Best and worst fill-in VA in the FW series?
 

I think most of us can agree that whenever another VA had to fill-in for the absence of one of the regular VAs, the result was not too good.

It's hard to say which one was objectively the worst since pretty much all of them sucked. But I'd say the worst was the one who filled-in for Pat Fraley. Krang's voice was just unnerving in that episode or two Pat Fraley missed.

Dishonourable mention to the guy who voiced Raphael in that season 3 episode where the Turtles buy Splinter a sword as a gift.

The best fill-in VA? The only one who was decent was the guy who voiced Shredder after James Avery left. He had big shoes to fill, and yet I think he did a solid job.

Jim Cummings, Dorian Harewood and Bill Martin were all pretty fun Shredder alternatives.

Townsend Coleman did Splinter at least once and did a good job.

And yes, Thom Pinto as Raphael was awful in season 3. (EDIT: Wrongfully said Hal Rayle. He was Raphael in the European Vacation eps. He was decent.)

Raph's alternate voice in two season 3 eps, thankfully Raph barely had any lines in the Ninja Sword of Nowhere.

This! Agreeed

This thread reminded me that Leonardo and Michelangelo's respective voice actors (Cam Clarke and Townsend Coleman), provided voicework for all 193 episodes. That's pretty impressive!

Favourite alternate VA is Bill Martin as Shredder in Red Sky. I can't imagine James Avery's voice during the Red Sky era, for Bill Martin gave him such a uniquely cruel voice that fit perfectly.

Least favourite replacement was Townsend Coleman as Splinter. Now, he was not bad by any means but hearing Peter Reneday is so ingrained that hearing Townsend replace him for what I believe was only 1 episode felt so weird.

The other terrible replacements are really in the "so bad its funny" territory.

Townsend Coleman voiced Splinter in two season 5 episodes; though one is easy to forget because it's Donatello's Badd Time. The other being Michelangelo Meets Bugman Again where Splinter only had one line.

Thanks for writing down their names. I genuinely didn't know. Jim CUmmings does ring a bell, though.

If this was Reddit, the very first reply would have been something along the lines of:

"THE FACT YOU REFER TO FILL-IN VAs AS 'THE GUY WHO VOICED RAPHAEL IN THAT ONE EPISODE' OR 'THE GUY WHO VOICED KRANG ONE TIME' MEANS YOU'RE NOT ARGUING IN GOOD FAITH!"

And it would the most upvoted comment and my post would have 0 karma and my replies negative karma. :lol::lol::lol:


Wow I genuinely don't remember Townsend Coleman as Splinter. Then again I was surprised when I learned he voiced both Mikey and Rat King.

Also, FWL, April's VA didn't miss a single episode either. And April was pretty much a main character in the FW series. The only episode I remember her missing was Turtle Trek, in fact. But I think she might have missed at least another one or two. Still 190 or so eps!

"By what, by sending him an invitation?!"
"Will that be in the morning or in the afternoon?"

I remember these two lines from that episode.

I think it's because Splinter's voice is the easiest to imitate, just give it that older/wise man sounding voice. For years I had no idea Splinter was even replaced in those episodes.

Meanwhile with Raph, Don, and the Shredder voices it's immediately noticeable.

Yeah, good point.

What would replacement voices for Leo and Mike sound like? Now I'm wondering. I mean, it can't be that difficult to find a guy who can impersonate a Californian dude who speaks in surfer slang. I find Mikey to be the easiest of the FW turtles to impersonate, personally.

Technically off topic, but honorable mention needs to go to Kevin Michael Richardson for doing FW Shredder in the 2012 crossover stuff. He was probably the best Avery replacement.

Dishonorable mention to basically everyone from Turtles Forever lol. Especially Dan Green as Leonardo and Bradford Cameron as Michelangelo. Sebastian Arcellus as Raphael was easily the best one. The rest were “meh” at best.

lol, too true unfortunately.

How come they couldn't get anyone from the FW cast to voice the FW Turtles in Turtles Forever? Where they all busy with other projects at the time? Or were most of them retired by then? At least Ron Paulsen ended up voicing Donatello in the Nick toon a couple of years later...

4kids used non-union actors from New York/Canada and recorded in NYC.

All the FW actors are union and based in LA.

No one is bringing up Greg "Baby Scooter" Berg as Donatello in several episodes. I cringe everytime I think of the line, "Those chemicals are mixing together to make mut-uh-gen!" His Bebop isn't nearly as bad though....

Oh yes, I remember everyone crying about the voice actors in Turtles Forever now. I barely noticed any difference.

I mean he was ok, it wasn't Barry Gordon but his voice didn't make me cringe.

