All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S11E01.A.Marvel-ous.Marketing.Campaign.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-Kitsune_track3_[eng]

Transformers.

It's a robot.

Robots and cars, perfect.

They've
toyed with us.

Stop
lubricating the man.

Frequently
terrified us

and generally towered
over us for years.

In a way, it was kind
of ahead of its time.

But how did a
toy with an identity crisis.

Two toys in one.

Flip, flip, flip.
It's a robot.

Like this.

From
a far away place.

Nobody knew if it would work
in the United States or not.

Somehow
conspire to herald a new dawn

and become a franchise
for everyone.

These are real things that
were exploding around you

and those are real reactions.

The answer
may surprise you.

Sequels and remakes,
bunch of crap.

Because
there's more to the story

of how a faltering toy line...

This is terrible. We
gotta redesign everything.

that's called
a disaster...

Halfway through the movie,

every kid starts screaming
and crying.

Hey, we're killing the main
character. Hope nobody minds.

managed to win the
backing of a Hollywood titan...

Spielberg boiled it
down to a boy and his car.

I bought a car.

Turned out to be an alien robot.

and overcome a
few serious disadvantages...

Can robots act?

Blah, blah, blah.

It is time to talk.

With the help
of a renegade director...

This fellow ain't playing.

Action!

He's like this conductor
of chaos.

Yeah, lift him up again
and do it again.

Do it again.

Why are we not shooting?

You're at my movie.

Come on, on cameras. Let's go.

He was shooting me
like a supermodel.

My face is my warrant.

But he can be a real
pain in the ass.

Dude, you can't abuse
me. You're abusing me.

- This is so overwhelming.
- We call it "bay-hem."

who somehow created
the Hollywood juggernaut...

I am directly below
the enemy's scrotum.

that truly
had steel balls...

You think like, oh,
these crazy artists,

they probably put the
testicles on it.

Nope, that was Michael's idea.

and needed them.

That's a real house
and they blew it up.

Thousands of hours
of work gone.

So it really was shit
raining down on me.

We actually can't transform
the robots right now.

I don't think we're safe.

They thought it was maybe
gonna be like Toy Story.

This is the
real Toy Story ...

Well, this will be possibly
one of the most groundbreaking

visual effects movies ever made.

about
a bunch of bots...

Make sure that you
could never mistake it

for a guy in a suit.

who pulled
off the greatest

transformation ever.

It was the complete
polar opposite

of what he told me to do.

From Megatron...

This was like the Super Bowl.

It was, uh...

Harrowing.

...experience I'll never forget.

to mega bucks.

Fast cars, giant robots, guns.
What else do you need?

On Icons
Unearthed: Transformers.

Transformers? Sounds
like a terrible idea.

The Transformers
you know

began in the shadow
of a rising sun.

All the development
work was done in Japan.

With a
name that sounded

a bit like a miracle drug.

It was called Diaclone.

Japanese
manufacturer Takara

had a miracle toy,

but it failed to translate
in America.

And it never worked because
there was no storyline.

Right, just
some robots doing things.

The story was whatever
you decided.

Speaking of storyline, the
tale of these Japanese giants

in the US really begins
with an American toy company

who was in need of its
own transformation.

Amaze-A-Matics
from Hasbro.

Hasbro was a relatively
small company.

We were looking to
build the business

more than just US sales.

And this
time looking to the future

meant turning to the past.

Boy, oh boy,
it's a Hasbro toy.

And rehabilitating
an American classic.

G.I. Joe had run its course.

There were things going
on in the world

that could have caused people

to think very differently
about buying a product line

that was based on
military figures.

In other words,
no one wanted to buy

a toy soldier
after the Vietnam War.

G.I. Joe was in need
of a new mission.

Toy brands go through
life cycles.

And the
generals assigned to run it

would be two admin.

Tom Griffin and Joe Bacal
were the original team

that worked on the
Hasbro business.

They were kinda
the consigliere

of the president of Hasbro
at that time.

Tom and Joe
had formed their own agency

to work with Hasbro and
their marketing team.

Joe Bacal and Tom Griffin

they made a presentation
to Steve Hassenfeld

and convinced him
that it would be

very, very opportunistic
to bring G.I. Joe back.

The Griffin-Bacal
plan was revolutionary.

Deploy G.I. Joe to infiltrate
television?

Tom Griffin and Joe
Bacal were pioneers

in the area of integrated
marketing.

Okay, integrated
marketing

may sound like a keynote
at a conference

no one wants to go to.

An integrated marketing
platform.

But this was
actually an ingenious way

to take inanimate figurines
and give them a soul.

Griffin, Bacal, and Hasbro
were about to hatch a plan

that would revolutionize
the childhoods

of every kid who grew
up in the '80s.

