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Robert D. "Bob" Forward (born March 5, 1958)1 is an American television writer, director, and producer specializing in animation. He is best known as the story editor of Beast Wars: Transformers (1996-1999) and executive story editor of X-Men: Evolution (2000-2003),2 and is credited as a primary architect of the BraveStarr animated series. Within the Ghostbusters franchise, he wrote episodes of Slimer! and The Real Ghostbusters.
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Robert D. Forward was born on March 5, 1958. He is the son of Robert L. Forward, a physicist and science fiction author known for hard SF novels such as Dragon's Egg (1980).3 His sister, Eve Forward, is also a published author.4 Forward grew up immersed in scientific and speculative-fiction thinking, an influence that shaped his later work in animated storytelling, particularly on series that dealt with serialized continuity and science-driven narratives.
Forward built a career across nearly every major American animation studio active from the mid-1980s onward. His writing credits span more than three decades, from 1984 through at least 2018, encompassing over fifty animated television projects, specials, and features.1
He began in the Filmation era, contributing scripts to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1984-1985) and She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1987).1 He then became a central creative figure on BraveStarr (1987-1988), the space-western animated series produced by Filmation. Forward is credited with fleshing out the BraveStarr writer's guide that defined the show's tone and world-building, and he co-wrote the feature film BraveStarr: The Movie (1988) with writer Steve Hayes.5
During the early 1990s he served as head writer on Biker Mice from Mars (1993-1994)1 and contributed to Exosquad (1993-1994). He also wrote for The Legend of Zelda animated series.1
His most celebrated work came with Beast Wars: Transformers (1996-1999), where he and Larry DiTillio served as story editors for all three seasons. Forward wrote approximately twenty episodes of the series, including the two-part premiere "Beast Wars," major multi-part storylines such as "The Trigger," "Other Voices," "Coming of the Fuzors," and "The Agenda," and the fan-acclaimed episode "Nemesis Part 1." He also directed and storyboarded the landmark episode "Code of Hero."6 He was an active presence in Transformers fandom via the alt.toys.transformers newsgroup during the series' run, sharing backstory details and answering fan questions until mid-1998, when he withdrew following an impersonation incident online. He appeared at BotCon in 1997, 1998, and 2002.6
In the 2000s he served as executive story editor on X-Men: Evolution (2000-2003) for Marvel/Film Roman,2 and wrote for UltraForce, The Incredible Hulk, Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths & Legends (1999), Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, and Wolverine and the X-Men. Later credits include episodes of Transformers Animated and Transformers: Rescue Bots.1
Beyond animation, Forward wrote two novels: The Owl (1984, republished 2014) and The Owl 2 (1990).1 The Owl was adapted into a 1991 feature film, on which Forward served as co-producer.1 He is also the founder, production director, and president of Detonation Films, an independent production and pyrotechnic special-effects company based in Simi Valley, California. He has registered at least one patent in connection with that work.1
Forward resides in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California.1
Forward wrote three segments for Slimer! and The Real Ghostbusters, the retitled third season of the animated series that shifted focus to the ghost Slimer as its primary character:2
These segments were part of the Slimer-centric anthology format introduced in 1988.
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
"Bob Forward," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Forward. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10
"Bob Forward (nm0287482)," IMDb, accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0287482/. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
"Robert L. Forward," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_L._Forward. ↩
"Eve Forward," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Forward. ↩
"BraveStarr: The Movie," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BraveStarr:_The_Movie. ↩
"Bob Forward," Transformers Wiki, accessed 2026-06-13, https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Bob_Forward. ↩ ↩2