Worst Voice ever....

[Drtooth]

At the beginning when one of the Turtles says "It's Mutatin' time" at least it was sort of close to Leonardo... other than that.... all they do is bad impersonations of Curly from the 3 stooges... nyuk nyuk nyuk....

[Jester]

i have a new addition to ther list of crap voices.....alternate krang from Cowabinga Shredhead.....man he's god aweful.....i kring when i hear it...

[MGMae]

Originally Posted by Zachatello00

I've noticed the same thing with Leo in the films. He started out cool, but just got, kinda... I dunno, fruity or something. I wouldn't say that lightly, cause Leo's my favorite Turtle, but still.

It's as if the creative minds concluded - hey wait, responsibility must equal irritating! Because we all know the most responsible person in a group annoys the crap out of the rest of us.
*shrugs*
I don't know - but you're right. The quality goes down hill and I can only assume its supposed to be a reflection of maturation?? Or they just stopped trying because it was Leonardo - no offense to the character at all, but the writers (old cartoon, etc) always gave him the least amount of material to work with it seemed.

I'm so glad I've never seen these infamous commercials...

[Misfit]

I'm so glad I've never seen these infamous commercials...

Yeah me too. They sound painful.

[Brinatello]

Originally Posted by Jester

i have a new addition to ther list of crap voices.....alternate krang from Cowabinga Shredhead.....man he's god aweful.....i kring when i hear it...

I read somewhere that Townsend Coleman (Mikey's VA) provided that voice for Krang! Whoa. Not sure 100% though. Oh, and Don's alternate voice was actor Greg Berger, who's an excellent VA, but his voice didn't fit the character at all. Being so used to Barry Gordon, it threw me at a huge curve! Kept seeing images of Scooter!

Oh, and Jarrah? I respect your opinion on voices, but when you say you don't like Raph's original voice, you may as well say you don't like Rob Paulsen's speaking voice. He sounds just like Raph in real life. And yeah, the funny thing is, Leo's voice actor, Cam Clarke, WAS 30 years old at the time! In 1987, he was 30, Barry was turning 39 on Dec. 21, Rob was 31, and Townsend was the youngest at 28! Yes, I know all their birthdays. Hee.

You're right, MGMae, Cam's voice was a lot better in the first few seasons. Something tells me he was directed to change his voice to sound whiney. I guess Susan Blu felt that male teenagers kind of whine when their voice is breaking to get deeper. Heh, with Cam, it went in reverse for Leo!

Okay, probably the worst voice ever in my opinion would have to be Raph's alternate. Not Hal Rayle for the UK eps or Michael Gough in the 1995-96 seasons, the other actor who filled in the late 80's early 90's. If I remember correctly, he kind of sounded like that one cop trapped in the alien camera in the episode, "Camera Bugged." Didn't it? Now, it's going to 'bug' me!

[Shreddette]

Any non James Avery Shredder. Especially that one in 'Shredderville'.

I also do not like Raph's new voice. The whole exaggerated New York accent is a bit much. I mean, hel-lo, they all grew up together, why give him a totally different accent? It's ridiculous.
I prefer his older voice much more, and his character was far more witty.

[Jephael]

They wanted to give Raphael the accent since he's considered the tough guy of the group. It's just like when they gave Michaelangelo the Californian accent in the original series.

[Shreddette]

Heh, good point, and that did sorta bug me when I was younger (Mike's surfer accent-- which I think is adorable now) but I think Raph's accent is a little over the top. The old Raph also sounded fairly tough, and had more personality. *shrugs*

Oh, and I see someone mentioned Baxter's voice as a Fly. Yep! That was also quite annoying!

I can't recall Don or Raph's alternative voiceovers, although I do remember thinking "bleh!" when I heard em.

[Misfit]

I also do not like Raph's new voice. The whole exaggerated New York accent is a bit much. I mean, hel-lo, they all grew up together, why give him a totally different accent?

Same thing goes for Mikey too. Why does he have that sufer-dude Californian accent? It's not as heavy as it was in the old show, but it's still there. I agree new toon Raph's NY accent is a bit over the top but it's not too bad. It was worse in the early episodes of season one, where it sounded like he was on 60 a day for a while.

[Brinatello]

I'm thinking Mikey had the Californina surfer accent to appeal more to kids. They assume kids would like it more that way. I dunno. It never made sense to me. A California surfer accent is usually picked up in...well, California! As for Raph, he's gotta be grungey-sounding to fit his grungey attitude and, being in New York, he got the accent fairly quickly. I still love Rob's voice, too. It fit the sarcastic guy soooo well!