And the plan was to
create characters

and stories around
the G.I. Joe toys.

All they needed was
characters and stories.

They really did not know
what they were gonna do.

I mean, they had a photo of a
soldier and they had the logo.

But that
would all soon change.

The president of Marvel
Comics, his name was Jim Galton,

he was at some charity event
but he met Irwin Hassenfeld Sr.

Hassenfeld told them

that they were trying
to revive G.I. Joe,

but they didn't know how
they were gonna do that yet.

And Galton said, "Why
don't you let us do that?

"We have nothing but geniuses."

And the main
genius was Jim Shooter.

Well, I'm Jim Shooter and
after a while

writing for DC Comics,
I became editor of Marvel.

I was second in command.

And so Jim
went about turning

this generic G.I. Joe into
an action-packed comic

filled with stories
and characters.

So far the plan was working,

but let's not forget, the
main plan here for Hasbro

was to sell toys, which
at that time

wasn't as easy as
you might think.

There were a tremendous
number of regulations

about how you can
advertise a toy.

You couldn't have
fully animated

30-second commercials for toys.

They had to show real kids
playing with the real toys.

I love you, baby
Orange Blossom.

But then
somebody on the G.I. Joe team

had an idea.

What if we make this an
advertisement

for the comic book?

There were no regulations
for advertising a comic book.

And so, with
that little loophole,

Hasbro produced fully animated
30-second commercials.

G.I. Joe is beating us.

Which brought
those G.I. Joe toys,

uh, sorry, comic book
characters to life.

And so, if you'll notice

at the end of every G.I.
Joe commercial,

there's one like second
where they show you

a picture of the comic
book and they say something...

Follow
the further adventures

of G.I. Joe and Marvel Comics.

Every kid in America is gonna
see this commercial on TV.

They're gonna know
who G.I. Joe is.

They're gonna want this book.

There'll be a bonus
for all of us.

It was just
the boost G.I. Joe needed.

Now that his boots were
back on the ground,

Hasbro had big plans
for G.I. Joe.

Sunbow was a wholly owned
subsidiary of Griffin-Bacal

that focused on production
of animated TV shows.

TV was all part

of the Griffin-Bacal
master plan,

and Joe Bacal didn't have
to look far for help.

Jay, of course, was
indeed Joe's son.

Jay was very involved in
Sunbow storyline development

for the various animated series.

And ultimately, Jay got
involved in creative development

for the TV commercials as well.

Sunbow's plan was
to take a humble working Joe.

There was no G.I. Joe,

it was just the little
shrink wrapped characters.

And turn him
into a television star.

Showed me the toys,
told me it was an action.

- That was it.
- By this man.

I have a chance to do
something with toys, comics,

and I was thrilled.

Thrilled
because Ron had been hired

to write the G.I. Joe TV show.

Establishing the characters
was what I did in G.I. Joe.

It really launched a
whole different way

of trying to build a story,

trying to build a product line.

People are volunteering to
stand and fight against us.

Kids need to connect
to a character

that has been established
as a someone.

G.I. Joe's
reinvention had taught Hasbro

a valuable lesson.

Most dangerous thing in
the world is a green officer

in the dark with a
book of matches.

Uh no.

That the TV shows helped to
create a basis of storyline

and understanding of this world,

and to be able to set the stage

for extensions from those
storylines that you're watching.

In other
words, toys.

That is how the toy
business works.

Hasbro could
duplicate the G.I. Joe formula

and do the same for
Transformers.

All they needed was
the right vehicle.

There was a gentleman
attending a toy trade show.

The toy that
would change Hasbro's fortunes

was indeed a vehicle.

It was found at--

A convention basically.

And came to the
attention of an entrepreneur,

toy maker, and professional
poker player.

By the name of Henry Orenstein
who came across these toys

that changed from cars
and trucks to robots.

Orenstein had
discovered that miracle toy

that sounded like
a miracle drug.

It was called Diaclone.

He brought this concept
to Hasbro.

And he really pushed
the idea of getting Hasbro

to take on what he thought was
a very intriguing toy line.

Which Hasbro decided to do.

Hasbro
could see the potential.

We thought the play
pattern of a vehicle

turning into a robot
was something

that would really, really,
really hit home for kids.

For the
Transformers
to hit home in America,

Hasbro needed the right deal.

The deal that was
set up with Takara

was that they were
gonna get a royalty rate

and that they were also
going to be able to do

all of the manufacturing

because that was another
profit center

and a negotiation about
high royalty.

And let me take, you
know, some of the money

from the manufacturing.

With
a deal in place,

there was still one
lingering question.

You know, nobody knew
if it would work

in the United States or not.

