Satellite Swindle

"Satellite Swindle" is the eighth episode in the anime series, Sonic X. It first aired on 25 May 2003 and 25 October 2003 in Japan and the United States respectively.

Appearances
Characters:
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Amy Rose
 * Cream The Rabbit
 * Cheese
 * Christopher Thorndyke
 * Lindsey Thorndyke
 * Chuck Thorndyke
 * Ella
 * Mr. Tanaka
 * Next
 * President
 * Doctor Eggman
 * Bocoe
 * Decoe
 * Bokkun
 * E-90 Super Sweeper

Japanese version

 * "SONIC DRIVE" - Opening theme
 * "Fu-tu-re"- Closing theme

English version

 * "Gotta Go Fast" - Opening theme (USA and CAN)
 * "Sonic X" - Opening theme (AUS, NZ and UK)
 * "Gotta Go Fast" (shortened) - Closing theme

Plot
The episode starts out with Eggman putting his robot cards into the Selection Machine right off the bat. It lands on an incredibly large green robot known as E-90 Super Sweeper. It takes off into the sky and then into space after being released from Eggman's base. The personnel at Area 99 receive word of the rocket launch of Super Sweeper. They immediately know this has to do with Eggman. Eggman then activates his robot in space. Super Sweeper produces a large red vacuum and uses electricity to draw in and eventually suck into its body all the satellites in its wake above the planet. This disrupts military communications and Area 99 panics. Eggman claims that he is going to use them for robot parts, effectively killing two birds with one stone. The leader at Area 99 demands contact with help.

Meanwhile at the Thorndyke Mansion, Cream and Cheese are watching "The Next Show" and Amy and Ella are putting pies freshly baked on to the table, in front of Chris and Tails. Amy claims she made it for Sonic. Tails reaches for one while licking his lips claiming that he'll take it to Sonic for him. Amy denies Tails' offer, saying she'll take it to him herself. She grabs the plate and swings it back which causes Tails to get launched behind her and hit the TV. As soon as he collided with it, the TV immediately went to static, which disappoints Cream. Tails apologizes while Chris grabs the remote and starts to flick to other channels. However, all they get is static. Cream and Cheese start to cry as they come to the conclusion that the television died. Sonic comes in through the window in response to all the noise. Chris explains the situation to him and Sonic asks if that is a problem. They all express their personal problems with losing the television before Bokkun flies in and produces a mini television set. Everyone quickly hid behind some furniture, expecting an explosion. Dr. Eggman comes on the screen showing him a video of Super Sweeper sucking in all the satellites in the stratosphere (including the television satellite), which surprises everyone. Eggman continues to tell Sonic that he should stay out of the way for he is only having a little fun using the satellites to create more robots. He then says that Bokkun will become obsolete to which Bokkun begins cries at.

Chris asks what E-90 is to Tails. Tails replies that E-90 is probably one of Eggman's robots and wonders what a stratosphere is. Chuck then bursts in and puts it plainly that "It's a layer of air miles above and it's as high as the sky!". Tails looks a bit disappointed and confused. Chuck then grabs Bokkun and tries to take him away because of his noise. Bokkun tells him to let him go then produces an explosion. Bokkun flies off laughing leaving Chuck extremely charred. Sonic then gets up and tells Tails that they're leaving. They go to the Tornado 2 and take off to the sky while the others wish them luck. Eggman spots them on his radar and has Super Sweeper fire at them. Sonic tells Tails to fire at it but they are moving too slow. Tails makes it above the robot and tries to attack but it sends out numerous bombs. Tails manages to dodge them all and flies around Super Sweeper, forcing it to twirl in order to see them. This makes Eggman very dizzy and effectively confuses him. Tails then flies above Super Sweeper and fires at its top. A successful explosion happens and leaves a small fire and some smoke on top of the robot's body, however, it is nowhere near big enough to destroy it.

Tails then does a 180 and flies forward while flying. E-90 then soars upwards. Sonic tells Tails to follow it and they do. However, Super Sweeper then releases a large block of steel. Tails and Sonic quickly ascend to dodge it. Super Sweeper is closer to the stratosphere at this point. Eggman pulls down on a lever that launches several missiles at them. Tails grins and happily dodges them all while Sonic destroys them. Eggman then claims it is time to stop playing and has Super Sweeper try to suck them in. Sonic tells Tails to pull back. Tails tries to with all his might but cannot seem to escape at first. An even harder attempt later he manages to escape, just missing being sucked it. They fly around trying to avoid E90's massive vacuum. It only gets worse as Tails' propeller suddenly blows. Smoke pours out of it and it stops spinning. They then begin to plummet towards the sea. Tails pulls at the lever with all his might and they had just missed the water.

