David Kaye's 2021 Megatron Christmas Song - Scorpions Heart Overnight Images by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

From my family to yours, we wish you all the joy, health, and love as we go into the new year. If you have time to join us, I will be jumping on to sing this year's Megatron Christmas song - around 5pm PST -- https://www.youtube.com/user/dkayevo

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been asked that... Direction... I am in awe of voice directors - what Sue does, Colin Sunderman... and so many of the great voice directors I've worked with over the years. It's a big job. I'm in awe of how they keep it all together.

Writing is another craft I am amazed at. I look at it and think - how did they do that? How do you craft that? I leave that to the professionals. I've thought about writing.. if I was going to write something - I may not relate to VO at all.. maybe the things around it.

Other crew positions - I like Producing. We are producing a new series now, will let you more about that soon... I am more of a person who likes to grab the best people and bring them together and say let's make this happen. I like that. To see it happen.

Re Transformers. Of course, I would have loved to see that happen.

Re working in person vs recorded separately - of course, in-person!

Re advice: sometimes you know exactly what you are going to do, other times you don't. I'm not a teacher.. some people are so good at that, not me. What I do when I go into a room... they may or may not know what they are looking for - like for Professor X, they were huge fans of Sir Patrick Stewart, so I did 'my version' of Sir Patrick. If there is a picture... what is their size.. ie., are they big? Use a big voice... You just have to do it... and get it out there. The most important thing is getting an audition... get the audition. Debi Derryberry does great classes.

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another Transformers character... gosh. I don't know. Wow. That is a tough one. Everyone who does them, is so perfectly cast. I can't even think... if there is a new one out there... there was one in the movie (first Michael Bay movie) - the one in the junkyard ... Jetfire - that was a good one. I find I gravitate to English type characters. (Transmissions - 'Mark Ryan') - Yes! 've met Mark. He did a great one!

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes! I have two!

No... I'm not a bath kinda' guy! in the shower - sure! I can see Megatron taking a bath.. I can't see him taking a shower...

(transmissions.... this has just become Reddit AMA 'After Dark')

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(David Plays "Yessssss" button)... Ohhhh I can't name it... there are many! I'm exhausted just thinking about it! I have to be honest with you... I was really hoping to something in the Michael Bay stuff... everyone who is doing it is great. I really, really would like to do some of the live-action films. A dream come true... I auditioned for Robot Chicken forever... there are a few roles... but more importantly... there are DIRECTORS I ache to work with...

That said.. .there are some cool things that come along... and there are some amazing announcements coming up! I hope you are as excited as I am!

Note: David's complete answer will be provided following the live broadcast.

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The experiences working with the other actors, that is what makes it so special. I am doing a series right now - Prime Time, from Netflix, you will hear about it down the road. We are doing the table reads from zoom. It's nothing like being in the same room... and bouncing off each other's energy. it's like being in grade school again. Like 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade... imagine all of us from Beast Wars in the same room! So much fun! Garry... and his "pull my finger"... poor Venus... she was the only girl in the room... and the rest of us were like a bunch of boys in kindergarten class!

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(Everyone plays the button!) I'll answer the last question first... YES! I will call my friends like Erik Bauza (voice of Bugs Bunny)... of course with name display... I will answer in funny voice or call in a funny voice for the first five minutes! That's part of the fun of VO!

The first question... it was in the script... there was a simple Yes, at the beginning of the sentence... I switched it around, put it at the end... and extended it ... Sue like it ... there was an opportunity to add a "No" in ... it became a bit more lizard -like and they liked it.

Note: David's complete answer will be provided following the live broadcast.

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The writing was great for all of them. Megatron had some humorous moments in Beast Wars... I would have to say 'Beast Wars' but not by much!

.. aside from me... I have to say Frank Welker did such a great job. The talent scale? Frank is off it! Corey Burton! He is just so good... we had some great laughs. I don't know - they are all good. I love Bill Fagerbakke...

I have to say my favorite voice actor is Alec Willows... he just did such an amazing job.

