One of the great mysteries of the Transformers fandom, up until now, was what happened to Jason Jansen, the child actor who played Tommy Kennedy in the little-known fifth season of Transformers Generation 1 – the rerun season which introduced each episode with bridge segments featuring Jason Jansen as Tommy Kennedy interacting with an animatronic Powermaster Optimus Prime.
That mystery has finally been opened up, as Jason Jansen – or rather, Jason Jankowski, as Jason Jansen was his stage name – has got in touch with davidaschulz of the Digest my Brain blog and given a rare interview, shedding some light on the fifth season of Transformers Generation 1 – how he got into working on Transformers, what the experience was like, and even some on-set stories.
MrBlud
Don't forget they did Dark Awakening, TRoOP, and all three parts of Rebirth.
PrimeOQZ
Can't you post your list on here instead of link?
I think there was more. I want to say dark awakening and ROOP was also in that format. I have episodes recorded on vhs and I have been meaning to dig them up. Maybe now is a good time to look for them.
UltraMagnus3786
Just watched through the 50 or so minute video of Season 5 clips. Brought back some good memories for sure. Part of my wonderment with Transformers was because of that Powermaster Prime. Good times.
Batman
This is awesome! What's even better is that it seems like he turned out to be a really cool dude.
UltraMagnus3786
Amazing. As I was born in '86, it was really Season 5 that got me into Transformers. Tommy Kennedy FOREVER!
jametron
This.
Autovolt 127
Oh my God. That would have to become the crowing moment of heartwarming at this years BotCon.
This must happen…..no matter the cost.
O.Supreme
Thanks for your reply X-Brawn. Nice to see another Sacramento based fan here I figured most of the VA's were known since many are still active, but I didn't know if all the writers, directors, animators were found etc… But I'll take your wor for it.
Also on R.I.P. List:
Lionel Stander (Kup- TFTM)
Robert Stack (Ultra Magnus- TFTM)
Roger C. Carmel (Cyclonus)
Tony Pope (Wreck-Gar TV Season 3)
There may be a few others as well…..
Protoman
Oh. My. God.
X-Brawn
Seeing as the only episodes they did this with are the "More Than Meets The Eye" 3-parter, "Transformers: The Movie", The "Five Faces of Darkness" 5-Parter and, bizzarely, The Ultra Magnus birthday episode, which have already been released, I don't think there'd be interest in this. Not even if they also included the "Transformers: Generation 2" version of the episodes as well.
I could see re-re-re-rereleasing TFTM (because it's currently out of print and is also now 27 years old, but we could call it the 25th Anniversary Edition) and including those bits on there along with an interview with Jensen. I'd buy that for a dollar! (Or $19.99/$24.99 + Tax…)
Seeing as all of the voice actors, directors, writers have gone on to many other shows (and there are some, like Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Corey Burton, Susan Blu, etc, who either are still active or have recently done work with Transformers), yes, I think we've got everyone.
R.I.P.
Scatman Crothers (Jazz)
Chris Latta (Starscream, Wheeljack, Sparkplug, Dr. Arkeville)
Orson Welles (Unicron)
Don Messick (Ratchet, Gears, Scavenger)
Ed Gilbert (Blitzwing)
Walker Edmiston (Inferno)
Ken Sansom (Hound)
Anyway, our path is clear now:
Phase 1: Get Mr. Jansen to a Con.
Phase 2: Get Mr. Jansen a chance to finally meet Peter Cullen (They "worked together" for a "whole season" of G1 and I don't think they've ever met in person!)
O.Supreme
On a human level I guess it's cool that he was contacted. But honestly, when these episodes first aired on Sunday mornings in 88/89, once I found out they were all re-runs I didn't watch them (The Tommy/Prime segments meant nothign to me even at 12 years old).
I had no idea the fandom was so obsessed with findign this guy. Have all voice actors, directors, writers, animators etc.. from the original show been accounted for? I'd be more interested in tracking them down.
Defensor
I was thinking the same thing. That face blurring nonsense was annoying but now with this news they wouldn't need to to since he has now been "tracked down."
Unfortunately I feel it's too late since the seasons that the TK/PM OP was used for were already released a long time ago.
BenLeong
If anyone is interested, I have every single Season 5 Tommy Kennedy episode taped from 1988, including all of the local and national commercials during the show. My Dad had the VCR set on a timer to record them.
LemonPrime
Botcon needs to have a big prop replica of that Optimus so fans and Mr. Jansen can take pictures sitting on his hand. Make it so!
Enigma2K2
… wait, wha?
EmperorDinobot
This is a hilarious story.
Wyvern
Hahahaha. Awesome
User_93049
lol the tfwiki holy grail section now reads "OMG SOMEONE FOUND HIM!"
firehawc_69
Wow, I didn't even know about any of this til this morning. Wild.
What do you mean? He seems fine: He-Man.org > Resources > Archives > Interviews > The Nathan Bitner Interview
walruslaw
Glad to see that one of the great mysteries of transformers history finally solved. I would post a link to my site with all 20 episodes of season 5 but the last time i tried to share some of my lucky finds with the fandom on the forum i was given a warning about it.