We did a lot of research,
you know, walking the stores

to see whether there was
anything similar.

There
wasn't, right?

Bandai was basically
doing the same exact thing

that we were with GoBots.

♪ GoBots ♪

We really wanted
to beat GoBots.

The stakes were
were very high,

and time was of the essence.

The GoBot
invasion has begun.

Toy company
Hasbro was getting ready

to launch their new toy line.

Two toys in one plus
the puzzle aspect.

Tom, Joe, Griffin-Bacal
the agency,

came up with the brand
name Transformers.

♪ Transformers ♪

The tagline.

♪ Robots in disguise ♪

But to beat
the competition.

We really wanted
to beat GoBots.

They needed
a lot more.

Transformers was
a great concept,

but to embellish that,
Hasbro came to Marvel

to develop the toy
into a storyline.

And why
wouldn't they?

Marvel Comics were masters
of storylines

and they had the perfect
man for the job.

Jim Shooter, he came
up with this storyline.

Jim had plenty
of experience writing stories

that helped sell toys.

In fact, he was right
in the middle of one

when Hasbro came calling.

There was a company
called Knickerbocker Toys.

Knickerbocker,
toys that love you back.

They licensed some
technology from Japan.

It was called the Mysterians.

The Mysterians
were as mysterious

as their name suggested,
and yet strangely familiar.

The Mysterians were
these little cars

that turned into robots.

Not only
were the toys similar,

but so was Knickerbocker's
plan for marketing them.

So they said they
had this property

and would we be interested
in doing a development on it?

I decided to do it myself
because I was the only one

that was dumb enough
to work for free.

Jim set
about creating a world

for the Mysterians.

They loved it, but it seemed
like something was wrong.

Something was.
Knickerbocker's own world

had just come crashing down.

Well, it turned
out that that day

they had been acquired by Hasbro

because Hasbro had also
licensed technology from Japan,

and they didn't wanna
have any competition.

The easiest thing for them to do

was just buy Knickerbocker.

Jim didn't
know it at the time,

but all of his hard work
was about to be transformed.

Two weeks later.

Literally
right before his very eyes.

One of the big executives
from Hasbro came into my office,

takes out of the shopping bag
this car, sets it on my desk.

And I said, "Well, that's cool."

He said, "Watch this."

And he flipped, flipped,
flipped. It's a robot.

He says no backstory or a story
of any kind to go with this.

We're here for you to come
up with a storyline for it.

Hasbro had
come to the right place.

I said, yeah, we can do that.

What Jim meant
was that he could do that

almost from scratch.

They had the name
Transformers,

they had Autobots
and Decepticons,
pretty much nothing else.

I thought, well, what
if they have used up

every single resource as a war,

you know, between the bad
guys who want what's left

and the good guys who
wanna preserve it.

The good
guys now had a mission.

They board a spaceship

and eventually it crash
lands on Earth,

and then they wake up.

To Land in America.

That was basically the setup.

And Hasbro?

They loved it.

Every word of it.

Came off my secretary's
typewriter.

I wrote every word.

Well, not
quite every word.

Jim's Transformers
still needed names.

I didn't have time to
think of names of the robots.

Well, who
knows how to name robots?

Oddly, Jim knew a guy.

Denny O'Neil, a Hall of
Fame, all time great writer.

He said he didn't know
quite what to do.

It seemed
nobody quite knew.

I was like the fourth
choice, fifth choice.

Until Jim got
to Bob Budiansky's desk.

He said, "Bob, I have this
property called Transformers.

"I need 26 character
bios and 24 names.

"I need them by Monday."

Bob was
given Denny O'Neil's

strange list of robot names
and got straight to work.

And so I said, yes.

Let me see if I can do this.

Bob kept only one
of Denny's suggested names,

but it was a good one.

The Optimus Prime, which
is the head of the Autobots,

the main good guy.

Bob came up with
a lot more than just names

with just a few words.

He gave each bot a
whole identity.

Developing a character
in this case

was writing a paragraph.

You just had to put a
few tweaks in there

to make each character
distinctive and give them

interesting personality quirks.

As for the names,

they just rolled off
Bob's tongue.

I had a good sense
for vocabulary.

I did crossword puzzles,

so I was able to pull
words together

and come up with things
that meant something.

Came up with Thundercracker,
Skywarp, Starscream.

All I was trying to do with
that was come up with something

that sounded dangerous

and come up with something
about the heavens,

something in the sky.

He was the second in
command to Megatron.

Megatron,
the archrival head

of the Decepticons,

a fateful name whose
etymology was truly dystopian.

I thought it, you
know, sounded dangerous.

Megaton was a very negative
connotation

about nuclear weaponry.

In fact, a little
too negative for Hasbro.

