80s MLP Animation Production Material

[Rhaegar]

That is how it was clipped together in the storyboard so I left it. I do have a lot of loose pages I'll put up in the end once I sort out which episodes they go with, mostly character designs and things like freehand storyboards.

Besides the audio reel that should be up soon I have another one coming from the same source. Judging by what he said it's more movie auditions of other characters.

[greeby]

Some interesting differences in the "Somnambula" boards:

Spoiler

(Part 1)
- the storyboards include Babies Cuddles, Lickety, Gusty and Heart Throb in the first shot too
- Page 3 isn't used in the final ep
- anyone got any idea what "N.D. Ponies" means? (On page 3)
- So Soft Twilight and Locket are in the boards, but not the final ep!
- the boards don't specify Somnambula's voice changing along with her appearance
- Probably a coincidence, but I'm amused by one of Score's first lines including the phrase "touchdown" when we now know that was his original name
- page 54 - Salty's line is cut down to just "Blow me down!" in the final ep. Page 55 and most of 56 didn't make it into the final.
- The Brothers' feathering is drawn differently in some panels compared to the final ep (two lines of fur instead of just one? looks like they're wearing little socks or something, lol)
- There's a cute background gag where Baby Sleepy Pie keeps falling asleep, this got cut in the final (it's not pointed out so possibly the animators just overlooked it?). Shame since this is her only appearance in the cartoon, it would've been nice for her to have SOME sort of personality trait.
- Somnambula's much prettier in the final ep! Conversely, I actually prefer Kiri's design from the boards (very Snow White-esque!)
- page 79/80 - the close-up of Kiri being crushed didn't make it into the final. The rest of this *technically* made it into the final ep, but the storyboards are a LOT clearer than the final ver - I never really got what was going on here before now. Guessing S&P found it too violent and asked for it to be toned down, but the final ver is just kind of confusing.
- Score's final line "I suddenly have a very bad feeling about this...!" was cut (at least it's not in the version of the ep I have...... most home video releases cut a few seconds out of the end of every ep to remove the "To Be Continued" so this might have been a casualty of that? don't have time to hunt down a copy without the TBC cut right now)

(Part 2)
- Pleasure Island the amusement park looks a bit less empty/abandoned in the boards
(speaking of Pinocchio, I *just* noticed the Monstro-esque building in the background of the final ep. Nice touch.)
- In the boards, the first pony the Big Brothers come across is Ribbon; in the final ep, it's Truly. I get why they changed it, since Truly's more relevant to the story (follows up from the end of part 1 better too), but Ribbon never really did anything in the show so it's sad to see we lost a moment with her here.
- "Clearly this is Heart Throb's personal romance theatre" (I just wanted to quote this lol. hey, is her Salome thing here a Sunset Boulevard ref?)
- Gingerbread has dialogue in the boards but not the final ep
- Score's line "This place is making all the Little Ponies - old!" cut in final

Rhaegar - Page 13 from the Somnambula Part 2 boards is a repeat from Part 1, was that intentional? :o

Re: Baby, It's Cold Outside - SO nice to finally get a confirmed spelling for the little duckling's name. I was never sure if it was meant to be "Sunny" or "Sonny" since both make sense.

Princess Ponies: OMG the wand sheathes. Oh god that's adorable, they should've kept those!!! The final ep just has them awkwardly holding the wands in their mouths a lot (and talking clearly even despite this) - that's always bugged me but I figured, you know, what else could they do - but sheathes are such a clever workaround!

