Zob's Notes on The Transformers: Original Television Series Score

[Zobovor]

The official Transformers cartoon soundtrack has been released on vinyl format, with only 2000 copies produced. Hell, more people than that went to BotCon every year. I feel like they seriously underestimated the number of people who would be interested in an official release, and I question the reason why it was released on an obsolete format. Sony has said no digital version is planned.

The album contains 40 tracks of a possible 185, making it more of a music sampling than a complete soundtrack. I do not own a copy (and due to its extremely limited distribution I will probably never get one), but based on the liner notes, which provide track lengths and the time index each track appears in its first episode, I was able to determine which tracks were included on the album.

As an aside, it's interesting that they were able to pinpoint so precisely which tracks first appeared in which episodes, and the precise time index at which they can be found, since none of this was common knowledge in the fandom until I spent months compiling such a list. My list has since been distributed online, so theoretically anyone would have access to it. I guess it's nice that I was able to contribute to the official soundtrack release, albeit in such a roundabout way. (And, yes, I am aware that I have cried foul numerous times when my ideas or projects have been seemingly appropriated by other sources. I've played this card quite frequently over the years, and I'm sure I sound like a raving lunatic. It's entirely possible I'm being paranoid some of the time, but I feel like I've been right about this more often than I've been wrong.)

So, the album is very heavy on first-season themes, as the first 25 tracks included were introduced in season one. Only six themes from season two are included (if you count the "Transformers Medley" track as the three separate themes that comprise it), and none of the shared Transformers/G.I. Joe themes are among them. The remaining 11 themes are from season three. Some of my favorites are included, but many of them were not.

Also, the track listings are clearly not the official names. I was hoping that the official release would provide us with the names that Johnny Douglas and Robert J. Walsh gave them, but instead it seems that a fan consultant named them after episode dialogue in which they appear, similar to the way the DVD chapters were named. For example, track 02 is entitled "Life" only because of the narration from the first episode: "Millions of years ago, on the planet Cybertron, life existed..." Track 04 on Side B, "The Jaws of Death," is referring to the Autobot-crushing machine that grabs Ironhide. I feel like most of the time, episode-specific track titles are inappropriate if the music is used for multiple episodes. That's why I picked track names for the Transformers music restoration project that captured the feel of each piece without being overly episode-specific.

Something I found very interesting is that I always thought Johnny Douglas and Robert J. Walsh wrote all the music for the show, but there's a third name, Jonathan Merrill, whose name is also attached to many of the Walsh compositions. (I've contacted him to ask about the extent to which he was involved.) It's nice to finally get confirmation on which pieces were composed by who; I feel like I've developed an ear for their musical styles, but it's still nice to know for sure. (It's ironic to me that Walsh supplied these tracks to Hasbro, but fully 28 out of the 40 tracks were composed by Douglas.) It's also interesting to me that Anne Bryant and Ford Kinder get a writing credit for "Waking Nightmare" (aka "Inner Workings"), but I suspect it's because the track uses notes from the Transformers theme song.

There may possibly be one track included on the album that Jim and I were unable to archive. It's called "Pastoral Tranquility" and is given as a piece introduced in "The Ultimate Weapon," most likely the one heard during the orange-picking scene right before Trypticon tries to stomp everybody. There are only about eight seconds of this theme heard in the episode, but the album includes a track that's one minute and eleven seconds long. So, there may be some new material there.

However, as far as I've been able to piece together, everything else on the album is material that we previously covered with the Transformers music restoration project. Given the limited number of copies released, only a tiny fraction of the fandom is ever going to be able to own this soundtrack. For anyone who wants to approximate the official soundtrack experience, I put together a digital version of it. I even changed the filenames to match the ones on the album. My version of "Pastoral Tranquility" is incomplete, but the rest should match up with the album experience:

http://www.mediafire.com/?pql2oy9geyapi

Of course, there are also 140 other tracks that you're missing out on by listening only to the official album. Normally, I would encourage people to buy the official release. But, it sold out in five minutes with no plans to produce more. So, a very small percentage of the fandom gets to own one, and the rest of us are right back at square one. So, the rest of us get to listen to the unofficial soundtrack, much of it painstakingly assembled from DVD episodes by yours truly and digitally restored and remastered by the inimitable Jim Figurski:

http://www.thetfcog.com/news/g1-season-1-2-3-restored-soundtracks-available-now.html

I haven't made any money off promoting this soundtrack and I never will. It's just a huge labor of love and I want to share it with as many fans as possible, because we all deserve to be able to listen to this great music that defined our childhoods.


