Dedicated to the preservation and showcase of scripts, storyboards and other production material from Sunbow Productions, Marvel Productions and their co-production partners. This is an unofficial site that has no affiliation with any company responsible for the commission or production of the cartoons depicted herein.
Nearly a decade before a full animated series would arrive on Saturday Morning, Marvel Productions attempted to pitch an X-Men series for the 1983 network season, featuring the same team lineup that would appear in Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends episode "The X-Men Adventure", along with Francis Byte a.k.a Videoman, from the episode "The Education of a Superhero".
Written by Jeffrey Scott, the main presentation document for the ultimately unsuccessful pitch is available to read at Marvel Superheroes
The last major Transformers-related item uncovered from the storage of former Sunbow producer Flint Dille in 2020 has been released. Flint's character binder, which received its last update on December 3rd, 1986. Nearly all of the 1987 toy lineup is represented within its 333 pages, as well a copy of Bob Budiansky's 11-page treatment for the Marvel Comics' Headmasters miniseries.
This past weekend, at Transformers convention TFNation 2024, the Mapes brother held a panel showcasing audio from various dialogue recording sessions for Transformers and GI Joe. At this panel, they debuted the original audio track for Duke's death scene in G.I Joe: The Movie, famously overdubbed for the movie's release, as a reaction to the backlash over Optimus Prime's death in The Transformers: The Movie.
Video of the restored scene, as well as audio from a scripted, but ultimately unproduced funeral scene, is available to view below. Accompanied by an introduction from movie writer Buzz Dixon.
If the YouTube video is restricted in your region, follow the link to view directly on TFNation's website.
To read the full G.I Joe: The Movie script, head to G.I Joe, Part 2
Completing the release of material saved by storyboard artist/director/producer Larry Houston and contributed by Rich Helscher, the Sunbow Marvel Archive now hosts a total of over 700 model sheets for Transformers, covering 61 episodes across seasons 1 and 2.
The main index pages and some samples are attached below. To view the complete model books as galleries, head to the Briefing/Reference Binder Gallery index
Thanks to Larry Houston for saving them from likely destruction back in the 1980s and thanks to Rich Helscher for making them available, the Archive now hosts the tenth full Transformers storyboard set: The Secret of Omega Supreme.
Thanks to yanchagraffiti, the Archive has its first piece of production material for My Little Pony Tales: Doug Booth's script for episode 10, Shop Talk.
Developed by George Arthur Bloom and consisting of 26 quarter-hour stories, with a slice-of-life focus compared to its 1980s predecessor My Little Pony N Friends. MLP Tales lasted for only one season in 1992, and was produced by Sunbow and Graz Entertainment.
Five years ago, on June 11th 2019, I launched the Sunbow Marvel Archive website. Intending to create a digital library showcasing animation paperwork from Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions, covering 20+ plus years of shows.
In that time, the Archive has expanded to include hundreds of scripts, storyboards, model sheets, memos, show bibles and briefing binders.
Thank you to all those who have contributed material and lent their support, and here's to the next five years.
With thanks to Rich Helscher, the Archive now hosts an earlier version of Transformers script Fire on the Mountain. Accompanying the script are memos from story editor Bryce Malek notifying producer Nelson Shin of rewritten pages to accompany the 2nd July 1984 revision, the earlier first draft having already gone forward to storyboards (as was common during the series run):
The impetus for these revisions was to insert a scene where Wheeljack and Sideswipe rescue Skyfire from the Arctic ice, where he was buried at the end of concurrently-written episode Fire in the Sky
Insert pages 13 and 13A, as mentioned in the above memos
The original pages 12 and 13 from the first draft are included with this copy of the revised script, and show Doug Booth writing Skyfire as simply being an established part of the Autobot roster. Setting out from Autobot Headquarters with Brawn and Windcharger to investigate the destruction of their Sky Spy satellite by Megatron's new weapon.
These pages were replaced by the new inserts and the script handed over to Ron Friedman for his dialogue changes.
Thanks to Ryan King, the Archive now hosts material found by Marvel Productions storyboard artist/producer/director Larry Houston.
Firstly, the full storyboard set for Transformers episode Blaster Blues. To view the boards, head to the Blaster Blues storyboard gallery
Next are two model sheet books: one covering the main 1984 cast and the other incidental models from the 13 main episodes of Season 1. Including designs that did not make it to air, such as Dr. Lynn Hyashi, whose role in War of the Dinobots was given to Chip Chase in script revisions.
Thanks to yanchagraffiti for use of the digital audio files.
More dialogue audio from The Young Astronauts is now available on the Archive's YouTube channel. One of the main cast members is Retro, a maintenance droid who inadvertently received radio messages from alien life. Now he is tasked with guiding young Mikey Hampton (Stephen Dorff), who is destined to one day be the first human to meet these aliens in person. Below is Retro's pickup dialogue for the episode Ghost Ship.
Next are samples taken from an hour-long auditions reel. First, Rob Paulsen tries out for the character of Rick Hampton, Mikey's older brother. Ultimately, the role was given to Townsend Coleman.
Next up, Charlie Adler's successful audition for the character of Harvey Flynn. Reading a scene from Ghost Ship, Flynn is pompous, buffoonish officer aboard the mothership Courageous, whose lecture on safety and protocol is cut off when he is abducted by service droids gone haywire.
Finally, James Avery's successful audition for the character of Dr. Sam Turrell. As heard in the dialogue, he is close with the ship's Commander Kelly Hampton and is afforded a greater level of informality than most of the crew...well, most of the time.
.jpg){kind=spacer}
