CT Was there an in-universe reason Anakin's/Vader's accent changed?

Testify !

 

*insert inappropriate pun here*

 

Somebody's bound to get sacked for this.

 

I'm no expert on accents, barely having one myself, but the in-story reason I always heard growing up was that Vader's "voice" was completely artificial, and not his own. If I recall correctly, the Revenge of the Sith novel says Anakin's vocal cords were damaged by fire, not just his lungs, so that would drastically change anyone's voice too. Bear in mind, the vast majority of Vader's adult form was in some way mechanical: he'd lost all four limbs, and the rest of him was severely compromised by heat and smoke damage. His eyes were assisted by computers, his heartbeat was regulated...Lucas said many times he was literally living in an "iron lung". Obi-Wan was right when he said his former friend was "more machine now than man".

 

Is there an in-universe explanation for Wedge's face change?

 

Are you calling Wedge 2-faced ?!

 

If you refer to the pilot next to Luke during the briefing on Yavin IV, that's canonically not Wedge: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Col_Takbright

...and if you refer to his change in appearance from ROTJ to TROS, he went through a process commonly known as aging

 

Does this mean my 1994 copy of Premier Movie Magazine’s Collector’s Edition of the Star Wars script is no longer canon? It clearly states that the pilot in the briefing room scene is Wedge.

WTH!

 

Yes, that was Wedge in the briefing room, but that actor failed to turn up again (iirc) and so the part was re-cast with Lawson.
Also - I don't think it's Lawson's voice in ANH but was him from then on.

 

From the Wookieepedia article: "[Colin] Higgins was the actor initially cast as Wedge Antilles. However, he had failed to memorize his line for the scene on Yavin 4, instead expecting a production similar to television, where rehearsal was common. Higgins struggled during the shoot and grew increasingly nervous and dispirited; he was fired after one day and was replaced by Lawson. Higgins' scene, however, remained in the final film."

This might explain his wooden delivery. Poor Colin!

By the way, according to Star Wars Canon, Col Takbright was actually nicknamed Fake Wedge in universe

 

Just when you think you know all the trivia about the thing you're obsessed with...

 

Only something as inventive as the Star Wars universe could take something so sadly unfortunate from behind the scenes, and make it into a running gag for the current continuity. I wonder what his family thinks of it now, since he sadly passed away in 2012.

 

It was unfortunate, but probably not something Colin himself lost much sleep over in later years. After Pablo Hidalgo had found the original Wedge, he began appearing at conventions.

https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-mysteries-hunting-for-the-fake-wedge
Here is Pablo's story of how he found the actor - and a photo of Colin from Celebration IV at the bottom!

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Colin_Higgins
Wookieepedia's Colin Higgins page. A quote:

"Colin Higgins made his first Star Wars-related appearance at Celebration IV, where he confirmed that he was, in fact, hired for the role of Wedge Antilles. According to his story, he had never worked on an American film before, resulting in several misunderstandings and mishaps. One of the biggest was his flubbing of his lines in the briefing scene. According to Higgins, his infamous line was actually supposed to be much longer, but he couldn't remember how it went. After wasting a lot of time trying to say it right, he ended up going with the shortened version quoted above. This and other things led to his being fired shortly after filming the scene."

If he was upset at the time, it seems to me like he eventually just moved on with his life and then embraced the whole thing as he showed up at Celebration to tell his story. The "Fake Wedge" gag may seem a bit mean, but I feel that it really comes from a place of genuine fan appreciation. It's a humorous recognition of the real-life history of the character and honors Colin's place in Star Wars history as the original Wedge.
If his family is aware of it, I do hope they take it that way.

 

From Colin's perspective, Hamill must have seemed like Laurence Olivier in Henry V after he deftly delivered his line about womp rats and t-16s.