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Astro voice actor here

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:05 pm
by jayrath
Ugh! I'm having trouble posting this. I hope it's not a duplication.

I'm sorry I disappeared after making contact some time ago. My computer crashed and I lost everything, and my scanner still gives me fits. I was the voice of evil Skunk, and Astro's classmate Billie. I also did many other voices, in every single episode, and I helped write the English-language theme song.

I want you to know that all of us who did the English dubbing are amazed and thrilled by your interest. Many of us are still in touch -- we love you.

I am more than happy to answer all questions. I was the only one in the cast to take photos, make my own rehearsal recordings and save all scripts. I knew "Astro" was a big thing.

I volunteered to do DVD commentary for the new releases; there was some interest, but nothing came of it. That is proper -- the real credit must go the the superb writers and animators.

I was never happy with Skunk's voice. You will note it changes over time. I had my own idea, but the director had his notions, too.

How can I help you?

Again, we love you.

-- Jay Rath

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:20 pm
by jeffbert
:lol: I am so glad to hear from you again! Despite my dislike of the English dubs in all but the 1963 version, I am thrilled to hear from anybody who actually had a part in it. :p

Please tell us about anything you can remember! :astro:

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:28 pm
by jayrath
"Anything" I can remember? That's a pretty tall order, and it would fill a short book. It was a wonderful time of my life. I'd just come off performing a theatrical revue. I got bad notices, but the director noted my talent at doing different voices.

We did the two-hour pilot and then got approval to do the series. (I don't know if the pilot has ever been aired. My DVD copies show bad cuts.) We did three seasons in a summer.

If you dislike our dubbing, know that we spent a day or day and a half on each episode. By the end we were drinking cough syrup out of bottles, our throats were so raw.

I went on to do quite a bit of radio drama.

Let me state again that all of us in the English language cast are so proud that you enjoy our work.

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:32 pm
by Dragonrider1227
Pretty cool to see someone who actually worked on a version of Astro Boy here :)

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:46 pm
by jayrath
I know that there is confusion as to who did what. The principal cast members were: Patty Whitely (pregnant when we did the pilot!) as Astro. Paul Nelson was Atlas. Richard Ganoung was Astro's dad. Kahlei Slick was Astro's mom. Dave Miller and I played many clean-up parts, and so we got to be in every show. Our director was Del Lewis -- he played a very few parts. Becky Wilenski was Urane. Brian Parry -- a very fine actor -- was Dr. Elefun. Bob Gonzalez was Daddy Walrus. I can't believe I remember all this.

I see that I get first billing on some internet sites. It is not deserved.

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:53 pm
by jayrath
P.S. We met several times with the Japanese producers. It was pretty big event. None of us could speak to each other, but we were all very pleased.

We cast members were all a bit bitter afterward. Our American producer, we thought, was a bit of a . . . well, he had big talk, and then nothing happened. For all we knew, "Astro" was dead. We spent so many hours absolutely loving the show. We felt betrayed.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:25 am
by Dragonrider1227
Wow, that sucks :(

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:01 am
by Astro Forever
Very glad to hear from you again, welcome back! :)

Technical question: there's a scene with Alvin speaking with Astro's dad. If I recall correctly, both voices were from the same actor. Did the actor quickly switched voices or did he record one character and then the other one?

Did those situations happen frequently? I'm trying to picture this in my head! :lol:

It's a bit hard to ask questions. I'm sure many of us would love to flip through your material for hours but as we don't know what's in it, it's hard to ask specific questions.

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:02 am
by crazyd2000
jay-- remember mike demark from the show? if you want his email, I have it. PM me if you want it (I'm his son. He told me about you.)

Edit: this might be a good time to resurface this thread: http://astroboy-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3079

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:18 am
by tonigirl1000
HI- HUGS AND THANKS SO MUCH JAY- HOPE WE BECOME FRIENDS