(VIDEO) The Young Astronauts: more dialogue audio

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.

2023 Year in Review

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.

G.I Joe saw its first newly-revealed scripts in over a decade, with Flint Dille's Skeletons In The Closet and Doug Booth's My Favorite Things

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.

(VIDEO) The Young Astronauts: Wendy Hampton auditions

With thanks to yanchagraffiti for providing the files, linked below are auditions for the character of Wendy Hampton, on the Marvel Productions' series The Young Astronauts.

These are specific excerpts from an hour-long reel.

Susan Blu

Nancy Cartwright

Jeannie Elias

(VIDEO) The Young Astronauts: full episode dialogue and series narrator auditions

With thanks to yanchagraffiti, the Sunbow Marvel Archive presents audio from Marvel Productions ill-fated series The Young Astronauts.

First is the full episode dialogue from MP 800-04 Ghost Ship.  Main session recorded 10th October 1985.  Pickup audio for Rick and Wendy Hampton recorded 3rd December 1985

(Thanks to Townsend Coleman for cast info)

Cast:
Commander Hampton: ?
Rick Hampton: Townsend Coleman
Wendy Hampton: Nancy Cartwright
Mikey Hampton: Stephen Dorff
Retro: ?
Mr. Flynn: Charlie Adler
Sam Turrell: James Avery
The Starseeker: ?

(If anyone can help with identifying the remaining voice cast, please get in touch)

Video runtime: 21:22

Next are the auditions for series narrator, with takes from the following actors:

Peter Cullen
Irv Immerman
Larry Marshall (3 takes)
Ed Gilbert
Aron Kincaid
Ron Gans
Bill Ratner
Norman Alden
Chris Stevens
Danny Dark
Gene Moss
Jack Angel
Bernard Erhardt
John Stevenson (2 takes)
Ron Feinberg
Joe Leahy

Video runtime: 13:38

The Young Astronauts: more information

Thanks to dialogue audio reels being sold on ebay, there is now more information on Marvel Productions ill-fated 1985/86 animated series The Young Astronauts.

First up is a full show reel for episode MP 800-04 Ghost Ship, recorded during November 1985 and re-recorded with revised dialogue the following month. The reel confirms Townsend Coleman and Nancy Cartwright among the main voice cast.

The next reel contains auditions for the series narrator.  Recorded at Wally Burr Studios, the actors confirmed to have read for the role are

• Peter Cullen
• Erv Immerman
• Larry Marshall
• Ed Gilbert
• Aron Kincaid
• Ron Gans
• Bill Ratner
• Norm Alden
• Chris Stevens
• Danny Dark

If any more reels that can shed light on this series become available, they will be showcased here.

More info on lost Marvel series The Young Astronauts

Thanks to Heritage Auctions, we now have a little more info regarding the production of The Young Astronauts.  The fruits of Marvel Productions' partnership with The Young Astronauts Council, in the form of an animated series that was intended to air on CBS for the 1985 TV season, but was delayed due to disputes with the YAC's advisor on the production.  Attempts to restart the series in early 1986 were for naught as the network cancelled the show after the Challenger space shuttle explosion.

Linked below are background layouts from the series' fourth episode Ghostship, under the production code MP 800-04.  Drawn by Disney legend Walt Peregoy, whose work for Marvel around this time included My Little Pony: The Movie, Glo Friends and Moondreamers.

Heritage Auctions link