Sonic the Hedgehog's arch-nemesis Dr. Robotnik is nothing if not resilient. He's relentless and unwavering in his many attempts to conquer Mobius and defeat Sonic, but as we've seen many, many times, he can't seem to accomplish either. Maybe it would be a good idea if the Doc just hung it up and retired. With him out of the way and Mobius safe, maybe Sonic and Tails could have themselves a vacation. Well, it just so happens that both things happen in today's episode: The Last Resort. Let's see what happens when Robotnik feigns retirement and establishes a resort full of death traps to send Sonic on a permanent vacation. Sounds like fun to me. Our episode opens with a trio of large robots attacking a city, and players of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine will recognize Davy Sprocket as one of the attackers. Looks like he's gotten himself a mondo upgrade. Mayor McCheese, or Bumper, or whatever his name is, gets on the big screen to state the obvious: they are under attack, but he has mandated that any robots who dare attack his city must have a permit, including signing several forms in quadruplicate. Even the nursery schoolers in the audience would roll their eyes at that bad joke, and trust me when I say, there are many more to come. Fortunately, Sonic arrives to save the day and take a look at the crowd behind him: you can see Mike Wazowski with a blonde hairpiece. I wonder if any Pixar animators watched this episode before making Monsters, Inc. Nah, I doubt it. Anyway, just as Sonic is about to do his thing, the robots suddenly retreat, and then who should appear on the big screen but Dr. Robotnik himself, who officially announces his retirement from evil, even bestowing upon himself a gold watch. He's retiring to spend time with Momma, so he's going to become Norman Bates... except with his mother still alive. Not buying this retirement hooey one bit, Sonic and Tails pay the doc a visit and he just invites them right in for tea and fish cakes. He seems on the level, so with no reason to doubt him, they just rudely leave. Hey, I know he's your nemesis and all, Sonic, but you could've tried to be more polite, or are manners something for "slow-moes"? We next see our heroes playing checkers by the river, and this sudden amount of nothing to do has the hedgehog on edge, and have I mentioned how much I HATE the way he says, "I'm waiiiiting." He does it twice in this episode. Every time he does that, I just want to kick him. Let's face it, our heroes are in a rut. They could do with a vacation, and almost right away, Mayor McCheese arrives to thank Sonic for saving his city and gives him a very large key to it. Well, he didn't actually do anything, but you're welcome. He also presents them with an all-expenses paid vacation package to an island resort. At first reluctant, Sonic accepts and he and Tails are whisked away on an auto-piloted hydrofoil to begin their vacation. That's when it's revealed that the mayor was actually a robot and uses the phone in his stomach to call... Dr. Robotnik. That's right, if you believed his retirement nonsense then, well, get help. En route to the island, Sonic water skiis on the back of the hydrofoil, showing off as only he can. Below the surface, Scratch and Grounder follow in a submarine and launch a myriad of traps to try and stop Sonic, but of course they don't succeed. Oh, well, gotta put the other traps waiting for them on San Pelagroso to good use, I guess.
Upon arrival, Sonic and Tails are greeted by Guido, their totally "hip" tour guide. Wasting no time, he sets them off on their first adventure: whitewater kayaking, and the red flags don't go up when Guido locks Sonic into his boat. He believes it to be just part of the experience. Oh, and guess what? Guido is a robot too, as he takes a phone out of his stomach to call Scratch and Grounder to prepare for Sonic's arrival. They've got a booby trap waiting at the bottom of the falls. Okay, so what's this going to be? An enormous wood chipper under the water that will turn Sonic into saw dust? Perhaps a giant bottomless pit that he'll fall down, down, down? Nope, nope, nope, they deploy... spikes. What is this, a video game level? Sonic manages to see the spikes on his way down and quickly paddles back up the waterfall, while Tails bails on his kayak and gets swept away by the rapids, calling for Sonic to help him. Hello? You can fly, dummy! Sonic saves his two-tailed damsel, then he dams up the river, but only long enough for them to escape, then Scratch and Grounder get to experience a rockslide. With the attempts to snuff out Sonic on the water going up in smoke, their next little romp comes in the form of mountain climbing... except this mountain is an active volcano and they have to climb from the inside. Sounds like a challenge you'd see on TikTok. Don't try this at home, kids! They narrowly miss being burned alive in the molten lava just beneath their feet, and manage to escape the volcano. How predictable. Naturally, Robotnik isn't pleased that his luxurious resort death trap has left much to be desired. Well, only one adventure left: skydiving, and this time, the doc will do the job himself, leaving his two dumb-bots to tend to Momma. Well, stopping the hedgehog on land and sea have failed, so air will have to work, right? Sonic and Tails put on their parachutes and board the plane, and once they're at 6,000 feet, they jump. Okay, Botsy, what's the plan? Planting a bomb in their parachutes? No, he just swapped them out for knapsacks. Someone's been watching Looney Tunes. I can't tell who's dumber here, because Sonic knew very well it was Robotnik piloting that plane, and yet he willingly got on, let him fly them to a high altitude and then jumped. Oh, and Robotnik jumped too just to ensure Sonic would eventually turn into blue paste once he hit the ground. His only hope of survival is saying, "take that, physics" by having Tails fly his bungee cord back up to the plane, thus saving the hedgehog, but breaking through Robotnik's parachute in the process and sending him falling to his death. After that, they get back on the plane and fly away to a much better place. Our Sonic Says is about telling people where you're going so they won't worry. I like how it shows Tails walking away, and then Sonic wakes up and panics that he can't find him, even though Tails hadn't even left the frame yet. He walks in from the other direction and is chastised for going away without saying anything. Good lesson and all, but it's not his fault you're near-sighted, Sonic.
