Interviews – Lord Zedd & Rita Repulsa

Welcome to From the Command Center. This is the

special interview of Robert Axelrod and Barbara

Goodson. For those of you MMPR fans, you may

know them as Lord Zed and Rita Repulsa. I am

TFG1 Mike, and joining me is Scotty Cash. Hello,

sir. What's going on, buddy? Oh, not much. Here

in a few minutes, we're going to be talking to

Lord Zed and Rita. Actually, I cannot wait for

this, because especially after the first time

kind of getting... canceled and then i wasn't

sure if it was going to happen and now i just

i'm super excited oh yeah i mean there was a

i mean just to give people some behind the scenes

stuff there was a problem with the the original

time that we were supposed to do this i had to

unfortunately cancel because i had they i was

forced to move that's a whole other story but

i knew as soon as i got back online i was going

to send um robert's people Robert Axelrod's people

an email saying, hey, can we reschedule? So,

I mean, it's not like it was never going to happen

because I want it. I mean, that was the whole

point of, like, when we launched because my buddy

Steve, who is the co -creator of Geekcast Radio

with myself, he was the one that actually got

the initial contact. So, you know. And that was

one of the things that we kind of pimped was

that, you know, the show from the command center

of the podcast hasn't even, you know, we just

released episode one. We're not even, you know,

we're not even five episodes in and we're already

getting voice actor interviews. So, I mean, it

was going to happen. By two pretty big stars,

you know, in the Mighty Morphin canon, if you

will. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so. I mean, in voice acting,

technically, it's not going to get any bigger

than Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa. When it comes

to Power Rangers, yeah. Right, right. That's

what I'm talking about. Yeah. So, yeah. Any other

thoughts before we actually get them on the line?

No. I can't wait. All right. Up next is the interview

of Robert Axelrod and Barbara Goodson. See that

I don't. Now, where are you? the earthlings,

the incompetent Rito Epulso was unable to defeat.

Ah! My brave and powerful Lord Zed! What a pleasant

surprise! Welcome! How can I be of service to

you, traitor? Oh, Lord Zed! Give me another chance!

I will not fail again! Quiet! Those Power Rangers

are nothing but mere infants! You were defeated

by children! You dare call yourself an Yes, that

clip was from the episode The Mutiny, where Lord

Zedd... Came back, took over, and kicked Rita

out. Oh, no. It is once again interview time.

I am your host, TFG1 Mike, from the Geekcast

Radio Network, and joining me is Scotty Cash

from the Pop Culture Network. Hello, sir. What's

going on, man? Not much. And from the command

center, we'd like to welcome Mr. Robert Axelrod.

Hello, sir. Good to be here. How are you doing?

Pretty good, pretty good. And Ms. What were you

going to say, sir? Okay, I thought he was going

to say something else. And Ms. Barbara Goodson.

Hello, everybody. Hi. How are you doing? I'm

good. I'm real good. That's good. All right.

Scotty, you can take the first question there.

All righty. Are you guys ready? I am ready. What

we'll do is we'll just have Rod answer first,

and then Barbara will begin. Go ahead and answer.

Second, that way you got, you know, nobody's

talking over each other or anything. All right.

No problem. Did you always want to be actors

or actresses? Rod? Barbara, you're first. No,

actually, you're first. I'm first. Oh. Okay.

Pretty much. Except the time I wanted to be a

hockey player, a golfer. A bowling champ, a musician,

which I actually did become for a while. But

no, professionally, I pretty much always wanted

to be in show business to make a living. I found

that when I started to pursue other areas, when

things got dry in show business, I found that

I could not stick to them. because it would take

me away from show business. So for better or

for worse, I stuck to it all these years. That's

awesome. Barbara? My answer is that first I wanted

to be a ballerina. I had a record called Tina

the Ballerina, and I thought I was Tina. And

Tina basically saved the show, so she was a show

girl too. Being a short woman, I got realistic

pretty early on and knew that my legs would not

carry me into prima ballerina land. And then

I wanted to be a writer. When I read To Kill

a Mockingbird, I said, oh, I want to write like

Harper Lee. But that was eighth grade, and then

after that, it was acting, and it's been acting

ever since. So always something to do with performing

and creative. What drew each of you to voice

acting? Barbara, you can go first. Money. At

least she's honest. That's true. I mean, waiting

tables or doing dubbing for some extra money

in order to wait for the big break on film, that's

what we thought we were doing. Back in the 80s,

it was, hey, there's this... thing you can do

it's called cartoon um dubbing and uh japanese

animation we had no clue that this was going

to become a genre that would be loved by other

people we thought oh this is better than waiting

tables i'm telling too much maybe out of maybe

i shouldn't be being honest but you're absolutely

you're doing fine okay and um so then we started

to do it and You know, I actually got fired from

my first job because I didn't know how to lip

sync because I'd never done it before, and they

didn't know how to teach me either. And then

I was so irate by that that I learned it pretty

fast after that. That's awesome. Yeah, so that's

my answer. Robert? I pretty much considered voiceover

a part of acting. I got into it in New York briefly.

And then out here, I was doing an on -camera

show at a studio that was doing a cartoon show.

