| “ | I'm seventeen and I'm screwed. I can't vote, can't drink, but I have to put up with crap from everyone. | „ |
| ~ Jimmy complaining about what his life's like. |
Jimmy Hedgeman, nicknamed Sonic, was set to be the main protagonist for the unreleased Sonic: The Movie, as detailed in the pitch for the film. He is a teenage son of Dr. Hedgeman, who gains the power to turn into a half-hedgehog mutant after a lab accident, and sets off to rescue his father from Dr. Paul Elleson.
Biography[]
Past[]
Jimmy was born as the son of a biologist. His grandfather once tried to break the sound barrier, but died in the process, with Jimmy wearing his jacket, with "Sonic or bust" written on it, to this day as a memento.
Sonic: The Movie[]
One day, Jimmy and his friend were caught speeding and drinking beer by the police, which Dr. Hedgeman was eventually informed of. When Jimmy was taken to his father's working place by him and showed the lab around to a hedgehog specimen to pass time, his father argued that his son needed to straighten out, even threatening to send him to a military academy. Suddenly, Dr. Hedgeman was approached by a group of thug with an offer of a high-paying job for their employer, Paul Elleson. When he refused, the thugs kidnapped him, and Jimmy got wounded and contaminated with a blue liquid, "hedgehog dormant DNA", in the resulting commotion.
Jimmy chased after the thugs carrying his father away, but lost track of them. He tried to explain the situation to the police, but they didn't understand what he was saying due to his speech suddenly going too fast to comprehend. Eventually, Jimmy approached his Spanish teacher to help him determine where the thugs came from. Pinpointing their origin to somewhere in vicinity of Peru.
Having stolen his father's jacket and credit card and assumed his identity, Jimmy booked a flight in Peru. While reading through a Sports Illustrated swimsuit special, he suddenly experienced an adrenaline rush that led to a growth of blue fur on his body, which disappeared when he calmed down. In Peru, Jimmy fell for two con artists who stole his backpack and threw him into a river. After barely managing to swim to the shore, Jimmy mutated further and had to fight an unknown beast that charged him and knocked him out.
Jimmy woke up on the island just as a mutant creature tried to throw him into a pit of sharp rocks. His fall was stopped by a net belonging to a mutant named Kentar, nicknamed "Knuckles" for his long arms by Jimmy. The other mutant and a wild teen Amanda Morgan followed Jimmy, and then all four approached the mutants' elder Taticus. After examining Jimmy, he declared that it was only appopriate to keep what they could use, with other mutants interpreting it as permission to kill the newcomer. Amanda, however, argued to give Jimmy a chance to fight for his fate in a tournament against Kentar. As he was getting ready for it, Amanda brought the boy food, and nicknamed him "Sonic" due to the words on his jacket.
The next day, Jimmy and Kentar began to fight, but the mutants' village was ambushed by Elleson's men, who were tasked with bringing live food for his new snake mutants. Jimmy and Amanda avoided capture, and the latter told the former about Elleson and his actions, making Jimmy conclude that the scientist is responsible for his father's capture. Meanwhile, Kentar made a deal with Elleson to bring him Jimmy, know Elleson learned could change between human and mutant forms, if he let other mutants go, to which the doctor agreed on a 24-hour deadline.
Jimmy resolved to rescue his father and the captive mutants, along with finding a cure for his condition, which he was afraid was killing him. During a rescue operation, the guards, tipped-off by Kentar, a number of mutants. Taticus began to mentor Jimmy on mastering his transformation for another fight, but got killed by Face before he could finish. Realizing that Elleson broke his promise, Kentar felt remorse for his betrayal and agreed to help Jimmy out.
After more training by Kentar and Amanda, Sonic was ready to storm Paul Elleson's base, where he nevertheless got captured. After learning of the doctor's plan to use Sonic's blood to transmutate all of humanity into more disciplined creature, the teen nicknamed the villain "Robotnik" for his cold-heartedness. Blackmailed with his father's safety, Jimmy had to consent to tests being held on him. Once Elleson completed the needed DNA pattern, he tried to dispose of both Sonic and his father by feeding them to a mutant, but they escaped. A fight between mutants on one side and the doctor's goons on another broke out, with Elleson even mutating himself to get a fighting chance. Eventually, Sonic not only defeated Elleson, but destroyed the rocket he planned to use to alter the Earth's ecosphere, foiling his plans. Once everyone got to safety and awaited help from the mainland, the Hedgemans reconciled, and Jimmy told his father that if he thought an ordinary teen was hard to handle, he hadn't seen nothing yet, hinting at his new form.
Trivia[]
- Both before and after the full text of the pitch went public, it and its version of Sonic were widely decried as being almost nothing like their video game inspiration.