Sunbow Entertainment (known as Sunbow Productions until 1995) was an American animation studio and distributor, founded on June 23, 1980, and owned until May 4, 1998, by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York City and in the United States . Griffin-Bacal's first animations were animated commercials for Hasbro 's G.I. Joe toy line. The success of the animated commercials led partners Tom Griffin and Joe Bacal to form the company. Due to their close working relationship with Hasbro, Sunbow came to be recognized as the toy giant's unofficial television arm.
59-584: Sunbow is noted for many cartoons aired during the 1980s. Most of their work was co-produced with Marvel Productions . Although it is not limited to Hasbro's various toy lines its reputation is linked to the cartoon series tied to them. Its animation was initially produced by the Japanese animation studio Toei Animation , supplemented by the South Korean animation studio AKOM later on. By 1987, most of Hasbro's toy lines were losing money and internal struggles forced
118-435: A Japanese exclusive OVA was released in place of the movie entitled; Transformers: Scramble City , released in 1986, it showcases the four special teams (Aerialbots, Protectobots, Stunticons and Combaticons) as well as the two transforming cities of Metroplex and Trypticon. Following the conclusion of the third season, the Japanese opted not to import "The Rebirth", but instead created a series of new animated shows to continue
177-479: A comic book of the same name for an initial run of 13 episodes. However, the series never materialized. On November 6, production on TV special Donner was completed (originally started in June 2001), and aired as planned on December 1, on ABC Family . On April 10, 2002, the studio announced two additional projects - The Many Adventures of Johnny Mutton , and Mr Stick & Slug Boy . Another pickup came on October 8 with
236-552: A company until at least 2009. On March 29, 2007, Sony Music Entertainment announced they would shut down Sony Wonder, leaving the US deal under limbo. However, on June 20, 2007, it was announced that Sony Wonder had been moved into Sony Pictures Home Entertainment , which eventually it renamed as Sony Pictures Family Fun in 2015. However, the Sunbow licenses were not included in the purchase. On May 14, 2008, Hasbro announced that it had obtained
295-399: A confusing sequence where Megatron, equipped with Skywarp's teleportation power, teleports but does not actually disappear. This version also added extra sound effects that were presented in the remixed 5.1 surround soundtrack and later remixed 2.0 stereo soundtrack, but not present in the original broadcast version. In 2005, Rhino lost the rights to distribute Transformers on DVD. The license
354-598: A controversial move and did not sit well with the viewing audience, resulting in a letter-writing campaign that ultimately compelled Hasbro to resurrect the Autobot leader in a two-part season finale called " The Return of Optimus Prime ", which aired in March 1987. Optimus Prime was revived with help from a Quintesson during the threat of the Hate Plague. The fourth season, consisting of a three-part finale miniseries named "The Rebirth",
413-528: A distinctive scene transition that saw the Autobot and Decepticon symbols "flipping" from one to the other, accompanied by a distinctive five-note refrain. This transition technique became a hallmark of the series, and was used throughout the entire four-year run. Commercial breaks were segued into and out of using commercial bumpers featuring brief eyecatch -styled original animation with a voice over by series narrator Victor Caroli. A set of five proposed public service announcements were created to be tagged onto
472-534: A fifth season aired in 1988. It consisted of reruns of 15 episodes from the original series, along with The Transformers: The Movie edited into five episodes. This season featured a new title sequence using footage from previous episodes, the movie, and toy commercials as well as all new framing scenes featuring a human boy named Tommy Kennedy (portrayed by actor Jason Jansen) and a stop-motion/machine prop Optimus Prime puppet (operated by Sesame Street veteran Martin P. Robinson ). From 1993 to 1995, select episodes of
531-611: A majority stake in m4e. Hasbro properties Marvel Productions Marvel Productions , later known as New World Animation Ltd. , was an American production company owned by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of News Corporation which was founded in 1981 as the television and film studio subsidiary of the Marvel Entertainment Group , based in Hollywood , Los Angeles , California . It later became