(comparisons, nitpicks, etc)

Spoiler

- the boards specify to reference "The Magic Coins" for the Crystal Desert, which isn't really obvious in the final ep
- in the boards, the princesses are introduced making "hat shapes in their own colours". in the final ep they're making magical versions of their symbols. I wonder why the change?
- cut dialogue:
Serena: Did you hurt yourself?
Tiffany: Well, not hurt, exactly... But it's just awful!

now this one shoulda been kept - I always said Serena was the most sensible of the princesses - it'd be nice to see that early on in the ep.
- Lilac: -a knowledge of every part of one's domain! Especially the growing things!
Second half of line is cut from final.
- page 16 - "Who should be queen?" is just said over a black screen (transition out of song) in the final. the transition is MUCH smoother in the boards but I guess they had to cut it for time?
The storyboards suggest that Washer was working off the idea that the "By Right, I Should Be Queen" song would have the Princess show off their talents in a talent contest-esque setting - the final sequence just has them wander around showing off. I like the final version, but the Princesses-on-stage setup is really cute too.
- Cut sequence (pages 17-19) where the Bushwoolies "vote" for should be the Queen. this explains Spike's "let's let the Bushwoolies decide!" line in the final ep!!! the final ep just cuts straight from that to Lavan, making Spike's line this kind of weird non-sequitur.
between this + the Ghost of P.E. cuts it's looking like eps getting trimmed down to accomodate the songs happened quite often? IIiinteresting.
- Lavan's name is spelt like that here, not "La-van" as one VHS tape spelt it. *nitpicky*
- I never noticed Spike + the Bushwoolies dipping their little feets in the fountain before! in part cuz it's not really animated very clearly. but omg, that's *adorable*.
- the Bushwoolies' dialogue in the first panel of page 3 was changed for the final (in the storyboards it follows on from the cut sequence from pgs 17-19)
- the boards actually _show_ the Lava Demons taking the magic wands out of the sheathes, as opposed to the final ep where there's just this awkward jumpcut where one sec the ponies have 'em in their mouths, and the next sec the demon's holding the wands
- Lavan vs Spike makes a LOT more sense in the boards. Spike isn't breathing fire *directly on* Lavan and there's a decent amount of space between Spike/the Bushwoolies and the Lava Demons when Lavan does his smokescreen thing to escape. I guess there was some sort of miscommunication cause the final ep has Lavan right in front of them for the whole bit.
- Last two panels of page 32 were cut
- Pages 34-37 cut entirely (apart from Serena's line on page 34, and Lavan/Sludge diag. on pg 37) - Princess ponies bickering again
- IMO storyboard!Lavan has a lot more character, design-wise. IDK exactly what it is but I feel like something got lost in the transition from design to final ep there.
- Page 40-41 - Cut exchange between Lavan/Sludge
- not sure if this was a conscious change or not, but Spike's "now what??" line is specified as him sounding fed-up in the boards (makes sense since the princesses bicker a LOT more here), which isn't really the case for the final ep
- I feel like the bit w/ Fizzy's horn exploding bubbles is clearer in the storyboards
- More cut dialogue on page 57
- Page 60's final panel is missing from the final ep but again, I suspect this WAS animated and it just fell victim to those damned To Be Continued cuts

overall, wow, a lot of little cuts but they make a BIG difference... this ep really suffered for it too. guessing they had budget issues or somesuch. It's fascinating and saddening to see what could've been and where they were limited by TV animation budget, etc restraints (I definitely think that's why Fizzy's bubble stream looks so weird in the final).

Also I have the digital audio for the MLP movie audition reel. This thing is a trip, hope to have it up soon.

*vibrates with excitement*

You have to remember: these are the first drafts without the song sequences, which would be boarded later once dialogue recording was complete.  So you've usually got a minute to 90 seconds of material to cut in order to make room (Somnambula Part 1 doesn't, but I suspect the the cliffhanger was bumped up to give more material to Part 2).

[Carrehz]

That is how it was clipped together in the storyboard so I left it. I do have a lot of loose pages I'll put up in the end once I sort out which episodes they go with, mostly character designs and things like freehand storyboards.

Ohh, that makes sense. LMK if you need any help IDing episodes or anything

Besides the audio reel that should be up soon I have another one coming from the same source. Judging by what he said it's more movie auditions of other characters.

omg I'm so excited for these

You have to remember: these are the first drafts without the song sequences, which would be boarded later once dialogue recording was complete.  So you've usually got a minute to 90 seconds of material to cut in order to make room (Somnambula Part 1 doesn't, but I suspect the the cliffhanger was bumped up to give more material to Part 2).

