What's the significance of Palpatine's Voice Change

That's what I thought. Palpatine's on dope.

 

I think the voice change comes with the fact his face changed, the way his lips changed made him sound diffrent. try melting and disfiguring your lips and see if you sound any diffrent. plus most actors and ppls voice change when wearing heavy make up masks. also i think he had some fake teeth in that could do it too.

 

And the part where he says "Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood. The Force is stroooooooong in you" really made me giggle.

Oh the Ham! The Ham!!!

Yeah I saw people giggling a lot. I just wish George Lucas was there to see it.

 

the voice made him really freakin yet freakin awesome at the same time.

 

To add to the brilliance of the contrast between Chancellor Palpatine and "The Emperor", you watch a harmless old man who seems to really care about the well being of others swiftly morph into the anti-christ. Well, not quite so swift. I mean, did anyone else think that it was almost surreal the way he throws out the suggestions to Anakin?

"Good good Anakin. Now, kill him." WTF???? Did I just hear Chancellor Palpatine tell me to KILL Dooku?? Must have been going through Ani's mind when he heard this sentence. Brutal...., absolutely brutal.

Then when he's twisting the knife even further at the "Opera", you kind of sit there in your seat munching on your popcorn or whatever thinking...., Damn..., this guy is a twisted evil genius!

OK, yeah I know WE all know that Palps is the Emperor, but Anikan views him as a mentor and a friend...., and evidently "someone wise". Palpatine is most certainly the master of manipulation.

I am one to try and stick to what Lucas gives us in the movies, and not to speculate too far into why the proverbally unexplained actually happens..., like for instance why Qui Gon doesn't disappear when Maul gores him in TPM..., but I don't think Lucas gives us enough rope to hang ourselves on while we contemplate the significance of Palpatine's voice "Palpatations".

Some of you have posted some really good ideas as to why we think this happens. Does anyone know for sure or have you heard anything directly from the Bearded One himself via interview.

Help a brother out!

 

In reply to SAND-CRAWLER - Wonderful summation. I can now explain his quick changeover with confidence. You are wise and a better Jedi than I could ever hope to be...

 

Ian McDiarmid is a classically trained theatre actor. A method actor as well as a stage one. To get into his roles, he has to put himself into the mindset of his character(s). When he was hired for ROTJ, Lucas was going to use Clive Revell's voice over Ian's acting. But Ian convinced Lucas to let him take a shot at it. So he went through several variations before he came up with the right voice, which convinced Lucas to leave his voice as is.

For TPM, as Senator Palpatine, he took on his normal voice. Giving it a regal, senatorial stature. However, he has moments where he comes across as a swee old man. This intensifies as he becomes Chancellor Palpatine and carries over to AOTC. However, his voice does sound like it does in ROTJ, when he gives his acceptence speech on Emergency Powers. As Darth Sidious, he uses a deep voice, but not the Emperor's voice. For ROTS, he continually switches back and forth, as you start to realize that he's the Emperor from ROTJ. The Emperor's voice represents his anger and hate. As well as his sadisticness. For his final conversion of Anakin, after Mace's death, Ian went through several fluctuations as the transformation becomes complete. Afterwards, he's using his Emperor's voice. For TESB DVD, he keeps and uses some fluctuation.

 

The voice used in the Sith naming ceremony reminds me a lot of The Exorcist, the way there are long gutteral groans in-between phrases. Just evil...

 

Darth Sidious just turned the Chosen One to the Dark Side. That's why he sounded so funny, it was an immense victory.

 

When he first stands up after blasting Mace he says 'You are fulfilling your destiny' in the Emperor voice, but then after Anakin pledges himself to Sidious he says 'gooooooood' and 'the Force is strong with you' in a weird voice that has effects added to it that we've never heard before and we never hear again after he raises his hood. At first I just thought it was a little ridiculous and unneeded, but if you think of it as the Dark Side overwhelming him at that point because Anakin is becoming his apprentice then it kinda makes sense.

Ian was on "Good Morning America" two weeks ago and when asked by Charles Gibson if his voice was digitalized at all, he said that was his real voice. Not once was it digitalized.

 

Well here's the deal. Remember when Palp anoints Anakin as Darth Vader. Palps says in effect "You are STROOOONG with the dark side...blah blah." He's almost having a Sith-gasm. There's something about the dark side thats intoxicating I suppose. Palps had a moment like that in ROTJ when Luke wanted to get his lightsaber and do some damage. Luke was flirting with the darkside a bit there. Luckily he realized it in the end. Anyway, the dark side when it manifests in someone as powerful as Anakin gives off an energy that makes Palpy....ummm happy. Go have a smoke and get a room Palps.

 

When i heard all the voice changes, i too thought that the dark side was talking through him, as if the most powerful sith lords from before him were echoed through the dark side, especially when giving anakin the name vader.

