Knuckles (2024).

I guess I'm surprised as anybody at just how well things turned out.  Based on Hollywood's track record with handling video game franchises, there was little cause for hope they'd be able to do anything creative with Sonic the Hedgehog.  So it came as something of a slow burn shock to realize that, while I'm not dealing with anything like a Citizen Kane of Gamer Films, I was still dealing with a franchise that showed something in the way of general promise.  The way it's worked for the Sonic films appears to have been through a kind of baby steps approach.  The first film is the one that plays it safe the most.  It's very much concerned with world-building and character establishment.  In hindsight, it's pretty clear the whole purpose of the inaugural movie was to ease audiences into accepting the cinematic versions of these long-running characters.  What's also apparent a few years later is just how well of an achievement that first picture really is.  While it will never be as flashy or high stakes as its later two sequels, it did the job it was setup to accomplish.  It managed to carve out the right sort of secondary world in the minds of audiences that would then go on and allow us to accept that this is the sort of world in which the kind of shenanigans typically associated with Sonic and his allies and enemies could all take place.  It was a crucial, yet easy to overlook example of setting parameters at a steady pace, so that the latter films are allowed to take off from there.

The net result is perhaps best described as a textbook example of under-promise/over-deliver, in a manner of speaking.  Again, it helps to bear in mind that a franchise like this isn't going to knock a film like The Godfather off its perch.  Instead, it achieves the much more modest yet authentic goal of proving to both audiences and studios that video game films can be done right with a competent amount of effort and skill thrown in.  One of the highlights of this franchise that often gets highlighted the most is the way it seems to have helped revitalize the long-suffering characterization of  Knuckles the Echidna.  As portrayed in the shared writing credits of Pat Casey, Josh Miller, and John Whittington, and brought to vivid life in a tour-de-force voice performance from Idris Elba, perhaps the most gratifying thing about the films for longtime fans is the way they have managed to give Knuckles a much needed career resurrection after what has proved to be a pretty fallow period of growth and development after a brief moment of initial breakout success.  Debuting as part of the cast ensemble for the third Sega Sonic game, Knuckles literally burst onto the screen in such a way as to basically steal the spotlight from the franchise's main hero.  Before later writers began to struggle with how to portray him, there was this temporary span of time when Knuckles became the new cool kid on the block, this breakout character who was awesome, yet mysterious, and who everyone wanted to hang out with.

In fact, it was Knuckles' public debut that the franchise's developers also used to help usher in the larger mythos of the Sonic games.  It was through him that we learned of now iconic and standard settings such as Angel Island, and concepts like the Master Emerald, the backstory of the Echidna Tribe, and the greater lore behind the Sonic-verse.  For a time, all of this leant the character of Knuckles this air of mystique that made him the most fascinating introduction to the series.  Then along came the TV show scripts which slowly diluted whatever sense of intrigue and gravitas the character might have been able to build upon after his initial debut.  What happened next is a rather long, and somewhat sad story in how a franchise can sometimes defang one of its best characters.  It's a process that was playing out long before the likes of the current Trek and Star Wars reboots, and perhaps goes to prove that it was all nothing that new.  It's just that since Knuckles' de-throning went hand in glove with a number of other issues that began to plague the franchise (both in the main game series, and their other media adaptations) it was just easier to overlook than it is now.  There isn't space enough here to go into all the details of the way Knuckles was treated by game developers and previous showrunners.  For a fuller picture of that whole story, check the links in the saga told by PJ Show as seen here, and also here.

Suffice to say, he provides enough background info to explain why the combined efforts of Ebla and the writers of the second Sonic film came as an honest breath of fresh air for the Red Guy.  All of a sudden, it was possible to take Knuckles seriously as a character once again.  As portrayed by Elba, and the screenwriters, Knuckles has gone from being a joke, to someone who often makes jokes not out of audience expectations, but rather of the other players in the story around him.  The genuinely smart idea that Whittington, Miller, and Casey had was to allow Knuckles to be this displaced figure out of ancient Epic and Myth, and then toss such a larger than life personality in amongst the settings and personalities of a Sci-Fi sitcom.  Yes, he can generate laughter in such a setup, yet it's no longer because he's an idiot.  Instead, this version of Knuckles is a that of a warrior who is forever honor-bound to the code of ethics he was brought up on by the Tribe he was raised in, and the comedy comes not from his being an ignorant fool, but from others never quite knowing what to expect from such an Epic temperament.

There's a lot more that can be discussed about how Knuckles is portrayed in the films, and the sad part now is having to admit we're not here to talk about any of that.  Instead, the topic now has to move on to the less pleasant subject of what was done to a good character once he's misplaced from the center of a TV series named after him.  Like many, my own reaction to the trailer reveal of the Knuckles TV series was one of cautious intrigue.  It put me in mind of a show like The Adventures of Pete and Pete, if you decided to add this fun Fantasy-Sci-Fi element to the mix.  It suggested the show would be a combination slice-of-daily-life storytelling as Knuckles learns to adapt to living on Earth among humans, coupled with hints of a greater adventure lying in store for our hero.  Such a premise does contain at least something in the way of room for plenty other ideas worth exploring.  You could, for instance, use such a show as a launching pad to introduce other characters from the franchise.

For instance, you could have someone like Sticks the Badger show up at one point, and have her reveal that she's tracked an alien menace to planet Earth, and that it's scheduled to land somewhere in and around Green Hills, Montana.  This could be the setup for a fun riff on H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds plot where Knuckles and Sticks learn to bond with each other as outsider loners who find it difficult to accommodate to the customs of Earth because one of them is too strong-willed and independent minded, where as the other struggles with a lifelong history of paranoia and trust issues.  The plot of such an idea could come to a head with Sonic having to talk Sticks into setting aside her own deep-seated fears and distrust of others in order to help save the day.  It would be at this exact point where Knuckles could step in and explain to her that knows what it's like to carry fear and anger around for a long time, and that ultimately this is the greatest enemy that any fighter has to face if they really want to make a difference in the universe.  That at least sounds like an idea audiences could go with.  Instead, of course, we wound up with the Knuckles TV show.  So it's my own dumb choice to try and figure it out here.  Let's not try to waste too much time on a poor job, and get things over with.

Conclusion: An Uncertain and Troubled Plot.

I can't be as in-depth as I like here.  If I even tried to give a complete summary of everything wrong with this show, I'd probably end up with an encyclopedic compendium that acts as a helpful guide (if never a true blueprint) for the kind of mistakes anyone hoping to work as a writer should never make in crafting a script.  This goes double for a story that's meant to function as part of a larger narrative in a continuing franchise.  That's a topic a lot of writers are struggling with these days for a lot of reasons, it seems.  What becomes apparent is that this same problem finally found its way into the Sonic franchise at some point.  If there's any upside to the way it's happened, then it might be that at least it extended no farther than just this one throw-away series (at least so far).  Even when that's the case, however, it doesn't remove the bad taste in the viewer's mind over how one of the franchise's most famous and iconic characters (someone who has earned the right to stand alongside the other two main leads) was treated by a bunch of hacks who once more fell into the trap of not knowing how to handle him.

