Post by /\/\att on Jun 24, 2009 6:49:01 GMT -5
Legions of Gotham did our interview with Scott Menville, best known to Bat-Fans as the voice of Robin in the Teen Titans cartoon, back when the show was still on the air! You can read that interview HERE>>
We thought it'd be great to catch up with Scott now and discuss the end of Titans, his work on Gotham Knight and the newest Bat-Toon...the Brave and the Bold.
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LOG: Scott, the last time that we spoke you had mentioned that you were a big follower of the Transmetropolitan comic series, but that you were searching for new comics to get into. How did that search go? Do you currently keep up on any series?
Scott Menville: I haven’t been keeping up on any series currently, but I think I’ll pick up WATCHMEN. Somehow that one snuck past me and I’ve never actually read it. I know, I know. I have friends who have already given me a hard time, “What? How have you not read Watchmen?”
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LOG: The Teen Titans show ended a few years back following its fifth season. Many fans feel that the show ended far before it needed to. What are your thoughts on the ending of the show? Any desire to reprise the role?
SM: I believe TEEN TITANS ended prematurely. The show was doing great in the ratings and critics and fans loved it. It appealed to both a young audience and to more mature viewers as well. It seemed like there was still so much more exploration to be done with character arcs and story lines. As an actor, I know that I work in an unstable business, in that there are no guarantees on the life of any project, but it still came as a shock to us all—cast and crew—when we got the news that it was done. I had a blast working on the show and getting to voice Robin, so yes, I’d love to reprise the role if the show was granted a second life.
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LOG: How did it come to be that you and your fellow Titans cast members also voiced the Royal Flush Gang in Justice League?
SM: That was all due to Bruce Timm, cool guy that he is. The TEEN TITANS production offices were housed in the same building as the JUSTICE LEAGUE production offices--and the same building as our recording studio for that matter. Bruce Timm was serving as Executive Producer on TITANS while producing JUSTICE LEAGUE. A storyline came up on JUSTICE LEAGUE with The Royal Flush Gang. Our voice director Andrea Romano and Bruce Timm agreed, “Let’s have our TITANS actors do it.” It was fun to do. We even got to work with Mark Hamill, who I’d met years earlier but hadn’t had the chance to work with. It was great to watch him do his Joker thing only 3 feet away from where I was sitting at my mic.
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LOG: Would you be open to voicing Robin on the Brave & the Bold toon, should he ever appear?
SM: Definitely. I’d love to. Robin never got to work with Batman on TITANS, so I think it would add a whole new dynamic getting to share some screen time while fighting evil forces together.
EDITORS NOTE: Robin appeared on the show before we published this interview and was voiced by Cranford Wilson and Jeremy Shada
----------------------------------------------------------
LOG: What were your thoughts, as a fan, on the Batman: Gotham Knight project? Did you have fun working on it?
SM: I had a lot of fun working on GOTHAM KNIGHT. Andrea Romano brought a cast of actors in very early on in the project. It was so early on that, if I’m remembering correctly, I think they only had limited storyboards to show us. Andrea and Bruce Timm described a lot of it to us. We then recorded scratch tracks as various characters. It went through the detailed and lengthy process of being animated and then months and months later they called us back in to re-record some of the dialogue. Interestingly, they were pleased with the sound and performances of some of the original scratch tracks we’d recorded, so some of those original recordings made it into the final product.
----------------------------------------------------------
LOG: What research, if any, went into playing Metamorpho on the Brave and the Bold cartoon? What is the atmosphere on this show? Does it differ at all from any of the other Dc projects you've worked on?
SM: The only research was reading the script and seeing a sketch of the character—which both help to shape the voice. As for the atmosphere of the show, I experienced only the aspect of the recording sessions, which weren’t all that different from other projects I’ve worked on. I was once again directed by the talented Andrea Romano; We recorded at the Warner Bros. Animation studio, where I’ve worked many times before, and I worked with quite a few actors whom I’ve known for years. For instance, Bumper Robinson, who voices Black Lightning, and I have been working together on various voiceover projects since we were little kids. In fact, he and I were chuckling about that recently, reminiscing about how our parents used to bring us to work and how we’d have to do the legal daily three-hour requirement of school on the set with a studio teacher.
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LOG: Are you currently scheduled to do any other voices on the Brave & the Bold and or reprise Metamorpho before the season is done?
SM: I recorded three episodes as Metamorpho for the first season of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD. So at the time of this interview, I guess that means there is still one that hasn’t aired yet. I was just in the studio recently for ADR (additional dialogue recording) on that episode. As usual the episode looked great. There are some some awesome shots of Katana in there.
----------------------------------------------------------
LOG: Other than Brave, do you have any other Dc Comics projects in the works?
SM: I just did a guest role, actually the producers tell me I’ll be recurring, on a new animated series but it’s all top secret hush-hush and I don’t think I’m allowed to say much about it at this point. I’ll just say it involves characters that comic book fans will know and looks like it’s going to be very cool.
Also, TEEN TITANS fans might find this interesting. Greg Cipes (Beast Boy) and I have been working together on the latest installment of the MY SIMS interactive game line. We’ve both voiced many recording sessions together on previous MY SIMS games. Now we’re doing the newest ones. It’s a great gig. Greg and I sit in a room together at the microphones and speak Simlish, a made up gibberish language, and crack each other up.
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A HUGE thanks to Scott for taking the time to chat with us. For any fans that are wondering, he's a VERY nice guy and has always been a great friend to LOG. We wish Scott the best in his future ventures and will definately be checking in with him, once we figure out what that new comic book related toon is that he will be on!!