Well yeah, that's what I said:

[...] between this + the Ghost of P.E. cuts it's looking like eps getting trimmed down to accomodate the songs happened quite often? IIiinteresting.

Must've been frustrating boarding episodes and not knowing what would end up getting thrown out when the songs were completed. I had no idea they did it this way :O I assumed they'd at least have a general idea of what would be going on in the song by the time it went to the storyboard stage, enough to board around. That or just leave enough room for the songs to begin with, which doesn't seem to be the case? Fascinating.

[Rhaegar]

The Prince And The Ponies and the song Family Family from End of Flutter Valley up.

Post Merge: October 28, 2023, 06:57:40 AM

Would-Be Dragon Slayer storyboard samples up (only 10 pages).


Also the MLP Movie audition is up. The flac is on archive but I've put an mp3 version below if anyone would rather use that.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mbbxyb0wjYEiHyHVgX4GRgcHOhRRR32w/view?usp=sharing

Greeby has kindly provided a rundown for the contents of the audition tape as shown below. There is also an odd line missing from the final movie referencing Tirac. The two songs being sung are not Hasbro ones.

0:00-7:30 Patti Paris: Fizzy, Wind Whistler, Baby Lickety-Split, Shady, Gusty
07:47-17:18 Jonna Lee: Magic Star, Shady, Wind Whistler
17:30-27:41 Diane Pershing: Shady, Gusty, Fizzy (including singing), Baby Lickety-Split (including singing)
28:04-31:51 Deena Freeman: Baby Lickety-Split, Gusty,
32:04-36:37 Patty Dworkin: Bushwhoolie #1, Baby Sundance, Fizzy, Sweet Stuff

[Rhaegar]

End of Flutter Valley Part 3 up.

[Carrehz]

omg Sting storyboards <3 <3 <3 <3

It's interesting how there's a general description for the "Dark and Dirty" song here, rather than just "song starts / song ends" like the other boards have.

and that cut line referencing RaMC is fascinating, omg :O I can see why they cut it though, it'd be weird to pretend Fizzy was there (I know the cartoons did tend to play loose with stuff like that, but they usually avoided outright claiming a character was in a story they were absent from, right?) but it's still really exciting to know they did at least toy with having a continuity nod there.
(also, oh Fizzy, only you would describe that whole thing as "a picnic" <3)

I love Patti's nasally, Eeyore-esque Shady voice, that's adorable.

it's fun hearing which voices they had a general idea of from the get-go, i.e. Gusty's nasal whine, WW being English.

still listening through this but I'm fascinated by there being a singing audition for Fizzy - she doesn't sing in the final film. :O (edit: wait, I forgot she sings a line of the "Paradise" song. Well, still.)

edit: I found Lancer's old transcript of the movie if anyone wants to compare the dialogue here to the final:
https://ponyrescuehome.proboards.com/thread/92/little-pony-movie

Turns out most of Fizzy's dialogue was cut for the final!

editedit: it seems like they told the VAs to ad-lib an ending for Fizzy's Tirac line?

[Rhaegar]

Nature's in Harmony song posted.

I do have the lyrics sheet for Dark and Dirty, as well as Family Family.

Greeby and I were talking about how looking at the production dates on these various papers they do not seem to match what is listed on wiki. Once these are all up would someone be interested in assisting me with getting the various wikis out there updated with new information found in these documents? I'm currently deep in a project involving a wiki for an obscure anime and I do not really have the time right now to do a deep dive on this information but want it out there.

He did provide me with a link to the below showing two episodes with release dates information.

https://twitter.com/transformertoys/status/1346183645195853830

Just keeping all this one thread so I can reference it in the future.

There's a second movie reel I was working on today, once Greeby provides me with the names and timestamps it'll be posted too. This one includes auditions for Molly and one of the names on there shocked me in a bad way.