What makes this worse in a lot of ways is how it's clear the showrunners also don't have a clue as to how to craft a compelling narrative around him.  Instead, what we've got for our troubles goes as follows.  We open not long after the events of Sonic 2, and find that the Big Red Dude is having some trouble adjusting to life on Earth.  Knuckles is very much a soldier without a mission, and hence a sense of purpose in these opening segments, and they're generally the best part of the show.  We open with our "supposed" main lead in a funk due to being a stranger in a strange land, until the spirit of the Echidna tribe's leader, Pachacamac (Christopher Lloyd) arrives and tells Knuckles that his quest as a warrior has just begun.  So far, the worst you can say about a setup like this is that it's typical.  It's all is pretty standard fair, and yet that in itself is no indication of how good or bad the entire plot will be.  There are plenty of good to great stories with just such a similar opening setup.  The key thing going forward is what kind of plot the scenes between Elba and Lloyd establish for the narrative, and how well that concept is fleshed out in writing.  Pachacamac tells Knuckles that his task now is to train the next generation in the ways of the Echidna, and hence pass the tribe's legacy on for the future.  Now to be fair, this is the kind of premise that can be good in and of itself, provided you hang a good story on it.

The most obvious way to make this work is to have Pachacamac instruct Knuckles that it's now up to him to teach both Sonic and Tails the Ways of the Warrior, and have the rest of the series be one long training story about the Hedgehog and Fox learning how to toughen up under Knuckles' tutelage.  It's the kind of setup that allows for all sorts of interpersonal drama and character building, one that could see the Team's resolve and friendship tested against this Extra-terrestrial drill sergeant who was trained since birth to never make sacrifices for the sake of military perfection.  That could be a great way for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to bounce off one another as they both harden under, and occasionally rebel against the Echidna's grueling training methods.  You could make the whole show a kids version of An Officer and a Gentleman, and it could balance out the necessary amount of humor a kids show like this needs, with honest moments of drama and conflict as the personalities of the three main leads bounce off one another and their friendship is tested to the limits.  Instead of such an intriguing and intimate premise, Doc Brown tells Heimdall that he should focus all of his efforts on...Wade Whipple (Adam Pally).

As in, that occasional bit of comic relief that was trotted out every now and then in the first two films, and even then was done so with such a sparing hand that you can sort of tell its always possible the only reason the filmmakers included him at all was as a mandate to amp up the laugh potential for what remains, in essence, a children's comedy.  The issue with making Wade the de-facto center of the series to Knuckle's Mr. Miyagi, is that he is never given a compelling enough level of character or development to warrant so meager an order of six episodes in total.  Palley lacks the acting chops, and hence the gravitas of Ralph Macchio's Daniel, and on top of those limitations, neither he nor Elba are ever given much in the way of a script with anything halfway decent to work with.  Instead of any kind of story that can engage us as either fans or casual viewers, what happens instead is that the audience is subjected to a kind of warped endurance test as we watch Wade and Knuckles get dragged from one scenario to the next, and each one of them somehow manages to get more ridiculous with each passing episode.  What starts out as a simple premise is soon convoluted into a Road Trip Buddy Comedy.

In terms of Knuckles giving Wade any kind of training, it starts with a somewhat questionable trip to a bowling alley where we learn the backstory of how Wade's father, Pistol Pete (Cary Elwes) did a walkout on the family when he was a kid.  From there, a pair of rogue G.U.N. agents (Kid Cudi, Ellie Taylor) show up and try to capture Knuckles on behalf of a villain known simply as The Buyer (Rory McCann), who wants to harness Knuckles' Chaos Energy powers for himself.  This sends our not-so dynamic duo on the run, and allows the writers to basically shunt the two main leads into whatever comedic situations they can cook up along with way, as Wade decides on Reno, Nevada as the place to go, because that's where his dad will be competing in a bowling tournament.  If any of that sounds confused and lackluster, then congratulations for being ahead of the curve on this one.  That's the way to describe what unfolds.  It's as if the screenwriters started with a strong premise, one that could have had just enough promise to deliver a pretty good and serviceable kid's show, and then it's as if someone decided to take all the potential that an idea like this can have and throw it all in a dumpster fire.  Then it's like they set their sights on crafting the most ridiculous pile of episodic dreck I've ever seen before.

I'll limit my criticisms to the most outstanding missteps this series commits in the name of Heaven only knows what they were smoking.  To start with the character of Wade, perhaps the saddest thing is realizing he didn't have to be just a Chess pawn moved from one gag to the next.  Instead, he could have been the kind of protagonist who reveals he's got what it takes to hack the program and become the kind of person who could grow into the sort of fighter that does Knuckles proud.  Instead, the best way to describe the way he's handled in the series is to say that he really is like a pawn in a court jester's costume.  After he takes center stage, there's really not much in the way of appreciable character growth for this guy.  He remains this pathetic, goofball Manchild from start to finish.  If anything, the final result amounts to a complete and total reversal of the mission Knuckles was given at the start.  Rather than the last of the Echidna turning an Earthling into a fitting heir for the legacy of his people, it's instead Wade who seems to end up making Knuckles choose to more or less "Go Native", and the worst part is the more I think that over, the less I'm able to say if this was just an accident, or if it was intentional.  Either way, the screenwriters seem to have put their heads on a chopping block they either didn't seem to know was there, or else they just weren't smart enough to consider some of the more troubling implications for their creative choices when it comes to handling Knuckles' narrative arc.

Either way, it adds a problematic element to an already troubled production in which the top billed character is a franchise icon who many fans consider as Black Coded, and who is even voiced by an actual Anglo-African actor.  It also doesn't help the screenwriter's case that many fans now consider Elba's performance of the character to be very close to becoming the definitive, or at least best regarded version by both the fanbase and casual viewers alike.  The showrunners could be charged with taking a character who has become a source of pride for Black fandom, and then tossing him into the kind of over-arching scenario that could be construed as insulting.  I'm also sorry to say that it doesn't stop there.  In addition, all of the motions Wade is put through amount to him always defaulting to being the stage clown, and never anything like a three-dimensional character with a discernable personality that changes and grows over the course of the narrative.  Even when Wade gets a chance to confront his father, it looks like some sort of development for each character is in the offing, only for it to get tossed aside, and each goes back to being the comic relief, and a mustache twirling villain respectively.  I had hopes that Cary Elwes would be able to liven up the last act, yet the script never allows him to do so.

