Beyond Sonic and Tails: Knuckles' Tale of Mentorship and Conflict

What happens when an iconic franchise character steps into the spotlight for his own series? Join us on Second Emulation as we uncover the journey of Knuckles in the new Paramount Plus series. This six-episode adventure picks up after the thrilling events of "Sonic 2," pushing Knuckles into a role of mentorship and self-discovery. We explore how Knuckles trains Wade in the ways of the Akinno warrior while grappling with the challenges of guiding someone far from the typical warrior mold. Despite cameos from Sonic and Tails, the series keeps its focus on Knuckles, promising a narrative rich with character development and hints at future adventures in the Sonic universe.

In the second part of our discussion, we shine a light on the stellar performances from Idris Elba as Knuckles and Adam Pally as Wade Whipple. However, we don't shy away from critiquing the series' shortcomings, such as the underwhelming villain known as "the Buyer" and an over-reliance on a character eerily similar to Robotnik. We also dissect the imbalance in screen time given to Wade over Knuckles and the lackluster final fight scene. Tune in for our take on how the series could enhance its storytelling by delving deeper into Knuckles' backstory and perhaps steering clear of a central villain, opting instead for more nuanced narrative challenges.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Exploring the Knuckles Series on Paramount+
• 20:02 Knuckles Series Performance and Weaknesses

Transcript

  📍 Okay, so like, welcome to Second Emulation, the podcast that's all about pop culture, like, literally everything from movies and TV shows to the latest anime crazes. Join us for, like, all the juicy deets and insights on what's happening in the entertainment world. We're, like, totally here to spill the tea on what's hot and what's not, so if you're looking for the ultimate pop culture fix, you're in the right place, honey. So, like, grab a seat, kick off your heels, and let's dive right into it, shall we

Introduction to Knuckles Series

I'd like to thank Emily for that lovely intro, and welcome you to another episode, I'm your host Shawn, and today's episode is going to be about Knuckles, the series which is streaming on Paramount Plus exclusively. 

Plot Overview and Initial Thoughts

Now, a little about the plot, as it reads, is that Knuckles ventures into a hilarious action packed journey of self development when he agrees to train Wade and initiate him in the ways of the akin to warrior ways. 

  Now, me being a  Sonic fan, I was excited when I saw that first trailer for Knuckles. Just like everyone on YouTube who When we reviewed this trailer I was super happy  and  I loved it so much that I just ate it up.

I'm excited for the series to be getting so much attention, so much progression. So it's awesome that a character that I love growing up as a kid is, you know, his universe and characters in that universe are getting their story, you know, are getting the spotlight and it's not just Sonic. So that  I love very much.

Series Format and Expectations

Now, the interesting part about this is that the series is only six episodes, so it still follows the format of,  you know, streaming services.  Instead of doing a 12, they're doing a six and keeping the episodes at least  30,  60, I'll have to double check that, but they're keeping them, you know, under an hour.



 Fairly short episodes. Now, with that,  we'll have to figure out and see, you know, does that play a different role of the consistency with story progression from episode to episode? because as we know, sometimes with a very limited series, only six episodes, you know, It's hard to be consistent, with a series or an IP like this when you have to,   put, so much information for the audience. 

Story Progression and Character Development

So that's also one thing that we're gonna be looking at as well as story progression, character development, production quality, and strength and weaknesses of the series as a whole and then seeing what people have to say when they gave  Big outlets gave their ratings of the series as a whole  So let's get into it Segway 

 this the series picks up After the events of Sonic 2, they don't release I don't really state how much time has passed, but it's  enough time that Knuckles has essentially,  made himself accommodations and Knuckles and Sonic and Tails are also there as well. Now,  with this,   the area, what we are alluded to,   is that. 

Knuckles is a man out of place because he's a warrior. So because he was brought there by Robotnik, his tribe, he's the last echidna. So his sole purpose is protecting the master emerald. And once he's done that, he doesn't feel like he has a purpose anymore. So   he gets grounded, by the family and by doing so he's stuck there.

Knuckles' Journey and Training Wade

And then he goes on a Warrior's journey to train Wade Wade, who's also been introduced in the first Sonic film and the second sonic film. we didn't have much screen time  in the prior films gets some more screen time in this film  now.  What's interesting, about this is the title, it says Knuckles, which we'll get back to  a little bit later.

And I mentioned prior that this is like a buddy cop. It's more like a Jedi and an apprentice  type of situation,  for Knuckles. Knuckles,  tries to make a warrior out of Wade Whipple, who essentially,  by all definitions, is not someone who you can just, turn and make a warrior.  By any definition,   He's been classified as being frail, very easy going, he's a cop, and even people in the town have also made fun of him.