I'd just like to stop for a moment and say how much of a help Greeby is, not only getting the ball rolling on obtaining all this material, but on some unrelated lost media and assistance on getting these formatted, cataloged and also getting the word out in various places when I'm too busy to give it my full attention. It's much appreciated and I thank you again for everything.

The storyboards are easy to figure out but there's still a lot of loose pages I'm working on figuring out what episodes they go to. I'll post the ones I'm completely lost on figuring out once everything is scanned.

I do need help on something though. I have three cells paintings used as backgrounds in the series. Does anybody know where these were used? I'm having issues embedding them, if someone else is able to please do.

https://imgur.com/a/C362x3l
https://imgur.com/a/sqC01e3
https://imgur.com/a/DpwITFp

[LadyMoondancer]

I thought they might be from Bright Lights since that episode has a lot of night scenes, but they don't appear to be in that one.

[Carrehz]

is the last one definitely MLP? My first thought was Potato Head Kids, but looking at the opening for that again I can't see anything that matches :s

for release dates, I'd just keep in mind that plans can change between production and final release... I think definitely add any new info you have but maybe keep the old/current info somewhere accessible too? I dunno.

Here are the images embedded:

Spoiler

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edit: I just checked and the nursery isn't from Catrina. I thought it might be from the scene where Rep kidnaps Baby MD, and the lighting pretty much matches up, but they don't show an exterior shot of the building in that scene :s

That shot DOES ring a bell though, it has the rainbow logo above the door and I don't think that was in most episodes. I'll keep looking.

[Rhaegar]

Dark and Dirty up.

I skimmed through Catrina and the movie as well as a few random episodes and the commercials for the nursery and baby buggy but the nursery does not appear to match in any scene. I've also noticed in some scenes the bow color is pink instead of blue. I'd be very curious what this one is from.

Any idea of the forest scene?

Looking on Washer's IMDB listing I should check Moondreamers, Glo Friends, possibly even Charmkins. But I don't see Potato Head Kids listed. There is no text anywhere on this picture to help narrow this one down.

Looking at the top page of the writer's guide (I do not have the rest) there is the following interesting information:

Ages for Megan (13), Danny (10), Molly (7)
Majesty listed in the unicorn section
Peachy listed in the earth section
Cuddles also listed in the earth section as an adult pony.

This will be bundled up with other scans later where you can see it. You mentioned Wildshadow also saw Peachy mentioned, I wonder if they have the rest of this guide.

[LadyMoondancer]

That's so interesting!!  I never thought of it before, but it is weird that Peachy isn't in MLP 'n Friends because I'm pretty sure the Pretty Parlor was still being sold at the time.  Even Baby Sleepy Pie shows up at least once (in the Big Brothers episode).

Thank you for preserving and uploading all this, I'm so happy this history isn't being lost!  Can I ask if the material is from Wendall Washer's estate?  Years ago I emailed him telling him how much I loved RaMC and he very kindly responded and mentioned he had the original recording of the sea pony song.  (Or maybe a demo version?)  I was so sad when I heard he'd passed away and wondered what had become of his studio stuff.  Man, I wish he'd been a guest at a pony convention, I'll bet he would have had such great stories to tell.

I checked Little Piece of Magic and The Revolt of Paradise Estate but the nursery shot doesn't seem to be from those either.  It's such beautiful art, love the long evening shadows on the flowers.

[Rhaegar]

Yes, these were purchased from this estate. If anyone is interested in other stuff like Jem or Charmkins (check is IMDB for other stuff he worked on) I can get you in touch with the person that did all negotiations between me and his estate. I know there is a lot of stuff left.

I remember saving his sea pony storyboards when he still had a website up, never imagined I'd one day own them, even though the exact version he posted was not included in this lot.

Only art was included in this lot sadly, the reels I'm uploading are from a different source. If anyone can get a hold of that sea pony reel (or anything else related to the animation production of mlp) I'd love to see it.

You're welcome, I'm big on saving lost media and other things that are easily lost. Anything else that crosses my path will be put up in multiple places for maximum preservation.