That night, Sonic is thinking about what happened on the roof. In the garage, Tails, Chris and Chuck are talking when Sonic comes in and tells Tails that the Tornado is not fast enough and that he needs to power it up. Tails says he could by using a Chaos Emerald. However, the only problem is conserving its energy since a Chaos Emerald has a lot of power but using 100% of that power on the Tornado may be too much energy for the Tornado handle and cause an explosion. Chuck proposes that they find a way to release the excess energy. Tails claims that they cannot beat the robot without it. He says that he would need to re-create the engine to harness the excess power but then the body would not be able to hold it. He says that it would need to be completely remodeled.

Sonic says that he knows that Tails can do it. Chuck says that Sonic is right and that they can work together to remodel the plane. He leads Tails to his secret laboratory and Tails immediately becomes amazed that is all around him. They then begin their construction. During the construction Chris taps Tails' shoulder and requests something. Tails works busily throughout the night. The following morning Cream wakes up to see the TV working again. However, when it comes on she sees Eggman's mug onscreen with a logo that says "Egg-TV" on it. This scares Cream greatly. Eggman tells the viewers that they are watching the "Dr. Eggman Show". He then begins to relay his cleaning of the stratosphere plan to the people watching. He then shines a light on himself and the audience is treated to Dr. Eggman gloating into a microphone before twirling around and jumping at the camera.

Super Sweeper takes off into space. The leader at Area 99 issues an attack on the robot. The scene then cut to Tails calling for Sonic. Sonic jumps down from the roof and asks Tails how it all turned out. Tails opens the garage to everyone and shows them the brand new X-Tornado. Meanwhile, Super Sweeper begins to suck in the satellites. The Area 99 personnel command their satellites to fire on E-90. However, the attacks do literally nothing as a shield comes up and stops all the lasers. Back on Earth, Chris asks if he can go with Sonic. Sonic at first says it's impossible but Tails reveals that he put in a few extra seats so that it's possible. Sonic considers it for a short while before allowing Chris to come along. They then take off into the sky, officially launching the X-Tornado for the first time. Bocoe and Decoe point out that something is headed toward E-90. Eggman rubs his hands together, knowing that it was Sonic and Tails heading towards them and gets excited. Missiles gets launched at the X-Tornado. Sonic jumps out from the plane and begins to hop on each one of them, effectively sending him high enough into the sky to land on Super Sweeper. He is shot at by laser cannons on E-90 and quickly dodges them. Sonic charges at it but continues to be shot at. He resorts to jumping to try and escape but that doesn't work either. Tails eventually flies by and destroys the cannons. Eggman gets angry and presses more buttons which activate more cannons on E-90. The lasers all fire at the X-Tornado and all miss. While they focus on Tails, Sonic rams through the large cannon and destroys it. They continue to go higher. Sonic lands on Super Sweeper and grabs hold. Eggman grins, claiming that he has Sonic now. He sends E-90's vacuum to suck in Sonic. Tails won't allow it and turns on his booster switch. It rockets the X-Tornado over to Super Sweeper. Tails fires at the vacuum and destroys it.

Eggman literally gets madder and begins to pound on more buttons. He drops another hunk of steel at them. He flies past it and picks up Sonic. They go higher into the stratosphere. Sonic begins to shiver. Chris gets a little worried but Tails says Sonic can handle it. Sonic, however, as well as parts of the X-Tornado, begin to freeze. Sonic is now completely encased in ice. Chris says that Sonic is frozen. More missiles fire at them and Chris suggests the Ring. Tails says he can't release it because the containment unit for the Ring has frozen over. Tails then remembers what Chuck told him about releasing excess energy. Tails gets an idea and produces the Ring in the cockpit then tells Chris to attach it to the yellow cable in the back seat. Once he does so, energy from the Ring begins to sparkle and release from the ship and flow toward Sonic. Sonic feels the energy around him and breaks through the ice. Tails flies faster as Sonic rockets off the X-Tornado and destroys the advancing missiles. He then bursts into Super Sweeper and destroys him completely from the inside. Sonic, Tails and Chris return to Earth after a job well done.

Sonic is soaking his feet in a tub of warm water while Ella gets him some soup. Chuck congratulates Sonic who claims that it wasn't him this time as he hands the credit over to Tails and Chris. They high-five in celebration. Amy then enters with a beautiful array of ice-cream to which Sonic flinches and shrugs at.

Regional differences

 * The following scenes has been cut/edited:


 * In the original Japanese version, Tanaka says "What a brave warrior" after Sonic and Tails destroy E-90. In the dub he says "Guess I better call the cable guy".
 * In the Japanese version, Sonic says "No. Too cool..." in English. In the American version, he just says "Cool!"

Trivia

 * The Australian DVD gives the episode's name as "Dispatch Tornado #2".
 * This episode marks the debut of the X-Tornado in the series.
 * Oddly, Tails refers it to the "Tornado X".