Lion-O - probably the hardest of the Thundercats to cast. Out of all the working class voice actors in the business right now, the only one I can think of who might work in the part is Michael Adamthwaite (Namor on Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Thor in Next Avengers - crap film but he did a good job with the voice despite an unsympathetic portrayal - and Balder the Brave in Hulk Vs.)
Heroes -
Tygra - I think I'd have to give this one to Michael Donovan, using his King Randor voice from the 2002 MYP He-Man series.
Panthro - best candidates would be Keith David, Michael Dorn, Phil Lamarr (using his Green Lantern voice), Carl Lumbly, and/or Jonathan Adams (Martian Manhunter in "Justice League: Crisis on 2 Earths).
Cheetara - too many actresses to list really. Susan Eisenberg, Vanessa Marshall, Jennifer Hale, Grey DeLisle, Nicole Oliver...
Jaga - either Tom Kane (Magneto in Wolverine & the X-Men) or Jim Ward (Xavier in W&TXM - not a great series but damn what a cast)
Bengali - depends on whether or not you want him to sound young like early 20s or if it's more important to find an actor who can retain the raspy/gravelly voice Peter Newman used for him. I'd go for Jeff Glenn Bennett (using the Brooklyn voice from Gargoyles).
Lynx-O - see Jaga
Pumyra - for her I lean very much towards either Grey DeLisle or Lisa Anne Beley (Teela in the 2002 MYP He-Man series)
Wilykit & Wilykat - no idea
Villains -
Mumm-Ra - probably the hardest villain to cast. If you just want pure evil & don't care if it sounds exactly like the late Earl Hammond's voice, I'd be more than happy to have someone like Michael Ironside, Clancy Brown or Richard Newman be the new Mumm-Ra.
Slythe - either Steve Blum (you may remember him as Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Beebop & in more recent times his Wolverine voice work) or Scott McNeil (using his Dinobot voice)
Monkian - probably Scott McNeil again (using his Beastman voice from 2002 MYP He-Man)
Grune the Destroyer - Kevin Michael Richardson
Chilla of the Lunatacs - either Jennifer Hale or Kari Wahlgren (Amora in Hulk VS., Emma Frost on W&TXM)
That's all I've got right now.
My list of voice actor for a new ThunderCats series (Continuation or Reboot?) Are as follows.... (Repeat roles by actors are followed by '**')
HeroesLion-O - ??? (Possibly 'Larry Kenny' again if he still has the "voice" for it? he's basically like Peter Cullen's TF's Optimus Prime, hard to replace cos he's an original.)
Tygra - Cam Clarke
Panthro - Phil Lamarr or Scott McNeil
Cheetara - Kathleen Barr, Susan Eisenberg or Jennifer Hale (**)
Wilykit & Wilykat -
Jaga - Colin Murdock or Kevin Conroy
Bengali - Michael Rosenbaum (If Bengali were made out to be young and cocky/arrogant, as i've always envisioned)
Lynx-O - Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.(**)
Pumyra - Susan Sullivan or Kathleen Barr (**)
Villains -
Mumm-Ra - ???
Slythe - Brian Drummond or Ed Asner(**)
Monkian - Paul Dobson (does more sinister voiceovers for characters than his brother)
Jackalman - Corey Burton or Rene Auberjonois
Vultureman - Mark Hamill or David Warner
Grune the Destroyer - Carl Lumbly or Keith David (**)
Shadowmaster - Phil Morris or Michael Ironside
Chilla of the Lunatacs - Juliet Landau (**)
Zaxx - Ed Asner (**)
Ratar-O - Ron Perlman
Ratilla The Terrible - John DiMaggio
Captain Shiner - James Remar
Mongor - John Rhys-Davies
Queen Tartara - C.C.H. Pounder or Juliet Landau (**)
Safari Joe - Efrem Zimbalist (**), Jr. or Alan Oppenheimer (if he still works doing animation voiceovers???)
