Voice Acting

[Spitfire]

I was watching the first few season 1 DVDs and wow the voice acting stinks. Compared to the new episodes it's just horrible. Don sounds like a total geek, Splinter sounds like a white dude trying to sound like a Japanese guy, Raph tries way to hard to sound angery and edgy and fails at it, Mikey is the worst with his little jokes that are excuted horribly, and Leo sadly was the only one with some decent voice acting but even his you can hear the improvment on in the later seasons.

Anyone else notice this? Or am I the only one bothered by this...

Edit:
You know the animation is really bad too. And how the hell did Splinter know exactly how the TMNT ended up in the sewers if he was IN the sewer when they fell on him? Further more why are they all the same color when their babies, and why would their first words be Splinter? That's retarded.

Now that I think about it I really can't even watch these episodes their pretty dated compared to the newer seasons. With all the lame jokes it's like a 2nd rate version of the old show with lots of stock footage useage and lazy ass animation where they split the screen and strech out the images.

[TheShowstoppa]

I honestly never even thought I would hear this coming from your mouth! Er... Fingers anyway. I haven't had the chance to go back and watch the first season in quite some time. I've been too busy catching up on the episodes of Smallville that I missed last season to go back and rewatch any old TMNT shows. Personally, I think back and think that the animation wasn't that bad, and the first few shows were trying to lay the forground on what was to become of the turtles. Even though it might be ass-backwards for the old series where the first season animation kicked ass, and the rest of the seasons blew nuts, I think this show made up for those mistakes by keeping the animation on a high level all the way through the show.

[Bevandera]

I'm sure it took awhile for everyone to settle into their roles, but I don't agree with you completely as far as the animation. Some of the scenes from early on are still among the best in the series: In particular the Shredder Strikes and the Shredder Strikes Back. Leo's first fight with the Foot Elite and Casey's intervention via motorcyle are just beautiful. There was some "stock footage" that was used more than once during fights, though...Leo jumping off the foot ninja's heads, then hopping down into a split kick...Splinter swinging his stick left, right, left, etc. Ah well. I suffered through Gundam Wing, so it's hardly even noticeable in TMNT.

Er... I don't totally agree with you, Spitfire. The voices were fine then, and ofcourse they've gotten better now (which tends to happen when you do anything long enough).

The only voice I'd say made a big improvement was Raph's voice. He went from sounding like a 50 year old chain-smoker, to something more reasonable now.


And I totally disagree with you on the animation. Some of the best animation was from the early stuff.

Like Bevandera pointed out, there were episodes such as Shredder Strikes and Shredder Strikes Back which look gorgeous.




Where is all this disgust from the early seasons coming from?

[Jo Dawn]

Well, of course it takes awhile to get into their skins, as it were, with the voices. I, however, think that Don is perfect the geekier he sounds, hehe. Though I don't think they've changed that much, which was something I love about this show.

Personally, I think the jokes are worse NOW. It's getting too silly and slapstick for my tastes, and it wasn't as much like that when it first began.

I'll say this: I watched the show religiously the first few seasons... it's the last few I haven't made sure to watch. If that tell you anything.

[ThemanthatwouldbeRaphael]

Dude, season one is fine, sure the later seasons were better, but the animation was just as good as it is now. Case in point, the first episode, the fight scene with the foot, I don't care what anybody says, that fight scene looked gorgeous, the animation was great. So was the Leo vs Foot scene in Shredder Strikes Back 1, and Raph vs Mobsters in Lone Raph and Cub.

Also, so what if the VA was a little off in season 1, it's usually the case with almost every cartoon.

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by Ryona

Where is all this disgust from the early seasons coming from?

The first 6 episodes, not fair to say the whole season I guess but I havn't gotten all the way in yet.

By animation I ment the way things are done, this is hard to explain I guess. In a couple of scenes I can see some huge pixelation like they took a shot that was drawn small and zoomed in to far on it. The best example of this is when their showing the kid holding the baby turtles in the bowl.

