A while back I had a little chat with our friend SM, and while the original plan was to not actually put this up till we have some form of SonicMovies work up, I gotta be honest, that ain't goona be for a while, so I thought I'd whack it up now so you could get to know SM a little better, ENJOY!

Howdy all, Fastest Thing Alive here, recently I caught up with our good friend Stephen, who makes the amazing “SonicMovies”.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Hey, thanks a lot for agreeing to do this interview, I just wanna say before we start that I love your movies!

SonicMovies:
Thanks a lot!

Fastest Thing Alive:
How did you decide what footage to use? For example in SA1:TM during the first meeting between Sonic and Tails, you used the footage from Tails’ point of view, how come?

SonicMovies:
There were a lot of differences between what the characters said to each other, but some tracks were explanatory and had either better voice acting or camera angles.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Did the music also play a factor, to go back to the Sonic/Tails scene is there a character song you favour other another?

SonicMovies:
Not so much while I was editing it, it didn't even cross my mind really.

Fastest Thing Alive:
I think one thing people will notice is the lack of a certain purple cat in the film; can we all assume that was a conscious decision?

SonicMovies:
Well...haha... although I may not find Big the Cat to be a character near the top of my ranks, I must say that he is excluded because of his lack of story-line and level design. I thought that it would be a little random to have a few scenes of him chasing around a frog or fishing for two minutes.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Haha very true, one thing I noticed is that you kept cutting back to Knuckles searching, is that because you felt the viewer needed to be reminded of Knuckles’ story?

SonicMovies:
Well, having his story line within the movie is a MUST, so I imagine it would be very anti-climatic to return to Knuckles every time, without his levels, and each time with him wielding more pieces. I imagined someone who has never played this game might be curious as to why and how he attained more.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Nice, ok, which part, or rather which character from SA1 was your favourite?

SonicMovies:
I'm an all time Sonic fan and he'll always be my favourite of any character out there. I can never get enough of how incredibly fast he is, for example. I don't own “Sonic The Hedgehog” for the 360 or the PS3, but I do find myself watching his levels on YouTube often wishing I could play it and wishing even more that I had a high quality video of it so I can start “Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie.”

Fastest Thing Alive:
Is there any level or boss you had to play many times to get the right look and quality you wanted? Or is there a boss you had trouble defeating on camera?

SonicMovies:
“Sonic Adventure” was an easy game, so I didn't have to redo a lot of things. I only redid things when I didn't run through the level as well as I could have or how Sonic would have appreciated if her were a real person. (I’m a nerd, but that's just how it is.) I found the last level of Sonic to be a bit difficult because the camera angles kept messing up on me, but as for bosses...

Knuckles fighting Chaos 2 was irritating because Chaos wouldn't stop using his flood everything in the room attack.


Fastest Thing Alive:
Yeah, that was annoying; to be honest the only boss I had real trouble defeating the first time I played it was the Egg Viper. So what actually made you want to make these films, and also what made you make SA2 into a film first rather than starting at the beginning?

SonicMovies:
It started half a year ago, over a summer vacation that I wanted to make a meaning into my time off. I always wanted to watch a really good Sonic movie, but there aren't any out there besides the one from the early nineties from Japan. So I decided to make one instead. Of course after I went through all of the hours of editing it, I memorized every single word that was going to be said and then I no longer WANTED to watch the movie I had made. In the mean while I was busy posting up my first movie, SA2: TM, just to see if I’d get any views out of it. I see now that was a wise decision being over 20,000 on my first video. I had originally done “Sonic Adventure 2” first because its story line is probably the best of the sonic series as of this moment, at least in my opinion. I will be recreating SA2:TM soon because I left out a lot of info and certain events were unorganized, and while I made this movie, I had no idea that I would be making more and more and more.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Cool, I gotta say I stumbled upon SA2:TM on YouTube by accident and I was hooked, I thought it was great and was so happy someone had made it!

I remember reading some comments bitching about the fact you left out the karting levels.

SonicMovies:
Hahaha.

Fastest Thing Alive:
I remember being happy, because I hated those levels with a fiery passion!!!

