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.
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
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.
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.
With thanks to yanchagraffiti, two more dialogue audio reels for My Little Pony: The Movie have now been added to the Archive YouTube channel.
First up is six minutes of rapid-fire auditions for the Bushwoolies - the bouncy furballs who constantly agree with everything they're told. With takes from:
Marilyn Lightstone
Jodi Carlisle
Terry McGovern
Peter Cullen
Joey Camen
Pat Fraley
Hal Rayle
Greg Berg
Frank Welker
Next up are auditions for three of the Unicorns: Buttons, Galaxy and Ribbon.
Takes and time indexes:
Auditions held 26th November 1985
0:00-6:05 Buttons
6:14-11:15 Galaxy
11:23-16:38 Ribbon
Takes by:
Nancy Cartwright
BJ Ward
Jeannie Elias
Sherry Lynn
Ellen Gerstell
Jodi Carlisle
Katie Leigh
Susan Blu
Mona Marshall
Susan Silo
Jill Wayne
Russi Taylor
Sarah Partridge
The Archive now hosts the full storyboard set for David Wise' My Little Pony episode Revolt of Paradise Estate, Part 2. Where, thanks to a can of magic paint sold to naïve pony Paradise by evil wizard Beezen, the furniture of Paradise Estate has come to life and driven the ponies out of their home.
The Archive takes a trip to Sunbow Entertainment's later years, with storyboard sets for The Brothers Flub episodes "Family Outing" and "Sidekicked". This series was produced on behalf of German company Ravensburger Film + TV and aired on Nickolodeon from the start of 1999 to the start of the year 2000.
With thanks to Aquantis Trading Center, the Archive now hosts over 500 model sheets for G.I Joe. Covering most episodes of the series, as well as some of the post-cartoon 1987 characters.
To view M.A.S.S Device, Revenge of Cobra and Season 1 models, head to G.I. Joe, Part 1
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.
Newly uploaded to the Archive is another item originating from Flint Dille's storage: his third GI Joe script, Skeletons In The Closet
Read the script at G.I Joe Part 1 and compare to the episode linked below as we delve into the origin of Destro, Lady Jaye's family tree and...The Evil That Lies Within?
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.
Thanks to tfwiki mod Monzo, the Archive now hosts storyboards for Act III of The Transformers episode Webworld.
Co-written by comics legend Len Wein and Diane Duane, this episode sees Cyclonus make the reluctant decision to have his unstable leader Galvatron committed to psychiatric care on the planet Torkulon. Only to find that the methods employed by his "carers" are far more insane than the Decepticon leader ever was.
As an interlude while I prepare to make the next homegrown storyboard animatics, I have uploaded the five that were available on Shout Factory's 2011 Jem And The Holograms DVD box set.
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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