So I auditioned for the cartoon show, and it

turned out to be ADR, which is a fancy word for

dubbing. It was a show called Banner of the Squirrel.

And I auditioned, and I got the role of Banner

of the Squirrel. So it was ADR, and they were

10 episodes, and we were working on very primitive

equipment. So we had to really learn dubbing

quickly. So I had a knack for it and an eye for

it, so I just fit right in there, and the rest

just snowballed. That's awesome. So you pretty

much answered our next question, Robert. Do you

prefer voice acting or camera acting? So you

want to go ahead and go, Barbara? Well, did I

say that? You go, you go. I answer that? You

go, Robert. I don't think I answered that. No,

go, go, go. They're switching back and forth.

Well, you know, it's not a black and white situation.

Do I prefer one or the other? I always prefer

what I'm working on at the time because I'm working

on it. The day I go into the studio and do a

double cartoon, I prefer that. And then the next

day I could be doing a film on camera and I prefer

that. So I prefer what I'm working on. That makes

sense. I have to... say that it's basically the

same for me, too. I mean, I had my dream that,

you know, when you're starting out, you don't

think about, I mean, especially back when we

started, we don't say, oh, someday I want to

do Japanese animation. I mean, everybody wants

to be a movie star or a wonderful actor on Broadway.

You know, they're the standard mainstream places

that you have in your mind as places where you're

going to become successful. And so mine were

like typical like everybody else's. But the truth

is I love doing anime because it's like immediate

gratification. You get to see your work on the

playback right away, and you get to say, well,

let me do that again. I want to do that better.

And so I love that. I love that aspect of it.

But doing film has another challenge, and that's

exciting. Original animation is another challenge,

so it's all exciting and creative. Did you ever,

with both of you, because most of us know you

both from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, when

you were doing that show, for the voice acting,

was it an ensemble cast? Did you get to do your

voiceovers at the same time, or was it like each

of you were in a booth and just responding to

lines? I'll go. Each of us were in a booth responding

to lines, except when we did certain things.

Like, I believe, I don't know, Robert, did you

do the Universal show? I think that was before.

Sure, I had to have to dialogue in the Universal

show. Okay, okay. I mean, look, I have a brain.

Brain freeze right now. So we did eight hours

of sitting at a booth in a studio around music

stands and dialogue. That was the hardest because

it was nonstop screaming to do the Universal

show. When we did the movie, we were working

together, but that was the rare occasion. Normally,

we did work separately. Right. Your turn. Okay.

Yeah, we worked separately, just doing line after

line after line, except I think a couple of times,

Bob, you and I were in a booth together. Yeah,

yeah. If they wanted to double up and have us

do other things, they would have us come in at

the same time, and we'd sit back and have the

other person do their lines or something. It's

funny that you guys did your stuff separately

because it doesn't show in the characters of

Rita and Zed. It shows like you're almost together

in the same room, like you're almost looking

at each other doing the voices. Well, you've

got to understand, we knew each other from when

we first started. We had a sense of our personalities,

like we were talking to Robert and Barbara. In

character, and I think that helped a lot, too.

We were family on many levels as the group. Okay.

I know, Robert, I know you've done a couple different

voices on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Do you

want to tell us about that? Well, you know, I

also did the character of Finster, who is a regular

character. He came before Lord Zedd. He was actually

a scientist. Yep. At the beginning of the show.

So when Zed came on, I was actually doing two

voices. But I also did some guest monsters. Yep.

Goofish and the two -headed parrot and a couple

of others. That was in the first year or two

until Zed came in. Zed came in season two. Yeah.

So this was more like season one. Mm -hmm. that

I did these guest monsters. Sometimes I was in

the right place at the right time and they wanted

to give me something extra to do because Finster

had very few lines. And Finster had such a peculiar

high pitch voice. Oh, my queen! But I could do

the scratchy voice monsters and not sound anything

like Finster. So there was good contrast there.

What about you, Barbara? Was Rita the only one

you did? Oh, no, no. I did Orbis. I did Sprocket.

I did Mandilock. I did something else I just

noticed. Didn't you do a character called the

Ice Queen, Barbara? Ice Queen, yeah, yeah. I

don't remember who she was, though. I didn't

know you did Sprocket, though. That's awesome.

Oh, yeah. I did the whiny boy, obnoxious whiny

prince. Rocket and Orbis. And Orbis was like,

ooh, you know, like a R2 -D2 kind of thing. Out

of your entire career, who is your favorite character

that you have voiced, Robert? Ooh. Well, I have

a lot of favorites. Of course, let's take, besides

Lord Zedd, because let's face it, that was my

tour de force. and Finster, who was also a tour

de force, and that I was doing both of them at

the same time. I liked Elmer in Hello Spencer.

We did a puppet show called Hello Spencer at

Savannah. We were boyfriend and girlfriend in

that, too. That's right. That was Lulu. Lulu.

Lulu. We were boyfriend and girlfriend. They

were actually living together in the German episode.

But they played that down for the American kids

because they were living together without being

married. Right. Well, Lord said it. Didn't they

live together before they were married? No, no

they didn't. Rita put a love potion in his sleep

chamber when he woke up. He fell in love. All

right. All right. All right. But I thought, well,

all right, never mind. You don't know the back

story. Oh, tell us the back story. No, there's

no back story. I'm making rumors now. You know,

she had to come up with an idea, so maybe there

was some funny business going on before that

wedding. I'm just starting rumors. Never mind.