 

The same reason that Anakin changes his voice as he talks to Padme when compared to the way he speaks to Palps. He voice alters to a dark and brooding tone w/ Palps to a soft and energenic tone w/ Padme. It's just a case of "alter ego" syndrome. Look at Batman.

 

I like his evil voice but it fluctuated too much and became almost comical at points. Like when he was about to shock Windu, and started going, "no, no, NO!" He sounded like a child throwing a tantrum.

Also when fighting Yoda when he pulls himself onto one of the senate seats he just starts laughing in a really disturbing manner. While in the senate room he also makes this expression resembling Gary Coleman, he sort of shrugs and opens his hands while giggling.

And when he finally blows Mace away, his expression of "release" was...odd to say the least.

 

Eons of sith lords lend thier energy to the dak side. Just as Jedi join in the light and retain thier identity the sith serve the dark as slaves. They devote themselves to the ideal that Palpatine manifests.They guide Lord Sidious in his quest to bring the sith out of hiding and ascend to rule the galaxy once more. They existed for the higher purpose of revenge.

In the moment the son of the force chooses to join the them and take the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith the energy of the dark side speaks thru Palpatine. As everyting that it worked for had come to fruitition.

That concept as well as how it was shown through Palpatines voice was hellacool.

 

"Also when fighting Yoda when he pulls himself onto one of the senate seats he just starts laughing in a really disturbing manner. While in the senate room he also makes this expression resembling Gary Coleman, he sort of shrugs and opens his hands while giggling."

Palps was drunk with power...

I loved the voice change as he brought his two dualites, the Palpatine ego and the Sidious ego together, creating the Emperor. It is a metamorphosis.

 

"I also wondered why Anakin's eyes kept going from Sith to normal. Once you're a Sith, isn't it more or less permanent?"


Would love to know the answer to this as well.

 

Like when he was about to shock Windu, and started going, "no, no, NO!" He sounded like a child throwing a tantrum.

Yeah, I think that was the point.

Palpatine = Satan (or the Devil if you will). And I'm not sure, but I think I have read somewhere that "the Devil" will appear to mortals in a form that looks "pleasing" to the eye and his voice is "pleasing" to the ear.

But his "true form" is something much more evil and disturbing to look at and his "true voice" would turn your "blood to ice" (or something like that).

That's how I look at the whole change in Palpatine. To everyone he appears sweet and kindly and is well spoken. But when his true form is revealed, after he kills Mace, he is ugly as sin and his voice matches his looks.

I think Ian and George did an awesome job with this character.

Oh and by the way...his face didn't "melt"; that is his true form.

 

Simple,he's just very conflicted.When he does evil and uses the dark side the eyes are yellow.When he doesn't use it they are more normal.

 

"I also wondered why Anakin's eyes kept going from Sith to normal.

How come Dr. Banner turns green when he's "The Hulk" and then goes back to being all pink n' squishy when he's Dr. Banner?

Same thing.

 

Its funny when he says"no no u will die!!!"it reminds me of a crazy person in the retirement home

 

OK, I;m sure to get blasted by this a bit, but...

I love the aspects of old cheesy horror movies that Lucas used in this film. From Palpatines voice changes to the old scholl villian of Grievous and yes, even the Frankensteinishness of Vader. In each of Lucas' films, he adds new elements. If he didn't, people would argue that he did the same stories over and over. Since he does, people will point out that the newer movies aren't true to the old school feeling of the OT. Anyway, I love it. It's like he is giving props to the movies and the directors of the movies that inspired him.

As a side note, I also enjoyed Palpatines obvious childlike giddiness as things progressed his way. His nuances during the fight with CD, the facial expressions during the first battle with GG and also during his own fight with Yoda and obviously the stuff in the MW scene. It was like he was getting off on his own power. He rocked.

-jaisn

 

Nah, you won't get blasted. I feel the same way. After SW, horror films are my favorite movies to watch, especially the classic films from the '30's and'40's. I love all the little nods to them throughout ROTS.

 

What's to signify? He's a campy, over-the-top bad guy who sounds really weird when he's not doing his politician act. While it's possible to read more into it than that, it's not necessary.

 

Ian truly is a master of using his voice. I liked how polished he sound in TPM as Palps, and how venomous he sounded as Sids when he said, "Get that stunted slime out of my sight."

We didn't hear much of him in AOTC, but he was great as usual.

In ROTS, even as Palps, he sounds different when he says, "Kill him" and "Do it" on the Invisible Hand. But when he talks to Anakin in the Theater, he sounds very informal. He uses a vocal. For example, when he says, "Anakin," interrupting Skywalker and refusing to accept our hero's gullibility, his voice is lower. But when he asks Anakin if he had heard of Darth Plagueis, his voice is a bit higher and he sounds like he is at a London Men's Club, perhaps after having relaxed with a Bombay Sapphire.

It would take to long to go through all of Ian's vocal repertoire in ROTS, but he uses it even before the transformation.