"The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all."
- The Emperor (voiced by Pat Morita), from Mulan
Friday, April 2, 2021
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Quote of the Day
"Insieme per la vittoria!" (Translation: Together for the victory!)
- Ezio Auditore da Firenze (voiced by Roger Craig Smith), Assassin's Creed II
Ezio is also found in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Soulcalibur V
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Quote of the Day
"Why isn't anyone ever just 'whelmed?'"
- Richard Grayson/Robin (voiced by Jesse McCartney), Young Justice
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Quote of the Day
"If you focus on what you've left behind, you'll never know what lies ahead!"
- Auguste Gusteau (voiced by Brad Garrett), Ratatouille
Monday, March 29, 2021
Quote of the Day
"Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."
- Baymax (voiced by Scott Adsit), Big Hero 6
Sunday, March 28, 2021
Quote of the Day
"In this business, bub, second best don't cut it!"
- James Howlett/Wolverine (voiced by Cal Dodd), X-Men
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Quote of the Day
"Sometimes, you just have to let go, and embrace what you've become."
- Adam Jensen (voiced by Elias Toufexis), Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Friday, March 26, 2021
Voice Actor of the Week - Clancy Brown
Time for the Voice Actor of the Week.
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| Clancy Brown Image by Gage Skidmore, found on Flickr (License) |
Many of my readers might not say the same, but I was familiar with Clancy Brown's voice work well before I saw him in anything live action. However, compared to most voice actors with Brown's career, he actually has a respectable onscreen resume as well. The first live-action thing I ever saw him in was an episode of The Practice, in which he played an assistant district attorney, going to court against the partners at Donnell, Young, Dole and Frutt. Since then, I've seen him in many more live-action things. CW's The Flash, Highlander, Sleepy Hollow, The Shawshank Redemption.
But b efore that, I had heard Brown in countless animated projects. Literally, I can't count how many things I've seen him in. But off the top of my head, I've heard his voice in Justice League and its follow-up Justice League: Unlimited, Megas XLR, A.T.O.M., Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, Teen Titans, and Jackie Chan Adventures.
If you're like me, then the character you most associate with Brown is probably none other than Lex Luthor, who many would call the archenemy of Superman. (I think there are several contenders for that title, but Luthor is definitely one of them.) Whether you're used to Gene Hackman or even Jesse Eisenberg, I think we can all agree Brown brings something different to the table when it comes to playing Luthor. With not a lot of deviation from his normal speaking voice, Brown brought a low growl to Luthor's character. Even when speaking calmly, Luthor sounded menacing and conniving. But Brown also succeeded in giving Luthor a certain fierceness whenever the situation called for it.
I also remember Brown fairly well from Jackie Chan Adventures, in which he played Captain Augustus Black, friend of our martial artist protagonist and head of the fictional secret agency Section 13. For this character, Brown used more or less the same speech pattern as for Luthor. However, the character was nowhere near as malicious as Luthor and might have actually been a fairly effective foil for Luthor had they been in the same universe.
There have been a few villainous characters Brown voiced, that all had more or less the same vocal pattern, but a different one from Luthor. The characters of Siege from Mighty Ducks, Alexander Paine from A.T.O.M., Trident from Teen Titans and Gorrath on Megas XLR all affected a rather gravelly, brutish voice. This voice really differentiated these characters from the likes of Luthor. And while each of the characters had drastically different personalities, the speaking style Brown gave them really played up their aggression.
Brown provided an interesting performance as the character of Surtur from Thor: Ragnarok. In this portrayal, he seemed to somehow mix the aforementioned vocal affectations. Surtur wasn't as calm and conniving as Luthor, but he also wasn't quite as loud and aggressive as Siege.
Brown has already built up an impressive amount of roles, both in voice over and onscreen, and I hope he continues to deliver quality voice work. While he has a knack for different kinds of villains, it is fairly obvious that his voice is well-suited to a wide variety of roles. I think it would be refreshing to see Brown play one of the main characters in a show - perhaps someone who acts as the second in command to the main hero, or is even some sort of mentor figure for them. We've seen him play that kind of role in Sleepy Hollow, but he should play a character who is more prominent in the series, contributes more, and has more of a direct effect on the plot. I wouldn't even mind seeing or hearing Brown as the main character of a series as long as he's got a good supporting cast.
Quote of the Day
"We are who we are because of consequences. You can't live without consequences."
- Morty Smith (voiced by Justin Roiland), from Rick and Morty
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Quote of the Day
- Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones), Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Keep it Comin', Christian Slater!
This guy has a really good voice for animation, and I've seen it a few times, but I think it's still sorely underused.
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| Christian Slater Image by Siebbi, found on Wikimedia Commons (License) |
I think most of us have seen Christian Slater in something. He's been in live-action movies and TV since the late 1970s. Modern audiences probably know him best from having appeared on Mr. Robot with Rami Malek. One of the first things I saw him in was the Kevin Costner movie, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, in which he played Will Scarlett. But I first started paying attention to him in high school, when I saw the Young Guns movies. Slater appeared in Young Guns II as "Arkansas" Dave Rudabaugh, one of the newest additions to Billy the Kid's Regulators. At the time, I found that Slater actually had an interesting voice.
After that, I saw the movie Broken Arrow, where Slater took more focus as he played the main character, opposite acting legend John Travolta. In his role as United States Air Force Captain Riley Hale, Slater brought a certain swagger and joie de vivre, which I've come to view as something of a Christian Slater trademark. What I needed to be reminded of, however, courtesy of my mother, is that I actually had heard Slater in something when I was much younger. He played a fairy named Pips in the movie FernGully, which also featured Samantha Mathis, Robin Williams and Tim Curry. I can't say I remember much about the character Slater played in here, other than that he was a bit of a hothead. But I felt that his voice suited the character because of it.