So he's not,  and he's essentially almost a laughing stock in the town itself, of Green Hills.  And what we get, because this picks up, you know, after the events of Sonic 2, we get Sonic and Tails  in Episode 1, very briefly, and then after that, we never see them again, because it's truly like the Knuckles story.



 as I mentioned, like,  you know, this takes place after the events of Sonic to the film. There's a lot of,  reminiscing of the past or big battle  knuckles is figuring out what he's meant to do. There's no, there's no.  Big fight, no immediate threat. So he feels out of place, there because he's done his duty.

And so with that, Robotnik is no longer around,   And so everything essentially there's like the calm before the storm. There's just this  thing everyone's telling him he can calm down, he can just take it easy, and Knuckles can't.  So there's this transition of like, you know, the series feels like it's a transition from like one like an in between films  sort of. 

And they don't give much details as to   what else happened after the events of what happened to Robotnik, what happened to the technology,  they kinda just  graze that over and, you know, just move on, so maybe in the next movie we'll get more details, about what actually happened.  But we're also introduced into like, you know,  gun, which  gun  employees who essentially are like  motivated by greed,  who want to sell  knuckles to the highest bidder, on the black market.

So that's kind of the premise. Even though the plot says, you know, knuckles is like. you know, wanting to train Wade Whipple.  There is a lot of things being put into the melting pot of the entire series of Knuckles.    

Supporting Characters and Their Roles

Now, throughout the entire series, there is like 4 characters I want to talk about.

Knuckles, and Wade.  Now, you Knuckles is a character, development through the series is about him kind of being open to new experiences, actually growing and, kind of learning to  view his training as not one dimensional, that there are other ways to experience, life on earth.  Because he's only been trained as a warrior and it's always been the kid no way, you know, always be prepared for the next fight.

And so he's always been high, high, strong, high intense, always on edge. and not having the experiences,   To enjoy life and take things easy. So his  story, his progression, not only is to train someone, but also be open to their experiences.  Wade Whipple, on the other hand, is the apprentice to Knuckles, but he's also teaching Knuckles about, you know,  it's  almost like,   And exchange of experiences and knowledge, like it's a like a cultural exchange.

Wade Whipple is exchanging some of his culture with Knuckles, and Knuckles is exchanging some culture with Wade Whipple.  And while they're going on this journey to, almost self discovery.  They both become open to new experiences   Knuckles.  his mission is to train Wade Whipple and to becoming a warrior.

Wade, on the other hand, wants to become a warrior, but his mission is more so like  he wants to get back at the people who kick them off the bowling team and  do that at the tournament. And knuckles wants to get him there and prove To everyone that you know  what it equals a warrior  now  There are two other people here characters, that wants to discuss   They didn't give this guy a name.

They just called him the buyer now because  He didn't have much character development and progression. His  mindset, he was very narrow focused or narrow minded. his sole purpose was essentially to  capture Knuckles and obtain his power. So similar to  Robotnik in, you know, the first two films,  that was his only motive. 

They just refer to him as the buyer and the technology because he also worked alongside a robot that can had his technology. That was his whole purpose was to obtain the power and, sell it onto the black market for the highest bidder.  And then Jack St. Clair, who was   This bouncy hunter.

I said, body, this bouncy hunter who betrays Wade Whipple, who we don't really get much, you know, interaction with. He's introduced maybe in the beginning,  the first episode, and then we never see him again until maybe episode  three or four.  But he was, you know. Acknowledged as like the friend on the bowling team, and then you know the betrayal but other than that he's like  These characters are like the only ones that actually get any real character development  Even though I am missing I'm it I'm excluding Wade Ripples family and the reason why I'm doing that is it because They're You  They're introduced later.

We only get some timescreen time with them towards the end of the series. Whereas, majority of the time is with Knuckles and Wade.  So, that's why I decided to only pick these guys.  And the buyer he's seen throughout, he's actually consistent throughout the series as someone who's this ominous figure who, you know,  Portrayed as like a robotnik  light  type of character. 

So, which is very interesting. 

 

Production Quality and Cinematography

Now the production quality was very good. I mean, same budget that was on the first two films, special effects, the music choices were overall very well set, set designs. So   it was the same type of quality you would expect from a movie.  I feel like they could have just taken the six part episodes and put it into one giant film, like a TV series Movie, is what it would have equated to and I would have been perfectly fine that,   cause it felt like movie quality and  for that, which is nice, for  A character that was introduced, in a sequel to a film to get his own spin off.

I mean, Sonic didn't even get his own series, even though Sonic is the main character of his own film.  Tales didn't even get his own spin off series, so it goes to show you how popular Knuckles is for that character. Plus, he's being voiced by,  Idris Elba, which holds some weight to that character.

