Today we’re discussing Tom Kane’s retirement from voice acting, the new Super Mario Brothers voice cast starring Chris Pratt, the possibility of another strike in Hollywood, Audio Description for Seinfeld, William Shatner’s upcoming trip to outer space and our very first Vox Talk community spotlight.
Introduction
Hi there and welcome to Vox Talk, your weekly review from the world of voice over. I’m your host, Stephanie Ciccarelli from Voices. In today’s show, you’ll hear all about the new Super Mario Brothers voice cast starring Chris Pratt, the possibility of another strike in Hollywood, Audio Description for Seinfeld, William Shatner’s trip to outer space, the Vox Talk community spotlight, but first, Tom Kane has retired from voice acting.
News 1: Tom Kane Retirement
One of voice over’s giants, Tom Kane, announced his retirement following complications of a stroke he suffered in December 2020. Kane, who worked largely in animation and video games, is best known for voicing Yoda in a variety of Star Wars projects. His daughter, Sam, has been faithfully posting about her dad and sharing how he’s been doing. In a recent post, Sam revealed that Tom has Apraxia, which means that he has difficulty moving smoothly from one sound, syllable or word to another. Screenrant reported Tom Kane’s retirement on September 16th, 2021 in a lovely tribute to the actor.
If you’d like to send Tom a card, you can write to him at:
Tom Kane
P.O. Box 23606
Overland Park, KS 66283
Source: https://screenrant.com/star-wars-yoda-voice-tom-kane-retirement-details/
News 2: New Super Mario Bros. Animated Film
In other news, when a beloved franchise gets a reboot, people are quick to judge the cast. The Super Mario Brothers’ animated feature slated for release in 2022, starring Chris Pratt as Mario, is no different. While many are excited to see the production, others are asking perennial questions that come to mind when such a feat is attempted.
The first discussion usually revolves around why the original voice actors weren’t cast in their iconic roles.
With Chris Pratt vocally donning Mario’s overalls, some fans have wondered why Charles Martinet was not cast? (Rest assured, Martinet does make cameo appearances).
While Nintendo hasn’t strayed from the iconic voice talent of Charles Martinet for its video games since 1995, other actors have been tapped to voice Mario in animated series on television. That said, Martinet is in his own league when it comes to voicing Mario for video games. In fact, Charles Martinet holds the Guinness World Records title for the Most Video Game Performances as the Same Character (as of 2018, that number is 100).
Now that we’ve covered that, after the initial shock wears off on who was cast, the next discussion revolves around why full-time professional voice actors were not cast instead of on-camera celebrities. Such a question was posed by a writer at Fast Company.
I for one am curious to see what Pratt brings to the role having grown up playing Mario Brothers games and watching the Super Mario Brothers Super Show (voiced by the late professional wrestler and actor, Lou Albano).
The Super Mario Brothers voice cast includes:
- Chris Pratt as Mario
- Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach
- Charlie Day as Luigi
- Jack Black as Bowser
- Keegan-Michael Key as Toad
- Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong
- Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek
- And Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike
Sources:
Charles Martinet: It’s-A Me, Mario! – Meet The Record Breakers
*Charles Martinet now has voiced more than 100 performances of Mario in video games.
News 3: Potential Hollywood Strike – IATSE
Do you remember the last time Hollywood went on strike? Think back to November 2007 through February 2008 when the Writer’s Guild of America stopped productions in their tracks. Pens were dropped, keystrokes stopped and whatever was in the can was what audiences could look forward to on television and the silver screen. You might remember the drought of content that resulted from the WGA strike with your favorites shows at a standstill midseason and fodder running dry on late night comedy shows.
This time around, it is the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees looking to strike. The Los Angeles Times reports that 52,706 members or nearly 99% of those who cast ballots voted in favor of strike authorization. IATSE reported that 90% of eligible union members participated in the vote, which is an unusually high turnout.
The vote comes after months of talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers came to an impasse. The LA Times went on to say that the AMPTP said it was committed to finding a deal to avoid a production shutdown at such a pivotal time.
What could this mean for Hollywood? IATSE is comprised of those who work behind the scenes. These are your hair and makeup artists, stagehands, front of house workers, wardrobe attendants, motion picture and television production technicians, broadcast technicians, scenic artists, designers, animators, audiovisual technicians and more.
We’ll keep following this story as it unfolds, so stay tuned!
Source: LA Times
News 4: William Shatner to go to space
Space, the final frontier. Entertainment Tonight Canada reports that Willam Shatner, Star Trek’s Captain Kirk himself, will be rocketing into outer space from West Texas on October 12th with Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, Blue Origin. At 90 years old, Shatner will be the oldest man to go into space. The trip will last all of 10 minutes, reaching no higher than approximately 66 miles or 106 kilometers.
