29/5/07
Hey, listen to me talking on the
With the Will podcast!
3/5/07
I'm just going to step back and let Jeff Nimoy do the talking!
Guess who's about to get VERY busy.
I just signed on to direct "Digimon
Data Squad," which is the English language version of "Digimon Savers." The
show will air this fall on Jetix.
Here are some of the cast members that
you all helped me choose:
Marcus (Masaru) - Quinton Flynn
Yoshi
(Yoshino) - Colleen O'Shaughnessy
Thomas (Tohma) - Crispin
Freeman
Commander Sampson (Satsuma) - Jamieson Price
Agumon - Brian
Beacock
Miki - Stephanie Sheh
Megumi - Kate Higgins
Lalamon - Dorothy
Fahn
Kudamon - Sam Reigal
Ikuto (no English name yet) - Brianne Siddall
Falcomon - Steve Blum
Kristy (Chika) - Melissa Fahn
Sayuri (Marcus's mom, no English name yet) - Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Yushima - Kirk Thornton
EDIT
...okay, I just gave that a few minutes, and I'm calmed down a bit to add some more comments. Ahem.
- It is awesome that Colleen O'Shaughnessey is back, since this is
going to be only her second major Digimon role. After some fears that
her dub name was going to be the kinda-doofy "Josie," I'm very happy to
see that it's just a shortening of her Japanese name. Of course, one is
left to wonder why it's been shortened at all. In this day and age
where the Japanese cultural elements have become things that the
viewing public recognises as exotic and something that DRAWS them to
the shows, rather than something to be smudged over as they were in
days gone by, these Anglicizations are not really necessary, but trying
telling Bandai that.
- Jamieson Price could not be more perfect here. While you can find an
actor who can do a "deep voice" without too much trouble, he's the big
dawg. I saw a lot of folks suggesting Steve Blum for Satsuma, and I can
see why, but... his "deep voice" is still just a "voice" that he does.
Everything I've ever seen and heard of Jamieson Price is that seems to
be
actually how he talks.
It's this rich, booming, "back of the throat" voice, that is SO close
to the Japanese Satsuma that it makes me giggle with glee just thinking
about it. Also, regarding the character's dub name - it has
connotations of strength and power that will go
very well with the voice, and is a heck of a lot better than being named after fruit.
-Hey, speaking of Blum, this is going to be really interesting. When
you think of Blum, Falcon is not what would pop into your head... and
yet, you know it means Ravemon will be
so frickin' cool. But let us not forget that Blum was Guilmon and
Poromon... this could be something really interesting.
- Brian Beacock. Holy crap, I am
nearly
as gay for Brian Beacock as I am for Brian Donovan, and that's saying
something. What excites me is that I don't actually know what to expect
here... this is the guy who did Takato and
Bokomon. What's he going to come up with for Agumon? I can't wait to find out.
- Brianne Siddall is a sort of obvious, but very awesome choice for the
little-kid character. Likewise, Crispin Freeman strikes me as being the
perfect casting job, and it's going to be nice to see Dorothy Fahn get
a bigger role in Digimon than she usually does.
- Melissa Fahn returns! I love Melissa Fahn. That is all.
- No, actually, it's not. She's going to be sharing loads of scenes
with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Dude, that's going to be like a
mom-and-daughter Tamers reunion, and anything that harkens back to the
Tamers dub is automatically ten times more awesome.
- New names in the Digimon voice actors circle always excites me. Kate Higgins is
Naruto's Sakura. This is good. Quinton Flynn is someone I will always remember as the Human Torch, so mentally, to me, he is a
brilliant fit for the hot-headed Marcus. Sam Reigal... well, I won't like, I was
really
hoping that the dub would gender-bend Kudamon so he could be voiced by
Mari Devon (given that he was voiced by a woman in Japan, too). But,
this is
DONATELLO, bitches. Oh, and Gaomon's not been cast yet, if you're wondering.
*pant* *pant*
I am now officially more excited about "Data Squad" than I
ever was when watching subbed Savers episodes.
HOLY CRAP I UPDATED THE VOICE LIST!
15/3/07
Hoo boy! A Savers dub is now officially On. The. Way! Get yourself over to
Toei's website for all the details!
Rather astoundingly, the series will have it's own unique title - a
first for a Digimon dub, with all the previous seasons just having been
"Digimon" - and that title is the really rather good
Digital Data Squad. I've
never liked "Savers" as a title - it just sounds
odd
- and this one really pushes my buttons. Further surprises come in the
form of the remarkably minimal name changes - "Touma" to "Thomas" was
fully expected, as was "Sunflowmon" to "Sunflowermon," mainly 'cause
the original name works in Japanese, but not so well in English. Oddly,
the site refers to Masaru with the Japanese name-order of "Daimon
Masaru," rather than the Western-style "Masaru Daimon," but they mostly
just refer to him as "Masaru," as though it were his first name
(which... it is). So I doubt very much we'll see "Chika Masaru" running
around - this would not, after all, be the first time that some
preliminary info didn't line up with what made it into the show!
("Keely," anyone?)
No real indication who's behind the dubbing, but I wager, like the
movies, Disney has probably imported the property and will farm it out
to whatever recording studio they choose. Studiopolis got the deal with
the movies, possibly due to their having Jeff Nimoy under contract, so
I wouldn't rule out seeing them behind the controls for the dub again.
But this is just me speculating.
Miniskirt Police? They can read me my rights
any day.
Said it before. Say it again. Exciting times, my friends.
15/2/07
Well, I think it should be fairly obvious at this point
that nothing is happening with the Digipedia. It's not that I've fallen
out of love with Digimon, or anything, but I'm certianly not as
involved as I used to be - I'm still regularly downloading and watching
Savers, but my contributions to the fandom and even conversation within
it are nil.
Well, until now. Because this bit of news just HAS to be posted. From the keyboard of Jeff Nimoy himself,
the Digipedia and various other Digimon news sites have recieved this crazy teaser:
No
full, complete announcement yet, but IF, someone you know were to
direct the dub of Digimon Savers... IF, IF, IF, I say... then who would
your casting choices be? Would you like some actors to reprise their
Digimon, or would you like a different actor to play them now? This is
your chance to influence the director. That is, IF I was the director...
Thanks, Jeff
What could it mean? WHAT, I ask you?! Starting putting your minds to work, folks, and make with the chat on the forums!