[Carrehz]

Whoops, I edited some more into my last post but it didn't tell me there'd been new posts since. I'll repost it in a new post:

okay the ep I had in mind for the Lullaby Nursery BG was Revolt of Paradise Estate, but I checked and it's not that one.
I just went through the movie since it's captioned "Pony Movie", but I couldn't find any similar shots there, either - the only scene that had that sort of lighting was the one at Megan's Place.

I'm hoping the forest scene is from the same episode as the Nursery shot - I was focusing on the Nursery BG atm in the hopes that would be easier to ID, but I'm stumped right now :/

Here are some old posts from Wildshadow:
MLP Movie Press Kit https://mlparena.com/index.php?topic=378010.msg1529115;topicseen#msg1529115
Writer's Guide etc https://mlparena.com/index.php?topic=294582.msg171520#msg171520

The second thread has most of the stuff I remember her posting.

I'm so sad no conventions ever asked Wendell Washer as a guest. I remember you sharing that story before LadyM, I think he'd have been a great guest.

I strongly suspect Peachy was going to be in RaMC and then got turned into the "First Born" rainbow pony partway through production... it'd explain why she has Twinkles, anyway.

edit: Rhaegar + Greeby - Just wanted to again give a big THANK YOU to you two!! You're doing the lord's work here, I never thought we'd have anything like this for MLP, especially not so neatly organized and preserved. Thank you both so much!!!

edit 2: Just ran through my folder of MLP screenshots, couldn't find any leads though :/ End of Flutter Valley has similar lighting/skylines but I don't remember a forest scene like that, and I'm pretty sure Lullaby Nursery isn't in that one. Hmmm.

[greeby]

Dark and Dirty up.

I skimmed through Catrina and the movie as well as a few random episodes and the commercials for the nursery and baby buggy but the nursery does not appear to match in any scene. I've also noticed in some scenes the bow color is pink instead of blue. I'd be very curious what this one is from.

Any idea of the forest scene?

Looking on Washer's IMDB listing I should check Moondreamers, Glo Friends, possibly even Charmkins. But I don't see Potato Head Kids listed. There is no text anywhere on this picture to help narrow this one down.

Looking at the top page of the writer's guide (I do not have the rest) there is the following interesting information:

Ages for Megan (13), Danny (10), Molly (7)
Majesty listed in the unicorn section
Peachy listed in the earth section
Cuddles also listed in the earth section as an adult pony.

This will be bundled up with other scans later where you can see it. You mentioned Wildshadow also saw Peachy mentioned, I wonder if they have the rest of this guide.

Thing to note with imdb, because MLP N Friends had composite credits for all four shows in the anthology, some folks may be credited for shows they were never a part of.  Just to give an example, six story editors are listed: Martin Pasko and Rebecca Parr were on MLP, John Semper and Cynthia Friedlob were on Moondreamers and I'm guessing it was Michael Reaves and Brynne Stephens on Potato Head Kids (Doug Booth did Glo Friends, but he is credited in his producer capacity).  But the credits do not make that distinction clear.

[Carrehz]

Thing to note with imdb, because MLP N Friends had composite credits for all four shows in the anthology, some folks may be credited for shows they were never a part of.  Just to give an example, six story editors are listed: Martin Pasko and Rebecca Parr were on MLP, John Semper and Cynthia Friedlob were on Moondreamers and I'm guessing it was Michael Reaves and Brynne Stephens on Potato Head Kids (Doug Booth did Glo Friends, but he is credited in his producer capacity).  But the credits do not make that distinction clear.

Oh man I didn't even consider that D:

Have I mentioned yet how glad I am that (most) modern cartoons credit things properly? x)

I just quickly skimmed through the Charmkins special and I think we can probably rule that out for the third BG.. it had some similar backgrounds but I couldn't find an exact match. I dunno, I could definitely be wrong, but that just doesn't look quite MLP to me, the colour palette and style of buildings looks different to me. I suppose it could be from one of the commercials since they had different animation styles? That one's really bugging me. It's so cute too. and the other two are just stunning - G1 really had some gorgeous backgrounds.