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Our friends at Madman Entertainment group were able to recently sit down and have a chat with voice actor Garry Chalk, the voice of Optimus Prime in the Unicron Trilogy and Optimus Primal in Beast Wars and Beast Machines. He talks about his early days, and how he got into the business, the difference between the two roles, the evolution of the industry and more! Check out the embedded video below.
Re: The Voice of Prime: Garry Chalk Interview (1543639)
Posted by Rodimus Prime on January 21st, 2014 @ 6:04am CST
I like the guy, he's hella talented, and mainly the reason (along with David Kaye) why I love Beast Wars so much, but it looks like he's letting himself go a little there... Still, I wouldn't mind meeting him at a convention sometime, haven't had the chance yet.
Re: The Voice of Prime: Garry Chalk Interview (1543647)
Posted by Sabrblade on January 21st, 2014 @ 7:20am CST
I bet this interview will be included on Madman's Armada DVD set, which begs the question of why they could get this bonus feature on their DVD set while Shout! Factory couldn't (or wouldn't).
Garry describes the difference between his portrayals of Primal and Prime, saying that Primal was more family-like and fatherly, able to get mad and frustrated and feel more human, while Prime was more militaristic like a military leader who does things military-like. Based on past interviews, It's no secret as to which role he enjoyed and which role he did not like much at all.
Re: The Voice of Prime: Garry Chalk Interview (1543682)
Posted by Nemesis Maximo on January 21st, 2014 @ 10:49am CST
While I really do love that Peter Cullen is still able to perform as O.P. in so. Jch media, I really do wish they would get Gary Chalk to voice Prime in the next installment (the cartoon, that is.)
Re: The Voice of Prime: Garry Chalk Interview (1543703)
Posted by Dead Metal on January 21st, 2014 @ 11:45am CST
Can't wait to see the ones they'll have with him for the Energon and Cybertron releases, those will be utterly amazing and hilarious to watch.
Giant Lizard? Calling it, Godzilla.
Re: The Voice of Prime: Garry Chalk Interview (1543726)
Posted by welcometothedarksyde on January 21st, 2014 @ 12:47pm CST
Dammit, why do all the Beast Wars voice actors have to be such cool people. Even though he doesn't know everything about the franchise he still seems to enjoy having been a part of it.
Re: The Voice of Prime: Garry Chalk Interview (1543732)
Posted by Dead Metal on January 21st, 2014 @ 12:57pm CST
welcometothedarksyde wrote:Dammit, why do all the Beast Wars voice actors have to be such cool people. Even though he doesn't know everything about the franchise he still seems to enjoy having been a part of it.
He does! He also collects Optimus figures.
Re: The Voice of Prime: Garry Chalk Interview (1543769)
Posted by Sabrblade on January 21st, 2014 @ 3:49pm CST
Dead Metal wrote:Can't wait to see the ones they'll have with him for the Energon and Cybertron releases, those will be utterly amazing and hilarious to watch.
I'm not expecting Madman to have separate Garry Chalk interviews for all three series since this one seemed to cover Garry's TF work in a general overview manner rather than specifically covering his Armada work.
But one thing I'd like to hear from him would be an explanation for yawning performance of "Monoptimus Prime" in the Armada episode that debuted Thrust and Jetfire. What was he thinking speaking every line in that episode with zero traces of any kind of emotion? Even his worst performance in Energon looked like a masterpiece compared his performance in that episode.
Re: The Voice of Prime: Garry Chalk Interview (1543773)
Posted by Emerje on January 21st, 2014 @ 4:06pm CST
Man, I would love an episode, special, movie, anything that would be able to get Peter Cullen and Garry Chalk working together.
Emerje
Re: The Voice of Prime: Garry Chalk Interview (1543962)
Posted by BumbleDouche on January 22nd, 2014 @ 7:33am CST
I always remember spotting his live-action performance in the Watchmen movie... I wasn't looking directly at the screen at the time, but when I heard his voice I instantly turned around. A welcome surprise!
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