Linda Hamilton (Terminator I & II), who plays Nemesis, Goddess of Vengeance.
"This is a very attractive medium for a number of reasons. First, it's a total discipline to work with your voice as a separate instrument, and to try to direct all of your acting through there. I just love the sense of play and imagination that comes with voiceovers. Plus, I have kids, and you want to play roles that will not only reach your kids, but that you can sit down and watch with them.

"This form of creating a character is backwards from what I'm used to, in that they start with the script and your voice, and then create around that. So it's very different for me, and yet it's a very powerful way to start something, to feel as though you are the total origin of it. I don't mean that as an ego thing, but that it's wonderful the way they match a character to your voice. It's a very different way of acting.

"This role appealed to me because it was a new way of working, and I'm always looking for something that challenges me. It's a great arena in which to get just broad, get really loud and crazy, and be much braver than you usually get to be on screen."

James Woods.

James Woods (The General's Daughter, True Believer), who plays Hades.
On Jamie Thomason:
"Jamie is fabulous -- he really keeps the creative juices flowing. He lets you be a little silly and improvise out there, but he's also able to keep you focused on the idea. He's one of the best directors I've worked with in terms of making an adjustment to a scene. He doesn't just stick to the script -- he'll give you the idea behind the line. I mean, he does his homework. I've worked with some great feature directors, but he's as good as any of them. He's a terrific director."

On being Hades:
"I get my motivation for doing the part of Hades in the Hercules television series primarily because I have two nieces and a nephew who said if I didn't do it, I would never be welcome at Thanksgiving dinner again. They said, `Uncle Jimmy, you are so cool in Hercules. You're going to do the series, right?' I said, `Well, you know, the series is 65 episodes and it takes all this time and I did put two years into the film, and there are other things I've got to do...' And they said, `Uncle Jimmy, we told all of our friends at school -- you are doing the series!' You know, my nephew is eight years old. There's no negotiating with him.

"To be a Disney villain is to join a pantheon of characters, some of which have the most impact in American cinema. I mean, when you think about it -- Cruella DeVille, Captain Hook, et. al. -- these are great characters and I thought Hades was destined to be a really memorable one.

"Kids are very sophisticated these days, far more than at any time in the past. The global village has gotten much smaller between all the cable channels and the internet; kids have access to the same media influences, whether they live in the city or out in a rural part of the country. So you can't play down to them -- they know everything, and children's television has to be intelligent or you lose them. It's that simple. That in itself has raised the bar for children's television, and I think you see that in these (Hercules) scripts.