Yeah, he was middle of the road. Although I will say, a top contender for worst episode of the whole series has to be “The Turtle Terminator” which was cursed with him as Donatello AND Pinto as Raphael. (Plus the awful script and pitiful animation)

That was Townsend Coleman doing Krang. I felt he tried his best, but yeah, not his best replacement work (I felt Splinter was his best attempt at filling in).

However, Thom Pinto as Raphael I absolutely hate. He just sounds like a bad Don Adams impression and really is forcing it a lot. Hal Rayle may not sound like Rob Paulsen, but at least his timing was funny, Thom's delivery of jokes fell flat to me. However, Michael J. Gough was the best of the Raphael replacements because he doesn't just put on a voice. His voice just happens to sound similar to Rob and he manages to make the role his own.

And Bill Martin as Shredder... nothing against James Avery, because he was a fine Shredder, but I always felt Bill was pretty much the best voice Shredder ever had. That rasp and the much crueler sound he has just worked perfectly for me. He also gets some of the best lines in the episodes he's in. So he's definitely one that I prefer over the original. As for the others, Jim Cummings I feel sounded better in his most recent attempt in a fighting video game (in the show I felt he tried too hard to sound like James), Dorian Harewood is actually fine and very threatening, but I feel he can fall flat in some of the comedic moments (although he did end up taking over James Avery's characters in the Iron Man cartoon, and I think in those particular cases, he was an improvement, but I don't think he quite reaches those heights with ol' Shredhead) and Townsend Coleman... man, he really must have needed something to soothe his throat because that voice doesn't come quite naturally to him.

I think one of my honorable mentions would have to be Peter Renaday filling in for Jim Cummings as Leatherhead. Yeah, he doesn't sound anything like Jim, but I think he's just as enjoyable.

Yeah, I think Bill was just perfect for the era, and he's pretty much my go-to Shredder voice.

Was that the one with the robot Irma?

Oh... I see... best move on since I don't want to get into politics lol

Wait Townsend Coleman voiced Krang in one episode?! His voice and cadence is nothing like Krang's. No wonder it backfired.

Paulsen didn't voice Raph in the last season anymore, did he? If that's the season Gough voiced Raph, then I agree that he did a solid job.

Leatherhead was only in 4 episodes or so. I don't remember him getting a replacement VA in one of them. Must have been the only case for a secondary villain...

Bill Martin... yeah that's the guy who replaced James Avery in the Red Sky seasons. I think the only reasons he's not as well remembered is because he was replacing James Avery, whose role as Shredder is pretty much legendary. I agree that he did a good job.

If only there was some video compilation with all the fill-in VAs. I haven't watched the show in a long time myself, and when I watch an episode or clip, it's never from an episode with fill-in VAs except for Red Sky season with Bill Martin as Shredder.

How could Trump betray me like this…?

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

Good point! Mr. Reneday was French, so I think the Cajun accent came natural to him.

I agree with everything else you said, too.

Yes, “Cowabunga Shredhead”. I think that was the only time.

It was “Night of the Rogues”, I think.

Of all the fill-ins/replacement voices Bill Martin's 7 episodes as The Shredder was the best.

Yeah, I think it was only a few episodes from season three where Towny played Krang. But yeah, when he had to replace, he sometimes didn't quite sound right (Splinter is like the one replacement job where I think he was pretty decent).

Yup, Rob basically quit the series because of payment reasons (I think), so Michael J. Gough filled the void playing both Raph and Hi-Tech (who was another character Rob played in season nine). He was just a natural replacement.

Yeah, Jim Cummings wasn't available for that episode, but I did like Pete Renaday's take quite a bit (sounds like a Cajun General Traag):

https://clipdepot.weebly.com/uploads...r_renaday_.mp3

Yeah, Bill was trying to fill the void James left, and there was an interview he once made a short time before he passed away where he stated that he had to carry a tape recording of James' lines and listen to it before a session to get the inflections right, and whenever Susan Blu (the voice director) felt he wasn't sounding right, they would do pickup lines later. The interview has been archived here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240406...-for-80s-tmnt/

I have a few clips of the Shredder voice actors, so you can compare and contrast.

James Avery:

https://clipdepot.weebly.com/uploads...mes_avery_.mp3

Dorian Harewood:

https://clipdepot.weebly.com/uploads..._harewood_.mp3

Jim Cummings:

https://clipdepot.weebly.com/uploads..._cummings_.mp3

Townsend Coleman (again, this voice just doesn't come naturally to him, his pitch fluctuates a bit too much):

https://clipdepot.weebly.com/uploads...d_coleman_.mp3

And Bill Martin:

https://clipdepot.weebly.com/uploads...ll_martin_.mp3

Yeah, I think his parents were either French or of French descent, because he was born in Louisiana, so he could pull off the accent very well.

