• From NYPost.com:
‘Turtles’ 2.0 Raphael who? Sean Astin talks ‘Ninja’ gig
The “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is one of those TV shows you can’t forget — even if you’ve never seen it. That was the case with Sean Astin, the veteran actor (“Lord of the Rings”) who’s voicing “tough” turtle Raphael in Nickelodeon’s new CGI version of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” premiering this morning at 11.
Astin, 41, was a teenager when the first version of “Turtles” premiered in 1987, so he wasn’t familiar with the intricacies of crime-fighting, pizza-loving humanoid turtles Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo.
“Everyone’s familiar with this show, for Pete’s sake. It’s a massive thing, especially on Halloween if you have kid brothers,” says Astin, who went back and watched a bit of the original series (1987-96) after snaring the role. …
“The thing with voice-overs is, if you don’t do a little something you can sound a little flat,” he says. “If you watch actors in the [voice-over] booth, they’re gesticulating wildly and waving their hands around — you look silly, but that’s how you get your voice to do what’s expected.
Full interview here.
• From Wired.com Geek Dad:
New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Series Is Great Fun, Even Without the ‘Cowabunga’
The heroes in a half shell are coming back to TV tomorrow, and managing to be both refreshingly new and respectful of the past at the same time. … The folks at Nickelodeon have put together a terrific voice cast and excellent animation, and produced just a really good show that easily stands with the best TMNT of the past. …
I had the great pleasure of speaking with The Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin, who voices Raphael in the new series, and with Ciro Nieli, the series’ executive producer. Here’s an excerpt from my interview with Astin:
Read interview here.
• From TVGuide.com:
Sean Astin: Chillax, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fans! New Turtles Are Still Cool
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back! But can their turtle power win over a new generation without alienating older fans? Nickelodeon's animated revamp of the popular franchise premieres Saturday morning (11/10c) and will have to live up to the previous iterations that include a handful of cartoon series and movies all based on the original comic books about four anthropomorphic turtle brothers whose love of fighting crime is only rivaled by their craving for pizza.
"First I would say: Chillax, people!" says actor Sean Astin, addressing fans' concerns in an interview with TVGuide.com. "What sets this Turtles apart is that it's made by fans for fans. The people making this show loved this growing up, and they loved the comic books before the loved the TV shows. They have this depth of appreciation for it that goes beyond people being hired to do a job. If people love something and put themselves into it, it's going to be good."Read full article here.
• From Channel Guide Magazine:
Hobbit or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Sean Astin Is All In
It’s almost hard to believe that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has been around as long as it has. In 1984, when the Turtles had their birth in what was intended to be a one-off comic book satirizing popular comic-book tropes of the day, Sean Astin was 13 years old. Now, decades later, Astin has found himself taking on the role of one of the Turtles himself, in Nickelodeon’s reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, premiering tomorrow, Sept. 29 at 11am ET/PT. I spoke with Astin about the new 26-episode series, its place in the Turtles canon, his mom and yes, a little about The Hobbit movie that reunites a number of his former castmates.Read interview here.
• From MTV Geek:
When Nickelodeon premieres their revamped version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this Saturday, it will be Lord of the Rings and Rudy star Sean Astin in the role of the tough-talking bruiser Raphael. Astin joins Jason Biggs as Leonardo, Rob Paulsen as Donatello, and Greg Cripes as Michelangelo, as the Turtles reemerge from the sewers to take on the weird threats on the surface of New York City.
