Astro voice actor here

[jayrath]

[QUOTE=jayrath;83948]

Well, I love you, too! Please post your art here? I am happy to answer all the questions I can.

I'll have to find some I'm not completely embarrassed about

Also, yes I do have a question. When you came here a few years ago, I think I remember you saying something about dubbing the first two Japanese episodes, the ones they originally merged into one, cutting out Atlas, Skunk, and Guiss. It's very upsetting to me that they never released the dub, mainly because I think you voice actors did a fantastic job (especially you with Skunk ) Were these dubbed episodes saved?[/QUOTE]

I don't know where the masters are. I hope they're saved somewhere. I cannot answer this.

[Dragonrider1227]

I imagine they were considering it's on DVD.

[jayrath]

Okay, you have all inspired me to go back and dig into the shows. I have not watched anything but perhaps three of the shows since we did them. This is going to take a long time and many weeks, but here's the beginning of a do-it-yourself DVD commentary. If you want me to keep going, let me know? This is a lot of work, but I want everyone who worked on the show to get credit. And please never forget that we had an excellent crew, whose names will not pop up as often below.

"Birth of Astroby":

I'm the accusatory voice after the "fourth robot failure," very early.
Patty Whitely of course is Tobio and Astro. (Eww! That scene putting on the skin is icky!)
Del Lewis is Tobio's dad, Prof. Boynton.
I'm pretty sure that Richard Ganoung is the fat male lab assistant.
Debbie Holmes is the angry woman lab assistant. Originally there was a whole romantic subplot about her; she sobbed when Boynton chose Astro over her -- long speech as she departed.
I am the scared boy on the street; Debbie is the scared girl. There were not many actors on the pilot and we had to double.
Jump was almost always on the effects track; once in a great while he was missing and we had to do his barks.

Wow, they cut a ton out of this. Boynton wept for for a very long time after Tobi died. There was so much more with Atlas as a boylike twin of Astro's; that was his secret, he could grow and Astro could not. Skunk stole the plans.

All the ship scenes were a separate episode, well after the pilot.
Kahlei Slick is the fat shipboard diner. Ganoung is the captain.
Greg Zerkle is the white suited sharpster, the ringmaster.
I'm the cracky voice on the intercom as the iceburg approaches.

Ha! I forgot all about the closing credit theme. That's what the Japanese producers provided; we thought the lyrics were pretty awul. Becky Wilenski and I wrote the opening theme from scratch.

"Robot Circus":

Kathy is Debbie Holmes. Tornado is Paul Nelson. This was probably the first time he joined us; he was just a golden child robot in the pilot. I don't know who must have voiced that, but I suspect it was Debbie, since we all had to do so many parts in the pilot.

In this show we were now making the series; the pilot had been approved, and it was many months later. Bob Gonzalez (later Walrus) is the circus announcer -- probably his first time with us, too. The cast doubled when we went to series.

Brian Parry is Elefun; Brian is one of the finest actors I have ever met. Ganoung is the moustached man in the audience. Dave Miller is likely the fat, short gangster -- he could tell you better. Dave and I took every other small part.

This looks to me like another two shows spliced into one. The Japanese producers loved these sorts of mutliple story arcs, running over several shows, however.

I am the voice on Elefun's TV/computer screen, doing Tobio's biography.

I'm pretty sure that this was not the second show we taped. Most of what you know is out of sequence. The Atlas storyline was what occupied us our first weeks. When I get my scripts out of storage I can tell you more, but it also doesn't matter.

[jayrath]

I imagine they were considering it's on DVD.

No, the true tape masters were on 3/4 inch tape. What I really wonder about is where the documentary live-action video now is.

I do have a cassette rehearsal tape -- something I made just for fun.

Nuts, I wish Nippon wanted a DVD commentary. I have photos, scripts, sketches -- everything.

[jayrath]

"Save the Classmate"

The title is a classic example of the bad translation we often had to deal with. I'm amazed that it survives, unchanged.

Paul Nelson is the intro announcer. I am the very next voice, asking Walrus to get out of the way. Gonzalez is Walrus.

Hearing the opening credits yet again, I recall so well that many in the cast sang it as "the amazing A" rather than "ah-ah-ah-astroboy." Singing "A" with a long sound, that is.

I am goofy-toothed Billie. Richard Ganoung is Alvin. Debbie Holmes is the blue-shirted classmate. Becky Wilenski is the classmate introducing competitors; Becky was added to the cast very late, mostly just for Urane. (I am now reminded that Celia Klehr was another very late cast addition -- very few shows.) Dave Miller is the yellow-shirted candidate.

I love the scene of Billie clapping and screaming. Billie was seldom used -- and so I could therefore make him a nutball. Regular characters have to be much more ordinary.

The fat, purple-shirted mom of Alvin is our director, Del Lewis. The principal is Greg Zerkle. You will note in these scenes that we are really running into trouble matching the rhythm of the Japanese actors. We had to rewrite many, many times, on the spot, and anyone's suggestions were taken. But sometimes . . . you have to just get the plot points out in however few syllables are available.

HA! As the ride wrecks, Alvin's bald and flat-headed dad is very cleary Carl Battaglia, our associate producer. This must have been a pick-up in post-production. A lovely man, but he never pretended to act (and, ahem, you can tell). This may be the only time you ever hear his voice in the entire series. I am so pleased he was captured for all of you to hear! He was really such a fine man. As I mentioned in a different post, I heard some years ago that he is now deceased. I hope that is not true. Carl was so generous, so patient. He directed many of the shows himself.

The red-shirted expert is Paul Nelson. He is also Gumshoe.

This is one of the first shows where the real of nature of Astro -- that he is nuclear powered -- is revealed. In Japan that is of course horrific -- it's horrific everywhere. That's why the classmates fear him. As many of you may know, that's the dramatic duality in the character that so excited the original 1960s audience. A little boy -- with the power to destroy us all, but who refuses that power, to help.

Wow, that dramatic background music is now so disco.

Great grunts from Patty, saving everyone. You'll laugh, but that stuff was hard to do. Many takes, often just "wild tracked" or "tiger tracked" -- done alone and dropped in later. That's when our fine engineers proved their stuff.

Ugh. Those closing lyrics are still awful to my ear.

"Atlas Lives Again"

What, he was dead?

Astro, Gumshoe and Elefun credits same as before, of course. The fat little cop is Greg Zerkle.

Good lord, here is Skunk at last! He was all through the pilot, but finally on screen on the DVDs here. His voice is way too high; our director constantly disagreed, but an 8-foot villain? He needs a dark, throaty sound. Ha! I loved doing all the "ums" and "ahs." Always. Richard Ganoung is my sidekick.

Nope, nope, nope. Atlas is a little golden boy. Too much too soon! We lost his story in the cuts made to the pilot. Paul Nelson is Atlas.

Ick, hate my voice. I match the lip movements very well -- and that's the problem. Sounds awkward. If I may say so, I was known to the crew for good matching. If you didn't match well, it cost a LOT of hours in post, spilcing tiny bits of tape. But it makes the dialogue sound stilted.

The reporter is our director, Del Lewis.

The faceless robots are Kahlei Slick and Richard Ganoung.

This all sucks. The restored pilot must be made available. It spells out everything. Damn, I wish I had it to share. Atlas is just coming out of nowhere. That was what the pilot was ABOUT; nuclear power for good, and nuclear power for evil, inside Atlas. That Atlas was so conflicted, and that he grew from being a literally golden child, was at the heart of the show. I am so sad to see it all cut.

Gotta love those neo-tecton crystals. Is that why my own eyes are red in the morning?

Okay, so now we hear that Atlas died even before we saw his birth in the cut pilot? Ahem, okay, I know I am not Skunk. But in a way I am. Damn it, I stole Astro's plans and I built that freaking gold sucker! Where's the love for Skunk?

Atlas speaks of his "magnetic power." Delete that and read "nuclear." Again, that's what the whole series is about.

There are so many in the cast who do not "appear" in this episode. Richard Ganoung is Astro's dad. Kahlei Slick is mom.

Ahem! Astro's mom is hot! Why is she with that fat sucker?

Ergh. The closing credit lyrics are excruciatingly bad.

[jayrath]

"Robot Land"

The news announcer is director Del Lewis. I did not remember that he did so many parts! Again, dad is Richard Ganoung and mom is Kahlei Slick. I don't think I'm telling too much by saying that fellow cast-mate Dave Miller started something with her as production shut down. (I, uh, was after Dave's ex myself. And now that IS too much information!)

Debbie Holmes is the swan girl, Odette. Paul Nelson is Devil King. Brian Perry is Elefun.

Pardon my bragging, but this was the first show after the pilot I really carried; I am Prof. Hyde. The voice is pitched too high, but it is of course based on Lionel Barrymore. No fear -- his granddaughter Drew and I are dating.

(I wish!)

The Robot Land announcer is Del Lewis.

Hey! When I do the voice over, not seeing Hyde on screen but showing all of the amusement park -- that's what we really could have done when we were not so locked into lip movements. Still don't like my voice, though; it should be deeper. Del and I fought over that so much, especially when I was Skunk.

Kahlei is the wicked witch. Brian is so good as Elefun; such a rich timbre. The mirror voice is Del yet again. Damn, that scene is laughable -- again, locked into Japanese syllables.

