18 replies to this topic

[PatrickButlerSatAM]

Anybody can answer this poll. My favorite season is the Second.

[Ann Chovi]

Second for sure- it's got all my favorite episodes and I love how they developed Snivley of all characters that season.

[Bakuda]

I did like the second season better overall, though there are some elements of season 1 I prefer...like Roter.

[RedAuthar]

2nd Season.

[Keen Bean]

Second. The first was great, but the story in the second season is incredible. However, like Bakuda said, I liked Rotor a little better in the first.

[LaserX5]

The 2nd Season was my favorite since it had better stories, but I believe the 1st Season portrayed the characters better.

Too bad we couldn't have had a mix of these two.

[chief]

Second season was my favorite overall. However I was not fond of Rotors character change, or in Dulcy being added in.

[furrykef]

On the whole I prefer the second season, but it did contain many of the show's worst elements (Dulcy, the Antoine shorts, etc.), so it's a narrow win.

[chief]

Yeah I agree with that too. The shorts were just god awful.

[Bakuda]

Oh...how could I forget Dulcy??? Oh, I know, because she's so forgettable!!! Yeah...definitely my least favorite element of the show.

[GuyWalrus]

I chose Season 2 Because:
It has Better plots.
Rotor looks cooler! ;D
It has the Antoine episodes (which I think is a nice break from the dark storylines).

[FrDougal9000]

I'll go with the first season for a number of reasons:

 

1. The tone was far less inconsistent than in Season 2 (which was essentially an epic guerilla war interspersed with an annoying talking dragon voiced by Numbah 5 and comedic shorts that felt like rejected plots to the Super Mario Bros Super Show)

 

2. There was a greater focus on characters besides Sonic & Sally (ah, the days when Rotor and Buns did something besides stand in the background...)

 

And 3. I liked the variety of different writers working on each episode since it provided some pretty interesting interpretations on the characters (I really wish the writer of Hooked On Sonics was in the Season 2 writing team; I felt like he was the only one who knew how to make Antoine a sympathetic character)

 

Yeah, Season 2 was slightly better in some aspects but I'll go with Season 1 any day if it means I don't have to watch Robecca...

[furrykef]

To elaborate on the answer I gave nearly two years ago (damn, this thread is old):

 

Season 1:

* As FrDougal pointed out, had a more consistent tone.

* Had Sonic & Sally, my favorite episode.

* Had only one bad comic relief character instead of two.

* Had Cluck. I like Cluck.

* Had Michael Tavera's score, including the iconic Robotropolis and Knothole themes. (Did these appear in season 2 at all? Not sure...)

* Included the pilot, which stuck out like a sore thumb. Even ignoring the different art direction, it had probably the dumbest plot of the entire series. (Catapults as anti-air units? Really?) Still not as painful to watch as Robecca, though...

 

Season 2:

* Though largely consistent with itself, screwed things up by mostly ignoring the plot development of season 1.

* Had a tighter design for Sally that almost everyone likes (she has pupils now, and her iconic blue vest); Antoine and Rotor's redesigns however were questionable and largely forgotten. Rotor even had a different voice actor!

* Had Dulcy. While I don't hate Dulcy as much as most people here (most of my venom is reserved for Antoine), she was a bit annoying.

* Had art that was improved in some respects and suffered in others. I think animation errors became more common, though I'm not sure.

* Had Doomsday, a fairly epic episode in its own right that also capped a pretty good arc.

* Had better writing overall, excepting the shorts.

 

Both:

* Seem roughly equal in terms of having emotional moments (Uncle Chuck, Bunnie's roboticization).

 

Point by point like this, it actually looks like season 1 wins, but there's something about season 2, a je ne sais quois, that's hard to break down into bullet points.

[Vampfox]

I like season 2 better cause the story is more tight. Season 1's episodes don't flow into each other as well. For example one season 1 episode ends with the characters thinking that Robotnik is dead yet in the next episode we see that things are back to normal.

Also I like the character development in season 2 especially Snively and N.I.C.O.L.E.'s.

[Misk]

It's a tough call for me. I liked the tone of the first season but the second season had an overarching story which culminated in the glorious Doomsday Project.

 

I really can't pick.

[jtreese]

It's a tie between Season 2 and Sea3on! 

[Uncle Ben]

To hard to say

[Captain Sorzo]

The two original seasons are roughly equal in my eyes. Between Dulcy and the shorts, the second featured far more obvious flaws, but it was also more consistent and built up a very solid arc that ended with the best episode in the series. The loss of the modulation to Cumming's voice was saddening, yet he still delivered menace without it. Moreover, Snively improved enormously in the second season, going from a bland lackey to one of the best characters in the series. His interactions with Robotnik provide most of my favorite comedic scenes, while their overall dynamic is second only to the one between Sonic and Sally, which was also strengthened in the second season...albeit at the expense of all the other Freedom Fighters.

 

Sea3on surpasses both quite easily, having had far more time and creative freedom to develop. The staff quite clearly learned from the faults of the past seasons, as the comic features none of them while introducing none of their own, save the odd typo or art gaffe. Just as importantly, it strikes a much deeper chord during its key emotional scenes. Occurring roughly once per chapter, these moments are consistently stunning due to their writing, expressions, and composition.

 

In particular, the exchange between Sally and Sonic at the end of Chapter 1 is absolutely perfect. It resonated with me on a very deep, personal level when I first read it two years ago, as at the time I was struggling with rather severe depression stemming from self-doubt, and remains one of my utmost favorite moments in all of fiction.

 

In many respects, Sea3on is the realization of so much of the incredible potential that the flawed yet brilliant original series held. There's more left untapped, to be sure, but that speaks of the depth and scope of the themes and concepts SatAM was originally grounded in, rather than any failing on the comic's part. It's as if the series grew up, so to speak. The core essence of the narrative is still there, yet refined and polished. It feels written for older audiences, yet never indulges in graphic content or loses that endearing, optimistic spirit. It's darker moments are all the more painful, yet it still contains a great deal of humor and simple, pure fun.

[brmsort]

I like the Second Season better because I am a sucker for stories. The First is good too: it did develop the characters a bit more by allowing other Freedom Fighters into the spotlight and by NOT having an arc to insert into every episode.

I also like the power up animations for the power ring in the Second Season, Nicole's new 'tude, Snively's increasing betrayal, etc.

I also don't mind Dulcy, though I wish they had given her lines more thought and less references to her mom.

I also don't mind the shorts as much as I used to in my youth. I think I appreciate the slice-of-life it adds to the series. Not everything the Freedom Fighters do is releated to fighting, after all.

The inconsistencies between the seasons also don't bother me as much as they used to. It is more fun to see if you can "explain them away."