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.
On 8th November 1985, auditions were held for the My Little Pony n' Friends series. The following actors auditioned for the main human character Megan Williams, replacing Tammy Amerson who voiced her in the 1984 and 1985 specials, as well as the 1986 movie:
On December 4th, 1985, Pat Fraley, Charlie Adler, Frank Welker, Peter Cullen and Michael Bell auditioned for the following roles:
0:00 Bushwoolies
2:32 Grundle King (replacing Danny DeVito) and assorted Grundle responses
5:40 Second round of auditions for the Moochick (replacing Tony Randall)
Thanks to yanchagraffiti for supplying the digital files, more audio from ill-fated Marvel Productions series The Young Astronauts is now available. Samples of which will be posted to the Archive's YouTube channel over the coming days and weeks.
Starting off with a short excerpt from an hour-long reel containing auditions for the character of Kelly Hampton, mother to Rick, Wendy and Mikey and Commander of the mothership Courageous. Among those trying out for the role included Linda Gary. Famous for her many voice roles on both He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power, particularly Queen Marlena: former NASA astronaut and mother to Prince Adam and Princess Adora.
Next up is the unmodulated voice of maintenance droid Retro, performed by Stu Rosen, as he records pickup lines for the episode Ghost Ship
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 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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Presenting my YouTube channel, where viewers can find the full 65 episode run of Jem, as well as my various storyboard animatics. If you've enjoyed the production material I've brought to you through the Archive and would like to show your support, please head over to the channel and subscribe.