It also occurred to me that Raph and Mike are more of the people-person turtles. Meaning, they're more openly to humans, such as Raph befriending Casey and Mikey being the lady's man. Don and Leo seem quite distant from the humans and sort of keep more to themselves. That is, except for April who seems to get through to them somehow. But, that's why I think they have their own voices and don't try too hard on a noticeable accent.

[Jephael]

I had been theorising about Mike's accent. Suppose he was born on the west coast and shipped over to New York shortly after his mother hatched him. It actually would make sense since they wre about 6 or 7 when they got mutated in that universe.

[Nosferatu]

Originally Posted by Jephael

I had been theorising about Mike's accent. Suppose he was born on the west coast and shipped over to New York shortly after his mother hatched him. It actually would make sense since they wre about 6 or 7 when they got mutated in that universe.

But wouldn't he have lost that accent being around his brothers, Splinter, and from hearing the New Yorkers above the streets (through grates and the like)? Besides, since he learned to speak when he was being taught in New York, I very much doubt that he'd carry over an accent he never used.

I just think they were going with the really stereotypical idea of what a really fun loving, joking and partying type of person is and that's why they gave him the whole stereotypical surfer accent. Since, at least at the time, people seemed to mostly think of surfer types when thinking about what a typical care-free partier (sp?) is like.

That's my theory, anyway.

[Jephael]

What I meant was he could have very well picked up the accent very early on in his life, simply by being around someone with a thick surfer dude type voice.

[MGMae]

Originally Posted by Brinatello

You're right, MGMae, Cam's voice was a lot better in the first few seasons. Something tells me he was directed to change his voice to sound whiney. I guess Susan Blu felt that male teenagers kind of whine when their voice is breaking to get deeper. Heh, with Cam, it went in reverse for Leo!

Although, strangely enough, I liked how Cam's Rocksteady progressed. Like Leonardo, I think Rocksteady's voice was really cool in the first few eps - and then it just got sillier and higher pitched. And yet...for Rocksteady, somehow that worked. At least in context of that particular show - if one were to drop Rocksteady into the new cartoon, it simply wouldn't work, he'd need to keep it the gruff and raw version.

As for Mikey's surfer accent debate...could it be possible that he got the accent from television?
I just got the vibe that he spent oodles of time in front of the tube from the old cartoon - more so than the others. Your accent's influenced by surroundings as we've said, but could it not be a matter of being more influenced by electronics than Splinter? I don't know - not a very viable theory (because in order for that to work, he'd have to be watching Valley Girl-esque programming ALL the time - which there was an abundance of for that time period, but still...)

[Nosferatu]

Maybe Mikey was just a really big fan of Fast Times At Ridgemont High and wanted to be just like Sean Penn's character in the movie?

[Shreddette]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu

Maybe Mikey was just a really big fan of Fast Times At Ridgemont High and wanted to be just like Sean Penn's character in the movie?

I always did think about Spicoli whenever Mikey talked, which brings about the question-- was Mikey a stoner?

I agree with your theory, too.

[Dane E5R]

Originally Posted by Zachatello00

Sure it's not the original, but what can you do when actors aren't willing to do the part anymore? You can't just can the series. Sometimes, I can't even hear the difference. You gotta admit, they are pretty similar.

Actually, Rob Paulsen didn't exactly want to leave. The higher ups treated him as though he was expendable, so he called their bluff.

[Brinatello]

What happened was Rob approached the producers and asked if he and the other actors could get a small raise because they had done close to 200 episodes. All they said to him was, "You know Raphael is replaceable." So he said, "You know, you're right - thank you very much, it's been fun, good luck." And walked out! I guess you can't really argue with those guys, and with the answer they gave him, there was no point in Rob wasting his breath.

[Jester]

Maybe Mikey was just a really big fan of Fast Times At Ridgemont High and wanted to be just like Sean Penn's character in the movie?

Or maybe he watched frankie and annette movies and gidget.....
if u look back at all the mikey voices....he always had a psudo-surfer voice, even in the movies...."Hey Donny, Wheel of Fortune, dude!!!"....pretty surfer to me....but hey thats just me.
so rob just wanted a raise, ala Simpsons stars and they told him "we can cast a new raph.' and he said u sure can....what balls....i think i'd have just said...well ok boss...what ever u say....like a wimpy bebop or rocksteady....

[MGMae]

Originally Posted by Jester

they told him "we can cast a new raph.' and he said u sure can....what balls....i think i'd have just said...well ok boss...what ever u say....like a wimpy bebop or rocksteady....

And that is why Rob Paulsen rocks bananas.

(You rock too Jester.)