The Demolisher - Keith David or Michael Jai White (**)
Allies -
Hachiman - Masi Oka
Turmagar - Clancy Brown
Snowman of Hook Mountain - Michael Jai White (**) or Christopher Judge
Mandora the Evil-Chaser - Olivia d'Abo
Willa The Warrior Maiden - Jennifer Hale (**)
Claudus - Robert Foxworth
Wizz-Ra - Nestor Carbonell
Groups like; 'Hammerhand and the Berserkers' and the 'Lunataks' can be filtered through the remaining cast to cut down on costs overuns, lol etc. And certain roles might be interchangable though!
This is unfinished, seeing as Lion-O, the Thunderkittens and Mumm-Ra are pretty hard to recast 20 plus years later and who exactly can top the 'late' Earl Hammond's voice as that immortal mummy???!
Exactly. Want to see what everybody else has got envisioned and planned out in their minds as voiceover for the roles in all-new ThunderCats series!
ST4
Spill.com Reviews ROTF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LAXNzrOvc&feature=related
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superturbo4
15 years ago
Additional voices for certain characters...
Jaguara - Amy Acker
Dr. DomeTome - Michael Donovan
Snarf - Frank Welker
ST4
Spill.com Reviews ROTF http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LAXNzrOvc&feature=related
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DarthBill
15 years ago
Nah, my knowledge of voice actors ain't that great.
Lion-O - ??? (Possibly 'Larry Kenny' again if he still has the "voice" for it? he's basically like Peter Cullen's TF's Optimus Prime, hard to replace cos he's an original.)
I really hate writing this because I feel like an a--hole, but I really don't know if bringing back Larry Kenny (Kenney?) is the best idea. Maybe a cameo as Lord Clawdus, but as Lion-O I'm not so sure. Yes he was the original Lion-O but I don't think we should withhold other actors from letting them put their own stamp on the character, even if it is hard not to think of him, just like it's hard not to think of Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman, or think of the late Christopher Reeve when we think of a live action Superman (but that's a whole other can of worms). And again, there's no guarantee that Larry's voice (which judging by interviews seemed to be his regular voice) would fit the modern Lion-O character design, and the most important thing in voice casting is that the voice has to fit the character design. Take a look at this link, which deals with the official announcement of a new Thundercats series which also contains a teaser image of the new Lion-O (fortunately this is not that rock band crap that was circulating a few years back)-
http://www.mania.com/first-look-thundercats-return-2011_article_122951.html
When I look at that design, which looks like Lion-O meets Frank Frazetta (RIP), I have a hard time imagining Larry Kenney's (Kenny?) voice coming out of it. Also the nature of voice acting's changed a lot since the 80s. 80s voice acting tended to be more theatrical and... flamboyant I guess is the best word to describe it. Just compare the way the voice actors projected themselves in the old Super Friends cartoons to the way the voice actors of the 2001-2005 Justice League/JLU projected themselves, you'll hear a huge difference. Or compare the 80s He-Man voice acting to the 2002 He-Man voice acting.
Among new voice actors, the one that stands out most to me is Michael Adamthwaite, he does a good deep heroic voice, though so far the best example of this is the rather lackluster Next Avengers. You can probably rent it cheaply enough, or find the last act of it on You-Tube.
Anyway, moving on.
Tygra - Cam Clarke
I can dig that. Of course, Cam Clarke makes everything better. I wouldn't be against having Kevin Conroy as Tygra either, or Scott McNeil using his Silverbolt voice (from Beast Wars) for Tygra. Or former Superman voice actors Tim Daly or George Newbern, though Daly doesn't seem to dabble much in voice work away from Superman.
I tell ya I used to confuse Scott McNeil with Michael Donovan vocally, because they can both do really deep commanding hero voices, though Scott's voice tends to be rougher than Michael's. When Scott started playing Silverbolt on Beast Wars I mistook him for Michael Donovan's voice work as Conan from that Conan the Adventurer series, though I was probably remembering him from Double Dragon (as Jimmy Lee opposite Mike Donovan as Billy Lee) and Exo-Squad.
Off topic, Michael Donovan would make an AWESOME Thor.
