Coming Attractions

 Coming Soon: The Evil That Lies Within

Peter Cullen 1941-2026

Peter Cullen Dead: 'Transformers' Optimus Prime Voice Was 85

As the voice of characters I've known for 39 of my 43 years, this news has been a real punch in the gut for me.  So I'll just get out of the way and end this post with the statement from Peter's family:

"Peter Cullen passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family - and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide. His family asks that you honor his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember 'be strong enough to be gentle.'"

The Transformers: Season 1 and 2 script collection now complete (65 episodes)

Thanks to Morgan Evans, the Archive now hosts scripts for all 65 episodes of seasons 1 and 2 of The Transformers.

The 16 remaining episodes added today are:

Autobot Spike
Changing Gears
City Of Steel
Attack Of The Autobots
Traitor
The Immobilizer
The Autobot Run
Atlantis, Arise!
Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2
The Key To Vector Sigma, Part 1
The Key To Vector Sigma, Part 2
Aerial Assault
War Dawn
Trans-Europe Express
Masquerade
B.O.T

The three partial scripts that came from the Ron Friedman auctions in 2010 (Enter The Nightbird, A Prime Problem and The Core) have been supplemented by full versions,  18 episodes which previously had a revised or finalised script now have first drafts available.

Additional material includes Marvel Productions' internal correspondence, story editor inserts as the team tried to fix the myriad problems with Megatron's Master Plan and finally, scripts for 10 planned Public Service Announcements.

Read them all at The Transformers, Part 1

Other Companies: The Real Ghostbusters scripts and storyboards

The Archive now hosts a trove of material from The Real Ghostbusters, with scripts and storyboards covering 37 half-hour episodes, 5 Slimer! shorts, 3 different show bibles and storyboards for the four-minute pitch promo that sold the series.

To view them all, head to Other Companies

Patreon

The Sunbow Marvel Archive's Patreon page is now live. If you'd like to support my continuing work to digitally archive production material from 20 years of animated series, please subscribe.

The Young Astronauts: first episode script

With thanks to yanchagraffiti, the Sunbow Marvel Archive is proud to present the first episode script from Marvel Productions' ill-fated series The Young Astronauts.  Written by Karl Geurs, with a story by Jack Mendelsohn and Michael O'Mahony, A Fall Of Marsdust would have introduced viewers of CBS' 1985 Saturday morning lineup to the Hampton family and the crew of the mothership Courageous.

To read the script, and to hear dialogue audio from the first episode to actually be produced, Ghost Ship, head to Marvel Network Shows

The series was first delayed, then cancelled following the Challenger tragedy, but that was not the end of the story for this particular script.  Even after Challenger, hope remained that the already-planned Marvel comic could still be published in the summer of 1986, on the STAR Comics imprint.  As described by writer Denny O'Neil in Marvel Age #37, he adapted this animation script to become the first issue of the comic, drawn by June Brigham and inked by Pat Redding.

Alas, this too was not to be, as the Young Astronauts Council chose to extricate itself from their agreement with Marvel.  A decision that would later spark a lawsuit in 1988..

Transformers: The Ultimate Doom and Countdown To Extinction storyboards

Thanks to Ryan King and originally owned by contributing artist Peter "Aeon Flux" Chung, the Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts full storyboard sets for The Ultimate Doom, Part 3 and Countdown to Extinction.

These storyboards see the moment FIRRIB was born as Frenzy makes his cartoon debut, as well as Jetfire's adventures in his original toy-based design.

To view these sets as galleries, head to: Storyboard Viewing Gallery

Or for downloadable versions, alongside the virtual library of material for seasons 1 and 2, head to: The Transformers, Part 1