INTERVIEW: ‘My Little Pony’ is back with new series ‘Pony Life’
Image: Tara Strong voices the character of Twilight Sparkle on My Little Pony: Pony Life. Photo courtesy of Discovery Family / Provided by press site with permission.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was such a hit for Discovery Family that the animated franchise is back with an all-new series. This one is called Pony Life, and many old friends have returned for some thrilling adventures: Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. The series is set in Sugarcube Corner and features animation influenced by the Japanese Chibi-style.
Tara Strong, voice actor extraordinaire, is back as Twilight Sparkle. Children and adults have grown up on her many voices in the industry, including Dil Pickles on Rugrats, Bubbles on The Powerpuff Girls and Timmy Turner on The Fairly Odd Parents.
“Of course, it’s an immediate yes,” Strong said recently about her decision to join Pony Life. “I mean, Twilight Sparkle is so important. I’d be pretty upset if someone else started playing her, so don’t get any ideas network people listening. You don’t want to see an angry Twilight Sparkle. [laughs] Most actors really fall in love with the characters they get to play and would do anything to keep playing them, and that’s the beautiful thing about voiceover is you can do it for so many years. So, yes, I would always say yes.”
The endurance of My Little Pony is remarkable. The franchise includes not only TV shows, but toys, movies and fan conventions. Strong is a frequent presence at Pony cons and comic conventions, and she loves talking it up with dedicated devotees.
“I think it is a beautiful, inclusive show,” she said. “I think it speaks to people of all color, all ages, wherever you’re from. It’s fun, and it’s whimsical. But it’s also meaningful stories. It’s something you can sit and watch with the whole family, and it never disappoints with adventures. And this show in particular, this reboot, is even cuter than before. The characters have all been redesigned, reimagined, but it’s still the essence of those characters with the original voice actors. So I think fans of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic will love Pony Life, and it’s 11 minutes of fun.”
For most auditions, Strong will be given a drawing of the character and a portion of the script. Occasionally she’ll also receive the show bible, a document that clues in the actors on what the world looks like. For her My Little Pony journey, Strong met with Lauren Faust, the creator of the series.
“Lauren Faust, who created Friendship Is Magic, actually came to my house with drawings of Equestria and her newly imagined My Little Pony world, and I had worked with her on Powerpuff Girls,” Strong remembered. “We became friends, and she asked me to lay down Twilight, Pinkie Pie and I think Rainbow Dash for a screen test for network. She said as soon as she heard my Twilight she knew that I would be Twilight, and it’s just been a beautiful, collaborative process. All of animation is very collaborative. We work together to find the voice for something, and sometimes something happens last minute that you didn’t plan on before the audition and jumps into your mind. We have so much fun. We really just love working together, and this show is definitely something that I hope we get to do forever because it’s just so beautiful and fun.”
Once Strong creates a character, that voice lives in her mind forever. She stores them in her memory, and every now and again they come down and play. Because she has voiced Twilight Sparkle so many times, it was easy for her to recall the voice for Pony Life.
“I can still do characters that I did when I was 13, so they sort of seem to exist in my mind,” she said. “Twilight is someone that’s easy for me to tap into. She’s almost my own voice. She’s a little bit higher and a little bit more hyper, and I’m jealous because she definitely reads a lot more than I do. But we have a lot of similarities in that we want to make sure our friends are all happy and working together, that nobody is left unseen, unheard. This show obviously encourages empathy and listening to each other, and that’s something that I try to emulate in my everyday life.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
My Little Pony: Pony Life, featuring the voice of Tara Strong, plays Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. on Discovery Family. Click here for more information.
