el Fuńaroverse: Derek Stephen Prince Interview

elF: It was very refreshing to read your interview with Chris McFeely, and see you openly cite MMPR Productions, and Scott Page-Pagter in particular, as being a big part of the reason you're where you are today. So many former alums tend to be down on their time on the series, and you've begun to make quite a name for yourself in the industry. Not really so much a question as a thank you. (Though, I suppose if I wanted to make it a question... Would you ever consider returning to voice another "suit?")

DSP: I would love to. Scott has always been gracious enough to invite me to audition when they are casting new monsters for the season. But I have yet to book one lately.

Derik (not Derek) notes: Literally days after this interview, Derek was called up to fulfill VA duties for Tire Org for PRWF episode five.

elF: I would imagine that doing dubbing for a character in costume is quite different from work on an anime. For one thing, you have a lot more leeway on how much you're allowed to "say," since the mouths move so little (or not at all). How much ad-libbing was allowed- or even encouraged- during your time with MMPR Productions?

DSP: Not a lot. We pretty much stuck with the lines as written. I did have a little more leeway when MMPR turned union.I replaced an actor by the name of David Umansky, who did Elgar for two seasons. When I replaced him mid second season, I was able to kick around some lines to make him funny.

elF: I've always been somewhat curious- do the VO-only actors run lines in ADR at the same time as the on-camera cast does? If so, were there ever any Ranger actors that stuck in your mind, or were the most fun to work with?

"This picture's not really great, maybe
four years old. My hair's much shorter
and look more like Justin from
Backstreet Boys than anything. At
least, that's what people tell me."

DSP: Any time you see monsters speak in the show, they have all been recorded in post-production. What I mean by that is, after all the on-camera actors and action sequences have been filmed, they add the monsters afterwards by having each one go in seperately at different times and record their voices in a booth. There may be some instances where we will rerecord outside action sequences where you see groups of people running, or fighting. In that scenario, there will be 4-5 people in the booth at the same time. That is called group looping. Scott may sometimes pull one of those actors for a guest monster that only has 3-4 lines.

elF: You got your start in stage and television acting, as opposed to voice-over work. Is there ever a part of you that would like to return to performing in front of the camera, or the theater? Which would you say is most rewarding for you?

DSP: A part of me would like to return to that All The Time! It's what I was trained in, it's in my blood. I miss it terribly, but as with anything, when you make certain choices in life, priorities change. I am married and have a son. It's really hard to try and juggle voice-overs AND stage AND television and a regular job! I couldn't do it anymore. But a part of me always hopes that if things get easier, I will be able to go back to film and television.

elF: What's the last good book you read?

DSP: I can't remember the last time I read a book. Isn't that sad? I used to read all the time. Science Fiction/Fantasy/Action are my favorites. My favorite types of books are anything pertaining to the Arthurian Legends or James Bond. I also love comics, but those aren't really books.

elF: Comics count! What titles?

DSP: I was a collector mostly (quite a nasty & expensive habit.) I didn't get a lot of time to read, and I stopped collecting about 4 years ago, so I am definately not up to snuff on what's current and what's not, but here's what I liked-either for the art content, or storyline:

JLA, SuperBoy, Steel, Spawn (hands down some of the best art I've seen since Frazetti), anything with Venom. And I don't care how hokey everyone thought is was, I loved the whole Marvel 2099 series of books!

Derik (not Derek) notes: 2099 rocked, Peter David, the writer of Spider-man 2099 is currently doing a time-travel arc in the pages of Captain Marvel picking up many of its characters. As for Bond, I rather liked High Time to Kill even if it wasn't a Flemming novel.