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"Lightning Bowler Society" is the eighty-third episode in the Sonic Boom television series. It first aired on 23 April 2017 in France and on 10 June 2017 in the United States.
Synopsis
The Lightning Bolts threaten to steal Sonic and the gangs’ fan base after an intense bowling match.[3]
Appearances
Characters:
- Beth the Shrew
- Child Monkey
- Comedy Chimp
- Diane Aardvark
- Dixon
- Dr. Eggman
- Fastidious Beaver
- Fennec Male
- Gunther
- Lady Goat
- Lightning Bolt Society/Lightning Bowler Society (first appearance)
- Mega
- Mike the Ox
- Mrs. Dave's Mom (mentioned)
- Mrs. Vandersnout
- Old Monkey
- One-Percenters (first appearance)
- Perci
- Rabbit Girl
- Reindeer Girl
- Sheep Villager
- Staci
- Stratford
- Team Sonic
- Amy Rose
- Pin Dashers (first appearance)
- Walrus Camera Man
- Walrus Male
- Warthog Male
- Wild Cat
- Wolfie
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Misc.:
Plot
The episode begins with the Lightning Bolt Society―consisting of Dave the Intern, the Tree Spy, Willy Walrus and a Weasel Bandit―launching their latest scheme: bombarding the Village Center with aged fruitcakes. Team Sonic discovers these extremely dense baked goods as they rain down around them, and after struggling to lift one of them, Knuckles convinces his team to take a tea break amidst the attack, believing the Lightning Bolts to not be a worrisome threat. During their break, Amy uses her hammer to make a shockwave along the ground that sends the Lightning Bolts and their ballista for flinging fruitcakes flying, defeating the villains.
Back at the Lightning Bolts' hideout, Willy starts to wonder if his society has what it takes for them to be supervillains, since they have just lost their eightieth consecutive battle in a row. The Tree Spy suggests they should try finding a new vocation that plays to their strengths, which leads them to try out as bowlers. With Dave, Willy, the Tree Spy and the Weasel Bandit forming the "Lightning Bowler Society" bowling team, the group proves to skilled bowlers after defeating the One-Percenters (who deal with the agony of defeat by going for a money swim afterwards). Just as the Lightning Bowlers find themselves on a roll, the Pin Dashers (consisting of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Sticks) show up to challenge them. During the teams' bowling match, the villagers gather at the bowling alley and begin cheering for the Lightning Bowlers as they outplay the Pin Dashers, earning the former a huge fan base. Sonic, not used to losing, is in disbelief and demands a rematch with the Lightning Bowlers, who agree to another match a week from next Thursday.
Team Sonic soon after comes to Meh Burger, where the Lightning Bowlers have gathered in front of the press. There, Mr. Slate presents the newest (highly inaccurate and dubious) item on the Meh Burger menu, which has been named after the Lightning Bowlers, to the public. Seeing this, Sonic gets very upset, although Tails tries to assure him that the Lightning Bowlers' fame will soon blow over. Meanwhile, the Tree Spy meets Staci at the fan signings. Taking a liking to Staci's idolization of him, the Tree Spy tells Staci to call him by his real name—the Chameleon. The Lightning Bowler Society appear soon after on the Comedy Chimp Show to talk about their success as bowlers, earning the group further fame. Following that, the Chameleon and Staci have a dinner date at Meh Burger (with Dave serving as their waiter). There, Staci convinces the Chameleon that his team is holding him back because they need his bowling talents. Meanwhile, a victory-obsessed Sonic forces his team to practice bowling with him into the late hours, much to the concern (and exhaustion) of his friends.
On the day of their rematch with the Pin Dashers, the Lightning Bowlers are waiting impatiently for the Chameleon, who is late. When he finally shows up with Staci, who helps express how the Chameleon wants more respect from his team, the Lightning Bowlers begin arguing over their own worth: Dave says the team would not have gotten their Meh Burger endorsement deal without him, the Weasel Bandit notes that the team would not have gotten their bowling balls had it not been for him (stealing them), and Willy insists that his charisma got the team where they are now. Finally, when the Chameleon tells everyone about how Staci's suspicions about his team were correct, the whole argument breaks down into a slap fight between the Lightning Bowlers.
A while afterward, the Pin Dashers and Amy are shown at the bowling alley, with Sonic impatiently awaiting the Lightning Bowlers' arrival. Instead, Staci and the Chameleon show up. Following up on Staci's announcement, the Chameleon tells Team Sonic that he has gone solo and that the Lightning Bowlers have disbanded to follow their own careers, before departing with Staci. Unwilling to be denied his rematch, Sonic decides that he and the others must reunite the Lightning Bowlers.
