I applaud this guy. He’s shining a light on what happens to a large percentage of workers in most companies in every industry: those who actually create the wealth are usually valued only slightly better than serfs.
I believe it is important to move on from a situation if you are not valued.
…Just imagine what’d happen if everyone did that.
Did he really “create the wealth” though? He didn’t create the characters, build the sets, write the scripts, film the pilot, set up the production deals, etc. He voices a character on a kids show. That’s not really a high-value role. There’s thousands of voice actors who can and will step into his shoes.
He’s free to do exactly what he’s doing - move on to a position that’ll pay him better. Good for him, I hope he finds a position that is commensurate with his talents. If he was truly irreplaceable, they’d be scrambling to keep him.
The bigger question is why anyone watches Thomas in the first place. It’s unnervingly creepy. These trains…do they have free will? A soul? Do they die or are they just repaired endlessly?
I’ma leave this here for you:
Who the fuck is Sir Topham Hatt? Is that what the Fat Controller is called over there? You running-dog capitalist lickspittles.
Well exccuuuuuse us for using people’s names instead of trying to shame them for their body type! Sorry for sitting down for a minute to learn the actual names of people instead of just Adjective Job.
You might want to look into your handle and see if you can rename yourself “Angry Queenslackey,” sirrah!
And, much like soccer, this is a name your people came up with in the first place, don’t blame us for using it.
Isn’t this show made in England? Don’t they still speak English in England? Why did they even need an American voice actor? Sounds like a redundant, unneeded position.
Though if they are going to go that route, at least pay the guy well. OH well, in 20 years he can work the Comic Con circuit selling autographs to fans.
here is the letter cached
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:yoDWXe4I7Z8J:thesifblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/an-open-letter-from-martin-sherman-on.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
I think Rule #1 ought to be, if you feel you’re underpaid… you’re probably underpaid. Not very many people are overpaid in this country.
What to do about it is an entirely separate question. I do hope Sherman has career options.
I wasn’t even aware they were still making new episodes. I mean, if they want to save money, it probably wouldn’t cut into their profits very much to keep re-running the old episodes over and over again, surely? Or has the show undergone sweeping dramatic re-toolings in order to stay current and relevant to today’s generation?
Sadly, my son prefers the new computer-generated episodes. They’re going back over the old episodes and placing computer-animated faces atop the static faces. Weird.
They’ve finally introduced Skarlooey and company to the CGI episodes. About bloody time.
I’m with the voice actor, lots (most) of voice actors are awfully underpaid.
Also, when I feel down I play the Biggy vs Thomas mashup and suddenly the sun shines brighter.
Worked for Voltron. 
And sadly, there are hundreds of other voice actors who will gladly take his place.
Not really. The company will find somebody new to voice Thomas, and the kids will almost certainly not notice. Or if they notice, they won’t give a crap. Most of the kids that I know that watch Thomas are 4 and under… They’re not the most sophisticated of fan bases. I don’t know any kids that continued to watch the show after the age of about 5, they all seemed to outgrow him by about that age.
What absolutely astounds me, though, is what they charge for the god damned Thomas train sets.
Yaaaay for ebay and yard sales!
Oh yeah - we were quite glad that our son never really got into Thomas. $300 for a play table and $15 for a single engine is straight up highway robbery. Some friends of ours inherited (for free!) a bunch of used Thomas stuff (including a table and several trains) that their neighbours’ kids outgrew, and we reckoned that the neighbours probably spent somewhere in the vicinity of $500-600 on Thomas toys, at least.
IKEA sells wood train sets that I believe are compatible with the Thomas one. I got one for my kiddos and we’ve played with it several times. She doesn’t watch the Thomas show so she doesn’t care that we just have the generic trains. Even if your kid insists on the real trains, the tracks are way cheaper and basically the same thing.
Melissa and Doug, and others do, as well.
I must confess I “forced” TtTE brio-compatible on my son, by requesting my parents get him a set from ebay for his 2nd birthday (he was already watching the show on PBS and NetFlix). It was an immediate hit with both of us! Just not with his mom, who has banished the set from the living room to the carpeted room upstairs. ::
::
Yup, I’m aware of the Ikea sets. If my 2 year old ever gets interested in Thomas, that’s our go-to (if we can’t find any real stuff at yard sales). So far, she seems to be leaning much more in the direction of Disney Princesses, but the fancies of a toddler are quick to change.