In the second fight we see with the mousers they have split screen action which would have been cool if they weren't lazy and instead of drawing it the right size they just took an image and squished is horizontally. So it ends up looking like a horribly distorted picture.

I guess it not totally fair to make fun of the voice acting but it's just not par with even season 2. It makes sense that it would take them to time to fit into their roles but I've never seen a show with this much of a change in the voices. The old series seemed to nail it first thing and stick with it. The only downside was the voice actors sometimes didn't come in and they got horrible subitutes.

Shredder Strikes Back Part 1 used to be one of my favorites episodes. I havn't watched it in awhile, I'll get to it eventually. But yes I really do like the animation on that episode. As I said this is all based on the first 6 episodes.

I'm afraid this is what Fast Forward will be like. As I don't hate it or anything I don't totally enjoy it either. I don't mind jokes now and then but they crack one every 3 seconds and their out of place. Sometimes the turtle saying the joke just isn't the right one. They made all the turtles too fun which takes alot away from their personality.

Don's voice just got on my nerves because they made him sound like such a geek, he doesn't sound so nerdy now. And Raph, yeah he sounded like a chain smoker. I don't remember the later episodes in season 1 having this problem so I'm going to assume the later I get these issues I have will go away. It's probly just these first few episodes. Hell for all I know these were just made to get their foot in the door so 4Kids would approve the show.

A rather long rant I know but I felt I should explain myself better...I hope this helps you guys understand what I'm getting at better.

[DrSpengler]

When I got the latest DVDs of the Old Toon I was doing a compare/contrast marathon (watching Old toon's Rat King episode, then New Toon's, old toon's Casey Jones episode, then new toon's, etc). So I went back and rewatched some of the New Toon first season episodes for the first time in a while.

I will admit, the voice acting is noticably inferior to their current quality. I think Raph and Casey improved the most, to be honest. Casey's dialogue sounded very forced and amateurish while Raph never sounded even remotely like a teenager.

The animation was fine with me, to be honest. But Dong Woo's animation for the series is one thing I've always enjoyed through-out the new toon. Even when the plots are bad, Dong Woo adds a visual flare that makes them watchable none-the-less.

One thing I think has improved, and it might just be me, is the way they draw women. It was mostly just the female extras, but they all looked rather..."masculine". Just kinda like scrawny guys with long hair. They've been giving em a more feminine touch as the series progressed, though.

I might just be crazy, but I never thought their designs for women looked very feminine save for April.

Originally Posted by DrSpengler

One thing I think has improved, and it might just be me, is the way they draw women. It was mostly just the female extras, but they all looked rather..."masculine". Just kinda like scrawny guys with long hair. They've been giving em a more feminine touch as the series progressed, though.

I might just be crazy, but I never thought their designs for women looked very feminine save for April.

I totally agree. And even April doesn't always look fine. Her face along with Karai's sometimes looks "butch".

And I've never been crazy about April's common hair style.

[Mandi-chan]

I agree with you on Splinter's voice in season 1, he started off really bad (I still don't think he sounds that great even now...especially when he screams in pain...it sounds so fake and corny).

However, I think the brothers have sounded great since the beginning. I think Mikey (especially Mikey actually) and Raph sounded much better earlier on...Mike sounds too, I dunno, gruff now. I loved how he sounded in season 1, kinda like movie Mike!

The animation is great and gets better over time, although I do agree with you about how annoying the lazy animation is (zoomed in images, cut screens with squished images, etc.).

[DrSpengler]

Originally Posted by Ryona

I totally agree. And even April doesn't always look fine. Her face along with Karai's sometimes looks "butch".

And I've never been crazy about April's common hair style.

I remember watching "Notes from the Underground", at the end when what's-er-face demutates back into a human...

Mike: "You're a...a girl!?!"

Me: "Um...are you sure?"


Karai's been looking better, though. She looked less butch in "Hun on the Run" but still tough.

[Masked Ninja]

I agree; I think the VAs were settling into their roles. And yes, some of them started out sub-par. (I think Mikey probably started out with the slight surfer twang because that's kinda how he was in the old show. Thank goodness that phased out...) But it's better (if not perfect) now overall, so that's fine with me.