Townsend Coleman voiced Krang in three episodes; with the most prominent being in "Green With Jealousy". Otherwise, he had a few lines in "Cowabunga Shredhead" and one line at the beginning of "Blast From The Past". Interestingly enough, in "Blast From The Past,", they still used Pat Fraley's voice and lines for the flashback scenes of Krang.

Oddly enough, whenever Kevin Michael Richardson played a Shredder that wasn't the standard 2012 one (like when he's mutated, zombified or the 80's one), he was great. I found him pretty boring as the standard one, but he really nailed the others. I don't think he's as great as Bill Martin or James Avery, but he definitely sounded more natural than Jim Cummings (who at times sounded like he was trying too hard to sound like James) and his comic timing is better than Dorian Harewood's.

As for Turtles Forever, I thought David Wills' Splinter was pretty good. I honestly feel he should have been the regular Splinter voice instead of Darren Dunstan (who was definitely my least favorite of the regulars because it's easy to tell it's a young guy forcing a wise sage voice).

Yeah, he was a good FW Splinter but only had like 2 lines. I thought Load Williams was a pretty good Shredder and Bradford Cameron stunk as Krang. But he was better than Coleman haha.

With Load Williams' Shredder, I had the same problems with Townsend Coleman. He felt like he was forcing the voice a bit.

Wow sincerely thank you for those voice clips!

Ah so that's how Reneday's Leatherhead sounded like. I agree it's a good enough effort. I do still prefer Cummings' ofc. Reneday's sounds a little less... cartoony, I think?

You know, all of those Shredders sound good for the most part. Cummings and Harewood don't sound that different from Avery, even if you can tell it's not Avery talking. And Coleman actually sounds fine for the most part, too. His pitch is a bit inconsistent, yes. There's moments where I feel like I've listening to the Rat King instead.

Interesting you mention that about Martin since I think he's the most different and unique sounding Shredder of all the fill-in VAs.

I can't see the interview in that wayback machine link.

I believe the very last episode where James voiced Shredder was Legend of Koji in season 7?

As for Rob Paulsen, I didn't realise he voiced Hi-Tech. I guess that explains Hi-Tech being written out? Also why his voice in the only episode of season 10 he was in being VERY different.

Wasn't Animaniacs around by then? Remember he voiced Yakko Warner and also Pinky in Pinky and Brain, which started out as short 5-7 min eps during Animaniacs. I think he also voiced Freakazoid. And ofc, The Mask in the The Mask cartoon. He must have had a hectic schedule in the 90s.

Yeah, Jim was perfect for Leatherhead, but Pete Renaday was also lots of fun to listen to.

Jim and Dorian I think are decent replacements, but there are times where Jim sounds like he is focusing too much on matching the voice rather than the performance, whereas Dorian has a more unique sound and I do think he is kinda menacing, but again, he doesn't quite balance it as well as Bill Martin did (Bill mostly sounded menacing and cruel, but he was given the odd fun moment here and there and he did well with those). But Towny... he kinda faltered a bit. He wasn't very strong as Krang either, but I felt he really sounded forced as Shredder. His best attempt at filling in for someone was Splinter, and I thought he was a pretty decent Burne and Vernon fill-in (although his Vernon had more of an Ed Wynn sound to it).

And yeah, ironically, the voice director wanted Bill to match James, and yet Bill is a lot more unique compared to the other fill-ins and really made the role his own. And the post kinda screwed the interview link there. It replaced the site with '*****', but I'll try to find a way to share it.

White Belt, Black Heart was the last episode that had James Avery in it (his last scene is Shredder being stranded in the Gobi Desert :tlol: ). James was a very busy character actor, but with the advent of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, he just couldn't be on the sessions a lot of the time, hence why they brought Dorian and Jim to fill in. And by the time of season seven, they knew they wouldn't be able to have James anymore, so they had Townsend Coleman to fill-in until they found a proper permanent replacement. History kinda repeated in the first season of Iron Man, where James was cast as War Machine, Blacklash and Whirlwind, and did record lines for the first five episodes, but was so busy that he couldn't even do some pickup sessions for when a line from the script was changed (Jim Cummings had to fill-in for the pickups and it was instantly noticeable), so after the fifth episode, Dorian Harewood took over James' characters permanently (and I did think he was an improvement overall).

Yeah, probably does, although I'm also guessing that Hi-Tech just didn't have a very dynamic personality, so someone came up with the character of Mung, who had a bit more to him than Hi-Tech did.

And yes, Rob had a hectic schedule, but from what I've heard, it was a pay dispute that made him leave the show (the show was in its last legs, so raises were out of the question, but I dunno if Rob knew the show was gonna end).

Man, Greg Berg is going to be at a small town con I’m attending next week lol. Part of me wants to bring one of my season 3 DVDs for a signature, but I don’t know if I’m even going to bother with his booth. I don’t really have anything to say :lol: