| Legacy of
Power » Interviews » Barbara Goodson |
1. You have done voice work for a good number of years for one of Power Rangers most recognizable characters, how did you get into voice acting?
I always had a good ear for mimicry and got a lot of laughts as the "baby" of the family when I'd imitate the grown ups. After NOT making cheerleaders OR majorettes (they said I was too short!) I decideed to try out for the lead in the high school play. I won the part and was forever bitten by the acting bug. While auditioning in NY after Queens College & going to the American Musical & Dramatic Academy, I wrote myself a monologue of my different characters and perfromed it around town. (Never had the money to get a voice demo tape.) When I went to LA I recited my monologue to a voice agent who signed me for voiceovers. I landed my first audition. I lucrative commerical as the voice of The Fruit Loops Magical Penguin. After that anime also started to crop up around town and word got around that there was "word down in 'dem hills"...it beat waiting tables and the rest was history!
2. Where di you come to find out about work for a voice acting position and did you only audition for Rita Repulsa?
Nope. I'm trained as a classical actor, a singer, took dance, used my whole instrument. I've written and perfromed night club acts. As truly committed actor you do what needs to be done. You buy trades, take classes, network, and you hear things by doing the work.
3. What was the audition like for Rita Repulsa and what did it require you to do?
Actually, I was simply given the role at first. It was just another Saban project and I was their number one female voice talent at the time. They were new to the business and I met them early on. Maybe even their first project. So, I had no actual idea what was wanted from the character and no one else did either. I first used the typical "witch of the west" voice, they okayed it, said it was great and that was the pilot, I think or the pre-pilot.
4. Rita's voice is pretty unique, how did you invent her voice and what was your inspritation?
Ha! Good question! They got word after a young focus group saw it that the kids thought that Rita wasn't scary enough. So...they fired me! I said, "Hey, it was you who okayed that voice. Now that you know what you want, can't you give me the chance of showing you a different version before firing me?" They said, "Sorry, no". I said, "Can I at least be allowed to audition?" They said, "We guess so". Well, I was sooo angry and hurt. They wanted scary. I gave them scary. I used my upset about how "dispensible" I was feeling and blasted out that voice. I was rehired and had the "good fortune" to scream for 5 years.
5. Did you, like so many others, think that this show would be a one hit wonder and disappear into a sea of reruns?
I remember watching it with my family and being a bit sheepsih. They were looking at me like "What was that?" I said something like, "Hey, it's a job, I know it's weird but I'm working".
6. Were you shocked at the response that the show got and the mania that followed?
Absolutely! My son was about 5 when it started and he had a Red Ranger & White Ranger costume, two Power Rangers birthday parties and all those toys. The kids at his school would run up to me all the time and say "Do Rita! Do Rita!" (He wasn't impressed, he'd say "Why can't you be the Pink Ranger?)
7. Ranger actors will always be recognized on the street because of how often they are on screen, how does it feel not to be reconized on the street as such and does it give you the joy of having such anonymity?
It feels fine! It's not something I desired to be known for as my only talent. I remember once on a family trip in Mexico I was reading at the pool of a hotel and my son told this little boy I was the voice of Rita. The little boy kept swimming up next to me asking me to "Do Rita". Finally, I tried (quitely) to scream "Get those Power Rangers!" That was a big mistake. Next, bot his parents started to swim up and asked me to perform and yelled across to some other people. I was polite but I really didn't like the feeling of whatever that was.
8. Rita was portrayed by two actresses, the fire being her original actress from Zyuranger, and the other being an originally cast actress, did you find it weird to be putting you voice and words to someone else's lips and vice-versa?
No. That voice took on a life of ts own. What I had frustration about was the same footage being used for different episodes (there was a shortage of footage from Zyuranger) and having the sync look sloopy. I knew when it was off but sometimes we were locked into moving the story along and had her have to say things that didn't fit.
9. Some screen actors in the past have stated that Power Rangers was a major credibility problem on their resumes, do you be this to be different for voice actors and what doors has your work as Rita opened?
