The Voice of Perceptor: Interview with Paul Eiding | Transformers G1 | 40th Anniversary

I'm Paul iding voice of G1 perceptor happy 40th anniversary [Music] Transformers well it was out there but I didn't have kids at the time so uh it wasn't as uh in my in my life as much as it became uh let's put it that way um I knew the perceptor knew the Transformers and I was psyched when I got the audition they only had me audition for one character um and that was perceptor um what was funny was back in the day there were different kind of casting directors I had one casting director that would always bring me in for the lower things and then I had another casting director who had bring me in for the higher pitched and that was the C casting director who brought me in for Transformers so I was one of the higher pitched less uh less yelling it was a lot less um um it was a little more verbose but not very loud with you to rescue Cosmos and find energy for you I will be one of them and hold it Optimus we can't risk losing you that's where we come in I'm the only one cap capable of deciphering cosmos's data and me I just lack kicking the septicon cans talk excessive time [Music] limited it was basically for me I I read what he told me was what Wally told me was that he was in think of an absentminded Professor kind of character um because he's so into his science that he doesn't really uh pay attention to the world around him and it somebody asked me if I was doing C3PO or something like that it's like no I just thought of that absent-minded character who might have a faux English accent you know and so that's that's what I came up with we've been searching for [Music] hours not the slightest sign of Cosmos but but there is a native in that tree shooting arrows at us as long as I breathe Titans will not worship false gods false gods to Hazard a guess the Decepticons arrived before we did look if you stop shooting and start talking maybe we could work something out that we can talk about yeah uh oh yeah one of my favorite memories is is during the movie shooting the movie we all had to become insecticons okay insecticons are the the creatures that would come and they would they could chew through metal and concrete and they were you know tearing things down and we were all standing uh in the room there were like I think there were like eight of us at that this point at their each microphone and everybody has their own way of becoming creatures um and being actors first not just voice actors you throw yourself into it so some people we have to make the noises of the the eating so that some people would be going some people and I looked around and everybody was doing these weird faces and doing strange things with their hands and I think at the same moment couple of other people noticed what we were doing we just feel felt how ridiculous we looked and how how silly we were grown-ups acting like this and we ended up losing it as you saw during the the reading maybe a quarter of the time was spent laughing we just it was fun and I think it it shows in the cartoons that it was something we really liked doing I think it's one of the the reasons why it's lasted it wasn't a job that way you know some jobs you do for money some jobs you do because you love them got the refuel Omega Supreme don't set off one crystal and a chain reaction will blow us all up indeed we worshiped you but all you bring is death and sorrow you have destroyed our faith now destroy us hang on a minute Jack we ain't gods and never claim to but Lord astr train lied to you okay um to be honest I think I felt that as soon as I got into the room because I was working with guys that I grew up listening to I was one of the newer ones uh into La um and these are guys Michael Bell that I had listened to for years before and um guys that I saw on Star Trek the original Star Trek and and Clive Revel who I'd seen on on Broadway these were people that were and really my acting Heroes um and if they could all get cast in this this project and I was one of them I felt like yeah I'm pretty cool I really you know so I knew it was special because of how it was cast and Wally bur made you know it was special too our director he wouldn't he wouldn't let anything go by sometimes you're you're doing a job and you know you can do a better take and the director for time or for whatever says Ah just keep going and W Wy would not let that happen you know he wanted it done the right way Omega Supreme where are you quiet vibrations terminal [Music] careful I'm [Music] trying oh watching Frank and uh and Peter uh because I don't get a chance to see them very often and watch the listening to the interplay uh and the laughter and Michael Bell with his his humor I mean these are again these are guys that I've been around since I moved out here you know I fell in love with Frank doing uh uh Saturday morning cartoons I he's just these are brilliant talents they're not just great voiceover people they're just really super talents and nice guys that who can say that they worked with somebody 40 years ago and and you still really like each other Greg berer is a buddy that you know from the be from the from 1983 and every time I see him you know it just makes me happy you so we're really lucky yeah