Interview with Ian James Corlett on Voice Acting and Mega

Hello, this is Ian James Corlett, and you are

listening to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hello

and welcome to Pixels in the Animation. I am

one of your hosts, TFG and Mike. Joining me is

TV's Mr. Neil. Hello. And Steve Megatron. Hello.

Hello. In the latest Pixels in the Animation

interview, we welcome Mega Man himself, Ian James

Corlett. Yay! I'm cheering for myself. Yay! I

have no applause sound effects, so. The sad thing

is, I actually put yay in the script in favor

of Kermit the Frog. I know! Nice. Kermit the

Frog here. I forgot we have two Kermits. Oh,

Lord. So, Ian, how have you been? I've been fantastic.

Thanks for asking. Awesome. Yeah, it's been about

six years in a different podcaster. So it was

April. Oh, my God. It's almost five years to

the day. April 23rd of 2010. Holy cow. That is

when we interviewed you for our Beast Wars Beast

Machines podcast. I so did not plan this, folks.

Kind of cool. Yeah, it is kind of cool. So for

those of you who are listening to Pixels in the

Animation, episode 47 through, yeah, 47 and 57

is going to be our Mega Man coverage. Ian, just

to let you know, basically, Neil and I started

Pixels in the Animation, and we basically go

through various different video game cartoons.

Some we review every single episode of a cartoon.

Others we don't. We've suffered through Super

Mario Bros. Super Show. We've suffered through

some other things. And we're finally here, and

we're finally in 1994 in Mega Man. So let's catch

up with you. What have you been doing lately?

Are there any projects that you're currently

working on that maybe people wouldn't get so

mad at you if you spilled the beans or anything

like that? That is a loaded question, but I'm

always loaded. So let's see. projects that i've

worked on in the last year or so that may or

may not be in the public domain um did a really

fun series called uh dr dimension pants where

i played what is that about uh it's oh it's really

weird um it's about a speaking unicorn And a

kid who finds this pair of pants that gives him

not magical powers. Well, they're kind of magical.

They can transport them all over the place. So

it's this young kid, his talking unicorn with

a weird British accent. And I'm one of the villains.

And I just had a blast doing it. Oh, jeez, I

hit the microphone again. What's the matter with

me? I'm supposed to be a trained professional.

Anyway, the character I played is the Cortex,

and it's hilarious if you get a chance to see

it. I don't even think it's... I think it's running

on Teletoon in Canada, and I don't know about

where it's playing anywhere else. Other shows

that I'm involved in is Ninjago, and... Currently,

I'm known as Master Chen. And there's a storyline

that's either just completing or unfolding on

that. And I'm another character in the upcoming

series of Ninjago, which I probably can't talk

about. But I will say it's not Master Chen and

it's not Scales. So I'm another guy. What else?

For you preschool animation fans, we're doing

more Dinosaur Train, and that's always fun because

I love Craig Bartlett, the creator of that show.

What else? Pac -Man is out there and running.

We finished that last year. Let's see. Gee. Let's

do some IMDb truth or true or false here. It

says that you are going to be the voice of Sly

Cooper in 2016's Sly Cooper animated film. Is

that true or false? Sure. That's what it says.

I know. Now here's the wicked truth of that.

I was in recording something for Rainmaker. And

it was the Ratchet and Clank movie. And I was

doing a bunch of supplemental voices and, you

know, ton of characters here and there for that.

And in the same session, they said, oh, you need

to we want you to do this other thing. Have a

look at this script. I think it was like a day

before. And I read this character and full disclosure.

And I know the fans are going to go, what? They're

not going to believe this. I had no idea. who

sly cooper was none zero no idea didn't know

it was a it was a a pre -existing character didn't

know it was a giant game didn't know there was

this huge fan base i went oh okay i love that

i get that guy uh i see what he who he is what

he is so i read for it and i get it and they

said oh we're going to tack this on to the end

of the session the movie session and we're doing

kind of a a trailer okay cool so I was in there

and I think Lee Tokar and a couple other guys.

And we did this trailer and I totally forgot

about it. And then about six months later, I

start seeing this purpling and bubbling and excitement

online. Sly Cooper, Sly Cooper, Ian, Sly Cooper.

And I went, what the heck? What are you talking

about? And then I realized what I had done. And

it is a pretty cool trailer, but whether it has

any relevance to the actual movie project, I

cannot tell you. And it's not because I don't

want to tell you. It's because I don't know.

