boating our software

Yesterday, I started writing a monthly column for Amazon’s End User Blog. For my first column, I looked at a really cool device that’s battling something I call Feature Creep:

…it’s increasingly difficult to find things that do just one thing, and do it very well. I blame this on something I call “Feature Creep” which I suspect comes from too many meetings, too much input from marketing, and not enough product managers and engineers who are willing to stand up and say, “You know what? I don’t think this coffee maker really needs an MP3 player in it. It’s fine just making coffee.”

Feature Creep is everywhere, bloating our software, lengthening our startup times, cluttering up our menus, and draining our batteries, so when I come across something that has successfully resisted it and stayed focused on doing one simple thing very well, I have a little bit of a pants party.

One of the best examples I’ve come across in the last year is the Netflix player from Roku. It’s a tiny little box that streams anything from Netflix’s on-demand library straight into your television, and that’s all it does.

So I’m pretty excited to have an opportunity to do for blog what I used to do for InDigital, and I’m looking forward to examining various gadgets and technology trends in the mysterious future. My column will update on the final Thursday of every month.

(If you missed this on Twitter and don’t know what the title of this post means: I put a really stupid typo into this column that snuck past me and my editor, and I was originally lamenting how feature creep is “boating” our software. Mmmm. Boating. It’s since been corrected, but I can’t help giggling about it.)

hit robots, make fall down

I'm writing this on Wednesday afternoon, before I start packing for the Phoenix Comicon, where I'll be when this post magically appears on my blog, so please forgive me if there's some timely current event I should be talking about; I can't really travel through time, you know.

If I've done everything correctly, my episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold has just finished airing on Cartoon Network in the Eastern time zone, and even though I'm at a con and can't participate for another 24 or 48 hours, I'd love to hear what you thought of the show, and my performance as Ted Kord.

I'd avoid the comments on this post until you've seen the show, so anyone who wants to be the captain of the SS Spoiler can take a turn at the helm without upsetting anyone else.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the episode, and that all the build up this week paid off.

one last fistful of Ted Kord interviews

Part deux of my interview with Trekmovie.com is online, so you don’t have to avoid spoilers any more:

TrekMovie.com: The first season can be be brutal.

Wil Wheaton: Yeah. That is why the first season is kind of fun. Some of the episodes are really really bad and a few of the episodes are extremely good, even if you are not grading on a curve. For the most part — we are awkward — we are trying to figure out what our show is about. And you can see how we had so many different writers and creative power struggles while we figured out what we were going to be. We were really lucky we got a chance to do more than one season. If it wasn’t for the incredible cast and writers like Sandy Fries and Tracy Torme, we probably would not have gone past the second season.

TrekMovie.com: I am in the camp that thinks that Michael Piller, and writers like Ron Moore, really saved the show in the third season.

Wil Wheaton: They absolutely did.

TrekMovie.com: I know some don’t like to hear that Gene [Roddenberry] didn’t save the show. I love Gene Roddenberry, but for TNG I think the Michael was the best thing for the show.

Wil Wheaton: Gene had the presence of mind to know he was getting old and he knew that someone who loved Star Trek as much as he did could step in to take the reins. He hand picked Michael. He begged Michael at the end of season three to come back. Michael didn’t want to at first, but Gene said to him “I need you to make this show great, I can’t do it without you” and Michael agreed. And Michael had the open submissions policy, which is how Ron [Moore] came on, with “The Bonding.” I don’t think it is inaccurate or unfair to give Michael a great deal of credit for making Next Generation great, but at the same time I think it is also fair and accurate to acknowledge that it was Gene Roddenberry who had the vision and presence of mind and the foresight to keep Michael Piller on and put him in a position to do what he did.

I also talked to buzz focus about playing Ted Kord, and that’s online, too:

So…. Brave and Bold Batman vs Frank Miller Batman – who would win?

W. Wheaton: (laugh) I don’t know that’s like asking which fruit will taste better an apple or an orange.

Are you also a fan of 70s/80s cartoons?

W. Wheaton: I remember getting up really early on Saturday mornings to watch the old Super Friends cartoons. It was really Challenge of the Super Friends and those old battles of the Legion of Doom that I loved. And I’m exactly the right age for GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats and He-Man.

Thundarr the Barbarian is my favorite cartoon in history. That was before they were allowed to do marketing and merchandising in cartoons. So these guys were like, “let’s tell some cool stories.” And, they did.

You’re involved in so many things, what’s your passion these days?

W. Wheaton: Honestly, it’s spending as much time as I can with my family. My boys are getting older. My oldest son is in college, his brother is a senior in high school and is going to college next year. I am keenly aware how 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week isn’t that much time. More important than anything else is providing for them financially and emotionally.

Finally, I talked to Media Blvd., and got to deliver what ended up being my favorite one-liner of the whole series of interviews (unplanned). See if you can spot it:

Shaun> That’s cool, I grew up on Challenge of the Superfriends. Don’t start me going down that memory lane.