All right. For the next question, I'm kind of

excited about this. Not only I'm a huge Power

Ranger fan, but I started, you know, talking

about. One second, Scotty. We didn't. Barbara,

you didn't give your favorite character, did

you? Oh, no, I didn't. I'm sorry, Scotty. Let

me let me think. Well, besides Rita, of course,

Rita was also my tour de force. There's Cruella

DeVille. for Disney and Red Fraggle. I love doing

that. Basically, usually the flavor of the month

or the flavor of the day, whatever you're doing.

Like right now, I'm doing Mother Taliesin for

Clone Wars, Romanian Witch. That's awesome. I

guess I'm loving her right now because she's,

you know... Paying your bills. She's paying my

bills, and I love the person who pays the bills

at the moment. That's right. You got it. All

right. Sorry I cut you off, but what I was saying

was I'm a big action figures, toys, Power Rangers,

just all kinds of action figures, but I wanted

to know how you guys felt when you first saw

yourself as an action figure. I mean, I know

you guys do the voiceovers, but it's still you.

You want to go ahead and go, Robert? Yeah. Well,

we didn't make a dime on the action figures.

But how did you feel? That's the way I felt about

it. I felt pretty good. I don't know whether

they created my voice mechanically or actually

lifted a little segment of a line off the soundtrack.

The talking Lord Zeddow said something like,

ha, ha, ha, Earth will be mine, or Earth shall

be mine, or something like that. Yep. I don't

recall whether I actually had that line in an

episode. As I recall, I did, and they just lifted

that off the track and canned it and put it on

a... I don't know what the mechanism is in these

talking dolls. I guess the mechanism is in these

talking dolls. Yeah, the voice box. The voice

box. It sounds pretty mechanical, but it is my

voice. And so I felt both honored and ripped

off. Ripped off. Exactly. Because you were. Normal

companies pay for that. It sounds like. Yeah.

Normally they pay a fee. for this residual structure

for things like that based on number of units

sold. And we had no plan for doing that. They

had no... Siobhan had no plan for doing that.

The only extra thing they gave us was a health

plan. We fought for that, honey. That's better

than nothing, I guess. Oh, yeah. That took a

lot. That took a lot, yeah. Yeah, but that took

us banding together as a group and saying this

is what we want instead. If you're not going

to give us... We have to pay for our Power Ranger

jackets. Put us on the health plan. Had they

gone union, we would have gotten our health plan

through Screen Actors Guild. Yeah, so that was

what we were saying. Yeah. What about you, Barbara?

Well, I never had an action figure. Yes, you

do. You had a 12 -inch figure, and as a matter

of fact, about two months ago, they just released

images of a new four -and -a -quarter Rita Repulsa.

Wow, I'm kidding. No, we're not kidding. I don't

think it's voice. It's just an actual action

figure of Rita. And one of the reasons why Barbara

may be saying, well, I never actually had one,

was because she actually wasn't in the Rita suit.

Yeah, that's true. There wasn't one back in the

80s. There was no Rita back in the 80s because

Machiko Soda was a human being, and I don't think

they were allowed to do that. It wasn't it. I'll

send you an email with pictures of Rita action

figures, but there are Rita Repulsa action figures.

Well, either they're done by fans, or if it's

been done, it's been done way later. Not when

I was doing her. Right, right. I think it was

done in 1994 was the first figure. 1994. I've

never seen it. I have a flashlight. Yep, I have

your flyslide as well. You know what I'm talking

about. No, I've never seen any action figure

of Rita. I have had a fan make me one. That's

awesome. So that was fun. That was great. I'll

find a picture of the 1990s Rita, and I'll find

a picture of the new Rita that's supposed to

be coming out, and I'll email those to you. Send

it to me. Yeah, I will. I mean the action figure.

Oh, I don't have the action figure. I can show

you a picture of it. I can find the picture.

I don't actually have the action figure. You're

actually really rare. I wonder where they sent

them. If they weren't in the stores, then I know.

Anyway. Go ahead, Mike. Barbara, I noticed when

doing research for you guys, you were on the

80s G .I. Joe cartoon. What additional voices

did you provide for that? Oh, my. Oh, we're going

back in time. I think I was just some combat

lady, you know, screaming, going, you know, Charge!

Oh, that sounded like Rita. Yeah. Basically,

just incidental characters. Nobody with a name.

Yes, sir. Sir. Roger. You know, that kind of

thing. Oh, very cool. All right. All righty.

Let's see. We're right here. Okay. What was...

Your reaction when you were told that your Mighty

Morphin Power Ranger career would be coming to

an end. You want to go ahead and start, Robert?

One of great sadness. Because I was losing a

great source of income. And so, of course, I

didn't think it would last forever. Nothing ever

does. Right. We lasted pretty much, we outlasted

a whole set of Power Rangers. You sure did. Yeah.

Yeah. So things move on. And there it is. It

bummed me out. The more thing that bummed me

out is the last three episodes I did, it was

two or three episodes I did, it was done Union.

