Interviews – Ian James Corlett

Sentinel Online. Now loading the Beast Unleashed

podcast. This is the Beast Unleashed podcast

special interview of Ian Corlett. I am TFG1 Mike

and I am joined by Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello.

Yes, and in a few moments we are going to have

the astute privilege of speaking with Mr. Ian

Corlett. who, as we all know, voiced Cheetor

in Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Mr. Quillette

has also done a number of other things. He is

the narrator or the voice announcer for the ABC

Family Channel. He was Dr. Wily in Captain and

the Game Master. He's just done a whole bunch

of other stuff. Steve actually got the interview

for us. It's the only interview so far that I

have not had any interaction as far as getting

it. Yes, that is very awesome. Yes, very, very

awesome. So without any further ado, here is

our interview of Ian Corlett, also known as Cheetor.

Shields are doing amazing! Hey, look at me. I'm

a cheetah. No, no, I'm Cheetor. Interesting.

Interesting? Optimus, the word is spot on smooth.

It's a crime. Hey, I wonder what these gizmos

are for. Hey! How do you work these things? In

fact, I think it's time to shred some bread.

What do you say we give these new bods a test

drive? I am transformed. Hello, and welcome to

the Beast Unleashed interview. My name is Stephen

Phillips, and I'm joined with one of my Beast

Unleashed co -hosts, Mike Blanchard. Hello. Today

we have a super awesome privilege to interview

Ian Corlett. Yes, that's right, the voice of

Cheetor is on the line with us. Hello, Ian. Hello,

everyone. How are you, sir? I'm great. Happy

to be here. Very, very cool. Can you give us

a quick summary of your upbringing and how you

became a voice actor? Well, I was raised in a

juvenile detention facility. No, I wasn't. But

it sounded like a good story, didn't it? Yeah.

No, I was born and raised in a suburb of Vancouver,

British Columbia, Canada, called Burnaby. and

spent my early days as a filmmaker as a young

kid, entered a lot of competitions and that sort

of thing. And that gave me a real interest in

the process and storytelling and animation and

all sorts of things. So I'm a bit of a unique

voice actor in the sense that... I came at it

from filmmaking and did my voices for my own

productions and then kind of found out that I

was reasonably good at it. And then we didn't

really have a film industry and certainly didn't

have an animation industry in Vancouver when

I was growing up. But eventually, animation started

to come to Vancouver because of some very favorable...

work conditions and union contracts, etc. I was

already voicing radio commercials and television

commercials and that sort of thing when the work

started to come here. I went, hey, look at that.

That's what I used to do as a kid. I think my

first cartoon here was... There were several

all at once, but one of the biggest ones was...

Captain N, the Game Master. Dr. Wiley. Dr. Wiley.

Yeah, I remember that show. So that's the brief

history. And then, you know, that was in the

sort of mid -80s when that work started to come

to Vancouver. And then I just kept working and

working and working and working. And actually

ended up... Going full circle, after lots of

success in voice, I started to write for some

cartoons. And then from that, I sort of spun

that into creating a couple of my own series

and working on creating series for other peoples.

Peoples? Man, I sound like a German exchange

student. Anyway. Yeah, so I've done a whole lot

of stuff in animation. Very, very cool. If you

could still be working on any one show that you've

worked on in the past, what would it be? Ooh,

well, boy, that is a loaded question. I've got

to say that... And this isn't because I very

recently worked on it, because sometimes you

have a really good experience and it's the freshest

one in your memory. But I had an opportunity

last year to work on a show called Dinosaur Train

for the Jim Henson Company and PBS. And it was

particularly special because both my kids were

cast. as the lead characters in this show. And

as if that wasn't enough, I got cast as well,

I think mostly because I was the driver and could

transport them to the studio. But anyway, mercifully,

they gave me a job out of it. But the work environment

was just so much fun and so great that I wanted

to do more. And it sounds like we will. Now,

second to that, because it does seem like a bit

of a cop -out to say, oh, yeah, that was the

best show I ever did because it was the one I

most recently did. But it really was magical,

really special group of people to work with.

