"Kit.....Kit Cloudkicker.." - Kit, Plunder and Lightning "Plane for Keeps".
July 4th,1998 is usually the day where America celebrates the birth of a country. However; for me it was officially the birth of a new website. The birth of a TaleSpin website......However; this was no ordinary TaleSpin website by any means. (Although no TaleSpin website is 'ordinary'.) This is the very first website which pays homage and respect to Disney's #1 character. He is the cutest, most in-depth young man ever designed by Disney: Kit Cloudkicker. Yes; Disney's answer to drama and excitement from a character who didn't get much respect from Disney. I chose Kit Cloudkicker because I simply loved him as a character and also because there was no website that in fact focused on him. I always figured that there were as many people who loved Kit as there were many people who loved Don Karnage.
I'm up to lucky seven now...Seven years since this website has been up and it is still brawling. I still have lots of content left to produce and still not enough time. Not to mention that now space is becoming a factor for me once again. I'm currently looking into a place where I can store additional projects. So stay tuned for that. Also; I'm in the process of being hired formally to work for Suncel; which means that the Unofficial Kit Cloudkicker Homepage work might be limited soon. For now; it's not a big deal since I'm still working two days a week at the most. However; that could soon change and I might be forced to work on the website on weekends. On the other paw; I'll be getting from $75 a month to $780 a month easily.
Anyhow; onto the projects completed at this point. I have set a record for the most TaleSpin rants as I have completed 25 episodes this year alone; compared to just 22 episodes the previous two years. Hopefully; I'll be finished ranting by the end of this year and then concerate on other projects. I did three editorials this year including my thoughts of the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004 (and I'm still trying hard to believe it.): Hey! The Sox Win The Series! Also; my review on the FOXBOX 2004 season called A One Piece For The Ages. The last editorial was a short one on me bashing a reviewer for caring about an issue no one has cared about in the history of animation: Stop Being Such Girly Men. So; I did 28 articles in total this year. My MXC Cartoon World Cup scripts have also progessed nicely as I have finished ten scripts overall and eight so far this year. My ninth script is almost finished and it's the American Cup Final between the Simpsons and TaleSpin of course. Now for the fanfics: Plunder Project J4306 Chapter One has been posted and it's the only fanfic that has been posted this year. I couldn't finish Part One of Dragging the Sparna in time for uploading. Unforeseen Impact is almost done in story script; but it has been slow going due to working on the MXC scripts. Rebecca's Diary hasn't been touched once again as usual. On a positive note: I've finished the first Faint Cape Story (which was supposed to be the ending for Terror of TerraStone): Clouding Riches; both in story script and dialogue convert. All in all; I did more work on the fanfics; but didn't produce final draft results. I've also added some sections to the TaleSpin Cast & Crew Section: TaleSpin Cross Section and TaleSpin Production Connections. Also; I have a Livejournal and you can access it by clicking on the What's New? link to access the What's New? webpage and there should be a link called My Livejournal. Click on that link and you should be in business. So; that's pretty much all I did this year. I have 18 episodes left to do and a lot of fanfics and MXC scripts left to do. Plus; I have to update the Tributes page. So now that we got that out of the way; it's time for some thoughts....
Well; the E3 didn't provide me with any special information; so I have decided to bring back my old standby from Three Years of Cloudkicking which is the Where are they now look at some of the TaleSpin talents and there has been a lot happening since that last editorial. However; this year will be different from that editorial as in that I will not be mentioning just stuff that they did over the last four years. No; I am going to mention the voice actors as it relates to a growing trend in the voice talent industry. You may have heard of it from the recent news of a deal between the video game compaines and voice talent unions concerning higher pay. Yes; many of our favorite TaleSpin voices are now working as voices for video and personal computer games. It's hardly a surprise since many of the animation voice talents have been overtaken by the newer blood over the last decade or so. Sure; guys like Frank Welker, Jim Cummings and a couple of others still find animation work; but most of them have now moved on to other more trendy works in order to get them as over with the jaded public like video games and even anime to a lesser extent (Sherry Lynn and Debi Derryberry). So; what video games are being covered by the TaleSpin voice actors?! Well read on for the answers...Editors Note: This only covers video games done between Jan 2001- June 15th, 2005 unless I'm using them as a starting point. Also; I'll only mention the video game once so that each person has something unique. If it looks like there are fewer titles; chances are that the voice talent did voices for the video game title already shown in question. Then it won't be a 300K editorial in the end...
