I loved Stan's CoMI/SoMI:SE voice. I didn't mind the EMI guy. For me, this guy falls somewhere between the two. He's not as sleazy as CoMI and doesn't have quite the same lower reassurring voice that he had, but he's not bad. I'm sure he'll grow on me. Guybrush, Elaine and Murray are irreplaceable. Earl was great as LeChuck, and while this new guy doesn't quite have the same commanding power (at least, in the first episode when he was still evil), he's close enough to the original that it's forgivable. Stan is a character that, while some of the previous voice actors have been great, can have new actors playing him without it breaking the character.
I liked Stan's new voice, he kind of reminded me of Phil Hartman's Lionel Hutz character from The Simpsons. Which was appropriate, since Stan's a lawyer now.
Actually Earl Boen is now. Telltale got him at the last moment but only for the demonic LeChuck. So that means Earl Boen will be LeChuck again in ep. 5.
Plus if you notice for Stan, it's the same voice actor who voiced him in EMI.
I don't really like it. It sounds to normal too me. The fluff of the old stan voice is missing, the way he talked like in these cheap television shows where they're selling knifes and everything.
Actually Earl Boen is now. Telltale got him at the last moment but only for the demonic LeChuck. So that means Earl Boen will be LeChuck again in ep. 5.
If so, then by this as well as by wonderfully reviving Murray intact and--contrary to what I was expecting--without any alterations, Telltale will have done good in helping to counter some of the mistakes I think they have already made in voice casting decisions. (I suggest starting a thread devoted entirely to sharing opinions on the topic of hit and miss vis a vis the voice acting of most all characters in the episodes so far.) I was not of the opinion that it would have been at all acceptable to replace the man behind M.I.'s primary antagonist, no matter how close to that original character his replacement would try to be. A pity then that a patched version of the first episode, with Boen voicing the lines of demonic Lechuck in that first scene, won't be possible. (Lechuck being given a new persona as a human I believe rescued the situation and allowed for Blackton to fill his shoes, though I wonder how Boen might sound playing a human Lechuck.)
Plus if you notice for Stan, it's the same voice actor who voiced him in EMI.
Although I strongly favoured Pinny's delivery in Curse and was put off by the Stan of Escape (who would have been more fitting as the original Stan of the first two games), unless a new voice actor is very much off-character for Stan, I agree that a change can be tolerated. I'd like to say however that Stan's physical appearance and the kind of character his looks portrayed him to be have changed over the length of the series, much like Guybrush's in fact. Pinny with that baritone voice that made him ideal for the role of the Stan drawn in Curse would never have matched the personality projected by the Stan of the first two games. In the same way, even Armato himself would not be able to escape the boundaries of the cartoon-style Guybrush that was born in Curse and be an appropriate voice for the scruffy-bearded and ponytailed original character out of the mind of Ron Gilbert that I was first introduced to in Revenge so long ago. But those radical transformations best be considered final since the segue from Revenge to Curse, and so it is good that different voice actors for a character like Stan try to remain consistent with a single persona from game to game.
I suggest starting a thread devoted entirely to sharing opinions on the topic of hit and miss vis a vis the voice acting of most all characters in the episodes so far.
I didn't like Stan from either MI3 or MI4 - in MI3 he was too slow, floppy handed and sleazy. The voice actor LucasArts used for the Special Edition of Monkey was disappointing - he didn't match the fast talking and was waaay too laid back!
In MI4 the character of Stan was wooden and jilted and not quite as crazy as the animated crazy fast-talkin' Stan from MI1 and MI2.
The Stan in ToMI is halfway between how I'd imagine him to sound from the first two games, and how he did sound in the later two. As for animation, he's not quite as neurotic as I'd like (he was always moving his arms and tapping his foot), but I think Telltale has done a pretty good job.
In fact, Tales is by far and away the best series Telltale has done, by leaps and bounds above all the others. The attention to detail and care with the world is exemplary.
In fact, Tales is by far and away the best series Telltale has done, by leaps and bounds above all the others. The attention to detail and care with the world is exemplary.
I think Telltale've been pretty great throughout, but yeah. The masterpieces have so far been Sam and Max: Season Two and, after chapter four, Tales of Monkey Island.
The company's not up to full potential yet, but this is an issue that will resolve itself over time. Even so, right now? They're pretty amazing, and much better than most developers out there.