Panthro - Phil Lamarr or Scott McNeil
Scott as Panthro? Interesting. It's hard not think of black actors though since Panthro's original voice actor Earl Hyman was of course black - Kevin Michael Richardson could also do a good Panthro I'm sure. But I'm not against having a white guy voice Panthro. I'm sure guys like Ron Perlman, Gary Chalk, and/or Clancy Brown could do it well. I know Brown's often cast as a villain but come on, let him be a hero for once.
Cheetara - Kathleen Barr, Susan Eisenberg or Jennifer Hale (**)
I can dig any one of those.
Wilykit & Wilykat -
Jaga - Colin Murdock or Kevin Conroy
Batman as Jaga? Interesting... I can't believe I didn't think of it before, but there is David McCallum, who voiced Alfred in Gotham Knight & Zeus in the 2009 Wonder Woman DTV, he could probably do a good Jaga or Lynx-O.
Bengali - Michael Rosenbaum (If Bengali were made out to be young and cocky/arrogant, as i've always envisioned)
Works for me. Josh Keaton, who took over for Rosenbaum's version of the Flash in Crisis on 2 Earths, could probably do it well too.
Hmm... Lacey Chabert (Gwen on TSSM), Tara Strong or maybe Kath Souci (Souchi? I can never spell that right) as Wilykit? I guess either James Arnold Taylor or Josh Keaton (Harry & Pete/Spidey on TSSM) could do Wilykat. Question - do we we actually want to see the Thunderkittens grow up this time, or at least get into their teens? The old show lasted like 3-4 seasons, if they had aged in real time they would have been at least 15 or 16 by the end.
Lynx-O - Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.(**)
Can't go wrong with Alfred.
Pumyra - Susan Sullivan or Kathleen Barr (**)
Hmm...
Mumm-Ra - ???
Slythe - Brian Drummond or Ed Asner(**)
Monkian - Paul Dobson (does more sinister voiceovers for characters than his brother)
Jackalman - Corey Burton or Rene Auberjonois
Vultureman - Mark Hamill or David Warner
Grune the Destroyer - Carl Lumbly or Keith David (**)
Shadowmaster - Phil Morris or Michael Ironside
Chilla of the Lunatacs - Juliet Landau (**)
Zaxx - Ed Asner (**)
Ratar-O - Ron Perlman
Ratilla The Terrible - John DiMaggio
Captain Shiner - James Remar
Mongor - John Rhys-Davies
Queen Tartara - C.C.H. Pounder or Juliet Landau (**)
Safari Joe - Efrem Zimbalist (**), Jr. or Alan Oppenheimer (if he still works doing animation voiceovers???)
The Demolisher - Keith David or Michael Jai White (**)
Interesting line up. Can't go wrong with Mark Hamill, especially when he does that Joker voice. Hell, I'd take a gamble on Hamill as Jackalman, give him a more sadistic vibe.
And yes, Alan Oppenheimer's still in the business, though he may not be working as much as he used to. Alan recently voiced Alfred for Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Kathleen Barr using her Evil-Lynn voice could probably work as Chilla. Or Venus Terzo using her Black Arachnia voice (from Beast Wars) for Chilla. And if Venus used her Jean Grey voice, well I'm sure she could do either Cheetara/Pumyra/Willa.
Hachiman - Masi Oka
Turmagar - Clancy Brown
Snowman of Hook Mountain - Michael Jai White (**) or Christopher Judge
Mandora the Evil-Chaser - Olivia d'Abo
Willa The Warrior Maiden - Jennifer Hale (**)
Claudus - Robert Foxworth
Wizz-Ra - Nestor Carbonell
Groups like; 'Hammerhand and the Berserkers' and the 'Lunataks' can be filtered through the remaining cast to cut down on costs overuns, lol etc. And certain roles might be interchangable though!
Can't really argue with any of that.
You know who else we need in here? We need David Kaye and Tricia Helfer.
I guess I should go start a voice casting thread in the Silverhawks forum.
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superturbo4
15 years ago
Tygra - Cam Clarke
I can dig that. Of course, Cam Clarke makes everything better. I wouldn't be against having Kevin Conroy as Tygra either, or Scott McNeil using his Silverbolt voice (from Beast Wars) for Tygra. Or former Superman voice actors Tim Daly or George Newbern, though Daly doesn't seem to dabble much in voice work away from Superman.