So,  I would say, chef kiss. I mean,  the set designs were great. it really puts you back in the universe that the previous films had presented for Sonic 1 and Sonic 2.  And, with the rings and  the quality. So I was   pretty excited. Like it did not miss a beat and the overall production and quality in cinematography.

And music, you know, there was little hints here, here and there, you know, like game music, that was kinda like nostalgia. But like I said, it was, for me, I would give it, you know,  five outta five on, you know, sin,  the,  the  cinematography music and overall production value of the entire series. 



 Develops over the series was kind of weird because there was like three different story plots. We had Knuckles training Wade Whipple as his apprentice warrior, and then we had Wade having to go to Nevada to participate in his bowling tournament to kind of like defeat his absentee father to get, you know, acknowledgement as a warrior.

And then you also had the buyer who was after Knuckles. And then the  members from Gunn who were betraying the organization, hired to obtain Knuckles in order to get his quills. And his power to sell in the black market. So you had 3 different story lines and I felt like,    The buyer storyline was much  rushed like there wasn't much progression there. he was in the background and they had,   the higher gun guns,  obviously gun organization, but they had the henchmen that were working for, The buyer who betrayed the organization.

Those two were doing the heavy lifting, but they were essentially non You know,  Memorable. Like they tried to give 'em some type of like, you know, make you feel for them. But to be honest, I didn't know, their backstory and didn't really much care because they were just there to keep the story moving along. 

'cause you could have got any.  Any Joe Schmoe to go after Knuckles and it went perfectly fine. Like they tried to explain the reason why the woman who was her reasoning for  you know why she betrayed the organization, Gunn going after Knuckles and it's because like she was wanting to, Fight aliens and then now the aliens are here and the organization is like befriending them and it's like, okay Well, that's not really, you know I guess it might be a reason why you want to like, you know side with the bad guys I guess it just seemed you're not that big of a thing  but we know that the other guy I think Kid Cudi's character, he didn't, he was just in it for the money.

And I was like, they had these two people and they tried to prompt them up, but they didn't really, you know, have much going for them. They were just,  they were the crash dummies essentially for, for Knuckles. All the action scenes in the film or in the series all were, you know,  Related to I think these two characters who had most of the action scenes throughout the entire series  Related to some maybe some of bounty hunters that were sent by Jack Sinclair  Other than that, most of the action was you know with these gun members  Now the performances  highlights that stand out are Or, you know, we had Idris Elba as the voice of Knuckles, Adam Pally as Wade Whipple, and to be honest, I didn't even know Kid Cudi was in the show until I saw the trailer. 

So that was very unexpected, for him to be in the series. He must have been, a fan. And good for him! So those were notable things that I myself noticed.    

Series Weaknesses and Criticisms

Series Weaknesses and Criticisms

here are, the weaknesses of the series where I felt it really felt short. Now,  for the series,  Knuckles didn't really have a villain.

To fight. And so I kind of felt it was more like a letdown when the villain of your series just has a moniker, the buyer,  he was just known in the credits as the buyer and which is kind of, You know kind of sad because  in the Universe of Sonic most of like the villains will be like in connection to Sonic in the first place So it's kind of hard, but you would think like because it's a knuckle show you would create a villain that would be unique to Knuckles so that in the future he could have, his own type of rivalry against, but They did it in this case.

They essentially, made almost kind of like a carbon copy of a Robotnik character  Because the character even said he worked in the same field as Robotnik.  He made Robotnik's devices and His mindset was I'm going to,   Like in the first film, take Sonic's abilities, power, and utilize it myself.

In the series, he was going to take Knuckles power and use it for himself. Robotnik built a ship and was able to use the quill to power his ship to go fast. What did the buyer do in the final,   Throughout the whole series, he was using, Knuckles quills to power his gadgets, same thing.

So like, there was very overlap in what they were doing,   that,  it, it didn't  It didn't do it for me. Yeah, it was nice. You know that song got to fight someone but like   They created a poor man Robotnik, you know, they just made a carbon copy which was okay, I guess  but you would think like okay, technology in this universe.

You would think that we would see like some of like the humanoid robots by this point, you know introduce that in this series. But now there's another guy in a suit, you know, a mechanical suit  being powered up by, you know Knuckles Quills similar to  Sonic and I felt that  Kinda was a let down. there was a comment line used similar to in, Sonic 2 that Sonic says to Knuckles, you know, does it look like that I need your power that Kid Cudi says to Knuckles.  I mean, even though it was done jokingly.  You can tell they're making jabs, you know,  the undertone made it feel like this was like a robotic light character  and he was defeated very quickly.