As for the early animation, I see where you're coming from. That "kid with the Turtles" shot bugs me every time. That and the acting - that would be the animators doing the characters' acting - was not so great at first. The one that makes me squirm every time, from epsiode 1:

Leo: "Don... is there any way to - what are you doing?"

That particular line wasn't delivered too well either, but for some reason the animators have Leo go all William Shatner with his body/head gestures as he says this. So. Halting. And then he turns. Abruptly. Not to mention his head contorts a bit.

But that's me being nitpicky. I say that in general (even now) the animators aren't terribly good at dialogue. The mouth shapes don't always match right, and the timing is often slightly off. But what remedies this is what I drool over for the rest of the time.

ACTION ANIMATION. Holy wow. Even now I love the scene from the first episode... Don: "Last one to the roof hatched from a rotten egg!" And then that upward angle of the three Turtles hitting the roof. Still looks nice. Though it got better as they went (SSB, SAINW, Grudge Match, etc...) that part started out pretty good.

In short: you got me rambling on animation. Shaaaaame.

I shall go stand in the geeks' corner now.

[Bevandera]

For the ultimate in Leo going all crazy with his gestures, see "Exodus Part I", when Karai stops him in Saki's den and tries to convince him to let Saki go. He's all over the place.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Originally Posted by Ryona

The only voice I'd say made a big improvement was Raph's voice. He went from sounding like a 50 year old chain-smoker, to something more reasonable now.

. but thankful it's not Dan Green. Not that he's a bad voice actor, but the 4Kids directors always have him using that dated Yu-Gi-Oh voice where he sounds like a bulldog on smack.

Originally Posted by Ryona

Like Bevandera pointed out, there were episodes such as Shredder Strikes and Shredder Strikes Back which look gorgeous.

Oh hellz yeah. That was some of the greatest animation ever, period. I don't really see how the old episodes look dated at all. They were some of my favorites. I see how the newer stuff looks a little more spotless, but that dosen't mean the old stuff looks miserable in comaprison.

[Ra]

You know, I haven't really thought about the animation and voice acting being sub par to what it is now (mainly because we only had one shot at watching the new turtle episodes, then Cartoon Network took it off so then everyone can watch the wonderous world of "Camp Lazlo" *shudders*). But from what I have seen and heard...yeah, I guess the VAs and animation have improved at least a little in these past, what, three or four years? They are growing comfortable, I guess. Raph being, and I can't believe I'm saying this as well, less of a chain smoker and more of a Brooklin accent *sprays herself with mace for just typing that* Mike isn't so "COWABUNGA" here as he was in the old toon, which I am thankful for. I'm also kinda thankful for the fact that they have dropped the cowabunga jokes. Well, I haven't heard "Cowabunga" or "No more Cowabunga!" from Mike or Raph lately, so that is a good thing.

The animation has definatly improved, along with the overall delivery. From the shots, angles, cuts and zooms, and combined with the animation of the kicks, the 'chucks, the sai, bo staff and katana...well, let's just say I found myself with my jaw on the floor after watching "Dragon's Brew". Although I still think that "The Shredder Strikes" and "The Shredder Strikes Back" have some of the best fight scenes with a turtle, I can see some of the newer episodes starting to match that, in both storyline and fight scenes, "Good Genes" for example.

So...yeah, I can see some definate improvement, but I think for me it has more to do with the storylines right now because I can't compare the new episodes. But, I'm sure that there is room for improvement, like the lip syncronisation. Sometimes I want to throttle those lip artists...

[Sage Ninja]

The voice acting in the first season was pretty good and only got better as the show progressed. But as good as they were there is a distiction between early days and right now.

Leoanrdo's voice i believe has remained consistent through out the season and the acting has always been supurb. But I noticed his voice was a little pre-puberty like in the first couple episodes, then got a bit deeper later on and...I don't know, when I listen really carefully to leo's voice, I noticed he had a unique way at pronoucing some words, almost with an accent . But i don't hear that any more in newer seasons. Weird?

