If you’re a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, it’s quite a time to be alive. The famous videogame mascot has slowly been climbing his way from being a source of mockery to a well-respected franchise and savior of videogame movies! While many fans of the hedgehog are busy running to the theaters to enjoy the new world being crafted before their eyes, there’s been another dedicated group that’s been hard at work giving another piece of Sonic history the love it deserves. That group goes by the name TEAM SE3ON, and their mission is to give the beloved Sonic cartoon from the 90s a third season 28 years after it was canceled. The trailer for the upcoming season can be viewed below!

If you’ve been a fan of Sonic since the 90s, this is probably a blast from the past for you! If you’re among the group of fans that is wondering who all these new characters are, here’s a basic rundown of the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, lovingly referred to as SatAM by its fans. Back in the 90s, there were two cartoons being aired based on the Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Sega Genesis. One cartoon was called The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and it was a clear-cut comedy with gags that harkened back to the Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons from Looney Tunes, and this cartoon was usually aired on weekday afternoons. The other cartoon was just titled Sonic the Hedgehog, and it aired on Saturday mornings, thus the name Sonic SatAM.

Produced by DIC, this Sonic cartoon took place on the planet Mobius in a post-apocalyptic era. Robotnik is on the cusp of a complete takeover of the planet, using his “roboticize” ray to turn all the peaceful animal citizens into his robotic slaves. Yes, this cartoon took the simple plot of “scientist using cute animals to power his robots” from the games and cranked it up a few notches. All that is standing in Robotnik’s way is a group of freedom fighters, led by Sonic the Hedgehog and Princess Sally.

Aside from Sonic, Tails, and Robotnik, all the characters were created specifically for the cartoon. There’s no Knuckles, Amy, or Big the Cat here. Instead, there’s Sally Acorn, Antoine D’Coolette, Rotor the Walrus, and Bunny Rabbot. This cartoon was celebrated for being much darker than its comedic counterpart, many episodes ended with the freedom fighters losing to Robotnik’s evil schemes and covered such themes as the loss of loved ones. The show ran for 26 episodes, with season 2 ending on a major cliffhanger, until ABC pulled the rug out from under the team and canceled the show.

According to Robby London, who was president of creative affairs for DIC at the time, it was a mix of Disney purchasing ABC and the newly introduced Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers beating them in ratings that led the network to cancel the show. But Sonic’s story continued, but in comic form. The Archie Comics Sonic series started as a tie-in to the show but grew to expand on the lore of Sonic SatAM, even introducing Sonic’s new friends as they were introduced in new Sega games. The comics continued to run until 2016, when IDW purchased the rights to Sonic. The Freedom Fighters were done, for a time.

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TEAM SEA3ON describes themselves on their Patreon page as “a group of fans and professionals dedicated to making a fan-produced third season of the SatAM” Sonic the Hedgehog” cartoon”. The team states that they have received help from industry professionals, as well as individuals that worked on the original show. The third season is set to pick up precisely where the second season left off, utilizing notes left behind by the late Ben Hurst, who was a writer on the original Sonic team.

Judging by the quality of the trailer, SEA3ON is absolutely putting their money and skills where their mouth is. It has visuals that emulate the look and feel of the original show, to Sally and Snively’s new voices sounding identical to their original actors (Charlie Adler and Kath Soucie). They even brought back Johnny Gioeli of Crush 40, who sang the original opening to the cartoon, to do a darker and slightly edgier new cover of the theme song!

Old fans of Sonic will not want to pass by this team lightly, for it surely is a love letter to a side of Sonic that so many fans hold near and dear. Newer fans will want to keep an eye out on this project as well, and if you aren’t familiar with the cartoon it’s based on, perhaps this will inspire you to look it up. Team SEA3ON continues to provide updates on their social media accounts such as Twitter, Patreon, and YouTube! Hopefully, it won’t be long before the grand debut, juice time!