The show had finally unionized, and that took

me back to if all the shows I had done were union

shows, it would have given me more on my country

and welfare, and I would have gotten my insurance

through SAG. I mean, insurance didn't matter

that much because Siobhan gave me the health

plan. It was a good health plan. But the pension

and welfare would have been there. Pension. What

do you think, Barbara? Well, I had two endings.

One was when they got rid of Rita when they brought

in Lord Zedd. And I wasn't at all ready at that

point. I was like, wait a minute. And I campaigned.

I got these postcards that said, out of work,

Empress seeks employment. It was a picture of

me in the costume. And then I heard that they

were bringing her back with a new person. And

I tried to get myself to be Rita, the on -camera

Rita. But they wanted her to be... look like

the original Machiko. And I don't blame them.

Ultimately, it makes more sense. So Carla got

the job, and then they made the character more

like Rita taking a youth potion before the love

potion was the youth potion. And then she always

wanted to do the voice, and I always wanted to

do... You know, we both wanted each other's...

Jobs in a way. So I was really happy when I got

back to doing the voice. Because, again, Robert's

right. You know, actors like to have employment.

And, you know, it was fun to work. It was fun

to work with the people that we know. And we

knew we were doing something at that point that

was a really hot item. And plus my son. was about

five at the time, so at the schools it was a

big deal to have his mom be on Power Rangers,

and we could get great things for silent auctions

and charities for the schools. But when it came

to an end the second time, I remember saying,

what if I refuse to do the last episode? Will

you make me stay? Can I stay that way? No, Barbara,

no, you have to leave. And Robert's right. They

went SAG for the last three episodes, and they

wanted to cut our salary to a third. I don't

know if you remember that, but because they had

worked out a deal where they were going to pay

less even though it was union. And after working

on the show for, I don't know, seven years, to

drop my pay to a third of what it originally

was was a little offensive. So I called. I noticed

that if you called and you talked to them directly,

they kind of let you do, you know, they kind

of said, oh, okay, all right, we'll give you

what you earn. Thank you. I didn't do that, and

I made the $300, $330. Oh, well, I tried to teach

you things. I tried, Robert. I just was so happy

to be working in the union. Yeah, no, I said,

give me what I... Now, don't penalize me for

you going union final. Anyway. How do you feel,

how do you both feel about the resurgence and

the interest in all things Power Rangers, like

all the fan conventions, the fact that the brand

has gone on, it's the 17th series, or 18th series

has just started, Power Rangers Samurai. Robert,

you can go first. Robert? Robert, talk, Robert.

Barbara. You. Yeah, you. Okay. Oh, all right.

Dad. I think it's great. I think it's great.

It's like Star Trek. And there's bound to be

a resurgence in the old shows, resurgence of

interest in the old shows, which I think are

still running on Nickelodeon. I believe. Yeah,

I think they did do, like, a reboot and showing

some of the older Mighty Morphin episodes, yeah.

Yeah. Yes, they did. What about you? Bangs at

Zoom. They did Batman things attached to it.

Oh, yeah, they did. On the intro, I remember

that now. Yeah. But that's all right. A lot of

people said, what are they doing? They didn't

like it. They didn't overdo it on that, with

those special effects. Because they could have

overdone it, but they didn't overdo it. Depending

on who you speak to. They don't like it or they

don't mind it. Right, right. It depends on the

video. Nobody loves it. There's always going

to be somebody that hates it for no real reason.

Yeah. Whether they have a purist, this isn't

the original. Yep. I think if they showed the

old Star Trek episodes with some kind of finagling

of special effects, I would be taken aback. Right,

right. Yeah. So, it's fair. I don't blame anybody

who... who feels that way. What about you, Barbara,

as far as just the resurgence and the popularity

of the Power Ranger brand, and also to both of

you, conventions. I mean, conventions are a big

thing now. I mean, you both have been to multiple

Power Morphicons, I believe, and all these different

anime conventions. What I find really interesting

about both of you is that... For the majority

of both your careers, you've worked together

on multiple series, not just Power Rangers. I

noticed on both of your IMDbs, you're both on

Digimon, you're both on a bunch of... It's like

the two of you are actually married in real life,

even though I know that's not true. Don't tell

my husband. Well, we have probably... And you

know what's funny is we both went to Queens College,

but we didn't know each other then. It's just

bizarre. It's like, you know, the world. Robert

and I have a good sense of comedy, and I don't

know, there's something about a New York maybe

flavor that makes us, even if we're doing Southerners,

because I was doing Lulu when you were doing,

who the hell were you? Homer. Elmer, right, and

Hallow Spencer. I was Lulu Dollard. And we just,

you know, there's a dry wit that we both know

how to play against each other in real life,

too. So I guess they kind of naturally kind of

got that and put us together a lot of times.

