Ugly Sonic Saved Us From Jar Jar Binks In Chip 'N Dale

thegamer.com:

Paramount and Sega first revealed the big-screen design of Sonic the Hedgehog to the world in 2019. Suffice to say, the big unveiling didn't get the reaction the studios desired. The backlash was so fierce, the movie got delayed to give its creators time to make a Sonic design that was much more faithful to the video game version. Most would have thought that would be the last we saw of the OG Sonic design, but no. He made an unexpected cameo appearance in Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers, but it turns out that spot wasn't always reserved for “Ugly Sonic”.

No, as revealed by Chip 'N Dale's storyboard artist Simeon Wilkins (via GamesRadar) that spot was originally intended for Jar Jar Binks. “A bunch of characters were swapped out. Most notably, Jar Jar was replaced with Ugly Sonic,” Wilkins revealed.

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The artist posted the series of storyboard images he's referencing in which Chip 'N Dale can be seen conversing with Jar Jar who is sitting at the booth that would eventually belong to Ugly Sonic in the finished product. A number of the other characters that did make it into the final cut can be seen throughout.

The story behind getting Sonic's original movie design into a movie streaming exclusively on Disney+ is a fascinating one. Chip 'N Dale director Akiva Schaffer explained the same animation company that created the binned version of Sonic from his own movie was hired to create the similar-looking ugly version for the Disney movie. That's why the design looks so similar to the actual Ugly Sonic as it was designed by the same group of people.

A number of Disney characters make cameos in Rescue Rangers, which is likely why Jar Jar