Shatner is best known for playing Star Trek’s Captain James T. Kirk, of the USS Enterprise, starring in Priceline commercials and performing a variety of voiceover work.
Source: Entertainment Tonight Canada
News 5: Seinfeld Gets Audio Description
The ‘show about nothing’ has just received a special something. All nine seasons of Seinfeld have been audio described. What this means is that millions of viewers who are blind or living with vision loss are now able to more fully enjoy episodes of the hit sitcom on Netflix. Narrator Satauna Howery recorded audio description for 180 Seinfeld episodes. Curious about audio description? Audio Description is more than just a voice bringing the visuals to blind and low vision audiences. There’s a whole professional team, from writing, casting, voicing, editing, mixing, and quality control. It’s definitely a growing field of voice over work that we’re following closely. To listen to Satauna’s experience providing audio description for Seinfeld, tune into a podcast interview she did with Roy Samuelson via the Audio Description Network Alliance. For a link to the interview, visit the show notes for this week’s episode.
Source: The Audio Description Network Alliance, interview by Roy Samuelson https://theadna.libsyn.com/the-adna-presents-know-your-narrator-series-satauna-voices-seinfeld
Community Spotlight: Kesha Monk Announces at the Tonys
When we started Vox Talk again, I wanted to add a new segment that recognizes the outstanding community that we have at Voices. Oftentimes when I’m scrolling through social media, I see triumphs and career milestones achieved that are simply amazing! This week, our community spotlight features Kesha Monk. Kesha served as a live announcer for the 74th Tony Awards a couple weeks back. Congratulations! When I caught up with Kesha, she was beaming with happiness, still bubbling over with the immense joy she felt behind that mic. The announcing job kept her on her toes — it’s demanding work! – and all the while she had the voice of her mentor, Randy Thomas (the queen of Live Announce) cheering her on in her head. When I asked her if she had anything more to share, Kesha’s encouragement to you all is to NEVER, EVER, EVER give up on your voiceover dreams. Watch award shows, absorb all you can, find a good solid coach and network your butt off! YOU-CAN-MAKE-IT!!!
Source: Kesha Monk
Wrap up
That’s all the time we have for now. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today! Being here with you again is such a treat. If there are any stories you’d like to hear on the podcast, or you have a story of your own to share, send them to [email protected]. Also, if you enjoyed the show, be sure to give Vox Talk a rating and review. You’ll help other people who love voice acting find us and benefit from what’s being shared. On behalf of the Vox Talk team at Voices, thank you again for listening. I’m Stephanie Ciccarelli and we’ll see you next week.
Hi there and welcome to Vox Talk, your weekly review from the world of voice over. I’m your host, Stephanie Ciccarelli from Voices. In today’s show, you’ll hear all about the new Super Mario Brothers voice cast starring Chris Pratt, the possibility of another strike in Hollywood, Audio Description for Seinfeld, William Shatner’s trip to outer space, the Vox Talk community spotlight, but first, Tom Kane has retired from voice acting.
News 1: Tom Kane Retirement
One of voice over’s giants, Tom Kane, announced his retirement following complications of a stroke he suffered in December 2020. Kane, who worked largely in animation and video games, is best known for voicing Yoda in a variety of Star Wars projects. His daughter, Sam, has been faithfully posting about her dad and sharing how he’s been doing. In a recent post, Sam revealed that Tom has Apraxia, which means that he has difficulty moving smoothly from one sound, syllable or word to another. Screenrant reported Tom Kane’s retirement on September 16th, 2021 in a lovely tribute to the actor.
If you’d like to send Tom a card, you can write to him at:
Tom Kane
P.O. Box 23606
Overland Park, KS 66283
News 2: New Super Mario Bros. Animated Film
In other news, when a beloved franchise gets a reboot, people are quick to judge the cast. The Super Mario Brothers’ animated feature slated for release in 2022, starring Chris Pratt as Mario, is no different. While many are excited to see the production, others are asking perennial questions that come to mind when such a feat is attempted.
The first discussion usually revolves around why the original voice actors weren’t cast in their iconic roles.
With Chris Pratt vocally donning Mario’s overalls, some fans have wondered why Charles Martinet was not cast? (Rest assured, Martinet does make cameo appearances).
While Nintendo hasn’t strayed from the iconic voice talent of Charles Martinet for its video games since 1995, other actors have been tapped to voice Mario in animated series on television. That said, Martinet is in his own league when it comes to voicing Mario for video games. In fact, Charles Martinet holds the Guinness World Records title for the Most Video Game Performances as the Same Character (as of 2018, that number is 100).