[1.] Michael Gough- You know him as the voice of Gopher in Winnie The Pooh and Colonel Spigot (No stupid pun needed here) from TaleSpin. He moved onto video games in 1996 with Soviet Strike and Diablo and really started becoming a videogame voice full time since the animated series Zorro in 1997. Between 2001-2005; Michael Gough worked on the following video games as a voice talent:
Star Wars: Galatic Battlegrounds Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura The Mummy Returns Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Treasure Planet: Battle At Procyon Solider of Fortune II: Double Helix Star Wars Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast Bloody Roar Extreme WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos Summoner 2 Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Jet Li: Rise to Honor Call of Duty True Crime: Streets Of LA The Hobbit Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bose Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends Shrek 2 (As Shrek no less) The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay Doom 3 Shark Tale X-Men Legends The Bard's Tale The Punisher Men of Valor EverQuest II Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Viewtiful Joe 2 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords Resident Evil 4 Shadow of Rome Area 51 Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil Predator: Concreate Jungle.
That's 40 video games in just the last four years. He has done 55 video games overall in his career. Don't worry about his animation career; he's been a guest star in several cartoons such as Totally Spies and Duck Dodgers.
[2.] Pat Fraley: Yes; even the talented voice of WildCat has has a bug for video game over the last several years starting in 1997 with Herc's Adventures. Here are his voice credits for video games:
Atlantis: The Lost Empire - Search for The Journal Disney/PIXAR'S Toy Story Racer Evil Dead: A Fistful of Broomstick Gladius Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike Terminator: Rise of the Machines Armed & Dangerous
That would be a total of eight unique titles in just the last four years. He did 13 titles overall in his career. His last voice credits are dated to a year ago when he was a guest on Grim & Evil and King of the Hill.
[3.] Tony Jay: The voice of Shere Khan started voice video game characters since 1996 when he did the voice of William the Just (and two other characters) in Blood Omen: The Legacy of Kain. Here are his unique voice credits for video games:
The Jungle Book: Rhythm'n Groove Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver II Return to Castle Wolfenstein Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate - Dark Alliance Star Trek: Armada II Hunter: The Reckoning Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter Legacy of Kain: Defiance Galleon Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel Lionheart Star Trek: Elite Forces II Freelancer
That makes up 13 unique titles in the last four years. He did 25 game titles in his career so far. He also has been working on Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends (as Spiderus) and Detroit Docona. Before I continue; I would like someone to confirm or deny that Tony Jay's voice was heard on WWE Raw doing the vignette's for WWE Raw Superstar The Masterpiece: Chris Masters. I believe that I heard Tony Jay's voice during the vignettes in the months leading up to Chris Master's debut and I would like to make sure that I wasn't hearing things. Thank you...Moving on...
[4.] Michael Bell- Michael Bell is no stranger when it comes to voicing characters in video games. In fact; he's started doing it as early as 1990 when he was Dark Fact in Ys: Book 1 & 2 although he didn't start doing it full time until 1999. Here are his credits for video games:
The Final Chapter: Forgotten Realms - Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal Command & Conquer: Red Alert II Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge Emperor: Battle for Dune Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem Dark Chronicle Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Enter The Matrix Arc The Land: Twilight of Spirits Alter Echo Comand & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando I-Ninja Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal Ninja Gaiden For X-Box Shellshock: Nam'67 Narc for X-BOX, PS2 Rise of Kasai
Michael Bell has 18 unique titles in the last four years and 58 titles over has career. Remember that Michael Bell has been acting since 1958 when television was in it infancy of popularity. He's done few animation voices since 2002.
