Transformers: BotCon 2009!

ALEX KURTZMAN and ROBERTO ORCI began their collaboration as a writing team in the 90's on the series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. After a successful stint on Jack of all Trades and Alias, they soon made the jump to the big screen with feature films such as The Island, The Legend of Zorro, and Mission Impossible III. Their biggest box office success came with the 2007 hit Transformers. Since then they have been moving at full speed on two of the summers biggest films: Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. They have a full plate of projects lined up for the future including the hotly anticipated Atlantis Rising and Cowboys and Aliens.

For people who need more Alex and Bob in their lives, they're also doing a Q&A on May 26th at the Writers Guild Foundation.

Golden-throated PETER CULLEN (Optimus Prime) is known throughout the world not only as the voice of the wise and heroic leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, on the popular 1980s cartoon series, “The Transformers", but he was also the voice of various other robots including Ironhide, Slugslinger, Streetwise, Wingspan and Nightstick. In 1986 he reprised the voices Optimus and Ironhide in the animated film, “The Transformers: The Movie” and in 2007 he won new fans as the velvet voice of Optimus in Michael Bay’s live-action motion picture “Transformers”, starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox and John Turturro.

Cullen also lends his talents to the somber but sincere voice of Eeyore, the eternally pessimistic donkey who views the world through morose-colored glasses, in Disney’s man Winnie the Pooh movies: “Wonderful World Adventure,” “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie,” “Springtime with Roo,” “Piglet’s Big Movie” and “The Tigger Movie.” Cullen, who ironically owns his own donkey, is heard on everything from cartoons and television commercials to theatrical promotions. He has long provided the voice of Eeyore, beginning with the popular TV series, “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” in 1988 to the “House of Mouse” in 2002. In addition, he is featured on “Disney’s Duck Tales” and plays Monterey Jack on “Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers.”

Earlier in the 80s, Cullen was the voice of K.A.R.R., the evil incarnation of K.I.T.T., the talking Pontiac Trans-Am, in the David Hasselhoff series, “Knight Rider.” He was also the voice of Mantus in “The Pirates of Dark Water,” Hägar in “Hägar the Horrible,” Cindarr in “Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light,” Venger in “Dungeons and Dragons” and the narrator in the “Voltron” series, in which he also played ‘Commander Hawkins’. Other television credits include “Johnny Quest,” “Spider-Man,” “G.I. Joe,” “My Little Pony and Friends,” “Rainbow Brite,” “Scooby and Scrappy-Doo” and “The Jetsons.”

His film credits include the remake of “King Kong,” as the voice of the famous giant ape, and in the “Predator” films he provided the inhuman alien sounds for the title role. Cullen’s voice can also be heard in “My Little Pony: The Movie,” “Heathcliff: The Movie” and “Gremlins.”

Born in Montreal, Québec, Cullen is a member of the first graduating class of the National Theatre School of Canada and spent his early professional years as a radio drama actor on The Canadian Broadcasting Company. His son, Clay is a ‘Taurus Award’ winning stuntman and actor in Hollywood.

DAVID WISE has been a writer, producer and /or story editor for dozens of animated series. He is best known for having developed the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" animated series, creating most of the characterizations and trademarks that made Turtles a cultural phenomenon. David is also known for having won an Emmy at the age of 18 for an episode of the animated "Star Trek" that he co-wrote. For Transformers, he was the single most prolific writer from the series, having penned 15 different episodes, including the fourth season’s final episodes “The Rebirth.”

BRYCE MALEK began his animation career at Hanna-Barbera Productions, writing for "The Scooby and Scappy Doo Show", "Popeye" and others. He teamed up with Dick Robbins in 1981 to write and story edit the animated version of the Little Rascals and Monchichis. Along with Dick, Bryce left Hanna-Barbera in 1984 to work at Marvel Productions with Margaret Loesch and Stan Lee, where they were immediately assigned to "The Transformers". The first three scripts for the show had already been written and were in production, but they were assigned to develop the storyline for a syndicated series. They spent the next two years in production on the first 65 episodes.

FLINT DILLE: After receiving an MFA from USC’s Cinema Writing program, Flint quickly established himself as an animation writer and producer on programs such as "G.I. Joe", "Inhumanoids" and of course, "The Transformers". In addition to Flint’s work on the 1986 "Transformers: The Movie", he also wrote the "Looney Tunes Movie" and the feature film "American Tail II: Fievel Goes West" for Steven Spielberg. Flint is also a versatile writer and game designer.