590-704: A series of short featurettes that used clips from the show and new narration from Caroli to provide histories for the Autobots, the Decepticons, the Quintessons, and other subjects. In Japan, the first two seasons of the show were collectively released as Fight! Super Robot Life-Form Transformers ( 戦え！超ロボット生命体トランスフォーマー , Tatakae! Chō Robotto Seimeitai Toransufōmā ) , then rebranded as Transformers 2010 ( トランスフォーマー2010 , Toransufōmā Tsūōwanō ) for Season 3, with all seasons aired on Nippon TV . Between seasons 2 and 3
649-415: A single Japanese-exclusive episode, Transformers: Scramble City , was released direct-to-video in spring of 1986. The gap between seasons two and three was bridged by The Transformers: The Movie , which was released to theaters in the summer of 1986. Set 20 years after the second season, in the year 2005, the film featured the deaths of many characters, including Optimus Prime himself, clearing away all
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#1733093305734708-528: A springboard to tell the story of the Transformers in very different ways from one another, forming two separate, unrelated continuities for the brand out of the gate. Japanese designer Shōhei Kohara was responsible for creating the earliest character models for the Transformers cast, greatly humanising the toy designs to create more approachable robot characters for the comic and cartoon. His designs were subsequently simplified by Floro Dery , who went on to become
767-516: A subsidiary of New World Entertainment and eventually of News Corporation. The company as Marvel Productions produced animated television series, films and television specials such as Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends , The Incredible Hulk , My Little Pony: The Movie , The Transformers: The Movie , and G.I. Joe: The Movie as well as The Transformers and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero television series. Most of Marvel Productions/New World Animation's non-Hasbro-related back catalog
826-408: A television adaptation of the book The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish in development; however, none of these projects would come into fruition. After the announcement that The Cramp Twins ' second season would be produced by fellow-Loonland owned studio Telemagination on October 23, 2002, Sunbow later became dormant after their existing projects were shelved, although they still remained as
885-559: A three-pronged marketing scheme – the toyline, a tie-in comic book by Marvel, and an animated mini-series co-produced by Marvel's media arm, Marvel Productions , and the Griffin-Bacal Advertising Agency's Sunbow Productions production house. Given the success of that strategy, the process was repeated in 1984 when Hasbro marketing vice president Bob Prupis approached Marvel to develop their new robot series, which Jay Bacal dubbed "Transformers." Marvel's Editor-in-Chief at
944-563: Is an animated television series that originally aired from September 17, 1984, to November 11, 1987, in syndication based upon Hasbro and Takara 's Transformers toy line . The first television series in the Transformers franchise, it depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects. The series was produced by Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions in association with Japanese studio Toei Animation for first-run syndication . Toei co-produced
1003-408: Is currently owned by The Walt Disney Company . The company began in 1963 as DFE Films , and was sold to Cadence Industries , Marvel Comics Group's owner, in 1981 after DFE founder and company executive Friz Freleng departed the company to return to his former job at Warner Bros. Cartoons . Freleng's business partner and DFE co-founder David H. DePatie continued to work for the company under
1062-532: The Insecticons , and the first "combiner" team, the Constructicons , who are able to merge into a giant robot, Devastator, whose introduction was set alongside a climactic one-on-one duel between Optimus Prime and Megatron that served as a part of the season finale. Forty-nine further episodes were commissioned for the show's second season in 1985, bringing the total up to the "magic number" of 65 required to move
1121-623: The Sunbow library of shows, including Transformers . In March 2009, Shout! Factory announced that they had acquired the license from Hasbro to release Transformers on DVD in Region 1 with Vivendi Entertainment . They subsequently released The Complete First Season on June 16, 2009. Season Two Volume One was released on September 15, 2009. Season Two Volume Two was released on January 12, 2010. Seasons Three and Four were released together in one set on April 20, 2010. These releases corrected most of