It seems like they were teasing it just to see

how much action they could get out of it and

maybe, you know, a pre -sale or something like

that. But I can tell you this, as far as I know.

there's nothing in production. So if they are

planning on releasing it in 2016, it better be

happening now, and I don't think it is. But that

doesn't mean anything. They might just use someone

else. Like, oh, you know what? Ian did a great

job for that trailer, but Ryan Reynolds will

sell more tickets. So they're almost teasing

it a la kind of the Deadpool. like animated bit

yeah just to kind of gauge interest yep i think

so that's that's crazy i saw it i thought it

was kind of cool so yeah i mean when i when i

finally saw the trailer i went oh that is awesome

i wish i kind of knew that going into it i would

have tried harder No, I'm kidding. I'm sure you

try very hard at every session. I give a solid

53%. Come on now. No, that's not true. I actually,

I'm quite well known for my 75 % rule. And it's

not that I don't care about projects. It's the

75 % Corlett rule. is all about self -preservation.

Because I've seen guys, especially with the anime

style and action shows, I've seen guys that just

give and give and give and give and give until

literally, and I'm not using that word incorrectly,

literally their throat is bleeding. And, you

know, from all the screaming and battle stuff

and everything, and I just go, you guys, and

they're usually younger than me. Some of them

aren't. Don't. Don't do it. Cap it at 75. You

know, push the odd 80, 85 when you really need

to scream. But, you know, blowing your voice

out for four hours might just screw the rest

of your week. It's not out of laziness. It's

pragmatism. You can quote me on the 75 % rule

of Corlett. Just imagine if it was still the

80s and there were 12 -hour Wally Burr sessions.

You wouldn't need any anime sessions. Yeah, exactly.

It's exactly that kind of thing. I'm happy to

say that I don't think I did more than... One

or two Wally Burr sessions. I guess I just wasn't

his kind of guy. I have witnessed the guy in

action at a Transformers convention, and he actually

did that with fans auditioning for the... Script?

For the fan script. Oh, yeah, yeah. They had

to tell him to move on because he was dragging

on the auditions for too long, trying to get

multiple takes out of every one. Well, that's

Wally. I also found out – now, I have not actively

watched this series. I probably should at some

point. But you are the animated voice of Salem

the Cat from Sabrina's Secret – what is it called?

Sabrina's Secret – Your Secret – yeah. Yes, I

am. Sabrina's Secret Life. There you go. Did

you have any – interaction with Nick McKay before

doing it, or did they give you a voice sample

and say, hey, this is what he sounded like? Nope.

Okay, so they just wanted you to give your own

take? Yeah, I mean, they did reference it, but

I'm not going to imitate him. He can imitate

me! No, I'm kidding. No, it was it was an opportunity

for me to do one of my favorite kinds of voices.

And I'm basically doing Paul Lind. And I just

I love that kind of character. And I think what

happened, which is what happens a lot of the

time, you'll get a you'll get a spec sheet come

out with with an audition. And it says, you know,

we're looking for this kind of voice. And here's

the reference. And here's the guy that did it

on TV. And try this, this, or this. And they'll

name off two or three famous voices that they

kind of think might fit. And what I try to do,

because I'm a jerk, is just ignore all that and

go, Okay, who is this character? What does he

look like? What does he do? And then go, I'm

going to do my thing. And what happens is, let's

use a really, really, really broad example. Let's

say an audition comes out and it says, you know,

this is the voice of Thor. And, you know, we're

thinking kind of a Schwarzenegger kind of voice.

And then you see the copy. The producers will

sit down, they'll hold a casting session, and

then they're going to sit down and listen to

50 guys who are all going, I'm like Arnie, Arnie,

listen to me. I can do a better Arnie than you.

And then I come along and go, guess what? I didn't

want to do Arnie. And you do a voice like this

and they go, boom, that's perfect. It's funny

and it's weird and it's different. And then you

get the role. That's awesome. That is very awesome.

So since we're talking about video game -based

cartoons, are you a fan of video games? Have

you ever played any? Yes, I have. But, you know,

that ship sailed for me so long ago. I never

embraced it to the level that I know that it

is. in the, in the pop culture. I mean, I had,

I had like the first Atari video game system

in like 79 or whenever it came out, the sort

of wood grained one that had Frogger in it. Or,

or I think, I don't even know if it had Frogger,

but I know it had Pong. Um, and I, so I played

all that stuff and I, and I, I went through a

period up until the mid nineties when I would

play a PC game that was, I really liked sports

simulations. I was never really into like the

role playing or the, or the, the shooting stuff

too much. So I would play like NHL 95. And at

the time that was an awesome game. But I found

that it was just taking me away from other important

things. And then we had kids. And I went, oh,

my goodness, I can't sit there. I couldn't do

it as entertainment. I mean, I was entertained

by it, but I just felt guilty. I felt really

guilty because, you know, my entertainment vice

is movies. And, you know, if I'm going to do

something for two hours. My choice was to, you

know, pick a great movie and watch that. Now,

having said that, my son, we were really, really

cautious. This is sort of a big, long answer

to say that I'm not really a gamer. But we were

also really, really cautious about getting game

consoles when the kids were young because we...

