Voices of Doom

Voices of Doom
Date	August 7, 2007 (DVD) March 31, 2009 (YouTube) April 8, 2009 (Atom)
Origin	Happy Tree Friends Season One TV Volume Three

Voices of Doom (titled Voices of the Doom on YouTube) is a bonus feature from the Happy Tree Friends Season One TV Volume Three DVD. It is a behind the scenes video featuring voice actors David Winn, Ellen Connell, Francis Carr, Nica Lorber, and Michael "Lippy" Lipman. On the official Mondo website, this short used to be listed under the Happy Tree Friends Break playlist during the Atom iteration, even though it does not have the Break intro. On the 2012-2014 iteration of the website, it was moved to the "Behind The Scenes" category. It was then delisted from the official website entirely when the website was revamped once again in late 2014.

Synopsis

Happy Tree Friends website and YouTube: Ever wonder what the characters behind the characters were like? The smooth vocal stylings of the HTF voice talent that have mouthed a million mutilations will strike a chord as we find out how they deal with the fame that comes from screaming bloody murder.

Transcript

Winn: A lot of people are... stupid, but they kinda know they're stupid, um, so they don't, they don't push it. They're little cautious but Lumpy has no idea how stupid he is and so he's completely free and, uh, most enlightened, like he's found a secret of life because nothing gets to him. So that's, uh, that's how I see it. It's beautiful.

The Characters Behind The Characters

Connell: I'm Ellen Connell. I do the voice of Petunia, Cub, and Giggles. They're act-, well, Petunia and Giggles are very similar, so they're like... (does a Giggles/Petunia voice)

Carr: My name is Francis Carr. I, uh, I do the voice of Russell the pirate and I also do foley work and I help Jim, um, Jim Lively with the sound design. Oh, little Russell... (chuckles, then does a Russell voice) And it just gets crazier from there. (laughs)

Lorber: So, my name is Nica Lorber, and I am the voice for Flaky and I used to also do little bit of animation on Happy Tree Friends back in the day. (does a Flaky voice, then laughs)

Lippy: Uh, but I also do voices, I said. "Oh, you do? What do you do?" Well, I do Nutty on Happy Tree Friends. "Nutty?! No way!" And they say that, that I have to do it for the party, and it's cute. I always end up with the thumb sucking. It's a, it seems to be... (snaps fingers, then does a Nutty voice)

Winn: Well it goes something like... (in Lumpy voice) "Oh?"

Connell: I first saw it at Mondo Media, which is I worked there briefly. I was operation assistant and the (...) assistant, and... but this is such a small company, got to play around with various areas of the company, and discovered Happy Tree Friends, and wanted to do some voices, and here I am.

Lippy: Um, I first found out about Happy Tree by the little signs of a poster around the studio Mondo and it would have, uh, beautiful little characters and just that little headshot that said-

Lorber: You know, "Resistance is Futile." That was sorta the beginning of, you know, the Happy Tree Friends right there.

Winn: (in Lumpy voice) "Aha!"

Lorber: The only part about it that I really remember is when I first did the voice and I went... (does a Flaky voice) And then Rhode got really excited, he's like (claps) "Ah!" and I have to keep on doing that!

Carr: Um, and then one day I came to the office, they said, well, "Hey, can you do, uh, can you do Russell the pirate's voice? It's that simple." I don't know, I guess maybe I try it. Next time we do, uh, next time we do recording session and I went in the booth and they said, "Alright, well, give us some yar!" (does a long "yar" in Russell voice) They said, "Perfect! Here's your script!"

Connell: I think I actually just auditioned to do a monkey voice which I did not get to do on the show, but I have practiced, I know they were looking for someone who could do a monkey voice and I went in there to audition with my monkey voice.

Winn: And, uh, they were auditioning for Lumpy and, um, I think I have the lowest voice... of anybody on staff and that's, that's why they approached me to ask if I wanted to try out and I got up the courage and somehow was able to make the five sounds that Lumpy makes. So, I became Lumpy.

Lippy: My daughter is in sixth grade. Well, I, uh, I do let her watch Happy Tree, but, um, there was a time when I didn't. I mean, the show, gotta love it. It's been going on for a while, so there is the time when she was too young to see it. And there was the time when she hadn't seen it and her classmates had, which was a very interesting dynamic. And she would come home and go, "Alex really likes Happy T-You won't believe it that Alex and Jack, they watch Happy Tree, they know it!" Really? And suddenly, I really got into, "Ooh! Oh, my fans! Oh, really? Jack and Al-but you can't watch it, honey!"

Lorber: Now I have had people know who I was from doing Flaky and were definitely and, you know, pretty excited.

Carr: ...I gotta go to work tomorrow. "So, what do you do?" Well, you know, I, uh, work for cartoon called the Happy Tree Friends. This guy goes, "Oh my God! My kid loves that show!" And so, uh, you know he's like, "Wait, wait, wait! I gotta go tell, I gotta go tell Scotty!" Alright, well, cool, alright. Because back he's like, "My kid is running around the house screaming about how my dad knows this guy from Happy Tree Friends!"

Connell: I have run into the fans of the show, mostly already in the animation world. But I don't know that many people, that many people in Germany where it's very popular. Or I don't know very many adolescent males who I know also really love this show. Yeah, I have not talked to the Germans about it. But I like the show, so...

Winn: Yeah, there was a while there where I was animating on the shows that I've done a voice for and it was pretty fun and well... it was fun when I thought I had done a decent job but, yeah, having to hear myself fail to do a line well over and over while I'm animating to it. It's not, it's not a fun thing.

Carr: I usually just go in and try to make sure I remember how Russell's voice always sounds. And, you know, work it out a little bit. We go.

Lorber: On the way to the session if I'm driving really far I'll practice in the car or, like, sing songs, and one time I think I was singing Beatles songs in the Flaky voice. Let's sing "Yellow Submarine". (laughs, then briefly sings "The Yellow Submarine" in the Flaky voice before laughing again) And it's like screaming too many times kills your brain cells.

Connell: And the booth is just me, so I have to, um, Kenn will tell me what the other characters has done and said, yeah, I just have to, um, yeah, I have to pretend that I am, I just have to be in the moment right then and react to, um, something imaginary.

Winn: Acting is the real challenge. Um, it's usually not difficult to get his voice, the tone of his voice, but when he has to act, um, it's tough. I'm not an actor. Well, I guess an animator is an actor, but I'm used to being able to act one frame at a time, not in real time.

and then the magic happened...

(Lippy acts as Nutty)

External links

• The video on YouTube