He said in an interview once on the subject something along the lines of: "I might be able to sound like Peter Cullen, but I will never be Peter Cullen." But even then, Neil Kaplan didn't just do an impression of Peter Cullen he tried to put his own spin on it and make it his own. Neil Kaplan, who played the character in the original Robots in Disguise, was probably the closest we had to a Peter Cullen impression up until recently. It's just an impression of something that we all like, but it doesn't have quite the same weight to it. Just because it's not surprising, though, doesn't make it any less disappointing. And the fact that he's just impersonating Peter Cullen isn't a surprise, really he was likely chosen to play the character because he did that on YouTube a few years ago. That's how he plays Optimus in Cyberverse, in Rescue Bots Academy, and it seems to be how he'll play him in the upcoming Netflix series. Jake Foushee, who now seems to be Hasbro's go-to Optimus voice, is just doing an impression of Peter Cullen. It's with Optimus Prime that I have the problem. Neither of them are trying to be Frank Welker they're just trying to be Megatron and put their own spin on that legacy. Both of them put their own unique spin on the voice while still respecting the roots. ![]() You know, I'm actually fine with Marc Thompson and Jason Marnocha playing Megatron instead of Frank Welker. It isn't unusual for actors' escalating salaries to hurt the profitability of a series. It may be keeping the VA costs down were the only way to do the show. I have no idea how Netflix measures the worth of its series since there are no ratings or advertising. On a unrelated note, i really want Transformers to return to Vancouver again, let Garry Chalk reprise Optimus.įinances are a thing, though. Kinda weird how Bumblebee has technically been the last unionized Transformers project. I didn't have as much of an issue with Cyberverse since that was done in NYC (honestly the voice work while hit and miss, still had some really good voice work) but if you're in LA, you might as well unionize. It is weird that during Prime Wars they did unionize for it with Titan Returns and POTP but we're back to non-union once more. Megatron is much luckier where his voices tend to all sound more unique from one another. Hell i'd welcome more non-Cullen esque Optimus Primes. Like either go in a different direction for Optimus if you don't want to cast Peter or just fork over the money to have him back. While I don't entirely mind if Hasbro actually uses non-union talents for their shows now, I agree that trying to basically voice match Peter Cullen's Optimus while he is still alive is a douchey thing. I am more bothered with them going out of union when there is probably a wealth of young and cheap talent, than with them replacing Cullen and Welker (both of whom I do have tremendous respect and affection for). In fact, before Cullen was brought back for the films, Gary Chalk might have had more claim to Prime in terms of years. There are a number of other actors who have voiced some version of Prime and Megatron over the years, so it is hard to peg them as actors who "own" the characters the way Tom Kenny does Spongebob. ![]() It is very much an honor thing with voice actors.Īs for Cullen and Welker, there is a slight difference here. Fleischer turned them down and gave Kassir the heads up. As I recall they tried to do that with Kassir by bringing in Charles Fleischer (Roger Rabbit - which brings a whole new vibe to the Crypt Keeper). That happpened famously with The Simpsons, but few voice actors have the clout and platform as that cast. It is common for them to try to cut costs by bringing in a new voice. Because their faces are not on screen, studios tend to undervalue voice actors. ![]() I spoke with John Kassir (The Cryptkeeper of Tales from the Crypt) about this a few years back.
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