Dinosaurs Month - Week Three

On this episode, The Barretta Brothers celebrate the TV show Dinosaurs and welcome the people behind the characters, Roy, Monica, and Spike.

 

Episode Outline:

05:50mins: Conversation with Pons Maar about casting the show.

 

13:30mins: Conversation about the character Roy.

Pete Brooke, Julianne Buescher, Pons Maar.

 

30:50mins: Conversation about the character Monica.

Jack Tate, Julianne Buescher, and

 

55:00mins: Conversation about the character Spike.

John Kennedy, Lisa Rocco

 

ABOUT OUR GUESTS:

Pons Maar

Pons Maar trained as a visual artist in Florida, (yep, a Florida Man) then studied various performance disciplines in the SF Bay Area and, as a ‘performance artist’, created and toured his solo shows.  He somehow ended up with a career in film and television appearing in; Return to Oz, Golden Child, The Blob (1988), Dead Heat, Masters of the Universe, Teddy Rex, George of the Jungle, Monkeybone, and Dinosaurs TV series. 

Beginning with Return to Oz Pons also acted as Movement or Creature Coordinator on various productions.

Julianne Buescher

Julianne Buescher is a whimsically versatile, classically trained actor, voice-over artist and Muppet Performer…whose new Muppet character Beverly Plume can be seen in “Muppets Now!” On Disney+! Follow Julianne on IG at @juliannebuescher and see all her credits at IMDb.me/juliannebuescher

Jake Tate

Jack Tate is an actor/puppeteer/voiceover guy. Mostly, he’s retired, but he’d work if someone asked.  He was in movies: The Right Stuff, Monster in the Closet, Interview with an Assassin and many others. On TV, he did a lot of day-player roles: Fresh Prince, Frazier, Hotel, Murder She Wrote and many others, before he landed on Dinosaurs, as a regular player, a Unisaur, appearing as many of the characters interacting with the family. Another show he was a regular on later, was The Journey of Allen Strange, for Nickelodeon. He was more successful in commercials than TV or movies, doing pretty near 1000 of them, many as a spokesman for AT&T, Pepsi, Bud Light, Ford Mercury and played, for 20+ years, the character Jack in the Box. Dinosaurs was easily his career favorite.

Pete Brooke

Peter Brooke is the Creative Supervisor for the Academy Award®-winning Jim Henson's Creature Shop™ and is responsible for the conception, design and sculpt of each character and creature brought to life at the Shop's Los Angeles location. His work can be seen in such films as the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, George of the Jungle, Cats & Dogs, Dr. Dolittle, and Where the Wild Things Are, as well as the television projects Dinosaurs, Jim Henson's The Storyteller, and most recently, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. 

Brooke works closely with the director and creative team of each project to guarantee that their vision is realized in the character he creates. He also liaises with the Shop's builders and supervises characters on set to ensure that the original concept and design style is maintained throughout the build and performance.

Brooke began his relationship with The Jim Henson Company in 1988 as a graduate of the film school at Manchester Polytechnic. His first project was Jim Henson's The Storyteller as a sculptor of the series' various fantasy and folklore characters. When the Company began production in Los Angeles on Dinosaurs in 1991, Brooke relocated to the United States as a sculptor and designer on the technically ambitious comedy starring an entire cast of animatronic full-body dinosaurs.

Brooke’s own fine art sculpture has been featured in galleries and museums across the country for the past 25 years.

He is a recipient of the Gold Medal for Best Sculpture from the California Art Club and the Award of Excellence from the Society of Animal Artists. His work has been featured in several magazines including Southwest Art, Art Talk, Art Revue and Wildlife Art News.

John E. Kennedy

John E. Kennedy is a lifelong puppeteer who began performing at age three and met and worked with Jim Henson at the age of 22.  He has been a member of Sesame Street since 1994, and currently performs The Amazing Mumford, a character originated by Jerry Nelson. John has also been a Muppet™ performer on projects such as Muppets From Space, The Muppets Wizard of Oz, The Muppets Take the Bowl, and The Muppets Take the O2. He has authored two puppet-making books (Puppet Mania and Puppet Planet), and has been a puppet captain, a choreographer, and a musician.  

As a puppet builder, Kennedy has represented Jim Henson's exhibits around the world with his puppet kits; he has also instructed young puppeteers on cruises, camps, and festivals.  He lives in Ocoee, Florida with his wife, Julie, and creates custom puppet characters for theme parks and performs music with his band, Johnny K Band.

Lisa Rocco

No bio provided