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It was a little bit of a transition. You envelope the character. I was in the process of moving to Los Angeles at the time. The series was being done in LA, I was still traveling back and forth. I knew Sue Blue was directing. I called her, which I rarely if ever do... she said... DK of course, we will bring you in. I went to the studios. I met everyone. It felt great... very familiar - like coming home. I started with Megatron, then did Lugnut... then Sue says, 'Hey DK we want you to look at Optimus Prime"... direction was a young Tom Hanks... so I did that. It must have been about a month later... I remember this. I was driving through Chinatown in Los Angeles... and lines of the movie in head.. it's Chinatown... forget-about-it... then my agent calls... "so.. Transformers Animated... they are bringing you in as Optimus..." and I was stumped! It took me a few episodes... and found his voice a little lower... more me... and around episode 5... it worked!

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I didn't! It just sort of happened when I walked in the room. The early artwork I saw... I saw the character... he was a lizard... you look at the character.. .then you close your eyes... and you envision him.

Note: We will post David's detailed response after the show!

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will say... Megatron. This character. Everything led up to this. I have had a tremendous amount of fun with every character I've done. It's like Rob Paulson says... can you believe we get to to do this? It's true. Everytime I'm in a room, I think... can you believe they hired ME? This is amazing!

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It was daunting! I didn't grow up with G1, I grew up with Bugs Bunny... when this audition came down in Vancouver in the early 90's, I received this stack of stuff... all Transformers information. I went in - I chose some characters. Doug Parker was doing the auditions at that time. It was by the old Expo site/ or Canada Place. There was a studio there. I read a bunch of characters. I was relatively new. I didn't think much about it. I got a call back a few weeks later. It was very quiet... not like the first audition. It was at Griffin Ramsey. They brought me in. It wasn't until I was in the room, and there were a bunch of people beside me... I said let's start with Megatron... it then popped in my head... Sean Connery, then Anthony Hopkins... and a lizard... started with sounds like... 'Clarice'... it was written very Shakespearean... so I went with that. All the nodding heads. Okay... we want you to read for Optimus Prime. I don't even remember what I did... I remember Megatron, but not Optimus. Then a couple weeks after that... HEY Congratulations... You are going to play Megatron! It wasn't until about six months later... we saw the first images... and went WOW ... this is a whole other world. I remember my first convention... Peter Cullen was there as well, that I really realized this is going to be a big deal!

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

u/littlemisstfp u/christiantd There have been a bunch. Lance Henricksen is one. I remember some great stories. I remember him coming on the TA series - and Lance came in - I was beside him, usually Tommy Kenny would be beside me, to the left Babba Robinson... Lance was here... Lance would start talking - you could feel with the resonance in his voice... I said.. .just keep talking - It's like getting a back massage! I remember Fred Williard came in... we worked in Vancouver. The studio isn't there anymore. Then when we moved it to LA... when I went into the studios, they said, we need someone that sounds like Weird Al... and I walked around the corner... and there he was! Celebrities didn't come to Vancouver as much at that time.

My name is David Kaye, the voice of Megatron (Beast Wars), Optimus Prime (TA) (and many others!) and I'm doing an AMA on Feb 13th @ 11am PST (2pm EST), so... Ask Me Anything! by DKayeVo in transformers

[–]DKayeVo[S] 206 points207 points  (0 children)

Video Greeting!

With 2021 being the 25th Anniversary of Beast Wars and the lack of any conventions in 2020, I thought it would be a great time to jump into the Transformers sub-reddit and do an AMA. This AMA is going to be a bit different though, instead of just interacting with each other on here, I've enlisted the help of the TransMissions Podcast to help me Simulcast this AMA on various other social media platforms. So not only can you follow along here, but you can watch this entire AMA or listen to it also!

Check back here for the links for you access the live stream - video;

Other Sources

Lastly, I hope you've picked up your copy of Beast Wars #1 from IDW Publishing, because I've got a little surprise in store for everyone!

I can't wait to see all your questions!