I think exactly the second time I heard Christian Slater's voice in animation was when he showed up in Season 5 of Archer, or, as fans like to call it, Archer Vice. He played a mysterious character known only as "Slater." I think this character might have just been a fictionalized version of Slater himself, though we're never really given any background about the character beyond the name. Personally, I like to think of Slater as what the hero of the show, Sterling Archer, would be like if he actually took his job somewhat seriously and was actually as good at it as he thinks he is. Archer himself is an enjoyable character for just...a number of reasons, but the times that Slater appears, he tends to be hilarious. One instance I enjoyed is when he got annoyed with Archer one too many times and decided to waterboard him.
Slater also voiced a character on a Rick and Morty episode that can only be described as a mockery of the "superhero" genre. In the episode, Rick and Morty team up with a team of galactic peacekeepers known as the Vindicators - an obvious parody of the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and to a certain degree, the Justice League. Slater's character was a character known as "Vance Maximus: Renegade Star Soldier," one of the only human members of the team, and most likely a reference to Guardians member Peter Quill, AKA Star-Lord, and to a lesser extent, Tony Stark/Iron Man. This was another character Slater's voice was perfect for, as the whole point of the character seemed to be just looking and sounding cool.
Wikipedia lists a few other roles for Slater calls his voice over career "extensive." I would have to say that Slater has done a fair amount of voice work, but I think he could stand to do more. Of his other roles, I'm really only familiar with him being the voice of Floyd Lawton, AKA Deadshot on the direct-to-video DC Animated Movie Universe film, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay. And even that one, I haven't seen all the way through as of yet, though I definitely plan to check it out someday. As such, I really only know of his performance through YouTube clips. But from watching them, I can say little but the fact that Slater did a good job voicing the character, delivering the lines with the same attitude you'd expect from Lawton.
Beyond that, it seems Slater was also the voice of Moses in a 2007 animated movie of The Ten Commandments, one of the a scientists' assistants on Igor, and the narrator for two separate documentary series - Dinosaur Planet on the Discovery Channel and the second season of Prehistoric Planet.
As I mentioned previously, I do think that Slater could do a bit more voice work. It cannot be denied that Slater has a good voice for animation that brings life to some pretty cool characters. I would love to see Slater play a straight-up villain. Maybe not a supervillain, but maybe he could be some kind of enforcer for the main villain of a show. You might say that he's already played a villain, having played Deadshot, but I think it would be interesting to hear Slater play a character that is still enjoyable as a villain, but less sympathetic. Other than that, I'd say more anti-heroes for Mr. Slater.
FernGully: The Last Rainforest is available for rent on Vudu, Fandango Now, Google Play, Apple TV, Redbox, and Amazon Prime Video.
Rick and Morty, and Archer are both available for streaming with a Hulu membership.
If you'd like to leave a like or comment on any of the original videos, follow the links below:
Quote of the Day
"The right choice is usually not the easy one."
- Commander Shepard (voiced by Mark Meer or Jennifer Hale), Mass Effect
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Character Spot - Pikachu
Time for this week's Character Spot.
If Mario was not the mascot for Nintendo, I think this lovable little furball probably would be. But Pikachu is the mascot for his franchise, Pokémon.
The franchise revolves around a world inhabited by creatures known as Pokémon. In this world, people live side-by side with these creatures, oftentimes catching them and training them to do battle with one another, becoming what are known as Pokémon Trainers. Pokémon Trainers travel the world with their Pokémon, facing the elements, encountering wild Pokémon, battling fellow Trainers, and challenging Pokémon Leagues in the hopes of becoming Pokémon Masters.
The Pokémon themselves come in numerous different varieties and species. When the franchise was first introduced, there were only 150 different species of Pokémon. That was back when you started in the Kanto Region in Pokémon Red Version and Blue Version. Then, when Pokémon Gold and Silver Version were released, another 100 were added in. With each new "Generation" of games, another number of Pokémon were added to the mix. As of today, there are almost 900 species of Pokémon known to exist. (898, if you want to split hairs.)
Since the creation of the franchise, it has become a worldwide phenomenon. And arguably the most recognizable Pokémon ever created is Pikachu. If you've heard of Pokémon but are not totally familiar with it, you are probably not aware that the name Pikachu refers to a particular species of Pokémon.
Pikachu is number 25 in the encyclopedia of Pokémon known as the Pokédex, which lists it as the Mouse Pokémon. Pikachu is an Electric type Pokémon. The average Pikachu measures 1'04" (0.4m) in height, and 13.2lb (16kg) in weight.
As an Electric type Pokémon, Pikachu is weak against Ground-type moves, and its Electric-type moves are ineffective against Ground-type Pokemon and only do half damage to Dragon, Grass and fellow Electric-types. However, its Electric-type moves are strong against Flying- and Water-type Pokémon and the Pokémon itself is resistant to Electric-, Flying- and Steel-type moves.
Like most Pokémon, Pikachu hatches from an egg, but when it does, it is a Pokémon called Pichu, which evolves into Pikachu when it develops enough of a friendship with its trainer. Pikachu can then evolve into one called Raichu when exposed to the radiation of an artifact called a Thunder Stone. Pikachu and its entire evolutionary line are Electric types, but when Pikachu evolves with a Thunder Stone in the Alola Region of the Pokémon world, it becomes a dual-type Electric and Psychic Pokémon. You can tell the difference between a male and a female Pikachu by looking at the end of its lightning bolt-shaped tail. If the end is flat, the Pikachu is male. If the end has a couple of heart-shaped curves at the end, it's female. A "shiny" Pikachu will take on a dark-yellow to orange shade rather than the usual yellow.
Don't let Pikachu's cuteness fool you. While it is by no means the strongest Pokémon of all, its attacks can pack quite the punch. Those red cheeks aren't just for show, either. Those are actually pouches where it stores electricity.
