Questions About Mr. Bluths Games

[Solium]

I was just wondering, Did Mr. Bluth use rotoscoping for any of his games? In particular Princess Daphne in the bubble or the attract mode for Space Ace with Ace and Kimmy?

Also in the beginning of Space Ace where Dexter and Kimmy are on a rocky ledge spying Borfs ship, I hear "voices" say something, and I have never been able to make it out. I think I hear, "Go Space Ace".

[samuelvictorjones]

Rotoscoping of the purest sense in tracing frame by frame over video I'd say almost certainly not. Don defintiely recommends using video footage, real life models, and mirrors to watch yourself acting scenes out as reference when animating people, but he's also passionate about characaturing (sp?) and exagerating movements, expressions and timing to make cartoons entertaining and visually pleasing.

Daphne and Kimmy are fantastic parodies of the traditional Disney Princess Damsell in distress characters we grew up with, almost characatures of characatures! Rotoscoping their proportions and movements from real people would have lost a lot of their charm. I'm very sure that real life or video references would have been used though - Don is very passionate about keeping true to nature (with our slight exagerations added) and often asks us to think about the character's internal skeleton, weight etc. when animating and drawing.

One thing I would be interested to know is whether Kimmy & Daphne were animated by Don Gary or John directly, or by a female animator - Don's talked about hiring female animators (which Walt Disney didn't do) and letting them animate female characters to give a more realistic representation. However I'd imagine this wouldn't apply to Daphne and Kimmy who are more male idealised sterotypes rather than "real" women. Not that I'm complaining - I love them. Sometimes a little too much. :o umm, yeah I should move on. Nothing to see here people! ;)

As for the voices - do you mean when Kimberly says "There's Borf's Ship!" I don't hear any talking before that, or after, before she then screams twice and ace shouts "Kimmy!" :confused: There is background music and electronic sounding effects - depending on what version you are watching/playing the quality might be low enough that this sounds is garbled and sounds like speech? (The way people imagine "ghosts" in static). Sorry if I misunderstood the question :cool:

[Solium]

Thanks for your detailed reply Samuel. I think Daphne, Kimmy and Ace are really well animated. Their body language is remarkably "smooth".

I know Mr. Bluth never rotoscoped frame by frame, but I am pretty sure he relied heavily on life action reference. I think I read every 10th frame (of a live action shot) was used as a reference for animating his human characters. But I could be wrong.

Regarding the "mysterious" voices I hear in Space Ace. I just re-watched it on Youtube. Its after Kimmy is kidnapped and Dexter says, "Kimmy!". Theres male voices that say something. Maybe they are saying "Close Main Gate". I dunno I hear something. ;-)

[samuelvictorjones]

No problem :) You may well be right about every tenth frame as a reference, I don't know in that much detail, that would be a question for Don, or whoever animated the characters. I don't know for certain from what Don regularly says that he would not have done full rotoscoping. And yes, as I said he did use live action for reference, thats how they were taught at disney, and it makes sense. Don always says to use real life / nature as your starting point, before exagerating it to make it a cartoon.

As for the sounds after Ace shouts "Kimmy" it is 100% definitely "Close Main Gate" you are not mistaken, its been put through some kind of vocoder to make it sound like a robotic command :) I know the distorted voice of Borf was actually originally Don himself deliverring the lines before the vocals were alterred to sound different. I wonder who did the robotic door! ;)

[Solium]

Super glad we resolved the "mystery voice over" in the beginning of Space Ace. Its been bugging me for ever!

And yes its quite comical that Mr. Bluth was the voice of Borf. The computer enhancement is amazing considering how gentle and soft speaking he is in real life.

[samuelvictorjones]

yes its quite comical that Mr. Bluth was the voice of Borf. The computer enhancement is amazing considering how gentle and soft speaking he is in real life.

