knuckles is just a fun exploration of a character fans enjoy. The Book of Boba Fett and Hawkeye seem like focused, personal stories, but they’re also methods of bolstering the cinematic universe and tying yet more content together. Disney wants all of its content to feed into each other, forcing viewers to watch all of it if they have an interest in any of it. Knuckles may not establish anything new about the franchise, but that guarantees that anyone choosing to watch it is doing so because they want to. The negative side effect is that fans might not continue talking about the show after it comes out, but letting every project stand on its own promises a respite from other modern media franchises.
Knuckles is a decent show with some sizable problems. Despite its strong initial reaction, the show doesn’t seem to have much long-term appeal. While the next Sonic movie has fans vibrating with excitement, the series earned a much more modest response. Still, Knuckles is preferable to most studio’s cynical attempts to build continuity. Maybe Sonic should stick to the big screen.
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