It mainly relies on its speed in battle, having a fairly good speed stat among Pokémon, but many of the attacks it can learn also do a respectable amount of damage. Its Thunder attack is not very accurate, but when it hits, look out! Its speed also makes it a good candidate for the move, Electro Ball, which does damage dependent on how much faster it is than its opponent. Pikachu's evolutionary line also has a high-risk, high-reward signature move called Volt Tackle, which does the same amount of damage as Thunder and is more accurate, but causes damage to Pikachu equal to 1/3 of the damage the opponent took.
Pikachu has become somewhat synonymous with the Pokémon franchise, being used in all kinds of promotional materials for it. It has been used as the mascot for Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition, a third game added to the first generation of games which were released for the Nintendo Game Boy. Yellow was essentially the same game as Red and Blue, with some key differences - the main one being that, rather than choosing between the Fire-type Charmander, the Water-type Squirtle and the Grass-type Bulbasaur, the player is given a Pikachu as their Pokémon partner.
Furthermore, almost every time a Pokémon is used in something, Pikachu is inevitably included. Now, maybe you do, but I can't remember a single time the Pokémon franchise took part in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Pikachu was not featured. Pikachu has also consistently been one of the playable fighters in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series, in which you can engage in a battle royale between a BUNCH of different Nintendo legends, including the eponymous hero of Donkey Kong, Link from Legend of Zelda, Fox McCloud from Star Fox, Samus Aran from Metroid, and of course the eponymous brothers of Super Mario Bros., further demonstrating that Nintendo is not complete without Pikachu. In fact, Pikachu is one of the original 12 fighters for the original Nintendo 64 Super Smash Bros. game, who have all been in every single installment of the series.
The most well-known Pikachu would most likely be the one belonging to the Pokémon Trainer, Ash Ketchum, the main human character of the Pokémon anime series. Compared to most members of its species, this particular Pikachu is incredibly powerful despite - or perhaps even because of - having never evolved. While Ash and his Pikachu had a rough start, a few trials allowed the duo to become fast friends, and his Pikachu has been the one consistent Pokémon Ash has used in every single region of the world he's traveled.
This Pikachu is voiced in both Japanese AND English by Japanese voice actress Ikue Ōtani. She has voiced Pikachu ever since the show's introduction. While you wouldn't think that you could squeeze much of a career out of simply saying a name over and over again (unless that name happens to be Hodor), Ōtani actually says that she does new lines for the character with every appearance. Every time Ash's Pikachu has to speak, Ōtani is told what it is saying, and then says it in Pikachu. I don't know about you, but I'd love to just sit in a room with her and have her tell me some of the things that Pikachu says under certain circumstances. Ōtani may mainly voice Ash's Pikachu in the anime, but she has also voiced other versions of Pikachu outside of the show. She has voiced Pikachu for the video games, including Pokémon Yellow, but only really starting to voice the character in the core series starting with Generation VI of the handheld games, i.e., Pokémon X Version and Y Version. However, she has also voiced the Mouse Pokémon for numerous other games in the Pokémon franchise, and even provides the voice for the Super Smash Bros. version of it.
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| Ryan Reynolds Image by Tabercil, found on Wikimedia Commons (License) |
Recently, the world became familiar with a totally different version of Pikachu, which has been shown talking - Detective Pikachu. Detective Pikachu was the star of his own video game of the same title, and later, a movie titled Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. I can't say much about the game, which had voice actor Kaiji Tang as the speaking voice of the character. What I can say is that many in the fandom wanted to have our little pint-sized detective played by Danny DeVito. While they didn't get their wish, I think that most of us were satisfied having him played by Ryan Reynolds. Even though it was toned down significantly, I feel that Reynolds brought the same kind of humor to voicing Pikachu as he did to playing Marvel's Merc With a Mouth, Deadpool - having the character be hyper, smart-mouthed, and something of a nuisance to anyone on his side of the Fourth Wall. I don't know about any of you, but it would not surprise me even a little if it turned out that Reynolds took the role of Detective Pikachu at least partially so that he can joke about it in Deadpool 3.
Select seasons of Pokémon and Pokémon movies can be found on Hulu, Netflix and the official Pokémon website, Pokemon.com.
Various Pokémon video games are available for purchase in physical format for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS, and in digital format through the Nintendo eShop.
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is available for purchase on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital copy, and for streaming on HBO Max.
If you'd like to leave a like or comment on the original videos, follow the links below:
Quote of the Day
"The world could always use more heroes."
- Lena Oxton, AKA "Tracer" (voiced by Cara Theobold)
Monday, March 22, 2021
In Memoriam - John Hurt
You guys have probably all seen this guy in something, but he had a good voice for animation.
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| John Hurt Image by Olivier Strecker, found on Wikimedia.org |
John Hurt had an impressive career spanning almost six decades. Some people might remember his on-screen performances as Joseph Merrick in The Elephant Man, or Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Personally, the live-action performances I remember him best for were his role as Garrick Ollivander the wandmaker from the Harry Potter movies, Professor Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm from Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy movies, and Chancellor Adam Sutler from the film adaptation of Alan Moore's V for Vendetta.
Setting aside his British accent, Hurt also had a medium-ranged, scratchy-sounding voice that was very easily recognizable. Many other famous Brits worked with Hurt as well, including Tim Curry, John Cleese, Hugh Laurie, Alan Rickman, Anthony Daniels, Nigel Hawthorne and Arthur Malet.
The first voice performance I ever heard from Hurt was when my mom bought The Black Cauldron for me and my brother. (Good Lord. Children watched that movie?) In this movie, Hurt played the primary villain, the Horned King, an evil sorcerer who sought the evil power of eponymous artifact in order to raise an army of undead warriors he would use to conquer the world. Many of Hurt's lines in the movie were delivered in a low growl or a hushed tone, which managed to make the Horned King one of the scariest Disney villains ever.
