Chris gave me a suggestion to create this and also sticky it. Any questions, feedback, information etc go in here. Please label any questions, though, as this thread could get long and confusing but it’s easier to keep track.
[CENTER]Wednesday 6th August[/CENTER]
I’ve FINALLY received a confirmed email for Peter Newman and have emailed him. With Lynne’s recommendation and such, I really think we’re going to get this interview. It would be absolutely amazing if we got it. Hopefully, this apparent ‘Midas’ touch of mine (said by Chris :))will work. Woop!
Jim Meskimen is confirmed for an interview sometime in September.
Emailed Dennis J. Woodyard. Waiting for a reply.
Also seeking out Gerrianne Raphael with the same agency. Unfortunately, the email I was given was not working but Scott Linder has dealt with my latest query and so has helped me out tremendously. Things can only get better from here.
Just finished the Peter Lawrence interview - absolutely fantastic! Lots of content and information about Thundercats and all sorts of things including ‘The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest’ and just a wonderful interview overall. This is definately one of the best interviews I’ve ever done and I can’t wait for you guys to hear it. Chris, your questions were amazing and definately helped provide insight. NOTE: I’m unable to edit the interview for a few weeks due to vacation so it’ll probably be available at the beginning of September. I’ll be online and kicking about/answering emails and such but I’m going to try not work for a few weeks.
Gerrianne Raphael CONFIRMED for interview in September.
Confirmed interviews: Gerrianne Raphael, Jim Meskimen
Pending: Dennis J. Woodyard, Peter Newman, Earle Hyman
Okay, I’ve got some good updates. I’ll make this very quick and will give more information tomorrow when I get a good amount of time on here.
Doug Preis turned down my request for interview and I’ve been told he’s uncomfortable with them - therefore, I’m not going to persue him anymore about it. So he’s off the list. However, Gerrianne Raphael is more than capable of being a good interview and so will probably be a good replacement.
No response as of yet from Earle Hyman or Peter Newman.
But some good news - Lee Dannacher has responded to my email and is interested in doing an interview with us! Good stuff. I’ll try arrange that asap.
That’s fantastic, Nick! The Midas Touch strikes again!
Re: Doug Preis, to be honest that doesn’t surprise me - there’s very little info about him, beyond his CV, anywhere on the Internet, not even a photo! So, I guess he’s a very private person, which may be why voice acting suits him as a profession, because he gets to act but without being recognised, unlike a network TV star!
Yeah. I’m not too bothered about it. Gerrianne can give us that insight anyway and she voiced more than one character
I was contacted out of the blue by Lee Dannacher who responded to my email saying she’d be available for interview on weekends. That gives us about three confirmed interviews for September - which looks mighty promising as a trend is developing where I email someone and get a response much later down the line.
Well, first of all, I’m editing the Peter Lawrence interview but it’s a monster and it’s going to take a week or two to get it finished. Maybe it’ll be shorter but that’s about an estimate because the RAW file is about an hour and ten minutes and I’ve reached nine. It’s a good interview, though, so I’ll keep plugging at it.
Here’s my question - so after some random searching including the WhitePages (United States phone directory), I’ve found Earle Hyman’s telephone number, finally a chance at direct contact. But having sent out a letter beforehand, I feel really cheeky and intrusive suddenly phoning him asking for an interview. So what should I do?
Well, I know my contact actually did phone Earle through the phone book and said that he was cool with it if that helps - my instinct is to say “Call him!”, but of course I’m saying that when it’s not me who has to do it!
IMO, run with your instincts on this one - however, I think you might get more joy out of trying to make direct contact via phone than you would do via letter…
Left a voicemail for him just saying who I was, with and asking him about a possible telephone interview. I left my Skype phone number (NY as well) and asked him to get back to me if he’s interested. So there we go.