1180-543: The U.S. by Rhino Entertainment Company /Kid Rhino Entertainment (under its Rhinomation classic animation entertainment brand) (a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner ) (a division of Warner Music Group ) between April 23, 2002, and March 9, 2004. Due to missing 35mm film stock, some sections of the Rhino Entertainment release use earlier incomplete animation, often introducing errors, such as mis-colored Decepticon jets, Skyfire colored like Skywarp, missing laser blasts, or
1239-748: The Magical Light . In a bid to produce original material, Sunbow produced several cartoons through the early 1990s such as The Tick and Conan the Adventurer . Only The Tick managed to gain popularity and critical acclaim. On May 4, 1998, Sony Wonder , a division of Sony Music , bought Sunbow Productions in order to expand to more original programming for their television division. On May 1, 1999, Sunbow took over European distribution of Sony Wonder's TV IPs. On October 3, 2000, German-based company TV-Loonland AG purchased Sony Wonder's television business assets including Sunbow Entertainment. In exchange for
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#17330933057341298-683: The Marvel Productions and Fox Kids/Saban Entertainment libraries reunited with the New World Animation library. Except for Fraggle Rock , the rights to series based on Jim Henson properties are now held by The Muppets Studio , a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. All programs based on Hasbro properties were co-productions with Sunbow Productions. These programs are now owned by Hasbro through its entertainment unit . The Transformers (TV series) The Transformers
1357-502: The Marvel Productions library and Saban Entertainment, were purchased by The Walt Disney Company for $ 5.2 billion in July 2001. After getting its 2002 profit participation statements for the Marvel Productions library, Marvel Enterprises sued The Walt Disney Company over royalties in August 2004 after Disney would not open their books. This was followed by a November 2004 suit which claimed that
1416-505: The Marvel banner for several years until his retirement. Marvel Productions opened its Los Angeles studio in 1981. In 1984, Margaret Loesch joined Marvel Productions as president and chief executive officer. Marvel Comics Group, owned by Cadence Industries Corporation since 1968, was sold to New World Pictures in 1986 along with Marvel Productions and incorporated as Marvel Entertainment Group. With New World having cash flow problems, MEG
1475-589: The Predacons, the Terrorcons, and the Technobots. This season saw story-editing duties transfer from Marvel Productions to Sunbow, overseen by Flint Dille , Marv Wolfman and Steve Gerber . Animation for around half the season was provided by producer Nelson Shin 's animation studio AKOM, creating a different "look" for the show that encompassed its opening sequence and commercial bumpers. The death of Optimus Prime proved
1534-467: The Sweeps. Season 3 picks up where the movie leaves off, with the Autobots now in control of Cybertron once more, working to restore their homeworld and serving as peacemakers for worlds all across the galaxy. The Decepticons, meanwhile, are in exile on the ruined world of Chaar, led now by Galvatron . Interconnected episodes, running plot threads and small story arcs became more common in the series, including
1593-456: The company to end popular series such as Jem , G.I. Joe and Transformers . Two of Sunbow's animated movies, The Transformers: The Movie and My Little Pony: The Movie , flopped at the box office, forcing a third project, G.I. Joe: The Movie , to be released directly to video . It also led to end the partnership with Marvel Productions in late 1980s. Sunbow also worked with TMS Entertainment with Hasbro's Visionaries: Knights of
1652-567: The discontinued products from the 1984 and 1985 toy lines and introducing a new cast of the characters designed for the film, who were then made into toys for the 1986 range. Young Autobot Hot Rod used the power of the Autobot talisman known as the Matrix of Leadership to become the new Autobot leader Rodimus Prime and defeated the world-eating robot planet Unicron who recreates Megatron into Galvatron while Skywarp, Thundercracker, Shrapnel, Kickback, and Bombshell are reformed as Cyclonus, Scourge and
1711-434: The drivers piloted. Later still, in 1983, a Microman sub-line, MicroChange was introduced, featuring "actual size" items that transformed into robots, such as microcassettes, guns and toy cars. Diaclone and MicroChange toys were subsequently discovered at the 1983 Tokyo Toy Fair by Hasbro toy company product developer Henry Orenstein, who presented the concept to Hasbro's head of R&D, George Dunsay. Enthusiastic about
