Draft:The Flames of Disaster

"The Flames of Disaster" is the fourth episode of the series Knuckles. The episode was directed by Jorma Taccone and written James Madjeski. It was released on Paramount+ in April 26, 2024.

Development
Paramount Pictures and Sega Sammy Group announced in 2021 Knuckles, a television series starring Knuckles the Echidna that serves as a spin-off to Paramount's Sonic the Hedgehog films. Idris Elba was set to reprise his role as the voice of Knuckles from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022). Sonic film producer Toby Ascher served as showrunner. The fourth episode, titled "The Flames of Disaster", was written by James Madejski and directed by Jorma Taccone. The idea for the fourth episode was to develop something just as entertaining as the feature fioms while also conserving the budget for visual effects for subsequent episodes, which Ascher felt allowed the team to do something "unique" and "slightly different" to the films. This inspired Ascher, a fan of Taccone's, to hire him as a director for the series. Due to scheduling issues, Taccone was able to direct only one episode, with the producers proposing him the fourth due to Taccone wanting to direct a "weird" episode, which Taccone agreed due to the challenges posed by Knuckles' limited presence.

Filming
The "Flames of Disaster" musical sequence, which took 4 days to film, was shot by Taccone as if it was a music video, seeking to implement the pacing of one to a television episode. The opening sequence was shot in location in an active firing range area, which Taccone npted complicated shooting the scene.

Visual effects
Visual effects and animation for the episode were provided by Industrial Light & Magic, Rising Sun Pictures, Host VFX, Fin Design, Agora Studio, and Vandivision. For the scene in the "Flames of Disaster" musical sequence where Wade goes througth an scenario modeled after classic Sonic games, the filmmakers originally intemded to use practical effects, but ultimately used a digital green screen with Vandivision creating the backgrounds with CGI.

Music
The episode features the song "The Flames of Disaster", which was written by Taccone's brother, Asa, and composer Matthew Compton, and performed by Asa and Julian Barret. The song also features vocals by Michael Bolton; Taccone hired him due having developed a friendship with Bolton after the two workes together on the music video "Jack Sparrow", with Bolton agreeing to work on the song after the episode was pitched to him by the production team.