You know, we could see what it did to them. Like

my son would go over to a friend's house who

had free access to video games. And the guy would

come back and his eyes would be swirling around.

I mean, he was just like a little zombie. So

we were really careful about that. And we didn't

get a game system until the Wii. So now you're

sort of getting the timeline here, right? And

the Wii made sense because I went, you know what?

I can justify this. The kids can play it. They

get up off the couch. They're moving around.

It's not. It's not as passive as a video game,

standard video game system, et cetera, et cetera.

So that kind of opened the door. And, of course,

now we've got a PS4. And I love driving games.

So, you know, we've got Gran Turismo. And I've

got a steering wheel. And it actually was funny.

Just this week I went, oh, man, I want to go

down and play Gran Turismo on the giant screen.

But then I went, oh, no, I've got work to do.

So forget it. That's kind of my feeling on video

games. I really respect them. Some of them are

so awesome, but I can't personally dive in because

I just can't do it. Okay. I'm not sure if that

was really what you asked. No, that's what I

asked. Okay. Getting into some kind of Mega Man

questions, since Mega Man was two years before

Beast Wars, was it kind of different or interesting

reuniting with most of the Beast Wars cast for

that show? Yeah, I mean, you know, voice acting

in Vancouver, as it is in L .A., is a fairly...

You know, the people who are doing it at the

top are it's a fairly narrow pool. So you end

up seeing many of the same faces a lot. And it

was the weirdest thing about about Mega Man was

that I did the voice of Dr. Wily back in the

Nintendo days. And then Scotty McNeil. comes

in and he's playing dr wiley and i'm going well

just why don't you just do the voice i did i

used to really bug him about that uh hey just

here scott this is the way you do it and then

i would and then i would do my old wiley and

he would act like he was mad and and then we

would fake fight and all that stuff but but it

was a similar kind of group um that ended up

doing beast wars And, you know, it is it is kind

of neat. It's it's sort of I've always referred

to it a little bit like family, but I don't mean

like, you know, brothers and sisters. It's sort

of like cousins and uncles and aunts, some of

which who are weird. And you go, oh, yeah. Oh,

we're going to have that family thing. Oh, I

wonder if so and so is going to be there. Oh,

oh, that should be good. So it's like fun. Weird

family. And I mean that with the utmost respect.

Yeah, because, I mean, almost everybody, most

of everybody was in Mega Man that showed up in

Beast Wars. There was you, there was Gary, there

was Scotty. I think... Who else? I know David

wasn't there. Was Alec Willows? I don't think

Alec Willows. No, I don't remember Alec doing

a voice on it. But, all right. As far as getting

the role of Mega Man, was it just a normal audition

or was it something that your agent may have

pointed out to you? Well, you know, interestingly

enough, it's really only been the last handful

of years that I've had an agent. Oh. The scene

here was so odd, the way it developed, that...

I didn't I didn't have one and I didn't really

need one because the history of Vancouver voice

grew out of commercials. So it was kind of a

tight knit voice community that did commercials.

And when when the animation work started coming

to Vancouver. They the companies went to the

people who cast commercials and the way it was

done here was, you know, there was kind of a

list. And, you know, if you got on to that list,

that a list, you would just get phoned and hate.

We've got a commercial that's for McDonald's,

and we need a young guy, an old guy, and a guy

who sounds like he's from England. Oh, okay,

well, I know what I'll do. I'll phone Gary, Bill

Ryder, and we'll get that Ian Corlett guy. That

kind of thing. And you'd show up and do the work.

So when the animation work came in, that was

really my first taste of auditioning. Because

there wasn't a whole lot of auditioning before

that. And it's an anomaly. This is not the way

Hollywood works. It's not the way Toronto works

even. But in Vancouver, that is the way it worked

for quite a period of time. It's totally different

now. And everything is auditioned for, which

actually is a little annoying. Because there's

some, you know, tiny commercial jobs that...

You should just get a phone call. Okay, let's

get so -and -so. Get him in. It's going to be

great. We're going to put those people together

and it'll be hilarious. But it doesn't work that

way anymore. So to answer your question, sorry

I sort of went around the horn of South America

and back again. But it was a quote -unquote normal

audition. But I was very aware. of mega man because

it was it was very uh popular i mean it was not

something that was that was kind of oh that's

kind of fringy or i haven't heard of that like

to be honest beast wars was a little bit uh less

i don't want to say important but i felt like

Oh, they're redoing Transformers, that old cartoon.