It was just really fun. And working with my kids

was really neat, too. Now, setting that aside

and thinking about the audience and you guys

and not trying to pander to you, I must say Beast

Wars was really fun as well. Just because it

ended up being such a big production. I had no

idea. I mean, I knew what Transformers were,

and I knew that there was a fan base, but I had

no idea that it was kind of like Star Trek, you

know? I mean, in terms of the size and the...

and the intensity. Yeah, exactly. The fans are

just incredible. And it's definitely one of the

highlights of my career, being involved in a

show like that. So that would be really high

up the list. Yeah. Incidentally, if I had to

pick throughout Beast Wars and Beast Machines,

I would have to say, and I'm not trying to just

impress you or whatever, Cheetor is my favorite

character because of the simple fact that he

has such similarities to Rodimus Prime from the

original show. And, yeah, Cheetor's awesome.

Thank you. You know, I only played a small part

in bringing him to life, but I just wish that

they would do something with the Beast Wars characters

in the next Transformers movie. Yeah. Wouldn't

that be fun? I don't know if I would want to

see that. As much as I would love to hear you

voicing him again, I don't know if I want to

see what Michael Bay does to Beast Wars. That

would be kind of scary. Okay, so tell me, is

that your opinion of both the Transformers movies,

or just the last one, or what? It's one of those

things where the first one was good. It was nice

to see that you could adapt it to... live action,

and it's nice to see that, obviously, I mean,

Transformers has this 25, 26 -year -old history.

It's nice to see that they're furthering that,

I think, but I just... Watching those films back

now, after, I mean, the first movie's been out

two, three years. The second movie came out last

year. Honestly, I don't like those films. I know.

I have heard this sentiment from others. Almost

universally, none of the real fans like the second

movie. Yeah. No. Which I didn't see. You're not

missing anything. It's a lot of, like, they have

some more bathroom humor and a lot more expletives

in the movie. Just things that could have been

put on the editing floor. Mm -hmm. Well, it's

funny, you know, and then you think about the

other big, well, they're comic book based, but

the one that comes to mind is Batman, you know,

where we've had bad ones and really good ones,

you know, so I guess it really depends on how

the material is handled. Yeah, it does. Uh, Steve,

you want to take the next one there? Um, where

would you have liked to have taken your characters?

Uh, all the way to the bank. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

A little voice actor humor there, sorry. Uh,

are you speaking specifically of, um, the Beast

Wars characters, like Cheetor and, uh, and the,

um, oh, shoot, what's his name? Sentinel. Sentinel,

thank you. Just in general, are there any characters

that say a show ended before you had a chance

to develop them more than say you wanted to?

Oh, okay. That's a very interesting question.

You know, it's funny. As far down the food chain

as we are as voice actors, you don't... You don't

really get a chance, in my opinion anyway, to

develop characters too much anyway. I mean, it

seems kind of mean to say that, but we bring

a certain amount to the characters, but when

the show is written, that's really where the

real meat of it comes from. You know, I mean,

I'm always sad if a character just kind of, especially

if one was really fun and suddenly it's gone,

you know. Oh, yeah. You just kind of want to

keep doing it. But in terms of an arc or a development,

most of that honestly comes from the writing,

and I have to give the writers complete credit

for that. Yeah. Out of all of the characters

that you've played in your vast career, Who were

your favorites? Well, I really enjoyed Andy Larkin

from What's With Andy. That was a show that originally

started on Fox Kids. I don't know if it really

continued in the U .S. too much, but it got picked

up again in Canada and they did a whole bunch

more episodes. So that was really fun. I really

enjoyed Coconuts. From the old Sonic the Hedgehog

series. Just because I liked it. It was a fun

voice to do. What else? Yeah, I think that was

probably my favorite fun voice. And it was also

a really fun show to work on. I mean, that was

with Phil Hayes and Long John Baldry and Gary

Chalk. And it was pretty much just the three

of us in the studio. Actually, Long John would

come in and out, so the four of us. But those

were pretty crazy sessions. They were pretty

fun. Speaking of Gary Chuck, didn't he used to

stare at you during Beast Wars sessions? Oh,

he didn't just stare at me. He did a lot of other

things that involve vapor. Just put it that way.

