Lost audio files from the 1980s Transformers cartoon

[griffin]

The UK fansite TF@TM has recently found original studio audio recordings for the Transformers cartoon, while doing research for the 1980s Visionaries cartoon.

The first 2 minute segment has been posted on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwOQhJ_UA5E), with audio recordings from the first scenes of the first episode - More Than Meets The Eye part 1.
It includes bits from the scenes of Bumblebee & Wheeljack being chased by the Seeker Jets, and Soundwave doing his spying... but has an additional scene that was recorded but never used - Bumblebee being seen by Ratchet, with Optimus in attendance.

It contains repeated content (Bumblebee is injured, and what they were looking for), so those sorts of "duplicate content" scenes in a TV or Movie script are there to pad it out if the final episode or movie is short on running time, or can be easily cut without losing plot elements if they are running over time... and obviously this one was a scene that wasn't required, but I wonder if it was even animated before it was decided that it wasn't needed.
Most pre-recorded animated programs would do a lot of extra recordings, to give the animation director more to work with, as well as see which lines are more responsive to a test audience (or the executive producers). It's just amazing that these audio files haven't surfaced before now, some 32 years later, considering all of those production people who have been at BotCons, would have known that us dedicated fans would just eat this stuff up.

[Jazzman]

Very cool, can't wait to hear more! :D

[Paulbot]

Another clip, subsequent dialogue from MTMTE part one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLBtFWO0OQE) aboard the Ark and Nemesis.

These are a great archival find.

[griffin]

Part 3 of Episode 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adPpaO_aheY)

Part 4 of Episode 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1Cw2mquC4)

Part 5 of Episode 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Wxhm-9qQQ)

Episode 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf6KT0HOzZQ)

[Jazzman]

Awesome just to hear the cast goofing around... Chris Latta (latter???) - "Shit, Wally!" haha :D

[griffin]

Audio recordings from the Episode - Countdown to Oblivion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTaTEk2y4UU).

Plus, scripts to the original series cartoon can be downloaded (http://news.tfw2005.com/2016/10/31/generation-1-transformers-cartoon-scripts-online-328190) thanks to Jim Sorenson (http://boltax.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/transformers-scripts.html).

[griffin]

I think I've missed a few, but the latest one is from the episode SOS Dinobots. This link has (http://news.tfw2005.com/2017/01/08/generation-1-sos-dinobots-lost-altered-audio-330766) the youtube link of the audio file, and a link to a transcript of it.

[griffin]

Another audio file of extended/deleted dialogue has been released (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4jM2nittQk), from Fire on the Mountain.

[griffin]

Audio files from the episode War of the Dinobots has been released to youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J1bgFPCRTM).

[Paulbot]

No specific episode in the latest tape, just lots of Ravage purrs (https://youtu.be/cBmu3_oInc8).


Another audio file of extended/deleted dialogue has been released (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4jM2nittQk), from Fire on the Mountain.

Complete with the Autobots calling their aerial support "Jetfire".

[griffin]

Audio file of a recording session (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgyysms2WcA) from the episode The Ultimate Doom part 1, with Wally Burr reading the Bumblebee lines, as Dan Gilverzan was not present during this recording session.

[griffin]

The Ultimate Doom part 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aag58jdYcBw) is now up on youtube.

[griffin]

A recording session for Laserbeak (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20a4ukL8CK8), by Chris Latta (the voice of Starscream), for the Voice Director Wally Burr.

It goes for 4 minutes, and it really shows us what the voice actors were always telling us about Burr, in that he was a hard task master, putting the voice actors through torturous routines to get the most and best out of them... and the often used expression at BotCon of "making their voiceboxes bleed" now makes sense, because by the end of that 4 minutes, I could feel the pain Chris was feeling as his voice was breaking a couple times.

This also rewrites a bit of history for Transformers, some 30 years of history... as it must have been assumed that Frank Welker did the screeching noises for Laserbeak because he usually does all animal noises (or it was noted somewhere in a script perhaps). Even the tfwiki only just recently changed the voice actor for Laserbeak because of this.

[griffin]

Here's a treat... some of the lost audio files for the episode "Heavy Metal War" (with the Gen1 Dinobots) have been done up as deleted scenes with what I think are the original storyboards... slotted into the finished episode scenes, like an extended edition.
There are three clips, first shown at the UK TFNation convention last weekend, and can be seen here - part 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYfqoqYrbQc) - part 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFfTFumucSc) - part 3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsCUxmQ6vtQ).

[griffin]

Lost audio from the "Plague of Insecticons" episode is now on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7VeJAyRASs).

[griffin]

They've just posted up the lost audio files for "The Heavy Metal War (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQNLuBuELWo)".

[griffin]

I didn't realise these were first being revealed over 4 years ago... but after a 3 year break, we have another one released on youtube - The Immobilizer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkx7YEN4KnI).

[griffin]

Another one has been posted up on youtube - Dinobot Island part 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JCtSkFaPT0).

[dirge]

I wonder if we'll see some emerge from Triple Takeover or Quest For Survival... some more lines for Skids would be nice!