My two-year old daughter absolutely loves Pooh's Heffalump Movie. What's that got to do with Transformers? Peter Cullen is the voice of Eeyore.

Imagine a depressed Optimus saying : "The sky is falling...I always knew it would".

Everytime I hear it, I crack up  

 

Sums up my feelings too. The TFs weren't some pre-existing comic book characters in G1 like other cartoons, the voice actors had a equal hand in the character creation. At least Mr. Bell was interested enough to audition.

 

IMO, Bell did get a shot, in that he auditioned. He just didn't get the part.

I don't think new TF shows should slavishly use the old VAs just because the character's names are the same when clearly the fiction isn't a continuation to the old toons.

Now, if they make a continuation to Beast Wars and Scott McNeil doesn't get to do half the cast voices, then there's a problem.

-airfox

 

That's the number one reason I think it would've been great if he got the part(him, or any of the original VA cast, for that matter). We get to hear the voices we heard as kids, and all the kids out there now get to be introduced to him.

 

Maybe they found someone who had a voice they liked better.

 

THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE.

 

but, but, FANBOY OUTRAGE!!!!!!~!!11!1!11oneoneone!

 

It's a shame that the most versatile VA from the original cast isn't being brought on to the new project. He's only been some of the most recognizable voices from the past 20 years. (Raziel anyone?) If he can be called on to play almost every male on Rugrats why can't they let him be part of the series he helped shape the character of... This is just sad. I usually don't rant like this. But it's because of people like Mr. Bell that I want to get into VA. (to bad there are no opportunities in Biloxi, MS...)


Be careful hasbro. Mr. Bell will call his buddy Simon Templeman and they will eat your soul!

 

Damn! Beat me to the Raziel thing. He is a very talented man. Love is work on the LoK & Ratchet series. Just obviously was not what they were going for. Which is ok. Sucks, but ok.

 

Well, out of all the VAs who audition for a part, only one can get it, so no VA will get every part they go for.

I guess it won't stop the outrage though...

 

Still though, its quite a shame, I'd love to hear some of the original VA's return to the parts they made famous, I mean lets face it, the new kids wont care and it would be something the old fans could appreciate, a win win, I never understand Hollywood or people in the entertainment industry, much like Bay not letting Welker be able to repise Megatron but I guess stuff like this isn't suprising anymore.

 

As an actor myself, I can tell you that generally speaking, there is no good reason why someone doesn't get cast. Ever. It's not personal, nobody is trying to slap anybody in the face, you just don't fit the part. That's it.

The casting people aren't taking a whiz on us just because an original VA from G1 didn't get cast. It says nothing about the show, except that this guy isn't going to be in it.

 

Yes, I did actually. A LOT of us did because it was mentioned here last October in the News forum the list of characters they were auditioning voices for:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=112143&highlight=prowl+heroes

Doesn't matter in this case. It's already been established that the show is being cast in LA, not Canada. We have confirmation of this with Tom Kenny, Tara Strong, and now Corey Burton being cast. They're all LA-based voice actors.

But it is true that a lot of US studios have outsourced and hired Canadian voice talent for US-produced shows because outside the US they're non-union and thus cheaper. It's been a big stink for VAs in the US, and yet a welcome boon for Canadian VAs. Case in point: "Baby Looney Tunes". It's only because the show's producers didn't wish to get an angry backlash from Looney Tunes fans over casting someone else to voice Granny who has always been voiced by June Foray that they hired her for the job. The rest of the cast was 100% Canadian while June's dialog was recorded in LA.

Frank Welker was the most versatile VA from the original cast, although Michael Bell was a close runner-up for the title. But as far as we currently know, Welker hasn't been cast in the series either. So you're actually right.

I doubt it was "heart-shattering" for a voice talent who gets as much work as Bell does, but it might have been a little disappointing for him for sentimental reasons since he did voice the character originally.

RID was a union gig as far as I know because Lex Lang, Daran Norris, Wally Wingert, and Josh Seth are all union VAs to my knowledge. The difference is that RID was a dubbed series and thus on a smaller casting budget than US shows normally get. If you look at the RiD cast list, they're nearly all regulars to anime dubs.

Cullen doesn't do dub gigs. That's why it would've cost more for them to hire him. So you're partially correct in saying it was somewhat based on Cullen's "experience", but dubbed shows are a whole 'nother creature when it comes to voice acting, and a whole seperate and considerably *lower* pay scale too. And that's why they couldn't afford him. More than likely, Cullen and his agent said, "If you want him for the part, you're going to have to pay him more than dub scale. And it's going to cost you X-amount of dollars." And I'm sure it was a pretty impressive dollar amount too.

QFT.

 

The fanboy in me is definitely sad. Also, as just a supporter of VAs in general, I hate it for him. He's got immense talent and I can't believe they didn't want him on the project.

Kickback raised a good point. Maybe he costs more than they wanted to pay?

 

But see, this isn't the part he made famous anymore than RID Prowl was the part he made famous. It's a new character with an old name. For all we know, this Prowl's a female or a high-pitched rhyming annoyance like Wheelie or something. He just wasn't right for the part this time. It happens.

I think that old school fans, and fans of animation in general, are going to be very happy with this cast of this new show.

 

Well, anyone else but the last series voice actors is a step up. Hillbillies and "Austrailians from space" didn't exactly do much for me.

 

My opinion, is let the originals do the voices.
An example of a disappointment in TF was the different voices of Jetfire from, I believe, from Enegon to Cyberton, even though it wasn't suppose to be related.

How many people in the production of the movie are actually fans???
The higher ups should be, because if they're not, they can ruin the vision of the idea.
Take G-Savior of the Mobile suit Gundam series

 

Nope. See the post directly above your last one.

And again, it's not that they "didn't want him on the project". Fans are reading too much into this. They didn't outright "reject" him or even "turn him down" as this thread's original post states. According to "Super_Megatron", Bell auditioned and didn't get the part. It's simple as that. Like Jay said, it's nothing personal--Bell's audition just wasn't what they were looking for for the role. Who knows, after the series airs we might even agree with them if this new Prowl's a different character. I've only seen the character specs for a few names listed for this show, but obviously whatever audition Bell gave didn't fit the producer/casting director's opinion of what the character should be.

Also keep in mind that the voice director on this series is Susan Blu (voice of G1's Arcee and later casting director for BW and BM), and she doesn't always have the final say in who gets hired for which part. She knows G1--she was there with the cast when they recorded. There's one reason for you right there that they didn't outright "reject" Bell for the part.

Since the show is being cast with LA voice talent, chances are we could very well hear some of the other original G1 VAs who are still with us being hired to voice supplemental characters later in the series, like Dan Gilvezan (Bumblebee), Gregg Berger (Grimlock), and even Welker and Bell too. If the show sucks, I'll watch it just for that alone: hoping for some vocal cameos.