TURTLE TIME: Sean Astin (inset) voices Raphael (red mask) in “Ninja Turtles.” (
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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.
Astin, who’s spent a lot of time recently doing voice-over work, says he jumped at the chance to participate in this newest version of the “Turtles” franchise.
“The word ‘teenage’ was kind of off-putting to me, but when they said Nick was doing a version of ‘Ninja Turtles,’ I was in a different mindset after doing a bunch of voiceover work. I knew this would be big,” says Astin. “I kind of liked the idea of turtles, that this ancient creature gets turned into a fighting ninja.
“And when they said I would play Raphael, I somehow knew he was a tough guy,” he says. “I didn’t know which turtle was which, and if I went into a grocery store they’d say, ‘Are you the red one?’
“Everyone knows the turtles’ weapons and headbands.”
In addition to Astin, the new series features “American Pie” star Jason Biggs (Leonardo), Greg Cipes (Michelangelo), Rob Paulsen (Donatello), Mae Whitman (April O’Neil), Hoon Lee (Master Splinter) and Kevin Michael Richardson (Shredder).
For Paulsen, it’s a return engagement to the “Turtles” — he played Raphael in the original series.
Astin says that, to get into character as Raphael, he changed his voice “a little bit,” but not too much.
“He sounds kind of tough, so I’ve got an angry posture with my voice,” he says. “He’s the bruiser, the brawler, who’s quick to anger, so there’s less talking and more fighting.
“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.
“For me, Raphael was an easy, comfortable voice to do.”
And, like any cultural touchstone — especially one like “Turtles,” which spawned a live-action series (1997-98) and a second animated series (2003-09) — Astin says he’s aware there may be some “detractors” out there.
“But I think the loyalists, the hard-core fans, will appreciate that this show is being made by them,” he says. “The guys behind this are fans just like they are.
“And clearly they had this [project] sitting around for a while, and probably didn’t give it the go-ahead until they were sure it would work.”