Oh, that's interesting. And I really did not

understand that there was a giant fan base for

Transformers. But I did know that Mega Man was

really popular. So it might have been a little

bit the opposite where I felt like, oh, wow,

Mega Man, that would be cool because that's a

character that everyone knows. And when Beast

Wars came up, I don't even think when I initially

read it that I knew that it was connected to

Transformers because it was animals and, you

know, sometimes I'm not paying attention, right?

Come on now. Give yourself a little bit more

credit than that. I will. Come on. I will. But

I'm saying my very initial. Oh, Beast Wars. Okay,

it's a bunch of animals and they're interplanetary.

Oh, interesting. And then the light bulb kind

of came out. Oh, okay, I get it. This is Transformers.

But I did not realize. Because remember, this

is in the early days of the interwebs. So it's

not like you could really plug into, oh, what's

the fan base like for this? It would have been...

you know, magazines and, and, uh, you know, maybe

some, some online presence, but not, not huge.

Whereas Mega Man was, Oh, I know what Mega Man

is that that's still kind of happening. So that

was the difference for me between the two. Very

cool. Very cool. Um, was, did you, did you audition

for any other roles on the series that you were

not? Didn't end up getting or anything like that?

Oh, yeah, every single one of them. That's what

you do. You want to hedge your bets, right? Because,

I mean, if every voice actor said, I know the

character I want to be, and I'm going to read

for that one, you wouldn't get many roles. So,

I mean, I can't tell you which ones, because

there was a billion of them, right? There was

Cutman and... Fart Man and Booger Man and Robo

Man. No, I'm kidding because you guys know all

of them. But I read for all of them. And when

I found out I was shortlisted or cast as Mega

Man and as Doug Roof, that was fantastic. I just

went, wow, score. Yeah, Rush is awesome. I love

Rush. Yeah, I like doing him. Oh, man. It's so

funny. You were also Snake Man on that series,

so you were both a hero and a villain. Yes, that's

the best. Oh, yeah, you know what? That made

me think of something. A show that's coming out.

It's not even on the air in Canada yet. It's

called Pirate Express. It's kind of a weird title,

but I do two characters. That's what made me

think of it. I play Poseidon, King of the Seas,

and his assistant Gordon. And it's a comedy,

so it's not like one's a hero and one's a villain,

but they're very different guys. And they talk

to each other a ton. So that was really fun to

do last year because I would do like pages of

dialogue where it's the two of me talking to

each other. So basically you had your own Frank

Welker moment. Yeah, a little bit. And then there

was a couple of episodes where I played Poseidon's

nephew as well. So I had a three -way going,

if you know what I mean. That's what we call

it in the voice business. Scott McNeil moment.

Doesn't happen very often. Yeah, no, not usually,

not these days. Had you ever played any of the

Mega Man games before going into the role or

anything? I mean, I know we've already established

that you said you're not a gamer, but did you

ever look at any of them or anything like that?

No, honestly, I know it doesn't make for a very

good story, but I didn't. But I was well aware

of it in pop culture, like well aware. I just

didn't partake. What were those voice sessions

like? Those were pretty funny. They were pretty

fun. We recorded those at Ocean Studios. That

was insane. There was a real fun group. If two

or three of us were on each show, which often

we were, it was like kindergarten. It was just

insane. You know, like every time you're probably

aware, you know, when we record a show, you'll

do a scene. And it'll be, you know, maybe two

and a half pages long. And lots of people are

involved in the dialogue. And you read it sort

of like you would a classic. radio play so it's

it's pretty much live and everyone's playing

their part and then at the end of the scene it's

like okay cut and then the producers discuss

what they liked what they didn't like and then

you're going to get some notes and and we're

going to take it again or we're going to you

know maybe record individual lines one or two

of them again but in those breaks there would

be we were it was in the early days of paper

recycling so there was a box of, uh, of paper

that was, you know, old scripts and stuff. And

as soon as that, that button would go down, okay,

good. Thanks. Hang on. And we knew we had between

15 and 30 seconds where, you know, the people

in the other room were going to be talking about

something didn't involve us. And it, a paper

war would. breakout. Everyone would grab a piece

of paper, ball it up as tight as you could, and

huck it, wing it at the heads of whoever else

was in the room while trying to avoid the microphones.

So to this day, oh yeah, and there was also paper

airplanes involved. So just to add some added

danger to try and poke someone's eye out. But

to this day, if you go into that studio and look

up, they have these hanging It's like a baffle

that hangs, you know, four feet down. The ceilings

are really tall. So they have these baffles that

hang down and they're suspended. So it's like

a four by four piece of wood frame with fabric

stretched around it to kind of absorb reflections

of sound. So there's three or four of those things

hanging from the ceiling. And if you look up,

you will see paper. up there. Like there's, there's

still paper hanging over cause no one, no one's

going to climb up and clean up there or, well,

maybe they should, but not an ocean. Um, and

it's the funniest thing when I, when I go back

in there, I look up, Oh yeah, it's still there.

