Guys...something from the rumor mill here in Germany. (via German Facebook Group Star Trek Fans Deutschland) Rumor has it that the voice actor "Michael Pan" who lends Brent Spiner his voice for german dubs has been contacted for recordings for the german dub of Discovery...which are supposed to start in december.
Hm, sounds suspect to me. Would a dub performer really be contacted that early in development of the show? I'm also unsure why contacting Michael Pan (why exactly are you putting the name in quotation marks, by the way?) would automatically mean Brent Spiner will be in the show? Couldn't he just as like be hired to dub an entirely different actor?
The quotation marks are just because I was to lazy to use the bbs code for bold. There are only about 200 voice actors who regulary do dubbing work here in Germany. Normally each voice actor becomes whats called a "Standard Sprecher" (german for "standard voice actor" for a few actors. When ever that actor is in a movie or on TV the dubbing studio tries to get his or her standard voice actor. In general great care is taken that each voice actor does not speak more then one actor per franchise / production. A voice actor will often be standard voice for a hand full of actors, plus other work (Station voice for tv, radio, ect.), so to ensure a specific voice actor beeing available its imperative that they be contacted as early as possible. We are very sensitive to voice actor changes here in germany...for some people it can even ruin a show. (For example, when it was announced that the dub for the latest Dragon Ball movie was to get a whole new voice actor cast...the german licensee was shitstormed (successfully) into using the old cast). So if Michael Pan has been contacted this might really mean that Brent Spiner is involved in some way. Of course sometimes someone else will be used if an actors standard voice actor is unavailable...but then someone not regulary used as voice actor in that same franchise will be called in. To sum it up: if Michael Pan really has been contacted for Discovery then he will be voiceing Brent Spiner.
Well, he's also the “Standardsprecher” for Bob Odenkirk, David Hyde Pierce, Bob Balaban and Martin Short. I guess it's just as likely he might be voicing one of them.
Its highly unlikely that he will be used for another actor but Brent Spiner in anything Star Trek. It would throw people off to much. What I could see them doing..if Discovery has an opening narration similar to TOS and TNG..maybe they contracted him for that...to have a known voice instead of a generic one. But I really cant see them using him for another on screen actor. Its just not the way dubbing works. I cant think of any time when the voice actor of a franchises main actor was reused for another voice actor in the same franchise. Sure..there have been voice actors reused for different bit or one time characters...but none of them were used for main roles before that. But I think there have been former "bit voices" that later got a main actor voice in Star Trek.
TNG's been off the air for 22 years. This could be just as likely be that he is dependable and like his work.
Hmm...sure...but it would be a very unusual thing to do...in a show part of the same franchise. Of course theres always a "first".
They aren't suppose to be casting anything until September, IIRC. So either someone is making things up, or they are touching bases with known commodities overseas to make sure this show goes off without a hitch.
If he is associated with Star Trek, and Discovery is an arc-based show, they may be having him do the "last time on..." segment at the beginning of each episode.
Sure, it's not all that common, but not really unheard of either. Tobias Meister, for example, voiced Gary Sinise/Det. Mac Taylor on CSI:NY, but also voiced Peter MacNicol/Simon Sifter on CSI: Cyber. It even happened on Star Trek: Julien Haggége voiced Cirroc Lofton/Jake Sisko on Deep Space Nine and is now doing the voice of John Cho/Hikaru Sulu in the new Star Trek movies. Yeah, that's a possibility at all. Although I doubt they are really casting voice actors for this, with no script and no characters.
Maybe its not casting per se..more a "stand by"... just in case. What I actually doubt is a dubbing start in december...that would never work out for a "one day after US" release...unless thats "non-dubbed". A dub of 15 x 50 min would take at least a few months I think. (If its true that a 25 episode run of 20 minutes anime takes a few weeks)
I think it would depend on how quickly they are translating the scripts. If they are doing translations as they go, it may speed up the process substantially.
Casting in September? No way. Filming starts in September. I'm sure they have the main cast already contracted.
I'd like to second Freddys remarks regarding the continuity of voice actors in germany. Yeah, they reused the voice actor of Jake Sisko. I dont think anyone really realized this though... Data´s voice actor is special though. They would never let him lend his voice to another actor in the Trek franchise. Possible scenarios: - Spiner plays a Soong relative on the new ship - Spiner has a recurring cameo role as a Starfleet scientist - Discovery actually plays in the 24th century. They reactivate B4 and bring back (!!!CGI!!!) Data - The whole Discovery story is based on the memory of one of the Omicron Theta colonists. The story is recalled by (CGI!!!) Data
No way they could hide it if the cast were already under contract. Someone would've spilled the beans.
Star Wars did it for months. Maybe they're not under contract yet, but I'm guessing they have at least a few roles nailed down by now. Less than a month until filming starts.
Tom Vogt, the same guy who was Tom Paris' voice for the first four seasons was also the voice for Riker in the movies.