Instead, all of the biggest missteps so far as the fans are concerned centers around two episodes:  The Shabbat Dinner, and The Flames of Disaster.  After having viewed both entries, I can see where everyone is coming from.  The first episode is about Wade deciding that he and Knuckles should camp out at his mother's house as a place to hide away from the pursuing G.U.N. agents, and once they get there, the audience is introduced to his mom, and then there's his sister, Wanda.  Like everyone else who watched that episode, believe me, I'm still stuck wracking my brains over what in the blue blazes she was even doing there.  Hell, why should such a scenario even be in a Sonic centric show about Knuckles, a warrior from another world who prides himself on being able to accomplish heroic feats and daring quests?!  Isn't that what a show revolving around this character is supposed to be about?  The obvious answer is yes, and it's also the very thing the showrunners have decided against.  Instead, we're treated to what might be described as a Friends episode written in the foulest depths of Dante's EZ-Bake.  The Whipple family, as presented in The Shabbat Dinner is best described as a collection of sociopaths, and not much else is ever made of them, except maybe to explain Wade's personal traits.

The trouble with such a setup is that it means a problem has been established.  It creates a personal challenge that Wade has to see if he can overcome in order to grow as an individual, and in doing so, not only prove to Knuckles that he has what it takes to be a warrior, but also to demonstrate to his own family that it's always possible to change for the better.  Instead, the characters all remains static, and nowhere is the problem of this approach more glaring than in the portrayal of Wanda.  I just ended up feeling sorry for Edi Patterson, the actress chosen to play this character, as I'll swear there is no way anyone deserves to have that kind of role handed over to them.  It is one of worst insults I could ever imagine giving to an actor.  More on this I'll not say, except to point out two "highlights" families with kids might have to look forward to if they ever show it to their little ones.  First of all, be prepared to explain the Holocaust the the young pitchers.  No, I didn't stutter at all there.  There's a fucking Shoah joke in the middle of a Sonic the Hedgehog franchise entry!  Oh yes, and I just remembered, there's also a masturbation joke not too long after, complete with "stains" and all.  Throughout the ensuing madness, Knuckles is just, sorta "there", observing all the insanity take place around him.

At no point is he even so much allowed to put his foot down and demand that this lunacy stop.  Instead, he joins in later on when watching Pretty Woman with Wade's mom, and has to have the profession of Street Walkers explained to him.  That's another thing concerned parent have to look forward to.  Please bear in mind, all of this takes place in what is supposed to be a Sonic spin-off!  The next episode, Flames of Disaster is perhaps not as bad, yet it's got its own issues as well, and none of them help the show's case.  The biggest problem seems to be budgetary in nature.  It's closest the show ever comes to being about Knuckles, yet they can't afford to let him be animated into it, and so they resort to this kind of Community Theater approach lead by Julian Barrett.  I really don't know how to explain that whole episode in any other way, really.  I've heard some try and defend it, yet the net result just made me role my eyes.  It was sort of the point where I began to give up on this show, if I'm being honest.  As a whole, the final product is a textbook example of a lot of cooks being assembled to make a broth, and then each of them realizes they have no real clue what to do with the material they've been given. 

What this results in is a product that can never decide what type of audience the story should be catered for.  It has some child friendly moments, yet most of them are sidelined by the introduction of either sight gags that are struggling to hard to ever be funny, or the sudden appearance of the kind of adult humor that is either way too out of place in a show for children, or else just plain tasteless in a way that I'll swear most adult oriented comics would never go near.  The result is a six part mess of a series that can never quite get its act together.  There is no way on this or any possible Earth I can ever recommend a show like this.  It's nothing less than a travesty on one of the best loved characters from the Sonic franchise, and it counts not just as an insult to Knuckles' own characterization, but also to the millions of fans who have made him an icon of their childhoods.  The funny thing is how it was just possible to catch one brief glimpse of a better idea for what could have been.  I know that sounds impossible, yet at least I'm not the only one who noticed.  It's contained in the Flames of Disaster episode, and it all centers around a backstory we're told about, rather than having it properly shown to us.  The backstory itself concerns a quest Knuckles went on in the not too distant past.

The gist of this hinted at story is that he went in search of a power-up known as the Flames of Disaster, and in the process of seeking this power source, he ran afoul of a creature that is strongly implied to be Iblis, from Sonic 06.  This whole notion came as a great shock to longtime franchise fans, because it represents the one moment where the screenwriters actually seemed to be drawing on past Sonic lore to tell a story about the last Echidna, and they did it all by creating a rewritten version of one of the key plot points and villains of the 06 game.  The funny part there is that it's almost the one moment where the show hinted that it could improve upon one of the most infamous pieces of Sonic media (at least up until someone gave the Knuckles show the go-ahead, anyway).  It's very much as YouTuber PJ Show observes, "it's the closest we get to any kind of Sonic lore making its way into the show".  What makes this whole reference stand out to me, however, is the potential implication that this might have been a way for the writers to apologize to the viewer.  It's like they were trying to say, here is the original idea we pitched to the studio, and the dreck you're watching now is what they've saddled you and us with.

Bear in mind, I have no concrete proof this is true, yet it's interesting to find such a much more interesting idea, a concept that sounds like an actual, proper Sonic story, even if it's all just on paper.  While it's just all a possibility, the idea that the showrunners might have had a better idea for the Knuckles show, one that was a better fit all around for the character turned out to be just enough to set some sort of gears turning upstairs in my head.  Since one of  the rules here at the Scriblerus Club is that constructive criticism can go a longer way than just pointing out a failure, I'd like to leave this article off on a lighter note, by suggesting some ways in which a better version of this show could have gone.

A Better Idea to Leave On.

In terms of who the audience for a story centered around Knuckles should be, my own idea is that it would be kind of cool to basically make it a Don Bluth film.  Either that or let it be a movie or TV series that's animated and written in a style as close to Bluth's type of story as to not make that much difference.  I'm thinking specifically of what most of us would probably describe as "Classic Bluth".  We're talking about the glory days of this guy's career here.  That special moment of time in the early to late 80s when Uncle Don managed to churn out a trio of undeniably great to genuinely good movies.  Each of them united by a tone of what I can only described as Mature Enchantment.  The 80s incarnation of Bluth was never afraid to take his audience of young charges to a lot of dark places for cinematic exploration.  I guess you could say he was sort of like Mark Twain in that regard.  He never lied to you, and he never flinched away from the more sordid details of everyday life.  At the same time, Bluth is the kind of artist who left plenty room for enchantment in his films, and what made it special for that brief period of time was the understanding that it works best when its hard-earned.  In that sense, none of his best work looks away form the darker sides of life, yet they also never throw in the towel, either.  Instead, they offered a kind of rough hewn encouragement to the children in the audience.

