I was playing Robotech: Battlecry for the PlayStation 2, and one of the missions unlocks interviews with the voice actors/actresses responsible for the game. In many cases, these folks are reprising roles performed for the original 1985 television program.

So anyways, I unlock an interview, and it's of Melanie MacQueen. Most Virginians have seen her at one point in time or the other, because she serves as the Virginia Lottery's mascot, Lady Luck. I figure, "Hey, cool. When I see Lady Luck at something, I'll mention to her that I enjoyed the work she did in Robotech: Battlecry," because it's not every day that I get to talk to a voice actress in a video game that I've got.

So I'm watching this and she mentions getting the part of Lisa Hayes. I got very suspicious all of a sudden, because there wasn't any footage of Commander Hayes in the game. But, I reminded myself that it was Reba West who provided the voice of the old sourpuss.

Curiousity won out, however, and I checked the IMDB entry for Melanie MacQueen, and sure enough, there it was. She had provided the voice for Lisa Hayes and the Zentraedi ace Kiyora in Battlecry. I scrolled down the page and nearly fell out of my seat. Why? Melanie MacQueen had been the voice of Lisa Hayes twenty years ago.

I'm very rarely in a position to be knocked over with a feather. Be it cynicism or world-weariness, not too awful much gets a tremendous drop on me, but this did. I sat there in my apartment saying, "I've talked to Lisa Hayes. Holy [expletive deleted], I've talked to Lisa Hayes!" I'd met Lady Luck at some Virginia Lottery promotional function that was going on, and had decided to say something pleasant to the mascot. At the time, I had no idea that I'd been talking to the voice behind one of my three most favorite characters in the Robotech series. (For the record, the other two are Commander Roy Fokker and Max Sterling.)

Call me crazy, but the next time I see her, I'm getting another autograph, and I've got to tell her that I appreciated her work as Commander Lisa Hayes. It's grand to live in Virginia.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:38 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 387 words, total size 2 kb.