They rejected Megatron.

I asked very gently, what was
the problem with Megatron?

They said, "Well, we think
it sounds too scary."

He's the head of the bad guys.

He's supposed to sound scary.

Like it was
like, oh yeah, you're right.

Scary name. Okay.

Yeah, we'll go with it.

So I saved Megatron.

But Bob
couldn't save one idea he had

that would've put Transformers
ahead of its time.

I pitched at least one
of the initial 26

as a female transformer.

Her name
was Ratchet.

Ratchet was a Transformer
that turned into an ambulance.

Ratchet's
origins were a little cuckoo.

That movie that had come
out a few like maybe 10 years

earlier called One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest

and there was a nurse Ratched.

Your hand is staining
my window.

I pulled that Nurse
Ratched idea

into my development of Ratchet,
and I was quickly told,

oh no, this is a boy's
toy, no female characters.

The meeting was adjourned
and the vote was closed.

The accepted wisdom
at the time

was that girl action
figures didn't sell,

and by and large they didn't.

The Transformers
lacked of feminine touch,

but they now had a
story, a mission,

and thanks to Bob...

And boy did I pick
the right guy.

characters
with cool names.

Hasbro was pumped.

They loved it and
said, "Let's go."

The
Transformers.

The first
Transformers comic

hit the shelves in May of 1984.

And I remember seeing
the commercials

for the comic books on TV

and thinking, wow, if
they could only do this

on a weekly basis, Marvel
would just clean up.

In other words, the
all important TV integration.

Surely Marvel Productions
was thinking the same way.

David DePatie ran
Marvel Productions.

David DePatie, for reasons
unknown to me,

did not like the comic books.

He didn't wanna know
anything about the comics.

He didn't care about the comics.

If DePatie
was a doubting David,

he might've had his own
personal reasons.

Marvel Productions was
built on the shoulders

of a company called
DePatie-Freleng.

Because Marvel
had swallowed his company

to create Marvel Productions.

DePatie-Freleng was a small,

independent production company.

David DePatie was president

and Friz Freleng
was his partner.

And now the
formerly independent company

with its own
impressive legacy...

Friz Freleng created
Sylvester and Tweety.

Pink Panther, co-created
Bugs Bunny.

was merely another
cog in the Marvel machine.

But he even refused

to have the Marvel
Productions logo

share any resemblance
to the Marvel logo.

It just said MP and he
would have nothing

about the company that
identified it

as being part of Marvel.

Like a
Transformer toy,

Hasbro's expectations
started out small.

The forecast for the line
was only a $10 million line,

and as we made the
presentations,

it kept creeping up and
creeping up and creeping up.

And by the time we got
ready to launch,

that number was probably
50 or $60 million.

But no
one had any idea

what Transformers
would become.

And we were worried
because we knew

that GoBots were ahead of us.

They wanted to make
a certain window

with both the animation
and the comics.

Hasbro bet
everything on Marvel

to develop their toy robots
into captivating characters.

But would it be enough
to rise above GoBots?

So there was a
lot of pressure.

Hasbro
couldn't wait

to get the Transformers
show on the air

because that would get
transformer toys
off the shelves.

After all...

The goal is to sell toys.

Using TV shows
to sell toys was clever,

but it was barely legal.

So how was the strategy even
available to Transformers?

♪ Hot Wheels ♪

In the 1960s, there was
a Hot Wheels animated show.

To answer
that, we need to go back

to a show about toy cars that
found itself in hot water.

The parents group
complained saying

this is basically a 30-minute
commercial

and the FCC gave a ruling

that you could not have
a show based on a toy.

The Federal
Communications Commission ruling

was great for parents,
but sucked for kids.

But then...

In the late '70s, early '80s...

A blue wave hit
America and changed everything.

The Smurfs came
over from Belgium.

Just where did Baby
Smurf come from anyway?

Hanna-Barbera said,
if we could only

make a TV show on this.

What are we doing
now, Papa Smurf?

But that
was illegal, right?

And someone said, well,
it's based on a comic book,

so you could tell the FCC

you're not doing it because
of the toys,

you're doing it because
of the comic book.

And the FCC fell for it.

Baby Smurf is back
home to stay.

That
simple workaround

opened up the entire
animation industry.

Hip, hip, hooray!

And it
meant more opportunities

for this gentleman.

I did a few freelance
scripts at Ruby-Spears.

For a long time they had
the edge of being

the biggest TV animation studio.

And they
might have been even bigger

if they had jumped on an
opportunity to make
a certain show

a certain toy company
wanted to make.

Joe Ruby calls all the
writers into his office.

Somebody at Hasbro had a
suitcase that they opened up

and it was filled with
all of these toys.