So that was The Last Resort. It's a pretty stupid episode with bad writing and predictable moments, but it does have some funny parts, like when Robotnik dresses like a hippie and says, "peace." LOL. The act of announcing retirement over a giant screen would be repeated in Sonic's Christmas Blast, where "Santa" announced his retirement and named Robotnik his successor. Do I recommend The Last Resort? Sure, it's not terrible, but it's not all that enjoyable either. I'd suggest going out and enjoying a real outdoor adventure instead of sitting at home and watching this. It also irritated me how many times Tails forgot that he had the ability to fly and just overall stupid he was acting. Like when they're on the plane and Robotnik makes the announcement, making no attempt to disguise his voice, Tails is like, "that voice sounds familiar." Luckily Sonic knew right away who it was, but how stupid can Tails be not recognizing their arch-nemesis? I hate that about shows like this, heroes going up against the same villain over and over and failing to see through his disguises. It's like on Rocky and Bullwinkle when neither of them ever recognize Boris and Natasha, but in their defense, they don't know their names. Anyway, my gripes aside, if you're looking to get away and have yourself an outdoor adventure, go and do that, but if you're a cheapskate, stay home and watch The Last Resort.
Upon arrival, Sonic and Tails are greeted by Guido, their totally "hip" tour guide. Wasting no time, he sets them off on their first adventure: whitewater kayaking, and the red flags don't go up when Guido locks Sonic into his boat. He believes it to be just part of the experience. Oh, and guess what? Guido is a robot too, as he takes a phone out of his stomach to call Scratch and Grounder to prepare for Sonic's arrival. They've got a booby trap waiting at the bottom of the falls. Okay, so what's this going to be? An enormous wood chipper under the water that will turn Sonic into saw dust? Perhaps a giant bottomless pit that he'll fall down, down, down? Nope, nope, nope, they deploy... spikes. What is this, a video game level? Sonic manages to see the spikes on his way down and quickly paddles back up the waterfall, while Tails bails on his kayak and gets swept away by the rapids, calling for Sonic to help him. Hello? You can fly, dummy! Sonic saves his two-tailed damsel, then he dams up the river, but only long enough for them to escape, then Scratch and Grounder get to experience a rockslide. With the attempts to snuff out Sonic on the water going up in smoke, their next little romp comes in the form of mountain climbing... except this mountain is an active volcano and they have to climb from the inside. Sounds like a challenge you'd see on TikTok. Don't try this at home, kids! They narrowly miss being burned alive in the molten lava just beneath their feet, and manage to escape the volcano. How predictable. Naturally, Robotnik isn't pleased that his luxurious resort death trap has left much to be desired. Well, only one adventure left: skydiving, and this time, the doc will do the job himself, leaving his two dumb-bots to tend to Momma. Well, stopping the hedgehog on land and sea have failed, so air will have to work, right? Sonic and Tails put on their parachutes and board the plane, and once they're at 6,000 feet, they jump. Okay, Botsy, what's the plan? Planting a bomb in their parachutes? No, he just swapped them out for knapsacks. Someone's been watching Looney Tunes. I can't tell who's dumber here, because Sonic knew very well it was Robotnik piloting that plane, and yet he willingly got on, let him fly them to a high altitude and then jumped. Oh, and Robotnik jumped too just to ensure Sonic would eventually turn into blue paste once he hit the ground. His only hope of survival is saying, "take that, physics" by having Tails fly his bungee cord back up to the plane, thus saving the hedgehog, but breaking through Robotnik's parachute in the process and sending him falling to his death. After that, they get back on the plane and fly away to a much better place. Our Sonic Says is about telling people where you're going so they won't worry. I like how it shows Tails walking away, and then Sonic wakes up and panics that he can't find him, even though Tails hadn't even left the frame yet. He walks in from the other direction and is chastised for going away without saying anything. Good lesson and all, but it's not his fault you're near-sighted, Sonic.
So that was The Last Resort. It's a pretty stupid episode with bad writing and predictable moments, but it does have some funny parts, like when Robotnik dresses like a hippie and says, "peace." LOL. The act of announcing retirement over a giant screen would be repeated in Sonic's Christmas Blast, where "Santa" announced his retirement and named Robotnik his successor. Do I recommend The Last Resort? Sure, it's not terrible, but it's not all that enjoyable either. I'd suggest going out and enjoying a real outdoor adventure instead of sitting at home and watching this. It also irritated me how many times Tails forgot that he had the ability to fly and just overall stupid he was acting. Like when they're on the plane and Robotnik makes the announcement, making no attempt to disguise his voice, Tails is like, "that voice sounds familiar." Luckily Sonic knew right away who it was, but how stupid can Tails be not recognizing their arch-nemesis? I hate that about shows like this, heroes going up against the same villain over and over and failing to see through his disguises. It's like on Rocky and Bullwinkle when neither of them ever recognize Boris and Natasha, but in their defense, they don't know their names. Anyway, my gripes aside, if you're looking to get away and have yourself an outdoor adventure, go and do that, but if you're a cheapskate, stay home and watch The Last Resort.