I don't know if he's got some sort of internal

digestive issues, but that man produces far more

gas than any human really needs to. And I had

the joy of standing next to him during all the

sessions. He would, you know, please pull my

finger. Pull it. Pull it. No, Gary, I'm not going

to pull it. Come on, pull your finger. No, I'm

not going to pull your finger. And then he'd

pull it himself and, you know, ha, ha, ha, ha,

ha. So that was my biggest issue with Gary. I

love Gary. Everyone loves Gary. He's bigger than

life. He is a character. I'm a little... unusual

when it comes to you know stereotypical voice

actors because I'm not like I'm a performer when

I'm in front of the mic and and I've got my lines

to do and but I pretty much shut down after that

and I I like to at least appear to be somewhat

normal yeah and not not that these guys are abnormal

talking about my peers is if they're on a funny

farm or something. But, you know, they really

are larger than life, a lot of them. And, you

know, while I'm working, sure, I do the crazy

voices. And there is a certain amount of levity

and fun that is inherent to a good voice session.

It really should be there. But I just tend to,

you know, do my stuff and, you know, try to make

some jokes and make people laugh and then that's

it. Like what you're hearing right now is pretty

much me. So I get all sorts of reactions to my

personality from, why is he so grumpy, to people

that actually enjoy my sense of humor. But in

contrast to Gary, I usually just like to kind

of sit back and mind my own business and choose

my spots for... for the big gags, but, you know,

I like to have lots of fun in sessions, but I

also like to get out of there. I like to do my

work and move on to the next one, just because,

you know, it's no fun dragging out things longer

than they have to be, so I think I'm babbling

now. No, it's okay. What type of, you know, you're

talking about your characters, whether you make

the jokes or whatever, what type of character

do you like playing better? Good guys, bad guys,

serious characters, or funny characters? Well,

it's got to be, and this is probably the answer

that you get from everyone. It has to be the

bad guy. And then second to the bad guy, or equal

to the bad guy, would be a really, really broad

comedic character. The choice for me to do Cheetor...

was really unusual. I've played heroes before,

but that was definitely the one that put me on

the map as sort of a young hero voice. And it

was very strange for me because my stock and

trade for pretty much my whole career was the

character voice, the crazy voice, the weird voice.

So when I'm playing essentially a voice that's

me... It's pretty weird. You guys mentioned it

when we first dialed up. Oh, hey, you sound like

Cheetor. Yeah, I do. Well, you know, it's funny.

You, there's only two voice actors that I know

of, yourself and Barry Gordon, who Barry Gordon

played Donatello in the original Turtles series

in the 1987 cartoon. He said his own voice that's,

you know, some voice actors have to change their

voice. to make, like, David Kaye has to change

his voice to be the Megatron character. Sure.

And you guys don't, which is kind of, you know,

I was like, I was thinking even before you messaged

us or got on the call here, I'm like, okay, so

I know what Cheetor sounds like, I've listened

to some of his other promos, I wonder how close

his own voice is to any of the characters. And,

you know, you're Cheetor. I know. Speaking of

Cheetor, he had, I believe it was, four different

models throughout Beast Wars and Beast Machine.

He had the original, the Transmetal one, Transmetal

2, and then what he was in Beast Machines. Which

one is your favorite? The on -screen? Yeah. I

liked Beast Machines. That's my personal favorite.

And, you know, again, I've heard much opinion

on the various designs and episodes and everything.

I think... The reason I liked that was because

I really felt that Mainframe and the director

at that time that was really the creative driving

force was Ace Fipke, who went on to start his

own company called Nerdcore and was very successful

as a producer and a creator of shows. But he

was really trying to take... that what was turning

into sort of a standard mainframe 3D animation

look, and he was trying to make something different.

And I think he succeeded. In my opinion, it was

exactly what that show needed to kind of give

it a new, fresh look and not make it look like

that fluid... 3D animation that was so prevalent

at that time. And he basically made it look like

a moving, immersive comic book. And I really

like that. So that's the reasons behind my particular

choice. Cool. I think the next one is yours,

Steve. How... How did you like jumping over from

regular animation to anime such as Dragon Ball

Z? Well, that is a very interesting and very

long story. Dragon Ball Z came to me as kind

of a producer. It was really strange. in Vancouver

called BLT Productions, who was doing some amount

of reversioning and revoicing for foreign cartoons.