Isn't that weird? How many times did you get

one in on Gary or Scott? Oh, loads. Gary is,

was the most fun. to torture because he dished

it out um and you know gary's one of those guys

he's a classic performer right when he's on he's

on and he he likes to hold court and he you know

he commands the room and when he's talking he's

the only one talking but it's so easy to get

under his skin because You know, unless someone

stops him, he just goes and goes and goes and

goes. And then I'm going to tell you about this

and then I'm going to tell you this and then

I'm going to tell you that. And it's all very

funny to to us. And we would we would always

subvert him. I had a great in the day. I had

a great Gary Chalk impersonation and would and

would basically parrot most of what he would

say. to get the other actors laughing. And then,

and then Gary, you know, he was not so full of

himself that he didn't realize what was going

on and he would eventually just laugh his head

off with us. So. Oh, and he's a renowned, he's

pretty gassy too. We know. That's kind of, that's

well known in folklore, isn't it? Yeah. Oh my

God. So do you. you really enjoy recording ensemble

with other actors or do you, or do you prefer,

or do you love more, you know, being in the booth

by yourself, doing all the voices, talking to

yourself or, um, you know what, I'll take it.

I'll take it either way. Because if, if the cast

is fun and click in and, you know, everyone's,

everyone's tuned in, it's pretty cool. Um, but

having said that, I love getting the work done.

I really love... It was sort of like school,

right? I used to sit in school and go, oh my

goodness, there is so much time being wasted.

If I could just get this done, I could cover

this course in a month. And I haven't changed

much. So when I... When it's a show that maybe

is a little bit less fun, I just love getting

a call and going, oh, you know what? We could

make the schedule work out, so we're going to

bring you in Tuesday morning, and I can get through.

I can be in and out in record time. Well, yeah,

sure. I am patting myself on the back there because

because I get it. I've done it for a long time.

I know what's what's happening in the script.

And and, you know, I can bang off three versions

of every line. And one of those three, the director

is going to go, oh, great. Moving on. So I do

the next three. Great. Moving on. So I like that.

But it's also really fun. When it's a great group

of people in the cast and more often than not,

it is a good group. So, you know, how's that

for a hedgy kind of waffly answer? I like I like

both. Perfect. Now, I heard you mention Paul

Lynn's name earlier, and I love Paul. And I love

old character actors like that, like Jack Benny

and all those guys. Yeah. Are those your influences?

Who are your influences, by the way? Well, my

number one voice influence is not Mel Blanc,

because that's the go -to answer for absolutely

everyone. And maybe I'm doing this just to prove

that I was really into voices way before there

was ever a notion of doing voices for a living

or the work coming to Vancouver. It was Dawes

Butler. And Dawes Butler did lots and lots of

cartoon work. But I knew him from Stan Freeberg.

And Stan Freeberg was a was a, you know, kind

of a today he'd be like a hipster comedian. And

they did these these radio style shows, comedy

stuff. And it was really. And we used to listen

to it when we would go on family road trips.

It was old. I mean, it was really old when we

were listening to it. But I just remember, you

know, like St. George and the Dragon. And there

was this guy, this one guy, and it was Dawes

Butler. And in St. George and the Dragon, you

can look it up. It was a parody of the old TV

radio show called Dragnet. And they did Dragon

Net. So it was St. George. It was a procedural.

It was a police procedural. And and and these

two detectives are looking for this fire breathing

dragon. And at one point in the sketch, they

knock on the door, you know, and the guy answers.

Hello. And he says, sir, I understand you've

seen a dragon. Yeah. And who what's your occupation?

I'm a knave. And his this was Dawes Butler. And

I just want I love that guy's voices because

I guess I maybe I was a little kid, but I felt

like I maybe I sounded like him. So he was like

a huge influence on me just in the style of comedic

voices. And of course, yeah, Mel Blanc was huge,

but I'm a I'm kind of a. I'm like a climate denier.

It's like, yeah, he was fantastic. But, you know,

when you get right down to it and it's not taking

anything away from Mel because he was phenomenal.

But if you close your eyes and you didn't watch

the cartoon, so many of those voices are so similar.

But he was so good at just giving a little twist

and a little nuance that. And that's where the

acting comes into it, right? It's not doing a

funny voice. It's the actual character of a voice

that Mel Blanc was so good at. So, you know,

I guess, yeah, I want to say my influence is

someone other than, you know, the godfather of

all of us, which was Mel. And it was Dawes Butler.

But there's lots of guys, lots and lots of guys

that that I really look up to and really respect.

