Glad I'm not alone on this one.
George Newbern does seem to be the black sheep of the DCAU voice acting family. They don't even mention him in the round table interview of Bruce Timm, Kevin Conroy & co on "Public Enemies", like they're ashamed of the fact that they had to re-cast Superman (of course that was the only major re-cast they ever had to do - no one complains about Michael Rosenbaum replacing Charlie Schlatter as Wally West from the one guest spot on Superman TAS to Justice League, or complains about Scott Rummell replacing Miguel Ferrer as the voice of Aquaman, and so on). Speaking of Newbern, anyone remember his voice work from "Pirates of Dark Water"?
In fairness, recasting Tim Daly as Superman for the "JUSTICE LEAGUE" TV series was likely a major move (Daly was the lead in a remake of "THE FUGITIVE" from 2000-2001, which only lasted 23 episodes). Other characters like Flash and Aquaman had only appeared in a single episode so it wasn't as major; and Aquaman wasn't even a regular team member. I would imagine Newbern landed the gig in part because he sounded close enough to how Daly delivered that some viewers wouldn't notice or at least the recast wouldn't appear too abrupt. You could also claim that at the very least Newbern continued to be cast as Superman after "JLU" wrapped, such as for "THE BATMAN" or "SUPERMAN/SHAZAM: THE RETURN OF BLACK ADAM". He's a lower tier actor to a degree than Daly, who is more "famous" since he was one of the stars of "WINGS" and later on "PRIVATE PRACTICE"; Newbern is more of a character actor appearing in smaller parts in many series. That said, Newbern played Superman for a grand total of 67 TV episodes; 62 on "JL" & "JLU", as well as his stints on "STATIC SHOCK" and "THE BATMAN". If you consider the fact that "SUPERMAN/SHAZAM" was a half hour long - roughly as long as a TV animated episode, you could argue that's 68 episodes of material. Tim Daly headlined as Superman in a solo series, which ran 52 episodes. Aside for reprising the role for a 2002 PS2 video game, Daly didn't play Superman again until WB started issuing more DTV's, and he's been in 3 so far: "SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC ATTACKS" and the two "SUPERMAN/BATMAN" DTV's based on Jeph Loeb stories. "JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM" will be his 4th DTV. Whether that makes up another 15 TV episodes is up to the beholder.
I imagine to Timm and Romano, casting Daly in 1995 or so for the Superman series was akin to casting Kevin Conroy originally as Batman; they figured he was THE Superman voice for them. They adore and reuse a lot of voice actors in various projects, Newbern included, but I imagine to them Daly will always be more special because the 90's were a different era, in the midst of their prime yet building to bigger projects like "JLU". That said, it is strange he isn't mentioned as much in some "round-table" discussions. I hadn't heard them, since I didn't get blu-ray editions of things. WB Video has gotten more cheapskate on extras for DVD's since they want to encourage people to needlessly upgrade for blu-ray amid the worst recession since Jimmy Carter, if not Herbert Hoover.
Again, it isn't as if I dislike Tim Daly as Superman or anything. I don't. He's a great Superman. "S:TAS" was starting right around when I was entering high school so he was the Superman of my teen years for me. However, "JL" started in college so he's been the Superman of my adult years. Daly had some great speeches, moments, and interactions as Superman whether in the TV series or his DTV's, but Newbern had plenty, too. The "World Of Cardboard" speech may be one of the most memorable but there were others too. So, while it's always nice that Daly comes back for these DTV's, it isn't a full JLU reunion without Newbern.
In my opinion Tim Daly is Superman, his voice is perfect for the Man of Steel but George Newbern definitely doesn't get enough credit his Superman is amazing and only just beaten by Daly who knows maybe they'll use Newbern in Superman vs the Elite.
That's possible. They may cast Newbern as Superman when they need someone quickly and the executives aren't so invested in it being a "known name" like Daly or someone else.
I like Newburn more than Daly personally.
I don't know who I'd choose if I had to. They sound similar in some ways in their deliveries but they also have differences. Just feel Newbern doesn't always get the same props even though
Panthro said:
I'm curious to hear how Rosenbaum does as Barry Allen, but also have to wonder why they didn't just cast a different actor to play Barry, other than they wanted to bring back as many familiar voices as possible, since the rest of the hero cast is basically a DCAU reunion minus George Newbern, Phil Lamarr and Maria Canals-Barrera. I also hope Barry doesn't get tripped up by mud and/or marbles.
You know, it would be nice to see Kyle Rayner get a role in either a future JL feature or a Green Lantern one. He only got two appearances in the DCAU - one in Superman: TAS and another in JLU - and animation wise he hasn't been seen or heard from since. Show the guy some love.
I imagine they wanted to recast a lot of familiar voices not only for the fans but perhaps as a tribute for Dwayne McDuffie, who wrote the screenplay before he died. Many if not all of these actors read his lines for years so I would be stunned if that wasn't some motivation deep down. That, and maybe sales figures somewhere suggest some of these "reprisal" stunts pay off. After all, everyone loves Conroy's Batman. With him reprising the role in games like DCU Online and the "ARKHAM" series, that will only cement it. I also hope Flash doesn't have something embarrassing happen to him here. In fairness, there were no woes like that in "JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS", although it helped that they had an evil speedster to pit him against in the finale.
Kyle Rayner seemed to exist in a perfect storm in terms of TV appearances. I imagine when Bruce Timm and company wanted a Green Lantern for "S:TAS", they wanted to genuinely go with Hal Jordan. However, when that episode was in production, in was around 1998, when Rayner was DC's comic Lantern. I imagine the order came down that it HAD to be the current comic Lantern for synergy, and why not? So we basically got a Rayner who looked almost exactly like Hal, and had most of Hal's origin, but had Rayner's name and job. There was more of an attempt to imitate Rayner's hairdo in "JLU", but naturally by then John Stewart was the Green Lantern, due to Timm feeling, rightfully, that a team that represented the earth should have at least one member who wasn't white without being an alien.
Naturally, by the time "JLU" was over in 2006, Geoff Johns and his fantasy to revisit his youth in the 1970's with Barry Allen and Hal Jordan and everyone white and old and boring in DC was complete. By now, he's a head honcho at DC capable of influencing major Hollywood films, so of course the DTV's have to follow suit. A part of me does find it partially amusing that obviously a decision was made to include one person of color on the JL to replace Stewart in comics and animation, and Johns has run with Cyborg, best known for TEEN TITANS, rather than, say, Steel or even Vixen who both actually were Justice Leaguers on occasion. Having Wonder Woman remain the lone female representative on the team despite women literally making up 50% if not more of the planet still doesn't bother anyone high up. But, eh, now I am rambling.
"JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM" should be good. It's a loose adaptation of TOWER OF BABEL but I'll likely appreciate it as a new Justice League adventure, which hasn't been as common without a TV show.