1770-431: The end of episodes from the second season of the series, re-using the scripts from similar PSAs created for sister series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero , complete with the catchphrase "...and knowing is half the battle!" These were never actually aired on television, but eventually appeared as bonus features on various DVDs and video games. For the third season, episodes were tagged with "The Secret Files of Teletraan II",
1829-497: The final episode where the first generation of the Autobots led by Optimus Prime pursue Galvatron and Zarak into deep space and a new generation of Autobots and Decepticons are introduced. Each of the first three seasons of the series featured its own tailored opening sequence, featuring completely original animation and a unique arrangement of the theme tune. Additionally, the third-season premiere "Five Faces of Darkness" had its own specialized opening, depicting events that occurred in
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1888-468: The first female Transformer characters were introduced. A new recurring human cast member was also added in the form of Spike's girlfriend Carly. Partway into the season, the remainder of the 1985 product line was introduced, mostly through the two-part episode "Dinobot Island." These new characters, like the first year cast, were largely derived from Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change lines, including new Autobot car and mini-vehicles and Decepticon jets and
1947-478: The giant Autobot sentinel Omega Supreme and Decepticon "Triple-Changers" Astrotrain and Blitzwing. To expand the line, however, Hasbro also licensed several toys from other companies, including Takara's Japanese competitor, Bandai. Legal complications that arose from incorporating the first of these, Skyfire, into the first season resulted in the character quickly being phased out early in Season 2 and meant that none of
2006-895: The lead designer for the series, creating many more concepts and designs in the future. This series focuses on the Transformers, split into two warring factions: the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons as they crash land on Earth and continue their eons long conflict there. The three-part pilot miniseries (retroactively titled "More than Meets the Eye") first aired in the United States in September 1984. The story follows Optimus Prime 's heroic Autobots and Megatron 's evil Decepticons as they leave their metallic homeworld of Cybertron to search for new sources of energy to revitalize their war efforts, only to crash-land on Earth , where they remain entombed and offline for 4 million years. Awakening in
2065-400: The mini-series. The fourth season, however, did not feature any new animation in its opening sequence, instead combining footage from the third season opening and various clips of animation from 1987 toy commercials; likewise, the fifth season featured commercial animation mixed in with footage from The Transformers: The Movie . Both used the season three musical arrangement. The series featured
2124-507: The other Bandai-derived characters featured in the series. Toward the end of the season, the first 1986 product was introduced into the series: the Aerialbots , Stunticons , Protectobots and Combaticons , four combiner teams based on an unmade Diaclone line that was aborted in Japan in favor of importing the Transformers toy line itself. To promote these new toys even further in Japanese markets,
2183-416: The pilot miniseries aired, was broadcast between October and December on Saturday mornings. Story-edited at Marvel Productions by Bryce Malek and Dick Robbins, the season begins with the revelation that the Decepticons have survived the events of the pilot and follows them as they set about constructing a "space bridge" to teleport resources back to Cybertron. A loose story arc centered on this technology spans
2242-540: The product, it was decided to release toys from both Diaclone and MicroChange as one toyline for their markets, although there were eventual changes to the color schemes from the original toys to match the new series. By 1984, U.S. regulators had removed many of the restrictions regarding the placement of promotional content within children's television programming. The way was cleared for the new product-based television program. Hasbro had previously worked with Marvel Comics to develop G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero for
2301-444: The project was picked up by Noggin for its teen-oriented programming block The N . Noggin/The N signed a co-development deal for the series, For unknown reasons, Sunbow and TV-Loonland would later silently pull out of the deal, with the final produced show having no involvement with the two companies. On October 12, 2001, Sunbow announced a co-development deal with Nickelodeon to produce Skeleton Key , an animated series based on
