Ratchet and Clank has been a video game series beloved by adults and kids alike since it first burst onto the scene in 2002.
Gorgeous graphics (those Pixar comparisons aren’t wrong), fantastic combat, goofy gags, and fun puzzle-solving make it a game that just keeps on giving.
However, for many players, it’s the quirky and lovable characters in this Insomniac Games’ best seller that make it one of the top action-adventure platform games out there.
This is mainly thanks to Ratchet and Clank’s voice actors, most of whom have been voicing their characters since the get-go.
But what is the magic that these veterans weave that has given this long-running Playstation franchise such staying power?
Here’s a lowdown on the video game’s characters, and what the voice artists themselves have to say about what makes them so iconic and the contributions they’ve made to these characters’ ever-lasting lovablity.
James Arnold Taylor as Ratchet
The main protagonist, Ratchet, is a snark-riffing, space-traveling feline-esque alien.
More accurately, he’s an orphaned Lombax, the last of his species, who’s skilling up as a mechanic on his home planet Veldin, when he meets the pint-sized robot Clank.
In the first Ratchet and Clank video game, our anti-hero was voiced by Mikey Kelley.
However, on Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando, James Arnold Taylor (also known as JAT) took over the role and has been the man behind the flawed feline in each of the following 17 games and the 2016 Ratchet and Clank movie.
That said, as a much-in-demand voice actor, Taylor has still had time to voice several other iconic video game and animated characters including Fred Flintstone, the Flash, Spiderman, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in a slew of Lego Star Wars video games to name but a very few.
But it’s Ratchet who remains one of his firm favorites.
Talking about his beloved character’s popularity, JAT puts it down to the fact that, in the end, Ratchet, for all his sarcasm and snide, is who many others aspire to be.
He’s kind of the everyman, he wants to be the hero, he wants to do the right thing.
David Kaye as Clank
Small in size but big in smarts, Ratchet’s side-kick Clank is a robot that escaped in a stolen shuttle from the Zoni factory he was made in before crash-landing on Ratchet’s doorstep.
The two become lifelong besties and set out on several adventures which typically involve facing off with the evil Doctor Nefarious.
As a villain-fighting duo, they make a perfect pairing with Clank bringing the brains while Ratchet provides the brawn.
Canadian voice actor David Kaye, who’s also had a long run voicing Megatron in the Transformers series, has been the voice artist behind the robotic clever-clogs since the first ever game and, like JAT, took on acting duties in the movie too.
Discussing how he came up with the vocal personality of Clank, in a live 2017 interview, Kaye explained:
I just began with a little bit of dialogue … and I did things with my head and it would go back and forth until my neck hurt!
So, now, if I’m doing it wrong, it’s because my neck doesn’t move, and even the audio engineers will say ‘your head’s not moving!’
Armin Shimerman as Doctor Nefarious
Not to be confused with the octogenarian sidekick of our favorite movie villain Gru, Ratchet and Clank’s most recurring antagonist is the tyrannical robotic Doctor Nefarious.
With such an oversized ego on display, it’s not that obvious whether his plan to turn everyone in the galaxy into a robot is so he can become the ultimate over-lord… or ‘just because’.
What is obvious, however, is that voice actor Armin Shimerman has a lot of fun with this character, rolling out the high-pitched raspy vocals and maniacal screams to hilarious effect.
The fact that the character never really realizes that his dry-toned butler, always by his side, thinks of him as more twit than wit, only adds to the character’s appeal.
Shimerman, who’s had a lengthy and successful career as both an on-screen and voice actor,  is well-known as the Ferengi bar owner Quark, in the long-running television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
In this role, he’s one of only a handful of Star Trek actors to have the honor of appearing on four or more different Star Trek series—Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and the aforementioned Deep Space Nine.
Similar to his Ratchet and Clank colleagues, Shimerman has voiced Nefarius since the series’ first video game and, as such, has been able to truly grow his character into the highly entertaining, crazy evil mastermind that he is today.
Jim Ward as Captain Qwark
Captain Copernicus Leslie Qwark is an intergalactic superhero–or so he says. For reals, he’s actually a good-for-nothing braggart who causes more problems than he solves.
Initially, he was written into the video game series as a second antagonist after Doctor Nefarious. However, in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, he appears to team up with our two heroes—though he still manages to throw a few spanners in the works while doing so.
Jim Ward was the voice actor on duty at Qwark for most of the Ratchet and Clank franchise. However, following serious health problems in 2022, he’s since retired from voice work, handing the baton over to actor Scott Whyte.
These have been pretty big shoes for Whyte to fill, as Ward’s performance of Ratchet and Clank’s cowardly frenemy is one of the biggest draws for fans of the game.
Jennifer Hale as Rivet
The latest addition to the world of Ratchet and Clank is Rivet, who, though her tail might say otherwise, appears to be a long-lost Lombox.
Voiced by the incomparable Jennifer Hale who earned kudos as bad-ass Commander Shepard in Mass Effect Trilogy, Rivet is a tough cookie.
Just like Ratchett, she believed she was the only Lombax left. But rather than be bitter, it’s made her stronger.
Hale hands credit to the writers for making Rivet such an engaging character, but fans will know that much of Rivet’s charm comes through Hale’s unique voice talents.
Explaining how she as a voice actor is able to create a character like Rivet that players come to love and root for, she says:
My job is to jump in and have an experience and live it fully. Not so much to give a good performance but so that when you’re playing, you guys can have an experience too. That people care and that they connect emotionally to the character, means that I did my job and that I honored the writing.
Hiring Professional Video Game Voice Actors
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