Sunbow Productions

Sunbow Entertainment is an animation studio, founded in 1980 first in Japan and owned up until 1998 by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York. The first animation efforts by Griffin-Bacal were producing the 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 Sunbow Productions. One of Sunbow's most well known productions is the long running syndicated series "The Great Space Coaster".

Company overview

Sunbow is noted for many cartoons aired during the 1980s. Although it is not limited to Hasbro's various toy line products its reputation is tied to the many cartoon series tied to them. Its animation was initially produced by the Japanese animation studio Toei, supplemented by the South Korean animation studio AKOM later on. By 1988, most of Hasbro's toylines were losing money and various internal struggles forced the company to end popular series such as ' and "Transformers". Two of Sunbow's animated movies, (' and ') flopped at the box office, forcing a third project, ', to be released directly to video instead.

In a bid to produce original material, Sunbow produced several cartoons through the early 1990s such as "The Nudnik Show", "The Tick" and "Conan the Adventurer". Of these, only "The Tick" managed to gain popularity and critical acclaim.

On April 28, 1998 Sunbow Productions was bought by Sony Wonder, a division of Sony Music. Sunbow was sold for US$10 million dollars in 2000 to TV Loonland, which then bought Metrodome Distribution, who currently have the European rights to the Sunbow catalogue.

Previously, Rhino Entertainment owned the US home video distribution rights to the Sunbow catalogue. The rights then changed hands to Sony Wonder with its acquisition of Sunbow. However, Sony Wonder was shut down in March 2007. [ [http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7039 TVShowsOnDVD.com: Transformers DVD news: SonyWonder Goes Under; Uncertain Future For Transformers DVDs!] ]

On June 21, 2007 it was announced that Sony Wonder had been absorbed into Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which currently owns the US rights to the Sunbow catalogue. However, it is unknown when or if any of the shows in the library will be re-released by the company in the future.

In May 2008, Hasbro released news that they had obtained the rights to all the Sunbow-produced cartoons based on their properties. This includes Transformers, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony and many more. [http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/05/actual_news_hasbro_has_its_sunbow_cartoons_back_in.php]

Productions

Among the various series produced by Sunbow are:
* "Cramp Twins" (2001)
* "Lion of Oz" (2000)
* "Mega Babies" (1999)
* "Salty's Lighthouse" (1999)
* "Deepwater Black" (Mission: Genesis in the U.S.) (1997)
* "The Brothers Flub" (1997)
* "The Adventures of Hyperman" (1995)
* "" (1995)
* "The Littlest Pet Shop" (1995)
* "The Tick" (1994)
* "Conan the Adventurer" (1992)
* "Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars" (1991) (Co-Production With IDDH, Marvel Productions and Continuity Comics)
* "The Nudnik Show" (1991)
* "" (1987) (Co-Production with TMS Productions)
* "My Little Pony and Friends" (1986) (Co-Production With Marvel Productions)
* "Robotix" (1986) (Co-Production With Marvel Productions)
* "Inhumanoids" (1986) (1986) (Co-Production With Marvel Productions)
* "Super Sunday" (1985) (1986) (Co-Production With Marvel Productions)
* "Jem" (1985) (1986) (Co-Production With Marvel Productions)
* "" (1985) (1986) (Co-Production With Marvel Productions)
* "Transformers" (1984) (1986) (Co-Production With Toei Company, Marvel Productions)
* "" (1984) (1986) (Co-Production With Marvel Productions)
* "" (1983) (1986) (Co-Production With Marvel Productions)
* "The Great Space Coaster" (1981)

The only movies produced by Sunbow were:
* "" (1987) (Co-Production With Marvel Productions)
* "" (1986) (Co-Production With DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group, Toei Company and Marvel Productions)
* "" (1986) (Co-Production With DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group and Marvel Productions)

References

External links

* [http://www.joeheadquarters.com/faq.shtml The Ultimate G.I. Joe Cartoon Website]
* [http://www.imdb.com/company/co0023518/ The Internet Movie Database]
* [http://www.thetransformers.net/ TheTransformers.net] Europe's largest Transformers Fan Site
* [http://www.thevisionaries.net/ The Visionaries.net] The web's leading resource for Visionaries Cartoon, Visionaries Comic and Visionaries Toy information
* [http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/ Transformers @ The Moon] The largest Transformers resource for Transformers toys, cartoon and comic information