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'Knuckles', is a live action, premium tv series based on the Sonic The Hedgehog live action franchise. Which is a sentence I just typed. Is it just me or did this just drop out of nowhere? I had no idea it was in production, let alone any mentions of it here or on my daily Google feeds. Maybe I'm just getting old and not consuming as much gaming media as I used to, but I have a young kid who loves Sonic, and I myself sacrificed far too many brain cells to my Dreamcast back on the day. Following the two live action Sonic films which were lauded by critics and alike, Knuckles picks up where they left off, following Knuckles as he awkwardly tries to fit into human society, with everyone around him making excuses about why the big name actors from the films have somewhere else to be right now. Soon, Knuckles ditches Tails and Sonic in favour of Wade, the painful comic relief side character everyone forgot from the films, and together they roadtrip to Reno, to attend a bowling tournament and teach Wade the ways of a warrior. I'm about 4 episodes in, and I don't quite know what to make of this show so far. It's weird. For the most part the show is extremely familiar, the jokes are predictable and it cranks the goofiness up to near painful levels, never letting reality every get in the way of a punchline. The Wade character particularly jumps from being an object of pity to continually asking ourselves why did they make this guy the lead as he hams up every scene he's in to a degree where it almost feels like a SNL skit. But you can't help be charmed by Idris Elba channeling his best Worf-esque, fish out of water impression into Knuckles. He was the best bit about Sonic 2 and that's true here too. The show has terrific special effects and set pieces given its TV status, particularly with the live action Knuckles, sonic and co taking up a good amount of the runtime. There's lots of over saturated depictions of the American Mid West and general Americana that seem - off somehow, with side characters not quite hitting their accents, which became clearer when I realised it was filmed in the UK - another odd choice for a show featuring American road trips and bowling alleys (I'm guessing there were tax incentives?) But with the UK casting also comes Julian Barratt, of Mighty Boosh fame, hamming it up as an over confident bounty hunter, and in episode 4 a trippy rock opera dream sequence set in a bowling alley, featuring Michael Bolton. It anything else, the show prominently features Scandals 'The Warrior' which is a jam and it being stuck in my head prompted me to write this thread. I'll eagerly watch the rest with my kids and continue to be bemused at the idea of suits trying to launch a cinematic universe out of something like Sonic The Hedgehog.
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May 13, 2024 21:03
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I was willing to let this show completely pass me by. But your thread title really intrigues me a whole lot. 'The Warrior' is one of my all time favorites.
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May 14, 2024 10:30
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Finally gave that show a chance. It's fun and the soundtrack is awesome! The candle scene was a nice shot.
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May 31, 2024 21:47
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I've only seen two eps, but the show rules! It is wacky in a classical way that is brave and uninhibited.
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Jun 2, 2024 19:18
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I just watched the first couple of episodes and yeah, this show rules. It's like an extension of the movies in the best way. I saw some criticisms of it before hand about how it felt like a very budget show, but it's kind of not. It's a very well budgeted show. It's a nice contrast to other Paramount shows *cough*startrekpicard*cough* that just blow their budget on random poo poo the showrunner thinks is cool vs. people who have a real vision for what they want to make and how to make it within their means. I can't wait to see more of Notable Idiot Wade Whipple and his equally moronic warrior son.
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Jun 3, 2024 06:26
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Yeah that's a great way of putting it. The best bits of those Sonic movies was the human / creature moments, and the weaker parts were the action sequences or when they tried worldbuilding. They very wisely doubled down on them here, and weren't afraid to get silly with it. After all it's a show about a hapless cop and his alien sidekick on a journey of discovery on their way to win a bowling tournament. I didn't really need evil guy stomping around in a mech when we also had scene chewing deadbeat dad with a teacup in a bowling ball.
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Jun 3, 2024 09:33
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I have finished Wade 3 & Knuckles. I have no words. What the gently caress was this even This show did not need to exist at all. But I'm extremely glad it does anyway 
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Jun 17, 2024 04:50
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I haven't seen sonic and I'm not gonna watch the show but Knuckles the Echidna is great.
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Jun 17, 2024 04:53
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Cranappleberry posted:I haven't seen sonic and I'm not gonna watch the show but Knuckles the Echidna is great. What it on drugs or something. It is a Tim and Eric show that goes amazingly off the rails.