I lost the question, though. Go back. Conventions

and just the fan base and all that stuff. Well,

I was turning them down at first because I couldn't

believe that anybody could care less about meeting

me. I thought they meant, you know, the on -camera

people and I wasn't, you know, I was just Rita

in my own mind. And then I finally said, all

right, I'll go. I'll go to one. And I was blown

away. I was pleasantly blown away because people...

who are now, you know, 23, I guess, basically,

that love the show, are very, very appreciative,

and they grew up with it, and it gave them a

very happy childhood memory. And I've gotten

educated to realize that it was not such a, you

know, little thing that I did. I did something

that was kind of gave a lot of joy to a lot of

people, what else do you want to do when you

are an actor? But be paid for what you love and

be appreciated for it. So it came kind of late

in life, but I'm so grateful that it did. I definitely

agree that you guys work wonderful together.

Just your chemistry, just talking on this little

interview, how you guys are just going back and

forth. It's hysterical to me. Well, we're like

family, you know. I mean, Robert and I are like

sister and brother, or I guess an old married

couple, you know. Just don't tell your husband.

We can yell at each other in real life, and we

do. Yeah. Well, I yell. I do have to tell you,

this interview is the first, because I've done

multiple interviews with voice actors since I've

been podcasting for the last three years. This

is the first interview I have ever done where

I've had two voice actors or people in voiceover

at the same time in the same interview. So you

guys are a first for our podcasting network.

Oh, we're setting a ground. We're breaking new

ground here, Robert. That's right. Yes. Well,

Kayla, we only got a few questions left, and

then we'll let you guys... Well, if I can answer

that question... Oh, okay, about the conventions.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. About the conventions,

I, too, couldn't believe that anybody would remember

Lord Zedd and Rita and the old characters. My

manager and girlfriend, Cheryl Mandel, who's

just been wonderful to me, talked me into it.

She said, don't be an idiot. Get out there. And

she booked me into my first convention, and from

then I was hooked. I couldn't believe it. You

need to be talked to that way. I couldn't believe

it. There was just tons of people who were just

fans. and saying, oh, thank you, you made my

childhood. And, oh, you're the best villains

I've ever, I've ever, I've ever, best villains

that have walked the face of the earth. And that

kind of thing is, sure, it feeds the ego, but

it's also heartwarming to see that we created

such an effect. So I took it from there, and

I do the conventions pretty regularly now. Yeah,

there's no doubt about it that you guys are just

as big as the on -screen actors because you guys

were, you know, you were Rita, and you were Zed,

regardless of if you guys were only voice actors.

You guys are just as big as, you know, Jason

David Frank, the White Ranger, you know, in my

opinion. I'll tell you a funny story, or an interesting

story. I don't know if it's funny, but it would

be interesting. Take it funny, Robert. I'll try

to make it funny. There was a big premiere of

the first Power Rangers movie in Westwood, California,

which is the western part of Los Angeles. Westwood

is a movie town. It has a lot of movie theaters.

So they premiered it. I forget which movie theater

they premiered it in. The Bruin, I think. The

Bruin? Yeah. I think. I'm not sure. They actually

rented two theaters. Oh. And they stuck us voiceover

people in the second theater. That's right. Remember?

Yeah, yeah. Oh, you just the voice? Yeah. Yeah,

they stuck us in the theater number two with

all the sound crew and the catering people. That's

not. Then they threw this big party. They rented

a city parking lot or something, and they set

up a big party with rides and attractions for

the kids. Lisa Gibbons was there, and Tony, what

was his name, that giant guy? Tony Oliver? Tony,

what, who? Tony Oliver? No, no, no. The guy that

talks about positive thinking. Oh, Tony, what's

his name? Yeah, the big jawed guy. Yeah, the

guy with the big face. What's his name? Tony

Roberts. Tony Roberts, yeah. Okay. Anyway, there

was an emcee I recall there, but he wasn't doing

much. So the crowd was kind of getting restless.

So they were asking the Power Rangers to come

and get up on the mic, the kids. But they were

kind of wandering around sort of lost. So all

the voiceover people got up on the microphones,

and we started playing. We started, they said,

who are these people? And then we started talking

in our character voices. Oh, right. As soon as

we started talking in our character voices, a

crowd of kids came rushing up to us. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I remember that. A hundred feet deep. And

said, oh, boy. And wanted autographs. And then

we were playing Power Rangers trivia on the microphone

with the kids. And they just loved it. We entertained

them for about an hour. Yeah, because basically

voice people. Voice people are also improvisational

actors most of the time. So we're like comedians.

We do characters. So, you know, we've all got

that Robin Williams, Jonathan Winters mentality

of just jumping around, like Michael Surich and

Dave Mallow, who's totally dry. Yeah, yeah. Oh,

what's his name? Yeah. The point I'm making is

that... It took the voiceover people to really

liven up the party because the kids playing the

Power Rangers had no experience in PR, in sort

of doing a public appearance, where we've all

been around the block. That's right. We're film

actors as well. We're not gymnasts, though. We

go to these conventions with the same acumen.

Yeah, we're entertaining because we're fun. Not

to say they're not, just to say that we got it.

In fact, we were at one panel that was very slow.

Nobody was coming. And I went out. to the lobby

and I went, everybody get into the studio B or

convention room B now! And they came in in droves.