Specifically
prototype Transformers

fresh out of Tokyo.

And Joe said, "Nah,
I got a better idea.

"We're gonna do a show
about a teenage boy

"who turns into a car."

I'd like you to meet my
computerized car Turbo Teen.

The
pleasure's mine.

That was Turbo Teen.

They just wanted something
that moved

that they could put on TV.

Oh, brother.

Ruby-Spears was out.

Hasbro needed a new
producer to make a TV show

to sell their toys.

The goal is to sell toys.

Marvel Productions
was happy

to take on Transformers.

They already had the
story worked out.

It was pretty good
for what it was.

It's the Autobots are escaping

and the Decepticons chase them,

and that's how they all
end up on Earth.

Earth must be a nice
place to live.

Sound familiar?

There were a lot of
people that didn't

even know we were involved.

It was the
story Jim had created

for the comics.

Some of the people at
Marvel Productions

only dealt with Sunbow

and they thought that Sunbow
created all this stuff.

I mean, they were told a
lie and they believed it.

The head of Marvel
Productions, David DePatie,

liked Jim's ideas enough
to take them,

but didn't like Jim enough
to say thanks.

I thought my job was
to make good comics.

And so we made good comics

but David DePatie refused
to talk to me.

With Jim's
Transformers bible

as their touchstone,

Marvel Productions
hired a veteran animator

to direct a three part series.

My name is Nelson Shin.

Nelson started
as a newspaper cartoonist

in South Korea

and discovered animation
by watching "Popeye"

during the Korean War.

That's what I learned,
my background.

Then I moved into the
San Francisco.

Where he worked
on some American classics.

I animated Scooby Doo.

Zoinks. You had to ask.

Dogs and cats.

I did a Pink Panther
animation.

Nelson was charged
with taking Jim Shooter's

Transformers world off the
page and onto the screen.

You are finished, Megatron.

Easier
said than done.

He asked me, we gotta make
a three 30-minutes test.

Meanwhile, an
ambitious young executive

had arrived at Marvel
to replace DePatie.

David decided to retire

and that's when they
started to look for a CEO.

And if Marvel
was looking for a leader,

they may have just found
their prime candidate.

I was at Hanna-Barbera
and I loved it.

Enter a
trailblazing executive

destined to transform
the Transformers.

In fact, she'd already done it

with those little blue people.

We had a lot of successful
shows, including Smurfs.

Yep, those
same tiny blue trailblazers

who made it legal to
turn toys into TV.

Oh, thank heaven, Papa,
the Smurfs.

I met with Jim Galton and
he was the corporate head.

Jim asked me if I'd be
interested in the job

of president and CEO.

I agonized over the opportunity

because it was president
and CEO.

And my secretary, she says,
"Comfort doesn't mean growth."

And that's when I made
the decision.

Margaret
chose growth.

I had to hit the
ground running.

And the new
CEO of Marvel knew exactly

what she wanted to run with.

When I joined Marvel

and they were starting
to work on the miniseries,

The Transformers, that's
how I fell in love with it,

because I read what
they had written.

All kids love the idea
of transformation.

They can all envision
them being transported

or transformed into something
different and more powerful.

Use your imagination.

So, I loved it.

But with the
series already in production,

Margaret needed to find
a home for it and fast.

There was no guarantee
that Hasbro

was going to buy an
additional 52 or 65 episodes

of Transformers.

So I pitched it to CBS to Judy.

That's CBS VP
of children's programming,

Judy Price.

She sort of made
a little fun of me

that I drank the Kool-Aid
so fast.

The Kool-Aid,
it seemed,

was not to the network's liking.

She says, "I know you're
gonna be disappointed.

"I don't see what you see in it.

"I have something a
better choice."

I said, "What? What's
your better choice?"

Garbage Pail Kids.

Good morning, children.
I am here to tell you

about the
Garbage Pail Kids show.

But I said to Judy, "You're
making a big mistake."

I think it's terrible
that they would put

something like this on TV.

The Garbage Pail
Kids lived up to their name,

running just one season.

No TV network executive
showed any interest at all

in Transformers.

Hasbro would have to
syndicate Transformers

to get the show made.

Sunbow Productions,
Griffin-Bacal,

Hasbro financed everything

and hired Marvel to
create the shows.

Syndication
came at a risk,

but it also gave
Hasbro the power

to roll out on their own terms.

So there's a big difference

between network TV
and syndication.

Having worked on network
TV, they do have a standards

and practices department,

which will like be very
strong in telling you

what you can and cannot do.

But when
it came to syndication,

those rules were a
little more lax.

It was a lot easier to do most

anything that you wanted to do.

The rules were sort
of out the window.

The fate of
Transformers now rested

with a group of seasoned writers

Margaret had nabbed
from the competition.

