Meeting Berg Katse!

Okay, I'm willing to bet that probably got your attention. You see, yesterday, thanks to a very important project that Animax is doing, I ended up setting up a meeting between the Animax Marketing Manager and the leading voice talent company here in the Philippines Creativoices, AND its Marketing Director Brian Ligsay and the company CEO/Founder Pocholo (or Choi) "The Voice Master" Gonzales, who happens to be the guy who dubs Berg Katse on "Gatchaman" in my country.

Not only did we just talk about the project, I also got a very good view not only of the voice acting industry, but was regaled with stories behind the scenes of the Filipino dubbing of "Gatchaman", which is VERY, VERY GOOD considering that the script closely followed the original Japanese -- cursing characters and all. In certain episodes wherein you have Galactor heavies speaking in Kansai-ben (a somewhat provincial country dialect in Japan), they opted to have the bad guys speaking in our own Visayan/Batangas accents. Hard to describe it, but I must admit, it's really funny to listen to.

I was told that the director for "Gatchaman" is also the same talented guy who voiced Eagle Ken, Benjie Dorango. Whoa! Talk about similar roles. Ken leads the KNT; Ken's dubber leads the voice acting team.

One funny thing Choi told me was that originally it was Benjie who also dubbed Berg Katse. But since Benjie was more used to dubbing all types of heroes (he did the voice of Dao Ming Su in the hugely popular Asian drama "Meteor Garden"), he did not do good as Katse, and ended up getting ribbed endlessly by Choi about it. Benji ended up saying since "You're always criticizing me, you do Berg Katse." Choi, of course, did Katse to perfection. Not surprising, since he IS THE "Voice Master" after all. But then, just on a lark, Choi decided not to show up at the studio to do two episodes, forcing Benjie to do Katse again. Choi criticized him again for it, to which Benjie said, "THEN DON'T BE ABSENT!"

I must admit that it was the story about Condor Joe's dubber that had me grinning ear to ear.

You see, Joe's dubber happens to be the idol of every kid and teenaged girl because he has such a sexy, manly voice, but still coming off with the youthfulness needed for the character. What these adoring female legions DO NOT know is that Joe's dubber is actually GAY and, while he seems to sound rather manly on tape, seeing him dub Joe in the studio would be quite a shock since he is just as flamboyant as Berg Katse! Needless to say, my poor niece and best friend were disillusioned last night when I told them the truth about the Condor they loved.

In the three hours that we had the meeting, Choi told me how much he loved playing Katse, and he even showed me some of the projects they were doing now and some anime and Asian dramas that they were particularly proud of. Oh, if you've got kids that watch "Spongebob Squarepants", it's Choi who sometimes dubs the character. I even got to do a sample reenactment for him of my favorite Berg Katse scene and he told me "YOU should attend our voice acting workshop." I'd be lying if I say that I'm not giving it thought. But the workshop fee is rather expensive. Hope I could raise the funds for it.

I was just so sad that the meeting came to an end. But I'm really happy about all the things I've learned. I'm particularly PROUD of the fact that animation companies worldwide are recognizing the voice talents that we have in our country! OUR VOICE ACTORS ARE REALLY FANTASTIC!!

Oh, man! If Choi were to probably read this post, he'd probably be thinking...



And I'd probably do just that! :

That sounded like an amazing experience for you Rory.

I don't care if the voice actor is for the condor is gay, a sexy voice is a sexy voice. Women will imagine he's straight...

It not everyday you get the chance to meet someone directly involved in Gatchaman.

Thanks for sharing this with us!

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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.