Oh that's 100% agreed. From my experience (over 35 feature films) directors are loud, strict dictators. Don (it still feel's weird calling him "Don" as I've never met him in person only talked online, but most people here seem to, even in seminars!) is incredibly informal, kind, yet honest with us about our work. He'll still tell us if what we are doing is wrong, or bad, but in a tactful way. I respect him all the more for this, & feel glad of his opinion and guidance. Its especially nice as his name was one I knew in my childhood - as someone in the entertainment industry, I can honestly say I've met many of my childhood idols, and been let down by most. Don is NOT one of those who let me down. He is genuinely passionate about training people to continue the great tradition of animation he learned from Walt Disney, and pass on his energy and enthusiasm.

As for the voiceover, I'm 100% sure I'm correct. I own a laserdisc copy & motherboard (I collect arcade games) as well as the remasterred dvd copy, and as an audio engineer I'm used to applying such effects. You heard it correctly, I'm sure that is what it says :)

[Solium]

I wish I could afford the actual arcade game, cabinet and all. But Ive had to settle for whats come out on disc. I got the DVD ROM, DVD's and Blueray versions. I just love the animation in these games.

[samuelvictorjones]

I don't have the original cabinet (although I would love one). I have 2 multipurpose mame cabinets, one 2x6 button layout for 90s fighting games and one 3 button layout for 79s&80s games, including running the Daphne emulator for Dragon's Lair and Space Ace.

I do actually own most of the games I emulate though, collecting motherboards, cartridges (cps2, neogeo, stv etc) I have some other coin ops - fruit machines, quiz machines etc. I have to limit the amount of separate games cabinets for space. I hope to get a bigger house in the future with enough room for a dedicated arcade :)

I have laser discs from the space ace and dragon's lair cabs. They actually play fine in a normal laser disc home player too! However I also have the dvds, and would say that the picture quality is better on the dvds, (and therefore I assume the blurays.)

[Don Bluth]

One thing I would be interested to know is whether Kimmy & Daphne were animated by Don Gary or John directly, or by a female animator - Don's talked about hiring female animators (which Walt Disney didn't do) and letting them animate female characters to give a more realistic representation. However I'd imagine this wouldn't apply to Daphne and Kimmy who are more male idealised sterotypes rather than "real" women. Not that I'm complaining - I love them. Sometimes a little too much. umm, yeah I should move on. Nothing to see here people!

Thanks for your comments on the site. I can tell you have a good understanding of the animation process. By the way, the only voice over I have done was the character, Borf in the game, Space Ace. That was the beginning and the end of my voice over career.

The characters of both Daphne and Kimberly were mostly animated by John Pomeroy. My contribution was character design but I did animate one or two scenes of each of the characters. I soon realized that John was better at this character so I just stood back and appreciated his talent.

The charm of Daphne is her innocense, and with her sexy body, most animators seem to make her too worldly.

[samuelvictorjones]

Thanks for your comments on the site. I can tell you have a good understanding of the animation process.

Wow - thanks Don that's high praise indeed coming from yourself :) I'd like to add a personal note that whilst I've always been a fan of animation, until recently I'd only worked in the live action film & the music industry. It was my long standing love of your films that lead me to this website, and the lessons I am learning from your advice on the websites, seminars, workshops (& I've just orderred copies of your books also) mean I'm learning at a great rate. I find drawing and animating enormously satisfying, and your kind words when critiquing my work mean the world. I hope that I may be able to progress to the level that I may be able to animate professionally in the traditional style and help keep the medium alive, as you yourself have.


By the way, the only voice over I have done was the character, Borf in the game, Space Ace. That was the beginning and the end of my voice over career.

The characters of both Daphne and Kimberly were mostly animated by John Pomeroy. My contribution was character design but I did animate one or two scenes of each of the characters. I soon realized that John was better at this character so I just stood back and appreciated his talent.

The charm of Daphne is her innocense, and with her sexy body, most animators seem to make her too worldly.

Thanks for the information. Wow John did a great job on animating the characters, and your designs for them were amazing. As a long standing retro games enthusiast as well as animation lover, I can tell you that Daphne and Kimberly are two of the most widely loved characters in both fields.

You're entirely right about Daphne. I iamgine many animators (myself included) when given the model sheet alone, would have gone down the more Playboy / cheesecake pin-up look.

Personally I always loved the character of Borf - when I read a while back that you were his voice I chuckled out loud. Its great for fans to get little snippets of facts & easter eggs about the things we love! :D