Calling all Critters: A new episode of The Legend of the Legend of Vox Machina has debuted, giving fans an inside look at the process, perks and surprises the Critical Role creators have encountered in recording their characters for a new medium. The fourth installment, The Legend of the Voices of The Legend of Vox Machina, also features the talented voice director who is shepherding this Titmouse-animated project to screens via Amazon Prime Video.
“Finding a director for this project was challenging, partially because we have very good directors as part of our cast, who do phenomenal work,” Matthew Mercer (Game Master) points out in the episode. “But we all also understood that we wanted somebody outside of the room who could make us better than we could be on our own.”
From a very short list, the creators selected voice director Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, a good friend and fan of the Critical Role crew (you may remember her as Zahra in campaign one!) whose credits include Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Star Wars Resistance. With a voice director experienced on both sides of mic and a core of actor-producers with plenty of V.O. experience, The Legend of Vox Machina was set up to be an absolute peach in the recording booth.
“I’ve been directing all of these amazing actors for years,” McGlynn shares. “For me, creativity comes with trust, and I think we all trust each other enough to help bring out the best with each other — and there’s enough respect there to make sure that this collaborative area is safe.”
In the video, McGlynn and the creators/voice stars take fans through the transition from tabletop shop-talk to group booth recordings (in the early days of production) to the challenges of transitioning to recording from closets and home offices rearranged on the fly during the COVID-19 pandemic — while maintaining the fun, improvisational, “lightning in a bottle” energy that brings Critical Role to life.
We also get to hear more of the details of adapting the real-play podcast to an episodic series, like which NPCs the man-of-many-voices Mercer will continue to play as other characters are, understandably, recast.
“Look, every project has love behind it,” McGlynn summarizes, “… but there’s something special about this. There’s something special about this group!”
The Legend of Vox Machina is an Amazon Original series which follows a group of second-rate adventurers on a quest to save the realm from terrifying monsters and dark magical forces. Throughout the first season, our characters will face undead giants, overthrow a sinister necromancer, and confront a powerful curse that has taken root inside their own group. Through it all, they learn how to function as a team, and discover they’re much more than that: they’re family.
The series is executive produced by and voice stars Critical Role‘s Laura Bailey (Vex’ahlia), Taliesin Jaffe (Percival de Rolo III), Ashley Johnson (Pike Trickfoot), Liam O’Brien (Vax’ildan), Matthew Mercer (Game Master), Marisha Ray (Keyleth), Sam Riegel (Veth Brenatto) and Travis Willingham (Grog Strongjaw).