I have it on my resume, I like that credit and I'm not soley a voice actor. If a screen actor worked on Power Rangers, yes, I know some casting people might think they're not to be taken seriously. It's more the point of what you did on the show and how you feel about it. If you did something they you're proud of, it's worth mentioning. Amy Jo went on to Felicity. Rita was a uniquely amusing character and took hard work. Yes, it was a lot of screaming but I think it was the humor that made her popular and worthy of the response she's gotten through the years. It also led to me doing Cruella Deville for Disney and many other sinister characters I've Done since.
10. When doing your voiceovers, what was the settling like? Were all of the cast for the show, but screen and voice, sitting together doing lines? Were you given the footage to look at while you were reading your lines? Did you do them with other voice actors?
It was me alone in a booth looking at s creen. If we did a walla session we'd have more of but for Rita I was by myself with special mike since the voice was so loud. For the show at Universal we sat together because there was no film. It was our voices record to actors onstage in monster costumes.
11. How much say or suggestion did you have about the development of your character?
Not a great deal. The character and the format pretty much set. If I improved on the lip sync by adding words or changing them around it was usually implemented.
12. How was Saban able to keep you around for so long just to do the voice of Rita?
Not that great. Steady income is a nice incentive in a rocky business. Especially when you have a family and you want to do what you love, get paid and have time to be a good wife and mother. Our voiceover family did band together from time to time to get what we felt we deserved. It worked to be unified. Haim Saban always appreciated being talked to directly and I would do that and I was respected for it.
13. How did you feel about the demise, more or less, of Rita in the final episode of her appearance knowing that you wouldn't be able to voice her anymore?
I was mostly fine with it. A little sad and sentimental because I wouldn't be seeing the people I care about regularly. I also didn't like that I was out of a job again!
14. Were you surprised at the fact that Power Rangers has lasted for the fourteen seasons that it has with a fifteenth coming in 2007?
Yes, indeedy!
15. You returned in 2001-2002 for the female voice of Mandilok, how or why did you return to the show then?
(Let us not forget Orbis and Sprocket, shall we?) Because I love working and getting paid for it! I love acting in all forms and I love the people I get to work with.
16. Would you ever choose to return to the show (Power Rangers) in the future? Even though it has been relocaed to New Zealand, it would be easier for a voice actor to reutn than let's say a screen actor as your lines could be done in the States.
Yep.
17. Were you surprised about the Disney acquistion of Power Rangers as well as much of Saban Entertainment and how did you feel about them not using American voice artists anymore in lieu of cheaper voice artists in New Zealand?
I could easily get grumbly about the big bad world out there and the treatment of talent. Haim's a shrewed business man who wants as much "bang for his buck" as he can get. Disney's no different. People are complex, though. Not all good or all bad. Power people in this industry can get very greedy and you have to set your personal bar to how much you'll take or walk.
18. What do you think about the large teenager/adult following that the show currently has, who are clearly fans from when you were on the show?
I didn't know about it!
19. What have you done post-Power Rangers and what will you be doing in the future?
Oh my! I've done a lot of independent films, two night club acts, some plays, a Lifetime, A Guilty or Innocent?, a pilot called Psychic Cleuths, played the mother Juding in Raw Footage that is current on the festival circuit. Just worked on a film called True Love as the X-Hippy landly. Another one called A Shade Before Pink as Layla who teachers crossdressers to perform, and Sweet Lullaby as a manical mother. Voice wise I'm playing Laharl on Disgaea, CD-Roms (Guild Wars, etc), Eureka 7, Queer Duck (Elizabeth Taylor voice), ELCL (Naota), Lady and the Tramp II, War of the World's looping, the Madam voice in House of Flying Daggers, won an Earphones Award for a Time Warner Book on Tape On A Night Like This and will be doing infomerical for Aero Pilates! On Saturday, I take my son to college for the first time at UC Berkeley.
20. Recently Rita was brought back as Mystic Mother, the Empress of Good Magic but without you! What's your take?
This is the first I heard about Rita's return and I would've loved the chance to do it again. I'm disappointed that whoever is now in charge didn't first ask me to voice Empress R. ( I'm also not at all surprised.) They probably wanted to do what was quickest and least expensive and didn' t think anyone would notice. Ah well, life goes on.
|