I learned of a few other voice performances by Hurt when I was in college. I don't think that I knew before that time that another Lord of the Rings movie existed - an animated one, no less. In this particular movie, Hurt played the character Aragorn, the long-awaited new King of Gondor. Nobody quite understood what exactly was going on with the design of Aragorn in the animated movie, but most fans agree that John Hurt was a great choice for voicing the character. In one of his videos, The Nostalgia Critic made a comparison of the old and new The Lord of the Rings movies and said that the animated movie did a better take on the character of Aragorn. I tend to agree that the character in Ralph Bakshi's movie was closer to the depiction of Aragorn in the books. One thing I will say about Hurt's performance of the character was that he managed to make the character sound fierce and tough. I would also say that his performance as Aragorn sounded close to his natural speaking voice.
Some of the other highlights of Hurt's career in voice work include voicing the rabbit Hazel on Watership Down along with fellow The Lord of the Rings voice actor Michael Graham Cox, Mr. Mole on Thumbelina, Snitter on The Plague Dogs, the Great Dragon Kilgharrah on BBC's Merlin and narrating The Tigger Movie.
Hurt passed away on January 25, 2017. He was 77 years old.
For his services in the entertainment industry, Hurt was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2004 and a Knight Bachelor in 2015. While he didn't win, he did also receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the movie Midnight Express.
If you'd like to leave a like or a comment on the original videos, click on the links below:
The Black Cauldron and The Tigger Movie are available for streaming on Disney+.
Merlin is available for streaming on Netflix.
Quote of the Day
"Listen to my story. This...may be our last chance."
- Tidus (voiced by James Arnold Taylor), Final Fantasy X
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Quote of the Day
"The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"
- Sora (voiced by Haley Joel Osment), Kingdom Hearts
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Quote of the Day
- David Xanatos (voiced by Jonathan Frakes), Gargoyles
Friday, March 19, 2021
Voice Actor of the Week - Rob Paulsen
Time for the Voice Actor of the Week.
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| Rob Paulsen Image by 5of7, found on flickr.com |
I can just about guarantee you've heard this guy in something. Rob Paulsen has been acting in animation since the late 1970s. Some of the things I remember him for are Animaniacs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Pinky and the Brain, Loonatics Unleashed, and Lilo & Stitch: The Series. He also used to do Honda commercials as "Mr. Opportunity."
It's hard to describe Paulsen's range, though it's an impressive one. He has a delivery that is perfect for "wise guy" types of characters. This, combined with his natural mid-range voice, tends to be played for comedy. This alone gives him a wide variety of characters that he can and has played successfully, from rude hotheads like Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to silly dunderheads like Pinky from Pinky and the Brain. These tendencies also made his performance as Yakko Warner on Animaniacs more enjoyable.
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| Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) Image by Fred Wolf, found on fi.wikipedia.org |
One of the things I remember Paulsen best for is playing Experiment 625, AKA "Reuben" on Lilo & Stitch: The Series. As his name implies, Reuben is another one of the "Experiments" created by self-proclaimed evil genius Jumba, just like Stitch. In Jumba's own words, Reuben has all the powers of Stitch, but is unfortunately a lazy coward. A running gag in the show and the source of the experiment's name come from his strange obsession with sandwiches. The character always seemed to be eating, making or doing something or other with multiple different kinds of sandwiches. An odd, but interesting thing about the character is that he is one of the only members of his kind to speak perfect English upon introduction.
Paulsen's use of a Brooklyn accent can additionally be found in his portrayals of Steelbeak from Darkwing Duck, and when he played crime boss Salvatore Maroni in Batman: Gotham Knight. It seems to be something of a trademark of his, as the use of the accent seems to...well, accentuate a character's snarky, wise guy tendencies. If Yu-Gi-Oh! ever got some kind of episode that showed the characters a decade or two in the future, I would almost say that Paulsen might make a good replacement for Wayne Grayson as the English dub voice for Joey Wheeler.
When playing Pinky from Pinky and the Brain, Paulsen gave the character an exaggerated Cockney British accent (or as I like to call it, "Mockney") and a heightened voice. Pinky is one of the less intelligent characters played by Paulsen - quite possibly the least intelligent. As such, it seems Paulsen was practically given license to be as silly as possible, and he delivers in spades for that character.
But Paulsen is surprisingly not limited to those kinds of characters, either. In Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, the Nintendo Gamecube remake of the first Metal Gear Solid game, he was one of the only changes to the cast, replacing Greg Eagles as the mysterious Cyborg Ninja. (Eagles still got to play the DARPA Chief, Donald Anderson.) Paulsen gave the character a raspy voice and really made the character sound like one that had been through God-knows-what. On a side note, the game also utilized fellow Ninja Turtles alumnus Cam Clarke. Clarke had been the voice of Leonardo in Ninja Turtles, and voiced the game's main villain Liquid Snake.
Given a lot of the above performances, I think that Paulsen would make a pretty good contender for the voice of Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool in some future Marvel franchise. I think that the jokes his characters make are often similar to the kind of humor Deadpool is known for. One of my nicknames for Deadpool is "The Bugs Bunny of Marvel Comics," and I think that Paulsen would be able to bring that out of the Merc with a Mouth.
Paulsen has also demonstrated an impressive singing voice. In the animated movie Batman and Harley Quinn, Paulsen voiced the characters of Max and Min, twin brothers who worked as henchmen to supervillain Harvey Dent, AKA Two-Face. The brothers appeared in the movie at a bar for villains' henchmen, where they sang a duet of "Don't Pull Your Love" by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds.
According to Wikipedia, Paulsen has been nominated four times for an Annie Award due to his role as Pinky. Of those times, he won the award in 1996, 1997 and 1999. For the same role, he also won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1999.
