Are the ridiculous regional accents for aliens considered canon?

Hi there

I've never been a fan of The Clone Wars animated series (although I do think Rebels is great), as I've always thought it strayed way too far from what was "real" in the Star Wars Universe... things like strange interactions between characters like Anakin/Asohka/Obi-Wan... Padme and Jar-Jar going on crazy adventures... huge galaxy changing events that after happening we never hear about in the film, and have no consequence on them either (Mortis, Force Priestesses etc...) multiple encounters between Dooku and Anakin/Obi-Wan, yet in the films it does not appear that they've met or had any of these interactions (since Geonosis).

Even little things like an episode early in the 1st season (I've decided to watch through everything just for the lore, and to see if I can change my mind about the series... although I personally wish it was not canon), there is the part where Hondo requests the Republic pay his ransom in 1,000,000 credits worth of spice... and despite this being an illegal substance neither Palpatine, Senator Amidala, or anyone else makes any objection or even questions it in the slightest... that's like requesting 20 tons of heroin as a ransom from the American government.(I'm well aware of the CIA's role in drug trafficing and production but that is beyond normal government levels).

Anyway... I was just wondering if anyone knows whether the accents used by aliens (that in the movies we see not speaking basic at all, using their natural alien speech, like Kit Fisto, Twi'lieks, Rodians etc...) is supposed to be canon? As I find it pretty silly to be hearing aliens with Jamaican, French, Irish, Scottish, Northern British (Manchester and Liverpool accents etc..) amongst others, coming from beings that we heard speaking a completely different form of language in the films, and whose biology would probably not even allow them to speak with such accents and verbalisations....

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I definitely find it disturbing when people say things like "Dave Filoni knows Star Wars better than anyone, even Lucas!" or "The Clone Wars series is way better than the Prequels".. but that's another matter entirely.


Sorry for the rant, hope someone has some info about this (I've tweeted Pablo Hidalgo asking this aswell, but I'm doubtful I will get a response.) Thanks!

 

Well, I think TCW feels like real Star Wars to me, much like Rebels, even when there’s stuff that I don’t like. Overall, the way they were/are written is a mix of campiness with serious drama. Like the movies.

That being said, I think the accents are canon. It’s not just some aliens that have accents, human characters do have them too (Commander Sato has a bit of an accent too; two new characters from Rogue One have a Chinese accent). Personally, I like it. I wish to see more human characters with other accents in the future. Star Wars has a huge international fanbase, and not every character should only have American or British accents when speaking “Basic”.

The only think I don’t like is the concept of “one species one accent/language”. Which is why I am glad now we have Hutts speaking Basic. If your physiology allows you to produce a variety of sounds enough to form different syllables, words and sentences, then you should be perfectly able to speak a different language – I mean, even parrots can “speak” our words too. And accents are acquired, they’re not some “biological” condition. I don’t like that all Twi’leks should have French accents, I think it’s rather silly that Aalya has an accent when she was raised in the Temple.
But I hope to see in the future a Twi’lek with a Japanese accent, a human with a Mozambican accent, a Neimoidian with an Australian accent, etc. It’s a big galaxy after all.

 

Yeah I don't mind at all the humans having all sorts of accents, but for me it just doesn't work with the aliens and is pretty immersion breaking in my opinion.

Like if we listen to Greedo in A New Hope, or Bib Fortuna in ROTJ, the Hutts etc... the whole tone and sound of their voice/language is so far removed from a normal Human type of sound and speech, yet when we hear them in The Clone Wars, it's just a normal human voice, without any manipulation or anything to atleast even make it sound like the original sounds we heard coming from these alien vocal chords/whatever biology they have.

 

I don't really see the big deal with the with accents, or lack thereof. It's the difference between the movies and an animated series like TCW (or Rebels, for that matter). It's difficult enough for the voice actors to work behind the microphone as they're imagining the scenarios from the script in front of them. As long as the dialogue flows with the story, the accents shouldn't be necessary.

 

I don’t think that the way they spoke in the movies would prevent them from being able to speak other languages or acquire other accents. Greedo sounded Italian to me. Bib Fortuna could pronounce words like “Skywalker” perfectly.
The only species I can think of atm where I can see the argument “their biology wouldn’t allow it” are the Geonosians and Wookies.

 

I always figured that, as its primarily a children's show, TCW was usually avoiding doing anything that required reading skills from the viewer. Spoken narration replacing opening crawl and alien characters speaking clear English with a mild (foreign to US viewers) accent, rather than an alien language that would require subtitles if the alien was meant to be understood by the viewer.

This doesn't mean all star wars films have to be the same as that now.

 

In fairness, how many alien characters in the PT needed subtitles for their spoken language? I don't think it has anything to do with the notion about it being geared towards children (TCW was TV-PG, but I'd prefer not to start anything about it).

 

I feel that if Sebulba was in TCW instead of TPM, he would be speaking to Anakin in Basic with a foreign (to US audience) accent.

 

All Twileks are either from France or Texas. It is known.