And these guys came, they were from Texas, the

guys from Funimation. And they, I mean, they

were just not, they didn't look like entertainment

people at all. They looked like sort of corporate

guys from Texas, you know, super nice people.

And they really, they were kind of, Somehow they

found this project. I'm not really sure what

the history was behind it, but they found themselves

with this animation project in their hands, and

they said, we need to reversion this into English,

and we hear that you guys know what you're doing.

So between a partner and myself, we ended up

rewriting the very, very first English version

Dragon Ball Z episodes. And as a result, I ended

up, I didn't think I cast myself. I think I got

cast somehow as, oh, shoot, what's his name?

Goku? Goku, yeah. Yeah, thank you. And I'm getting

old, getting really old. I don't remember anything.

What am I doing? Anyway, so we're reversioning

this Dragon Ball Z series, and I'm going, you

know, it's just another series to me that's in

Japanese. and dealing with all the things that

you have to cut out. Speaking of pee, there was,

you know, all sorts of, just the weirdest stuff

in those Japanese cartoons. Anyway. Oh, yeah.

So I had to, I was reversioning it. And, you

know, so in terms of the history, at least in

North America. of Dragon Ball Z. I mean, I guess

I'm kind of a founding father when it comes to

that stuff. So to answer your question past the

history, as strictly a voice talent, because

I did a whole bunch of it, frankly, I just got

really tired of it. And it wasn't to do with

anything other than the simple economics. I found

that I was spending a whole day replicating screams

and yells at high volumes and being absolutely

exhausted by the end of the day. And the company,

not BLT, this was not the company I just mentioned,

but the group that was doing the production and

overseeing the production by that time had found...

their own interpretation of the union contracts.

And basically what it meant, long story short,

was we were being paid by the line literally

like pennies. And they didn't even count the

loud screams. And of course, as you fans will

know, in the anime, half the show is a scream

of some sort. They wouldn't even count those

as a line. So they said, well, no, no, that's

a vocalization. That's not any words. You just

have to do that. You throw that in for free.

Oh, okay. Wow. So then I said, well, if I'm not

going to get paid for vocalizing, I'll just leave

those parts out. You can get someone else to

do those. So, of course, that was kind of an

aggressive stance, but I just didn't want to

do it anymore. I stopped and have not worked

for that company in 15 years. So that's my history

with anime. And really, they were the ones that

did the vast majority of it. Yeah. Are there

any behind -the -scenes moments during Beast

Wars, Beast Machines, or any of the other cartoons

that you've done, like Captain N or anything

that you can kind of reveal to us? Well, aside

from Gary's flatulence, and that's ongoing, any

season. Pity the person that has to stand beside

Gary Chalk. Well, there's that. Let me just think

here. You know, I should really be prepared with

some anecdotes, shouldn't I? If I was a proper...

voice actor interviewee, but I'm not a proper

voice actor interviewee. I'm not very good at

this. We still love you, man. It's okay. Well,

I appreciate that. You know, I envy, you know,

I make fun of Gary, but I know he's a great interviewer,

and same thing with Scott McNeil. I mean, those

guys just, they flick their switch, and you,

are the beneficiaries of the greatness that those

guys just spew. I'm kind of... I can't remember

things. I don't know what I'm doing. I can't

remember names. I don't have stories. I've got

nothing. I've got nothing. So I've got a funny

story that involves my good friend Gary Chalk.

It seems like I'm spending my whole interview

talking about him, but... Anyway, it took place

at the recording of Sonic the Hedgehog, and...

One of my special skills as an actor is the ability

to rip off a really good belch on cue. And often,

you know, it's a thing that comes up so often

in cartoons, incredibly often. And if I'm in

the cast, no matter who it's supposed to be,

they usually just go, Ian, just get in here and

do it. And then I will jump in and burp on cue.

So this time, Gary thought that he could handle

it himself, and he said, no, no, no, I'm going

to burp. It's okay, it's okay, I can do it. So

someone gets him a Coke, and he takes a couple

of gulps of it, you know, for fuel, and he tries

to let out a burp, and he vomits. I mean, he

didn't really puke, but it was like the... the

fizziness of the head of Coke came gushing out

of his mouth and kind of a blech all over his

script. And someone has it on tape somewhere.