What, I just have one big giant tooth?

Damn, Brian is so good as Elefun. He smoked a pack a day, and I suppose that helped make his voice so rich. Sorry, boys and girls! And you must not be like us!

Same classmate credits as stated earlier, in "Save the Classmate."

You can really see here that my efforts to match lip movements hurt my performance. This is most obvious in long, drawn-out syllables closing some scenes, and the bizarre laughs. I think it increases Hyde's creepiness, though.

Prince Ziegfried is Greg Zerkle. He always got the straight, leading man parts.

This was the first episode to bring in the theme of racism: robots as slaves.

Ergh. This is all still just the first DVD. Is anyone interested in this?

[Astro Forever]

It's extremely interesting, thank you so much for the time you put into this! It's going to be interesting to watch the DVDs with your notes with me. I never really picked up the details of pronounciation and lips movement (English not being my first language probably has something to do with it) but I look forward to it.

If you didn't match well, it cost a LOT of hours in post, spilcing tiny bits of tape. But it makes the dialogue sound stilted.

If you happen to notice a dialogue like that, I'd find it interesting to know how it sounds. I never realized such a thing could be done. I wonder though, why is it so bad to match the lips movement well? Do you mean that by doing so it's not as natural...?

Many of us own the Australian boxset and have seen the full first two episodes, and I would really love to have your take on it. Many of us here own them.

The fat, purple-shirted mom of Alvin is our director, Del Lewis

Oh yes, no need to watch the DVD again to remember that one!

[jayrath]

It was bad to not match lip movements because our engineers then had to marry the tape to film by making many, many cuts. It was labor intensive -- very!

[jayrath]

"The Red Cat"

Ha! I am the Red Cat!

I am also Dr. Leopold. This very nearly was my natural speaking voice at the time. Dave Miller is the scientist who recalls it all -- my enemy in the show.

Wow, this is one creepy episode. I don't remember any of it at all. Good lord, I'm a freaking rodent. How did I ever grow that moustache?

The people in the security room are Nelson and Zerkle. The Hitler-moustached fatty is also Nelson.

Yeah, a one-message episode. A nice, positive message, but violent and creepy.

"The Crystal of the Desert"

Paul Nelson as Atlas, of course. I am the lead gopher or prairie dog or whatever that is -- Pecos Pete. The accent is from my bad Catholic high school Spanish class.

Livian must be Becky Wilenski, but I'm not sure at all.

Ha! Atlas speaks of his "mighty sword." What, he rides a huge stallion, and his weiner crystal space place looks like . . . well, you know what it looks like. Forgive us, but we had dirty minds -- Livian herself is pretty pointy -- and that stuff cracked us up all the time.

This is the second time that racism becomes a major theme. We've now had environmentalism twice, racism twice, and other issues. That's why "Astro" is so good. It's ABOUT something!

Moustached scuba slave is Bob Gonzalez.

Is it just me or does Atlas look increasingly Aztec?

Another episode with very few actors. I don't remember doing it at all.

"The White Planet"

The DVD intro text -- before you click into the show -- reminds me that we recorded many tags; lots of Astro looking into the camera and saying what was coming next. They do not seem to be offered here. I wonder where they are?

Ha! When you hear that marimba theme you know Skunk is coming. I don't know if anyone other than Astro got his/her own theme. Conrad is Greg Zerkle. I'll stop naming recurring actors unless the casting changes. His girlfriend Mitzi is Kahlei Slick. The race announcer is Bob Gonzalez. Black Devil is Richard Ganoung.

I am finally doing the version of the Skunk voice I like best. Still too high-pitched, though. I wonder if my own natural voice has just dropped over the years? Anyway, Skunk is best down low.

The bald, pointy headed driver is Paul Nelson. The TV announcer is our director, Del Lewis.

[mr skunk]

This all sucks. The restored pilot must be made available. It spells out everything. Damn, I wish I had it to share. Atlas is just coming out of nowhere. That was what the pilot was ABOUT; nuclear power for good, and nuclear power for evil, inside Atlas. That Atlas was so conflicted, and that he grew from being a literally golden child, was at the heart of the show. I am so sad to see it all cut.

I couldn't agree more, as I assume most people on this forum will. I can only imagine how upsetting it is for you, since Skunk was such an important character in the pilot episode. That's a lot of work just down the drain.

Also, it was extremely confusing to me the first time I saw the series years and years ago. When Skunk and Atlas are staring at each other, there is a flashback to Skunk yelling at child Atlas. The first time I saw that, I kept going back to previous episodes thinking I missed something. In fact, it wasn't till I stumbled upon this forum did I realize that the first two episodes were merged, and Skunk completely cut out.

Ahem! Astro's mom is hot! Why is she with that fat sucker?