The (Real World) Accents of Star Wars

Okay folks, what real-world accents have you detected in the Star Wars saga?

Of course we've got...

1. Han, Leia, Luke and co. with the "middle of the road" standard American accents.

2. The Imperial Officers with their aristocratic English accents.

3. Jango and all of his clone derivatives with Kiwi accents.

5. Qui-Gon sounds particularly Irish to me when he says, "There's always a bigger fish".

Are there any others that are detectable to your ears? Does Obi ever let his Scottish accent press to the fore, or does Darth Maul ever sound a little Australian? Can you think of any other regional US, UK, or Commonwealth accents in the saga? Wouldn't it be really cool if they'd made OT Vader have a Scouser accent?

(p.s. - Just to be ultra-clear for the ultra-thick, I'm not talking about fake, in-universe accents here, like General Grievous' pseudo-Slavic accent or the Gungans baby-talk.)

 

Dr. Evazan has a bit of a Scottish brogue about him. "You just watch yourself!"

 

Well, the British accent is supposed to be the Coruscant accent. That is why the Imperial officers have such an accent since, presumably, they've spent a lot of time on the Imperial capitol.

 

Shmi is Swedish

 

He does at that! Good one! So is the observation on Shmi's Swedish accent. Any more? Does Hayden sound Canadian at all to anyone?

 

I always stumble over Obi's "speciality". Been a while since I listened to some Scottish folks, but THAT's def not British "Courscanti" accent

 

LOL True! The last time I heard someone pronounce speciality like that was in Jamaica.

 

The Imperial Officers with their aristocratic English accents.

A few of them had American accents.

 

what about that trippy accent from one of Padme's handmaidens?

ana-KIN sky-WAL-ker (some unnatural accent pattern for Anakin Skywalker)

Is that from anywhere in the commonwealth? Or file that under Jar Jar/Grevious' accents?

 

The Neimoidians sound Asian.

 

I think that's one of my favorite lines in the entire movie. I like the way he pronounces it.

 

Believe it or not, "speciality" is actually the correct British pronunciation of "specialty." I thought Obi was just being silly at first, but that's really how it's said.

 

I always thought the Neimoidians sounded more Transylvanian then Asian, but apparently I'm the only one who thought that.

 

My British friends usually don't say it that way, still love it. Makes it stick to the head. Thank God no one's got my terrible mix of Kentucky Hillbillish and Croydon English ...

 

The_General_Onslow, you started a very interesting thread. While I tend to agree with you about

Han, Leia, Luke and co. with the "middle of the road" standard American accents

Leia tried one time to speak like most of the Imperial officers, when she first met Tarkin in ANH:

LEIA: Governor Tarkin, I should have expected to find you holding
Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on
board.

TARKIN: Charming to the last. You don't know how hard I found it
signing the order to terminate your life!

LEIA: I surprised you had the courage to take the responsibility
yourself!

TARKIN: Princess Leia, before your execution I would like you to be my
guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No
star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.

LEIA: The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems
will slip through your fingers.

The accent she used then was, I feel, quite different to the one we usually heard.

 

"Two ships against a Star Destroyer?!"

-southern accent

All of Bigg's lines (cut and reinstated)

-canadian

Fixer's lines (cut)

-really canadian

These stick out to me because Lucas really tried to eliminate any regional accents that didn't serve his purpose, and succeeded. Beru and Dr. Evanzan were two that I can think of off the top of my head who were redubbed. If you thought you detected an accent in Evanzan in the film you should listen to the original actor's accent on the Behind the Magic CD.

Not exactly an accent but Han definitely uses jargon in the first film that I don't hear in the next two. I can't describe it but what jumps out at me is, "Listen, sister", using don't instead of doesn't, and using ain't.

 

I agree about Ford. I think he was channeling a bit of the same redneck fellow he played in American Graffiti.

 

More like, 'West Country'....

I'd forgotten about that aspect...

 

Good point, that.

 

Dexter and Admiral Ackbar sound alike, just a little.
Wilford Brimley's voice sounds different than his regular folksy self in the Endor film.
Leia's fake accent on DS1 is pathetic.
KiAl Mundi sounds like he's from Oregon.

 

"Master Skywalker - there are too many of them, what are we going to do?" English - but def not aristocratic! South/south east England.

 

Don Henderson once said that he delivered his lines in the DS conference room in a deliberatley broad London accent because he figured he was going to be overdubbed anyway. He was surprised when they kept his actual voice in the final film. However, listening to his lines, there's only really a faint trace of the accent anyway.

 

for the love of mary !! There is no such thing as a "British" accent. Stop it !! You do know there are more variants on accents in the UK than the USA? From Cornwall, to Norfolk to Yorkshire to Scots to Irish to Welsh to Geordie to Brum. All HUGELY different....

Anyway - only half serious !!

They're certainly not aristocratic - Don Hendersons about as far as you can get from aristocratic!! Same with Piett!!
Finally, Ewans accent in the movies isnt Scots. He's doing a very good job of hiding his Glas...

moving on....

 

Spot on with the 'Brit' accents. While Tarkin could possibly be called aristocratic, the rest are what we refer to as 'The Queen's English'; which, ironically enough, is supposed to be accent-free

Any yes, Ewan did a brilliant job as Obi-Wan, even though his natural accent is quite soft (tangent: His uncle Wedge has almost exactly the same voice, listen to the audiobook for Heir to the Empire). I thought Liam Neeson did a fantastic job as well. He's got a Belfast accent, and believe me, you'd notice if he slipped back into that one

I don't wanna sound too nit-picky ( ), but why would he?
1) Ray Park is Scottish, but speaks with a middle-of-the-road London accent (from what I've heard) and...
2) Ray Park didn't do the voice anyways, it was Peter Serafinowicz, who also speaks with an English accent, being English an'all.

Anyhow, I'm not the only one who noticed the Kaminoans also had (soft) Kiwi accents, am I?
Oh, and in the Behind The Magic CDs, I found Wuher's to be the most appropriate; reminds me of all those pub-crawls around London. "He'll have to stay outside", and people losing arms and all that...

Excellent thread btw, Onslow!

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