66mb of storyboards, scripts, and concept art
If you’ve been following TSSZ News over the last few months, you’ll notice that we’ve been covering Richard Kuta’s Sonic the Hedgehog fan film through its development. The film as seen a number of setbacks since its conception in 2005/2006, but has soldiered on through the hardships. The latest stroke of bad luck for the project comes this morning, with a significant portion of the fan film’s resources getting leaked via an anonymous post on 4chan’s /v/ imageboard. The 66mb zip file contains everything from environment concept art, character sheets, soundtrack descriptions, storyboards, and even an outline detailing a potential trilogy. The text script itself is 136 pages in length, and going by the header, was registered with the Writer’s Guild of America, possibly giving Kuta full copyright ownership for what is contained within (and serves as the primary reason we are not linking to the zip file in this story).
The script opens in earth’s near future with one Dr. Kintobor holding a press conference in Station Square, revealing he has solved the earth’s fuel crisis with the discovery of seven emeralds that radiate a mysterious new form of energy. A sequence events leads to the emeralds causing a catastrophe that ends not only in the destruction of Station Square, but the entire planet earth. Escaping in to space, Dr. Kintobor becomes the last apparent surviving member of the human race. He enters cryogenic stasis, vowing to one day return to the surface of the planet and unlock the secrets of the Chaos Emeralds. One thousand years later, he returns to find the planet is now dominated by humanoid animals. With a natural born hatred of rodents, Dr. Kintobor becomes enraged and insane, and begins using his advanced intelligence to re-acquire the Chaos Emeralds and exterminate/enslave the anthropomorphic populace under his new title of “Dr. Robotnik”. The rest of the film’s script centers around the Freedom Fighters mounting a rescue operation to free Bunnie Rabbot from Robotnik’s clutches, as he launches a plan to eliminate Sonic once and for all with the help of his newest invention: Metal Sonic.
Though the film deals with characters from Sonic the Hedgehog (both the games and the Saturday Morning Cartoon series), the script definitely has a darker, somewhat mature edge. There’s one scene early on in the script that is particularly shocking, where Kintobor’s fellow scientist Nate Morgan is literally impaled to death by an uncontrollable rat that has been supercharged with the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Though Bunnie is rescued and Robotnik is defeated, the film ends on a cliffhanger, setting up for a sequel – and going by the much more compact “Trilogy Outline”, the movies would follow Robotnik’s encounters with Knuckles and The Chaotix on Angel Island and his further attempts to conquer the world. Robotnik eventually discovers the cataclysmic event at Station Square was foretold by the Mayans, with the planet’s new anthropomorphic inhabitants destined to redeem mankind’s sins against mother nature. From there the plot gravitates towards an all-out war between the Freedom Fighters and Robotnik’s minions (with cameos from characters like Shadow the Hedgehog) over control of the Master Emerald.
It’s probably worth mentioning that almost all of the files contained within this archive are from 2009 or older – meaning there’s no telling how much has changed in the two years since their creation (if any change has occurred at all). However, all of the folders containing the leaked files were created on September 1st, 2010 – barely even six months ago. There’s also evidence that this may not even be a complete archive, as seen by the “Voices” folder, containing numerous sub-folders obviously designed to house files related to voice acting. These sub-folders are organized by character name, and though some of them appear to have seen some use at one point in time, as far as this archive contains, they’re all empty.
Though we most likely cannot link to the actual archive itself (due to it containing the film’s script, which as we mentioned earlier seems to be registered with the Writer’s Guild of America and is therefore protected by copyright law), we’re in the clear to share with you some choice cuts of concept art contained within, which we’ve mirrored below.
It may also be worth mentioning that fan works are not subject to our “Sensitive Material” Policy.
Loading ...
I am not interested in this movie. The art is awesome! Very professional! But… I can draw like that too!
I did read an earlier version of the script a few months back, (Pretty darn awful if you ask me) and from the sound of the summary, it looks as though not much has changed.
Robotnik’s dialogue with Nate Morgan in the intro tries way too hard to be “real” and Nate getting impaled to death? That is way too graphic for a proposed Sonic movie and doesn’t fit the tone of the franchise. Sonic’s not supposed to be Rated R.
Trying to make Sonic “dark” and “edgy” only results in failures like Sonic2006 and Shadow the Hedgehog. The concept of a talking blue hedgehog running through checkboard fields, beating up monkey and beetle-shaped robots is so goofy and whimsical, that trying to make it “dark and mature” is laughable and downright pathetic. This is a kids franchise, it’s not supposed to be super-serious and dramatic like The Dark Knight. (I don’t mind serious storylines in Sonic, but it always should be mixed with humor and never go too far with violence or swearing..)
The concept artwork is very well drawn and easy on the eyes, but part of me gets a little ticked off when I look at it. I remember when this project was in its infancy, Kuta kept promising that it would be “a mixture of all Sonic continuities” You can clearly see this is intended to be nothing more than Sonic SatAM: The Movie.
While Shadow isn’t my favorite character in the Sonic franchise (I liked him in SA2, hated him in every appearance afterwards) I don’t like how Kuta intends on handling the character. A mere cameo? Shadow was created by Robotnik’s own grandfather, and shared a bond with his deceased cousin. If you want to introduce the character of Shadow, You can’t just sweep him under the rug like that. His arc is too important.
Doesn’t really matter anyways. This project is way too ambitious to ever be completed. The most we’ll ever get out of this are a few animatics, trailers and what has already been leaked. Kuta would need the help of a major Hollywood studio to finish this, and Sega has already made it clear to him that ain’t never gonna happen.
I don’t understand why Kuta has wasted so many years of his life trying to make a movie of a character that SOMEONE ELSE created. I used to dream about one day going to Hollywood and making a Sonic movie myself when I was younger (I think all Sonic fans probably have at some point) But I grew out of it. Kuta needs to do the same and invent characters of his own. Maybe then he’ll actually go places in Hollywood. He clearly has connections if he was able to get DiC and Universal interested in the project at one point.
Now that I think about it, with all of the hype surrounding Lebron’s fan-film,
I wonder if Kuta “leaked” this stuff himself just to keep people talking about his project and make sure everyone’s still aware of it.
@Myst: Ohohohoho, I think I saw more than a SatAM: The Movie here. I think I saw some elements taken straight from the games…. PLUS, Is it me or do Sonic and Tails have more screen time than Sally and Bunnie? Whoa. A Sonic film focusing on Sonic? WHO’DA THUNK IT? How very interesting.
I’d say that he probably is reworking it though. I talk to him on Skype and I overheard some plans for the stealth attack leaked in the scripts to be rewritten to an attack originating from THE LABYRINTH ZONE. He also told me that his storyboard artist was willing to restoryboard the film just to replace this scene if not more if major changes were to be made.
Misleading title, lol
well its
“EDDIE LEBRON” VS “RICHARD KUTA”
@Greg It doesn’t matter if it takes elements from the games…it still uses Sally and Bunnie, and the idea of “Dr. Robotnik is destroying the Acorn Kingdom oh no!” except somehow this script removes what made that even slightly interesting in the show. Wow, just having him show up out of nowhere? No subtle moves to have the main takeover? The entire “human beings are the worst things ever and there is no way you can ever be redeemed” message? That goes far beyond the “nature v. machine” message everyone says the old show has. That is basically alienating your entire audience. Because this was originally designed to be a film that was to be in theaters, right? I think the last thing a child wants to see in a film is a message that every human being ever is bad. It’s not even a cautionary tale, if the outline is to be believed. That humans were destined to die no matter what, and that the only way we can be redeemed is through the use of fuzzy anthropomorphic animals. What kind of a message is that?
You don’t need to register something for it to be copyrighted. Copyright is granted by default to any original work.
Speaking of which, Rich “leaked” the script a long time ago.
wow…
well this fan movie seems uninteresting.
It has SatAM elements in it just like the Lebron one.
I thought people hated the dark elements that was in Sonic ’06 and Shadow The Hedgehog?
Now they are supporting it?
Or wait… they HAVE been supporting it.
sorry but count me out from either sides.
PorpoiseMuffins: You’re correct, but if you sue over an infringement, you damn well better have a copyright registration.
-T
After combing through the file that leaked on 4chan, I can confirm the material is outdated, since most of it stems from 2008 and earlier. In fact, the artwork presented here was drawn by artists that left the project that very year. Which makes me assume that some disgruntled crew member, who originally worked on the film leaked the unreleased material since they were the only ones who had copies. Rest assure though, ever since 2009, I hired a team of artists and the script was revised several times last year as I went on this campaign of “clean slate.” And to clarify, I would NEVER release any of this info since Ive been very over protective of this project and wanted certain elements and twists to be a surprise. Not only that, Ive been too enamored with my new job to even police the crap that happens on the internet so I wasn’t aware of this happening till someone from my new crew informed me. So the question Ive been bombarded with this morning is will the project press on even though the general premise is all out in the open? Well, the 30 second scene is indefinitely happening. Its all paid for and were approaching the coloring phase so I’m beyond committed to its completion. Once that’s finally released, I have no clue what where to go from there. Even though said material is outdated, I’m still shocked that anyone would do this.
Sounds like the same dark edgy bullshit that I’m glad was been abandoned with recent games like Unleashed and Colors. Here is hoping this trend continues with the 20th anniversary game.
@A Knothole Resident: I’m reading all the comments trashing your work…
…And thinking…
“This must be what it feels like to be Sega! No fan is ever happy. Ever.”
Good luck.
I have to agree with Kuta on the statement that his project has changed quite a bit since these files were created — I’m going through the exact same thing with MY project (which, for the sake of not being a troll, I will not go into self-promoting details about in this conversation). My early ideas bear little to no resemblance to my current plans, and what actually comes out in the end will no doubt be quite different than what I’m planning at the moment.
As for the challenge of the project being “too SatAM-y,” I will not comment, except to say that violently arguing over artistic decisions in fan works is a waste of time.
As far as ‘dark’/'serious’ story lines go in Sonic, SatAM and Shadow are about as far as I like for the series to go. I honestly never saw why people shrank away from them seemingly just out of principle. Just because Sonic is meant for kids, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to take it seriously either, I’m speaking on Colors and Unleashed here. They say they feel like Saturday morning cartoons, but I remember my Saturday morning cartoons being X-Men, Batman, and funnily enough, Sonic the Hedgehog.
@58SlugDrones!
Then by all means show us your movie
I’m pretty excited about both films, whether they’re good or bad.
It’ll be impressive enough to see what someone came up with when trying to make their own fan film. I used to imagine all the time what a Satam movie would look like. I always pictured it being 2D and a little dark.
Oh and to the people complaining about it being dark with examples of people bitching that it didn’t work for Shadow or ’06, that was an entirely different reason…. bad gameplay, glitches, and bad acting.
““This must be what it feels like to be Sega! No fan is ever happy. Ever.””
Are you KIDDING ME, there are billions of fanboys who will eat up Sega’s crappy games no matter how bad they get.
“Oh and to the people complaining about it being dark with examples of people bitching that it didn’t work for Shadow or ’06, that was an entirely different reason…. ”
That’s true, they aren’t even remotely similar to what’s in the movie, so it was really idiotic to even bring up those 2 examples.
i want to see both Lebron and Kuta’s movies so im really exited cuz we’re getting not one sonic movie but TWO! and you’re complaining .__.
i like to see sonic in his mature incarnation and in his cartoony incarnation too
even a mixture is great cuz sonic is a character who can be in between serious bussiness and jokes.
@EEE: SO TRUE ! totally agreed with you. sonic 06 in my opinion could have been awesome without glitches,bugs,bad acting and bad gameplay
(sorry for my bad english :S)
I just don’t understand where all the hate for this project comes from. The story sounds awesome. As for whether or not in should be dark…..of course it should! This is largely based on the SatAM continuity, which was a far cry from the games.
Leave the dark/edgy shit to Sonic 2006 where that pile of fail storytelling lives in infamy. Sonic SatAM did it best with a balance to light and dark for its themes; every victory Sonic and the guys had against Robotnik felt triumphant and it had its share of lighthearted moments along WITH the dark themes.
“I just don’t understand where all the hate for this project comes from.”
Some people got all butthurt because of AKR’s awesome and full-of-truth Sonic 4 rant video, so they’re taking their revenge by writing big fat meany things on ED and hating on everything he does, even though the movie really objectively looks really awesome to anybody who’s not out of their mind.
*unlike lebron’s film, which only had one thing going for it (jaleel’s voice), and is otherwise crap-full of horrible ideas and bad concepts.
*unlike lebron’s film, which only had one thing going for it (jaleel’s voice), and is otherwise crap-full of horrible ideas and bad concepts.
Now your the one acting butthurt, hypocrite
Why is it that you guys all think that there can only be one “true” Sonic canon… when the whole thing is very clearly FICTION???? You sound like a bunch of yipping puppies fighting over a stuffed animal and ripping the whole thing to pieces in the process. (Trust me, I know. My two sisters each have a puppy now, and they’re pretty ferocious when they’re playing. We have to keep the cats’ toys away from them!)
All sonic films are very different. This film is taken really seriously, Eddie Lebron’s film is realistic and minimalistic. I am working on my own CGI sonic film set in sonic adventure times. It is more of an action adventure comedy. Doctor Robotnik has the same design as sonic unleashed however he has AOSTH Robotnik’s hilarious temper. I have 5 minutes of the film done and hope it can compete with the other fan films.
As much as I hate the idea of a SatAM based Sonic movie, I did want to see how this played out and it’s a shame it got cancelled. In my opinion I’m not keen on the way Eddie Lebron’s fan film is playing out either. The Sonic redesign is over realistic and ugly and it’s a prequel to Sonic 1 so it wont have many characters. I am working on my own Sonic movie inspired by the Sonic Adventure series. If you are interested check out http://www.youtube.com/user/SonicTheMovie