The Sonic 3 Novelization is a Scam

[@masongoddamnwright]

The last part is missing because we need to wait for the other half of the book to release and use Lock-On Technology /j

[@SonicTheory96]

😂💀

[@SonicTheHedgehogX15]

Sonic 3 and knuckles

[@abigailaceves9230]

Really? Did they say when will the second half be released & what is Lock-On Technology?

[@masongoddamnwright]

@@abigailaceves9230 (I'm joking, I'm poking fun at the original Sonic 3 game, which was split into two games for a bunch of reasons and could be reassembled into one full game by attaching the two game cartridges together)

[@claudiagiraldo8705]

@@abigailaceves9230 its a joke

[@MelonTartVA]

I thought they left out the ending to keep people from spoiling themselves by going to peak at the book instead of spending the money to see the movie. I was irritated by that pull at the end. Hopefully they’ll release a version with the ending in tact

[@BlackFlash09]

It would be nice if these expansions are brought up in spin-off series. Like Wade calling out GUN for two agents going rogue and endangering Knuckles, his family, and himself.

[@SetoShadowVT]

I'm kinda surprised Knuckles didn't do that himself with Walters after the brawl with Shadow

[@jojohakuzho]

I was watching the video and thinking to myself "he seems awfully positive, did I get clickbaited?" but no the book is legit incomplete

[@Gamemaster16065]

I was seriously considering why he was being positive for most of the video.

[@hyenaholicproductions9033]

The Sonic 1 novelisation ended with Agent Stone turning out to be a double agent. It was wrong. Twice.

[@SonicTheory96]

Yep, pointed all that out in my other video. Still covered the full story though lol

[@KOTEBANAROT]

It wasnt WRONG. It was based on the early script. Agent Stone wasn't envisioned to be the character we see in the movies, he was literally just some guy who worked for Robotnik - in fact, Robotnik had tons of other agents in the first movie. It's only because of Lee and Jim hitting off and constantly asking Jeff Fowler to put more scenes of them together that we now have this fairly beloved character who even got an action figure.

[@Trance88]

Wow. So the Sonic 3 book is essentially like a long awaited download reaching 99% and then suddenly erroring out. Wowzers.

[@im_.a-bear5996]

I wish the movie kept that scene of Sonic noticing the hurt in shadow, it makes his character a bit more better, instead of just having the handcuffs ready when he meets shadow

[@SonicTheory96]

I agree

[@PikaLink91]

I don't mind that omition to be honest. At the square they have been told that some maniac is loose so they engage Shadow combat ready, thus why it makes sense that Sonic wouldn't immediately notice such a minute detail. It is then at the old base when he sees Shadow's home that he comes to realize why he is so angry. Makes perfect sense.

[@thejellyjar]

The absence of the latter part of the movie/story is unfortunately very normal. The Marvel MCU novelizations exclude far more than the Sonic 3 novelization did. I remember Captain America: Civil War only contained the first 30-40 minutes of the film. I completely agree that the tactic is a scam and still frown upon its use for the Sonic 3 novelization, but I would not call the book a scam in of itself for using an established tactic.

[@171QA]

The Bumblebee novelization and Transformers One also cut off before the third acts.

[@SonicTheory96]

Jeez

[@lance2580]

Quite poetically, I'm pretty sure it was the _Transformers: Dark of the Moon_ novelization that screwed over any future novelizations because it infamously spoiled the story's intended ending before the film's intended release date, so the ending was hastily changed to just having Optimus Prime execute Megatron and Sentinel Prime. I'm also certain that starting from _Transformers: Age of Extinction_ and onward, the _Transformers_ film franchise stopped having spin-offs like comic books and tie-in video games because they wanted to minimize pre-release spoilers. All we got in terms of video games for _Age of Extinction_ was the infamous _Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark,_ and _Transformers: The Last Knight_ simply had no tie-in video game. That also reminds me, Game Apologist made a video talking about the _Shadow Generations_ _Sonic Movie 3_ DLC Pack and how it unintentionally feels like a call-back to the extinct genre of the movie tie-in video game.

[@Signerdragon123]

@@lance2580 Yup.