Like, so the threat of him wasn't really, you know, he wasn't as menacing.  as you would think, he was like, at least robotic did put up a fight in the first two films. Like he was more of a threat than this guy was. So I felt like that was a weakness for the character.  And also the title of the show is Knuckles. 

We spent more time with Wade Whipple than Knuckles himself.  Knuckles would be, you know, Knuckles gets captured so he's like away. We're spending more time with Wade Whipple than Knuckles. You know, it should have been called Knuckles and Wade because majority of the episodes we're getting more screen time with Wade than we do with Knuckles.

I mean,  which is  kind of underwhelming. I mean, yeah, it's a Knuckles show. But if it's going to be a Knuckles show,  I want to see more Knuckles. Like, I want to see more of the characters that I'm there to see. At least with Sonic 2, we didn't see any of the humans, until the very end,   And that was kind of my gripe with it was like, okay, I want to know more about knuckles.

If this is going to be his show, let's learn more about him, his history. you know, does he have any other villains besides the master Emerald, you know,  things like that, which I, you know, we did learn a little bit. So we. also were introduce to that he glides when everyone was mistaken that he flies. So that was a  Nice take on it.

But  the show itself the weakness of this series is that  it The the villain itself Could not hold up the show You could have put anyone else You know  You could have it if I'm feeling how you couldn't  I mean, I don't think you really needed a villain for the show. I mean, just leave it as a buddy cop situation.

Just have him go down there, you know, and have them deal with like whatever they need to do to deal with and just like have him, you know, there'll be an issue with the master admiral type of thing, you know, something with the tribe. I mean, they didn't have to have a villain and that it could have done something totally different.

So  that was like, One area I found that like was a weakness  towards the series, another was like,  I think they had this whole monologue where they had Wade Whipple, you know, kind of doing like karaoke seeing off where he was as Knuckles,  doing his,   I guess life.  When he was in a dream  That was kind of weird  It was funny, but I felt like not really necessary and I thought they were trying to you know, poke fun at it It was interesting But it is some comedy  Knuckles is like supposed to be very serious and yet, you know, serious funny in a sense.

That's how they, you know, that's how they described his character in the movie.    so, 

and I believe I brought this up, but the final fight was a letdown. I mean, it was over pretty quickly. Robotnik light  The main focus I think if there was no final fight and they were just allowed Wade Whipple You know his turn went to win the tournament things would have been fine But they had to introduce the the the threat of like Knuckles is power being taken from him    That was a real weakness if they would have I think it's very valuable to just to like kind of remove that from the storyline and just had it just focus beyond the main reason like this him training and being a warrior.

That would have been more interesting, you know,  for the series.  I don't think you needed, like a threat. Averly, Judd, and maybe Jack, Jack Sinclair. I don't think he needed to be in the series, even though I talked about him  earlier as a character development. He also didn't need to be in there, even though he, had one moment, between Wade Whipple, and that was it. 

As a moment for him to get his groove back, in a sense.  

Final Thoughts and Ratings

Overall,  I like the show series.  There are areas that, I have some questions about areas that, they could have done differently, but for a series, a spinoff show for a character  that, no one knew was going to get a spinoff. 

Perfect. You know, hopefully this is not going to be the first and last time, characters from the Sonic universe are going to get spinoff shows. I would love to see Tails get a spinoff, maybe about, his time prior to come to Green Hills. that would be kind of cool. 

Segue.  Now we're going to, go into about  what the show's ratings got over three different websites.   IMDB gave the show a rating of 6. 2  out of 10,  and Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 75, And then IGN gave it an eight out of 10,  so essentially not bad. So I would say that's roughly,    a B minus overall. 

And for me, I'm gonna give the show a,  you know,  an eight out of 10.  There are areas that I don't like about the show, as I mentioned earlier. Probably if there is another spin off for a different character, maybe they'll improve on, the weaknesses from this show, and you know make it better. 

don't use another carbon copy character or villain. That's the one thing I hope they don't do cause there's a lot of dilute villains in the Sonic Universe that they can pull from. I'm hoping that, we can see other variety.   But overall love the show  Looking forward to  Sonic 3 which by the time this episode is out they have already announced it and did a little teaser trailer, but I'm excited for it hopefully, there are more  Updates if there's going to be a season 2 or maybe Sonic and Knuckles get a, a spinoff or maybe even tells, who knows, the sky's the limit, but  you know,  you never know. 

Closing Remarks and Call to Action

But that's gonna bring this episode to a close. I wanna thank you for listening and  you know, like, and subscribe and I'll catch you guys in the next one. Thank you. .

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