No, Lindsay, tell us what you really think
Hold onto your shorts; it's time to bitch about voice acting.
It's 8:30 AM. I should not be awake! But I am, and have been so for about 3 hours. Ruddy insomnia. Anyway, so the roommate and I had a really long cry-it-out night, the kind we're prone to about once every three months or so, and wouldn't you know, it all pretty much started with the goddamn robots. Or rather, the goddamn robot movie. I had been trying to impart the whole creativity-by-way-of-fic concept and why that's important to me, because I do rather attach my whole concept of "meaning" and "fulfillment" in life to what my brain is capable of. These are the kind of the things I always key in on when I find myself evaluating what is important to me, because I suppose at the end of the day that is always one's ideas, specifically mine, even if they are (in this case) confined within a rather esoteric subculture, it still is rather tied in with my rather unique way of thinking (alien robots that turn into cars + religion and cult mentalities as microcosm for human behavior / meaning of life = BRILLIANT!) But at the end of it (specifically once that silly, silly "AllSpark" from the movie came up) she kind of ended up on the "You know, I don't get it." Which kind of elicits a "Heh, heh... yeah" on my end, because that kind of reaction does tend to end up being kind of embarrassing, especially when trying to apply lofty concepts to a rather shallow (but COOL) premise.
What was I talking about? Oh, voice acting. God, I need sleep.
Okay, so, voice acting. We were talking about voice acting (or lack thereof), or rather, I was talking at her, as I was one beer in (Weihenstephaner, nummy) and my tolerance is really low these days, and booze does make me go with the verbal diarrhea (couple hours later when I was trying to explain Wheeljack? Hooboy. Poor Tammy.) not unlike what I'm doing right now.
So anyway, I think it's time for a horrible, horrible admission. Maybe one that I shouldn't even make, but here goes.
...
You ready?
I'm really not that wild about the G1 cartoon.
*hides from chucked vegetables*
Hold it, maybe I should rephrase that, because hell, I have more respect for the cartoon than I do the movie. I'm not wild about it in a fandom sense, and it seems to me that pretty much everyone who gets into the franchise by way of the movie pretty much works their way back to G1 land and lives there. And really, there's a lot about the cartoon I enjoy in a crackalackin' way. Starscream goes back in time and decides he wants to take over the middle ages just cause he's.... eeeeeevil? Genius! The kind of genius that I just can't do anything with. I like that the movie tried so hard to stay close to the real world, even if there was Epic Stupid and Major Plot Canyons thrown in there, cause hey, it's Bay, wouldn't be Bay if that were otherwise. The cartoon is just that- a cartoon. I just can't draw anything serious purely from the way it's set up. Even when I read G1 fic, my brain's over here going "cartoon cartoon cartoon... also they are incredibly boxy and not very conducive to spooning."
That said, movie, I think you kind of missed what made the cartoon a popular and enduring thing in the first place. I think this is ultimately at the end of the day why people are drawn more to G1 and the G1 characters once they get into the fandom more- they actually had characters to get attached to (and how very many!), but were generally vague enough to where fan(girl)s could extrapolate what they wanted in said particular character.
Obviously, I kind of go this route too, taking characters from G1 and appropriating them to the more alien "deep" universe I've set up. And here's the thing about the cartoon compared to the movie- look, ma, robots actually have character! Specifically, Jazz, Wheeljack and Starscream, who come through way more on the virtue of their voice acting than on any merit of writing. I'd say it's largely for that reason I can say those three are my favorites. And, coincidentally, the original voice actors for all of them are a little, well, dead.
So. Jazz. I was going to bitch about you, but you know what? I'm not even going to go there. On the Autobot side, Peter Cullen is a pretty damn good voice actor, but that's about all you can say for the lot of them, especially Darius McCrary. I mean hell, it's no wonder the guy hasn't worked since he was the older brother that no one remembers on "Family Matters". It's a raaare condition, in this day and age, to read any good news on the newspaper page... (now try to get that out of you head. Go on. I dare ya.) So, that boat sailed. Weak voice actor + weaker writing = fail. Moving on!
I love the shit out of G1 Starscream. I feel like a lot of this has to do with Chris Latta and what he did with the whiney little shit: Try to depose Megatron, fail, cry, wash, rinse, repeat, who cares? It was always fun!
So along comes movie, and they cast Charlie Adler.
Aww, seems like a nice guy, right? Let's take a look at some of his voice work.
Ickis! I remember him! I loved Ickis!
And he voiced both Ed and Bev Bighead, too!
Pretty much the whole cast of this show!
You see what I'm getting at?
I love Charlie Adler. I've known who he was even as a little Tennesseean zygote yukking it up to "Aaah! Real Monsters!" and "Rocko's Modern Life". So in a weird way? Casting Charlie Adler as Starscream is inspired! I mean hell, seems like they went out of their way to cast one of the most eclectic and spastic voice actors working out there today. And obviously Starscream of movie isn't going to have a grating little whiney voice coming out of this huge F-22, but c'mon guys! You already cast your spaz! Use him!
I think my point is, when I found out it was Charlie Adler who voiced Starscream's TWO LINES (I wonder how much he got paid for that) I was really surprised. This does not sound like Charlie Adler, who, if he wanted to, could easily sound just like Chris Latta, or better yet find an extrapolation off of that original motif that actually fits Starscream's new body! If there is anyone who can do this, it is Charlie Adler!
Sigh. Way in which movie didn't live up to potential #51.
I openly don't have very high expectations for the second movie, not after the strike, the leaked treatment (which I really think was real) and the whole "Shige" incident. Still, I can hope that they keep Charlie Adler on, and if that's the case, there will be much Starscream in the sequel. Unlikely, perhaps, but it may help make up for the HORRIBLE that is Shige, if only in some small way.