That's the kind of tone I'd aim for in a telling a Knuckles story.  It would have that same vaguely Gothic sense of Sublime grandeur, one that would somehow always thrills and enchants you even in the midst of leaving you terrified, yet also thoroughly excited and invested on the edge of your seat.  I think Knuckles deserves that kind of story.  So with this in mind, my alternate suggestions for what should happen (and that's all this is) would be to have a story in three acts, bookended by a prologue and epilogue.  The way it works is you could start the prologue out by taking the audience all the way back to the start of the first Sonic film, and it would be a cold, in media res opening centered on an Echidna warrior we later learn is Knuckles' father.  What happens is we see him draw a clear bead on Longclaw the Owl as she tries to fly Sonic to safety, yet he finds he can't bring himself to harm either of his targets.  Though when Longclaw does get shot out of the sky, he does fall in line and chase after her, even though he makes clear by his actions that he doesn't really like himself for what he's doing, and isn't really on-board with the whole mission.  Then there'd be a time jump and the prologue would end with Knuckles' father running away from an enemy that's stalking him and who we never see.  All we know is that it makes Knuckles an orphan by taking his father out in the manner of a fire-breathing dragon.  That would be the action-packed opening setup, and from there the full story would begin.

Act One would open in Green Hills, sometime in the aftermath of the second movie, and Knuckles is having a difficult time adjusting to Earth civilian life.  He's loosening up somewhat, even though Tails asks Sonic in an aside whether he thinks their new friend and brother-in-law really is making any improvements.  The good news on that front is Knuckles has become something of a Baseball fanatic, and is thoroughly enjoying the game in his own Epic fashion ("Take no prisoners, Show no mercy, Let blood be your motto", etc.)  Things come to a literal screeching halt when the sounds of the familiar Stadium Clap from John Fogarty's Centerfield is piped in over the sound system, and it's enough to send Knuckles into an unexplained PTSD attack the ends with him demolishing the ballpark's speaker system with a Louisville Slugger.  When he comes to his senses, he drops the bat, offers a brief apology, and then runs off into the forest.  Sonic and Tails manage to track their friend down, and from there Knuckles begins to explain the meaning behind his actions, and as we transition into the main narrative, I always tend to imagine all of what comes next as being animated by Don Bluth himself.  Yeah, it's all just a pipe dream, but it gives you a good idea of the kind of story that's about to unfold for us.

The real plot would kick-off with Knuckles still a child waiting and abandoned in the village of his Tribe, which has now been rendered a ghost town, except for him.  Knuckles doesn't know it yet and tries to put on a brave face like he's been taught until lightning and thunder send him scurrying for shelter, sucking his thumb in his sleep.  Like most Bluth protagonists, he's in for a nasty shock when Pachacamac shows up alone, and has Knuckles march all the way out to the field of battle to view the bones of his fallen Tribesmen, even being so cruel as to pick up his father's bleached white skull and place it in his son's hand, like a child of version of Hamlet.  This alternate version of Pachy could still be played by Chris Lloyd, yet it's clear this one is not a nice guy at all.  Instead, he's a power mad general obsessed with revenge, someone who would let the fate of his own daughter fall by the wayside without a second glance back.  As he explains to Knuckles that sometimes that's what it takes to claim victory in a mission.  There are also hints that this guy has an ulterior motive for charging Knuckles with his final quest: to seek out the Flames of Disaster, and to locate and harness the Master Emerald.  

Pachy then makes sure to place a load on the poor kid's shoulder's by claiming that the honor of his entire people now lies in his hands, before vanishing away, revealing he was also a ghost, and dead along with the rest of the Echidna.  A brief typical training/aging montage would follow, where the main character ages up to the same level where he can be safely voiced by Idris Elba, and it would all end with Knuckles setting out on his quest, and taking his father's bow, arrows, a spear, and tribal headgear with him in a yellow backpack.  We'd then do a traveling montage showing the Red Guy's journey through various game locales until he arrives via spaceship at Paradise Casino Zone.  He gets over his awe the big city bright lights when he clues in that he's being followed, and a cat-and-mouse game ensues that end with Knuckles cornering his pursuers and asking what they want of him?  The leader introduces himself as Jack Sinclair (Julian Barret), and that their employer has asked to meet with him about some "Master Emerald".  Knuckles agrees to come along when he hears this, and is led to meet some guy calling himself "Walter Nixis".  This is now going where you think it is, so don't worry.  We'll get there, I promise.  Right now, all Knuckles knows is that this man Nixis is a treasure hunter of sorts, and has discovered a secret underground base that used to belong to a lost civilization of Owl Warriors.

Rumors had spread about Knuckles searching for such a place in his travels, and "Nixis" claims he has some information about the Master Emerald, so he offers to trade Knuckles this info in exchange for him helping them to locate the Owl Base out in the Dusty Desert.  Knuckles agrees and they set out.  In terms of casting, the role of "Nixis" is where Cary Elwes can be put to good use.  He's once again this sly, back-stabbing weasel, like his Pistol Pete role, except here he's playing a character with much more weight, depth, and a greater sense of menace than anything he was allowed to do in the TV show.  Right now, "Nixis" is "honoring his word" as he takes Knuckles to a spot in the desert as promised.  He and Sinclair even teach the Echidna how to ride a chopper into the bargain.  A brief burrowing on Knuckles' part reveals the Owl Sanctuary hidden away beneath the sands, and its here that some info dumping necessary to Knuckles' overall quest and story would take place.  Everybody seems to be getting what they want, and as "Nixis" and Sinclair start packing up to go, they ask Knuckles if there's anything else he might want from the place.  Knuckles takes up their offer by proceeding to demolish the Owl Temple with his bare hands in a fit a rage and sadness he's been holding in check for just such a moment.

The trouble is he ends up burying himself alive in the ruins of the Base, and this grants "Nixis" and Sinclair the opportunity to ditch him, much to Knuckles' dismay.  All this does is piss him off even more and he manages to unearth himself out of the ground with his bare hands as well.  Only by the time he resurfaces, "Nixis", Sinclair, and his gang have all long departed the scene.  Here's where the words of PJ Show deserve to be heard, because it explains what happens next.  "If we go back to Episode 3, Knuckles talks about how he traversed a space desert for fourteen days" after being abandoned and left to die there by his enemies, "but we never get to see it.  That would have made for an incredible episode of a Knuckles show.  An episode where we really see Knuckles being tested; on the verge of giving up.  Barely able to continue until he starts to hallucinate, or even passes out.  And then we flashback to his younger self training with Pachacamac.  And we see that Pachacamac prioritizes strength and combat more than anything else.  Which shows us more about the confrontational nature of his character.

