From Friday’s The Oklahoman:
By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor
He was the original voice for Speed Racer, but his only run-in with the law wasn’t for speeding; it was for parking tickets.
Peter Fernandez wrote the English dialogue for the “Speed Racer” TV series and voiced the titular character. While his character was known for his speedy race car, the Mach 5, Fernandez’ trouble came from dozens of unpaid parking tickets.
“When I was doing ‘Speed Racer,’ I acquired so many parking tickets in New York that I was wanted by the police,” Fernandez said. “They eventually got me, but they didn’t know I was involved with television or anything. … I just would pull up and park.
“I had loaned my car to somebody, and that’s what started it. … Two weeks later, they reluctantly called and said they had a slight accident. It was parked at Coney Island Hospital, festooned with tickets. From that day on, I said, ‘What can I do? I’m not going to pay all these tickets.’ So, after that, I became a scofflaw.”
Fernandez eventually settled his parking-ticket issues. He returns to the racetrack again in “Speed Racer: The Next Generation.”
Fernandez voices Speed’s brother, Spritle, now an adult, in the animated “Speed Racer: The Next Generation,” available on DVD.
He declined offers to participate in two subsequent “Speed Racer” series. “And then this came along, and it sounded more promising, and the gal who was the voice director knew me from shows like ‘Courage, the Cowardly Dog’ and all. And she asked me if I’d like to do Spritle, and I said yes.”
He also has an appearance as an announcer in Andy and Larry Wachowskis’ “Speed Racer” live-action film.
“Last summer, they flew me over to Berlin to do a couple lines in the film,” Fernandez said. “I play a local announcer with a porkpie hat and horn-rimmed glasses.
“I met the Wachowskis when I was there, of course,” Fernandez said. “And they were very happy to meet me! They said, ‘We used to run home from school as kids to watch the show. We were such “Speed Racer” fans.’”
Fernandez was brought into “Speed Racer,” the original animated series, because of his experience working with movies imported from Japan.
“There were only four of us in the cast,” Fernandez said. “One gal, Corrine Orr, and three fellows: Jack Grimes, Jack Curtis and me.”
The four of them voiced all the characters in the “Speed Racer” cartoons. Fernandez’ only instructions were to Americanize the Japanese show, he said.
“We had to lip-sync it. So, I had to write the dialogue to the movement of the lips and still sound like natural talk,” Fernandez said. “Sometimes those mouths went so fast, I had to write a lot of dialogue to make it look very busy. I had fun sneaking in lines that I thought were funny … lines such as ‘This dangerous situation is becoming dangerous!’”