Wil> Are you a Wendy and Marvin kind of guy, or are you a Zan and Jana kind of guy. Wendy and Marvin were lame.

Shaun> I was glad though when Zan and Jana took off, and that damn monkey Gleek, that was always screwing things up.

Wil> I was the right age for Zan and Jana, so I thought that was really funny. They always turned into something. They could have defeated their adversaries, like they were way overpowered for what they actually did with their superpowers. I was exactly the right age, I was born in ’72, so I was like 8 when I was watching that. I thought it was awesome, then I grew up a little bit and there was Wendy and Marvin and Wonderdog. I thought, “They’re dumbing this down!” I was like 11, “They’re dumbing this down for the audience, and they’re insulting my 11 year old intelligence. This is awful, worst episode ever!”

Shaun> I hated the way the Superfriends treated Batman. The only thing they’d show of Batman is the car stopping and picking up Wendy and Marvin, but the dog doesn’t make it into the Batmobile.

Wil> I know, like you’re going to make Batman the chauffeur? Are you serious? I can promise you that that does not happen in Batman: The Brave & The Bold. In Batman: The Brave & The Bold, Batman is awesome, and he is not a ridiculous chauffeur. Batman is nobody’s bitch in Batman: The Brave & The Bold.

Maybe I could have said “Batman: The Brave & The Bold” a few more times in that last answer. I think I really dropped the ball there.

So … I thought there were more, but I’ve either closed the tabs, or I was hopped up on old Foreigner albums and had double vision. I know that three isn’t really a fistful, but I have small fists. So there.

And with that, my friends, I am off to Phoenix for the Phoenix Comicon. I don’t know what kind of internets I’ll have while I’m there, my friends, but if history is any indicator, I’ll be Twittering the hell out of everything, my friends.

another batman interview, and a new preview clip

I did an audio interview with ComicVine all about my episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold which airs – say it with me! – this Friday, January 23rd at 8pm on Cartoon Network.

The interview is here, if you’re interested in hearing me talk.

Also, here’s another cool preview clip, that’s different from the one I put up earlier this week:

Fun fact: there’s a bit where Ted is sort of riding a little chair thing, which bucks him off, and spins him around another robotic thing. I had to do the vocal efforts for that in ADR, and I had to match the “woah, woah … wooooahhh!” stuff to the action on the screen. I don’t know why, but it was insanely difficult to get the sound just right, and match the action correctly. The stuff that you think is going to be hard always ends up being easy, and then it’s stuff like this that you end up feeling like a moron recording, because it takes 14 tries to get it right.
Bonus fun fact: my final line in this clip is my favorite line of the entire episode.

talkin’ teddddd kord (the batman and the beetle) talkin teddddd kord (and workin’ with good people) …

Last week, I did so many interviews for this week’s episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, I told Anne, “I feel like I’ve reallly accomplished a lot, but I don’t have anything to show for it.”

Well, now I do, because the interviews I did are starting to come online, including this one I did with The World’s Finest:

Now, hopefully you won’t mind if we swing off-topic for a second. Now, this isn’t your first foray into the world of animation. What attracts you to voice-acting?

It’s really hard to do it right, so I feel a tremendous sense of pride and accomplishment when I get to work alongside people like Yuri Lowenthal, Lex Lang, Kari Wahlgren, and Diedrich Bader. While some people can be stunt cast for their looks or whatever in on-camera roles, that just doesn’t happen in animated television, because there are so many truly talented people available to do the work. I feel like I’ve really earned a spot in the room with those guys, and that’s just awesome.

It’s also a different type of acting from on-camera, so it presents a unique set of challenges. I didn’t realize how much we rely on subtle facial movements and body language to convey intention and emotion when we perform, and I’ve really enjoyed learning and attempting to perfect doing all of that with just my voice. Also, voice acting isn’t nearly as repetitive as on-camera acting; we don’t have to do things for forty-seven different angles on Batman, so it never gets boring or dull.

There’s also this one with Comic Book Resources:

“As much as I’ve loved all the dark Batman series we’ve had for so long, I love the 1950s style retro look of the show,” Wheaton said of “The Brave and the Bold.” “I have loved Batman forever. My original introduction to Batman was, of course, the Adam West series. And I’m a little embarrassed at how crazy obsessed I was – what’s the Trekkie equivalent of a Batman fan? That was me for the original Tim Burton movie. And I really, really loved all of those comic books.

“But when I had my own kids, as much as I loved Batman – Batman was a little too dark for them. You could kind of show them ‘Superman’ and some other comics, but ‘Batman’ was a little too heavy. What I really love about ‘Brave & The Bold’ and what really excited me about ‘Brave & The Bold’ is that we have this Batman that is still true to who Batman is and is still true to the DC Universe, but it’s just not as dark. Diedrich Bader and I were discussing this when we were working on my episode. He has a five-year-old kid and was really excited that here’s a Batman that a five-year-old can watch. And it’s not watered down. It’s just approached from a slightly different angle.”

If anyone still doubts the level of my Batmania, I will simply reply with 1000 words: