THUNDARR on JELLYSTONE!
Here's a fun thing: I am the voice of THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN in a just-released episode of the animated series, JELLYSTONE on MAX.
Season 3, Episode 33: “Thundarr The Barber-barian.”
In the original series, the character was voiced by the great Robert Ridgely, whom you may know from movies like Boogie Nights and Blazing Saddles. He voiced countless characters on animated shows, everything from The Smurfs to The Snorks to Capitol Critters and DuckTales. (And if I was currently making new episodes of my Dead Eyes podcast, you can bet that Ridgely being in Philadelphia and then getting cast in That Thing You Do! would certainly factor into a Thundarr-centric episode.)
But while Ridgely was the voice of Thundarr for 2 seasons and 21 episodes, it is looking like the tenure as Thundarr might be a one-and-DONE. On the same day that the final batch of Season 3 episodes dropped, it was announced that this would be the end of Jellystone on MAX. The show has been canceled.
I hope I’m wrong about that. I’d love to return for more Thundarr, in any context. This is the first time I’ve played a role that has its own Funko Pop.
I will confess: I have no memory of ever watching Thundarr The Barbarian as a child, though it's possible it just didn’t linger in my memory. I watched A LOT of cartoons, and not all of them were memorable. But it was a true delight to get a chance to voice this role, revisiting a character from the era when Saturday Morning Cartoons meant the world to me via the funhouse mirror reality of Jellystone's 21st century take on the universe of Hanna-Barbera (and Ruby-Spears, which Thundarr is folded in from).
I will say this: if the Thundarr episode of Jellystone somehow catches on, gets meme-ified and people on social media start demanding more new Thundarr, who knows what might happen? Corporations love rebooting old IP, and I am the only living actor with experience as the voice of Thundarr, so presumably I would at least be on the shortlist...
connor!