[@crazycockatoo5816]

They even pulled the same stunt with The Mario Movie. Although it never got a proper novel, they made 2 storybooks and an early-reading book for it, and they all get to the Mario Kart scene before they end abruptly. And the characters don't even utter a single word at all in any of those books. At least those later Transformers books and the Sonic Movie 3 Book have characters saying SOMETHING in these books.

[@rickster008]

just notice the irony 1:13 Jorma Taccone is from the lonely island group and in the movie he's working in prison island

[@substandardeagle4738]

Maybe it's just me but I feel like the movie did a well enough job giving the audience a clear hint on how Gerald is still alive by showing him lick Shadow's quill after revealing his age to Ivo.

[@SonicTheory96]

I honestly didn't put 2 and 2 together 😅

[@Cheri_Blast]

… I didn’t catch on, but that makes perfect sense It would also explain how Ivo survived the end of Sonic 2, and might survive Sonic 3 (if Super Shadow saves him), if their quills have life-preserving properties

[@substandardeagle4738]

@@Cheri_Blast I'm not sure if Sonic's quills have the same effect as Shadow's because I think in a deleted scene Agent Stone explains that Robotnik had to go through a lot of surgeries following his defeat to Super Sonic.

[@Cheri_Blast]

@substandardeagle4738 He still survived a hundred-foot fall surrounded by a crumbling giant robot - plus, with the fact they _both_ take hits like a pair of druggies, there's clearly a connection they're trying to draw 🤔

[@TomWilcox-p2o]

And that deleted scene is actually still canon :D

[@Ranni]

Yeah, considering that most people who buy this book have probably already watched the film, it's disappointing that they'd remove the entire third act.

[@SonicTheory96]

Yeah its a very poor decision that doesn't reflect well.

[@teleblue]

This explains how Sonic new Maria’s name without anyone telling him 💀

[@moczs]

When did Sonic mentioned Maria? I only remember him seeing a photo of her

[@teleblue]

@moczs On the moon while talking to Shadow.

[@PikaLink91]

F*ck you're right!! Plothole!!

[@aguy4326]

@@teleblue in that scene shadow says the name maria in reference to the person he lost so sonic just put two and two together

[@ExtremeLuqDude4024]

@@aguy4326 I remember he said, "I was with her" not explicitly stating her name. So idk,

[@PikaLink91]

Honestly GUN having traps inside their building instead of the forcefield makes more sense, because in the movie the forcefield has such a big reach that you'd wonder how normal civilians don't just casually walk into it.

[@RenoReborn]

Have you a Sonic game? GUN drives an oversized truck through a Civilian neighbourhood at mach speed, their blatant disregard for public safety is well within canon

[@TheCarsonXFallGuy]

7:59 this could mean that the chaos energy can slow time. But this might be how sonic posibly time travels to the future with metal sonic

[@abigailaceves9230]

Well, I do hope Shadow gets a spin-off miniseries, but a standalone is also fine by me.

[@jabberwock6]

keanu is too expensive for a television series

[@Aishi-qm6su]

A spin-off movie probably be more likely to happen

[@RenoReborn]

Idris and Keanu have expressed interest in a Shadow and Knuckles project

[@dawnsantowasso7847]

This could have been the best novelization of a movie of all time if it kept the third act. I hope sonic 4 has a better novelization that tells the WHOLE story, not just 2 acts.

[@lavender9844]

RIGHT? I WAS SO MAD. AS SOMEONE WHO MADE A FULL BOOK REPORT ON THE FIRST ONE THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE

[@KOTEBANAROT]

There are many novelizations that don't have endings. They serve simply as advertising for the movie. It doesn't make it a scam.

[@SonicTheory96]

By definition, novelizations are supposed to adapt a story from a different medium. They aren't "advertisements" for said story, so yeah, I'd say it's a scam, lol

[@cobalt_effect]

I think I have an idea as to why the finale was cut from the book. The film seems to have cycled through multiple versions of the finale in development. There are deleted scenes, storyboards, and concept art that suggest time travel being at play with Super Sonic and Shadow fighting the Eclipse Cannon. Perhaps the novel was written and finalized before the film staff settled on the final version? Who knows... I would definitely consider this novel as the superior version of the story, though. Expanding on Shadow's hatred of Walters, Rockwell's distrust of aliens, and the purpose of researching Shadow's energy does a LOT to fill in many gaps in the film that annoyed me. The extra effort of continuity by referencing the Knuckles show when appropriate was also a nice touch. The exclusion of the Robotnik dance scene was also a plus for me, sorry.