"Which not only follows the writing from Adventure 1, but could also pave the way for a potential Adventure adaptation in a future movie.  Then, maybe, Knuckles goes to his father, and it's him that tells Knuckles that physical strength is only half the warrior, and you must show mental fortitude as well.  And so it's actually his father that teaches him the Echidna meditation method that we see Knuckles teaching Wade in the episode.  Then Knuckles uses this meditation method to find the strength to escape the desert and continue his search for the Master Emerald.  This not only gives us some introspection with Knuckles, but also gives us" some more background info "on Pachacamac.  To really set up his character as being this power-hungry person".  All I would add to those comments are that I would also use the flashback sequence to flesh out Knuckles' father as well.  I see the movie version of this character as separate from the comics, first of all.  Let's get that out of the way.  The next thing I'd do is give him a name, Cicero.  Then he would be shown as a polar opposite positive influence to all the negative lessons Knuckles learns as a boy from his Tribe's power-mad leader.  Cicero would act as  a counter-balance because of his backstory.  It just makes sense to view Knuckles' father as a once great fighter who lost his wife when she gave birth to his only son, and that sort of ended him in a way.

He never blamed his own child for what happened, and he gives Knuckles all the love a growing son needs from a parent.  It's just that when Cicero lost his wife, he soon found to his own surprise that he's also lost the zest he used to have for the typical Echidnan warrior life and ethos.  Losing his wife seems to have killed off one part of his old personality and woken up this other part Cicero was never aware of till he lost someone special to him.  The flashback would make clear that Cicero has wised up to the toxic influence Pachacamac wields over his people, and that he's sickened by the way his chieftain dismisses even the loss of his own daughter for the sake of victory and glory.  The implication should be that he's either looking for ways to challenge Doc Brown's authority, or else hoping he might one day be able to runaway from the village and take his little boy with him, and see if he can give Knuckles a normal civilian childhood, instead of the one that lead to his own personal sense of ruin.  This is a conflict from his past that Knuckles sort of picks up on, yet he still doesn't know how to process or what to do with it.  Though this is a plot point that will become important in the second act of this fan idea.

Back in the story proper, after escaping the desert, Knuckles manages to track down Sinclair and his men to a bar on the outskirts of the desert, and there's the expected yet fun bit of brawling that takes place when Knuckles confronts one of the two men who betrayed his trust.  While he kicks everyone's ass, he also applies a law of the Echidna to the whole proceedings called the "Honor Stance Rule".  If you best your opponent, all that's required is that they turn something of theirs over as fair compensation.  For Sinclair, this means Knuckles taking his OVA hat, along with the keys to his own souped up motorcycle, which becomes the most sophisticated piece of tech Knucks has ever owned up till now.  He uses the bike's tech to help track down "Nixis", who he traces to the ruins of a long forgotten Echidna Temple that inspires awe in the traveling warrior, and yet which "Nixis" is using as a place of dark magic, with the intent to sacrifice a victim who he keeps wrapped from head to toe like a mummy.  Knuckles intervenes before the backstabbing traitor can carry his schemes out, and sends the double-dealer flying through a wall with one punch.  He then turns his attention to freeing the prisoner and manages to uncover the eyes and a bit of the right arm before he's hit from behind by a bolt of magic from a staff held by a creature who now reveals himself as none other than Ixis Naugus.

Told ya we'd get around to him.  What happens next is what's expected.  Naugus gets the drop on our hero, and taunts and berates Knuckles for being way in over his head, and that this is a scheme he knows far too little of to ever comprehend, much less defeat him.  Just before Naugus can deliver the major killing blow, the now freed prisoner dives in and decks him across the jaw, freeing Knuckles, and together they all have a fight in which the prisoner helps ol' Bid Red defeat Naugus who vanishes in a column of fire that disappears into the sky when his magic wand is shattered, and Knuckles drives his father's spear into the traitor's wicked heart.  The biggest shock awaits Knuckles and the viewers when they both realize that the prisoner is an Echidna just like himself, and that her name is Tikal, Pachacamac's long lost daughter.  Not knowing what else to do, act one ends with Knuckles striking his father's spear to the ground in a kind of military salute, before taking a knee and pledging himself at the service of his leader and commanding officer.  Tikal takes all this with shock, and that's the first act.

If Act 1 is all about setup and starting things off, then the second act is concerned with Character Building and establishing a dynamic between the two main leads.  That means most of Act 2 is concerned with Knuckles and Tikal getting used to one another.  It's the most relaxed part of the journey, and most it involves Knuckles figuring out how to act around a leader whose entire philosophy is the exact polar opposite of her father's.  In the games, Tikal is a woman who sets herself in direct opposition to Pachacamac's warlike tendencies, and that would carry over into this version of the character.  Act 2 would examine how this more peacemaker oriented philosophy bounces off of everything Knuckles has been told about how to conduct himself as an Echidna up to this point.  Where he views his upbringing with a deep-seated sense of pride and honor, Tikal can peer past it all and see only anger, bitterness, and heartbreak.  Where he sees glory, she sees bloodlust, and meaningless conflict.  This is something Knuckles gradually becomes aware of, and part of the way this works is that Tikal doesn't berate him for who he is, or for the way he was brought up.  Instead, he begins to learn how differently she sees and does things based on the quiet way she reacts to his typical boasts and posturing, along with the more open and welcoming way she interacts with other strangers and species.

Rather than lecture him about anything, Tikal simply presents Knuckles with simple demonstrations of kindness and understanding toward others in such a way that he finds it impossible to ignore, and while the whole process throws him for a loop, he can't help admit that he's also intrigued at the same time, nor that a great deal of it comes from Tikal herself.  It's the last part that worries him the most, as she is the chief's daughter and he's just a lowly grunt; still just this boot camp trainee who never even had a chance to hack the program and graduate.  Still, the longer they travel on their now shared quest, the more Knuckles can't help but find himself effected by a glimmering sense of change that she's instilling in his mind.  This comes to a head at a crucial point when they arrive via motorbike in the Stardust Speedway Zone, and as they are walking through the bright city streets, Tikal decides to confront Knuckles about the nature of his mission.  She knows by now that he's been tasked with locating both the Flames of Disaster and the Master Emerald.  Not having much of a home to go back to, or anywhere else to be, she of course teams up the the Big Red Guy on his journey.  However, she's never dumb about the nature of the quest.  She knows it's just her father wanting one last chance to get his way.