SonicMovies:
Mmh mm, and they were so ugly.

Fastest Thing Alive:
The karts handled like frozen dog turd.

SonicMovies:
So plain and boring, they should have put them in a city instead of a never ending road in the sky above an ocean. It didn't even have support beams!!!

Fastest Thing Alive:
And why in God’s name would Rouge have a car like that?

SonicMovies:
Yep.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Which out of your movies are you most proud of? “SA: TM”, “SA2: TM”, “Shadow The Hedgehog: The Movie”,” Sonic Riders: The Movie” or” Sonic Heroes: The Movie”?

SonicMovies:
I will never have a passion for “Sonic Heroes” as I can't stand that game. The levels are fun, I must admit, but the whole game pisses me off. “Sonic Adventure” is my all time pride on YouTube right now.”

Fastest Thing Alive:
As it should be! And yeah “Sonic Heroes” had a few good levels, but as a whole is not up to par with SA and SA2.

Which movie apart from Heroes which you did not want to make is the one which you like the least?

SonicMovies:
I guess I was unpleased with “Shadow's” movie. I think I did a good job with storyline choice and editing, but I couldn't get rid of the in-game menus like "Which gun you're holding" and "How many people you have left to kill". They show up on levels, even though I did black out a big part of the scoring.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Yeah, the problem with taking that game and turning it into a movie is that you would have to leave out a lot of stuff, you couldn't include it all. Personally I can't watch “Sonic Riders: The Movie”, that has nothing to do with your editing, I just can't stand that game or those terrible Babylon Rouges!

SonicMovies:
No kidding! I hated making it, but the fans wanted it.

Fastest Thing Alive:
You say you're going to be re-making SA2: TM, will you be going back and making changes to all your films? Are you the George Lucas of the Sonic Fan base?

SonicMovies:
Haha, I'm remaking what I know I can do better. Plus I will not be remaking any other movies that I have up right now. “Sonic Adventure” took WAY too long to make, and the other games I straight out give thumbs down too. They are not worthy of it.

Fastest Thing Alive:
So, out of all the games you've made movies from, what is your favourite?

SonicMovies:
I'm pretty sure after I get “Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie” done with, it will be my favourite.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Nice and what is you favourite 3D Sonic game?

SonicMovies:
Of the ones I've played, “Sonic Adventure 2”.

Fastest Thing Alive:
After you make “Sonic: Next Gen” do you see yourself making any new SonicMovies?

SonicMovies:
I'll be slowing down my process after this summer because I’ll be starting college, so however many I can fit into that time period will be a good estimate.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Do you see yourself making a "Sonic and the Secret Rings" film?

SonicMovies:
Heh. I have no interest in it for three good reasons:

1) The cut scenes are like a story book so it wouldn't be a very good movie

2) The game looks terribly difficult and I'm not the best with a WiiMote, I'm a bit of a WiiTard.

3) The story line is ridiculous. Sonic saves the world of a book. A BOOK! And if Sonic was so worried about Erazor coming into his world, why doesn’t he just burn the book?

It's like...

Sonic saved the story.

Woo?

Okay, I'm done.

Hahaha.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Haha, very true. Have you ever thought about editing any of the Sonic cartoons into a movie format?

SonicMovies:
I once considered it two years ago with “Sonic X”. I was going to take all of the “Sonic X” episodes of “Sonic Adventure 2” and put all of the audio from the game “Sonic Adventure 2” to make better voice acting for “Sonic X”.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Cool, so outside of the Sonic games what’s your favourite part of the Sonic franchise as a whole?

SonicMovies:
The fans really. It's fun to just talk and relate to other people who share their opinions and dislikes. Especially since it's hard to find a good sonic fan, there are plenty of people who know OF him, but not too many that really get into it. Just finding people who are fans is fun. I once ran into a guy who was listening to “Live and Learn” by Crush 40 and I was so excited. This was before I started SonicMovies.

Fastest Thing Alive:
I know the feeling, I met TTF (admin on the site) on a Transformers forum, it wasn't till I saw he had "Never Turn Back" on his MySpace page that I knew he was a Sonic fan, and I knew Torch liked it, but yeah, the fans are great.

SonicMovies:
I only have one friend that I have met who is a real Sonic fan like you and me. And we make jokes all the time about the Sonic world.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Same here, me and Torch are always making Sonic jokes that we know no one else we know would ever get.

SonicMovies:
Like if Sonic got a magnetic shield, what would happen if too many rings came at him at once and killed him?

Fastest Thing Alive:
Hahaha, yeah or the fact that Amy mistakes everyone for Sonic, blind bitch needs glasses

SonicMovies:
Hahaha, *hugs Dr. Eggman* OH SONIC! I MISSED YOU~

Fastest Thing Alive:
Hahaha.

SonicMovies:
I bet if Eggman had on a Sonic costume, he could fool her.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Yeah, going back to music, what is your favourite Sonic song?

SonicMovies:
Oh, tough one. I love the original lyrics for Sonic's theme, but “Live and Learn” is a song that I will never get over. It’s probably my favourite.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Original lyrics? Oh you mean “It Doesn't Matter” from SA1?

SonicMovies:
Yes.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Yeah, that song is possible my favourite song of all time, thanks to the legend that is Tony Harnell singing it.

SonicMovies:
Amazing voice.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Oh hell yeah, you should check out his (ex) band TNT, bloody amazing.


SonicMovies:
Going back to “SA: TM” for a moment, I noticed that I sometimes mixed scenes from two characters like in part 5. I used both Sonic's and Tails' point of view when they take off after the Egg Carrier. I forgot about that.

Fastest Thing Alive:
That’s good, shows you've got good editing skills.

SonicMovies:
I've been editing movies for four years now.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Not to be an ass kisser, but it does show in your movies.

SonicMovies:
Haha. Oh wow, I forgot about something, three years ago, I made “Sonic Adventure” and “2” into movies and I put them on DVD’s. But I lost the DVDs, and that also helped me remake them over last summer.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Now THAT would be a good DVD to own!!!

SonicMovies:
Nah, my editing skills weren't as good, plus I didn't include any levels, only bosses and cut scenes.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Ok, any last comments to make before I ask my final question?

SonicMovies:
Not that I can think of...

Fastest Thing Alive:
Any words to say to your fans?

SonicMovies:
I would like to say that you guys are the reason why I continued to make these movies. If I didn't have anyone begging for more, I wouldn't have had the motivation to go on. Thanks a bunch.

Fastest Thing Alive:
I just wanna ask one more thing, if you could change one thing about the Sonic franchise what would it be?

SonicMovies:
That is an EASY question, dude:
.
They need to stop focussing on quantity over quality. If they spent more time on each game instead of coming out with 23 every year, they would do a lot better. The only people buying Sonic games NOW are people who have never played one before, people who are diehard fans, or little kids that think Sonic is cool from “Sonic X”. Plus, Yuji Naka needs to do better at his whole producing career.

You'd think after years, he'd be better at selecting on whom to choose for making good engines, graphics, settings, etc.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Hopefully things will improve now that he's left Sega.

SonicMovies:
NO WAY?! I didn't know that. I wonder why he did that.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Yeah, he left half way through making “Sonic 360” to set up his own game company.

SonicMovies:
Good luck to him. Who knows, maybe Sega was holding him back from his real potential.

Fastest Thing Alive:
Yeah, like making more games like” Nights!” Anyways thanks for answering these questions!

SonicMovies:
No problem the pleasure was all mine!





We should have some of SM movies, God willing, in the coming months.

G-Man, i have missed you. School is killing my poor poor soul.

Same here dude., I hate uni. How did your contest go? Did ya win?

locally yes, nationally... don't know yet.

NICE!!! Did you use my idea? Well done dude.

lmao. your idea, however impressive it might be, was not the idea i went with. thank you though. XD

Bah, YOU FOOL! You could be a millionaire with my genius idea!

would it be rude to inquire what the idea was?

hi !!!


its really a informative post...


thanks for your information ...........

You've got to be fuzzing kidding me...

i enjoyed reading the interview

i myself find it hard to meet people around where i live who are into sonic