And, you know, Frank Welker is another one that's

just he's he's kind of like he's like on another

plane. And there are some guys, there's some

younger guys, too, that are similar to him in

that they just kind of. They inhabit and they

have these really odd, almost sound effect kind

of voices that they do. And those guys are really

exceptional. My thing is comedy and realism.

And it's surprising, actually, the amount of

projects now where big, funny characters are

not really what they're looking for. Um, and

that's going to change. I mean, it's, it's like

fashion, you know, but, uh, so I don't get a

chance to do really big, stupid characters that

often, but I did in, uh, in Dr. Dimension pants

in pirate express. So I guess maybe that's why

I like those ones too. Very cool. Very cool.

I have to bring this up since I don't know when

we'll have you back on the show. This isn't necessarily

related to Mega Man, but since you were the father,

I have to ask, is Johnny Test really over with?

Oh, good question. You don't know, do you? I

don't. I don't, you know, and it's not like I...

You know, when we finished episode... of the

last season, which was season... I can't even

remember now. What is it, seven? Six. Six? Yeah.

Scott Fellows and company were saying, oh, yeah,

no, no, no, no, we're doing more. We're just

trying to figure out the financing and the scheme

and the this and the that. And that was like

three years ago. Yeah. And I thought, oh, okay,

well, in the summer... Oh, that'll be good if

that comes back because I don't have a lot else

going on. So that would be great. And nothing.

And then more nothing. And then some more nothing.

So your guess is as good as mine. How old are

your kids now? Really old. They're 43. Oh, come

on. No, you're not. That's true. You are nowhere

near that. No. Come on now. You are true. You

are correct. My son, Phillip, is 17. Okay. And

Miss Claire is 15. Every time I watch an episode

of Johnny Test and I hear... Johnny's dad, always

yelling. I imagine that that's the voice you

use to yell at your kids. Yeah, and you would

imagine pretty much correctly. As a fan, I have

to say that would be amazingly awesome to witness.

I do. Usually when I'm not very serious, I will

drop into, I'm not doing. Hugh test. I, I just

kind of drop into that kind of voice. Cause that's

my, that's my go -to kind of dorky dad voice.

Yeah. But, uh, but I will, there, there's another

one. Uh, there's another one I do when I'm calling

Claire, her middle name is Margaret. And, uh,

do you guys watch or are you familiar with little

Britain? I've heard of it. I don't think I've

seen it. Oh, very absurd, very popular British

comedy. And there's one sketch. Anyway, I won't

go into the sketch. If you look it up, there's

a library sketch. And it's the most ridiculous

thing. A guy comes in, and the sketch is repeated

several times. There's about five versions of

it. Guy comes into a tiny little bookstore and

he asks for the most ridiculous titles of, you

know, so specific that there wouldn't even be

a book written on this. And the little shopkeeper

always leans back and calls his wife, Margaret,

Margaret. And you hear a voice from beyond kind

of responding to him. Do we have a book on something?

And sure enough, they do. So, I mean, that's

that's the joke of the thing. It's a long way

to tell the story that when I'm calling Claire,

I will often drop into that voice and use her

middle name and just call, Margaret, Margaret.

So it is a common occurrence around these parts.

That's awesome. Neil, you had one other question

you wanted to ask? Well, it's not so much a question.

It's more of... me just kind of geeking out when

i checked out his imdb because i'm scrolling

down and i see captain and cap cap candy dragon

ball of course all these like like uh you know

all these roles that we know and then i landed

on this one that's got to be one of my favorite

movies of all time and you're probably going

to cringe when i say this it's project echo too

oh yeah which I geeked out so hard because I'm

like, oh, my God, he played this character that

basically stole the whole movie. And I just remember

laughing so hard. I know this is not really a

question. It's just like it's more me just kind

of like bowing for you just because I love the

whole series, but that movie just cracked me

up. Well, thank you. I'm going to have to go

back and look that one up because I know I did

it. But, you know, and this is the reality of.

When you work, you do a lot of stuff. And I remember

the title. I remember the era. But honestly,

I don't remember the character or anything. So

I should go back and see what you responded to

because it sounds great. I'd love to. Basically,

you play the father of this bratty girl. Basically,

it's kind of a take on... on superheroes, sort

of the, the main character is, it's slightly

implied that she's the daughter of Superman and

Wonder Woman, but your character is kind of an

analog to, uh, to Lex Luthor, I guess. And you're

just kind of this bombastic, um, I guess I can

say, uh, asshole, but he's so funny. And I, he's,

his daughter is like this big, uh, she's like

a a genius mech designer and he steals her her

designs makes his own mech and it's it the ending

is just bizarre and wonderful and it's it's a

funny movie cool and it's supposed to be funny

oh yeah just checking yeah because some things

are you know some some projects are are inadvertently

funny but that was not the case with this one

yeah Yeah, well, one of the girls in the show

was like, it was basically Kenshiro from Fist

of the North Star in a dress, basically. Oh,

nice. Yeah, it was one of the funniest. But yeah,

that's basically all I had, Mike. It wasn't really

a question. That's quite all right. Fair enough.