While she's willing to help Knuckles find both the Flames and the Emerald, however, she's determined that if they're to be its new Guardians, then they must make sure not to repeat the same mistakes that lead their entire people, culture, and way of life to destruction.  That means setting aside Pachacamac's bloodlust for glory, and instead find a better way of learning what it means to be an Echidna.  One that is more willing to embrace the ways of peace as a viable alternative to making war.  This is a basic summary of the thought floating around in Tikal's head, and its to the credit of the effect she's had on him that when she confronts the Red Guy with her request that they never abuse the power of the Emerald when they find it, and to please leave her father's warring ways behind, you can sort of tell he's been thinking about it himself.  Knuckles, of course, being the often stubborn and headstrong sort that he is, makes the deliberate choice to play dumb and dance around their conversation in this moment.  He knows exactly what she's asking of him, and while the idea is alive a kicking in his mind, it's also clear he's a fish out of water, and doesn't quite where to be begin.  He's also reluctant to just let go of a past that's tied not just to Pachacamac, but also to that of his own father.  He's also aware that in doing so, for the first time in his life, he's countermanding the explicit orders of his commanding officer.

While Knuckles has never learned to have a clear sense of irony, he is aware of the contradiction of his personal choice in this moment, and the crisis of loyalty it places him in, and for the first time finds himself in a sweat while being dressed down by his CO in a way he's never experienced before, and that leaves him tongue-tied in way that he isn't faking.  For her own part, Tikal can see right through the obfuscations Knuckles tries and fails to throw her way, and she's growing more exasperated by the minute.  That is until she catches the sound of music drifting out from a nearby techno juke joint, and a light bulb goes on in her head.  She grabs the Red Guy by the hand and corrals him into a music establishment that imports some of its soundtrack from a planet known as Earth.  The whole world might be a technological backwater, yet they do make good music.  It's here that Knuckles here's both John Fogarty's Centerfield for the actual first time, along with ZZ Top's Velcro Fly.  It's while he's growing impressed with Earth music that Tikal puts her plan into action, and slips away from his sight.  When Knuckles notices that his leader is missing, he then spots her cutting a move on the dance floor.

Knuckles goes up to Tikal and asks what she's doing, and she once more grabs his hand and explains, "I've been a soldier my whole life.  I want to know what it's like to be a civilian...Just once".  We're then treated to a musical number as Michael Jackson's Blood on the Dance Floor pounds out of the speakers, and Tikal ends up teaching Knuckles how to dance.  All of which culminates in both of them stepping in time to the familiar rhythm of the "Knuckles Beat" that Jackson borrowed to place in the third Sonic video game as the trademark sound for the Big Red Dude.  As a result, the audience would get to see Knuckles dance to his own theme.  He does it slow and stumbling at first, until he soon gets into the rhythm, and for once begins to enjoy what it's like to be a non-combatant for the evening.  This sense of euphoria follows the Echidnas out of the bar and onto the shores of a starlit beach.  Before they turn in for the night, Tikal asks Knuckles to think about what she's said about being an Emerald Guardian in a way that's different from what Pachacamac taught them.  While he doesn't reply, and she doesn't force him to say anything, it's clear her words are starting to take hold, and the two bed down with a sense of renewed hope that neither of them has felt for a long while.  Act 2 ends on an ominous cliffhanger, however.  As a pair of red eyes watches them with evil intent before vanishing in fire into the sky.

The Final Act of this alternate drama opens and closes on an extended cat-and-mouse/hunter-vs-hunted chase sequence.  If Part 1 was all about setup, and the Second Act was about establishing character, then this last bit doesn't toss any of that to the wayside, it just amps up the action of the plot.  It starts with Knuckles and Tikal biking their way into the planet's capital city of Moebius.  As the reach the city's outskirts, Tikal asks Knucks one more time if he will consider her thoughts on what to do with the Master Emerald if and when they find it, and to her immense relief, this time, he agrees with and acknowledges the wisdom her plans.  The good times are short-lived, however, as the minute they get there, the remaining members of Team Echidna find themselves being stalked by a bunch of shady characters in hoods and trench coats, who seem to be in the employ of none other than Jack Sinclair himself.  Our heroes implement a divide and conquer strategy to take out their foes, first on foot together, then Tikal takes one half of their pursuers on by herself in a fast paced chase on the bike, while Knuckles leads his would-be captors on a foot race that ranges from down in the backstreets and alleyways, and up into the city's rooftops, and subway systems.  They manage to beat the first round of followers, and then a second threat joins the chase in the form of a fire breathing serpent that pours out of the sky and onto the freeway Tikal is navigating like a great snake made of molten lava.

When it said I picture this as a film animated by Don Bluth in his classic glory days format, this is what I mean.  The dragon gives chase, yet Knuckles and Tikal are able to best it together, even though they lose the motorcycle in the process.  Just when things seem in the clear, they're ambushed by Sinclair and his men, who get the drop on them send Knuckles flying down into the streets below with a well aimed zap from a gun, while Tikal is netted and taken captive.  Knuckles survives the fall, and when he comes to, finds himself confronted by the rest of the figures who were following him and Tikal.  It's where he discovers that the other group following them were composed of the following characters: Sally Acorn, Nicole, Bunnie Rabot, Vector the Alligator, and Espio the Chameleon.  Rather than wanting to capture the Echidnas, they were trying to catch up and warn them about the dangers they were facing.  The Freedom Fighters and two halves of Team Chaotix would then fill in Knuckles on the kind of business Jack Sinclair has as a bounty hunter who kidnaps alien lifeforms and sells them off to some partner.

All they know about this silent partner is the Egg-shaped insignia trademark that comes with all the tech he provides Sinclair with.  They also reveal that they've managed to locate a hidden facility deep in the Jungle Zone of South Island, and their intelligence indicates this is where Sinclair stashes and trades off his prisoners to this mysterious Egg individual, and they believe that is where Tikal has been taken, along with many other innocent extra-terrestrial civilians.  The Freedom Fighters and Team Chaotix are determined to put a stop to Sinclair and his operation, and were trying to enlist the help of both Echidnas before things got out of hand.  Armed with this information, and some fancy hi-tech weaponry, Knuckles joins in on the mission to rescue Tikal and the citizens of Moebius.  What happens next is probably the least original outcome, yet it makes sense enough for where the story is going.  Stop me if you've heard this before.  A well-trained team of military experts drops into a jungle on a rescue mission assignment, only for the whole thing to go FUBAR as they run up against a non-human threat which starts to pick off the party one team member at a time, until there's just one lone survivor left.  So yeah, the ending is pretty much a truncated version of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Predator.  Except this time its all done with a cast of Sonic characters, and Knuckles get to play the role of Arnie.