It's 8:30 AM. I should not be awake! But I am, and have been so for about 3 hours. Ruddy insomnia. Anyway, so the roommate and I had a really long cry-it-out night, the kind we're prone to about once every three months or so, and wouldn't you know, it all pretty much started with the goddamn robots. Or rather, the goddamn robot movie. I had been trying to impart the whole creativity-by-way-of-fic concept and why that's important to me, because I do rather attach my whole concept of "meaning" and "fulfillment" in life to what my brain is capable of. These are the kind of the things I always key in on when I find myself evaluating what is important to me, because I suppose at the end of the day that is always one's ideas, specifically mine, even if they are (in this case) confined within a rather esoteric subculture, it still is rather tied in with my rather unique way of thinking (alien robots that turn into cars + religion and cult mentalities as microcosm for human behavior / meaning of life = BRILLIANT!) But at the end of it (specifically once that silly, silly "AllSpark" from the movie came up) she kind of ended up on the "You know, I don't get it." Which kind of elicits a "Heh, heh... yeah" on my end, because that kind of reaction does tend to end up being kind of embarrassing, especially when trying to apply lofty concepts to a rather shallow (but COOL) premise.
What was I talking about? Oh, voice acting. God, I need sleep.
Okay, so, voice acting. We were talking about voice acting (or lack thereof), or rather, I was talking at her, as I was one beer in (Weihenstephaner, nummy) and my tolerance is really low these days, and booze does make me go with the verbal diarrhea (couple hours later when I was trying to explain Wheeljack? Hooboy. Poor Tammy.) not unlike what I'm doing right now.
So anyway, I think it's time for a horrible, horrible admission. Maybe one that I shouldn't even make, but here goes.
...
You ready?
I'm really not that wild about the G1 cartoon.
*hides from chucked vegetables*
Hold it, maybe I should rephrase that, because hell, I have more respect for the cartoon than I do the movie. I'm not wild about it in a fandom sense, and it seems to me that pretty much everyone who gets into the franchise by way of the movie pretty much works their way back to G1 land and lives there. And really, there's a lot about the cartoon I enjoy in a crackalackin' way. Starscream goes back in time and decides he wants to take over the middle ages just cause he's.... eeeeeevil? Genius! The kind of genius that I just can't do anything with. I like that the movie tried so hard to stay close to the real world, even if there was Epic Stupid and Major Plot Canyons thrown in there, cause hey, it's Bay, wouldn't be Bay if that were otherwise. The cartoon is just that- a cartoon. I just can't draw anything serious purely from the way it's set up. Even when I read G1 fic, my brain's over here going "cartoon cartoon cartoon... also they are incredibly boxy and not very conducive to spooning."
That said, movie, I think you kind of missed what made the cartoon a popular and enduring thing in the first place. I think this is ultimately at the end of the day why people are drawn more to G1 and the G1 characters once they get into the fandom more- they actually had characters to get attached to (and how very many!), but were generally vague enough to where fan(girl)s could extrapolate what they wanted in said particular character.
Obviously, I kind of go this route too, taking characters from G1 and appropriating them to the more alien "deep" universe I've set up. And here's the thing about the cartoon compared to the movie- look, ma, robots actually have character! Specifically, Jazz, Wheeljack and Starscream, who come through way more on the virtue of their voice acting than on any merit of writing. I'd say it's largely for that reason I can say those three are my favorites. And, coincidentally, the original voice actors for all of them are a little, well, dead.
So. Jazz. I was going to bitch about you, but you know what? I'm not even going to go there. On the Autobot side, Peter Cullen is a pretty damn good voice actor, but that's about all you can say for the lot of them, especially Darius McCrary. I mean hell, it's no wonder the guy hasn't worked since he was the older brother that no one remembers on "Family Matters". It's a raaare condition, in this day and age, to read any good news on the newspaper page... (now try to get that out of you head. Go on. I dare ya.) So, that boat sailed. Weak voice actor + weaker writing = fail. Moving on!
I love the shit out of G1 Starscream. I feel like a lot of this has to do with Chris Latta and what he did with the whiney little shit: Try to depose Megatron, fail, cry, wash, rinse, repeat, who cares? It was always fun!
So along comes movie, and they cast Charlie Adler.
Aww, seems like a nice guy, right? Let's take a look at some of his voice work.
Ickis! I remember him! I loved Ickis!
And he voiced both Ed and Bev Bighead, too!
Pretty much the whole cast of this show!
You see what I'm getting at?
I love Charlie Adler. I've known who he was even as a little Tennesseean zygote yukking it up to "Aaah! Real Monsters!" and "Rocko's Modern Life". So in a weird way? Casting Charlie Adler as Starscream is inspired! I mean hell, seems like they went out of their way to cast one of the most eclectic and spastic voice actors working out there today. And obviously Starscream of movie isn't going to have a grating little whiney voice coming out of this huge F-22, but c'mon guys! You already cast your spaz! Use him!
I think my point is, when I found out it was Charlie Adler who voiced Starscream's TWO LINES (I wonder how much he got paid for that) I was really surprised. This does not sound like Charlie Adler, who, if he wanted to, could easily sound just like Chris Latta, or better yet find an extrapolation off of that original motif that actually fits Starscream's new body! If there is anyone who can do this, it is Charlie Adler!
Sigh. Way in which movie didn't live up to potential #51.
I openly don't have very high expectations for the second movie, not after the strike, the leaked treatment (which I really think was real) and the whole "Shige" incident. Still, I can hope that they keep Charlie Adler on, and if that's the case, there will be much Starscream in the sequel. Unlikely, perhaps, but it may help make up for the HORRIBLE that is Shige, if only in some small way.