Anyone here not liking Palpatine's voice?

I'm not sur if this has been brought up before, but... I don't especially care for Ian Abercrombie's version of Palpatine. Ian McDiarmid is awesome, and the guys who did the voices in the 2D Clone Wars and The Force Unleashed were great, but Abercrombie is just kind of meh. I dunno, it's just missing something. "not scary enough" would be the best way for me to put it. When McDiarmid is playing Palpatine in his Senator/Chancellor persona, even when he is being ostensibly "nice" there is still something creepy and "off" about him. I don't think Abercrombie really catches that very well. His version of the Sidious persona isn't bad though.

 

Hmm, maybe he's trying to further isolate the 'nice' Palpatine from the 'creepy' Sidious whenever Palpatine is in the public eye. Then again, McDiarmid is a highly accomplished stage actor who can still pull through with a job even after a mild cardiac episode. Even experienced actors would have some trouble keeping up with the nuances he injects into Palpatine.

I don't mind him, though. I think it's a pretty faithful recreation. XD

 

Yeah, it's just a matter of taste on my part. I just like my Chancellor nice and creepy, thank you very much.

And yeah, that McDiarmid heart attack incident was pretty badass. What an amazing guy. Lucas was extremely lucky to find him. Man, wouldn't it be sweet if he worked on the series? Of course he's too busy to commit to a TV show, but it would be awesome.

 

I rather like it, partially because for a whole generation of younger Clone Wars fans Chancellor Palpatine is actually one of the good guys; so it works that he sounds more heroic in the series. Also it means those occasional times when he drops into the sinister voice are all the more effective.

 

I never really noticed it. And yes, I like how the younger generation thinks that Palpatine is a good guy and Sidious is the bad guy. It really brings ROTS to a whole new level to them.

 

I think he's doing a very good job with the voice acting. No complaints on my part.

 

Agreed. I think he does a great job.

You guys make it sound like we've got B.J. Hughes or something lol.

 

I thought quite a few of the voice actors for The Clone Wars were less-than-perfect. Recently, though, I have heard the Swedish dub (I'm from Sweden) once or twice. Since then, I stopped complaining about the original Besides, many of them have gotten way better since the series started.

 

Nah, B.J. Hughes was just awful. The point, I think, is that compared to some of the stellar performances we've seen in the movies, his just seems about average. Kind of like comparing Obi-Wan, Dooku or Yoda to their film selves, though like Palpatine, they've been getting better with time.

But yes, as Kaxs points out, the voice acting improves much like the animation and storytelling. The voice actors sound closer to their character in the movies, they inject more personality and whatnot into their performances.

 

To be totally honest, I do NOT like Ian Abercrombie's voice as Palpatine. I don't know why. All the other voices in The Clone Wars are great (well, except for Hughes) but for some reason, his voice annoys me.

 

Mostly for me, James Arnold Taylor and Anthony Daniel's voice acting is excellent work. I hate TCW Anakin the most.

As for Palpatine, I miss Ian McDiarmid.

 

Best for me is Tom Kenny as Gunray. I think I prefer him to Silas Carson actually.

Well, expecting McDiarmid to participate in the show is asking a lot, but I really wish they had used the guy from the 2d Clone Wars or the guy from The Force Unleashed to do Sidious/Palpatine.

 

Not really. Many of the PT actors asked to reprise their roles, and I don't know if Ian did the same. Probably not, though.

 

Not a huge fan of the voice. He's got the overall personality and intonation down, but both the Palpatine and Sidious voices lack a certain....something.

Palpatine, even when being Nice Palpy, has this timbre of confidence and expectation of obedience to his voice that I think is lacking in TCW.

Sidious isn't.....reptile....enough.

 

I like the Palpatine voice just fine. I think the Sidious voice is a bit off though. When Sidious started going on about his vision of having force sensitive spies, it just seemed so out of sync with the way Sidious was portrayed in the prequels.

 

Are they trying to make it still seem like it's two different people? I think it has more to do with how Palpatine is being written, and the style of the show itself. Anakin's been made more mature and heroic for example.

I'd like to see more of Palpatine in-between the 'good senator' and the 'mysterious Sith lord', because right now Palpatine as a senator often does seem like a genuine good guy, and not suspicious. So more subtle hints, more of him being snake-like, and larger things he plans to do with the Republic/galaxy might be cool.

 

I think Ian Abercrombie does a superb job, and does Ian McDiarmid justice. As to the voice in the Force Unleashed, Sam Witwer voiced both Starkiller and Palpatine, and I do not agree with the idea that he should have been tapped to play Palpatine in the Clone Wars.

First, I think Witwer, and even McDiarmid himself at times in RotS, over-acted. Now I realize Palpatine isn't always the definition of subtle, but they were hamming it up enough to make Bill Nighy blush.

When we examine the character of Palpatine, we see three distinct voices: the first voice is what he uses as a politician. softspoken and sincere. The second voice is his Darth Sidious voice, strict, deep, and menacing. The third voice is when he becomes Emperor, which is more gutteral and aggressive than even his Sidious voice.

I think Abercrombie pulls the first two off spectacularly.

 

I think Abercrombie does a good job. Palpatine was featured heavily in "Duchess of Mandalore" along with a Sidious appearance and I think he has done a good job.

 

BJ Hughes isn't THAT bad.

 

I think TCW Palpatine has a decent voice. Now the voice in TFU, that drove me crazy! The actor REALLY overdid it!

 

I dunno, I was pretty entertained by him, even if Abercrombie takes it a little more measured.
Case in point...
"(forebodingly) You will interrogated...tortured...you WILL tell me the location of your friends and your secret bases. (long pause) (very quickly) Andthenyouwilldie."

 

Uh...Yes he is.

And, as for Palpatine, Sam Witwer did an awesome job in TFU, and he played an excellent evil Palpatine.

As for Ian Abercrombie, he's an excellent voice match, though as Darth Sidious I would hope he sounds more sinister...it was a lot better in "Duchess of Mandalore".