An Interview With Jack Angel [The Voice Of Astrotrain]

Another recent interview I had was with Jack Angel, that original voice of Astrotrain, Ramjet, Ultra Magnus from Transformers season three among many others!



Screamers: What first inspired you to become an actor?

JA: I guess it was going to the movies and then discovering that anybody could do that, and that there were career paths to follow to get there.

Screamers: Had voice acting been first choice?


JA: No. I always wanted to be a movie star, but the universe let me into voice acting and it’s been great fun. Radio beckoned when I graduated from SF State University, and I just followed along for the ride.

Screamers: In regards to acting, I take it radio was your first acting job? What had been your first acting job?

JA: While I was at SF STATE we had a class in which we performed on the local educational channel KQED for a psychology class other students were taking for credit. Even though we were not paid, because it was on TV, I regard that as my first acting job. That was before radio. Then, in TV later on, I did some commercials on camera for a variety of products. My first radio gig was at KYOS in Merced, just north of Fresno. I was there for a couple of years. My first radio “acting” job, in addition to being a disc jockey, was in a commercial for “Gallagher Cleaners” in which I was a character that was not myself.

Screamers: The cartoon characters you had voiced for, do you remember your first acting job?

JA: Wally Burr, then a director at Hanna/Barbera was looking for some big voices for “Challenge of the Superfriends”. He hired me to play “Hawkman”, “Flash” and “Super Samurai”.

Screamers: Favorite cartoons you've worked with?

JA: The sessions for “Transformers” and “GI Joe” were probably the most fun because there were a lot of guys in each and they were fun to hang with before, during and after the sessions. Also, “Peter Pan and the Pirates” was fun. Big cast, lots of kids playing the lost boys and Tim Curry was “Captain Hook”.

The Disney and the Disney/Pixar films were all lots of fun, too. Imagine spending the day on a Disney sound stage with terrific creative people on both sides of the glass. Who could ask for more?

And then there was “A.I.- Artificial Intelligence”, perhaps the best of all. That was three months on a set with Steven Spielberg, watching the master at work. - Making friends with Steven, Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law. Very cool.

Screamers: Do you have favorites when it comes to characters you've voiced?

JA: As far as individual characters, “Teddy”, the teddy bear in A.I. was fun and “Chunk”, my latest Pixar character in “Toy Story 3” are both favorites. By the way, I recorded a bunch of lines for Chunk to say when they make a new toy of him. “Smokey Bear” was also one of my favorites. But truly, they were all my children and I loved them equally.

Screamers: In regards to Transformers and G.I. Joe, two of my favorite cartoons. I had once talked with Michael McConnohie the voice of Tracks from Transformers and he said his inspiration for Tracks had came from Mr. Howell [Gilligan's Island]. So I ask, what your inspiration for said characters such as: Astrotrain, Cyclonus, Ultra Magnus and the many other characters you'd voiced for during Transformers & G.I. Joe?

JA: Astro Train had to be a big voice, like most of the others, but Ultra Magnus was done originally in “Transformers, the Movie” by Robert Stack, so I had to get close to what he did since he was not going to do the series.

Screamers: You mentioned working with the cast members..Having such a huge fan following on 'Retro Screamers' that centers on eighties voice actors & cartoons. I have to ask, what was it like working with said voice actors; Chris Latta, Scatman Crothers & Don Messick? Do you have any personal memories you could share?

JA: Messick was one of the nicest and humblest actors I ever worked with. Latta was just the opposite. And Scatman was a cool cat. All three are now dead.

Screamers: Do you still work with any of the original voice actors from said cartoons; such as Michael Bell, Gregg Berger, Frank Welker, Peter Cullen..etc?

JA: I see them every once in a while, but none of us has worked together in several years. Michael and Welker are in my e-mail contacts so we communicate regularly.

Screamers: Have been to many conventions where you've had a chance to meet fans or perhaps a Disney related convention?


JA: I have never been to any conventions.

Screamer: I hope to help change that in the near future..With your information passed to 'Master Collectors' I look forward to meeting you at up coming conventions. Fans really have appreciated the work that's put into voice acting and would love to meet some of their favorites. Upon saying that, have you seen anything online fan related spotlighting voice actors?

JA: No

Screamers: In ending this interview Jack, may I ask what you have plans are for the future? I know you've recently worked on Toy Story 3, will there be another Disney project and if asked, would you consider working on something Transformer or G.I. Joe again?

JA: Toy Story 4 is already in the works. I think if they did a new transformers or GI Joe series, they would hire younger guys.

 

Toy Story...4?

You have GOT to be kidding me. How can they make more movies after 3? I've never seen a fourth instalment of a series EVER turn out good. EVER.

 

Considering how Pixar has performed with their sequels of Toy Story, I'm certain they won't screw up their flagship franchise. But in terms of story, there's nowhere they can go from this point without being a random pointless adventure or a rehash of the first two after Toy Story 3 ended it perfectly.

Jack Angel could actually be referring to the Toy Story Toons director Lee Unkrich referred to after 3 came out. I can see Chunk appearing there.

But how did you conduct this interview? Email? Facebook? Something online? Think you can take screenshots of it if it was any of those? Please? I'd like to see something like that to verify this.

 

Alien Resurrection rocked  

 

Actually Jack was credited in the third movie and there's be a forth that he'll be a part of too, if it's anything like the last kids seem to love it   And I contacted Jack through email, most the voice actors I've interviewed with have been through personal emails.

 

I'd like to know where he got that from. There doesn't seem to be any information regarding Toy Story 4 available.

 

Interesting the part about Latta. Having recently seen his stand up, he does seem talented, eccentric, possibly the kind of guy who would rub you the wrong way if you had to work in close proximity to him for long periods of time, as I know for a fact these voice actors did.

 

Jack Angel has never been particularly happy about discussing TFs. Remember in the late 1990s when he was quite dismissive of the work- of course, the success of the live-action movies may have changed his mind!

As for Latta - yes, I've heard some stories about how unpleasant he could be. Was it Susan Blu who had the story about having to bail him out of jail to attend a recording session, or somebody else?

 

I've heard some bad tales about Chris Latta (including one from Peter Cullen involving horrendous personal hygeine), but I haven't heard that one. Any more info?
An interesting interview. I think that sometimes we forget that the people who voiced the characters we love were, for the main part, simply doing a job that they then walked away from. Peter Cullen, for example, had no idea how well loved he was until he was invited to a convention. To most of them it was just a paycheck.

 

Perhaps that was the reason they decided to kill off Starscream in the movie. So they wouldn't have to hang around Latta anymore?

 

Or signs for a future event.....

I kid, I kid.