Newsarama.com has an interview with Diedrich Bader (voice of Batman in Batman: The Brave and The Bold) who reveals some of the guest voices for new episodes of the just-announced 2nd season of the Cartoon Network series.
Paul Ruebens (Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Mystery Men) will guest star as Bat-Mite. Bader says, “He’s hilarious. He’s so perfect as Bat-Mite. The fanboys of the show are just going to go out of their minds because we mess with reality in a way that just hasn’t been seen on our show. Both the script and the animation goes completely out there.”
A new episode scheduled to air May 1st, “Night of the Huntress” features Tara Strong (Teen Titans, Transformers Animated) as Huntress, and includes the return of Blue Beetle and Babyface, voiced respectively by Will Friedle (Batman Beyond, Kim Possible) and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants, Transformers Animated). Guest stars in the episode include Armin Shimmerman (Grim and Evil, Bioshock) as The Calculator, Grey Delisle (Grim and Evil, Spectacular Spider-Man) as Black Canary, and Ellen Greene (Pushing Daisies, Out of Jimmy’s Head) guest stars as an original character called Mrs. Manface.
Continue reading: Animated Shorts — The Voice of CN’s Batman Talks Season 2.
Elsewhere, Toon Zone has an interview with series producer James Tucker in which he offers additional details on upcoming episodes:
[“Night of the Huntress” is] pretty much my version of a Dick Tracy episode. Most people who know of me artistically, know that I’m really into the Dick Tracy style of art, which is kind of reflected in the show, so this is my version of gangsters. Batman and Dick Tracy have a lot in common, so this is me leaning more towards the Dick Tracy version of the gangsters who have weird faces and their names equal their appearance. It also features Ellen Greene as his wife, Mrs. Manface. She is a Tony nominated actress who was Audrey in the 1986 Little Shop of Horrors, and she also starred in Pushing Daisies. She does a great job as Babyface’s wife. Armin Shimmerman guest stars as the Calculator, and this is the first time that he has appeared in animated form. It’s a big, funny show! Lot of humor and it furthers Blue Beetle’s story. It’s pretty off the wall and will cause a lot of stir among people when they see it (laughs) and Huntress is great. I love Huntress in it.
TZN: There’s been a lot of talk about the upcoming musical episode. What can you tell us about that?
TUCKER: Well, it’s a full-on musical, meaning it’s almost all completely sung. It will have Gorilla Grodd, Clock King and Black Manta in it, and Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Aquaman, since you mention him. And John DiMaggio who voices Aquaman is a beautiful singer by the way (laughs). And it’s going to be wall-to-wall music and a lot of fun. I can’t talk about the villain yet, so I’ll leave that alone for now. Michael Jelenic and I wrote the lyrics, and then our composers, Dynamic Music Partners, composed the music and did all the scoring. And the music sounds great so far. The show hasn’t been finished yet, but I’m convinced it’s going to be something really special. I think people are going to enjoy it a lot.
I will say that the person who plays the villain is known for doing a lot of musicals and is currently enjoying great success on a top sitcom. He’s definitely got some fan and critical cred, so people won’t be surprised when they hear who’s doing it. This is going to be a big, splashy, over-the-top Busby Berkley meets MGM musical meets superheroes. It will be cool, but it won’t be corny.
For further reading with Bader discussing his role on the show, visit Comic Book Resources, Comicon.com, and Toon Zone.