I would have preferred Stan's original voice actor (from CMI), but I also understand that it can be difficult to acquire talent sometimes. (Patrick Pinney's resume is pretty impressive - he can't be cheap.) That being said, I don't understand why TTG decided to go an entirely different direction with Stan's voice. It's not bad, but it is different. I think some people here have been a little harsh on Hammon just because his approach to Stan is not exactly the same as Pinney's. Again, I don't think he's bad, just different.
The problem I have with "different," however, is that TMI Stan just seems out of character now. He's fast-talking, instead of deeply (and falsely) reassuring. And it also seemed strange to me that he seemed to resent Guybrush's past mistreatment in the courtroom scene, instead of his former quick to forgive and forget attitude. But I'm sure that was just to explain why Stan would refuse to represent Guybrush for "old time's sake." Pinney's Stan was mix between a car salesman and a TV announcer. Hammon's Stan reminds me of Nick Naylor (a.k.a. Aaron Eckhart) in "Thank You for Smoking."
For me the problem is not which voice actually sound and fits better. I've grown up with the one of CMI and that is simply the voice I have in mind for stan. It is his personality for me.
The problem I have with "different," however, is that TMI Stan just seems out of character now. He's fast-talking, instead of deeply (and falsely) reassuring.
If you never played the very very original Monkey Island 1 & 2 (and only came in with the non-Gilbert lead 3 & 4) then perhaps you may think that Stan being a fast-talker is strange.
But then, if you play the very first two games, you'll see he was a very fast talker (and in the Special Edition the voice actor gets the style wrong despite the dialogue and on-screen visuals), as often his dialogue would be descriptions of something said really quickly one after another. For example, he might say something like
Saaay, would you like to buy this widget? It's [cheap/shiny/broken/full of MSG/great for kids].
And he'd say those words all one after another really quickly. That was his style. The floppy laid-back style was not Stan at all, imho.
Although not perfect, I think Stan's voice in TMI was his best yet. Stan was way to calm and laidback in CMI, EMI and SMI:SE, as opposed to how fast and energic he obviously is supposed to be in MI1 and 2.
I played the original games growing up, as they came out. Today, after my last post, I went back and viewed some footage from CMI and EMI, as well as SOMI:SE. And I've got to say ... I agree with the last few posters. TMI Stan is quite possibly my favorite yet. The smooth, deep approach always struck me as off ... when I was younger, I always imagined a more nasal, higher-pitched voice. The TMI actor has more of a Phil Hartman / Billy West as Zap Brannigan vibe, and that suits me just fine. As far as I'm concerned, this Stan can stay!
And it also seemed strange to me that he seemed to resent Guybrush's past mistreatment in the courtroom scene, instead of his former quick to forgive and forget attitude.
In fact, he was no quick forgive-and-forgetter in the first place. He just acts this way towards the customer (Guybrush) but sometimes he does let the protagonist notice his displeasure - for instance, after Guybrush cashed in the insurance in CoMI. That's in fact a part of Stan's character which is coherent with the series.
I thought Stan's new voice actor was decent, but I had really hoped they'd get Jared (as in Emerson-Johnson) to reprise his role as B.O.B. of the C.O.P.S. - that was exactly how I pictured Stan to be...
I think the schmoozy faux-smooth talking Stan in CoMI is the perfect voice.
I'm not impartial to this Stan... However, I feel like they completely revamped his personality, and function in the story. He's less pushy on selling his merchandise. Heck, he doesn't even try to sell you anything this time around which was his part in every game.
SoMI: Sells you a boat (obviously)
MILR: Tries to sell you a coffin
CoMI: Sells you life insurance
Yeah, and that's about it. I can't think of any other game he's been in. I do really, really hope he comes back in a 2nd season where his part in the plot is to try to sell you something.
BTW, did anyone else feel like he was channeling the late Phil Hartman as Lionel Hutz?
The problem I have with "different," however, is that TMI Stan just seems out of character now. He's fast-talking, instead of deeply (and falsely) reassuring.
Seriously, did you play the original games at all? Curse of Monkey Island is the one where he was totally out of character.
I wouldn't say the new Stan is 100% perfect but he's the certainly the closest any of the voice actors have come to getting what the character was supposed to be about. I wish they'd used him, or someone like him, for the special edition of the first game.