2360-481: The project was turned down by several writers and editors approached by Shooter until editor Bob Budiansky accepted the task. Hastily performing the revisions over a weekend, Budiansky's new names and profiles were a hit with Hasbro, and production began on a bi-monthly four-issue comic book miniseries, and three-part television pilot. Both comic and cartoon would wind up continuing for years beyond these short-term beginnings, using Budiansky's original development work as
2419-478: The purchase of Fox Family did not transfer the shows' copyrights to Disney as the purchase was done without Marvel's approval. As part of both suits, Marvel claimed library income concealment and failure to exploit the characters. On August 31, 2009, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment for $ 4 billion, reunifying the Marvel Productions library and Marvel Entertainment under the same corporate banner. After Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox on March 20, 2019,
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2478-471: The purchase, Sony Wonder retained US distribution rights to the Sunbow catalogue. Previously, Rhino Entertainment owned the U.S. home video distribution rights to the Sunbow catalogue. The rights then changed hands to Sony Wonder with its acquisition of the catalogue. On September 5, 2001, the company announced a co-production deal with Rumpus Toys to produce Kappa Mikey , with TV-Loonland holding worldwide and home video distribution rights. On May 29, 2002,
2537-430: The return of Starscream (following his death in the movie) as a ghost, frequent battles between the giant Autobot and Decepticon cities of Metroplex and Trypticon and the threat to both sides posed by the alien Quintessons , introduced in the movie and revealed in the season's premiere miniseries "Five Faces of Darkness" to be the true creators of the Transformers. This season also saw the debut of three new combiners:
2596-676: The rights to all the Sunbow Productions animated series based on Hasbro properties for $ 7 million. This includes Transformers , G.I. Joe , My Little Pony , Jem and the Holograms , and many more. These titles are currently managed as part of the Hasbro Entertainment library. TV-Loonland filed for bankruptcy on December 9, 2009; its catalogue was acquired by German distributor Made 4 Entertainment on April 5, 2011. In February 2017, Belgian production company Studio 100 purchased
2655-601: The same time, Saban Entertainment secured the rights from Marvel Entertainment Group for Captain America , Daredevil , and Silver Surfer , and additional characters to be developed into four series and 52 episodes over the next seven years. Fox Children's Productions and Saban Entertainment merged to form Fox Kids Worldwide , a holding company and joint venture, in November 1996, while Fox retained ownership of New World Animation. Fox Family Worldwide and its assets, including
2714-452: The season, culminating in "The Ultimate Doom", a three-part episode in which the Decepticons teleport Cybertron itself into Earth's orbit. The paraplegic computer expert Chip Chase joins Spike and Sparkplug as a new human ally for the Autobots. The season also introduced several new characters from the upcoming 1985 product line in advance of their toys' release including Skyfire , the Dinobots,
2773-500: The series into weekday broadcast syndication . Compared to the first season, Season 2's stories are more episodic, with many of them able to air in whatever order networks chose. Episodes would often spotlight individual characters or groups of characters as a means of promoting their toys and later in the season, the lore of the series would be expanded on as the history of Cybertron and origin of Optimus Prime were discovered and significant cartoon-original characters like Alpha Trion and
2832-466: The series were rebroadcast under the title Transformers: Generation 2 . The stories were presented as though they were historical recordings displayed by the "Cybernet Space Cube", which added computer-generated borders and scene-transitions to the original animation. The story was later continued in Transformers: Generation 2: Redux, a Botcon magazine that is set 22 years after the events of
2891-417: The show as the main animation studio for its first two seasons, having been tasked with creating and finalizing animation models, designing transformation schemes, storyboarding some episodes, and general direction. In the third season, Toei's involvement with the production team was reduced and the animation services were shared with the South Korean studio AKOM . The show's supervising producer ( Nelson Shin )