Zob (freely admits that I'm a little protective of this music now, so I care a lot about how it's presented and distributed)

[Zobovor]

On Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 8:25:35 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:

> Jonathan Merrill, whose name is also attached to many of the Walsh
> compositions. (I've contacted him to ask about the extent to which he was
> involved.)

He has already responded and confirmed that he was one of "several composers" who worked with Robert J. Walsh on the show. It's kind of sad that his contributions were never acknowledged in any form until now.


Zob (should I ask him additional questions?)

[Rodimus_2316]

Just listened to all of your mediafire downloaded songs-samples, and they were great. Thanks a million for making these. I hope, in the future, I'll listen to all the tracks, and add .txt documents under my G1 virtual episode listings on my site and say which of your songs are playing in which scenes. Gotta worry with getting the interested-writers I found on facebook do their submissions to get them into the staff first.



- Rodimus_2316

[Travoltron]

On 3/10/2018 10:01 PM, Zobovor wrote:
> Zob (should I ask him additional questions?)

Is there a reason he wasn't credited? And what other shows did he work on?
Haim Saban would pay struggling musicians a flat fee for their music and
then take credit and ALL the royalties for himself. So I really wonder
who did the music on all those different '80s cartoons. It would be nice
to nail those down.

[Zobovor]

On Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 8:25:35 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:

> However, as far as I've been able to piece together, everything else on the
> album is material that we previously covered with the Transformers music
> restoration project.

Actually, I've been reading new reports that they artificially truncated some of the music tracks for the official soundtrack to get them to fit on the album.


Zob (hmm, they wouldn't have to do that if they released the album digitally...)

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 1:34:49 PM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> Is there a reason he wasn't credited? And what other shows did he work on?
> Haim Saban would pay struggling musicians a flat fee for their music and
> then take credit and ALL the royalties for himself.

This is more or less a transcript of our e-mails, with some pleasantries and formalities omitted:

ZOB: I noticed that you were given a music writing credit for the official Transformers cartoon soundtrack (1984-87). I had previously thought that only Robert J. Walsh and Johnny Douglas wrote the music for that show. Can you tell me anything about your contribution to the show? Did you work with Walsh and compose music with him?

JM: Yes, I was one of several composers that worked with Rob on Transformers, as well as Jem, Muppet Babies, Potato Head Kids, Defenders of the Earth, My Little Pony, and a few more.

ZOB: I'm curious as to why you were never credited for your work on the Transformers show. Your name isn't listed anywhere in the closing credits. I didn't even know you were involved with Transformers until your name appeared on the official cartoon soundtrack released recently.

JM: It is common for the main composer to get help but get the only credit.

ZOB: What sort of titles or names were typically given to these music tracks? Did they have descriptive song titles, or were they more generic like "Action Theme 1," "Action Theme 2," etc.?

JM: Somewhat descriptive titles, to help the music editors—e.g. "Final Victory."

ZOB: Do you know how the sound editors would go about choosing which music tracks to use for which scenes? Were the tracks labeled with specific descriptive terms (sad, whimsical, etc.) so the sound mixers could select something that would fit the mood of each scene?

JM: Yes, see above.

ZOB: Who decided how many themes would be composed for a series? Did the license owner (like Hasbro) specify how many they wanted, or did you just compose a variety that seemed good and then let them pick and choose what they wanted?

JM: Mainly just a variety from which they could choose, unless there was a specific request.

ZOB: Do you know anything about why the sound of the Transformers show switched so drastically from orchestral themes during season one and two (1984-85) and changed to a heavier synthesizer rock sound during season three (1986)?

JM: Producer preference, based on popular music trends of the time.

ZOB: I don't suppose you still have any copies of the music for Transformers that you worked on with Mr. Walsh?

JM: Unfortunately, none that I can put my hands on currently...somewhere in a box in the basement! :-)


Zob (would pay cash money for that box in his basement)

[Travoltron]

On 3/11/2018 4:43 PM, Zobovor wrote:

> Zob (hmm, they wouldn't have to do that if they released the album digitally...)

I'm not a music guy, so I don't understand why even CDs are still a
thing anymore. It's 36-year old technology.

We could have moved to DVD-A 18 years ago. And even now we could be
moving to a Blu-ray Audio format.

Instead everyone is content to stick with the restrictions of 80-minute
2.0 Stereo audio. Give people an amazing 50GB worth of sound in 7.1 and
they'll buy it.

[Travoltron]

Here it is, get it while you can!
https://mega.nz/#!D6ojmC4Y!hcjjC6T1sivjzsAs8ouGMytAziXDgbgGrG60uTWOXSA

The website I got this from also has a "GI Joe The Movie" soundtrack. I
don't know if this is just Zob and Jimbo's work repackaged or something new.
https://mega.nz/#!XnpCnD6B!QhtiU6Y95JJjkRv4Kh75CDAO2rZ9Xt_6IoLAQ6p3MlQ

[Zobovor]

On Thursday, March 22, 2018 at 4:49:58 PM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> Here it is, get it while you can!