Paulsen also deserves kudos for kicking stage III throat cancer to the curb. He was diagnosed in 2016, but has since gone into remission and written a memoir about his experiences as a voice actor AND with cancer, titled Voice Lessons: How a Couple of Ninja Turtles, Pinky, and an Animaniac Saved My Life. The book is available in audio format as well, and is praised with testimonials from fellow voice actors Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, Nancy Cartwright, Billy West, and even his Pinky and the Brain co-star, Maurice LaMarche!
If you'd like to leave a like or a comment on the original videos, follow the links below:
You can follow Paulsen himself on Twitter @yakkopinky.
Stitch! The Movie, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Leroy & Stitch, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop and A Goofy Movie and its sequels can all be streamed on Disney+.
Paulsen's memoir, Voice Lessons: How a Couple of Ninja Turtles, Pinky, and an Animaniac Saved My Life can be purchased on Amazon.
Quote of the Day
"The world isn't perfect. But it's there for us, trying the best it can. That's what makes it so damn beautiful."
- Col. Roy Mustang "The Flame Alchemist" (voiced by Travis Willingham), Fullmetal Alchemist
Thursday, March 18, 2021
Quote of the Day
"I never asked for this."
- Adam Jensen (voiced by Elias Toufexis), Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Keep it Comin', Jonathan Frakes!
For this week's "Keep it Comin'!" post, I'm going to talk about the guy who plays my favorite villain ever.
You probably recognize Jonathan Frakes best if you're a Star Trek fan, as Frakes plays Commander William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He would reprise this role in Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Nemesis, and Star Trek Generations, along with episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Enterprise.
What some Trekkies may not realize is that Frakes played quite possibly one of the best animated villains ever, and my personal favorite villain of all. In the 1990s animated series Gargoyles, Frakes was the voice of business magnate David Xanatos, who helped bring the titular gargoyles to life by raising their castle above the clouds - specifically, by placing their castle on top of the roof of his own corporate office. I'll try and be as objective as I can while talking about this guy.
As a villain, David Xanatos is a multi-billionaire, industrialist, master combatant, and a strategic, financial and technological genius. Imagine if Tony Stark decided to use his genius for evil and you'd likely get someone like Xanatos. Xanatos's ultimate goal was to learn the secret to immortality so that he and his family could enjoy the wealth and power he'd accumulated for all eternity. To do so, he fulfills a prophecy involving the aforementioned gargoyles in an effort to learn more of the secrets of magic. In terms of personality, Xanatos is intelligent, cunning, calculating, and willing to go to almost any extreme to achieve his goals. Even when the gargoyles of the Manhattan Clan manage to defeat him, Xanatos is almost always able to derive some sort of success from his failures, always taking his failures as a learning experience. He also tends not to be held down by what others would view as "impossible" - if he thinks he can do something, he will do it, no matter what anyone else says. Frakes manages to deliver all of these traits of Xanatos by giving a subdued performance, letting Xanatos's actions speak for him, but at the same time delivering some rather well-placed lines, all of which is seasoned by a calm, confident delivery that only someone of Xanatos's intelligence can muster.
Unfortunately, while Xanatos is likely the best, it also seems to be the only performance of note by Frakes. He did play the High Evolutionary in an episode of The Super Hero Squad Show by Marvel, and appear in an episode of Adventure Time as an adult version of series protagonist Finn. And in 12 episodes of Guardians of the Galaxy, he played J'son of Spartax, who, contrary to what the MCU movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 would have you believe, is the actual father of Peter Jason Quill/Star-Lord. Beyond those roles, Frakes mainly seems to do bit voice parts in TV shows where he plays a fictionalized version of himself, or some version - true or parodied - of Commander Riker.
I would personally like to see more from Mr. Frakes. I'm not saying we need another David Xanatos, but it couldn't hurt. You know, just some kind of calculating evil genius type of character. And as we've seen, Frakes does well playing characters in positions of authority. If Frakes could play a character who is like Riker without actually being Riker, it would make for a refreshing change. If nothing else, I think Frakes would make for a good mentor figure of some kind for the hero of a story, or perhaps even the star of his own series, maybe as some sort of detective or vigilante type of character.
If you would like to like or leave a comment on the original video, follow the link below:
Gargoyles can be streamed on Disney+.
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Quote of the Day
"It's time to duel!"
-Various, but usually Yami Yugi (voiced by Dan Green), Yu-Gi-Oh!
Monday, March 15, 2021
In Memoriam - Tony Jay
Time for another In Memoriam post.
Tony Jay was a prolific voice actor who made extensive use of his deep, often sinister-sounding voice.
There is nothing redeeming about Frollo, but one thing that somewhat humanizes him is that he experiences inner turmoil which drives him to do the things he does and ultimately leads to his undoing. Still, I doubt many will think him any less a monster because of it. I certainly don't.
I'll say this one thing in Frollo's favor: he has an unbelievably good singing voice, which Jay provides in spades. If you watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame, be sure to pay attention to Frollo's singing of "Hellfire."
Jay was actually nominated for an Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production after this role.
Without a heck of a lot of variation, Jay has used his voice and his accent to portray similar characters to Frollo. One example is when he played Monsieur D'Arque, the creepy as sin asylum director on Beauty and the Beast, or when he played Shere Khan in The Jungle Book 2, having taken over for another "late and great," George Sanders. Of course, that wasn't the first time Jay had played the character - or at the very least some variation. He played the iteration of Shere Khan from the 90s animated series TaleSpin. Additionally, he used a similar pattern of speaking for playing the sorcerer Wraith from yet another animated series, Mighty Ducks.
As good as Jay's voice was for villainous roles, it was used a few times for roles that were less so, including narrations. He narrated one episode of Teen Titans, played a small role as a doctor in The Rugrats Movie which he reprised in Rugrats Go Wild, a scientist in Recess: School's Out, and in the Disney movie Treasure Planet, he narrated a storybook that protagonist Jim Hawkins read as a child. One heroic role that Jay played was that of Virgil in Mighty Max, with his character serving as something of a mentor to the titular hero.