[5.] B.J. Ward: You do remember her as a voice for Velma in the recent Scooby Doo movies (not the new Scooby Doo tv series: What's New Scooby Do?)? Well; she's been voicing video game characters full-time since 2000 and started as a voice for Blazing Dragons in 1996. Here are her voice credits for video games:
Jade Empire Forgotten Realms: The Demon Stone Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain Onimusha 3 Run Like Hell Star Trek: Starfleet Command III Scooby-Doo: Night of 100 Frights Scooby-Doo & The Cyberchase
There are eight more titles right there and she's done 24 titles in her career. She was in ER playing a Post-Op Nurse in 2002.
I've just mentioned 87 videogames with just those five voice actors alone in the last five years. Other notable videogames that have been voiced by TaleSpin voice talents include:
Genso Suikoden IV (Sherry Lynn) Xenosaga Episode I: Chikara he no ishi (Sherry Lynn) Final Fantasy X (Corey Burton, Debi Derryberry, Sherry Lynn) Final Fantasy X-2 (S. Scott Bullock, Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Sherry Lynn, Kath Souice, Debi Derryberry) Ty The Tasmanian Tiger (David Lodge) Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell (Jim Cummings, Cam Clarke) Earth & Beyond (Charles Adler, Alan Oppenheimer, Susan Silo) God of War (Rob Paulsen) Tak 2: Staff of Dreams (Rob Paulsen) Metal Arms: Glitch In The System (Corey Burton, Dan Castellaneta, Rob Paulsen) Goldeneye: Rogue Agent (Danny Mann) Tales of Symphonia (Cam Clarke, Debi Derryberry, Susan Silo) Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Rob Paulsen, Cam Clarke, Patrick Zimmerman)
I have mentioned 100 or at least 263 plus video games (as of May 5th,2004- I need to update and I've managed to get it at 276 videogames and counting.) that the TaleSpin Voice Talent Team have been working on. Ginny McSwain has also worked as a dialogue director on several videogames as well. So as you can see; the voices haven't really retired; they have moved on to another medium. That is really no surprise since many voice actors tend to move from various media formats to perfect their craft. I can understand that some believe programmers and designers should get the profits from games; but it really isn't going to happen since it would pretty much kill the video game industry due to the fact that games already cost $50-$60 while movie DVD's cost $10-$30 (DVD boxsets for shows do cost around $60-$250 depending on the show.). So profit sharing; even for the so-called greedy voice actors isn't going to happen either unless videogames lower in costs quickly and signs are that they are not since some are reporting that the next-generation games will cost up to $70. So there you go.
Now to end my editorial; I'm not sure how long I can keep doing this website at the regular updating and such. I'm still waiting for word that I'll be working at a full-time job at Suncel and if that happens it means that I'll be working five days a week starting at 4:00 am in the morning to wake up and getting home every day at 7:30 pm. That's pretty much the same as my previous job at Safe Communities. Meaning that I'll have to eat and then sleep at 9:30 pm. That gives my only two hours to work with and I'll be too tired to do anything. So that means I'm going to have to work on weekends pretty soon (probably by this fall) and I probably won't be able to work on projects at the same vigor that I'm used to. I'm sure planning to keep the website going; but it will be a change. Also; space on the website is becoming a concern right now and I'll be looking for a place to keep material that requires the new home. I have no plans to delete anything right now; but if anyone wants me to delete fanfics that are on other websites and are no longer required on my website (There's no point in my keeping repeat projects); e-mail me and I'll delete them without question. Even so; I have a busy summer as I'm going to try to finsh up the rants and maybe use that new home as a website for my rants and reviews...Who knows?!
That's all for another year of cloudkicking......That's my opinion; I welcome yours. See you next time.