Yup talented guy Cam Clarke is. Voiced many characters i've liked including Liquid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid video game series.
Panthro - Phil Lamarr or Scott McNeil
Scott as Panthro? Interesting. It's hard not think of black actors though since Panthro's original voice actor Earl Hyman was of course black - Kevin Michael Richardson could also do a good Panthro I'm sure. But I'm not against having a white guy voice Panthro. I'm sure guys like Ron Perlman, Gary Chalk, and/or Clancy Brown could do it well. I know Brown's often cast as a villain but come on, let him be a hero for once.
Clancy Brown i can't see as Panthro, but true him doing a hero role is long overdue in animation. Panthro i think is covered, need a modern day badass to voice him is all.
Jaga - Colin Murdock or Kevin Conroy
Batman as Jaga? Interesting... I can't believe I didn't think of it before, but there is David McCallum, who voiced Alfred in Gotham Knight & Zeus in the 2009 Wonder Woman DTV, he could probably do a good Jaga or Lynx-O.
I put Colin Murdock over Kevin Conroy there Darth Bill, so its not exactly a Batman i was thinking heheheh, but Conroy handles deep voices differently than mostly everybody else on the list far as vocie actors go. David McCallum? hmmm, thats interesting kinda was going for the regular animation voice acting in north america, wasn't thinking of McCallum in those extremes but i'm game, lets treat this thread as a *casting couch* hosted by us two or more T-Cats fans, lol.
ST4 & Darth Bill: (to auditioning voice actors)
O.K. you guys show us what ya got! Lynx-O - Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.(**)
Can't go wrong with Alfred.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr an old professional and can handle much older voices realistically speaking. And i've liked his work in animated features and series over the years.
Hmm...
Mumm-Ra - ???
Slythe - Brian Drummond or Ed Asner(**)
Monkian - Paul Dobson (does more sinister voiceovers for characters than his brother)
Jackalman - Corey Burton or Rene Auberjonois
Vultureman - Mark Hamill or David Warner
Grune the Destroyer - Carl Lumbly or Keith David (**)
Shadowmaster - Phil Morris or Michael Ironside
Chilla of the Lunatacs - Juliet Landau (**)
Zaxx - Ed Asner (**)
Ratar-O - Ron Perlman
Ratilla The Terrible - John DiMaggio
Captain Shiner - James Remar
Mongor - John Rhys-Davies
Queen Tartara - C.C.H. Pounder or Juliet Landau (**)
Safari Joe - Efrem Zimbalist (**), Jr. or Alan Oppenheimer (if he still works doing animation voiceovers???)
The Demolisher - Keith David or Michael Jai White (**)
Interesting line up. Can't go wrong with Mark Hamill, especially when he does that Joker voice. Hell, I'd take a gamble on Hamill as Jackalman, give him a more sadistic vibe.
And yes, Alan Oppenheimer's still in the business, though he may not be working as much as he used to. Alan recently voiced Alfred for Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Kathleen Barr using her Evil-Lynn voice could probably work as Chilla. Or Venus Terzo using her Black Arachnia voice (from Beast Wars) for Chilla. And if Venus used her Jean Grey voice, well I'm sure she could do either Cheetara/Pumyra/Willa.
Thanks for the info and input there.
Long as The new series would ultilize today's V.O. artists in such a distingished manner and present them up in classy fashion as they have done with their Warner Brothers DC comics and WB kids Animation departments, and have regular and guest casting done in bracketts that exmplify the production painstaking work towards excellence and all-round.
Yeah high production cost could be justified if the show did lot more than the regular TV animated series.
Afro-Samurai cost 5 million for its first set of episodes. And nearly as much for its sequel film. I'd love for Thundercats to go for that love of detailed animation, but with North American's love of 3D CGI animation (barring Warners DC comic's fare) which is quicker to do.
I'd love a new T-cats to be glorious 2D. But if it were 3D, i'd want something more indepth than the bloated looking TV series CGI business that gets dumped on us.
