The newest Adult Swim animated show, JJ Villard's Fairy Tales, has been airing on Cartoon Network for several weeks now. Featuring twisted and bloody takes on every day fairy tales, the new quarter hour series is a welcome addition to the mature programming block.
In support of JJ Villard's Fairy Tales we've spoken with esteemed actor Alan Oppenheimer, who lends his voice to the show alongside horror veterans Robert Englund, Jennifer Tilly, Warwick Davis, and more. Oppenheimer is best known for his work portraying multiple roles in Neverending Story as well as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
When we spoke with Oppenheimer we had the chance to pick his brain about the roles he played in the latter, particularly the well-known villainous Skeletor. Check out what he had to say!
Joe: You had multiple roles in He-Man and Neverending Story. Did your work on anything else inspire your performances in this?
Alan Oppenheimer: Not particularly, I’ve been doing multiple performances in shows for years. Back when I was in college and I was working at KDKA Pittsburg I was doing a radio show called Adventures In Research and I would play a different scientist every week, and usually a minor role along with it. And also, I’ve been doing voice-overs and voice acting since I was a kid. At least on radio - there was no T.V. then. I’m kind of an old guy.
But anyway, as a matter of fact when I would do He-Man, many times I would do all three voices at the same time talking to myself. Most people will do one voice all the way through then go back and pick up the second voice and I used to say to the producer “well let me just talk to myself.” So I would do Skeletor and I would do Man at Arms and Merman and I’d go back and forth and we’d have a lot of fun with it that way.
Joe: Do you feel like Skeletor is what you’re best known for or Falcor from Neverending Story?
Alan Oppenheimer: I would say about 80 percent are Skeletor fans and about 20 percent are Falcor fans and the characters from Neverending Story.
Joe: So I’m assuming Skeletor is your favorite then?
Alan Oppenheimer: Well at this point, Skeletor is the most creative because I can do these voicemails and heave insults upon insults to the owner of the phone, which gives me a lot of fun. And they love it, they love the voicemails.
First I find out what the occupation is of the owner of the phone. For instance if he was a plumber I’d say (in Skeletor voice) "Ehh, Joseph isn’t here right now. He’s out doing a plumbing job and I hope it isn’t your job because good luck! Ahahaha!"
While I'm not a plumber, it's still nice to have a personalized voicemail from Skeletor himself. But what did you guys think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and be sure to check out the trailer and synopsis for Alan Oppenheimer's newest series, JJ Villard's Fairy Tales below.
JJ Villard’s Fairy Tales is a new, twisted, fun take on the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tales like Cinderella and Snow White. The charm and cuteness of the original stories remain, but now they've been updated and packaged into a ball of raw, visceral, gross weirdness. The animated quarter hour series is created, and executive produced by JJ Villard (King Star King) and produced by Cartoon Network Studio.
JJ Villard's Fairy Tales airs on Adult Swim on Sunday nights at 12:15 am (Sunday into Monday).