Well, after some real editing, I’ve finally got the Peter Lawrence interview fit for broadcast. I’m going to leave uploading it tonight so I can properly go over it tomorrow and check for any errors (it’s late here ;)) but it’s a nice interview and comes in at a whopping 53 minutes or so! Best interview yet, IMO!
Two things - I’ve left it uncensored. Seriously, editing for swearwords is a massive pain and, also, I’ve realized that it’s an actual negative aspect of our interviews. Our audience is an 18 - 30 demographic (mostly students because it’s people growing up with Thundercats) - I absolutely doubt that any children will remotely care about listening to an interview with Peter Lawrence, a writer whereas adults to. If you must, put a warning with it but it’s more work and I think it’ll delay it if I have to go through this interview and bleep out naughty word - there’s about three instances of it and it’s not that strongly used so the justification’s good. The bleeping also annoyed Stephen Perry last time I did it - so I’m asking if we can leave it in. As long as we don’t have the C word and it’s not repeated over and over again, I think we can leave it in.
Another thing is I actually have to wait a bit before I can get the go-ahead on posting this interview as Peter was unhappy with how he discussed his experience on Johnny Quest and wanted me to edit it down before it went out. If he’s unhappy, I’m going to have to re-record that part with him which will delay it a little further. I personally thought it was fine but I’ll just check it with him before I make it available.
So with this interview practically in the bag, I want to start preparing for an interview with Gerrianne Raphael, the second-season voice actress for ThunderCats. After that, it’s Jim Meskimin. So we’re pretty good for interviews.. Earle Hyman hasn’t got back to me which means either he’s uninterested or he’s in his cabin in Norway which would practically mean the end of our hopes of interviewing him. No Peter Newman, either.
I think most swear words you could get away with leaving in, but IMO if someone uses the f-bomb or the c-word in an interview, it should be bleeped out - if these guys did an interview for a commercial radio or TV station, it would be edited to remove the bad language somehow, and so if it causes annoyance to these guys then my response to that would be that they should moderate their language in the first place - I swear like a trooper indoors, but not when I’m speaking in public!
Anyway, I’ll go with a majority ruling, but that’s my $0.02. That aside, sounds like you’re working your magic as usual, Nick - great job my friend!
But the major different between a commercial/TV is they’re usually for a specific audience - take a show like South Park: on television, it’s usually edited out. On the DVD’s, however, and on internet-released episodes.. they leave it in. Usually, it’s because the internet could give two nothings (yeah yeah, I censored myself there :D) about swearing unless it’s an ‘official’ interview with a major company - we’re not: we’re a fan website. And we’re not really a children-orientated website, either. So we don’t really necessarily need to cut out the bad language.
I moderate my language like everyone else, too. Don’t get me wrong.. We have levels of professionalism - however, on the internet, I do usually curse and such because there’s no pressure to keep the language down and it’s not official. And I do think the bleeping sounds incredibly lame - however, I’ll respect whatever decision is come to and bleep out whatever’s necessary. I’d preferrably wouldn’t like to have to find every bit of swearing on the interview and edit it - and he does swear every so often.
Regardless of that, it’s a really great interview. And I can’t wait to see it up there - I’ve also got a screenshot of Peter Lawrence so I’ll forward that to Manny as well once the final interview (edited or not) is uploaded.
Think we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one, Nick my friend. I definitely think there’s some mild bad language you can get away with (see my PM), but at the very least I think the f-bomb he drops at 40:17 should be bleeped out. I’m not remotely offended by swearing (I’d be a hypocrit if I was, LOL!), but I know some folks are. Yep, this is just a fan site and not an official site, but we’ve always tried to keep the content of this site as “official-looking” and clean as possible, up to and including our forum rules which actually prohibit linking to anything that contains profanity!
That said, even though this is going in the Cartoon Section and so is technically mine and Kyle’s call, I’m happy to defer to a majority ruling - my suggestion would be to fire MannyF the link you fired me, get him to have a listen, and see what he thinks!
