‘Knuckles’ Opening Credits Go Full ’90s Throwback

“Knuckles,” the live-action/animated spinoff series currently streaming on Paramount+ and featuring the titular red Echidna warrior (voiced by Idris Elba), kicks things off with an amusing ’90s throwback opening title sequence. We encounter markered animations (done by Picturemill) of the main characters, as they jump across the labels of mixed CDs in a binder and roll by the credits, to the tune of “The Warrior” by Scandal featuring Patty Smyth. 

It’s all part of Knuckles getting introduced to the “earth music” of his new protégé, dim-witted deputy sheriff Wade Whipples (Adam Pally), while trying to teach him the ways of Echidna-style fighting.

This marks the first series for Knuckles, based on Sega’s popular Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise, which takes place between the events of the films “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” which introduced Elba. It was created by John Whittington (“Sonic the Hedgehog 2”) and Toby Ascher, with the franchise’s film director, Jeff Fowler, helming the pilot of the six-episode limited series.

Guest stars include Stockard Channing, Edi Patterson, Scott Mescudi, Ellie Taylor, Julian Barratt, Rory McCann, Cary Elwes, Paul Scheer, Rob Heubel, as well as “Back to the Future” star Christopher Lloyd. Ben Schwartz plays Sonic, Colleen O’Shaughnessey plays Tails, and Tika Sumpter reprises her role as Maddie.

Five studios (Industrial Light & Magic, Fin Design, Rising Sun Pictures, Outpost VFX, and Untold Studios) and an in-house animation team handled the VFX and animation for the series. Watch the full opening credits sequence below.