CT The way Vader's voice changes in each film & James Earl Jones' performance

This matches my reaction in the early 1990s.

 

Adding to the confusion, James Earl Jones was not credited in ANH. I believe it was partially by his choice (voice-overs in a non-animated film probably didn't carry as much weight back then) and partly because David Prowse was supposed to have been the voice of Darth Vader, and even recorded the lines for it, but he didn't sound menacing enough (I believe his native accent sounded too "pirate-y". Could you imagine him saying "Don't be under-estimatin' the power of the Force! Arrgh!")

 

I agree. I go to Geoffrey Rush and Bill Nighy to hear interesting private voices/accents, not David Prowse.

 

I always noticed that Vader's voice in ANH was tinny, and somewhat unrefined in the mix. I always attributed that to ANH being the first time around the track, so Lucas and Ben Burtt weren't entirely sure how to get the voice they wanted from the recordings they had. By ESB, you could tell they knew what they were doing, and it really shows. Vader's voice is deeper, more powerful, and has a much more commanding tone to it. It's Vader at his apex. It's also the most tonally diverse. At times it's threatening, annoyed, antagonizing, and even snarky or amused. In RotJ, it's deep, but also somewhat tinny. I feel like this was done in an attempt to combine the ANH and ESB mixes.

 

James Earl Jones' credits for Star Wars movies seems to appear and disappear, originally he wasn't credited in ANH at all but I was digging around and maybe he's credited in the SEs? Not sure about Empire but definitely he says he's credited in ROTJ. Almost certain he isn't credited in ROTS. He's definitely credited in his Rebels episodes. I actually chuckled outloud when I first saw Rogue One credits at the end because there's James Earl Jones' credit big as day on screen, I tried to explain it to some of my fellow Star Wars nerds but figuring out JEJ being credited for Star Wars movies is upper level SW-nerd factoids

http://movies.stackexchange.com/que...arl-jones-get-voice-over-credit-for-star-wars

http://www.popmatters.com/article/james-earl-jones-from-darth-vader-to-big-daddy/

Q: How come you didn’t take a credit for Darth Vader’s voiceover in the first “Star Wars”?

• The first two. You know the story, don’t you?
  When Linda Blair did the girl in “The Exorcist,” they hired Mercedes McCambridge to do the voice of the devil coming out of her. And there was controversy as to whether Mercedes should get credit. I was one who thought no, she was just special effects. (Note: The Screen Actors Guild helped her eventually receive credit for her work.)
  So when it came to Darth Vader, I said, no I’m just special effects. But it became so identified that by the third one, I thought, OK I’ve been denying it, I’ve been saying it sounds like the (7-Up soft drink) Uncola nut guy Holder. Geoffrey Holder! ... and I got away with it.
  But for the third one, I said OK, I’ll let them put my name on it.

Q: People thought it was Geoffrey Holder back then?

• A lot of people I talked to did. I’d say, “Yeah, it does sound like him, doesn’t it?”

 

In my opinion, Vader sounded fine in Rogue One, except for one line in particular. "An Imperial facility openly attacked?" His voice sounded very strained and, well, old.

 

Awww, I love "An Imperial facility openly attacked?!" line because Vader is legit ticked at that moment. Not quite murder-y ticked (mostly, he tends to sound calmer when he kills somebody) but mostly "Argh, these technological terror worshiping idiots and their inability to take care of these rebels"

 

all i can say is that it's cute. yup, there's something adorable about vader.

i thought that sounded "off" the first time i saw rogue one. but my vader love got the best of me, and now i'm fine with it. i asked myself, why does he have to sound the same all the time... do i sound the same all the time?

and anyway, adorable.

 

ANH voice, i love voting for the underdog, TESB gets more that enough praise.

 

The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.