Jay's other roles include one for Disney's animated series Aladdin, The Smurfs, Darkwing Duck, Tom & Jerry Kids, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the animated series The Little Mermaid.
Jay passed away on August 13, 2006, having fallen critically ill after a surgery on his lungs to remove a non-cancerous tumor. He was 73 years old.
If you would like to leave a comment on the original videos, click on the links below:
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mighty Ducks, TaleSpin, The Jungle Book 2 and Recess: School's Out are all available for streaming on Disney+.
Quote of the Day
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."
- Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), Transformers
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Quote of the Day
"A strong man doesn't need to read the future. He makes his own."
-Solid Snake (voiced by David Hayter), Metal Gear Solid
Friday, March 12, 2021
Voice Actor of the Week - Neil Patrick Harris
Time for my Voice Actor of the Week.
Today, I'll be talking about NPH.
I first took notice of Neil Patrick Harris back when the hit CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother was in its early years of broadcast. This would have been back when I was about...12?
As most of you are surely aware, Harris's character Barney Stinson was easily the funniest part of the show. I didn't realize at the time that Harris was a pretty well-known fixture in the entertainment industry. My parents knew him as the titular teenage prodigy doctor on Doogie Howser, M.D. Considering the timeframe of that show's airing, I was a bit surprised I'd never at least heard of him.
Regardless, Neil Patrick Harris is almost always a treat when he appears in something. And his voice work is no exception. I was surprised when I found the number of projects he did voice over for. He is all over comics related animation, having voiced several different superheroes, both for Marvel and DC Comics, and even a couple of villains.
He has appeared as Dick Grayson, AKA Nightwing, the former sidekick of Batman in Batman: Under the Red Hood, cast alongside Bruce Greenwood's Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman. Before that, he voiced Barry Allen, AKA The Flash on Justice League: The New Frontier. You might also recognize him as Steve, the monkey sidekick of Bill Hader's character of Flint Lockwood from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, or from Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, in which he replaced Toby Maguire as the voice of Lou the Beagle.
Speaking of former Spider-Man actors, Harris played our friendly neighborhood webslinger twice. He lent his voice to Spider-Man: The New Animated Series back in 2003, and to the 2010 video game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, in which he voiced one of several different versions of Spider-Man, together with Christopher Daniel Barnes, Dan Gilvezan and Josh Keaton.
I never really thought about it before I saw the clips, but as the characters of Peter Parker and Dick Grayson, I do think that Harris gave them a fairly heroic-sounding voice - perhaps a bit more so with Grayson than Parker. I would say that Harris's voice is also at a good depth, that it's not too low, and that it sounds very youthful. I could totally get behind him voicing more heroes in the future.
Based on what I know of the Justice League, he'd probably be a fairly good fit for Plastic Man and some other more youthful or comic relief heroes. But I think what might be even more interesting is hearing him as some kind of Barney Stinson analogue. That is, I think it would be interesting to see a guy who is like Harris's How I Met Your Mother character, but in animated form. I could see all kinds of hilarious hijinks happening if such a character were to appear in anime.
If you'd like to leave a like or a comment on the original clips, follow the links below:
The series How I Met Your Mother is available for streaming on Netflix.
You can watch Batman: Under the Red Hood under the DC Heading on HBO Max.
Thursday, March 11, 2021
Review - Death Stranding
This will be a somewhat weird entry for this blog. Not just because of the subject matter, but also because this is not strictly speaking "voice acted" material.
Another important character is that of Cliff Unger, played by Mads Mikkelsen. It is difficult to say what exactly Cliff's role is without spoiling anything, but suffice it to say that he and Sam have a very important connection. In the span of the game, it is left ambiguous what exactly the importance of Mikkelsen's character is, but it is made obvious by the many experiences Sam has over the course of the game which can only be described as dormant memories. Having really only seen Mikkelsen in a couple of things, I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought he might be a villain because, well, no offense to him if he's reading this, but Mikkelsen has something of a naturally villainous face. Coupling that with the two roles I saw him in before this being that of Galen Erso in Rogue One and Kaecilius in Doctor Strange, the odds were not in favor of him being what I'd call a hero. I'll let it be a mystery to my readers as well, but suffice it to say, his character is important. If nothing else, this role also helped me get a different perspective on Mikkelsen's acting abilities.
This character was a bit tricky for me. I had only seen Léa Seydoux in one other thing - that being Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. And I'll be honest. I'm open to any and all opinions, but I wouldn't say there was anything particularly memorable about her performance in there. That being said, I was very intrigued by Seydoux's character of Fragile. Just looking at her, she seems rather gloomy. However, as you encounter her more and more, she becomes more interesting. Fragile has lost everything by the time the game rolls around. She's lost her dignity, she's lost her reputation, she's lost her vitality, and yet despite that, she is not deterred by what goes on around her. If anything, she's driven by it. Seydoux's tranquil performance really helps to sell Fragile's characteristics. Fragile is definitely one of those cases of "show, don't tell." And it could be that Seydoux was the actress we needed for this role, since she's much like Keanu Reeves, at least in Ghost Protocol, in that most of her performance is derived from her actions.
In the immortal words of Jim Moriarty, "Every fairy tale needs a good old-fashioned villain." and we certainly get one from veteran voice actor Troy Baker in this case. Baker plays the role of Higgs Monaghan, who serves as a very effective foil to Sam. Like Sam, Higgs was once a Porter. I think of Higgs as Sam if he simply embraced the fact that the world was falling apart around him. Over the years, Baker has had a wide range of voice roles, from antiheroes to villainous psychopaths. One villain of his that I thoroughly enjoyed was his take on Batman's archenemy, the Joker. Setting aside the fact that he almost sounded like he was simply doing a Mark Hamill impersonation, Baker had a good amount of practice playing an insane nihilist, which made him perfect for this role.