And when Margaret
left Hanna-Barbera

to go to Marvel Productions,
she took Dick and I with her.

We were the only staff writers
at Marvel at that time.

Well, two
writers but it was a start.

At Marvel
Productions,

producer Nelson Shin was
creating the visual universe

for Transformers almost
from scratch.

They gave me one
sheet drawing.

Nelson
designed the entire look

of the Transformers
for the screen.

We spent so much time
creating everything new.

And Nelson
would pull inspiration

from an idea he had while
working on a minor space opera.

I did a Star Wars
special effects.

Devising the
look of the most recognizable

laser in the galaxy.

Elegant weapon.

I thought bad guys, good guys

the blade is different colors.

I use this idea into
Transformers.

Where it
helped to differentiate

the Autobots from
the Decepticons.

Autobot is used
for orange color.

Autobots, stop them!

And
the Decepticons?

The violet, violet color.

Let's
call it purple.

But this was only half
the solution.

When they said, well
how do we separate

the Autobots from
the Decepticons?

Okay, here's the decision
that still stands up today.

This one came
from an idea Joe Bacal had

while riding in a taxi
to the airport.

And Joe said, "Well,
weapons and planes are bad

and cars and trucks are good."

Simple idea,
complicated execution,

especially when the whole
thing hinges on the moment

the Transformers do what
the Transformers do best.

Autobots, transform.

How to fold, make
it transform.

Nelson's
solution for that?

To make it sound as
good as it looked.

We're looking for
transforming sound.

I walk through

the post-production one day.
I got it.

It was a sound
Nelson heard every day

at Marvel Productions.

You know, you know
that the Moviola.

That's
the editing device used

by filmmakers since the 1920s.

But this guy is a pull down
back and forth, you know?

The sound of
film pulled back and forth

through the Moviola.

That's the sound there we
can use for Transformers.

Became the
perfect up and down sound

that would be mimicked by kids

playing Transformers everywhere.

You know?

From a
nameless toy to a character

with a name and personality,

the Transformers will
really come to life.

At least you can still
talk, old buddy.

It was a great group
of voice actors.

They ranged
from film and TV stars.

So I know one of my
personal favorite was,

it was Jazz 'cause I can
recognize Scatman Crothers

was the voice for it.

North side of Cybertron is
blacker

than the inside of
a drive shaft.

Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen.

We must have courage, Huffer.

Kids loved the character
Optimus Prime.

Optimus Prime wasn't
just a superhero,

he was a real character.

Then there's Frank
Welker who is Megatron.

This place is magnificent.

Unbelievable.

It was really quite
crowded in that studio.

I don't think they had the
room for one more person.

As the
Transformers miniseries
began to take shape,

the alliance of stakeholders
was coming apart at the seams.

When Griffin-Bacal saw
how successful we were being

as a sort of a creative source,

I think they were a little
jealous and a little worried.

Well, instead of sending
stuff directly to Hasbro,

we had to send it to Sunbow,

who would tear our
cover sheet off

and put their cover sheet on.

Sunbow
was taking credit

for Jim's original work.

A lot of people there
still believed Sunbow

had written all of that
foundation stuff.

It wasn't, it was mine.

To be fair, I think
that they were trying

to establish themselves as a
production company, Sunbow,

not just Griffin-Bacal,
an agency.

And so, I think wherever
possible,

they tried to reinforce
their involvement.

Marvel had
its own battles raging

and Jim Shooter was taking
the hits from friendly fire.

Lee Gunther as long as he was
there at Marvel Productions,

he called me stupid.
He said I was,

didn't know what I was doing.
Made ugly stuff.

I said, "Lee, I made
this, I wrote that."

And he's, "You're lying.
Sunbow wrote it."

A challenge
for the new young leader.

It was sort of a clearing
of the air.

And Margaret is, "No,
no, he did," you know?

That's when I realized
my job is to make sure

that I give credit
where it's due.

And now Margaret
needed everyone to play nice

because Transformers had
been given the green light

to go to series.

They said, we want you
to story edit 13 episodes

of the Transformers,
possibly more later.

For the man
who first got the ball

rolling at Marvel

and with a rival already
looming on the horizon,

for Jim, this was
all or nothing.

If it falls on its face

and the toy and the comic are
not resonating, forget it.

It's gonna be over soon.

Transformers
was a go for a full

13 episode series

and Margaret's handpicked
writers were getting to work.

Marvel was already
doing a three-part special

that showed us the storyboards
of that.

And they said, "We want you
to story edit 13 episodes."

But Bryce Malek
had his work cut out for him.

I really didn't have
much experience

writing action adventure,
mostly children's shows.

And his
first job was a big one.