And you can actually hear it foaming and the

poor girl that was standing next to him leaping

out of the way with an eek. And that's my one.

Funny inside anecdote. Don't allow Gary Chalk

to burp on cue. Just get a professional to do

it. Yeah. Next one's yours, Steve. What's the

next one? Humorous, bizarre. Okay. What is the

most bizarre or humorous audition story you've

ever had? Audition? Yeah. The last one? I wish

I had a funny one. The ones that I remember are

usually really, really, really sad, where you're

getting just put through the ringer to try to

get a gig, and it's just not working. And you

think, well, if I'm not the guy, just tell me

to leave. That's usually my attitude. Oh, man,

honestly, I don't have a funny story for you

at all on that one. That's cool. Which voice

actors did you most look up to when you were

first starting and which voice actors do you

look up to that are still around today? Well,

Mel Blanc, of course, number one. Dawes Butler,

it was huge for me because... He did so many

classic voices, but mostly because he was part

of the Stan Freeberg radio comedy gang. And I

just found that I had a very similar kind of

range to him, so I just loved listening to anything

Dawes Butler did. And in terms of living legends,

I'm happy to say that I have worked with Frank

Welker before, and he was just such a sweet,

nice guy. I thought he was fabulous and, of course,

incredibly talented. I mean, your fans will know

who all these guys are. He paid me such a nice

compliment. I was working in L .A., and I was

kind of the fly -in guy. I was just doing a guest

voice on a show called Totally Spies. And he

was sitting there, and I was doing my thing,

and he was sitting right beside me. And in between

takes, he was kind of going, where are you from?

I haven't seen you around. And I said, well,

that's because I'm from Vancouver. I'm just in

town doing another project right now, and I got

hired on this. He goes, oh, that's why I haven't

seen you, because you're really good. And I just

about fell over. It's like, whoa, Frank Welker

said I was good. Wow, neato. But he was really,

really a nice guy. And I don't want to... I'm

just telling that story for that very reason,

not because he said that I was good. But it was

just... It was really cool to meet him because,

I mean, I remember him just forever. Which voice

actors that you've worked with are you closest

friends with in real life? I would say closest

friends. That's a good one. I keep in touch very

regularly with Phil Hayes. A guy that I always

talk to and kind of like, sort of like extended

family, I guess. And that doesn't always mean,

you know, you're really close friends. It's just,

no, they're kind of like family, which is, you

know, there's sort of a connection there. David

Kaye, I stay in touch with all the time. And

those are two guys that actually moved to Los

Angeles. They live in L .A. now. You know, I'm

probably closer with a director. Her name is

Andrea Romano. Oh, yes. I classify as a very

good friend. And she's also in Los Angeles. Maybe

there's a pattern happening here. I like to keep

my friends as far away as possible. But those

people I spend a lot of time with. And you know

who's a... I am missing out one. Dale Wilson.

who I think he must have done something on Transformers,

but he's a well -known voice that you guys will,

if you don't recognize the name, if you Google

him, you go, oh, that guy. I stay in touch with

Dale a lot as well. We just have four more questions

for you. Steve, take the next one. There are

lots of different types of voiceover work. Which

do you prefer the most out of cartoons, commercials,

movies, video games, or anything else in the

voiceover world? I love a good commercial. I

really enjoy doing commercial work. They're all

fun in their own way. It has to be probably commercials

and cartoons. are my favorite. I'm not a big

fan of dubbing for all the reasons that I mentioned

before, but it's okay. You're kind of hamstrung

by the movement that's there that you have to

match, and that's why dubbing often sounds kind

of weird because you're really not allowed to

act too much. I mean, you try, but that's the

reason it would be lower down the list. Okay.

Very cool. Okay. One of my buddies, it's very

rare. When we do interviews, I try to keep them

as secret as possible, and I don't tell anybody.

I don't advertise it until after we've done it.

