Original Voice of Hot Rod- Ted Schwartz?

[Gumby]

With all the talk of Judd Nelson at Botcon it got me wondering....

We all know that Dick Gautier provided the voice of Hot Rod in seasons 3 and 4 but did you know that he actually replaced actor Ted Schwartz? Ted also played Spider-Man in the 1981 series as well as Thrasher on G.I. Joe but what's surprising is the total lack of info on the guy. Except for one article (possibly about him?) from 1974 for his work in a stage play about Lenny Bruce, there's nothing.

Does anyone have any info on him? Is he (at possibly 82) still alive? If still alive, a guest this elusive would be worth the $130 price tag lol

[zackmak]

Interesting. Did Ted actually do Hot Rod in an episode or two before Dick took over? Or was Ted scheduled to be the voice, but got replaced before the work was to begin?

[Einstein]

Originally Posted by zackmak

Interesting. Did Ted actually do Hot Rod in an episode or two before Dick took over? Or was Ted scheduled to be the voice, but got replaced before the work was to begin?

My guess is replaced because Dick is credited from the first episode of Five Faces of Darkness

[Gumby]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aedWD00EGyM

After the movie, they obviously needed to recast Rodimus Prime for production of season 3. While the role ultimately went to Dick Gautier (who you may know as Hymie from Get Smart), it was initially given to Ted Schwartz, who even recorded dialogue for Five Faces of Darkness. Why things changed is unclear, and when the role passed to Dick, the dialogue was naturally re-recorded. However, FFoD being the high-quality production that it is, used some of Ted's version in a couple of instances, rather than Dick's, most notably Rodimus Prime's lines during "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2's recap of Part 1.

The first section of this video is Dick's lines from the Part 1 episode, cut together to resemble Part 2's recap. The second section is the actual recap, which uses Ted's lines.

[zackmak]

Cool, thanks. I prefer Dick as Rodimus. But too bad Ted couldn't have done Hot Rod...he has a 'younger-sounding' voice, which would have been fitting.

[Einstein]

Originally Posted by Gumby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aedWD00EGyM

After hearing both I now know why they got rid of Ted, his voice is awful for the character.

[Protoman]

He was best known as Spiderman during the 80s cartoon

I didn't mind Ted's take on Rodimus but I found that Dick did a better job at channeling that young and brash part. His lines in Burden Hardest to Bare truly show that.