It was fascinating. What power. As soon as they

hear the voice. I gotta admit that every time

either one of you guys do the voices, I just

smile from ear to ear. Yeah. You know, it's one

of those things, you know, Barbara, you said

earlier that, oh, I'm just the voice. People

want to see the actual person in the suit. I

severely have to disagree with that because the

voice is, especially with Zed. I mean, Lord Zedd,

you just see a silver face with these giant metal

teeth and a red visor. There's no actual face

of an actual person on Lord Zedd. So the voices

of the characters, that's what defines those

characters is the voices. I mean, yeah, you can

see the Power Rangers kids because – or the adults

now obviously. But you can see the Power Rangers

because they're out of costume for part of the

show and then they're in costume for the rest

of the show. But, I mean, for specifically Rita

and Zed, it's all about the voice acting. Yeah,

well, that's why when they didn't want to give

us a decent salary for the movie and we said,

all right, we won't do it. The kids were the

ones. The children were the ones who said, you

can't change those voices. I know it. That's

not Rita. That's not Zed. I know. And they had

to renegotiate with us. You know, they've tried

to do what they do. They're businessmen. Yeah,

that's a wonderful story, though. But I don't

want to diminish the actors either, you know.

Oh, no, no, no, no. No, I'm not saying anything

about diminishing the actors. I'm saying characters

that have a specific design that you don't see

in actual actors' face or anything like that

that are just the voice, that's what makes that

character. I always wanted the two boys to have

a show, a spin -off show. Bulk and Skull? Oh,

God, that should have been a show. What should

have been a show was Bulk and Skull meets Squat

and Babu, because technically those four characters...

Yes, yes. They were the same. They were mirrors.

Yep. Yes. With Rita and Zed showing up once in

a while for lunch. Yeah, right. All right, well,

we only got a few questions left. We'll start

with you, Robert. Would you guys ever want to

return as a Lord Zed or River Pulsa? Well, sure,

as long as they pay the decent rate. Right. And

I'd want it to be Union. We know you love the

Union. Because, well, the point is it would be

so high profile that the union would go after

me if I did it non -union. Barbara? Yes, absolutely.

I would love to re -voice Rita, re -do Rita.

Yeah, she's still in me. She's got more years

ahead if they want to do that. Oh, yeah. We would

do it in a heartbeat. Yeah. I mean, Rita specifically,

if you were asked to come in on any, whether

it's the current series or any new future series,

Barbara, would you have in your contract that

you must be in the suit? Oh, no, no. At this

point, I've surrendered. I could do it, but,

you know, how many physical Rita's do they want?

It would be great if they could get Carla to

come back and do her, and I would do the voice.

No offense. I don't even know. I mean, I know

that she had a transformation as the, I forgot

the name. Somebody help me. The new Rita when

she transformed into the good lady. Oh, yeah.

Oh, man. I don't remember off the top of my head.

See, this is the thing. It's now so into another

morphed place because it's in Australia or New

Zealand, and they made Rita a good guy, and they

would have to really change it, and I don't think

they're going to fly me to New Zealand to do

it, but I've never seen New Zealand. You know,

take me to New Zealand. Yes. All right. Go ahead.

Can each of you give our listeners some advice

for breaking into the voice acting world? Robert,

you give your advice first. Sure. I would say

take classes. Take acting classes. Learn acting.

And once you've got that down, I'm assuming that,

let's say the person has already taken some acting

classes and has got a good handle on acting.

I would start. By practicing at home, reading

copy at home, you can get commercial copy out

of a magazine. Start reading into a tape recorder

or an MP3 recorder and playing back and hearing

your voice. Get used to working on a microphone.

Get an MP3 setup with a good microphone or a

decent microphone. Start working on that and

then eventually make a demo tape and try to get

an agent. Yeah. And meanwhile, look for some

work out there because there is work out there.

Yeah. There are websites you can go to that get

you jobs, that offer you jobs that you have to

audition for. And so the opportunities are out

there. Very cool. And Barbara, your advice? Well,

first of all, be honest about your talents. Be

willing to be brutally honest about whether you

can sustain a dialect or a character. I mean,

if you're starting up here and then you end up

over here, you have to say, I'm not sustaining

it. I have to listen and I can see where I'm

dropping it. You have to know that you have to

be consistent with it. And Robert's right. Voice

acting is acting. And acting classes are important

because, as you said, you saw a lot more in the

voices than just a voice. That's because you

paint a picture when you're doing a voice that's

a whole myriad of images that you have to be

going through in your head while you're saying

your lines. And also, just as an actor, you have

to know what your intention is. and know what

the power is behind what you're saying, whether

it's a little baby voice or a monster or a cockney

waitress or whatever. You have to know that you

have a point of view, and you have to really

be committed to your point of view all the way

and keep the energy going. And that means being

physically fit. to be an actor. I mean, you have

to know how to use your instrument. It is an

instrument, like a singer or a ballet dancer.

It's an instrument. And have, you know, criticism.

Allow yourself to be criticized. Know when you're

not being consistent. Can't think of what else.

There's so many things to say. You know, Robert's

right about getting copy. Watching your favorite

characters on TV. Listen to the radio and listen

to what the guys do, the voiceover guys do on

the radio on commercials. Yeah. Even if it's

a low -key voice, there's energy behind it. Sure.