PAUL DAVIDS was Marvel’s Production Coordinator for over 80 episodes of the original The Transformers, as well as writing four episodes: “Cosmic Rust,” “Thief in the Night,” “Chaos,” and “Grimlocks New Brain.” He was also on the production staff of Transformers: The Movie. Paul’s most recognizable live action feature was Showtime’s Roswell starring Kyle MacLachlan, Martin Sheen and Dwight Yoakam. Paul is a member of the Magic Castle and the Writers Guild and Producers Guild.

MICHAEL McCONNOHIE is in a TRANSport of joy to be part of BotCon this amazing 25th anniversary year – Michael of course played the popular G-1 characters Tracks and Cosmos.

Michael is the only G1 voice actor to also appear in a dubbed version of the Transformers "Robots in Disguise" in which he essayed homage to Peter Cullen as Ironhide, as well as voicing the studly Hotshot.

In anime films, Michael was D in "Vampire Hunter D," and Shin in "Fist of the North Star." In anime tv series he voiced Harlock in "Captain Harlock," Rolf Emerson in "Robotech," Schwarzwald in "The Big O," and Det. Ikari in "Paranoia Agent." Currently he can be heard in "Bleach" as Kuroudo, Ryuken Ishida and Shawlong Qufang, and in "Code Geass" as the Emperor Charles zi Britannia.

"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC

"Weird Al" Yankovic, the undisputed king of pop culture parody, has sold more comedy recordings than any other artist in history. In a career spanning nearly three decades, he has amassed 28 Gold and Platinum albums, 7 Gold and Platinum-certified home videos and 3 Grammy Awards (with 11 nominations).

Transformers audiences also know "Weird Al" for the contribution of his single "Dare to be Stupid" to the soundtrack of the 1986 Transformers Animated Movie. The song is well known to fans as it plays during the scene in which Wreck Gar confronts the Autobots on the planet of Junk. With the debut of Transformers Animated, fans got an extra special treat when, "Weird Al" was cast as the voice of Wreck Gar for the new series.

"Weird Al" will be joining us on Saturday for an autograph session and a Transformers Animated panel with David Kaye. He will also be joining us for the Party at Paramount! Because of the limited time he can spend at the show, autographs will be from 9:00AM-11:00AM on Saturday. Only Primus package holders can get in the autograph line (first come, first served) and it will be cut off when the maximum number is reached. You will be limited to one item and no personal photographs will be allowed during the autograph session. However, "Weird Al" will be joining us at Paramount and photos will be allowed at the party.

DAVID KAYE has been involved with the Transformers franchise in one way or another for about 15 years. First as Megatron in Beast wars and now as Optimus Prime in TF Animated. Two new feature animated films will feature David's voice. "The Hero of Color City" will be released in 2010 and you'll also hear David beginning May 29th, in Pixar's new 3D animated feature, "Up". Based in Burbank, California, Hollywood has been keeping Kaye busy this year. "I want to thank Brian and the crew for asking me to this years BotCon. It's great to see some old and new faces again. Transform, and Roll Out!!"

David will be at BotCon Saturday, May 30th only. He will be available for two autograph sessions and one voice actor panel. He will also be joining us for the Party at Paramount! on Saturday night.

VINCE DICOLA
– keyboard artist, composer, arranger, producer

Shortly after moving from the east coast to California in 1981, Vince exploded onto the film arena by co-writing and performing eight songs for the Saturday Night Fever sequel, STAYING ALIVE, starring John Travolta. One of Vince’s songs included on this Platinum soundtrack was the number one hit and Golden Globe song nominee, “Far From Over”. Next came ROCKY IV, for which Vince composed and produced the music score and one feature song. This soundtrack featured several Vince DiCola tracks and garnered double-Platinum status. Another film project that has continued to resonate with DiCola fans all over the world for many years is the 1986 animated TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE, for which Vince composed and co-produced the score and wrote the music to the song “Dare”. In 2007, to coincide with the first Transformers live action film, Sony BMG released a “20 Year Anniversary” CD of the original animated Transformers movie soundtrack with four previously unreleased bonus tracks from Vince’s original score. Select pieces from Vince DiCola scores continue to be featured at major sporting events throughout the world.

Praised as a world-class rock singer, STAN BUSH is best known for his song "The Touch" featured in the original animated Transformers movie. "The Touch" is an anthem for Transformers fans around the world! Hasbro will be releasing two new Transformers 2 movie toys the weekend of BotCon 09 containing "The Touch". Asked about his upcoming appearance/performance at BotCon, Stan commented, "I am incredibly excited, and look forward to meeting a lot of fans, and having one the coolest weekends of my life! I am especially excited about performing at the world renowned Paramount Studios NYC set during the Party at Paramount, I hope to see you all at the Party!
What a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all Transformers' Fans!"

For more information about Stan - visit his website at StanBush.com!