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Jun 17, 2024 05:21
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This thing takes place in the Eric Andre universe I swear. It felt like watching a twilight-hours Adult Swim show where you aren't sure if what you're seeing is real. Just for example in a sequence featuring a man dressed as Knuckles' father there is one shot of him where he's randomly a Tim Burton puppet instead?? It freaked me the hell out man I expected to rewind and he'd be gone from the frame or something Highly enjoyed it! I think that a more fitting title would have been "& KNUCKLES". The titular echidna isn't really the main character and that's honestly fine. What made the movies' tone work in my opnion was that nobody was very normal. One complaint I felt was that everyone was as dumb as Wade yet even that was charming. Some real standout performances near the end, I could nearly hear the scenery being gnawed upon. The reveal of exactly whom plays the role of Wade's father was excellent. I did not think the show would get me invested in bowling, but well, here we are. Without any spoilers the drat thing almost turns into the film Dodgeball with how much you will care about this specific match of this sport. Was anyone expecting the bottle episode at Wade's mom's house? With the third episode it shifted quite dramatically into its own show. It was really funny, really strange, really out of left field. What the showrunners did instead of telling a Sonic story is just baffling and awesome. Jewish Knuckles. Just, holy poo poo. Also, it brought me joy to see Kid Cudi acting, and he kills it too 
CJacobs fucked around with this message at 07:59 on Jun 17, 2024 |
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Jun 17, 2024 06:25
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I really enjoyed this show. It's drat funny and has a great cast. Posting so this thread has more replies! well, one more reply
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Jun 17, 2024 17:55
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Sort of curious how much of this is going to get referenced in Sonic 3 (I’d kind of like to see Wade’s mom again at least)
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Jun 17, 2024 18:02
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Larryb posted:Sort of curious how much of this is going to get referenced in Sonic 3 (I’d kind of like to see Wade’s mom again at least) Agreed about Wade's mom! Keanu Reeves is on a poster for Speed in Wade's room so I truly hope it gets mentioned that Shadow the Hedgehog sounds familiar
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Jun 17, 2024 18:16
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Larryb posted:Sort of curious how much of this is going to get referenced in Sonic 3 (I’d kind of like to see Wade’s mom again at least) Absolutely none of it. This show was made to give Adam Pally something to do while the rest of the Sonic cast were off filming Sonic 3 and to get Idris Elba another paycheck for the least amount of work. If it's referenced at all, that would be hilarious, but this seems to be its own self-contained thing. CJacobs posted:Keanu Reeves is on a poster for Speed in Wade's room so I truly hope it gets mentioned that Shadow the Hedgehog sounds familiar Oh yeah, both Sonic AND Knuckles are aware of who Keanu Reeves is now, so it would make sense if they both react to Shadow with "Wait... what?"
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Jun 17, 2024 18:17
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I think it’s confirmed that Knuckles will be in the third movie but it’s not clear what his role will be (maybe they’ll bring Rouge in or something)
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Jun 17, 2024 18:40
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Glad to see more people are discovering this show! In today's world of continually being saturated with endless promotional media about properties, it really feels like this came and went with zero buzz. I guess I can see it. The discourse online is reasonably positive, but extremely Sonic people are turned off by the lack of the titular character or 'lore-building' and it's just probably a bit too weird for general audience taste. Being on Paramount Plus probably has something to do with it too.
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Jun 17, 2024 21:49
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Isometric Bacon posted:Glad to see more people are discovering this show! It is no doubt a combination of all of those factors. Basically the only one of those things that was a barrier to me was being on P+--I watched it with a friend through screenshare--but the rest of it? Kuckles being in barely half the show? Adam Pally, Stockard Channing and the rest of the human cast was loving great and they barely needed Knuckles so they budgeted his appearance in the show quite well. It got weird? Hah, the weirder it got, the more I was into it. The best part of the Sonic movies were just how insane Jim Carrey got to be as Robotnik, and everyone here was channelling that same energy and just having a blast with it. It was too lore-heavy? Who the gently caress am I, Ken Penders? I don't give a poo poo about Kuckles' lore or lack there-of, so using it as the set up for more jokes and lunacy was perfect. Like I actually legitimately love the fact Rory McCann and his Robotnik-adjacent chicanery are set up at the primary threat and then very quickly pushed aside because Cary Elwes is actually the real villain of the story and The Buyer is killed in like ten seconds and it actually feels like a conscious choice instead of a plot contrivance because who gives a poo poo about whatever his deal was. A lot of shows these days feel sloppy on accident through simple incompetence. Knuckles is a show I would categorize as being sloppy intentionally made by people with actual vision who just wanted to get weird as gently caress with the opportunity they were tossed that they did not need, want, or deserve and they quite literally grabbed the ring on it. E: Also good on Knuckles for reversing the tired Hollywood Age Gap by having 60 year old Cary Elwes be the former love interest of 80 year old Stockard Channing. Usually it's the other way around age-wise male-to-female. nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Jun 17, 2024 |
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Jun 17, 2024 22:03
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Larryb posted:I think it’s confirmed that Knuckles will be in the third movie but it’s not clear what his role will be (maybe they’ll bring Rouge in or something) Big The Cat will come along and teach Knuckles the one thing he could never do. Chill.
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Jun 17, 2024 22:13
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cant cook creole bream posted:Big The Cat will come along and teach Knuckles the one thing he could never do. Chill. I legit hope that they get Julia Roberts to voice Rouge The Bat if she ever shows up in this franchise given how Pretty Woman was this show's version of Speed in Sonic 1. Just point to left field and swing that motherfucker, casting department, please.
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Jun 17, 2024 22:20
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