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

[Prowler]

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.

[ToTheNines]

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.)

[CyberCubed]

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

[TylerD]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

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

This! Agreeed

[FredWolfLeonardo]

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.

[cammy85]

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.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

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.)

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.

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

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.

Originally Posted by cammy85

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.

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!

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

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

"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.

[CyberCubed]

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.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

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.

[ToTheNines]

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.

Originally Posted by Prowler

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, too true unfortunately.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

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...

[ToTheNines]

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

All the FW actors are union and based in LA.

[Jester]

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....

[Andrew NDB]

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

[CyberCubed]

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

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Jester

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....

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

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)

[TheUltimateBum]

Originally Posted by Prowler

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.

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.

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

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.

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

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

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)

Was that the one with the robot Irma?

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

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

All the FW actors are union and based in LA.

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

Originally Posted by TheUltimateBum

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.

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.

[ToTheNines]