sthnews: I'd like to thank Shayne of Sonicunderground.net for doing this interview,thanks Shayne Thames!
Shayne Thames:It's not a problem :-)
sthnews: Once again,another big name in the Sonic Internet Community,explain what you do in the community.
Shayne Thames:Well, I guess you could say I provide the best and more accurate information on the lastest Sonic cartoon, Sonic Underground.
sthnews: Have you been a SU fan from the start and were you a Sonic fan before SU?
Shayne Thames:Yes to both questions. Interestingly enough, I had opened SU.net the same day that it began airing in the United States. As for being a Sonic fan prior to SU, I was really absorbed into the comics and games at the time.
sthnews: How did you start SU.Net,was it planned to be a regular Sonic fan site or did you plan on it to be about SU,and SU only?
Shayne Thames:I had originally planned it to be an SU info site, but it later started to develope some intrest from other people, and the site started growing from there.
sthnews: I remember SU to be bigger with fan scripts written by you,artwork,and more interesting things,whered it all go to?
Shayne Thames:We're still in the process of rebuilding the site from when we had our big server move over the past summer. Hopefully it should be back sometime in 2002.
sthnews: I remember a while back you telling me your website used to be Sonicteam.com or something to that sort?
Shayne Thames:SonicTeam.com. Yes, that was probably the best event to happen to me.
sthnews: Tell us the story of what happened.
Shayne Thames:Well as a little background info. SonicTeam.com was my orginal Sonic fansite. It wasn't all that big because the site kept changing and nothing stayed the same. When SU.net came along, ST.com pretty much died, and it was just rotting there. So was my ex-email, which I should have been checking. Anyway, One day in March of 2000, I had come home and found this HUGE package sitting in the hallway. I opened it, and it was some Sonic Adventures plushies, with a letter. It was from the creator of Sonic himself, Yuji Naka, asking if he could have my old domain site, SonicTeam.com. I just HAD to say YES.
Click Letter To Englarge
Shayne Thames:I nearly fainted, truely. Instead I screamed and went to tell the first person I could find on AIM, who happened to be Vector of SonicHQ.
sthnews: Vector made fun of you and said yeah right,correct?
Shayne Thames:No, but he WAS very skeptical and thought it may have been a fake from someone else. So I scanned the letter and showed him the proof that the letter was legit.
sthnews: When did you start your craze for Sonic The Hedgehog?
Shayne Thames:Well to say it truely started when my cousin exposed me to her Genesis when I was 7, that was around 1991. I liked the games, but I didn't become crazy for it until I finally got to see the SatAM series on USA. That changed my life.
sthnews: What did you think of SatAM series and did it help you get into the SU series?Also,were you a fan of AoSTH?
Shayne Thames:SatAM was really good, it had some nice storylines, and some well likable characters, though I have to be honest and say that Sally grinds my nerves. But she's actually more likable in SatAm than she was in the comics. But SatAM had nothing to do with my being drawn towards the SU series. On a side note, I'm NOT the biggest fan of AoStH, but I've learned to tolerate it after putting up with the likes of the Archie Sonic comics.
Shayne Thames:I guess I liked the idea of Sonic actually HAVING a family (save Sonic Comics), not to mention I like the idea of him being a prince! They also have some interesting storylines when they're not focused around Sonia (Ben Hurst and Pat Allee had this annoying pattern of centering their stories around Sonia). Oh yeah, and Knuckles being in it! The episodes with him in it are probably the best!
sthnews: Why do you think SU was cancelled,and if a new Sonic cartoon series was started,what would you like it to be besides SU?
Shayne Thames:Bad airtimes, lack of advertising, and the fact it was syndicated is a bad combo for a hit series. They could of found better voice actors for SOME of the characters (Knuckles and Sonia mainly). As for the next series, I keep hearing rumors about a "Sonic Kids" series, which seems to draw my interest. However, my biggest hope is that DiC would get some ideas from SA2 and create a saga based on that.
sthnews: I talked to a few people about that Sonic Kids series,though it sounds like a bad idea.A segaSonic series would be more like it,eh?What are your most memorable moments in the Sonic Internet Comminuty(Besides SonicTeam.com)?
Shayne Thames:Sonic Radio. That was my first big sucess, and probably the best that's still going to date.
sthnews: Explain what Sonic Radio's about?Do you listen to classic Sonic music?
Shayne Thames:Sonic Radio was codenamed "Project R" back in October of 1998. On December 5ht, 1998, I had aired the VERY FIRST Sonic internet radio program. It was an hour show, the first half-hour was a radio drama of Sonic SatAM. The second half-hour was the Sonic R Countdown, which played the top 5 voted Sonic songs.
sthnews: A while back you were creating a Sonic Underground video game RPG,or something of that sort?Explain this.
Shayne Thames:Yes, that project had been changed time and time again, undergoing major decisions. We had been jumping on from making a sequal to Sonic R for the Dreamcast, to an orginal videogame based on fan characters that were created. Now, its in the stage of becomig a text-based multiplayer RPG for both the PC and Dreamcast.
sthnews: Do you think it will ever be on the PC and DC,though the Dreamcast is slowly dying out.
Shayne Thames:PC is no doubt. DC I'm pretty sure. Unlike our ogininal intentions of marketing the idea to Sega, this will be a free java-based game that anyone can access.
sthnews: What's the game about?Is it about Sonic Underground and how do you play it?
Shayne Thames:Right now, there's no real details I can deliver publicly at this time.
sthnews: I understand,What plans do you have for SU.Net in the near future?
Shayne Thames:I BEEN hoping to release the Season 3 episodes I had been working on this past summer. Hopefully I'll be able to release this episodes when I get the chance to format them.
sthnews:I was just looking through your site and saw the Sonic Underground RPG,explain what this is and what you do?
Shayne Thames:Yes. This is a message board RPG, mantained by me and the staff members. It's considered like writing a round-robin. Each player gets to add a part to the storyline that's set.
sthnews: Does each player have to be a certian character?
Shayne Thames:Fancharacters are optional, but not required. We just make sure the no character is more powerful than the other, and we avoid crossover profiles like the plague.
sthnews: If you could change one thing about the Sonic Underground cartoon series,what would it be?
Shayne Thames:Sonic's fear of water. THAT was a little ridiculous.
sthnews: Sonic has never been able to swim,though he could float to the bottom...I'd like to thank you for taking time to do this interview,good luck on SonicUnderground.Net and have a Merry Christmas.
Shayne Thames:Merry Christmas to you too.
sthnews: Woah,Yuji himself sent a letter.I'm sure you must of felt like you were gonna die when you saw his name in the signature?