The only problem I have is that he didn't have enough to say.. previously he had a ton to say in the other games... and his arms didn't seem to flail as much, there were times when he talked they barely moved.
I wouldn't say the new Stan is 100% perfect but he's the certainly the closest any of the voice actors have come to getting what the character was supposed to be about. I wish they'd used him, or someone like him, for the special edition of the first game.
Yeah. "Not perfect, but he works and is actually pretty good". Much better than the Curse voice.
The only problem I have is that he didn't have enough to say.. previously he had a ton to say in the other games... and his arms didn't seem to flail as much, there were times when he talked they barely moved.
I think his arms were waving at a pretty good interval. It was definitely faster than the Curse implementation.
Don't worry it wasn't a deal breaker for me... I am after all one of the vocal defenders of MI4 on these boards and that game had many more flaws then ToMI.
I actually liked the new Stan's voice very much! Of course, for me Stan will always be associated primarily with CoMI's voice actor, but still, the new Stan was spot-on! He sounded somewhat more active (and gesticulated more actively, too) than the CoMI one, which is actually good (for the role of Stan) - if there's one complaint about CoMI Stan that I have, it's the fact that he didn't gesticulate or speak as fas as he was supposed to, I think.
I like the Stan voice from SoMI:SE and Curse. But I think the new Stan (both the model and the new voice) work great as well. In fact, I'm going to replay the whole chapter again right now, and I've never done that before for the first three!
I just have to watch Guybrush
die
again!
I like what they have done with Stan. Even the arm gestures seem like they are meaningful now (giving emphasis to what Stan is staying) rather than just random arm waving.
The new guy playing Stan isn't all that great, he doesnt' ruin it but he's just not Stan. He's not oozy and salesmany and phony enough I wanted the guy from CMI/Monkey Island SE.
Think of it this way: Time passes, people get a bit more mild here or there, and they then might get a bit more energetic. In Curse of Monkey Island, Stan had just gotten himself out of a coffin he was stuck in for a LONG time, am I correct? Perhaps having only himself to talk to slowed him down a little bit. Then, after a while back in the fast-moving world of business, he's become more like his old self. As for voice acting, maybe back then he had a sore throat or something. Maybe now he has a cold. Maybe he's just a man with a different voice for every mood. I myself seem to get more and more scottish the more tired I am, and when angry I seem like a british actor portraying Caesar. It's all good, though, because I really don't think that the Monkey Island series ever let me down. Well, MAYBE in Escape from Monkey Island or whatever the 4th one was. A bit too much convolution and retconning in there.
And it also seemed strange to me that he seemed to resent Guybrush's past mistreatment in the courtroom scene, instead of his former quick to forgive and forget attitude. But I'm sure that was just to explain why Stan would refuse to represent Guybrush for "old time's sake."
Stan would always forgive Guybrush before in the hope he could sell him something. Now Guybrush has about twenty death-sentences facing him; what does Stan have to gain by being quick to forgive & forget now?
Comments
Earl isn't in TOMI.
I did not know this until a few moments ago. Hell yes.
Actually Earl Boen is now. Telltale got him at the last moment but only for the demonic LeChuck. So that means Earl Boen will be LeChuck again in ep. 5.
Plus if you notice for Stan, it's the same voice actor who voiced him in EMI.
[ SPOILER]Snape kills Harry Potter[ /SPOILER] without spaces between the brackets. How hard could it be?
If so, then by this as well as by wonderfully reviving Murray intact and--contrary to what I was expecting--without any alterations, Telltale will have done good in helping to counter some of the mistakes I think they have already made in voice casting decisions. (I suggest starting a thread devoted entirely to sharing opinions on the topic of hit and miss vis a vis the voice acting of most all characters in the episodes so far.) I was not of the opinion that it would have been at all acceptable to replace the man behind M.I.'s primary antagonist, no matter how close to that original character his replacement would try to be. A pity then that a patched version of the first episode, with Boen voicing the lines of demonic Lechuck in that first scene, won't be possible. (Lechuck being given a new persona as a human I believe rescued the situation and allowed for Blackton to fill his shoes, though I wonder how Boen might sound playing a human Lechuck.)
