A Publication date is the day something was released. For TV shows this is the date that an episode aired. For legal reasons company register the episode, and list the day it was first shown. Sunbow Productions, Inc. (or Sunbow Productions, LLC) registered the dates with the copyright office, and put these as the dates as the official Publication dates or Air Dates.

This list should include all the shows, but it seems like some maybe missing. For Example Super Sunday/Super Saturday 31 (6831), which seems like a strange number for the show to start with.

An issue on this list, Jem no. 5205-01 “Starbright part 1” is listed in two spots, which are May 4, 1985 and May 4, 1986. “Starbright part 1” has been listed on various websites with July 5, 1986 as the airdate, and “Starbright part 2” listed as July 12, 1986. “Starbright part 2” is listed as being aired on July 12, 1986 with all sites. So it would seem that July 5, 1986 would be the “correct” date for “Starbright part 1.” I have two theories of why this date is not July 5, 1986 – May 4, 1985 might be the date because this might be when Jem originally aired on Super Sunday. It seems more likely that Sunbow advertised the start of the show on Sunday May 4, 1986, so to protect the copyrighted material in the show, they had to use the first day any part of the material was shown. I would assume that May 4, 1986 is correct because it was submitted on December 12, 1986, while the May 4,1985 dated was submitted on August 18, 1986. It seems Sunbow caught that 1985 was the wrong date and resubmitted it with the correct date.

Another issue between this list and airdates posted on the web are the “Jem” titles that are perceived as the first Season. Those five episodes were originally broken up into 15 segments of “Super Sunday,” and listed as starting on October 6, 1985. There is no “Super Sunday” episode listed under that date; neither is the Jem, or the following dates associated with those “Super Sunday” episodes. So the dates listed on most websites may not be correct – or somehow the copyright information was not registered, but the airdates may still be correct.

We know that Jem started out as a part of “Super Sunday,” and many Jem fans remember the movie and/or those Jem episodes being shown in the spring of 1986. There is no listing for the “Truly Outrageous!” movie, but that might be covered under it’s original Super Sunday copyright. The 15-minute segments did not fit the length of a thirty-minute cartoon, so Sunbow had to add new scenes. With the addition of the new material, Sunbow had to submit the new material to the copyright office. Those extended episodes were registered as Jem no, 5205-08 thru 5205-12 – giving them publication dates for “The Beginning” April 7,1986, “Disaster” April 14, 1986, “Kimber’s Rebellion” August 2, 1986, “Frame Ups” August 9, 1986, and “Battle of the Bands” August 23, 1986.

So it would seem the original air dates for these episodes would be Monday April 7, April 14, April 21, April 28, and May 5, 1986. May 4, 1986 being the day advertisements “may” have started for the new “Starbright” episodes, two months later.

It would seem that the airdates were not originally recorded for “Kimber’s Rebellion,” “Frame Ups,” and “Battle of the Bands” -- so it looks like Sunbow gave them the three Saturdays in-between “World Hunger Shindig” and “Adventure in China” -- more then likely Starbright re-aired on those dates.

“Jem Jam part 1” is another show that seems to have conflicting air dates. Here it is listed as November 3, 1986 but websites have it listed as February 8, 1987. I would assume the February 8, 1987 date is correct because “Jem Jam part 2” is listed as February 15, 1987 here and elsewhere.

So I have added all the “Date of Publication” for all the Sunbow shows because “Jem,” “Transformers,” “G.I. Joe,” and “My Little Pony and Friends” seem to only Sunbow shows that have airdates listed on the web.