If the overall structure is the same as the 1987 Sci-Fi Horror classic, then there are at least a few necessary deviations from the setup that need to be made for the sake of the franchise and its characters.  For instance, there's no double-crossing involved.  Instead, Knucks and the Freedom/Chaotix team locate Sinclair's base, and in the process of laying waste to the place, everyone keeps their word, and get to be heroes by taking out the bad guys and freeing Eggman's prisoners.  This includes Tikal above all, and she gets an interesting bit where Knuckles is looking all over for her while Sinclair draws a bead on the Red Guy with a sniper rifle, only to have the last leader of the Echidnas jump onto his back and give his neck a fatal twist.  Knuckles is impressed with this, yet it's clear that choice has left Tikal shaken, and it's this decision to go against her own ideals which might dictate her final actions in the story.  Anyway, those who've watched the Arnie movie knows what happens next.  Team Freedom/Chaotix accomplishes their mission, the hostages are safe, and the squad moves toward their own rendezvous pick-up point, with Knuckles and Tikal traveling along as well.  Everybody soon realizes they're being stalked and targeted by an unknown enemy they can't see, and the losses begin.

Here's the part where I've got to pull a lot of punches, though.  Because I mean let's be real, we're dealing with franchise characters here, folks.  You can't just do whatever you want with them.  Every plot beat or action has to be consistent with their personalities and what's come before.  It's an essential yet often overlooked fact even in Hollywood these days.  What this means for this alternate Knuckles scenario is that the character exits have to look like they might be fatal, yet still leave room for them to make a logical re-appearance later on in future installments of the series.  So for the most part, the "death" scenes would be, say, Vector getting dragged off into the dark by an unseen hand, Knuckles hearing a scream from his squad mates and coming upon one of Espio's Sai's embedded into the trunk of a tree with a few drops of blood on it, and the master ninja nowhere in sight, followed by the sight of Bunnie's cybernetic arm lying dislocated and crackling on the ground.  It would all culminate in Knuckles stumbling upon the image of Sally on her knees sobbing over the broken, short-circuited pieces of a hand-held computer, which she proceeds to gather together and cradle in her arms.  It's all that's left of Nicole.  Sally informs Knuckles that whatever got the rest of the team took off with Tikal, so Knucks tells her to basically "Get to da Choppa", and proceeds to give chase.  He catches up with Tikal, yet their reunion is short-lived, as the fire dragon reappears and sets the jungle ablaze.

The fire drake starts to herd the pair up the crags of a mountain, where seeing there's not much choice left, and possibly consumed with guilt for what she perceives as betraying her own ideals, it's Tikal who is first to draw up her own Chaos Energy, and charge at the beast.  She and Knuckles get to have a "rockin" battle with the thing, yet it proves formidable, sending the Red Dude for a loop, further enraging Tikal, and causing her to double her attacks.  To her credit, she manages to deliver a crippling blow to her opponent, yet it comes at the cost of receiving a fatal wound.  Before succumbing to her injuries, she has one final moment with Knuckles where she admits her feelings for him, and asks him to promise to remember that she's always valued the heart above mere brute strength.  As the dragon retreats to nurse its own injuries, Knuckles buries Tikal, then assembles his father's old gear and eventually emerges from the shadows in full Echidnan tribal paint, a broken yet determined adult version of the village child he used to be, and let's out a war cry.  Out in the watches of the night, the fire drake hears the challenge, and answers the call.  The way Knuckles takes out his opponent in this battle is based on tactics from both ancient myth and modern literature.  He manages to control the chase this time, drawing the dragon among the crags of a rock quarry, which he uses to hide in until he's right under the beast's belly, and uses his father's spear to tear open a gash in it's gut, making it writhe.

The dragon takes off into the air once again, and makes a dive for the warrior, who manages to role out of its reach and as the drake ascends out of its dive, Knuckles takes aim with one of his father's arrow's, equipped with a Freedom/Chaotix detonation bomb attached to it, and sends the shaft right into the open wound of the dragon's hide, making for one hell of an explosion.  His cries of victory turn into sobs of sadness very soon, though, and as Knuckles buries his head over Tikal's grave, its should be implied that he's come to understand at least some of the sorrow that, in his father's case, caused the old man to lose his interest in being a fighter.  We'd then cut to Knuckles as he slumbers against a rock, the spear still clutched in one hand.  After a pregnant pause, the silence of the night is shattered by the same, familiar electronic clapping sound of John Fogarty's Centerfield song.  The noise jolts Knuckles awake, and he stares in bewilderment into the forest where the sound is coming from.  As he continues to listen, the rhythm of Fogarty's stadium chant begins to weave in and out with the "God Drums" of ZZ Top's Velcro Fly, until the two beats become indistinguishable, with sometimes one or the other predominating, while at other times both beats synchronize into a harmonic mantra of taunting, beckoning madness.

As Knuckles makes his way through the forest toward the sound, the noise begins to work on his already fragile state, until it seems like he's on the verge of a paranoic breakdown.  It's not helped by the fact that sometimes he keeps catching glimpses of first "Walter Nixis" or Ixis Naugus grinning at him from behind trees, only when the Echidna runs to tackle him, his opponent isn't there.  As the Chant-Drums grow louder, the ground begins to slope upward, and Knuckles sanity continues to fray even more, until he finds himself beginning to sing along in a half-mad rant.  Finally he gets to what looks like the edge of a clearing, and the sounds are coming from just beyond the rise.  With steely resolve, the warrior bursts through the thickets, spear drawn...and promptly teeters for a second before taking a tumble down the long, sloping incline of the mountain he's just climbed.  He gets bumped into the air and comes down hard three time.  The first break's his father's spear.  The second shatters the bow and arrows.  The third splinters the tribal headgear Knuckles has been wearing this whole time.  Almost every trace of his past has now been erased.  He then slides off the mountain and into the waiting arms of a stream that leads to a waterfall, which in turn deposits him limp and dazed onto the shores of what looks like the entrance to some long forgotten stone temple.  His warpaint has also been washed off.

Every last link the Last of the Echidna had with his past is now gone.  Now it's just him, and...What shakes Knuckles out of his daze is the sound of the Fogarty clap starting up again.  This time it's being made by a pair of flesh and blood hands, and Knuckles can tell where it is now.  It's coming from the mouth of a long dark hallway entrance, and as he watches, it's clear someone has been waiting here for him.  Knuckles demands the challenger show himself, and a figure begins to emerge from the dark.  A first shaft of light reveals it to be the mask known as "Walt Nixis", the next spotlight thrown on it reveals it to be the creature behind the mask, Naugus.  In both visions, the evil wizard is shown clapping in time to Fogarty's cheer, a wicked grin on his face.  It's seeing the figure of Pachacamac emerge in the third shaft of light that throws Knuckles for a loop.  Seeing the long gone Echidna Chieftain step out of the shadows and confront his erstwhile trainee on being such a good soldier and pawn, even if he's been too much of a pest for his own good is what really puts the mind freak on our hero.  The logic in this scene is simple, and its meant to explain all that's come before.  It also draw on the lore of Sonic 06.

