Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers made an unexpected return to Disney+ last month in a new movie that not only provided a nostalgic kick for fans of the cartoon series, but also brought one of the largest collections of in-jokes and cameos ever put in a single movie. Among those cameos was an appearance by “Ugly” Sonic, a version of SEGA’s blue hedgehog that is based on the much criticized initial design for the game icon’s appearance in his 2020 movie. With human eyes and teeth, the film mercilessly pokes fun at the character that was thankfully redesigned before the Jim Carrey and James Marsden starring movie hit cinemas, but it seems that Ugly Sonic actually replaced a different character that has been subjected to a fair amount of hate: Jar Jar Binks.
Storyboard artist for Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers has shared a number of sketches that were done for the movie in the form of a video, and among them were some that included Star Wars’ most criticized character instead of the less than faithful design of Sonic. In the post, artist Simeon Wilkins commented:
“One more sequence from Rescue Rangers- the Fan Expo chase. It’s great that the bones of this scene stayed fairly firm, while a bunch of characters were swapped out. Most notably, Jar Jar was replaced with Ugly Sonic.”
The revelation that Jar Jar Binks could have been in the movie instead of Ugly Sonic divided some of those to come across the post. Some were happy with Ugly Sonic making it, while others would have loved to see Jar Jar getting a moment to shine, and another even suggested that he could now appear in a sequel as the main villain. Of course, that kind of thing could well happen after the phenomenal reception the movie has been given on Disney+ since its premiere.
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’ Cameos Even Surprised Its Writers
While everyone is used to seeing cameos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with characters from within the universe turning up in movies and TV shows unexpectedly, but Chip ‘n Dale’s cameos were in another league. While the film used many Disney-owned characters, it also included characters from many other studios such as Warner Bros. and it almost seemed like no-one was out of bounds. Writer Doug Man commented on this previously, saying:
"I would say that as a blanket is this movie exists really probably because Disney+ exists. We wrote this movie seven years ago. Disney+ did not exist. And it was a big swing. To Disney's credit, they paid us to write this thing that was very much a big swing. And we don't really know the ins and outs of what it would mean to have gone in theater, but the creation of Disney+ and Akiva Schaffer coming on board gave it life again, as a possibility to release something that maybe didn't have to be a four quadrant movie in the same way."
Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers is streaming now on Disney+.