During San Diego Comic-Con, we got a chance to sit down with Eric Bauza who is taking up the mantel of Splinter, the mentor and leader of the Turtles. In the past he has been able to play the voices of Leonardo, Donatello, and even Tiger Claw.
One of the awesome things that we were able to catch prior to our interview, was Eric Bauza interacting with some children at the convention.
After he was done entertaining the children, he sat down with our reporter at the scene, Jeremiah Jones.
Jeremiah Jones: Thanks for sitting down with us at Nerd News Social.
Eric Bauza: Very cool to, when did you arrive today?
JJ: I’ve been here since 4.
Eric: I was literally in the car for 3 hours. They picked up the car, and poured me out of it. But I’m happy to be here with you.
JJ: So I hear you are playing Splinter…
Eric: Yes! I am the voice of Master Splinter. Here is the thing about the new Master Splinter, when compared to the old Splinters. He’s very lazy. He is not like the stoic old wise sage as we’ve known. He doesn’t even remember their names, so he’s like, “Orange one, you and Red one go to the store and get me dumplings. And make it snappy, my favorite show is on TV!” He’s very comical, but he still has a tough love for his sons. Every good father, has to have tough love, they have to learn somethings the hard way. As far as other characters, I was Tiger Claw in the past, so being able to voice an original character in the Turtles Universe has been quite the honor.
JJ: Since it’s a Ninja Turtles interview, whats your favorite pizza topping?
Eric: I got to tell you I am a classic kinda of guy, cheese, pepperoni, red sauce, and thin crust.
No sushi or ice cream on my pizza, I’m not a Michelangelo type.
JJ: On the same line, I recently found out that there is a big debate on this topic. Where do you fall on the pineapple debate?
Eric: Oh, pineapple on pizza? Oh gosh, I have people looking at me! It’s a lot of pressure! (To the crowd) “Do you like pineapple on your pizza?” (Crowd Responds) Unless it’s accompanied with Canadian bacon, because I’m from Toronto, Ham/Canadian bacon and pineapple… sure. Or pineapple and jalapeno, then I’m in! Otherwise get off of my pizza pineapple! I had it the other day, it’s amazing!
JJ: From what I’ve been told that is Kevin Eastman’s favorite pizza.
Eric: It’s kinda of a good combo.
JJ: You’ve done other characters, but you’ve said you’ve done cancelled shows?
Eric: It’s a fun fact. I love Nickelodeon. They’ve been so good to me for the last few years. Being able to work on not one Ninja Turtle series, but two back to back. It’s a little unheard of these days. They do like to shuffle the deck and bring new people in. Some of the old school original turtles like Rob Paulson, who played Raphael and Donatello is now voice directing the talent. The evolution of an actor to a director… I get to see a legend, and a friend, make that transition. Also to be one of the first people he is directing is quite the honor.
JJ: When you do the voices, are you just in the booth, or do they have the animations done already and you are looking at it?
Eric: Well, in western animation, we like to read the script first, and then they animate to our voices. Once the animation is there, if it needs some sweetening then we definitely get to go back in the booth with the picture and add some more spice to it.
JJ: Do you have a preference of which option?
Eric: I like being able to voice with no picture, because you really get to let your mind go free and tour imagination run wild.
JJ: And then you get to see if they take the things that you did, and apply it to the animation?
Eric: Absolutely! Because the writers hear the voice a certain way, but the director and the producer hear the voice a certain way… but then suddenly you are in the booth, in the mix, and you add that x-factor to the whole thing.
JJ: Have you other styles besides wester animation?
Eric: I’ve done some Anime before, like Japanese animation, they have been doing a lot of Marvel Universe stuff. I recently did voices in Batman Ninja, I got to play Two-Face. He is one of so many good Batman villians, but to be doing Two-Face is great. But who knows if we will ever get to see Anime Ninja Turtles. That would be very cool.
JJ: If you could be one of the ninja turtles, who would you be?
Eric: I’ve always been partial to Donatello. I actually got to voice Donatello for a short, created by Jhonen Vasquez, who created Invader Zim!. He created a short called Ralph Vs. Donny. It was myself, and the rest of the cast were the the three gentlemen from Workaholics. I’ve also voiced Leonardo for a short. That was done by Brandon Auman who was one of the writers on the 2012 Ninja Turtles. I’ve also voice Raphael in a pilot for Ninja Turtles. So I’m one turtle away from being all of the Turtles! Rob Paulson really has done two for two different series. He is the true “G” right there.
JJ: So that means…
Eric: Michelangelo. He is the one that escapes me! But Greg Cipes, is a hard performance to top, but Brandon Mychal Smith’s version… well he has some great stuff with Mikey. Shout out to Greg Cipes.
JJ: Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Eric: I think there’s going to be a lot of cool things for the old fans, and the new ones. It’s back to 2D animation, so if you are a fan of the original Ninja Turtles that was done in 2D, then this is like eye candy. It looks like a moving comic book. It’s Rise of the TMNT, so it’s kinda like a Prequel. The rules have changed a bit. So rather then watching the same story over and over again, we have some new things going on. It premiers this fall, check your local listing for Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
JJ: Thank you!
Eric: Thank you!
While a sneak peak was shown on July 20th, during San Diego Comic-Con, you can see more episodes when the show will air normally starting on September 17, 2018 on Nickelodeon!
Facebook Comments