"Knuckles" Miniseries Talkback (Spoilers)

[Yojimbo]

Knuckles
Series Premiere: April 26, 2024

Follow Knuckles (Idris Elba) on a hilarious journey of self-discovery when he agrees to teach Wade (Adam Pally) the ways of the Echidna warrior.

Episode 1 "The Warrior"

Knuckles ventures into a hilarious and action-packed journey of self-development when he agrees to train Wade and initiate him into the secrets of the Echidna warrior.

Episode 2 "Don't Ever Say I Wasn't There For You"

Wade plans an awesome rescue mission, while Knuckles confronts his captors.

Episode 3 "The Shabbat Dinner"

Fugitives from the law, Knuckles and Wade hide out with Wade's family.

Episode 4 "The Flames of Disaster"

In order to learn where Knuckles' true strength lies, Wade must see the world through his eyes.

Episode 5 "Reno, Baby"

Knuckles and Wade arrive in Reno, Nevada for the National Bowling Championship.

Episode 6 "What Happens in Reno, Stays in Reno"

The friendship between Knuckles and Wade is tested - as enemies, new and old, converge in Reno.

External Links
-Paramount Plus page

Related Links
-Knuckles News Thread
-Sonic Talkback
-Sonic 2 Talkback
-Sonic 3 News Thread

 

[Fone Bone]

Knuckles "The Warrior"

Okay, first episode, need to say right off the bat, I don't give two craps about Wade's bowling career. It strikes me as an idiotic thing to center the series around.

In his own way Knuckles is far more damaging and reckless than Sonic. And unlike Sonic, he resists every moral lesson taught to him.

Ed Asner is dead so they had to settle for Christopher Lloyd as the Echidna Chief.

I am very worried about the importance given to this dumb bowling tournament. Even with Knuckles kidnapped by rogue government agents, it makes the entire series feeling startlingly low-stakes. **1/2.

Knuckles "Don't Ever Say I Wasn't There For You"

Were the films this badly written? Been awhile so I don't remember.

I'll tell you though that Wade is right about celebrating the victories. You'd figure a warrior race like Echidnas would be more into "I meant to do that!" bragging.

I LOVED the moment where the bad guy's mom calls him on the phone during the fight. It IS comedy, but it's also realistic which is the thing I love. I believe something like that would not only happen, but frequently be happening to more pop-culture bad guys before this.

Still that is some stinky dialogue. Poo! ***.

Knuckles "The Shabbat Dinner"

Wanda is annoying. Her reading a book called "How to not be caught off guard" was kind of spot-on.

I love that Mother Whipple's one note to Knuckles before the fight was to protect the candles. That single shot revolving room perspective fight was pretty impressive.

All right. ***1/2.

Knuckles "The Flames Of Disaster"

Ugh. Musical episodes. Kill me now.

That was awkward, unfunny, dumb, and cringe. I haven't seen the final two episodes yet, but that was so bad I'm already declaring the entire series a loss.

And do they think I am too dumb to know that they had Wade spend the entire episode away from Knuckles because they ran out of money for Knuckles' CGI rendering? I don't just hate cheap episodes. I hate BAD cheap episodes.

Awful doesn't do it justice as a descriptor. 0.

Knuckles "Reno, Baby"

The family conflict at the end was a little arch and black and white, but the truth is after the last episode's trainwreck this was the first solid episode of the series.

I credit that with two things: The lady villain's monologue to Rory McCann, and Mother Whipple's warning to Wade. That conflict felt real-world relatable and as if it were had by people instead of cartoon characters. I did not appreciate the end of the episode taking the nuance out of the scenario. But I liked when the nuance was present.

Good episode or not, the complaint about the last episode of pulling the focus away from Knuckles to save VFX money is true here too. And it's his damn show, only six episodes long, and not okay to do for two episodes. I mentioned the last bad episode told me this show is a failure, This good episode did not change that opinion. We'll see how the finale goes. ****.

Knuckles "What Happens In Reno, Stays In Reno"

I had already decided the show was probably going to be a failure. I knew going in, this episode was merely going to determine if this was MOSTLY a failure or ENTIRELY a failure.

It was entirely a failure.

I'm not saying the films are masterpieces, but if I were in charge of them I would disown this project. It would have the same canonicity to the films as The Star Wars Holiday Special does to Star Wars. A curiosity slash embarrassment.

There is no need to make Wade's father the pure monster he is. And Rory McCann wasn't such of a much either. I was all set to complain about the show cheaping out not putting Knuckles in the bowling alley to cheer on and mentor his friend for budgetary reasons, and then the outside climax happens, and I'm like "Oh, okay." That benefit of the doubt was soon destroyed when KNUCKLES is knocked the hell out in the final battle of HIS OWN DAMN show, and the day has to essentially be saved by Wade while he's unconscious! Why is the show called Knuckles? It turns out it's not even ABOUT him!

I watch a lot of bad television. I don't like it, but I'm used to it. But as far as bad television goes, Knuckles especially leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Mostly because I personally believe it's pretty tough to screw up a 6 episode miniseries, especially if each part is only a half hour long. The fact that this entire series has been so drawn out and lifeless, without the videogame fun promised shows this is a very serious failing on a level even I do not usually have to criticize. The only way this is superior to Titans and Riverdale is that it's not overtly offensive. But that is no kind of brag whatsoever.

So yeah, this was a bad thing, and Knuckles got a raw deal. Idris Elba is an executive producer? This may actually be a career low-point for him. Stay away at all costs. *.

 

[Prgiordano]

I am happy to report that there is some uses of the word "damn" in the show (the strongest profanity that the franchise might be allowed to have with the possible exception being the "a-word"), and that Rotten Tomatoes believes that enough reviews have been counted to put up a critics consensus for the series.

Despite this, I feel uncomfortable being subscribed to Paramount+ due to their recent, clearly still continuing, removal of shows without warning, such as Big Nate, and Blue's Clues and You. Should I wait for it to become available on digital platforms?

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

You know the second Sonic the Hedgehog movie must of really impressed Paramount even before it came out as a month before it dropped, they were quick to announce not only a third film, but a spin off for a character who hadn't even debuted yet in the features. Which turned out to be a good instinct as the second Sonic movie is the first video game sequel to do critically AND commercially better then it's predecessor, and a big reason for that was the introduction of the new characters from the established lore. Specifically Knuckles who ever since playing Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles as a kid, was easily my favorite Sonic character. I just really dug his aesthetic and vibe and really wanted more of him and turns out I wasn't the only one as he amassed enough of a following to not only get his own game (yes Knuckles Chaotix which wasn't the best but still had charm) and comic run that showed you can tell stories and have your own sort of adventure around this character. Thus I was beyond hyped hearing that he was getting his own show. Admittedly I kind of thought it would be more animated since it was going to be paramount plus considering that yeah they were getting Idris Elba back and figured "okay so Knuckles is going to have his own spin off adventure somewhere else and hey maybe this will be a good chance to not only expand on his character, but show off others from the Sonic cannon in the movie universe". Maybe like Rouge or the Chaotix. But after like over a year without really any news we finally got info on what the series would be about which.... yeah didn't excite me nearly as much but hey, I still love Knuckles, still enjoyed those two movies so still wanted to go into this excited. I mean the trailer was solid as I pointed out in the Pre Release thread so I wanted to enjoy this series.

And.... yeah there were certainly enjoyable elements of this series... but it really shouldn't be called Knuckles. It should be called "The Wade Whipple Show... oh and Knuckles appears somewhat but especially in like half the episodes isn't given nearly as much of a focus" because that's what it really is.

And yes this is a streaming series where you do have to spread out content more since even though this is a 6 episode series it still even without intro and credits at least a half hour longer then a movie. So I get how there may not be as much money put in for the visual effects and what not but quite honestly even if there wasn't really more action scenes I wouldn't have a problem if the FOCUS was still put on Knuckles. Something I worried that the first film would do would be "oh Sonic is just a tag along and the focus and central story is more put on Tom and his relationships that just so happen to include Sonic" but no they spent a lot of time with Sonic getting to know what he's like here and what his stakes and what his journey is so it still felt like his movie. I didn't get that feeling in this series with Knuckles. And yeah obviously he is a different character and has different emotion but like we don't really follow his journey at all. I guess the whole point is to give him more of a "home" but that feels like a side story related to Wade's whole arc of growing into a man/warrior and his whole clash with his dad and especially in those last 3 episodes we only feel like we're popping in every so often to see Knuckles on the side line, giving advice and yeah I guess getting in fights in the last episode but again it really feels like they had this whole idea for what they could do with Wade and what comedic shennigans they wanted to put his character in but knew they couldn't sell a show on him so threw in Knuckles to get the focus in getting people's eyeballs even if that's not what the series is really about. Normally I'd complain about this sort of thing in an episode to episode breakdown but that is a huge issue throughout the entire series you do have to point out throughtout. Like there are glimpses of Knuckles talking about his journey and quests but they really needed an episode just about that and to really hammer in more how Knuckles felt about his time with the Whipples and bonding with them as I don't mind the idea of him learning and appreciating earth more but it needed to be really his story which they did NOT do.

And I should probably break down how that went episode to episode which yeah is what I'm going to do now. (Insert reviews as I do them).

"The Warrior" - I know this is Knuckles show so obviously (for now) he's going to get the focus and yeah Sonic's the central character of the world, but it feels weird Tails only got three lines in this. I mean isn't he just as new to this world as Knuckles is which shouldn't Maddie bring up? Like "Tails acts perfectly fine without problems and he's been here just as long as Knuckles" and then maybe Tails brings up some of what he heard of Knuckles travels (I mean the second movie established he KNEW Knuckles was the strongest warrior in the galaxy/universe so obviously he heard something of what he did which could have tied into later episodes) instead of just having Sonic mostly talk to him? I get it Tails isn't the big draw wanted to lead to shennigans but again feels liked wasted potential. I did like the idea of Knuckles wanting to accept his grounding with honor even if he didn't really get the concept and of how he still doesn't fit in and even him attacking like people trying to fix the house but this still could have been handled better. I guess it is nice at least for now the show is still trying to give him a quest and hey I do like the idea of the spirit of Pachacamac appearing before him saying he as the last Echidna needs to carry on their people's legacy by training other warriors... you know the idea of Knuckles finding different people to train probably would have been more funny but yeah this show is more "The Wade Show" so we have to spend a lot of time on him. I will say how Jack wound up going with the little girl was decently amusing and Knuckles and Wade do have decent chemistry and Knuckles actually getting into the idea of bowling by chucking a bowl and breaking the pins was a good gag. Too bad a lot of the first battle with Mason and Willoughby was spoiled by the ads but still a decent fight and I do like the idea they only won through pretty much distraction and trickery even with their gear and Wade still not sure if they were there to take Knuckles because he was supposed to be grounded. I mean at least this episode feels like "yeah this is supposed to be about Knuckles so we're setting him up at least as much as Wade" which you think the rest of the show would follow up on but it really doesn't. Case in point....

"Don't Say I Wasn't Ever There For You" - You know if this was a more one time example I'd probably be fine with it but yeah this is the start of the "let's really let Wade take full and center stage throughout the entire episode with only real hints of Knuckles". I will say the bits of actual Knuckles was good like him telling Mason what his vengance would be on them (though yeah if he really wanted to take vengeance on them why not take them out then and there? If there was a line about "a true warrior does not take vengance on unconcious opponents" I'd get that but he didn't even say that so what the hell?) as well as him admitting to only being able to glide for short periods of time. And you know I do like the idea of this episode; Wade tries to have this cool planned out rescue of his friend and it all goes horribly awry and he only escapes through dumb luck but not only is it a bad omen of how much time he really gets throughout the entire series but a fair amount of the comedy is lacking. I really feel they should have played up the heightened fantasy element of the dreamscape and like they really should have showed Willoughy more scarred then just slight flame in her hair (i am glad though Wade has a line about not wanting to hit his grown sister later that Knuckles is equal opportunist and doesn't have that "won't hit ladies" code like they treat the villain characters fairly whch I'm glad to see) and yeah it is weird that this series gives so much spot light to these like R rated series. The whole line of this episode comes from Wade remembering a scene from Bad Boys and later Knuckles and Wendy are watching Pretty Woman not to mention all of Wade's posters so yeah it is weird how sort of dark or at least kind of mature minded some of these references are but are still trying to play in this more kids series. Admittedly some of the jokes in the rescue were funny like Wade's annoyance of launching all the fire works or Mason's phone going off when fighting Wade and talking to his mother or eventually Knuckles deciding to give the whole "from 1 to warrior" rating with a 3 was pretty cute but honestly this was the most diversionary too of all the episodes. Like the others at least are focused on a journey of one of the lead characters... not the one that really should be but have a point behind them. And you know though Willoughy has sort of a monologue about it in a later epiosde with her trying to say to Knuckles show she will be known doesn't really go anywhere considering these are the more side villains. Again though on it's own it is fine even if the ending "Wendy faints" is a pretty lame joke to cap things off it does lead to what with some rewriting could have easily been the best episode of the season....

"The Shabbat Dinner" - Okay you know if they had rewritten this some and instead of having so many jokes of Knuckles just asking Wade about his posters or cut outs or watching movies with his mom, they could have made this really powerful and earnest connection here. Like the whole premise of this is Wendy wanting her two kids finally home for the first time in years to have a family dinner and actually being happy Knuckles is around who actually does care enough to want to learn more about their traditions and make that connection. See if this show actually you know LIVED UP TO IT'S NAME then really this episode should have also had a focus on Knuckles sharing history and flashbacks of the dinners he and his family had and their traditions. Like seriously I know Ken Penders is sort of a jerk trying to claim "oh I'm the only one who can write about Knuckles's family" but like he isn't and has no right and this would be the perfect time to really nail down the dynamic that Knuckles and his family in this story had. You know share in some more of his traditions and religious believes (I mean this show goes into a fair amount of jewish history and talking about faith and Wendy even talking about the 40 years moses spent in the desert so you can't say "oh they would be afraid to tackle that" especially because Knuckles faith would obviously be it's own thing) especially to tie into how he now feels connected enough with this family to share things he may not have been able to before. I mean this is supposed to be the Knuckles show so we should be getting time to spent with Rad Red and his history that the films wouldn't have time to since yeah obviously the third movie isn't going to really spent a lot of time on it if it's about Shadow (BTW one of Wade's posted is of Point Break so I do kind of hope there's a joke in the third movie about Wade thinking Shadow "sounded familiar" or something) and you have a show about Knuckles so use him especially as it'd be a good contrast to Wade's family. I will say though the family stuff with the Whipples is fine. Like Wanda is a jerk but the show does call her out on it later and I like how her whole "oh I'm this super tough FBI agent" actually feels like a front and her banter with Wade about knowing a gun Agent was funny. Plus I really did like the seemingly one take fight at the dinner table Knuckles and Wendy had with those bounty hunters that was actually a fairly solid fight. Like I don't mind these episodes having smaller stakes and not having big drag out brawls and having smaller scuffs like this if we actually you know spent time with the character we're supposed to be. But yeah instead this one leads to sadly where the show fully goes off the rails in regards to who it SHOULD be focusing on.

"The Flames Of Disaster" - You know I know a lot of people hate Sonic 06 and it's lore but this a really out there interrpretation of Iblis and the Flames of Disaster power. Which you know typically you give the power of flames to Blaze but you know in theory I wouldn't object if this episode was actually focused on a backstory detailing Knuckles's journey throughout the galaxy and coming across Iblis and first showcasing his true powers in this battle. And Wade saw that journey and that's what actually unlocked his own inner warrior strength (which yeah they don't really show again. I get the whole "pin wobbling over" is a bowling cliche they probably wanted to bring back for the tourney later but wouldn't it make more sense if he just smashed through those pins with his final throw to show he had honed that warrior spirit? Just saying) to fight back against Jack and they had that duel I wouldn't have a problem with that. Like even if Wade was commenting on like the flashback the entire time but again this is literally them outright saying "no this is Wade's show but we are using Knuckes's skin to tell it so you'll watch it" of it being this live action flashback of him a Knuckles costume experiencing it. Like I get the joke and on one level it's amusing but like it's here that fully hit me "no this is fully Wade's show it just features Knuckles." I mean sans the opening and talking on the phone and the ending Knuckles didn't properly appear here which yeah is really poor form for a limited series where YOU'RE supposed to be the star. Like even if maybe it was done to appeal to children but again with all the various swearing this show has (like a lot more then the movies honestly) and song picks and references like... that doesn't really feel like the reason. More like again "this is the Wade show let's just pretend Knuckles is here more" as honestly telling it as a rock opera you don't even get a feel for what Knuckles actually is going through because again this whole Iblis battle isn't even with him. I also feel the pay off battle with Jack wasn't even that funny. Like seriously Wade popping up of the bars and everyone being shocked was a decent laugh but it needed a much funnier payoff if it was to continue on that long then just Wade riding a bike in the joust and cutting off the ponytail. I admit Jack's reason for wanting the bounty and him still traveling with the family singing karaoke was funny as was Pachamanac's annoyance at Wade not being able to pronounce his name (honestly I think this is the most his name has ever been said in a Sonic property BTW) but yeah this again is a massive disappointment for this series and a clear sign "no we don't care about the so called title character that much this is about someone else" and literally rubbing their faces in that which does honk me off.

"Reno, Baby" - You know again if there was better connective tissue with you know Knuckles I'd probably get into the whole Pete and Wade relationship more. I mean it is a decent if overdone joke seeing Knuckles try and talk to Wade and give him proper advice and yeah that at least coming back later in a clever way and I get the point was they were sort of "in hiding" (though that goes out the window considering Wade is in an obviously big spectacle event with obviously commentary talking about him and focus given to him so why even bring up being in hiding at that point considering the whole bounty hunter stuff doesn't ever even get addressed again in these two episodes) but yeah after that till the end Knuckles isn't like in this show at all. Like there's literally half the episode where it does become this father son drama about Wade and Pete that totally drops the fact that it has anything to do with the actual Sega character all. Like if you were to just watch the scenes of even the tournament or the two talking and Peter "admitting" he failed as a father and didn't get what he was looking for and Wade seemingly forgives him... would you even think to connect it to even this universe's take on the sonic Characters? It just feels distractly disconnected in a really off way. In a season 2 you could maybe get away with spending so little time with your main character in an episode but in a first season that is really stretching credability. And quite honestly even taking on it's own drama though it's not obnoxious or anything it's not done particularly well either. Even for as sort of a goof and light hearted Wade is him just forgiving his father like that feels too sloppily done especially as this is the first time meating him and yeah I get Pete is suppsoed to be a charmer jerk but how coldly he really treats his family feels very two dimensional. If even Willoughy and The Buyer have more compelling motivations for what they're doing then just a jerky bowler that's a pretty bad sign. You know even in the Sonic movie 2 when there was too much focus given on Maddie's sister's whole wedding that was at least in just one scene. Feels like the people who made this show felt "hey if we sort of have the Sonic characters in we can tell these human stories all the time" when they really shouldn't be doing so. I will admit how Wade and the kid celebrated them going through the various bowling montages was funny and some of the announcer banter was and I did really like the joke where Wade was callous towards Wanda being blasted but once it went on his mom he fully agreed. But yeah sadly super focused on not our starring character and instead the comedy relief which man feels so backwards. And if you thought things would improve in the final episode....

"What Happens In Reno, Stays In Reno" - They don't. i mean the start is actually really good I do like how this wasn't a betrayal at all between Knuckles and Wade but rather a plan between them with the head set and the actual battle with Knuckles and Willoughy and Mason was good. I am glad it does show this a Knuckles who learns who is able to realize the two would try double teaming them and managing to predict their attacks and even won't fall for the whole ring trick... wait does that mean if they both went through the destroyed rings back and forth over and over are they dead or just like trapped on the mushroom planet? I'm going to say they're dead because if they were on the mushroom planet wouldn't a stinger show them there with that guy Mason kicked through in the first episode? But though there is a funny joke of Wanda trying to save herself even though Wade has a key for the cuffs again too much time is spent on that not you know the actual fight with our supposed lead character. Same problem too with the whole finale. I already went over why having it end on the whole wobbing pin wasn't that good and though sort of mocked they did go on too long with the back and forth monologues especially for trying to make this whole epic bowling finale which... maybe if you got to saw the other team mates more and didn't focus just so much on the Whipples getting strikes it'd work but they went with the most generic bowling style match up and yeah spent too little time on the fight. And then giving this whole big speech to Wade about trying to pump up Knuckles and showing all of these clips is like trying to show their friendship but really shows whose series this has really been focused on and again does honk me off. I will say though Knuckles using the "flames of disaster" and fighting the Buyer's mech was cool and yeah crushing him with that giant globe was a solid ending... like that killed him too right? I mean they don't show him crawling out just moaning in pain and yeah again he is still a standard guy just in the mech. The ending with the high five and the favorite jam being the Pat Benatar song was cute (I guess it is cool Knuckles also has his own opening but again I wish this series would stop licensing so much outside music and play actual Sonic music) but still felt pretty lacking even if Wendy and Wanda beating up Pete was nice.


Still a decent series but man did I wish this could have been a great series that really truly elevated one of my favorite characters instead of feeling like it wanted to tell this story about Wade that only just featured Knuckles and again I get streaming service series budget but come on if you want to make a Knuckles show focused on Knuckles actually DO THAT and don't give so much focus to someone else.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

Honestly, having just finished watching Knuckles an hour ago, I actually found it to be enjoyable and funny plus the best part for me would be Christopher Lloyd as Pachacamac.

 

[Fone Bone]

DVD and Blu-Ray preorders now up at Amazon. No release date listed.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 1 is free to watch on YouTube.

 

[RoyalRubble]

Some viewership data for the show.

 

[Yojimbo]

Blu-ray release is September 10.