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dwmckim
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It took a long time for them to try it, but eventually about seven years after Richard Hunt's all-too-early passing, Scooter finally appeared again with lines.
Recasting Muppets is not easy! Sometimes you get really lucky as in the case of Eric Jacobsen who was a total godsend in that he shares both similar vocal qualities, humor, and overall "style" as Frank Oz and was successfully able to take over his character pretty seamlessly (no pun intended)...with the one real exception, Cookie Monster done by David Rudman, also being pretty dang close that it's often hard to tell the difference without a careful rewatch/listen. But most of the time, the team has to settle for whoever is able to provide the closest match and live with the idea that the fact that a replacement is occuring will be noticable.
Now Scooter is really intriguing as a recasted character...this is one that they took the longest to recast (not even showing the puppet onscreen mute for a good seven years), and also one that instead of having a consistent performer, had been played by several different people (practically a different one in each major production)...
Adam Hunt (voice) in Muppets From Space
Brian Henson in Very Merry Muppet Christmas
Ricky Boyd in Wizard
and now David Rudman in Studio DC
Richard Hunt has a very distinctive voice, and Scooter was very close to it...so that in itself would make it seem like it would really be hard to find a close match. Yet personally speaking, i've found all four performers's take on Scooter totally satisfying (and surprising when it didn't eventually become permanant!)
Years back, i often said that i totally thought Rudman would be perfect since he had such similar vocal qualities to Hunt (and finally about 16 years later, we got the chance to hear a Rudman-voiced Scooter!) And if Scooter does indeed go on to be permanantly done by DR, i think it would be awesome. At the same time, i would have no problem if it turned out Boyd or Henson was a full-time performer for him (it probably wouldn't have been Hunt since that was a looped-voice situation). I really find it incredible that for a character that i would think would be among the hardest to recast, that it's been done so well - and MULTIPLE TIMES so successfully!
Aside from the Oz-character replacements (and again i have to give a shout-out to Rudman because since he himself has a pretty distinctive voice, i never would have thought of him as a CM replacement until it actually happened...and like i said, it can often be difficult to tell the difference), i would rank Scooter as the best recast - and all four of them actually! Take your pick of any of the post-Hunt Scooter performers and they're better than even generally accepted-among-fans recasts like Baretta's Rowlf or Dr. Teeth or Matt Vogel's Big Bird.
Recasting Muppets is not easy! Sometimes you get really lucky as in the case of Eric Jacobsen who was a total godsend in that he shares both similar vocal qualities, humor, and overall "style" as Frank Oz and was successfully able to take over his character pretty seamlessly (no pun intended)...with the one real exception, Cookie Monster done by David Rudman, also being pretty dang close that it's often hard to tell the difference without a careful rewatch/listen. But most of the time, the team has to settle for whoever is able to provide the closest match and live with the idea that the fact that a replacement is occuring will be noticable.
Now Scooter is really intriguing as a recasted character...this is one that they took the longest to recast (not even showing the puppet onscreen mute for a good seven years), and also one that instead of having a consistent performer, had been played by several different people (practically a different one in each major production)...
Adam Hunt (voice) in Muppets From Space
Brian Henson in Very Merry Muppet Christmas
Ricky Boyd in Wizard
and now David Rudman in Studio DC
Richard Hunt has a very distinctive voice, and Scooter was very close to it...so that in itself would make it seem like it would really be hard to find a close match. Yet personally speaking, i've found all four performers's take on Scooter totally satisfying (and surprising when it didn't eventually become permanant!)
Years back, i often said that i totally thought Rudman would be perfect since he had such similar vocal qualities to Hunt (and finally about 16 years later, we got the chance to hear a Rudman-voiced Scooter!) And if Scooter does indeed go on to be permanantly done by DR, i think it would be awesome. At the same time, i would have no problem if it turned out Boyd or Henson was a full-time performer for him (it probably wouldn't have been Hunt since that was a looped-voice situation). I really find it incredible that for a character that i would think would be among the hardest to recast, that it's been done so well - and MULTIPLE TIMES so successfully!
Aside from the Oz-character replacements (and again i have to give a shout-out to Rudman because since he himself has a pretty distinctive voice, i never would have thought of him as a CM replacement until it actually happened...and like i said, it can often be difficult to tell the difference), i would rank Scooter as the best recast - and all four of them actually! Take your pick of any of the post-Hunt Scooter performers and they're better than even generally accepted-among-fans recasts like Baretta's Rowlf or Dr. Teeth or Matt Vogel's Big Bird.
