Community Interview: New Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Creator, Toni Ferraro

Also known online as 'SonicCats', Toni Ferraro is the mastermind behind the 'New Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog' (NAoStH) fan animation, intended to be a continuation of the 1990s DiC comedy cartoon. We've covered the project here and recently the show made some progress with a new domain name and voice cast. Sonic_Hedgehogs chats to Ferraro to learn more about where things stand.

TSS: Hey everyone, Andrew here for a special after Christmas interview. We have Toni with us today, welcome Toni! ^_^

Toni Ferraro: Heya! Thanks for having me!

TSS: No problemo! I won't tell, I will never tell. So, you tell us what you do in the fab Sonic Online Community.

Toni Ferraro: Certainly. I run an online project called "New Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" (for NAoStH for short) Basically, it isn't really popular, but it's been around for a nice 3 1/2 years, and I intend to keep going.

TSS: Tell us what NAoStH is about for those unlucky goons who don't know.

Toni Ferraro: NAoStH is an online, soon-to-be-flash cartoon that is very much based off the original AoStH series, the only difference being is that there are more SegaSonic characters introduced. And before you go wondering... it's NOT gonna be on any public channels on television (I get that question a lot...)

TSS: How will people be able to view the cartoon when you guys finish?

Toni Ferraro: Well, once an episode is done, it'll be viewable in RealPlayer format, or HTML (whatever my top animator decides). Of course, if that gets to be annoying, we will also put some episodes on tape for order, so you can watch the cartoon from TV after all!

TSS: Sounds great! Tell us about NAoStH's storyline. Will it be just as slap-tastic and goofy as AoSTH or will you be adding more storyline to the cartoon?

Toni Ferraro: Storyline? Let's see... No, I don't think there's a true storyline. It's pretty much the same as the ol' AoStH, slapstick and all that. But there is a timeline. For instance, the first few episodes are just Sonic and Tails, and then after that, a little bit of Knuckles is in there, and after that, Amy joins up with Sonic and Tails... so it's basically the same as before, only there are three instead of two. Get what I mean?

TSS: Yush I do! ^^ Will the original baddies from AoSTH be introduced and will Sonic and Eggman (Robotnik) have their new looks?

Toni Ferraro: Yep, the ol' baddies are back (who can't love Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts?) and get this! Metal Sonic also joins the S.S.S.S.S Squad! As for new looks, no. This is set in AoStH-times, so nobody gets to be in their new looks (not even Amy! o_o).

TSS: Well O. O. O. On we go. Tell us how you got into this project and about what's been going on over the last 3 1/2 years.

Toni Ferraro: Hmm.. I was definitely inspired by another fan-made cartoon known as "The Super Mario 64 Show" over at smbhq.org (before they took it down...) I thought that was a lot of fun, so after an hour of thinking about it, I decided to make a fan project of my own! And I even started writing my first script the very next day! (the "Chaos on the Floating Island" saga).

We've had our ups and down, totally.... the page started out on a crappy AOL 1-2-3 Web Site, then I moved to DreamTeamZone.org (run by my best friend, Shayne), then soon got me my own domain (NAoStH.com) but had to get rid of it due to costs, so I moved to my current home, Atlantiscity.net, but she just recently updated my server so the URL says NAoStH.com for everything.

Whew, that's alot... The project started out with 55 episodes, then cut down to 50, then 30, then 26, then 13, then back to 30...

TSS: Geez, thats a lot of changing! Tell us about how long you've been a Sonic fan and how you became one.

Toni Ferraro: I've been a Sonic fan since 3rd grade, which was around 9 years ago... I've always enjoyed playing the games and growing up with AoStH... However, I didn't become obsessed with Sonic until 7th grade, when I started buying Archie comics (back when it was actually good) and watching AoStH again on the USA channel, and also watching more of SatAM and understanding the story to it. Then I couldn't stop THINKING about Sonic, and I still can't! It's almost scary!

TSS: If you could have Sega make any kind of Sonic cartoon, what would it be?

Toni Ferraro: Definitely something like this! I'm sure they wouldn't want to keep the low-budget animating, and slapstick comedy humor, but if they did have something more of a SegaSonic cartoon without making it as dark as SatAM, they'd be back in business! ^^

TSS: Heres my new feature - the new "Get to Know You" questionnaire. Favorite food, drink, movie, TV show (cartoon) and website?

Toni Ferraro: Favorite food - Melted cheese (*drool*); Drink - Fruit punch; Movie - "A League Of Their Own"; TV Show - 7th Heaven; Cartoon - AoStH (for obvious reasons); favorite site - besides my own? I'd say FanFiction.net

TSS: Everyone loves the cheese, oh, the power... ^_^ What are your thoughts on the Archie Sonic comics nowadays? A lot of people (including me) are very angry at the decline in the comics, the art not as good, or the storyline not as fresh.

Toni Ferraro: Archie?? Oy..... I think they're digging themselves in a hole they can't dig out of, while chewing more than they can swallow.... In my opinion, I don't think they know what they're doing anymore. In what was once a nice little comic based off SatAM with their own little things added on is now some soap opera, lame-brained attempt to make some KIND of storyline that's trying to follow Sega, while trying to make ALL their fans happy... and basically change things into things that don't make sense, or trying to make their own comic series (why bother calling it Sonic?) A long story short, Archie sucks - I quit reading at #75.

TSS: I quit at #103, silly me! Whats your thought on the latest Sonic video games? Example: Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, Sonic Advance 1+2.

Toni Ferraro: They're awesome! A great way to revitalize Sonic after so many years of hiatus. And something to enjoy after the puke Archie spits up. (Yes, yes, I'm probably gonna get flamed for this...) And I just LOVE Rouge and Cream! ^^

TSS: *Cough* I think I got a hairball. Your fault! ^_^ How long will it be till you get the first episode out, also, how long are these episodes of NAoStH?

Toni Ferraro: After reading the episodes as if watching them on TV, all 30 episodes take around 20 to 30 minutes. Honestly, it's going to be a long time before the first episode is done since I know that Flash can be a hard thing to work with, but that's why we need Flash Animators to help us out!

I hope you don't mind that I kinda advertise here a bit... But progress is somewhat underway, since the actor for Sonic and Robotnik already handed in his lines, and the storyboard just got kicked into gear.

TSS: We need --->FLASH ANIMATORS<---, I think i'll put that in bold with arrows. I don't wanna cut this interview short, but its pretty long. So, thanks a lot for taking your time to do this interview, Toni. Have a great Holiday Season and the Truth is out there! Please visit NAoStH Official Site, great site!

Toni Ferraro: Thanks again! And have a Happy New Year yourself! Get better!