With the exception, I usually include most of

our co -hosts here on Geekcast Radio Network,

so I asked my buddy, I said, is there any questions

that you would like to ask Ian Corlett that we

can ask for you? And one of them was, do Dragon

Ball Z fans scare you? No, not really. No, but

I was really, really shocked and amazed at the

stuff that I saw on the Internet. And this is

in the early days of the Internet, after I stopped

voicing. Dragon Ball Z. It was like, wow, this

is really incredible that there's this many people

that have such strong opinions on this stuff.

But other than that, I mean, they don't scare

me. Not at all. It's just like, I'm impressed.

It's kind of neat, actually. How many conventions

have you been to? Because my next question basically

states that you've been to some of the various

Comic -Con fan conventions and stuff like that.

Basically, what is your opinion of these conventions

and impressions of them? I think they're great.

Whenever I have done them, and I don't do a lot

of them, I think I've been to a grand total of

three. Just because, for whatever reason. the

scheduling or the opportunity isn't there or

whatever. But every time I come away from one,

I think, well, you know, it's really neat that

people are so into something. You know, I mean,

you can easily spend your life not really being

interested in anything. And I always think that

that's really fun. And the people that I get

a real kick out of or really bring a smile to

my face at the conventions are the kids. Like,

when you see a little kid coming to one of those

conventions, like, they're there usually not

because their parent is the fan. It's them. And,

you know, it would be like kind of like going

to Disneyland for your first time. You know,

you're immersed in this world that you just love.

And, you know, that's pretty impressive to me.

But I've been to Bought. con in Fort Wayne almost

10 years ago now. I've been to one in Vancouver.

It was just the year before last. And then last

summer I did a convention in Birmingham, England

called Auto Assembly. And that was really cool.

It was the smallest one that I've been to and

the most fun just because of where it was and

the organizers. It was good. You're not going

this year, are you? No, I have not been invited.

That's funny because two of your cohorts are

the special guests, Gary and Scotty, both. Yeah,

that's going to be crazy. They're going, yeah.

All right, just one more question. What is it,

Steve? In your opinion, how hard would you say

it is to make it into voice acting business,

and do you have any advice for people who are

starting out? Don't give up. If you feel that

you're talented, don't give up. Although, if

you keep getting the message from people that

actually know or you respect, that maybe you

should try something else. You have to decide

when that right time to say, I think I'll try

something else is. But until such time, don't

give up. It is tough. It's a really tough business

to get into, and it's harder every day to get

into it because more and more people want to

do it. But that doesn't mean just because it's

difficult or the numbers are stacked against

you. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't try for

it. So that's my advice with anything to do with

in life. Just keep at it. Don't give up. Before

we go, do you want to plug anything, your website,

where people can interact with you or anything

like that? Yeah, go to www .ianjamescorlett .com

and you'll see basically... whatever is happening.

I don't get it updated all the time, but you'll

certainly get an idea of what I'm working on

and what I'm doing, and there's an email address

to contact me. And for any of you people who

have kids or have friends who have young kids,

I have written a book that is available on Amazon

and in your local Barnes & Noble, etc., called

E is for Ethics. So it's a totally different

part of my life from voice acting, but it's a

family book for parents to read with their kids

that opens up fun conversations on kind of difficult

topics to talk about, values and ethics and morals,

but it's not all heavy. It's actually really

fun, and kids like it, and tell your friends

and buy a book. Didn't you just announce this

morning on your Twitter about the new book? Yes,

yeah, I got a new book deal, and it's the follow

-up to this book. So this one is titled E is

for Ethics. The new one is called E is for Environment,

and it features the same two characters, and

we're actually in development. with Playhouse

Disney Canada to make an animated series called

Elliot and Lucy based on these two characters

as well. So if all goes well, they'll be on the

small screen in another year or so. Cool, cool.

That's what I'm up to. All right, we would like

to thank Mr. Crowley for taking the time to chat

with us in this special Beast Unleashed All Things

Transformers interview. Hold the line in, and

we will be right back after this. Hey, this is

Cheetor, and you're listening to the Beast Unleashed

podcast, Ultra Gear. Wow, that was awesome. Oh,

yeah. Yeah, that was awesome. And I got to apologize

to you. I know this was the first interview you

actually got for us. I didn't mean to kind of

run all over it with the questions. That's fine.