Thank you, sir! I'm gonna give this a thorough analysis.

> The website I got this from also has a "GI Joe The Movie" soundtrack. I
> don't know if this is just Zob and Jimbo's work repackaged or something new.

Yeah, it appears to be the themes that Jim and I worked on. This is actually a really cool way of repackaging it, though. I like this a lot.


Zob

[Zobovor]

Okay, so I gave the official soundtrack a listen, and here are my observations:

A lot of the tracks seem to be a slightly different pitch than what was used on the show. I'm not sure if this is the result of the turntable for the vinyl album playing at a slightly different speed, or something that was done to the music by Marvel Productions during the sound editing process. It's a lot more noticeable on some track than on others.

Track 06, "Prepare," is missing its ending. It should go for 42 more seconds. I don't know if Sony artificially truncated the track to make it fit better on the album, or if Robert J. Walsh submitted an incomplete recording.

Track 08, "Decepticon Drama," is missing its first three seconds or so. There are a couple of opening horn notes that are absent.

Track 09, "Explore! Repair!" is also missing about two seconds from the beginning. The flutes are supposed to finish two complete eight-note cycles at the beginning before the horns come in.

Track 10, "Facing Disaster," is very interesting to me because we never get to hear the theme in its complete form at any point during the show. When Jim and I worked on this piece, we had a very clear beginning and a very clear ending, but we didn't know how much of the middle chunk was missing. He spliced together the two chunks to try and create a logical transition, but we didn't know what the full piece sounded like. Well, it turns out we were pretty much spot on, because the edit job we did sounds a lot like the finished piece! There are also about ten seconds of space-age notes that were never used on the show.

Track 12, "Elements of Danger," has a final "swoosh" sound that's much longer and more pronounced than what we ever got to hear on the show.

Track 13, "Something is Wrong," is missing about eight seconds. There's supposed to be four-note synthesizer bass line that echoes the four-note horns. (I wonder if maybe it was added by somebody else in post-production, which is why Walsh didn't have it in his recording.)

Track 15, "No More Worries," is a track that was used infrequently in the show (only twice, by my reckoning). This has about 11 seconds at the beginning that was never heard in the show.

Track 17, "Heavy Mettle," is missing the first 45 seconds. This version of the track starts right before the guitar solo. The track is only about 55 seconds long and it should clock in at closer to 1:41.

Track 19, "Matters and Antimatters," is missing about 11 seconds from the end. There's supposed to be a whiny synthesizer six-note sequence that repeats twice. Again, maybe this was added after Walsh recorded it.

Track 21, "Ancient Legends," is significant in that it predates Transformers, having been written for the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. It's only used a couple of times in Transformers, and I was always unsure if we were hearing the entire track in its entirety. This is no different from what we hear on the show.

Track 26, "Into the Jaws of Death," is missing its final five seconds. There is a single note, a three-note sequence, and a five-note sequence that are absent.

Track 27, "Doomed Together," is missing a couple of notes from the beginning. Maybe two seconds are absent.

Track 29 is called "Transformers Medley" and is several tracks played in succession. The opening theme (I recognize it as "Finale II") is missing its first 19 seconds, seems to be at a much faster tempo than anything used on the show. This could be an alternate recording, or else one that was slowed down artificially by Marvel Productions. Next is a theme (we called it "Troubled Waters") that is missing its first seven seconds or so. The final piece ("Autobots' Last Stand") is complete. I'm not sure why they chose to splice these together as a medley, unless there were pieces that were missing or damaged.

Track 30, "Mad Planet," is missing the first 24 seconds. I will admit that the album version sounds richer than the one we restored, with better clarity in the instruments.

Track 31, "Conflict on Cassette," is ad an oddly higher pitch than what we heard on the show. Again, though, the sound clarity in this track is excellent.

Track 32, "Pastoral Transquility," is only heard twice on the show, both times in fragments. The first time is actually in "The Ultimate Weapon" during the exciting orange-picking scene, and we only hear a brief moment of it. We hear it again in "The Return of Optimus Prime" part 2, but only the first 30 seconds of it. I had no idea until now that both scenes use the same piece of music. This complete track is a full minute and eight seconds, so we finally get to hear the unabridged theme, which includes a delightful Transformers theme song leitmotif.

Track 33, "From the Secret Files of Teletraan II" (which is itself a misnomer, since this theme was only used once in the historical trailers), is again at a higher pitch than what we heard on the show.