Yeah. Steve. If you could have the chance to

go back to any franchise or series, whether it's

a newer rendition of it nowadays, to play any

role, what would you choose to do? Hmm. That's

a good question. Hmm. Ooh, you may have stumped

the panel. You know, the easy answer would be...

No, I don't want to... Yeah. Maybe Sonic the

Hedgehog. Because I really enjoyed doing coconuts.

It was just a fun character. And it was one of

those... moments in time where you know i touched

on this earlier where i was talking about the

kind of voices that i love doing and that one

was one that i had in my back pocket and wanted

so badly to find a show that it would work in

and and coconuts fulfilled that so plus it was

really fun working with phil hayes and gary chalk

because they're nuts But so part of it is the

work environment, you know, to be honest with

you. And, you know, they're just trying to think.

There are shows that just plain, like, flat out

made me laugh when I was doing them. And I'm

drawing a blank. I'm absolutely drawing a blank.

So let's go with Sonic the Hedgehog. Awesome.

Awesome. One final off -the -wall question here

before we let you go. And I'm going to go back

to something we already talked about. Sure. Do

you make as many meatloafs as Hugh does? No.

That's a really easy answer. And as a matter

of fact, I can probably count on two hands the

number of meatloafs I have been personally responsible

for. That was a pure invention of the demented

mind of Scott Fellows. So awesome. So would you

like to inform the people where they can interact

with you online? I have a website that gets updated

infrequently, and we're really proud of that.

If you need a new webmaster, I can recommend

somebody. No, it's not even about that. It's

like, oh, I have to tell someone what I'm up

to. Oh, yeah, that's right. It's, you know, no

excuse. But anyway, ianjamescorlett .com. I -A

-N -J -A -M -E -S -C -O -R -L -E -T -T .com.

There's, you know, there's stuff there. It's

not always... right up to date but you can email

me through that um i should be you know listing

hey i'm going to be at the so -and -so con at

the so -and -so but i don't even do that but

i will say on this uh on this um podcast i don't

know when it's going to come out but um on the

weekend of april 3rd my daughter and i are going

to be in san francisco at babs con which is bronies

no bay area bronies con so it's uh my little

pony convention yeah because you were a voice

on friendship is magic i was yes finally what

do you mean finally well i was begging and whining

and complaining because my daughter's getting

all this love from all these bronies, and I'm

going, I've got to get on that show. That's the

biggest freaking show that's come on in the last,

come out of Vancouver in the last five years,

and I didn't even get a sniff. Wah! So here I

am. Wah! I'm complaining. I'm standing outside

DHX. Wah! Give me a job. Wah! Because that's

what I do. That's what works. And then finally,

no, it's not the way it works. Not at all. But,

no, and finally, the right character came up

i just i don't know i just didn't hit the hit

the first uh the first major casting so this

character came up and i got to do a song and

uh and then i can accompany claire on these uh

these show tours because you know she's got to

go with an adult anyway so it's kind of a twofer

they get me for nothing i feel like a real a

real addendum to uh to her it's like oh yeah

and then uh Her dad. We'll check on him. Yeah.

So here's Claire. Yeah! Oh, Claire, you're the

greatest. I love you, I love you, I love you.

And then her dad. Huh? Who? And then there's

guys like you. Actually, this was really funny.

This was about two years ago. One of the first

things we ever did. It was down in Seattle, so

the whole family went down because it's not that

far. And I'm being... you know, Mr. Chaperone

guy. Like that's what you do when you're, when

you've got a child actor and they're at a convention,

either, either my wife or myself have to be there

with her. So, um, we're, we're backstage at,

in a, I guess they call it a green room or something.

And it's full of super fans, right? Like you

guys know, right. What, you know, fandom there,

there's a, there's a type, right. And, and they're

swarming around and, and, Mostly they're fans

of My Little Pony. But a lot of these guys are

– sure, they're fans of My Little Pony and they

identify as bronies, et cetera, et cetera. But

they're cartoon fans and they're anime fans and

they're – I mean they're just fans. And I – this

– it was the weirdest thing. So I'm kind of sitting

a table away as my daughter is getting interviewed

by someone. And this these were VIPs. This is

like the VIP area. So, you know, anyone who was

back in this room was, you know, had a reason

to be there. It wasn't like general public kind

of thing. So, you know, keeping a really low

profile because, you know, what kind of a dorky

dad would I be if I if I hovered over my daughter

and went, hey, by the way. Let's talk about me.