The special had already
introduced most of the concepts

and we wrote a bible.

Writing the
book of Transformers.

The bible was basically a
description of what the show is.

This is what the Autobots want,

this is what the
Decepticons want.

At last, total victory
is within my grasp.

The newly
hired TV writers

were given their rules
of engagement.

My name is Don Glut

and I was one of the
freelance writers

on The Transformers .

We were told just
to open our minds

and do what we wanted to do.

Which surprisingly
included no engagement

with Marvel's comic
book writers.

There were a lot of
people

that didn't even know
we were involved.

Turning an already
festering creative divide

into a full-on standoff.

Margaret said, "Don't do
anything that they're doing.

"You just do what you wanna do."
And I was confused.

I was like, well, why wouldn't
we do what they were doing?

It would make more sense.

Marvel Comics was consulted.

We're always trying
to engage them

without alienating
our staff writers.

Picking
up from the miniseries,

Bryce and his team first
had to pick Transformers

up off the floor,
the ocean floor.

You don't have
to worry about Megatron

and all those Decepticons
anymore.

At the end of the
three part series,

I think the Decepticons end
up at the bottom of the ocean.

And the Autobots fly
home back to Cybertron.

Can I go back to Cybertron
with you?

A happy ending
but a terrible beginning.

That's not a show
then.

You gotta bring them all back

and like bring the
Decepticons up.

So we wrote a pilot script.

Dick and I came up with
a space bridge.

Our new
intergalactic transport system.

Decepticons could
take their energy cubes

that they were like
trying to get from Earth.

And instead of having to
travel millions of miles back

to Cybertron to take
it with them,

we just had a way
to transport that

so they could stay on
the planet Earth

and have 13 episodes
of adventures.

Excellent.

13 episodes
that were needed

in little more than two months.

Transformers, we
were really rushed.

Time makes all
things possible.

Generally you would try to do

a half an hour episode
in a week.

That meant
keeping it simple.

For once, Starscream,
we agree.

Decepticons were stealing
energy from the Earth.

We'll suck this
Earth planet dry.

And the Autobots took
it upon themselves

to stop them from doing that.

Autobots,
run for cover!

So we always had to write
a story based on that.

We would either
assign a writer

or somebody invite writers
to come pitch story ideas.

And just like
years earlier with G.I. Joe.

Jay was very involved
in storyline development.

Sunbow maintained
their grip

on the direction of the series.

We would send them to Sunbow

and then Jay Bacal at Sunbow
would usually let us know

whether the premise was approved
or whether it was rejected.

Adding
to the pressure,

Marvel's writers were being
pushed in all directions.

The term that I heard
was push product.

Marvel Productions

hadn't lost sight
of the mission.

The goal is to sell toys.

Except it
was the other way around.

The product was pushing
the writers.

Hasbro, it would
create a schedule

of different characters,
different toy lines

that they wanted to introduce
on different episodes.

So they didn't
want to just sell toys,

they wanted to sell
specific toys.

And we knew which episodes

wanted to feature
which characters.

But then a problem.

Eventually they ran
out of the Japanese toys

that already existed and
they were working

with toy designers to come up

with a whole bunch of new toys.

And they
were an ocean away.

Because so much of
the development was done

by Takara in Tokyo,

the Takara team would
show us products.

We'd try and figure out
what price point we went on

which would kinda dictate
the complexity.

Meanwhile,
back in LA,

Bryce's team was trying to
write a show based on characters

that existed on someone
else's drawing board.

They never gave us any toys.

I didn't see any Transformers
toys in the whole studio.

And that's like what?

Marvel Productions
may have been starved

for reference, but
over at Sunbow,

it was a different story.

We would get these big boxes
of toys every now and then.

No.

So at that point, they
were just handing me

model sheets of what these
characters looked like.

It was very siloed.

I only knew what
I was let in on.

We would send them
illustrations to Bob Budiansky.

Bob at Marvel
comics was in charge

of naming the bots,

creating identities based
on their appearance.

I would turn in my character
profiles and character names,

and once they were approved,

whatever they did with
them was up to Hasbro.

The system
had become more integrated

than your average Transformer.

There were new
characters being introduced

practically every show.

In fact, the
Transformers' universe

was expanding so fast,

Marvel had to call Don
Glut for backup.

He was also known
by another name.

I was Dinosaur Don Glut.

He likes dinosaurs, he
likes the Frankenstein monster

and he likes The Mummy.

As a young boy, made his own
animated dinosaur movies.

So you
won't be surprised

by what Dino Don came up with.

Allow me to introduce
Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge.

All directions
pointed the Transformers show

back to its Japanese origins.

I based them on what I
remembered from the Japanese

Godzilla films.