Death Stranding was released in November of 2019 for the PlayStation 4. It was created by Hideo Kojima after his departure from Konami, and is the first project made by his studio Kojima Productions after it became independent from Konami.
The game has a strange backstory, to be sure. You probably recognize Daryl Dixon from AMC's The Walking Dead on the front cover. Norman Reedus was set to appear in a new video game by Konami, which would be produced by Kojima Productions. The game in question was to be the latest release in the Silent Hill franchise. However, after the falling out between Konami and Kojima, the game was cancelled, and instead, Reedus found himself being tapped for a totally different project Kojima had come up with.
Death Stranding is an action game taking place in what can only be described as a whole new take on the "post-apocalyptic" genre. The setting is a United States that is barely recognizable as even a real place anymore.
A world-changing event called the Death Stranding happened. It is truly hard to describe what this means. I've played the game all the way through, and understand it as much as one can, and I still can't fully explain what it is. All I can say is that the Death Stranding broke - nay, rewrote - all the rules that we have come to accept about nature, life, death, and even what it means to be alive or dead.
After the Death Stranding happened, the world became much more dangerous. Rainfall became timefall which was to be avoided, as it caused time to accelerate for whatever it touched. The boundary between the living and the dead became much thinner, as people became able to access an area called the Beach - a physical manifestation of this boundary, unique to each person who visits. And that wasn't all. Strange creatures called Beached Things, or BTs, began to inhabit the world of the living, and posed a threat to any living creature.
Under such conditions, it was only natural that the human race would feel the need and drive to seclude itself in places safe from the outside world. The last surviving humans locked themselves away in various cities called the Knot Cities all across the country. In these areas of relative safety, humanity has nothing to fear from the BTs or the newly hostile conditions brought by the Death Stranding. But without people willing to brave these conditions, humans would surely be unable to survive without the necessities of life and survival. For this reason, a new job was created for people who elected to face the dangers.
This is where our hero, Sam Porter Bridges comes in. Sam works as a freelance "Porter," a courier who works outside of the Knot Cities, delivering goods to people while risking his life against the newly dangerous elements and the world of the living's new inhabitants. After a job gone wrong, Sam is recruited by his former colleagues at the Bridges delivery company and the last remnants of the United States government - now the United Cities of America or UCA for short, to travel across the country and bring the rest of the country onto a new proprietary communications and data transmission network, connecting those who had once been separated.
As Sam travels across the country, he makes new friends and enemies, unravels the secrets of the Death Stranding, and helps to restore hope to a bleak new world.
Oh my word. I'm not entirely sure how else to start with this game other than to tell you, it is like nothing you or I have ever played before.
Like many out there who love their games, I was truly disappointed when I learned that Hideo Kojima would no longer have any involvement with Konami, or by extension, his magnum opus that is the Metal Gear Solid series. And that's without even mentioning the nightmare of a shameless cash grab that was Metal Gear...Met-...Me....UGH! Metal Gear Survive!
Sorry about that. I struggled to even type the name of that mistake-in-a-box. I feel like by mentioning it in this review, I am dignifying it as a game rather than the middle finger to Metal Gear fans it really was.
But I have to say, this game was a spectacular move by Hideo Kojima. I wonder what the executives and representatives of Konami thought when this game came out - seeing what Kojima could accomplish without them.
Normally, I evaluate each of my review subjects by area, sorting out what I did and didn't like about the subject in question, aspect by aspect. But before I do that, I want to highlight a few noteworthy points. There are several things I could say about this game that make it unlike anything the gaming world has ever seen.
As anybody familiar with Kojima probably knows, one of his trademarks is that his work is very often based on some of his favorite movies. Kojima loves movies. But especially action movies. And if one looks close enough, the player can draw parallels between Kojima's work and some famous movie they've seen, including ones that Kojima probably didn't even intend. As an example, when I play the Metal Gear Solid series, it feels to me as though Kojima combined elements from the Rambo movies, 007, Apocalypse Now, Escape From New York and its sequel Escape From L.A., Robocop, and just a *smidge* of Star Wars.
What Kojima did here goes well beyond that. He and his company made a video game with the cinematic feel of a movie that you would actually go to the theater to see. I have often thought it seemed as though some video game companies were trying to make their games like movies. Think about the game Beyond: Two Souls which had the names of Willem Dafoe and his co-star printed at the top of the case, like you would see for some blockbuster hit.
Now by comparison, Kojima made Death Stranding by combining the best elements of cinema and video games. He filled the game with faces that most of us recognize from something, graphics that are a hair's breadth from cinematic quality, game mechanics that give the impression like something is actually being done, and a story that, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, is like nothing that has ever been seen before. This game actually made me wish that there was some sort of movie theater for video games. Places you could go to play a game and get more or less the same experience as you would have in a movie theater. Who knows? Maybe AMC will come up with such a place in the near future. (Side note: If any of you guys know of such a place, PLEASE tell me.)
Okay. Now that that's out of the way, I'll go ahead and tell you that the story of this game is by FAR the most interesting part. As I said earlier, we are talking about a whole new take on the post-apocalyptic genre. When we think of such settings, we typically think deserts, droughts, city ruins, places that are radioactive enough to cook you where you stand. Setting aside, we are witnessing a story where nothing is as we know. Life and death no longer have the meaning we give them. The laws of the natural world have been warped beyond recognition. This next sentence will likely not make any sense, but Kojima created a world where rainbows, of all things, are a sign of danger. Kojima's genius with this game lies in taking stuff that we take for granted and fundamentally changing the reaction it elicits in us.
