Friday, December 19, 2008

Did you know Mark Hamill did the voice of The Joker

Any of you fans of Batman the animated series? Yeah I know...bla bla bla kid stuff yada yada, but anyone that is fascinated with anime has got to at least check out some of the top notch animation that isn't strictly speaking anime. I let my love of the Saturday morning cartoons flow over into an adult interest in high end animation and variations like anime. With that is an interest in how others are honing their craft. I will watch the Disney offerings at times as well as some aimed straight at a childrens' market. Animators know that today's preteen and teen market is very savvy when it comes to cgi and animation in general and have taken most of what would be considered "cartoons" to incredible levels of sophistication.

So I had caught a few of the episodes of Batman animated series and was reasonably impressed with the quality of the animation as well as the voice over talent. You can clearly tell that the actors in today's animation are playing at a whole different level than was available in those early days. I was particularly impressed with the actors doing Batman and The Joker. The animated Joker had gone from cartoonish to truly maniacal. The voice grated enough to make your teeth ache and the laugh could at times, simply make you sweat. Then I was blown away to find out it was Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame ratcheting up the craziness. Here is a cut showing how Mark developed the trade-marked laugh as well as some pretty interesting behind the scene comments from other actors.


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