We thought it'd be great to catch up with Scott now and discuss the end of Titans, his work on Gotham Knight and the newest Bat-Toon...the Brave and the Bold.
*****************************
LOG: Scott, the last time that we spoke you had mentioned that you were a big follower of the Transmetropolitan comic series, but that you were searching for new comics to get into. How did that search go? Do you currently keep up on any series?
Scott Menville: I haven’t been keeping up on any series currently, but I think I’ll pick up WATCHMEN. Somehow that one snuck past me and I’ve never actually read it. I know, I know. I have friends who have already given me a hard time, “What? How have you not read Watchmen?”
----------------------------------------------------------
LOG: The Teen Titans show ended a few years back following its fifth season. Many fans feel that the show ended far before it needed to. What are your thoughts on the ending of the show? Any desire to reprise the role?
SM: I believe TEEN TITANS ended prematurely. The show was doing great in the ratings and critics and fans loved it. It appealed to both a young audience and to more mature viewers as well. It seemed like there was still so much more exploration to be done with character arcs and story lines. As an actor, I know that I work in an unstable business, in that there are no guarantees on the life of any project, but it still came as a shock to us all—cast and crew—when we got the news that it was done. I had a blast working on the show and getting to voice Robin, so yes, I’d love to reprise the role if the show was granted a second life.
----------------------------------------------------------
LOG: How did it come to be that you and your fellow Titans cast members also voiced the Royal Flush Gang in Justice League?
SM: That was all due to Bruce Timm, cool guy that he is. The TEEN TITANS production offices were housed in the same building as the JUSTICE LEAGUE production offices--and the same building as our recording studio for that matter. Bruce Timm was serving as Executive Producer on TITANS while producing JUSTICE LEAGUE. A storyline came up on JUSTICE LEAGUE with The Royal Flush Gang. Our voice director Andrea Romano and Bruce Timm agreed, “Let’s have our TITANS actors do it.” It was fun to do. We even got to work with Mark Hamill, who I’d met years earlier but hadn’t had the chance to work with. It was great to watch him do his Joker thing only 3 feet away from where I was sitting at my mic.
----------------------------------------------------------
LOG: Would you be open to voicing Robin on the Brave & the Bold toon, should he ever appear?
SM: Definitely. I’d love to. Robin never got to work with Batman on TITANS, so I think it would add a whole new dynamic getting to share some screen time while fighting evil forces together.
EDITORS NOTE: Robin appeared on the show before we published this interview and was voiced by Cranford Wilson and Jeremy Shada
----------------------------------------------------------
LOG: What were your thoughts, as a fan, on the Batman: Gotham Knight project? Did you have fun working on it?
SM: I had a lot of fun working on GOTHAM KNIGHT. Andrea Romano brought a cast of actors in very early on in the project. It was so early on that, if I’m remembering correctly, I think they only had limited storyboards to show us. Andrea and Bruce Timm described a lot of it to us. We then recorded scratch tracks as various characters. It went through the detailed and lengthy process of being animated and then months and months later they called us back in to re-record some of the dialogue. Interestingly, they were pleased with the sound and performances of some of the original scratch tracks we’d recorded, so some of those original recordings made it into the final product.
----------------------------------------------------------
LOG: What research, if any, went into playing Metamorpho on the Brave and the Bold cartoon? What is the atmosphere on this show? Does it differ at all from any of the other Dc projects you've worked on?
SM: The only research was reading the script and seeing a sketch of the character—which both help to shape the voice. As for the atmosphere of the show, I experienced only the aspect of the recording sessions, which weren’t all that different from other projects I’ve worked on. I was once again directed by the talented Andrea Romano; We recorded at the Warner Bros. Animation studio, where I’ve worked many times before, and I worked with quite a few actors whom I’ve known for years. For instance, Bumper Robinson, who voices Black Lightning, and I have been working together on various voiceover projects since we were little kids. In fact, he and I were chuckling about that recently, reminiscing about how our parents used to bring us to work and how we’d have to do the legal daily three-hour requirement of school on the set with a studio teacher.
----------------------------------------------------------
LOG: Are you currently scheduled to do any other voices on the Brave & the Bold and or reprise Metamorpho before the season is done?
SM: I recorded three episodes as Metamorpho for the first season of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD. So at the time of this interview, I guess that means there is still one that hasn’t aired yet. I was just in the studio recently for ADR (additional dialogue recording) on that episode. As usual the episode looked great. There are some some awesome shots of Katana in there.
----------------------------------------------------------
LOG: Other than Brave, do you have any other Dc Comics projects in the works?
SM: I just did a guest role, actually the producers tell me I’ll be recurring, on a new animated series but it’s all top secret hush-hush and I don’t think I’m allowed to say much about it at this point. I’ll just say it involves characters that comic book fans will know and looks like it’s going to be very cool.
Also, TEEN TITANS fans might find this interesting. Greg Cipes (Beast Boy) and I have been working together on the latest installment of the MY SIMS interactive game line. We’ve both voiced many recording sessions together on previous MY SIMS games. Now we’re doing the newest ones. It’s a great gig. Greg and I sit in a room together at the microphones and speak Simlish, a made up gibberish language, and crack each other up.
----------------------------------------------------------
A HUGE thanks to Scott for taking the time to chat with us. For any fans that are wondering, he's a VERY nice guy and has always been a great friend to LOG. We wish Scott the best in his future ventures and will definately be checking in with him, once we figure out what that new comic book related toon is that he will be on!!