Voices

As an anime fan, I'm often familiar with names of Japanese seiyuu (voice actors). But interestingly enough, I don't know too much about US animation's vocal greats. I grew up watching series like G.I. Joe, Thundercats and Superfriends, so maybe I should. Well, on a whim and a random thought, I looked up some voices on Google and this is what I found...

Michael Bell is one of the more recognizable voices in cartoons during the 80s, as the voice of main man Duke in G.I. Joe, and also as evil COBRA henchmen Scrap Iron, Xamot(Strange that Tomax seems to be another actor) and Major Bludd. He also appears often before the camera, notably as an alien in the pilot episodes of Star Trek: TNG.

The dangerous Destro, as well as heroic Joes Iceberg and Stalker were given their distinct voices by Arthur Burghardt

Most people may not know who Peter Cullen is, but he's the man behind the sinister voices of Venger from Dungeons and Dragons, the heroic Optimus Prime in The Transformers and K.A.R.R, the evil A.I. car in the original Knight Rider. And yes, he does those movie trailers with that deep voice, though not as many as we all would think.

EVERYONE who watched 80s cartoons without a doubt knows the acidic voices of evil Starscream and Cobra Commander. The voice that gave them venom belonged to actor Chris Latta, who unfortunately passed away in 1994. Oh, those were the days when evil sounded... EVIL.

Actress B.J. Ward voiced the lovely and deadly Scarlett, as well as the Princess Allura on the Voltron series (gah). She's also Velma in the newer Scooby Doo movies and has worked on series like Gargoyles and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.

Frank Welker is familiar to me, and no wonder- he's the voice of Megatron from The Transformers, Fred in Scooby Doo, Ray Stantz and Slimer in The Real Ghostbusters and gobs more roles. He also unfortunately starred in the Macaulay Culkin magical adventure The Pagemaster. Geh.

Amazingly enough, the Thundercats series was voiced by just a few actors, who also did double duty on sister-show Silverhawks. Many of the actors did double duty, playing both heroes and villains throughout the show. Despite the use of vocal acrobatics, you could tell that the sexy Cheetara and space cop Mandora were one and the same (Lynne Lipton. Actor Larry Kenney gave the heroic Lion-o his voice.

And of course, America's Top Ten Casey Kasem did roles from Robin the Boy Wonder in the Superfriends to Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

Sigh. Too many voices in my head. But they're all in there, squabbling away and I'm glad that they're there. Mad, it is. Mad.