2950-472: The story, beginning with Transformers: The Headmasters in 1987, and continuing into Transformers: Super-God Masterforce in 1988, Transformers: Victory in 1989, and the single-episode direct-to-video OVA Transformers: Zone in 1990. Supplementary manga written by Masami Kaneda and illustrated by Ban Magami ran alongside each series in Kodansha 's TV Magazine. Seasons 1–4 were released on DVD in
3009-457: The time, Jim Shooter , produced a rough story concept for the series, creating the idea of the two warring factions of alien robots – the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons . To flesh out his concept, Shooter called upon veteran editor Dennis O'Neil to create character names and profiles for the cast, but O'Neill's work did not meet with Hasbro's expectations, and they requested heavy revisions. O'Neill declined to make said revisions, and
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#17330933057343068-527: The year of 1984, the Decepticons set about pillaging the energy sources of Earth, while the Autobots—aided by human father and son duo Sparkplug and Spike Witwicky—attempt to protect the new world on which they find themselves. The miniseries concludes with the Decepticons believed dead after their space cruiser is sent plunging into the ocean depths, while the Autobots prepare to return to Cybertron. The 13-episode first season, commissioned and produced before
3127-562: Was able to become the Headmaster to his creation Scorponok, Spike Witwicky was able to operate the Headmaster unit so that he can control Fortress Maximus to fight Scorponok. The miniseries concludes with the successful restoration of Cybertron, but the Decepticon threat not yet quashed as Galvatron and Lord Zarak argue over who will rule the galaxy upon their victory over the Autobots. The Transformers did not disappear from American airwaves, as
3186-455: Was also AKOM's founder. The fourth season was entirely animated by AKOM. The series was supplemented by a feature film, The Transformers: The Movie (1986), taking place between the second and third seasons. This series is also popularly known as "Generation One", a term originally coined by fans in response to the re-branding of the franchise as Transformers: Generation 2 in 1992, which eventually made its way into official use. The series
3245-442: Was broadcast in November 1987. Written by regular series writer David Wise , the Autobots and Decepticons encounter the alien world of Nebulos, where they bond with the native Nebulans to become Headmasters and Targetmasters . The Nebulons led by the evil Lord Zarak were able to transform the animal Decepticons with Scourge and Cyclonus into Headmasters while some of their weapons were transformed into Targetmasters. While Lord Zarak
3304-520: Was later shown in reruns on Sci-Fi Channel and The Hub / Discovery Family . The Transformers toyline and animated series were inspired by the Japanese toyline, Microman (an Eastern descendant of the 12-inch G.I. Joe action figure series) by Takara . In 1980, the Microman spin-off, Diaclone , was released, featuring inch-tall humanoid figures able to sit in the drivers' seats of scale model vehicles, which could transform into humanoid robot bodies
3363-604: Was renamed New World Animation in November 1993. In 1994, Marvel and New World established Marvel Films including Marvel Films Animation. New World Animation ( The Incredible Hulk ), Saban Entertainment ( X-Men ), and Marvel Films Animation ( Spider-Man ), each produced a Marvel series for television. Tom Tataranowicz was in charge of both Marvel Films Animation and New World Animation during this period. News Corporation / Fox Entertainment Group acquired New World Entertainment, along with New World Animation and Marvel Films Animation for $ 2.5 billion in August 1996. At
3422-804: Was sold in January 1989 to Andrews Group , a MacAndrews and Forbes subsidiary, owned by Ronald Perelman . However, New World kept Marvel Productions and merged it with its own television business. MP moved their offices from Van Nuys to West Los Angeles in May 1989. New World's problems continued, which led them to also be acquired by the Andrews Group within the year. Loesch left for Fox Kids in 1990. In December 1992, New World formed New World Family Filmworks and New World Action Animation, headed by Marvel Productions president Rick Ungar , to produce $ 20 million worth of family entertainment programming. Marvel Productions
3481-456: Was subsequently acquired by Sony Wonder (a division of Sony BMG ). Sony Wonder announced in October 2006 that they would re-release the first season of the series in 2007, with the other seasons presumably following. In June 2007, Sony BMG dissolved Sony Wonder and moved the label to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment , without releasing any DVD sets. In May 2008, Hasbro re-acquired the rights to
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