Beyond that, however, you have an interesting story of a man simply doing his job called to serve a greater purpose. While still making deliveries across the country, Sam uses a device given to him by Bridges in conjunction with the UCA government to bring the different Knot Cities online and into the UCA as one of the United Cities. Sam must work his way across the country, bring the other Knot Cities and outposts online and eventually unite with the new President of the UCA on the West Coast.
One of the central themes of the game's story is connection. Kojima and his studio found countless ways to weave words like "bridge" and "strand" into the story, in a meta sort of way. This theme is so relevant, what with all of us reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and all that we as a people have had to do in order to keep going through our lives, and even just to stay sane. Kojima himself said the idea that Death Stranding was built on was "connecting the world."
Graphics-wise, Death Stranding was an absolute gem. The visuals for the game are well-defined thanks to the Decima game engine developed by Guerrilla Games and used in Horizon: Zero Dawn. The characters also looked much more realistic than most game characters have looked up until now. The body models of Reedus and his co-stars are so perfect, I sometimes had to remind myself that I was not looking at something live-action.
One thing I just loved about the game is that Kojima kept in one of the things that he did with past games - specifically, the Metal Gear Solid series. Anytime a character showed up for the first time onscreen in the Metal Gear Solid games pre-The Phantom Pain, a caption would show up onscreen that said the name of the character, followed by the person portraying them. Like so:
Solid Snake
David Hayter
Death Stranding held on to that little motif. I've always thought that this move is not only classy, but also allows anyone curious to find out about the people voicing their favorite characters. Of course, one could argue that for some of the characters in this particular game, the captions might seem kind of superfluous, given that some of the characters that appear are known to live-action TV audiences.
The game mechanics are fairly simple, but they definitely challenge your thinking. You have to use your wits to determine what the best way is to get from Point A to Point B while at the same time negotiating the different orders from clients across said distance. You can use resources you gain to fashion equipment, transports and routes for yourself across the UCA. The game also incentivizes cooperation.
When playing the game online, you are not limited to the things you make for yourself. You can very often run across equipment and structures built by other players for themselves, which they then leave behind to be used by others. Your cooperation with other players even has a scoring system, in which "likes" can be left to or from you as a means of thanks for help. That's right. You heard me. You are able to use "likes" in this game.
Playing the game, you will also run into the aforementioned BTs that have now infested the world, and will have to either find your way through or around them, or face them in combat. Which one you do is up to you. But the BTs will not be your only outside force. You will also run into scavengers and terrorists who choose to make the UCA their new playground absent any visible "government."
While I enjoyed this game greatly, I have to admit that there are some things that might be a bit...challenging for anyone who plays this. Unless you're one of those people who likes to watch or play stuff that really makes you think, you might have trouble grasping some of the concepts in here. I will be the first to admit there were a few things that kind of lost me. At the same time, I do think that is part of the genius of this game and what makes it unique.
Without spoiling anything, even though I don't think that this was a "scary" game per se, I was prepared for a few things in the game to scare me. And some things did. But Kojima and his studio made this happen by tapping into what H.P. Lovecraft would describe as the most powerful fear - fear of the unknown. Once you understand the elements in question, they are not as scary as they were.
Now let's get on to the performances, shall we? Kojima has had a long history of top-notch voice work in his games, recruiting the likes of Phil LaMarr, John Cygan, Cam Clarke, Troy Baker, Robin Atkin Downes, Tara Strong, Grey DeLisle, Steve Blum, and even Kiefer Sutherland. Death Stranding follows that trend to a T while also paying further homage to his favorite art style with people he's included.
You probably recognize Norman Reedus the most for his role as Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead. But he also appeared as one of the MacManus brothers from The Boondock Saints. I'm not entirely sure what kind of character he was meant to play when he was tapped for Konami's Silent Hills production, but from what I can tell, Reedus plays a bit more of a serious, if apathetic, character on Death Stranding. According to Reedus, Kojima developed the mannerisms of character Sam Porter Bridges by just watching him and having him do whatever seemed natural at the time. What I take from this is that there is a lot of Norman Reedus's real self in the character of Sam. I found this little tidbit hilarious too: Reedus described the experience of being recruited by Kojima thus: He was talking to film director Guillermo del Toro, who said that someone named Hideo was going to approach him to work on a video game, and that he should say yes. Reedus asked "Who is he?" Del Toro said, "It doesn't matter. Just say yes." Reedus's involvement in the project has led to a lot of surreal experiences, and whether they influenced his decision or not, apparently Reedus has expressed interest in doing more with this new franchise.
Aside from these great performances, you can also find Margaret Qualley as Mama, Tommie Earl Jenkins as Die-Hardman, and even science fiction veteran Lindsay Wagner as Bridget Strand. And while a majority of the characters - at least the main ones - share both a voice and a body model with their actor, there are a few characters who have a different actor for each. For example, while the Death Stranding researcher known as Heartman has the body model of Danish film director Nicolas Winding Refn, he had the voice of Darren Jacobs. And Bridges' medical expert Deadman is a threefer - having the body model of Guillermo del Toro, the motion capture performance of Justin Leeper and the voice of Jesse Corti. Kojima even incorporated an appearance in the game by late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien.
Regardless of the medium, the actors bring these characters to life in an empathetic way. Each character has a backstory in some way related to the very event precipitating the game, and the actors ironically bring a superb liveliness and realism to each character and help that backstory to resonate with us, the players.
Overall, I would say that this game deserves a lot of recognition. It seems visionary in the way that there have been no other video games like it. It also seems like a PERFECT game to play while the world is coming back to life after being rocked by the COVID-19 Pandemic. In fact, I would say that while Kojima himself might not have intended it, with all the themes in this game, I can't help but wonder if he might have. Go ahead and use it to ride out this period of seclusion we've been forced to undertake.
Voices Carry gives Death Stranding a 9 out of 10 - 3.6 out of 4 stars.
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