John Bernardy
The Venture Bros. cast
Jackson Publick (stage name for Chris McCulloch) and Doc (Eric) Hammer may not do much in other spheres—aside from McCulloch voicing all five heads of Hiram McDaniels for Welcome To Night Vale—but that’s because they’re too busy writing, producing, and recording voices for their Adult Swim show Venture Bros. Which is, for my money, the most quotable cartoon ever. I’ve tried to mimic every character’s voice, even Patrick Warburton’s Brock Samson, Steven Ratazzi’s Doctor Orpheus, and James Urbaniak’s Doctor Rusty Venture. Michael Sinterniklaas as Dean Venture, and Mia Barron as assassin Molotov Cocktease, are also essential cast members. Choice guest spots—such as Stephen Colbert as the Grand Galactic Inquisitor (“Ignore me!”)—round out one of the best casts in all of animation.
But the bulk of the main voices comes from Publick (Hank Venture, Henchman 24, The Monarch, and Sergeant Hatred, etc.) or Hammer (Billy Quizboy, Henchman 21, Doctor Girlfriend, among others). The fact all these characters have such distinct dialogue and speech patterns is a feat by itself. But then over the seasons the characters change over time, and react as emotionally real as possible. You know, considering they’re dressed in superhero costumes and belong to hero or villain guilds.
The fact that such a silly parody can get at your heartstrings—and make you root for a bumbling villain to get his life together enough to be good enough for his supervillain wife—is testament to how real the characters on Venture Bros. feel. Venture Bros. may be all about dealing with themes of failure, but it is nothing but a success. And that comes down evenly on the excellence of the writing and the voice actors.
The Cowboy Bebop cast
I’m constantly impressed by the dub cast’s ability to anchor this anime series in a consistency despite the fact its 26 episodes can range from as dark as it gets to full-on goofy parody. No matter the tone, the characters never feel like they’re not themselves.
This must have been a dream job for the voice actors because of all the extremes they were expected to reach. Not to mention this was one of the first anime dubs that veered away from the silly over-dramatic dubbing style derisively known as Bad Anime Acting—seen in shows such as Dragon Ball Z. Here, the show took itself seriously, but not too seriously. It felt like realistic voice work for the grand majority of the time.
Show creator Shinichiro Watanabe wanted Spike Spiegel to be the coolest cool guy ever, and Steve Blum nailed it. He’s been Marvel’s Wolverine, Zeb on Star Wars Rebels, Roger on The Big O, Starscream on Transformers: Prime, Cartoon Network’s Toonami robot, and the high profile list goes on and on. Yet he’ll be most remembered by a generation as Spike. Watanabe was successful in making the controlled chaotic loner Spike into the coolest of the cool, and Blum made sure to make that happen. His Spike is restrained and guarded in the most intriguing ways. The subtle line deliveries explain how Spike is uncharacteristically scared, or if he’s amused by his situation. You know when Spike’s all bravado or when he’s playing weak to be underestimated by the other guy. I bet Blum doesn’t have to do auditions after this. Because they know he can do it all.
Melissa Fahn is the wacky child techno-genius “Radical” Edward. Fahn manages to sell the near-alien character’s oddness without being too precious or disconnected. Considering she gets lines like “Hot dog bun, not too young,” that’s quite an accomplishment. I can still see why Ed would rub people the wrong way, but without Fahn we wouldn’t be hit in the feels when Ed and Ein leave the ship near the end of the series.
Speaking of Ein—the data dog Corgi—one of the producers’ dogs provides the vocals for him. The show’s authenticity knows no bounds!
Wendee Lee started voice acting with Robotech (as “bridge bunny” Vanessa Leeds)—which gives extra bonus points from me—and is still working today reprising her Naruto character Moegi. I had no idea about any of that when I first watched Bebop, and it wouldn’t matter anyway. Faye Valentine will always be my favorite role of hers. Faye is chaotic, dangerous, a sex bomb, funny, in control, and clueless, usually all within the same episode. She’s the perfect combination of femme fatale and comic relief, and Lee got the role of a lifetime being able to nimbly portray that range.
Jet Black is performed by Beau Billingslea, a live action actor as well as voice actor with a wide scope of credits. Billingslea’s portrayal of reluctant team dad Jet is noir as hell, with underrated comic timing. Two of my most in-real-life quoted lines come from Jet: [when knowing full well to stay out of an argument] “don’t know and I have no opinion,” and “maybe it’s me!” Billingslea loads up Jet with all the hard boiled nonsense Jet wants to think he is, and gives him a properly gooey center that makes it perfectly reasonable why he deals with Faye, Ed and Ein, while also being the perfect work partner for Spike.