Donatello's voice also has remained consistent through out the series and the acting was always good. Out of all the turtles he sounds the most like a teenager, I think its because he makes his voice higher pitched than the others; it disgishes him. In current episodes his voice is still high but its actually a little lower than what it was in season one, making him sound less squeaky sounding.

Raphael and Michaelangelo are the ones who's voices have changed the most since the first couple of episodes.

Raphael's voice in the early season was gruff and had a bit of a New York/Brooklin accent going on there. He doesn't have so pronounced now and his voice has softened marginally, although its still gruff sounding. i do agree that Raphael's voice sounds nothing like a teenager, but keep in mind that Raphael is supposed to be the tough and angynsty one. i think he pulls it off well, but I have to say that what i'm trully impressed with is his comedic timing and delivery! I will admit that most of the laughs that I get are from what Raphael says and how he says them.

I'll never forget Raphael screaming: "spoooooooons!!!"

Michaelangelo's voice was much higher in the first season and had more of a suffer's accent going on. With suffer dude phrases like mondo bizzaro, and what not. To be completly honest I'm glad that they decided to up date Michaelangelo from the eightes and early ninties, because where not in the eightes or ninties any more! And as much i love old school Michaelangelo, its nice that his dialgue always end in "O". However with dropping the suffer accent, Mikey's voice also changes and become much lower sounding with a bit a gravel to his voice now, making him sound gruff. I think it makes him sound more mature and older than the high flighty voice that he had before, which is good considering he is the most child like. the only thing about his voice now is sometimes his voice sounds a bit too scratchy when ever he talks above a normal volume and even a bit shrieky when he is exicted. The acting for Mikey is great then and now, I think he has great delivery on his lines. I'm more impressed on the delivery of Mikey's lines when he is emotional or upset, than on the times he trying to be humourous. Go figure

[Spitfire]

Don's voice was not the same, he sounds like a geek playing D and D in the first episodes. But around 7 or 8 he starts to sound less like a computer nerd*Which in all fairness he is* and more the way I prefere his voice.

[Sage Ninja]

I agree he was more squeaky sounding in the beginning (actually i think Donatello might have a good singing voice, he could prpbably be a tenor). But at least he sounds like a teenager the other turtles actually don't sound very much like teenagers Raphael being the one that sounds the least like one. Michaelangelo doesn't sound much like a teenager either, except that he has the most teenage like dialogue. I think its a little funny because Don and Leo are supposed to be the oldest and yet they have more of a teenager softness quality to their voices. Bwaa

I agree with you on Splinter's voice in season 1, he started off really bad (I still don't think he sounds that great even now

I agree Splinter's voice was a bit painful in the beginning, he basically sounded like an young guy trying to sound old. But the acting for him more than makes up for it I love his delivery on humours lines. Out of all them I find him the funniest!

when he screams in pain...it sounds so fake and corny).

Keep in mind that this is a saterday morning cartoon. I'm pretty sure the actor that plays Splinter is more than capable delervering blood curdling shrieks of agony if he had too, but given the nature of the show, probably can't because it would be to violent; so he probably has to deliver a toned version od screams of pain...which does indeed sound a bit corny.

[Sage Ninja]

I'm bumping this up. What is every ones opinion on Cody Jones voice in FF? I have to say that even though I don't care for his character I like his voice, he sounds really geeky and at first I thought that Sam Regal was doing his voice.

How does every one else feel about Cody's acting?

[VaughnMichael]

Originally Posted by Sage Ninja

I'm bumping this up. What is every ones opinion on Cody Jones voice in FF? I have to say that even though I don't care for his character I like his voice, he sounds really geeky and at first I thought that Sam Regal was doing his voice.

How does every one else feel about Cody's acting?

Not bad for a kid, almost reminds me of Chaplin.
But the 2 characters I hated at first who really grew on me where Serling & Biggles.
I was watching Monty Python's Flying Circus the other night and a cop goes "What's All This Then" I started to laugh and everyone looked at me haha.