[@SonicTheory96]

Yeah definitely a lot of cool additions that I think would've benefited the film. I still think there needs to be an ending though.

[@Dragonsphinx]

I think that this may well have been a possible factor behind the missing ending, but personally I feel that-if running out of time was the problem-the should have taken a gamble at including whatever ending they thought was most likely to make it in. Just missing the final third feels really cheap.

[@PikaLink91]

While I like that the book restores the power balance between Sonic and Shadow, the movie gave us what we wanted too: a power fantasy with Shadow. The movie is visual so we want to see something cool. While a book, that is not visual, has an excuse to instead develop more on character.

[@BlueJack222]

Oh man what the heck I would have really liked to see the last act in a lot of context given the fact that the novelization touch upon the time travel concept that was cut from the movie earlier on

[@jaytime3435]

Maybe Paramount should start making directors cut version's of this film if a lot important or neat details are missing in the final one I mean people do complain it's quite short

[@TomWilcox-p2o]

Yes! If anything, this movie deserved to be longer than Sonic 2. Perhaps add all the deleted scenes from the bonus features as well. (Even that streamer subplot, as awful as it is, it’s still canon and does make sense when you realize Ivo’s funding was cut off in the previous movie, so he needs some other kind of way to bring in revenue.) I wouldn’t call this a “directors cut”, more so an Extended Version for the fans to indulge in and enjoy some more of the movie they loved.

[@substandardeagle4738]

@@TomWilcox-p2o I feel like Sonic 2 is only longer because of the wedding scenes.

[@rayvenkman2087]

I think Sonic 3 as is flows well despite the shorter runtime. Some of the best movies like Batman Mask of The Phantasam don’t have long runtimes but conveys so much in shorter runtimes.

[@s3329-A]

last time something was called a "directors cut" it ended badly

[@TomWilcox-p2o]

Nope, even with the wedding scene, Sonic 2 would have been around 115-116 minutes, that’s still longer than 3.

[@kendalberry9058]

The for the 3rd movie novelization, I didn't like that it doesn't barely have how entire movie ends. But the first movie and the 2nd novelization's do have how they have ended

[@SonicTheHedgehogX15]

13:03 notice that they used game sonic in this artwork

[@kclink1579]

The book literally has no ending and leaves out a whole act, obviously scam.

[@SonicTheory96]

Yep! It's so disappointing

[@Mr.Feather130]

I think it’s rushed since it’s release around the film’s release which explains the third act is missing

[@sophiecooper1824]

It's so you watch the movie. I still remember that i had a novelization of Pirates of the caribbean 3 and they also left out the entire third act. They probably didn't want to spoil the ending

[@Mr.Feather130]

@ wait that also have that problem just like the sonic movie 3 novel?

[@sophiecooper1824]

@@Mr.Feather130 it's because the book often releases before the movie so the entire ending would be spoiled

[@ChaosAttorney]

I guess some of these expansions were cut from the movie

[@NaOkii]

Even if it's a scam, this book kind of fixes a lot of my issues I have with Sonic 3. The first half felt incredibly rushed, as if everything needs to be ready for the third act. I especially love that both the Commander and Rockwell have actually more of a presence

[@JakeThehedgehog-m1x]

ooh..so the reason why you think this book is a scam is because it was unfinished like you are enjoying the book and suddenly ends very anti-climatic...wow i can definitely see why that feels real sucks.

[@BrandonScott-mi5pz]

GREAT SONIC THEORY SONIC THE HEDGEHOG THREE NOVELIZATION BOOK AND DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SONIC MOVIES.

[@SonicTheHedgehogX15]

I meant tbf the 3rdact was pretty good, tho i woudlve liked to see more emotions and talk from them in the book, like in sa2 they talk to each other like “maybe your the ultimate life form” or stuff, the fact that the world is ending hits harder over time, i hope they make a book of the 3rd act or something cuz i really wanna know Tho i definitely like sonics more emotionally depth approach reminding me of game sonic, however i guess its better for movie sonic to learn that in 3rd so in sonic 4 he can be like game sonic more instead of the 3rd, I dislike they took away the knuckles moment tho

[@SonicTheory96]

I don't think they should make a second book to finish off the third movie. It should've been in the book to begin with, like you mention it could've added some great character moments and inward reflection.

[@jagames12]

Hear me out when I say they're gonna make a part two of the Sonic Movie 3 book and say "hey look! We did it like the Sonic 3 game back then! Two things, one story!"

[@heysoupboi13]

16:00 that sounds like such a good call back to scrapbrain and other Robotnik levels i really wish we got that 🙏😓

[@elcu-chao95]

2 acts and half of Sonic 3 Ah yes, I've seen this before

[@simplykids5424]

I loved your video on the differences the original one and I bought the second and third book because because I wanted to see the differences for myself. I haven’t watched this video yet, but I’m guessing that you mean that it doesn’t reveal the whole climax. It just says watch the movie to find out which kind of makes me angry because you know I spent some money on it, but it was still a pretty good book.

[@SonicTheory96]

Yep, I really enjoyed the changes and additions in this novel but the exclusion of the ending very much feels like a scam.

[@Living_In_Paradise]

Reminds me of the "Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F" manga ending right when Freezer is about to transform into Golden Freezer.

[@Living_In_Paradise]

(And the Dragon Ball Super manga entirely skips the Resurrection F arc, It just tells you that It happend off camera.)

[@DarkElfDiva]

"The worst Sonic book ever" I'm guessing you've never heard of The Lara-Su Chronicles, then?

[@SonicTheory96]

Except that isn't an official Sonic book lol

[@DarkElfDiva]

@@SonicTheory96 Is the novelization official? It seems like a bootleg.

[@SonicTheory96]

@ All three of the Sonic novelizations are official

[@DarkElfDiva]

@@SonicTheory96 That's kinda sad, TBH.

[@Steve-e3v6e]

nope i never heard of it

[@reading_MOVIES]

Looks like this is becoming a bit of a thing with studios and publishers. I hear Transformers One novelisation is the same where they just omit the third act. There really should be a warning on the books and online. In the past publishers asked the writers to leave out certain details like spoilers. Max Allan Collins had to do so with Dick Tracy (1990) which made it a 'Who Dunnit' story without revealing the end. Alan Dean Foster had to rewrite the ending of Terminator: Salvation (2009) to omit the identity of one of the characters to avoid spoilers. It's silly but if the chance of spoilers worries them they should withhold the books until a few months after the film (Like Disney did with the Sequel Trilogy).

[@BurningFlamesofDivineDragon]

If they release the full novelizations of Sonic 3 and Transformers One, these versions would be cool collector editions.

[@retrocar7761]

The fact the book just abruptly ends without a finale was enough for me not to buy the book.

[@josephchambers2000]

I would imagine if the Doctor Who Target novelisations pulled this stunt, they would not still be going.

[@rayvenkman2087]

It helps they have Terrance Dicks to do most of the heavy lifting and it was before many of the stories were made available again or in the case of stories like The Massacre, our only look at the stories that don’t exist anymore.

[@minicle426]

Back when the Target novels first came out. Repeats and videos weren't really a thing. Some of them even improve on and fix bits of their tv counterparts. Such as Day of the Daleks.

[@superior5792]

im so glad you bring up the prequill comic. This is such an important CANON comic and its odd that somehow nobody knows about this.

[@Lukethefox]

So this book basically did what Archie Sonic pulled when it did 'adaptations' of the Genesis/Megadrive Sonic trilogy.

[@xiiithhazard8802]

Just got done reading the book, and as a writer myself, I have to mention that it was actually very poorly written in some places and even downright unreadable in others. I'm still cringing from how they split the team inside the abandoned G.U.N. base. That was just plan lazy. However, I did finish it, and while I was annoyed that it ended so abruptly, the extra details were enough to make me want more.

[@codm22712]

I just finished watching this thing wow it was good

[@MRMintyMinty]

Wait so they conpletley skipped over Shadows unfathomly hard break out scene in the book 😱😭💀

[@BradleyIhde-qp6hy]

Unhumanity

[@moczs]

I thought that this novelization was interesting, even if the super Sonic act was not there.

[@samuraiturtle.2637]

Wait, movie novelizations are still a thing?

[@mitchfletcher2386]

Yes, and I love it.

[@Seanakes]

the book aint a scam its because there werent allowed to use the ending because it would spoil the first half of sonic 4

[@SonicTheory96]

That makes no sense 💀. It's a novelization, so what you're essentially saying is the movie should've ended before the Shadow and Sonic fight as well.

[@tysonpeterson9552]

​@SonicTheory96 I think the ending in the novel would've probably been similar to what's in the concept art where super sonic and shadow are fighting while the eclipse cannon is destroying earth, which brings in the time travel aspect.

[@AiGeneratedWaluigi]

@@tysonpeterson9552then rewrite that part of the book

[@JakeThehedgehog-m1x]

Off topic i was curious did you became a sonic fan in 2020's by the movies?

[@SonicTheory96]

Yep!

[@JakeThehedgehog-m1x]

​​@@SonicTheory96 nice 👍 guess the movies had an impact after all..

[@BrandonScott-mi5pz]

EXCELLENT SONIC THEORY WORK.

[@olyviermonteau4300]

interesting.

[@BrettKolb-o9n]

Me watching this entire video: Man this seems like a great purchase, how on earth could this be a scam. Ohhhhhh yeah no, that feels scummy

[@BradleyIhde-qp6hy]

Shadow might be a god

[@Mythicalstories7080]

At this point whats the point of the Comics & Books of famous franchises which are suppose to be canon but also cause problems since first it was Avatar the Last Airbender Comics but since Korra exist whats the point of the comics or books since idk why not animate them so it felt canon since infact nobody talks about the books or comics after watching all of Atla S1 to S3 they just dont know they exist & also this happens with Godzilla as well with there own comic books but when monarch legacies shows up it makes no sense anymore aka never make comics or books to a famous franchise either movie or show

[@minicle426]

No issue for me, since I never cared for Atla in the first place.

[@SugarThyme]

Interesting. I've gone over the differences between the Megamind movie and the book before, and when I did that, I figured that what happens is they probably get an early draft of the movie script to turn into a novel. The fact that the trailers showed parts of the novel that weren't in the final part of the movie cemented that for me. The novel would have a conversation, for example, where you see one-half of it was in the trailer, and one-half was in the final movie, suggesting that the entire thing probably used to be in the script, and the first section was edited out. The fact that they removed the entire ending makes me wonder if there were such massive changes that they couldn't publish the book version, or maybe it even had spoilers that will be in Sonic 4, but the author probably had a deadline to get the book out (after all, I would guess the reason they get an early script to work from is because they have to have it done and published by a certain time). I suspect it's not just a marketing ploy. I think it's probably, "We can't publish that. Also, it's due tomorrow." Which makes me really curious. The books give us a great idea of what was cut from the movie, but in this instance, the movie and concept art make me wonder what was cut from the book that they didn't want people to see. Also, it sounds like an extended edition of Sonic 3 could be awesome. I think the most common complaint is that it felt a little rushed, and some of these details would be wonderful to put back in.

[@mattevans4377]

Hopefully if there is enough backlash, they'll fix it. It's worked before.....

[@Mr.Feather130]

So basically like some movie novels where it felt like a scam?

[@BasedVegeta]

18:32 Really dude? THAT is your reason? I got annoyed when I first read the book too, but come on... 18:46 Ok yes, BUT...those scenes are better WATCHED than READ 20:00 Stop being dramatic, there's an obvious reason why they cut out the Super scenes: Action speaks louder than words

[@SonicTheory96]

You're free to be angry if you want but a novelization is supposed to adapt the source material so maybe you like not getting things in full but most people would expect to lol. It's not the end of the world but I do find it scummy.

[@Raincloud5137]

There are novels?????

[@SonicTheory96]

Yup lol

[@PikaLink91]

I had no idea these existed.

[@TevyaSmolka]

Wait there was a novelization of Sonic the hedgehog 3 honestly this doesn’t seem necessary to me in my opinion.

[@rayvenkman2087]

If it was like Revenge of the Sith, it would have been far better than what we got.

[@TevyaSmolka]

@ I can understand that

[@PennFaulkner]

YES! FIRST COMMENT AND LIKE!!! Also I never pay any attention to the novels that accompany movies like this. If its gonna retell the same events, I wonder, "what was even the point?"

[@SonicTheory96]

There are some cool changes in the books which draw me to them, however as you'll see there's a big change at the end that makes this book a scam imo

[@minicle426]

Then you get the reverse of this sort of thing. Such as Sailor Moon Crys-Ter-Mos. Which took an already half-baked manga, and managed to make a worse copy of it, with even less substance and characterisation then was originally present...

[@PikaLink91]

Gotta love these misleading clickbait title that hinge on negativity to engage you. I am at 7:35 and several point being brought up so far that expands on the movie lore already sounds so appealing to me I wanna give it a read myself. I mean, the title could've been something like "The Sonic 3 Novelization is BETTER than you think" going with the whole caps lock trend I also hate. UPDATE: I finished watching and now understand the scam part, though I feel the video for 2/3 of its runtime leading me to believe that the title was clickbait by highlighting all the good changes to the film, was uncool and misleading. I mean this book sounds awesome if it wasn't for the missing ending.

[@JakeThehedgehog-m1x]

there's nothing misleading about the title he explains the scam part later on it basically tells you the good,the bad and the scam part of sonic 3 novelization

[@PikaLink91]

@@JakeThehedgehog-m1x It is misleading because he doesn't tell you WHEN he'll get to the scam part, so 2/3 of the video where he does nothing but praise the book, he makes you believe that there really is nothing negative about and that the scam title was just bogus to make you click.

[@SonicTheory96]

Sorry if you felt it was misleading, but there was so much I liked about the book which made it hit even harder when it concluded without a proper ending.

[@PikaLink91]

@@SonicTheory96 All good buddy, sorry if I came off too aggressive. If anything it was a nice surprise how much there actually was to like about it.

[@BenHuether]

You don’t know, maybe they will release the full version of the book.

[@fionali4502]

At least, the novelisation of the Ratchet & Clank movie went all the way to the end. It’s been years since the last time I read the Ratchet & Clank movie novelisation so I don’t know if the novelisation is different from the Ratchet & Clank movie or the plot of the film is jusf copied word for word.

[@SonicTheory96]

That sounds like a fun book, I used to love ratchet and clank when I was younger

[@fionali4502]

@ There’s Ratchet & Clank: The Movie Novel, Ratchet & Clank: The Official Guide and Ratchet & Clank: Hero Time. These books were published by Scholastic Corporation to promote the movie. Coincidentally, the Ratchet & Clank movie is available to watch on Prime Video and surprisingly, the hotel I’m staying at in my birthplace, London, has the film. I’m currently at my birthplace, London, at the time of writing this comment to attend the Megacon Live London convention. This is the first Megacon Live convention I attended for the first time. It’s funny that London is one of the locations Sonic and the cast visited in the Sonic The Hedgehog 3 movie. I’d preferrably the movie playing the song, “Swinging London Town” by Girls Aloud, to set the tone/scene of Dr. Robotnik’s team arriving at London. The most current Ratchet & Clank game is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart which came out back in 2021. The PC version of this game came out on 26th July 2023.

[@spidersonic-b5q]

I think it doesn't cover the super sonic portion because of spoilers it dropped before the movie did after all

[@SonicTheory96]

No it didn't, if you watch the video or even got the book you would know it released the same day as the film lol

[@spidersonic-b5q]

@SonicTheory96 ok but it's still for spoiler reasons as some countries didn't get it until Christmas after Christmas and this year

[@SonicTheory96]

It literally isn't for spoiler reasons because it would still by definition spoil the first two thirds of the film 😂

[@AiGeneratedWaluigi]

They already spoiled 2/3 of the movie. If it’s for spoiler reasons then don’t make the book. Also it’s your fault for getting spoiled for the movie if you decide to read the novelisation first

[@spidersonic-b5q]

@@SonicTheory96 but here's the thing it's not the same as the movie so is it a spoiler