That would be really stupid. So I'm keeping a

super low profile. I'm watching. And I see her.

I can't hear what she's saying. But whoever she's

being interviewed by, she's talking to them.

And then the guy's head turns and he looks over

at me. And she's nodding and going blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah. And then points. And

the guy looks over again. He looks at me and

I go, OK, I realize they're looking at me now.

I wonder what that's all about. And then he leans

over and tell some guy that he's with as it is.

And he points over at me and and it literally

went through the whole room. And I went, what

the heck is going on? And and then Claire calls

me over. Dad, come here. Come here. So I go over

and I meet the guy and he goes, you were Goku.

And I said, yeah. Oh, my God. And then and then

someone runs and gets another guy. And suddenly

there's there's 10 people like just swarming

me and or more. Actually, there's probably more

than that. And it culminated in this one young

guy who is the nicest guy. But he comes over

and he is visibly shaking. And I went, hi, because

they introduced me to him as Brad or something.

I said, hi. And he goes, ha, ha, ha, ha. I can't,

I can't, I can't believe, I can't believe I'm

talking to Goku. And he's sweating and shaking.

And I'm going to relax, relax, man. It's like,

yeah, I'm happy to meet you. And then someone

says, oh yeah. And he was Cheetor. And I thought

the guy was going to faint. So, so that's why

it's kind of fun for me to go to these things

because it's all about Claire, but. There is

a segment of the fandom that just goes, oh, my

gosh, that's Claire's dad. And, you know, they

do the lineage, right? So it's really fun. It's

really fun. That was kind of like me five years

ago when we first interviewed you. I remember

off air when we first picked up the call. I was

like, holy crap, he sounds just like Cheetor.

Well, it was one of those things where I'm. I'm

not really, like, I wasn't sure because I'd never

talked to you before. I hadn't seen any interviews

with you or anything online. And I know your

Cheetor voice, you know, immediately as soon

as, you know, as soon as I hear it on Beast Wars

or even the darker version for Beast Machines.

And, you know, you take someone like Gary. Gary's

normal, Gary Chalk's normal voice is not as deep.

as Optimus Primal's. It's not as deep as Gutsman

or anything like that. And I'm thinking, okay,

well, Ian's normal voice has to be somewhat different

than, and I'm like, holy crap, Cheetor just said

hello to me. Holy crap, what the hell? And that's

why I felt like it was such a score when I got

that thing. Because I went, I'm just doing me.

This is great. And I'll tell you why. Like, I'm

kidding. But I'm serious because then I go, oh,

this is fantastic because there's my my baseline

voice. Now I can do other characters in this

show. And, you know, the sky's the limit because

I haven't used up one of my good ones or my my

weird ones, even though it didn't really happen.

I think I was the I might have been a ship computer.

You were Sentinel. Yes, I was Sentinel. Thank

you. I remember there was a name attached to

it. I was racking my brain. But I don't think

I got a chance to do much else than that. So,

you know, I was all happy for nothing. Well,

I mean, and I think I mentioned this in the interview

five years ago. And I know we're supposed to

be talking about video game cartoons here, people,

but come on. You know, if you look at Cheetor's

evolution, he goes from being like a young kid

to an adult. Even though you're doing essentially

the same type of voice, you're changing the tones

as the character ages. Yeah, it was pretty cool.

I got to admit. And that was one of the few shows

that we knew going into it that there was going

to be this arc. We did not know that there was

going to be a Beast Machines. But we knew that

there was going to be a clear progression in

this guy. Like he was going to start out. young,

cocky, impetuous, and then eventually, you know,

kind of become heroic. I didn't, excuse me, I

didn't know how that was going to unfold, but

it did. And it was, it was great. It was, you

know, it felt like acting. Absolutely. All right.

Well, any other thoughts from the panel? Anything

else you guys want to say before we close this

out? Not that I can think of now. Ditto. Okay.

All right. Well, we'd like to thank Ian for joining

us. Coming up next on Pixels of the Animation,

we're going to get to episode 55 and 56, which

is more Mega Man reviews. Who knows who we'll

get next? Maybe we'll get Mega Man's little energy

buddy, Eddie, on this show. Been trying to do

that for six years. The elusive Eddie. Oh, yeah.

You have no idea. I met him at TFCon a couple

years ago. Yeah, you should have hogtied him

and brought him back home with you. I tried.

All right, folks. Thank you again so much, Ian.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to get out

of here. We'll be back next week with a brand

new episode of Pixels in the Animation. Thanks,

everyone. It's always a pleasure. This is Mega

Man, and you're listening to Pixels in the Animation.