Kotaku: Knuckles is barely in his own show

[NotLiquid]

I was going to compare it with Better Call Saul where towards the end half of it's a Gus Fring show.

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Better Call Saul feels like a pretty good example where the show at least to me stopped being about its protagonist after Season 3. S4 through S5 and early S6 really felt like a Mike/Gus show where Saul mostly spent time to moonlight as a hustler or comic relief.

Mind you I admit that despite the show being loved, I'm an outlier in that I kind of dropped off of the show because of it since Saul's story was the most compelling thing about its early days; like it was good enough that the whole show could've worked without the knowledge of it being a Breaking Bad prequel. So if a criticism with the Knuckles show is that Knuckles is the more compelling part about it but he feels absent, I'd probably feel similar -- even if I still think measuring minutes is stupid.

 

[julia crawford]

what do you expect from a show called The Legend of Knuckles

 

[Kinthey]

Time for Adam Pally to shine

 

[Rumenapp]

Sega/Paramount finally realized that Idris Elba is too expensive to be Knuckles.

 

[werezompire]

IMDB has a breakdown of actor screentime in Star War ep7.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Characters Screen Time - IMDb

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Characters Screen Time

www.imdb.com

Daisey Ridley is only on screen for about a third of the run-time. Combine that with John Boyega's time and you get a little over half the movie. However a lot of their scenes overlap and involve both of them, so even combined, the two leads are probably on screen for less than half of the movie.

 

[Lotus]

the clickbait headline defender has logged on

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You know it

He's a lovable failure and a deputy.

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If i like the show I will next requesta new spinoff where Shadow takes him under his wing

It's almost like indirect praise for the show too? Not that it's a surprise that Idris' Knuckles is likable, but it says a lot that the reviews wanted to see more of him compared to a show with poor writing where you don't even care who's on screen. It helps if at the very least the human side is watchable when Knuckles isn't present.

Anyway, the ratio is much higher than the title implies, but the films have semi-similar absence of CG creatures for stretches too. That wedding scene was ace but was 20 minutes without any neon rodents.

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I'm ngl, I was not expecting people to focus so specifically on the runtime, it's pretty funny

Sega/Paramount finally realized that Idris Elba is too expensive to be Knuckles.

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[ArchedThunder]

If i like the show I will next requesta new spinoff where Shadow takes him under his wing

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Nah, Shadow is gonna be ACAB because he's cool.

 

[thediamondage]

IMDB has a breakdown of actor screentime in Star War ep7.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Characters Screen Time - IMDb

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Characters Screen Time

www.imdb.com

Daisey Ridley is only on screen for about a third of the run-time. Combine that with John Boyega's time and you get a little over half the movie. However a lot of their scenes overlap and involve both of them, so even combined, the two leads are probably on screen for less than half of the movie.

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so what you're saying is that luke skywalker and han solo and chewbacca and darth vader all show up in the new Knuckles show? AWESOME!

i've always wondered who would win in a 1v1, darth vader or knuckles

 

[Pbae]

In paramount's defense, echidnas are imaginary animals.

 

[EmergencyPasta]

"Barely in"

Fuck off with this shit. The article literally says he's in it for half the time. That's very normal when you want a deeper narrative with more characters.

 

[Hamchan]

Half the screen time seems not bad?

 

[Bossking]

"Barely in"

Fuck off with this shit. The article literally says he's in it for half the time. That's very normal when you want a deeper narrative with more characters.

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The character being a background extra from the movies and his extended family. Not like, Knuckles. Or anyone else from the Sonic series. This is a family comedy that occasionally has Knuckles in it.

From Kotaku:

Even when Knuckles is around, he's not actually doing much of anything. He makes the decision to train Wade at the beginning, punches baddies when they show up, and then disappears without explanation for chunks of time. Whenever Knuckles is not on screen, all the other characters should be asking, "Where's Knuckles?" But nobody ever does. I simply ask it into the open air of my apartment office as I watch Wade get stabbed by a fork by his abrasive FBI sister. (Note: Knuckles was across the dinner table in this scene, but a lot of care was taken to make sure he said nothing of substance so the camera didn't have to pan to him.)

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Like, you clearly read some of the OP. The second part of that sentence detailing the time Knuckles is on-screen clarifies that that's just being visibly on-screen. The issue is that they don't do anything with him.

 

[Okabe]

& Knuckles

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[EmergencyPasta]

The character being a background extra from the movies and his extended family. Not like, Knuckles. Or anyone else from the Sonic series. This is a family comedy that occasionally has Knuckles in it.

From Kotaku:


Like, you clearly read some of the OP. The second part of that sentence detailing the time Knuckles is on-screen clarifies that that's just being visibly on-screen. The issue is that they don't do anything with him.

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Nothing described sounds like they don't do anything with him.

Again, half of entire runtime isn't "occasionally".

 

[Bossking]

Nothing described sounds like they don't do anything with him.

Again, half of entire runtime isn't "occasionally".

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The entire article is about how they don't do anything with him. Like, that is a common consensus among most of the reviews.

From Gamespot:

The result is a generally entertaining family comedy about deputy and aspiring bowling champion Wade Whipple, which happens to have Knuckles peppered in.

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At the same time, it is strange to have a show called Knuckles that focuses so little on Knuckles. Even stranger is that the show tends to be at its best the more it focuses on Wade to the absence of Knuckles.

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[caliph95]

The entire article is about how they don't do anything with him. Like, that is a common consensus among most of the reviews.

From Gamespot:

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Oh no

 

[Bossking]

Oh no

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From Hollywood Handle:

Even though the show is fun and entertaining, it's no secret that the main focus of this show is Wade's story and not Knuckles's. We learn way more about Wade's past and development than we do with Knuckles, there will be more than one episode where you'll barely see Knuckles in it, and we're talking about it a 6 episode series.

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[PeakPointMatrix]

Oh no

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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkDMz2ml0gw

 

[Tathanen]

whenever knuckles isn't on the screen, characters should be asking, where's knuckles?

 

[Spinluck]

They should call it Knuck.

 

[EmergencyPasta]

man, bossking really loves knuckles

Or not, I can't really tell

 

[Lord Vatek]

Clearly they're saving the CG budget for the Finalhazard fight in Sonic 3.

 

[Bossking]

man, bossking really loves knuckles

Or not, I can't really tell

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[bigosc]

Welp I'm out

 

[Galactic Specter]

It's a clickbait title but in regards to the topic of CGI characters in live-action movies maybe Paramount will eventually pivot the Sonic series to be fully animated features like the Mario movie while retaining the same voice cast.

 

[kowhite]

I got one really loved Sonic 2. I liked it way more than the Mario movie, it just tapped into my sega loving 12 year old spirit. I will watch this show. And enjoy at least 76 or 77 minutes of it.

 

[FFNB]

I haven't been following this (I honestly had no idea they were making a Knuckles show; I still haven't watched Sonic 2 yet, but I own it, just haven't had time to watch it), and being in half the seasons total runtime doesn't seem too bad considering how expensive CG is.

76 out of 172 minutes is about the length of a feature length film for young kids. It's just they added the other 66 minutes to it to make it a series.

I'm very intrigued by this. I really enjoyed the first Sonic film, and heard mostly good things about the second from my friend (he didn't like it as much as 1, but him and his kids still had a good time; and me and him both grew up with Genesis era Sonic, Tales, Knuckles, and Robotnik). I'll watch Sonic 2 when I get the chance, and probably check out this show.

Feels like the production team was being economical in using him, considering it's 6 episodes. I'm curious to see how they spaced out his appearances throughout the season.

 

[Ramala]

Hannibal is in Silence of the Lambs for 24 minutes out of an hour and 58 minutes.

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The lambs are in it even less!

 

[MayorSquirtle]

Based on the other reviews talking about the same thing it seems like a legitimate criticism, but the thread source being Kotaku and including a stupid screentime analysis that means nothing on its own, this was doomed to not be taken seriously.

 

[jokkir]

That's so all the other characters can ask. "Where's Knuckles?" when he's not on screen.

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When are they going to get to the fireworks factoryyy

 

[Bufbaf]

I mean that sounds like the sonic movies so it's probably gonna be fine?

Western animators should steak a trick or two from the old anime playbook of only showing stills without any movement every now and then.

 

[ConflictResolver]

Reviews are pretty positive so far and 76 minutes is almost half of the show's entire run time.

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What the fuck lol. This seems normal.

 

[Gay Bowser]

why didn't they just make a direct to streaming movie instead

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The entire series is less than three hours. That's basically what they did.

 

[breakdancing duck]

So look I get the criticism of "Knuckles is supposed to be the star and he's barely in the thing" but trying to break it down like this, trying to calculate some percentage of screentime vs. runtime in minutes, just makes me really uncomfortable. Like it comes off like the same kind of gamer-brain that obsesses over comparing a video game's cost to its expected number of playtime hours. This isn't the kind of thing that can so easily quantified let alone quantitatively analyzed.

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Agreed. It doesn't tell the whole story at all. In Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal is on screen for 16 minutes out of two hours. In the Dark Knight, Joker is in for 25 minutes of 2.5 hours.

 

[Polk]

Agreed. It doesn't tell the whole story at all. In Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal is on screen for 16 minutes out of two hours. I

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Not to mention how little screen time lambs had.

 

[Arttemis]

Sounds like Book of Knuckles.

 

[Vidiot]

Is this dropping all at once or weekly?

 

[Camjo-Z]

Watching the show right now and this article feels pretty disingenous in hindsight. Like yeah, Knuckles is barely in Episode 4 and the rest is Wade going off on his own adventure... except said adventure turns out to largely consist of a musical dream sequence in which Pachacamac makes him dress up as Knuckles and run through goofy low-budget theater set versions of Sonic levels before fighting a giant puppet Iblis from Sonic 06 to learn how Knuckles got the power of the Flames of Disaster.

Like come on, as a Sonic fan that was the highlight of the entire series so far. It's exactly what these live-action Sonic projects should be doing, taking elements from the games and finding a way to reinterpret them into this new universe that has to take place mostly on Earth in a fun and meaningful way beyond "hey look that sign says Emerald Hill Street". It wasn't like the wedding scene from Sonic 2 where it's just totally devoid of anything remotely Sonic-y for a lengthy stretch of time.

 

[Lotus]

View: https://twitter.com/izziibel/status/1783803133883207902?t=9sRYi00iJQR18nNgno00Tg&s=19

Lol, I'll start it later today and see how it goes I guess

 

[TheKeipatzy]

Yes cuz kids want to follow a police officer they can't even do his job right...

Skipping it I've had three people who reviewed this early check out and say it's not even worth getting a month of Paramount Plus . Saves me a little money.

 

[werezompire]

Kids are watching the show right now, while I'm catching bits & pieces of it between working and the episode without Knuckles is by far the highlight of the series so far.

Spoiler

It's a Rock Opera dream sequence going through old game plots, starring Wade in a cheesy Knuckles costume. It's hysterically over the top.

 

[Rated-G]

Kids are watching the show right now, while I'm catching bits & pieces of it between working and the episode without Knuckles is by far the highlight of the series so far.

Spoiler

It's a Rock Opera dream sequence going through old game plots, starring Wade in a cheesy Knuckles costume. It's hysterically over the top.

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Absolutely. Made me want to replay We Sing in Alan Wake II.

I just finished the series and like with all of these live action Sonic installments, they take me a bit to warm up to but end up winning me over with the off best humor and in this case the needle drops. I enjoyed this a lot! I can't wait for 3.

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

watched the first 2 episodes, liked it a lot! The humor in episode 2 reminded me a lot fo the 80-90s kid movies, it was really fun!

Also wade and knuckle chemistry is far better than whatever boring thing was tom and sonic, at least for now

 

[Mister Ursine]

I'm more than halfway through the series and I gotta say: I think the criticism of there not being enough Knuckles is pretty overblown. It feels exactly like the movies to me. The episode I'm on now (Ep 4) is completely Wade-centric, but leading up to that Knuckles has been there. Is he onscreen every second? No. It cuts away to the bad guys for a scene and then back to Wade and Knuckles...like a normal tv show. I don't see anything abnormal about the structure or his screentime. Reading the reviews I expected a bunch of subplots to hide the fact that Knuckles wasn't there, but I haven't seen that at all. You have Knuckles. You have Wade. You have the agent bad guys. Wade visits his family, but Knuckles is in almost every scene of that episode...there are even scenes with Knuckles interacting with Wade's family without Wade in the scene. Episode 1 didn't even have some extended leadup to get to Knuckles, he's there immediately and prominently.

I'm lost. Unless he's gone from Ep 5 and 6 too, I literally have no idea what these people are talking about lol

I'm digging this more than the movies tbh. Lots of comedians I enjoy seeing like Edi Patterson and the humor is very strange. Like a PG MacGruber.

 

[Vidiot]

I watched it all and honestly it does feel more like a story about Wade featuring Knuckles. The movies still are primarily about Sonic, not Tom. My kids and I thought it was okay, not without merit, but I could live without more. Felt a little too goofy at times and the stories of these things should focus more on things about the games than made up stuff imo.

 

[Elegant Weapon]

It's so weird and lame to me that they have Knuckles hanging out with some 40 year old white cop

after they had Sonic hanging out with a 50 year old white cop...


The first movie was better than I thought it would be but why did it focus so much on extolling the virtues of small town America?

Sonic should be a freedom fighter protecting woodland creatures from being turned into robots, collecting infinity gems & going super sayian... not palling around with an goofy cuddly old white cop

It's just really so weird and lame to me to turn a franchise about an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who fights evil on a fictional planet into blatant copaganda

Fuck outta here

 

[The_Iceman2288]

I'm really enjoying this, it's exactly what it should be, Wade is awesome and the jokes land most of the time.

 

[Sanjuro]

I watched it and CAN confirm that Knuckles is in this program. It's some of the best Sonic media, but that bar is extremely low.

 

[Village]

It's some of the best Sonic media, but that bar is extremely low.

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Oh you just dont enjoy the series i guess

 

[Pai Pai Master]

It's so weird and lame to me that they have Knuckles hanging out with some 40 year old white cop

after they had Sonic hanging out with a 50 year old white cop...


The first movie was better than I thought it would be but why did it focus so much on extolling the virtues of small town America?

Sonic should be a freedom fighter protecting woodland creatures from being turned into robots, collecting infinity gems & going super sayian... not palling around with an goofy cuddly old white cop

It's just really so weird and lame to me to turn a franchise about an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who fights evil on a fictional planet into blatant copaganda

Fuck outta here

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Yeah its such a shitty adaptation of the Sonic universe to do this with it not just once but twice