It's one of those things where I think it's because

Cheetor is my favorite character. And, you know,

Ian said it himself in the interview. When he's

done with his work, he likes to just get out

of there. And honestly, before you even... I

was actually... My jaw dropped and I almost fell

out of my chair when you told me that you had

found him on Twitter and sent him a message for

an interview and all that stuff because he is

one of those people where he said it himself

again in the interview that he's only been to

like three or four conventions. He's not a Transformers

voice actor that... is that deep in the fandom

like Gary Chalk, like David Kaye, like Scott

McNeil. However, he's still awesome as hell.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was just awesome. Yeah,

it was still a super awesome privilege to get

him on. Yes, that was very, very, very cool.

Yeah, just... Very, very cool. I don't know what

else to say. It's like one of those things where

I think it's because he voices one of my favorite

characters, which is Cheetor, that it's just,

like, speechless. It's like if we ever, which

I highly doubt we'll ever have this, but if we

ever got Judd Nelson on here, you probably would

hear nothing but silence from me in the outro.

Kind of like what you're hearing now, but it's

just like, uh, uh, uh. You know, something like

that. Mm -hmm. Wow. Yep, I can definitely not

blame you on that one. You know, he's just a

really, really nice guy. He's into everything.

Oh, yeah. He's touched a lot of shows that I've

watched in the past. He's touched a lot of shows

and stuff, but it's just not, he's, you know,

he even said it himself, he's not your average

voice actor interviewee, because, I mean, yes,

he's done a lot of voices and stuff, but as he

said, you know, at the end of the day, he wants

to go home and leave work at work, and, you know.

Which is respectable, I mean, I can understand

that. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Very much so. You know,

but he's just a joy to have talked to him. You

know, and it's funny. I said in the interview

to him, you know, when, you know, I know what

Titor sounds like. You know, I know what Dr.

Wiley sounds like. And I was wondering how close...

his own voice was to any of his characters. And

I thought, you know, a lot of voices, as I said

in the interview, and I'm sorry for everybody

listening to this that I'm repeating myself from

what I said in the interview, but I just have

to, I'm trying to rationalize it here. You know,

people like David Kaye, like Tom Kenny, they

change their actual voice from, you know, four

characters. Ian, he is Cheetor. He even went,

yeah, yeah, I know. You know, but it's just his

natural voice is Cheetor's voice. And that's

just awesome. Yeah, that was really, really cool

to hear. Yes. So this has been, well, I should

say, do you have any other? I've kind of been

running the whole thing here. I can honestly

say before going back into Beast Wars this time

around for, you know, our review podcast, I kind

of not really, I mean, I liked Tudor, but I didn't

really, like, pay that much attention to him.

But the more I watch it, the more he stands out

to me, the more I like that particular character.

I mean, of course, Megatron is my favorite, but

as far as Maximals, I pretty much like just about

all of them. The only one I can't really stand

is, I think, Silverbolt. See, I like Silverbolt.

Silverbolt has his moments. Yeah, that's true.

You know, and we can get into this further later

down the line. I don't want to really bring it

up in this interview outro, but yeah, I mean,

you know, I've said this tons of times before.

Cheetor is the character throughout the entire

series. And I don't just mean Beast Wars or then

later Beast Machines. I mean the entire era where

he has the most character development, plot -driving

stuff. Like, I would say when we first see him

in the first episode, before we even see him...

I would say Cheetor in his original mold, in

his original cheetah thing, I would say he's

probably between 10 and 12. When he hits Transmetal

1, I would say he's around 15, 16, maybe 17.

When he hits Transmetal 2, I would say, and this

is just me, you know, just throwing this out

there, I would say he's about 21 or 22. And then

when he goes to Beast Machines, he is at least

easily 30 years old. Because of all the character

growth that he has had all three seasons of Beast

Wars, both seasons of Beast Machines. Yeah, he's

had quite a bit of character development. Probably,

I would have to say, between him, Primal and

Megatron have had the most over the entire series.

But probably Cheetor has had the highest amount

of character development. Oh, yes. Yes. So, again,

this has been the Beast Unleashed interview of

Ian James Corlett, voice of Cheetor. Join us

next time when we will be, it'll be episode nine,

and we will be doing our final three episodes,

Before the Storm and Other Voices, parts one

and part two. So we'll see you next time.