 Japanese title card · “Infiltrate! Area 99” | |
| Series | Sonic X (ソニックX), TMS Entertainment |
| Season | Season 1 (2003–2004) |
| Episode | Season 1, episode 2 · no. 2 of 78 |
| English title | “Sonic to the Rescue” (4Kids) |
| Japanese title | 潜入！エリア９９ (Sennyū! Eria Kyūjūkyū, “Infiltrate! Area 99”) |
| First aired (Japan) | 13 April 2003 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 13 September 2003 · Fox Box (Fox) |
| Directed by | Keiichirō Furuya |
| Written by | Hiro Masaki |
| Storyboard | Kazuhide Tomonaga |
| Previous episode | Chaos Control Freaks (S01E01) |
| Next episode | Missile Wrist Rampage (S01E03) |
Rescue missionArea 99Chuck Thorndyke
Sonic to the Rescue is episode 2 of Season 1 of Sonic X and the 2nd of the anime’s 78 episodes. In Japan it is called “Infiltrate! Area 99” (潜入！エリア９９). It premiered on TV Tokyo on 13 April 2003, and the 4Kids English version followed on Fox Box (Fox) on 13 September 2003. It was directed by Keiichirō Furuya and written by Hiro Masaki.
Synopsis
The morning after his swim, Sonic meets the rest of Chris’ world – starting with grandfather Chuck Thorndyke, an inventor whose first instinct is to take a screwdriver to the talking hedgehog. The TV news then shows Cream and Cheese stranded on a billboard: Sonic was not the only one who crossed over.
Chuck makes some calls and learns that the government has taken Sonic’s friends to Area 99, a military research base. He drives Chris and Sonic there, and Sonic slips inside, racing through corridors whose security cameras sprout laser guns.
Sonic grabs Cream and Cheese and climbs a collapsing staircase while the lasers fire wildly, then hears a familiar engine: Tails, whose little paper-plane gadgets have been helping all along, is waiting overhead in the Tornado. Back home the friends wonder who else made the trip – and on an island far away, Eggman and his robots Bocoe and Decoe are already planning an Eggman Empire.
Key Moments
- Chuck Thorndyke, Chris’ grandfather, joins the secret.
- Area 99, the government base where Cream and Cheese are held, is introduced.
- Eggman, stranded on an island, plots an Eggman Empire on Earth.
Trivia
- The second of the two episodes on the Game Boy Advance Video cartridge Sonic X: A Super Sonic Hero.
- Fox Box aired it on 13 September 2003, the week after the series’ regular premiere.
- On home video: Japanese DVD/VHS volume 1 (Victor Entertainment, 23 July 2003); 4Kids/FUNimation volume 1, A Super Sonic Hero (1 June 2004); the New World Saga DVD set (2007); and Discotek’s Sonic X Collection 1 (2016) and complete-series Blu-rays.
Watch the Episode
The full 4Kids English episode, uploaded by TMS Entertainment’s official “Anime! on TMS” YouTube channel (checked 6 November 2026).
Part of our Sonic X Season 1 guide. See the Sonic X series page for the cast, theme songs and home video.
Sources: titles, credits and air dates from Wikipedia’s list of Sonic X episodes and Sonic Wiki Zone, cross-checked with each other and with Luke’s original Sonic Scene episode table; synopsis written for Sonic Scene from the episode, Wikipedia’s summary and Sonic Wiki Zone’s plot notes; title card and screenshots via Sonic Wiki Zone, copied to our media library.