This just in from the MVT mail sack!
Regarding the Desert Farm Father who we refer to in previous posts as "Captain Nemo".
"As a fan of Horizons since my first trip to EPCOT in the fall of 1983 or 84, I have been wondering a lot about the things you have been documenting. Keep the information coming! Before MVT came into existence, I was forced to ask these questions to anyone I could find with a connection or knowledge to Disney and the parks. One friend who grew up in the Orlando area and has made and keeps many great "Disney" connections with many Imagineers and cast members, has helped me answer questions over the years... that is how I came upon his name.
His name is Pete Renoudet. He was the voice of many AA characters at the Disney parks, including the voice of Captain Nemo on the WDW version of 20,000 leagues (Go figure!!!). Most Notably, he was also the voice of Henry in the Country Bears and Abraham Lincoln (Succeeding Royal Dano).
In a 2007 interview, Pete describes that his presence in Horizons was a last minute change. The voice we hear is not his, as he was only used as the model for the AA and was filmed for the video on the videophone. (This could be another reason why the mask doesn't seem to fit the AA head... IT WASN'T THE ORIGINAL "MASK"!!!)
This and a lot more about him was posted in the interview. Here is the link for your confirmation purposes.
Read, Enjoy, and congratulate yourself on the Captain Nemo connection! That was amazing.
One of the die-hards!
Michael Garay (aka Menutia)"
Awesome contribution! Chief and I would like to grant you a position here at The MVT headquarters. From this day forth, Menutia, you will be known as "Minister of Missing Persons and Submarine Rides @ Mesa Verde Times". Congratulations, sir.
Holy cow. As a "voice chaser" and a huge fan of Pete Renaday (that's his professional name these days) and his voiceover work, can I tell you how absolutely thrilled I am by this post? I had no idea he was the model for the AA... how cool is that! Outside the wonderful world of Disney, he voiced Splinter in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, Grapple in Transformers, and a gazillion other things (more here: http://voicechasers.com/database/showactor.php?actorid=1146).
ReplyDeleteThanks, Menutia, for sharing (and congrats on your MVT position ;o))! I'm heading over to read that interview now.
This kind of stuff is great. I personally love when we as a group dig out little details like this. It makes the whole Horizons experience feel like it lives on a little more with each historical artifact that we uncover. Nice job Menutia.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Eric_w. What a find! Mission to Mars, 20K, Adv. Thru Inner Space, Horizons... what a dream. It would be great to hang out with Pete if a bunch of MVT fans got together sometime. (Who wouldn't want to hang out with us, right?).
ReplyDeleteAnimatronic voiceovers is a topic I'd like to know more about. (So thanks for the voicechasers link, cornrelish.) As a kid I'd hear stories of Imagineers using their kids or the kids of studio employees for attraction (or animation) voices when they didn't have time to hire actors. I always wanted to be that kid they pulled in when they needed a kid to do something cool like that.
"SW: You were on the videophone, right? So not only is the AA figure you, but also the video image on the videophone.
ReplyDeletePR: Yeah, the videotape is of me."
Any chance you guys captured any film of his video phone call? I don't remember seeing a non-animatronic version of him.