This (very minor) thing aside, I think the interview is the pinnacle of awesomeness, and once again you’ve completely outdone yourself, my friend!
You’ve pursuaded me, Chrissy - I’ve edited out the ‘f-bomb’ with a short bleep along with a mis-pronounciation Peter asked me to cut. If that’s good for everyone, I’ll upload that version. I’ve sent MannyF the unedited one for him to listen to and make a judgement on - I respect it’s yours and Kyle’s section, Chris, so I’ve edited out that f-word and will wait on some sort of word from Manny about the rest of it. I wouldn’t be particually thrilled with having to edit out ALL the swearing besides that one word as I think it would start to get annoying if stuff kept getting bleeped, but.. I’ll go with a majority, too.
Thanks for the feedback. I love this interview.. was one of my favourites.
Here’s the interview itself for early preview and such - all feedback appreciated.
Me and Chris are currently in the works of interviewing Jim Meskimen and Gerrianne Raphael in the next two weeks.
Jim Meskimen is being interviewed on Sunday 28th September at 8PM NY time. So all questions must be in at Friday at the very latest.
Gerriane Raphael is being interviewed on Saturday 6th October at 8PM NY time. So all questions must be in on Thursday 4th October at the very latest.
And now for the biggest and best news..
After a last-ditch email, Peter Newman has contacted me CONFIRMING a telephone interview at some point in the next few weeks. This is a really awesome coup for us and is definately a fantastic interview - anyone who wants to put in questions for that, I’ll give more information as I get a date decided by Peter. But just thought I’d pass that along.. I’d prefer if we didn’t actually release this news until the interview’s done as I’m slightly worried now that us promising things and then, for any reason, the interview being declined or whatever.. we’re left in a very strange position. However, feel free to tease it on the forums. But once we’ve done it, we’re all set.
Absolutely, plus it also lessens the impact of presenting the fans who visit this site with a completed product - if they know that a Peter Newman interview is coming, it gets all the “WOW, REALLY?!” reactions out of the way too soon IMO, reducing the impact of “unveiling” the interview…
Watch this space for some Jim Meskimen questions from me!
Take care…
Merged Post: UPDATE!
Here are the questions I’ve come up with for Jim Meskimen - I’m actually surprised by how many I came up with, so obviously if they need trimming down then no problems. I think this is going to be a very interesting interview!
Jim Meskimen questions:
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]It’s probably fair to say that you’re best known as an actor and voice-over artist, but how did you become involved in the field of art? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]How did you come to be working for Rankin-Bass on ThunderCats, did you come on board specifically to work on that show or were you hired by the company and then given the work on ThunderCats as an assignment? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Your role on ThunderCats was as a Character Designer – can you give us an overview of what this actually entailed? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]How many other Character Designers were working on ThunderCats during your time with the show, and did you guys collaborate or work separately from each other? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]If there was more than one Character Designer working on the series at the same time, how did you choose who designed which character? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Do you have an idea of how many characters you actually designed for ThunderCats? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]On your website, [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]www.appliedsilliness.com[/FONT][FONT=Verdana], there are some examples of characters that you designed for the ThunderCats series, one of the most notable of which is the character of Captain Shiner, who was one of the series’ more memorable guest villains and was also turned into an action figure. In your concept artwork, the character appears to go through a number of visual changes – does this mean that the look and design of Captain Shiner comes from your artwork, and on a similar note, did you design any other particularly “famous” characters for the show? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]On a similar tack, when designing characters for the show, how much freedom were you given? Were you given a detailed description of a character and basically asked to stick to that, or were you allowed to come up with your own ideas of what a character should look like? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]You’ve worked a fair amount in the field of comedy acting – did you find any of the characters you designed for ThunderCats were influenced by your sense of humour? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]How long did you work on ThunderCats, and did you go on to do any work for Rankin-Bass’ follow-up show SilverHawks? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]As I mentioned earlier, you’re probably best known as an actor and voice over artist, so it’s perhaps surprising to some people that you have this background as an artist working in the field of animation. What made you switch from the one career to the other? When you were growing up, which did you most want to be, an actor or an artist? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Interestingly, on your website you’re credited as a voice actor on a couple of animated series, including Rankin-Bass’ own TigerSharks and Mini-Monsters series. Did your involvement with Rankin-Bass as a Character Designer help you in any way with this? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Given that you’re so well known as an actor, how often do you get asked about your work with Rankin-Bass on ThunderCats? Are you pleased to be associated with the show? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Are you still involved in any art-related projects now, or is your work primarily in the acting and voice-over fields? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Warner Bros are currently working on producing a CGI-animated ThunderCats movie – given your background in voice acting, hypothetically would you be interested in voicing a character in the film, and if so is there a main ThunderCats character you would have liked to have voiced and why? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Since becoming a professional actor and voice artist, what are some of the most notable roles that you’ve played, and which has been your favourite? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2]What are you working on currently, and do you have any upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for?[/SIZE][/FONT] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2]Take care… :)[/SIZE][/FONT] [/FONT]
Jim Meskimen has pulled out for the time being due to another commitment and wishes to reschedule. That gives me some time to review these edited questions and see if they’re up to scratch. Gerrianne Raphael is still next Friday.
Quick note in haste as I’m a bit pushed for time (off out in less than an hour), but, here are some questions I came up with for Gerrianne Raphael - hope these are OK!
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]How did you get started as an actress? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Was acting something you always wanted to do, and if so, was there anything or anyone who particularly inspired you? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Having done some research about your career, it looks as though you actually began working in the field of voice acting quite a way into your career - how did you get involved in voice acting, and was ThunderCats the first voice acting job you ever had? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]How did you become involved in ThunderCats? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]You came on board working on ThunderCats for the start of the show’s second season – had you seen any episodes of the show or did you know anything about it prior to joining the voice cast? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]What did you think of the show at the time, and was there anything that particularly appealed to you about it? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Do you have any interesting or particularly fond memories of recording for ThunderCats that you’d like to share with us? How did you find the experience of working on the show as a whole? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Do you remember how you developed the voices of the characters that you portrayed? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]On a similar note, how does creating a voice for a cartoon character compare with helping to create or develop a character for a play or live-action TV show? Do you have to employ different methods, or is the thought process behind the two things essentially the same? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Did you have a favourite voice that you did for ThunderCats, and conversely what was the hardest voice to do? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Since working on ThunderCats, have you done any more voice acting? What sorts of projects have you worked on since that time? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Of the two, voice acting and “live action” acting, which do you prefer and why? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]I once read that you have a clothing design displayed among the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art – how did this come about, and can you tell us any more about this? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]What are you working on currently, and do you have any upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Back on to ThunderCats – as you may or may not know, Warner Bros are currently in the process of producing a CGI-animated ThunderCats movie, tentatively planned for release in 2010. If approached, would you be interested in reprising your role of Pumyra, or any of the other characters that you played, for that film? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]What legacy do you think ThunderCats has left, and when you look back, how do you feel about your involvement in the show? [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2]And lastly, would you be able to do a quick montage of some of the voices that you did for the show, mentioning our website ThunderCats Lair?[/SIZE][/FONT] [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]-----[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Hope those all look OK - as usual, Nick, feel free to tweak anything that needs tweaking. Looking forward to hearing the interview, it’s very exciting stuff as always! :)[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Take care… :)[/FONT][/FONT]
Awesome stuff, Chris. As always. I think I have Jim Meskimen the day after.. so that’ll be killing two birds in one day. Or interviewing two people back to back on two days. After that, it’s just Peter Newman (audio) and Leonard Starr (text). Peter is priority - since he’s the sought out person and all. Wow, we’ll be running out of people to interview