Now that we’ve covered that, after the initial shock wears off on who was cast, the next discussion revolves around why full-time professional voice actors were not cast instead of on-camera celebrities. Such a question was posed by a writer at Fast Company.
I for one am curious to see what Pratt brings to the role having grown up playing Mario Brothers games and watching the Super Mario Brothers Super Show (voiced by the late professional wrestler and actor, Lou Albano).
The Super Mario Brothers voice cast includes:
Chris Pratt as Mario
Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach
Charlie Day as Luigi
Jack Black as Bowser
Keegan-Michael Key as Toad
Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong
Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong
Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek
And Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike
News 3: Potential Hollywood Strike - IATSE
Do you remember the last time Hollywood went on strike? Think back to November 2007 through February 2008 when the Writer’s Guild of America stopped productions in their tracks. Pens were dropped, keystrokes stopped and whatever was in the can was what audiences could look forward to on television and the silver screen. You might remember the drought of content that resulted from the WGA strike with your favorites shows at a standstill midseason and fodder running dry on late night comedy shows.
This time around, it is the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees looking to strike. The Los Angeles Times reports that 52,706 members or nearly 99% of those who cast ballots voted in favor of strike authorization. IATSE reported that 90% of eligible union members participated in the vote, which is an unusually high turnout.
The vote comes after months of talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers came to an impasse. The LA Times went on to say that the AMPTP said it was committed to finding a deal to avoid a production shutdown at such a pivotal time.
What could this mean for Hollywood? IATSE is comprised of those who work behind the scenes. These are your hair and makeup artists, stagehands, front of house workers, wardrobe attendants, motion picture and television production technicians, broadcast technicians, scenic artists, designers, animators, audiovisual technicians and more.
We’ll keep following this story as it unfolds, so stay tuned!
News 4: William Shatner to go to space
Space, the final frontier. Entertainment Tonight Canada reports that Willam Shatner, Star Trek’s Captain Kirk himself, will be rocketing into outer space from West Texas on October 12th with Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, Blue Origin. At 90 years old, Shatner will be the oldest man to go into space. The trip will last all of 10 minutes, reaching no higher than approximately 66 miles or 106 kilometers.
Shatner is best known for playing Star Trek’s Captain James T. Kirk, of the USS Enterprise, starring in Priceline commercials and performing a variety of voiceover work.
News 5: Seinfeld Gets Audio Description
The ‘show about nothing’ has just received a special something. All nine seasons of Seinfeld have been audio described. What this means is that millions of viewers who are blind or living with vision loss are now able to more fully enjoy episodes of the hit sitcom on Netflix. Narrator Satauna Howery recorded audio description for 180 Seinfeld episodes. Curious about audio description? Audio Description is more than just a voice bringing the visuals to blind and low vision audiences. There's a whole professional team, from writing, casting, voicing, editing, mixing, and quality control. It’s definitely a growing field of voice over work that we’re following closely. To listen to Satauna’s experience providing audio description for Seinfeld, tune into a podcast interview she did with Roy Samuelson via the Audio Description Network Alliance. For a link to the interview, visit the show notes for this week’s episode.
Community Spotlight: Kesha Monk Announces at the Tonys
When we started Vox Talk again, I wanted to add a new segment that recognizes the outstanding community that we have at Voices. Oftentimes when I’m scrolling through social media, I see triumphs and career milestones achieved that are simply amazing! This week, our community spotlight features Kesha Monk. Kesha served as a live announcer for the 74th Tony Awards a couple weeks back. Congratulations! When I caught up with Kesha, she was beaming with happiness, still bubbling over with the immense joy she felt behind that mic. The announcing job kept her on her toes — it’s demanding work! - and all the while she had the voice of her mentor, Randy Thomas (the queen of Live Announce) cheering her on in her head. When I asked her if she had anything more to share, Kesha’s encouragement to you all is to NEVER, EVER, EVER give up on your voiceover dreams. Watch award shows, absorb all you can, find a good solid coach and network your butt off! YOU-CAN-MAKE-IT!!!
Wrap up
That’s all the time we have for now. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today! Being here with you again is such a treat. If there are any stories you’d like to hear on the podcast, or you have a story of your own to share, send them to [email protected]. Also, if you enjoyed the show, be sure to give Vox Talk a rating and review. You’ll help other people who love voice acting find us and benefit from what’s being shared. On behalf of the Vox Talk team at Voices, thank you again for listening. I’m Stephanie Ciccarelli and we’ll see you next week.
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