There's one I think where Rodan

is pulling Godzilla by the tail

and Godzilla is digging
his way in the ground

trying to get ahold, you know?

Well, I did that with Grimlock.

That all came from those
Japanese movies.

While Don
and the other writers

were rapidly expanding
the Transformers cannon,

the morale at Marvel
was shrinking.

Our creative staff they
felt underappreciated

that Sunbow was using Marvel
to build their own reputation.

There were times when there
was a bit of a struggle

between the companies
and I'd have to step in

and be a diplomat.

That's the nature of the beast.

In the
trenches of Marvel,

Bryce and his team had
accomplished their mission.

We managed to write all
13 scripts within two months,

which was really remarkable.

The Transformers
show was on track

to make its release date,

but so, too, would a
rival robot world

and their robots would
get there first.

In the
fall of 1984,

Hasbro rolled out its newest
toy line across the nation.

♪ Transformers ♪

And there
was more demand

than stores could handle.

We're selling so well, we can
never keep them in stock.

We get about a thousand
requests a day.

Hasbro was a marketing
machine back then.

And in a
stroke of marketing genius,

on September 17th, 1984,
Hasbro tied its toy launch

to the premier of its
Transformers syndicated
cartoon.

♪ The Transformers. ♪

♪ Robots in disguise. ♪

The TV show
wasn't just about

robots in disguise,

it doubled as a clever marketing
scheme to do one thing.

At the end of the day,
the goal is to sell toys.

Hasbro hoped
toy sales would spike

if the cartoon was
a ratings smash.

Talking about television,

the ratings tell the
story, don't they?

And if the ratings are good,

you're gonna keep making
more shows.

More ratings,
more shows, more toy sales.

Transformers.

But Hasbro
had competition.

In the toy market.

The toy
industry's newest craze.

And
on TV, GoBots.

♪ Let's GoBots, let's GoBots ♪

Even worse.

We've got big trouble.

GoBots
landed on TV

a full week before
Transformers .

'Cause I didn't think
it was as imaginative.

I didn't think the
toys were as good.

You won't get another
word out of me.

I quit.

GoBots made
it to air first

and it was beating
Transformers in the ratings.

♪ Let's GoBots ♪

And lower
ratings meant lower toy sales.

Hasbro executives issued
new instructions

for Marvel Productions.

Hasbro was just not
happy with the ratings.

They just wanted to
give it an edge.

No message!

Marvel Production
supplied the creative team

but Hasbro hired Sunbow
to deliver the show

as a toy commercial and
they took control.

And Sunbow, they sort
of took it over

and continued it with
even more toys

and even more characters.

And a new
producer, Flint Dille.

We want better ratings

and we want this show
to have more edge to it.

Once they've served
their purpose

I shall exterminate them.

That is seeming a little
bit like a kiddie show.

Decepticons seem to
bug Megatron even more.

Despite
less than stellar ratings

for season one, Hasbro
had invested too much

to give up on the Transformers
TV show.

Sunbow got the green light
for season two.

Lee Gunther said, "We
want you to do 49 more."

49 new
episodes with Flint Dille

as an influential
creative voice.

They're wondering, what's
this guy doing

coming in from Sunbow
changing everything?

And it was just a very
adversarial situation.

Hasbro
was doubling down

with a new creative mandate,

get serious and sell toys.

They were going all in
and we mean all in.

And the movies.

The Autobots
and Decepticons

were headed to the big screen.

A new
age of peace and happiness.

And we were very excited.

Ron Friedman
was hired to write

a Transformers feature

and work out how to
scale up the story.

I need a universal enemy,

which will compel these
sworn enemies

to join together to defeat it.

We are allies now against
a common foe.

But the
Transformers movie

needed something even bigger,

bigger than anything
they had planned for TV.

So they took a page
out of Sunbow's

other animated property,
G.I. Joe.

We've had people get hurt,
but they're always better

by the next episode.

So, let's kill somebody
in the movie.

Shocking!

They were planning
to get rid of Duke

out of the toy line.

- Die.
- No!

The people working on
the Transformer movie,

they really liked it.
They thought it was great.

They said, well, we got
a bunch of characters

we gotta get rid of 'cause
they're being taken out

of the product line,

Right, it's
all about toys.

Why don't we kill
them off too?

It was
time for a change.

Just do your job.

And with GoBots.
in the top rating spot.

Kinda didn't help.

The Transformers
team had to step it up.

I was really worried
about the competition.

We really wanted
to beat GoBots.

No more Optimus Prime.

But the way to do
it was in the movie theaters.

It was decided

that they were gonna kill off
these characters.

Transformers'
top boss was in the crosshairs.

My biggest issue
was Optimus Prime.

I mean, what?