Although I strongly favoured Pinny's delivery in Curse and was put off by the Stan of Escape (who would have been more fitting as the original Stan of the first two games), unless a new voice actor is very much off-character for Stan, I agree that a change can be tolerated. I'd like to say however that Stan's physical appearance and the kind of character his looks portrayed him to be have changed over the length of the series, much like Guybrush's in fact. Pinny with that baritone voice that made him ideal for the role of the Stan drawn in Curse would never have matched the personality projected by the Stan of the first two games. In the same way, even Armato himself would not be able to escape the boundaries of the cartoon-style Guybrush that was born in Curse and be an appropriate voice for the scruffy-bearded and ponytailed original character out of the mind of Ron Gilbert that I was first introduced to in Revenge so long ago. But those radical transformations best be considered final since the segue from Revenge to Curse, and so it is good that different voice actors for a character like Stan try to remain consistent with a single persona from game to game.
You should totally do that XD
No it wasn't. Pat Fraley voiced him in EMI, in ToMI it was Gavin Hammon.
In MI4 the character of Stan was wooden and jilted and not quite as crazy as the animated crazy fast-talkin' Stan from MI1 and MI2.
The Stan in ToMI is halfway between how I'd imagine him to sound from the first two games, and how he did sound in the later two. As for animation, he's not quite as neurotic as I'd like (he was always moving his arms and tapping his foot), but I think Telltale has done a pretty good job.
In fact, Tales is by far and away the best series Telltale has done, by leaps and bounds above all the others. The attention to detail and care with the world is exemplary.
I think Telltale've been pretty great throughout, but yeah. The masterpieces have so far been Sam and Max: Season Two and, after chapter four, Tales of Monkey Island.
The company's not up to full potential yet, but this is an issue that will resolve itself over time. Even so, right now? They're pretty amazing, and much better than most developers out there.
The problem I have with "different," however, is that TMI Stan just seems out of character now. He's fast-talking, instead of deeply (and falsely) reassuring. And it also seemed strange to me that he seemed to resent Guybrush's past mistreatment in the courtroom scene, instead of his former quick to forgive and forget attitude. But I'm sure that was just to explain why Stan would refuse to represent Guybrush for "old time's sake." Pinney's Stan was mix between a car salesman and a TV announcer. Hammon's Stan reminds me of Nick Naylor (a.k.a. Aaron Eckhart) in "Thank You for Smoking."
I love this introduction scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FILhDuYWvO0
If you never played the very very original Monkey Island 1 & 2 (and only came in with the non-Gilbert lead 3 & 4) then perhaps you may think that Stan being a fast-talker is strange.
But then, if you play the very first two games, you'll see he was a very fast talker (and in the Special Edition the voice actor gets the style wrong despite the dialogue and on-screen visuals), as often his dialogue would be descriptions of something said really quickly one after another. For example, he might say something like
Saaay, would you like to buy this widget? It's [cheap/shiny/broken/full of MSG/great for kids].
And he'd say those words all one after another really quickly. That was his style. The floppy laid-back style was not Stan at all, imho.
I'm not impartial to this Stan... However, I feel like they completely revamped his personality, and function in the story. He's less pushy on selling his merchandise. Heck, he doesn't even try to sell you anything this time around which was his part in every game.
SoMI: Sells you a boat (obviously)
MILR: Tries to sell you a coffin
CoMI: Sells you life insurance
Yeah, and that's about it. I can't think of any other game he's been in. I do really, really hope he comes back in a 2nd season where his part in the plot is to try to sell you something.
BTW, did anyone else feel like he was channeling the late Phil Hartman as Lionel Hutz?
Seriously, did you play the original games at all? Curse of Monkey Island is the one where he was totally out of character.
I wouldn't say the new Stan is 100% perfect but he's the certainly the closest any of the voice actors have come to getting what the character was supposed to be about. I wish they'd used him, or someone like him, for the special edition of the first game.
I think his arms were waving at a pretty good interval. It was definitely faster than the Curse implementation.
- Agetian
I just have to watch Guybrush
I like what they have done with Stan. Even the arm gestures seem like they are meaningful now (giving emphasis to what Stan is staying) rather than just random arm waving.
I keep watching it over n over
Stan would always forgive Guybrush before in the hope he could sell him something. Now Guybrush has about twenty death-sentences facing him; what does Stan have to gain by being quick to forgive & forget now?