So in this short period of time, that's the first

thing that comes to my mind. I can't think of

much more right now. Oh, and yeah, there are

those places all over now to submit yourself

to. Right. And I wrote my first tape. That's

how I got my first tape ad. I wrote all the things

I knew I could do. Make a list of all the things

you think are really your special characters

that you can do. And write copy for it yourself.

That's awesome. Before we let you go, can you

let us know what upcoming projects you both have

going on? Or maybe stuff like that. You want

to go ahead and start, Robert? I'm in the middle

of doing a movie called Tim and Eric's Billion

Dollar Movie. Oh, cool. I did four episodes of

Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, which airs on the

Cartoon Network in their Adult Swim section.

It's popular with, like, teenage boys. What did

you play? Oh, I played a waiter. I played a bass

player in their band. These were all small roles

I did in their comedy sketches. It's a blackout

sketch show. And so it's sort of like Saturday

Night Live and Fridays, which is a show I did,

which was... a show I did for ABC TV a long time

ago. Oh, yeah. Friday's is great. So I'm sort

of a semi -regular on the show. Wonderful. So

they wrote me a part in their movie. Congratulations.

That's wonderful. Yeah. That's good. So I did

a day last Friday, and I'll be working another

day sometime this month, and then another day

sometime next month. I think in Palm Springs.

They haven't told me which days I'm working.

That's fine. You don't have to tell people which

days you're working. Much better than Palm Springs,

though. But I did get a script. Oh, cool. And

I made a couple of very funny bits. Oh, I want

to know. You've got to tell me. I will. When

to see it. Yeah. What about you, Barbara? Are

you working on anything right now? Yeah, tomorrow

I'm working on Clone Wars, Star Wars the Clone

Wars for Lucas. Very cool. And I'm doing Mother

Thousand again. And that's cool. And I just finished

doing a movie, a thriller called The Lid, which

is about an urn that loses its lid and my brother

starts haunting the hated son -in -law. And I

hate the son -in -law, too. And the guy who plays

the brother that died but is haunting is Doug

Jones. I don't know if you know who he is, but

in Pan's Labyrinth, he played the ram, is it?

I'm not sure. I've heard his name, though. Oh,

yeah, you'd know who he is. Let's see. In Pan's

Labyrinth, I don't know what he did. Sorry for

being... He was in Hellboy, Abe Sapien in Hellboy,

and I think he... Oh, he's done so many fascinating

things. Anyway, he played my brother, and...

Yeah. In Pan's Labyrinth, he played the faun.

But this is an on -camera job. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I played Aunt Eloise. And I also did something

recently. I played a sex therapist for UCLA and

University of Miami for something that's going

to go on the website to teach people who are

going, you know, married couples to what's wrong

with their relationship. You know, it's whatever's

next on the agenda. And we're going to Toronto

together in May. For another convention? Yeah,

yeah. Is it for Lulu and Elmer? Yeah, Anime North.

Anime North, yeah. Oh, cool. Yeah, so they've

got Lord Zedd and Rita together. Well, that's...

Go ahead. Yeah, that's May 27th to 29th in Toronto.

That's all I was going to ask. Where else can

fans interact with you guys online? Do you guys

have Facebook? Websites or something like that,

Twitter? Yes, I have a site on Facebook, but

there's two sites and they keep going to the

wrong one. I don't know how to explain the right

one. Do you have a fan page and then you have

a friend page? I have one that says Barbara Goodson,

Santa Monica, California. That's the one they

should go to. That's the fan site. I think I

actually am your friend. You probably are. I've

got a lot of friends. You do have a lot of friends.

And I haven't checked it for a while, so I apologize

to people who have asked to friend me. I'm notoriously

back. I'm an old woman. Leave me alone. I can't

get into the twittering and tweeting and stuff,

but I do have this page that I try to get to

in answering questions and stuff as often as

I can. What about you, Robert? Oh, and I also

have a website. Oh, and my website email is Barbara

at BarbaraGoodson .com. Awesome. What's your

website consist of? Oh, demos of my on -camera

and voice demos, pictures, interviews, stuff.

Awesome. Robert, what about you? How can fans

interact with you on Twitter, Facebook? Facebook.

You're on Facebook? Yeah, just look for Robert

Axelrod, I suppose. I'm going to be sending you

a friend request, so be looking for Scotty Cash

Clark. Okay. We're going to be best friends,

mean Lord Zed. That's what everybody's going

to say. My manager usually takes care of my Facebook

stuff, but she's been offline for a couple of

weeks while she gets a new system in. So I'll

get to it myself. I also have a website on Facebook.

I don't know what it is. I guess you go www.

Oh, I don't know. I'm sure if they just type

your name in, it'll pop up. Yeah. I'm going to

try right now. You'll probably be getting a lot

of phone requests after this plays. Oh, I hope

so. But they just all need to remember. Yeah,

there you are. There you are. Robert, you've

got like a hundred things there. I don't know

which one is the one to click on. He's popular.

He's popular. Oh, I guess the one that says Lord

Zedd. Anyway. Well, I just want to thank both

of you for joining us, and we'll ask you to hold

the line, and we'll be right back from the command

center, the audio version. Okay. You're in for

it now, Zed! As soon as you say I do, you won't

be doing much of anything anymore! Once I take

control of the world, you'll be the one riding

around in a dumpster! Time to wake up, Zeddy!