Following Sonic's plan, Tails tracks down Willy, who has become a home shopping host on Seaside Island's television network, with Dixon serving as his producer. When Willy shows unhappiness about his job, Tails urges him to get back with his team, which Willy quickly accepts under the presumption that they sent Tails. Meanwhile, a depressed Dave has returned to his work at Meh Burger, where he denies Beth the Shrew the Lightning Bowlers' fast food tie-in after having renamed it after himself. Sticks then shows up and agrees to buy Dave's fast food tie-in if he meets up with his old team. Finally, Knuckles finds the Weasel Bandit, who has been resting up after a disastrous appearance on the Comedy Chimp Show with his new celebrity bowling team, who fought with him on the show over team name disputes.
Eventually, Team Sonic brings all of the Lightning Bowlers to the Chameleon, who has begun to miss his old team, at the bowling alley. However, the group is quick to start arguing again and they assume that they are better off alone, while Sonic desperately tries to keep the group together so they can bowl against him. However, Dr. Eggman shows up and announces to Sonic that he has used the time Sonic spent distracted with his bowling legacy to conceive his most brilliant evil plan yet, which involves attacking Hedgehog Village with the Mega. While unimpressed by Eggman's re-usage of old robots, Team Sonic still engages the Mega. As they try to destroy it and trade banter with Eggman, the Lightning Bowlers fondly remember the times they used to trash-talk. Eventually, Willy concludes that while they were never great villains back when they were Lightning Bolts, they were still happy, prompting the group to reunite as evildoers once more. Staci disapproves of this, but the Chameleon brushes it off, which makes Staci break up with him. The Lightning Bolts then decide to attack Team Sonic while they fight the Mega, and lose like they always do. True enough, the Lightning Bolts' interference ends up being a hindrance to the Mega, allowing Team Sonic to destroy the robot with ease; defeated yet again, Eggman retreats. Sonic hopes that the Lightning Bolts will bowl him now that they are a team again, but the group refuses, with Willy noting that being successful bowlers cost them their friendship. After the Weasel Bandit affirms the group's return to villainy, Sonic feigns an attack that scares them off. Although Sonic takes solace in knowing that he can always beat the Lightning Bolts on the battlefield, knowing his superiority in battle, he is still in denial of his inferiority to them in bowling.
Goofs
- In this episode, Gunther has the same character design he had during season one of the Sonic Boom television series.
- In this episode, Lady Goat's fur has the same color it had during season one of the Sonic Boom television series.
- Just before the Lightning Bolt Society is shown in their hideout for the first in this episode, a shot of the Mayor's Mansion is shown to indicate that the mansion is the hideout. This is incorrect as the Lightning Bolts' hideout has been proven to not be the Mayor's Mansion.
- When Staci asked the Chameleon to sign her Lightning Bowler Beef Bowl, he is seen from behind to be wearing his glasses. When the camera focuses back on him, he is not wearing them.
- When Eggman yells at Dave after he hits him with a bowling pin, his wrist controller's lower metal band moves as if it is made of cloth.
Production
The expression Sonic makes at the end of the episode was not included in the original script for this episode, but was instead added during the storyboard stage.[4]
Title in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| French | Les bowlers du tonnerre | The Thunder Bowlers |
| Polish | Stowarzyszenie przyjaciół kręgla | |
| Spanish (Latin America) | Los Relámpagos Jugadores | The Lightning Players |
Trivia
- Six days before this episode aired on Boomerang, Bill Freiberger released the title card for this episode on Twitter as a teaser.[5]
- The music that plays when the Sonic Team is playing against the Lightning Bowler Society is based on the song "Push it to the limit".
- The aristocrats decision to cheer themselves up with a money bath in a money bin may be a reference to Scrooge McDuck's hobby of swimming in his money.
- When Willy bowls, he is seen using Fred Flintstone's twinkle toes move from The Flintstones.
- Dr. Eggman's explanation for why he keeps using the same robots may be a nod to how the design and animation staff for Sonic Boom have a limited budget for how many robots they are allowed to design, which forces the show to reuse old robots for new plots.
References
- ↑ Sonic Boom: Lightning Bowler Society. Zap2it.com. Retrieved on 8 June 2017.
- ↑ Tous les Programmes (French). Canal J. Retrieved on 28 April 2017.
- ↑ Bill Freiberger on Twitter. Twitter (8 June 2017). Retrieved on 8 June 2017. "Bill Freiberger: Ep 240: The Lightning Bolts threaten to steal Sonic and the gang’s’ fan base after an intense bowling match."
- ↑ Bill Freiberger on Twitter. Twitter (10 June 2017). Retrieved on 11 June 2017. "Sonic Paradox News : So, was this face at the end of today's Boom episode actually in the script, @BillFreiberger? lol / Bill Freiberger: It wasn't in the script. It was added at the storyboard stage, so the idea came from either the storyboard artist or the director."
- ↑ Bill Freiberger on Twitter. Twitter (3 June 2017). Retrieved on 3 June 2017. "Bill Freiberger: A #sonicboom preview for next Saturday: Ep. 240, "Lightning Bowler Society" Written by Peter Saisselin."
