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.
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.
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.
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.
2023 was an interesting year for the Sunbow Marvel Archive. Thanks to the various contributors, material from a wider variety of shows is now available and also helped in demystifying a series that has previously been considered "lost media."
In terms of general organisation, the website has been streamlined to collect the material for 24 shows on 6 pages.
For Transformers, the march towards series completion continued with full or partial storyboards for another 10 episodes, over 100 audition sheets from voice director Wally Burr's collection, plus various model sheets, backgrounds and the script for The Killing Jar.
The biggest Transformers-related item saw release in August. Three years since it was found by Flint Dille and scanned by Jim Sorenson, the very first script for The Transformers: The Movie is available to the public.
An unexpected surprise came in the form of over a dozen My Little Pony storyboard sets, sold from the estate of artist Wendell Washer. Including the first special Rescue At Midnight Castle and a selection of episodes from the main series, spanning from the first episode Ghost Of Paradise Estate to the final one The Prince And The Ponies.
Beyond paper material, a selection of dialogue reels from various Marvel Productions' series came to light. Among them was audio from The Young Astronauts, Marvel's ill-fated series about space exploration that was cancelled in mid-production due to the Challenger shuttle explosion. The reels covered dialogue for the episode Ghost Ship, as well as auditions for the series narrator, featuring a who's who of 1980s voice actors.
With 2024 marking the 40th anniversaries of Transformers, Muppet Babies and My Little Pony making their television debuts, who knows what untold stories will be uncovered in the year ahead.
Thanks to the winner of a recent audio reel auction, who has supplied digital files, I can now present the full dialogue recording audio for Transformers episode The Revenge Of Bruticus.
54 minutes in total, the recording is effectively split in half, with one group of actors doing pickup sessions, and then the main ensemble from beginning to end.
For those wanting to follow along with the available written material, links are provided below
Added to the Archive this month is a plethora of Transformers material, with storyboards from the following:
Unproduced pilot miniseries/Season 1 intro sequence
More Than Meets The Eye, Part 2
More Than Meets The Eye, Part 3
Transport To Oblivion
Roll For It
The Ultimate Doom, Part 3
Countdown To Extinction
Unproduced Season 2 intro sequence
Unproduced commercial bumper
Autobot Spike
The Immobilizer
Additionally, a quartet of story premises, written by storyboard artist Wendell Washer during early Season 2, have also become available. Along with the early version of the 1985 New Product briefing he was given for reference.
A couple of home-made animatics I have made using recently-revealed Transformers storyboards, combined with episode broadcast audio. If these pique your interest, then please follow the links to the full storyboard galleries.
In 2016, the Mapes brothers found an assortment of Marvel Productions cassette tapes containing dialogue recorded in the summer of 1984, principally Season 1 of The Transformers. Deleted dialogue from those tapes is available on the Transformers At The Moon YouTube channel.
At the time of the recordings being found and made available, only one episode had a complete storyboard set available: Heavy Metal War. Animatics utilising the deleted dialogue from that episode were created and presented by Chris McFeely for TFNation 2017.
Since then, the number of full episode storyboards available online has grown to seven. Including a second episode for which a dialogue tape is available: S.O.S Dinobots.
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