Hachiman - Masi Oka
Turmagar - Clancy Brown
Snowman of Hook Mountain - Michael Jai White (**) or Christopher Judge
Mandora the Evil-Chaser - Olivia d'Abo
Willa The Warrior Maiden - Jennifer Hale (**)
Claudus - Robert Foxworth
Wizz-Ra - Nestor Carbonell
Groups like; 'Hammerhand and the Berserkers' and the 'Lunataks' can be filtered through the remaining cast to cut down on costs overuns, lol etc. And certain roles might be interchangable though!
Can't really argue with any of that.
You know who else we need in here? We need David Kaye and Tricia Helfer.
With the exception of Robert Foxworth and Nestor Carbonell i don't think i thought the last part out as well with those names, and like i said Lion-O The Thunderkittens and Mumm-Ra are quite hard to picture in ones head as a fan being done by somebody else entirely.
Mumm-Ra's the hardest one to recast without sounding foolish or desperate to just simply 'plonk' somebody else in there too for a voiceover. Even if he were recasted properly though, think any new V.A. contract for the new series should state Earl Hammond's Mumm-Ra
roar/scream can be reused from the classic series in that part.
Yo Darth Bill, besides casting a new series T-Cats, can we also chat about; production houses/FX companies (Both Foreign and Domestic?), companies to do the distribution, potential collaborators (staff, crew), animation studios that could do Thundercats etc things Warners would have to truly consider if they re-did the series today etc?!
To the best of the fans knowledge that is?
ST4
Spill.com Reviews ROTF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LAXNzrOvc&feature=related
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LiamABC
15 years ago
Is Peter Renaday still around? I'm thinking Jaga and Mumm-Ra here. (You'll recognise his voice as Mandrake in Defenders Of The Earth, Splinter in Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, and Prince Valiant's father in The Legend Of Prince Valiant.)
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DarthBill
15 years ago
Peter Renaday is in fact still alive and working.
Looks like we don't need to brainstorm for a new Lion-O after all - Larry Kenney is apparently signed on to reprise the role of Lion-O in the new series, as well as voicing his dad Claudus (Clawdus?). I don't know why but I feel weirdly disappointed. I was curious to hear what a new voice actor could have done with the role of Lion-O. I guess now we'll find out just how well Larry can adjust his performance to fit modern voice acting sensibilities.
Anyway new additions -
Wilykit - Tara Strong, Hynden Walch (Raven & Starfire from Teen Titans), Ashley Johnson (Terra on Teen Titans), Christy Carlson Romano (Kim on Kim Possible), or Danielle Judovits (Batgirl/Barbara Gordon on THE BATMAN, Kitty Pryde from Wolvie & the X-Men).
Wilykat - Greg Cipes, Scott Menville (both from Teen Titans), Josh Keaton and/or James Arnold Taylor (Spidey & Harry on The Spectacular Spider-Man)
Bengali - Kirby Morrow (Cyclops on X-Men: Evolution, yeah he's not gravelly but he can do a young guy voice).
Monkian - Rick D. Wasserman (Hulk in Planet Hulk) or Fred Tatasciore (Hulk in pretty much all other Marvel DTVs).
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LiamABC
15 years ago
"Peter Renaday is in fact still alive and working."
Then he's definitely the one for Jaga!
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superturbo4
15 years ago
Think now, we'll have to find out just who's voicing characters in the new announced ThunderCats series opposed to who we'd like to see in a new ThunderCats when they wasn't any news a few months ago. The excellent early news being, Larry Kenny A.K.A. classic Lion-O voicing Claudus (Lion-O's father) in the new series. Secondly, what approach the new series is going to take, upon further news being released over the next few months ahead.
ST4
Look man F&%k Google and Yahoo, ask me!
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EdenParadise
14 years ago
Actually, on the cast listings it says that Larry Kenney is playing Claudus!
I think "Captain Planet" is something that should be mandatory to watch nowadays.
Team Jacob!
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Louisifer
14 years ago
I agree with Kenney not being Lion-O again since he it will just encourage comparisons between this and the 80's show.
Try not to take life too seriously, no one gets out alive.
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