Recall that the figure of Iblis has at least three boss forms that the player has to take on.  All you have to do is find a way to make that work in a dramatic storytelling setup, and the good news is this one sort of wrote itself.  This version of the character would reveal that it's a rogue elemental spirit of fire which is looking to usurp the natural order of things, and make itself omnipotent and unstoppable with the power of the Master Emerald.  It would still have one weakness left to exploit, however.  These being the Flames of Disaster, and the one lifeform most capable of wielding this power was the Echidnas.  So Iblis knew he had to remove his most deadly opponents from the Chess board.  Consuming the Echidnas, and even making a ritual sacrifice of one of them, would give him total invincibility against the Flames.  Knuckles just turned out to be the one malingering Chess piece that wouldn't stay dead, and even saw fit to add one last player to the board, in the form of Tikal.  Now, with her out of the way, all that remains is for Iblis to dispose of the last pawn.  As Pachacamac finishes his monologue, Knucks finally takes all his anger out on his former leader, only for Pachy's face to warp and morph under each blow, until he begins to change and grow into the evil fire elemental known as Iblis.  Knuckles puts up a brave fight at this point, yet it's clear raw and bare fists aren't going to cut it with this creature, and pretty soon Iblis has our hero down for what looks like the final count.  It's here that Knuckles has an other worldly vision, involving his father and Tikal.

It's also here that one of the few good ideas from the TV series we're stuck with could come into play.  In his vision, both Knuckles' Father and Tikal would enlighten him that the true power of a warrior comes not from his strength and skills, but rather from the love that's in his heart, and with Tikal there to drive the point home, this is what allows Knuckles to unlock the Flames of Disaster for himself, and recharge his energy and strength back up to full health.  Meaning now its Iblis's turn to be thrown for a loop.  The rest of this sequence is best summed up once more by the words of PJ Show.  It would "tell the story of Knuckles, including how, at some point, he ended up defeating Iblis, and unlocked the Flames of Disaster".  The rest of Show's commentary is pretty relevant to how the denouement of this alternate fan theory (and that's all it is) plays out, so the rest of his words deserve a further hearing.  

Show says how, "Now, I originally had my doubts that they would ever adapt 06 into a film.  So seeing them still using components of it, but altering it to work more with" the cinematic universe "is something that I genuinely like.  But the problem here is that we're told about these events, but we don't get to see them.  Imagine how fucking cool it would have been to see this fight actually take place.  That's the kind of shit that should be in a Knuckles show".  In some ways, that's the problem we're still stuck with, however.  All I'm doing here is spit-balling the kind of scenario most fans would have preferred to see, rather than the discount piece of performance theater we got stuck with.  In this alternate version though, everything would be animated by Don Bluth as his best as the Big Red Dude manages to harness the Flames of Disaster and tear Iblis apart for good with his bare hands.  We'd then have a quick denouement where the fire elemental's death triggers a Metroid style chain reaction where it seems the jungle is going to be buried under a volcanic eruption and it looks like Knuckles is cornered by fire and lava while trying to get away, only to be rescued by Bunnie, who's missing an arm, yet she can still use the remains of her cybernetics to pull Knuckles to safety.  After which they're both rescued by Sally and a repaired Nicole who arrive with the "Choppa".  Everything is wrapped up in a neat bow.

As they leave the field of battle, and Nicole is busy fixing Bunnie's arm, she asks the last of the Echidnas a question: "So how's it feel to be a hero"?  We then transition back to the present with Sonic and Tails, as it's clear now that telling his story has allowed Knuckles some sense of closure.  This alternate story would then conclude with Knuckles taking some tribal bracelets that belonged to his friends and family, which is all he's managed to save from his past, and it would end with Knuckles crafting a hidden shrine for both Tikal and his father.  He would give these items and their setup a conflicted, yet rueful look, as it becomes clear he's begun to make some sort of piece with his past, and has managed to keep and value the lessons that both Tikal and his dad taught him, before going back to join the people he now recognizes as his new friends and family.  The End, and cue some sort of appropriate Stan Bush power ballad to play over the closing credits.  My choice of songs would be The Journey, which is off Bush's 2014 album, The Ultimate, and I'd include Billy Ocean's Love is Forever.  I'd toss in the latter choice for two reasons.  One is because it signals where Knuckles is at the ending.  The second reason is much more obvious, it fits in the the idea of a Don Bluth animated feature.

So, that's the best I could do in terms of offering any kind of constructive criticism for how a better version of the Knuckles show could have gone.  The only other comments I could make would be in terms of how to handle the casting and special effects.  For instance, I would have liked to have Iblis's voice be a digitized melding of both Cary Elwes and Chris Lloyd's voices and vocal performances, to give the idea that we're dealing with this truly twisted Supernatural being that either knows how to mimic others, or else who absorbs his victims into himself.  That would be gnarly and awesome.  As for my choice on who should voice Tikal?  Well, I was thinking Cree Summer would be perfect for the role.  She knows how to create a vocal character with just the right combination of this sort of kind-natured sweetness mixed well together with a tough as nails badass.  She's the kind of girl whose voice would always be light and innocent sounding, and who could then put you through a wall if she felt it was necessary.  Besides which, if you're casting Cree Summer, there's always the obvious fact that "We're not worthy".  I mean let's face it, that's just plain commonsense.  In many ways, that's perhaps the sort of story fans of the franchise deserved.  Once more, PJ Show's own words sum it all up.

"Knowing that we just can't see Knuckles do cool stuff like fighting Iblis kind of just makes it all bittersweet.  It really says a lot when this is the closest we get to a Sonic story in a show called Knuckles".  It's also sort of a real kick in the teeth that the ideas tossed out above are the best I can give, or that this show's very existence is yet another repetition of a now ongoing pattern in a lot of legacy franchises out there.  Hollywood itself keeps underdelivering and losing a clear grip on our favorite characters from the past, and hence always leaving the fandom holding the bag, and having to come up with better ideas than the ones up on the screen.  It says something on just how bad things have got when it extends even to a character who is, in the strictest sense, the product of children's entertainment.  When it's possible to screw up a even someone like Knuckles, then the constant repeat of such a pattern tells me we're dealing with something endemic to the system which produces such a pointless affair.  It speaks to an industry in freefall, in which the center either cannot hold, or else there's just a void left where decades of creativity used to reside.  On the whole, it's a damn shame that this is what things have come to.  I meant it when I said I couldn't recommend the Knuckles TV series, and that judgment still stands.  What I do hope is that shows like this will be hints to the audience that now its time for us ourselves to take up the mantel as storytellers and see if we have it in us to be creative.  It's something worth doing both for the sake of our favorite stories, and for our own artistic voices.