What beauty! What magnificence! Where did you

come from, fair lady of my dreams? It worked!

Oh, said dear, you remember me. I'm Rita Reposa,

one of your faithful and humble servants. Rita,

yes, Rita. Rita of the stars, of the sun, of

the universe. I've been seeking you for so long.

I love you, fair creature. Say you'll be my wife.

So, yes, Lord Zedd and Rita got married. Wow.

It was great talking to Barbara and Robert, wasn't

it? No doubt about it. That was awesome. Yes.

Except for when I tried to convince her that

she had an action figure and then remembered

that she didn't have an action figure. I am retarded.

Back in the day, no, apparently she did not.

However, there is a new four and a quarter or

whatever size class it is that it's coming out.

Because it was shown at Toy Fair this year. I

mean, I guess I just... I don't know. I swear

I had a Rita when I was little. Maybe because

I know I had the squeeze flashlight that she's

talking about, and I still do. And maybe I just

always use that. I don't know. I swear that I

had a Rita Repulsa figure. Who knows? But I mean,

it would have made sense if they had made one.

Right? I mean, they made toys for everything

else. Well, I'll eventually have her because

she's coming out soon. Yeah, you know, talking

with Robert and Barbara was just very, very cool.

And, you know, hopefully we can talk to more

Power Rangers cast members, whether it's, you

know, just voiceover people. or whether it's

the actual actors. I would like to point out,

someone had commented on the Geekcast Radio website

when we did the Lisa Jay little interview thing

that we did, that it would be great if we could

get Linkara, who Linkara is the one that does

those History of Power Rangers videos. Basically,

he takes... I showed this to you, you know. He

takes each season or each series and does like

an entire video mashup of the footage with his

voice over it. It's basically a video series

Power Ranger review of each television series.

And that's kind of where I got the idea for the

audio version of From the Command Center of going

in order from Mighty Morphin all the way up to

whatever the current incarnation is, which now

is Samurai. but someone had commented on geekcastradio

.com saying it would be great if we could get

Linkara from the command center. I have actually

worked with him recently on This Week in Geek.

We did a topic for This Week in Geek on geek

relationships with him, myself, Spada, who did

our Sentai information, and Mark the Engineer,

who is the engineer over at This Week in Geek,

and I asked Linkara off the air. if he would

come on from the Command Center eventually. And

he said, sure, just let me know when. We're not

going to have him on anytime soon. He is, right

now I believe he's getting ready to do his Dino

Thunder review. So I kind of want to wait. until

we get further in our stuff because we're just

getting into Mighty Morphin. We just started

it from the command center here on the audio

version. So I want to wait until we get down

to like Dino Thunder or, you know, Wild, not

Wild, Dino Thunder or Jungle Fury or, you know,

something closer to the end of the podcast. So

we will be talking with Linkara, but it's probably

going to be sometime the end of this year maybe.

So, yeah, I just wanted to let people know that

things are happening from the command center.

I've reached out to people and stuff like that.

So just know stuff is coming. Right. Any final

thoughts before I close this out? Nope. It was

awesome. Oh, I know. It was very, very awesome.

Thank you for joining us here on From the Command

Center. There are so many ways to get in contact

with us. We'll leave feedback for the show. Visit

the network websites, geekcastradio .com and

popculturenetwork .com. Join the forums over

at Pop Culture Network and Geek Cast Radio Network.

Leave the show's feedback in iTunes. Please do

this. We are currently still trying to, I think

Steve did submit the show to iTunes, but iTunes

usually takes like two or three days before it

actually shows up. So hopefully by Episode 2,

FTCC will be in iTunes. You can follow me on

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PopCultureNet is PopCultureNetwork's Twitter.

Become a fan of both of our networks on Facebook.

Search Geekcast Radio Network and PopCultureNetwork

.com. You can check out PC and on YouTube with

all the other action figure stuff. Scotty also

has his video series of From the Command Center

where he takes an in -depth, quote -unquote,

YouTube look at Power Rangers toys. Sorry. No,

no, no. That's something completely different.

Scotty has – he's kind of like – I really don't

want to compare you to this because it's kind

of like you have huge shoes to fill, but you're

kind of like the Johnny Carson of Power Rangers

reviewers. Hey, that's all right. I need an Ed

McMahon. Well, that's what Cardboard Tommy's

for. Well, that's true. That's true. Except for

when I get rude emails, he doesn't get cussed

out at all. You can call. Our voicemail lines

tell us the show you're leaving the message for

and any name or screen name or whatever you want

to use. For Geekcast Radio Network, call 502

-526 -5821. For Pop Culture Network, call 217

- A note on the voicemails. If anyone is going

to be leaving voicemails for From the Command

Center, the podcast version here, please use

the GCRN one because I'm the one that edits all

the stuff as far as the audio. So use the 502

-526 -5821. number, but you can still call the

PCN number as well. We hope you enjoyed this

interview of Robert Axelrod and Barbara Goodson

here on From the Command Center and wish you'll

join us next time when we will be continuing

with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 2. For

now, I am TF21Mike with Scotty Cash. Thank you

for listening. Until next time. Let the power

protect you.