All of the following news items come courtesy of TFW2005.com:
Update: 2.07.2010 — Tony Todd, who voiced “The Fallen” in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, revealed in an interview with Den of Geek that he has already been cast in Transformers 3:
DoG: Are you involved in Transformers 3 do you think?
TT: Yes.
DoG: Definitely?
TT: You want to quote me? What I was told last month, yes. But that’s Hollywood!
DoG: Is there anything you can tell us about it? It’s got to be worth a try.
TT: No! There’s more of it! [Laughs, starts thumping desk and making explosion sound effects]. Something along those lines!
– News of the cast for the Japanese dub of Transformers Animated has surfaced:
> Hiroki Takahashi as Optimus Prime
Voiced Hellscream and Mantis in Beast Wars Second, Gildo and Build Hurricane in Car Robots (aka Robots in Disguise)
> Daisuke Kishio as Bumblebee
Voiced Kicker in Transformers Super Link (aka Transformers Energon)
> Satomi Akesaka as Sari Sumdac
> Norio Wakamoto as Megatron
Voiced Flame Convoy in Transformers Galaxy Force (aka Transformers Cybertron)
And the show’s theme song will be performed by j-pop group JAM Project, which one of the group’s members is known for providing “the opening, ending and insert songs to Japanese Transformers series The Headmasters and Beast Wars Metals. ”
Also mentioned is that fans can expect to see Transformers Animated released on DVD and Blu-Ray in Japan starting in Fall 2010.
– Actor James Avery revealed in an interview with Unscripted that he will be voicing Silverbolt for the upcoming Transformers 3 live-action movie.
While Avery is most-widely recognized from his TV dad role on the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, he’s voiced several recurring characters in animation on Disney’s Pepper Ann, as Shredder on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Real Ghostbusters, The Legend of Tarzan, Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys, and as War Machine/James Rhodes in Iron Man (The Marvel Action Hour).
– Following up on previous news from Michael Bell that he had auditioned for the roles of Ratchet and General Fowler for a new Transformers animated series — it appears that the role of Ratchet has gone to actor Jeffrey Combs according to a recent news update on his official site:
TRANSFORMERS: PRIME
Debuting later this fall Hasbro in conjunction with Discovery Communications Inc will release a new Transformers cartoon on a new TV channel currently called Discovery Kids called Transformers: Prime.Jeffrey will be the voice of Ratchet, a very well known character in the Transformers world. There are 26 episodes scheduled for the first season. Exact details of the show are currently unavailable but will be posted here as soon as they are made available.
Jeffrey is quite thrilled with the opportunity to be cast in the role of Ratchet. He’s not able to talk too much about the show this early in the production but did have this quote: “What I can say is that it is an honor and a privilege to be a part of such a prestigious project.”
It should be noted that following the report of this news on Feb. 4th via various Transformers fan sites, as of this posting this news item no longer appears on Combs’ website.
However, the Transformers series has now been confirmed by an article in The Hollywood Reporter which reveals that the series will be computer-animated and that TV/film producers/screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (who penned the first two Transformers live-action flicks) will be involved, possibly serving as executive producers.
And I’ll be doing an awards-season wrap-up in a separate post, but I thought I’d mention that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was nominated in 7 categories for the 2010 Razzie Awards “honoring” the year’s worst in film.
Related post: 12.18.2009 — Cullen Voicing Prime for New Transformers Game