Track 34, "Separation Anxiety," is also at a much higher pitch than what was used on television. I wonder if these tracks were pitched down to an alternate key by somebody at Marvel Productions to make them sound more ominous or something.

Track 36, "Sinister," is also at a higher pitch than we're accustomed to. The clarity of the instruments is really quite good, though. I think I want to pitch these tracks down and offer them up for download or something.

Track 39, "Mysterious Airs," is notable in that it was based on a track from the Transformers: the Movie score by Vince DiCola, who was not credited or notified. It's also only 53 seconds long, when the full theme is closer to 1:43.

I found it interesting that track 40, "Waking Nightmare," gives a writing credit to Ford Kinder and Anne Bryant, probably because it uses cues from the Transformers theme song.

So, this album is good. I'm really glad it exists. But it's so utterly incomplete. It's missing pretty much all my favorite themes from the show, most of which were shared themes with G.I. Joe or G.I. Joe: the Movie, which may be one of the reasons they're not included. Also, the many tracks which are missing large fragments are really bothersome.

I'm so confused by the people who dismiss the fan restoration effort with its 180-odd music tracks, but they're head-over-heels delighted with this 40-track official release. I'm honestly beginning to wonder if they're not the same people who praised Michael Bay for "finally" bringing Transformers back in 2007, and the same people who buy Transformers character posters for their bedrooms but can't tell Bumblebee from Sunstreaker.


Zob (needs to glue some Jenga blocks together)

[Travoltron]

I'd love to see you incorporate this new material into your soundtrack.
You can release it as a 2.0.

[Zobovor]

On Friday, March 16, 2018 at 2:21:43 PM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> I'm not a music guy, so I don't understand why even CDs are still a
> thing anymore. It's 36-year old technology.

I found this today and it seemed relevant:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/finance/technology/cds-and-vinyl-are-outselling-digital-music-downloads/ar-BBKA30n


Zob (hasn't bought an actual CD since Lady Gaga's "Born This Way")

[Zobovor]

On Thursday, March 22, 2018 at 8:51:39 PM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:

> Track 32, "Pastoral Transquility," is only heard twice on the show, both
> times in fragments. The first time is actually in "The Ultimate Weapon"
> during the exciting orange-picking scene, and we only hear a brief moment of
> it. We hear it again in "The Return of Optimus Prime" part 2, but only the
> first 30 seconds of it. I had no idea until now that both scenes use the
> same piece of music. This complete track is a full minute and eight seconds,
> so we finally get to hear the unabridged theme, which includes a delightful
> Transformers theme song leitmotif.

I thought I recognized a piece of this from somewhere else. It's also the music played during G.I. Joe: the Movie after Duke falls into a coma. The only reason it's identified as a Transformers theme for the album is because they were using my time index for reference, and I didn't yet know about this. It's likely that the tracks shared between Transformers and G.I. Joe were left out deliberately, perhaps with an eye towards a G.I. Joe music release at some point down the road. The fact that this track alone is the singular shared piece between both franchises, and the only one I failed to identify, is highly telling.

Some months ago, Monzo e-mailed me out of the blue (we have never communicated) and asked for the time index list that I'd spent months putting together. I had thought he was interested in it for academic reasons, and I shared it with him freely, but now it seems he was asking for it in order to provide the information to Sony. Which is fine, since information is free (and Jim had already posted my time index list to the Kickstarter page, so it was available to the public), but it would have been nice if he'd communicated more clearly to me what his intentions were. I e-mailed him days ago asking for clarification, if this was the real reason he had asked me, and he hasn't responded. Which, to me, speaks volumes.

So, I guess the reason this single piece of G.I. Joe music is included on this album is kind of my fault, in a roundabout kind of way. Sorry, fandom.

There's also the matter of which episodes actually constitute a first appearance of a theme. There are so many ways to put the episodes in order—chronological storyline order, original airdate order, production order, DVD order; etc. I've always gone with the syndication order used by the Sci-Fi Channel, which nicely matched up with my childhood memories of certain story beats coming before others (like Octane being a traitor in "Starscream's Ghost" before we actually see his betrayal in a later episode, "Thief in the Night"). Then there are web sites like epguides.com, which doesn't seem to agree with ANY of the above at times. There probably is no one single correct way to put the episodes in order, but I chose one that worked for me. After all, this was just an unofficial fan project, right? I wasn't aware that my work would be appropriated for an official release. If I'd known, I might have reviewed the episode order a little more carefully, maybe culling from a few more sources (like researching the original Marvel Productions numbers) before arriving at a final decision.

Fandom drama. Sigh.


Zob (....)