The Energon Pub

I couldn't agree more after seeing Movie Megatron pics that Frank Welker's voice wouldn't fit him. After they annoucned Hugo Weaving as the voice, I thought about the Matrix Trilogy and thought "yeah Agent smith definitly could voice this incarnation of megatron really well".

After seeing the movie however it seemed pointless. They dint' really use hugo weavings natural voice, instead they gave us a classic G1 Megatron with a Synthesized voice that was so altered it could of easily been Frank welker voicing him! Its like they editied Hugo's voice enough that it sounded like Frank Welker.

I don't have a problem with how the movie turned out, however it seems stupid they spent all this money making Hugo weaving sound like Welker-megatron that they would of been fine just using Frank Welker himself. Opinions?

the voice ended up being far too generic and your right it was barely noticeable that hugo weaving was voicing him.

to me it just seemed that none of the decepticons were alllowed individual personality's in the film. Everyone of them seemed to have a generic 'tankor' personality. (except frenzy of course, nutjob made from the contents of a cutlery draw)

And Megatron like any good villian should have been allowed a decent monologue.

Weaving has done VA work before, while his range is no where near the likes of Welker of Mel Blanc he still does have SOME range.

I mean it's not like you'd compare the different voices of Welker or Blanc, so why compared the different voices of Weaving? And to say you couldn't recognise him, most VA's aren't meant to be recognisable, especially those with a broad range.

My guess is that it was all to compromise with Lorenzo DiBonaventura. From the very beginning he was very vocal at not wanting to use Frank Welker and not using Peter Cullen. There have been stories floating about that Lorenzo got in a big fight with Don Murphy about this. Don wanted Welker and Cullen, Lorenzo didn't. When it was put to a vote between Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto, Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg, Ian Bryce and Lorenzo DiBonaventure who to use as the voice of Optimus Prime... Not naming any names, but it has been said that the results were 5 against 1...

I think they compromised to use Hugo Weaving for Megatron if Lorenzo would agree to use Cullen for Optimus. Nothing 'official' was said on this, but I have a strong feeling that that is what happened and that they used the "Frank's voice is too old" arguement to cover that up.

I don't know if any of you played the Transformers ps2 game that came out for the movie. Cullen and Welker are voicing prime and meg. Welker sounds better in the video game then what they did to Weavings voice in the movie. Their is more dialouge in the game for Megatron then there was in the movie. How F*cked up is that?

Personally if your gonna have Weaving do the voice you should let his voice come out of the character. Not his voice thats has been altered and edited through audio machines. that bugged me about the movie.

Hugo got a good voice.

But in this case, his is unnecessary. His voice didn't came out recognizable anyway.

I think the point of using Hugo, is to really push out Welker. I wonder why. Hollywood politics is sometimes very hard to understand.

Anyway, both voice actors are lost.

Welker was booted out. Sadly. He's very talented. And we didn't get to enjoy his voice.

Hugo was in, but the beauty of his voice was not used anyway. So we didn't get to enjoy his voice either.

Why does this voice have to be recognizable? The guy has voice range, he's done numerous voices. Just because an actor does a voice over for a movie does NOT mean they have to use their natural voice.

Burn wrote:Why does this voice have to be recognizable? The guy has voice range, he's done numerous voices. Just because an actor does a voice over for a movie does NOT mean they have to use their natural voice.

Quite right.

My main gripe with Weaving's Megatron was that it sounded very generic. There was nothing remarkable or spectacular about it. I detected very little vocal nuances and very little flavour.

Leonardo wrote:

Burn wrote:Why does this voice have to be recognizable? The guy has voice range, he's done numerous voices. Just because an actor does a voice over for a movie does NOT mean they have to use their natural voice.

Quite right.

My main gripe with Weaving's Megatron was that it sounded very generic. There was nothing remarkable or spectacular about it. I detected very little vocal nuances and very little flavour.

Exactly the point why Hugo was UNNECESSARY.

Which is the main issue in this post.

Actually I didn't feel it was generic, and I did pick up a hint of Weaving. Guess that's why I simply can't agree.

Each to their own really.

I think it's just an extra famous element to the film it's like a famous name to add to the film posters and stuff.

Who knows maybe Mr. Hugo Weaving was like a hardcore Transformer fan when he was younger and wanted to play Megatron or soming

Burn wrote:Why does this voice have to be recognizable? The guy has voice range, he's done numerous voices. Just because an actor does a voice over for a movie does NOT mean they have to use their natural voice.

One of the best things you can tell a voice actor is that the voice they did didn't sound like him/her.

At least, I like hearing that...

I could clearly tell it was weaving. Theres just something about his voice which is immidiatly recognisable to me. His voice was edited to hell and back but i could still hear weaving very clearly. And at times it isnt just about how someone sounds, its how they project their voice.

When he said "Oh so unwise" i just thought of him as V saying "Oh not tonight!".

in 1 word, NO. Welker could've done it & should've done it. i also have the video game and he does a fine job. if there is going to be a sequel and they are bringing Megs back, use Frankie!

I preferred Weaving's megatron voice, it sounds a lot more menacing.

With the amount of synthesizing they did to the voice, i think any voice will do. Saves a lot of budget.

And use the savings for more CGI robot scenes. Or at least make them talk more.

Completly unnecessary.

Starscreams bad comedy wrote:Completly unnecessary.

Completely necessary.

Countered.

tequila stu wrote:I preferred Weaving's megatron voice, it sounds a lot more menacing.

I Agree

i agree as well

This one's tough, I liked both voices just fine, but Welker could have made a voice that the kids at home could try to imitate.

Raymond T. wrote:My guess is that it was all to compromise with Lorenzo DiBonaventura. From the very beginning he was very vocal at not wanting to use Frank Welker and not using Peter Cullen. There have been stories floating about that Lorenzo got in a big fight with Don Murphy about this. Don wanted Welker and Cullen, Lorenzo didn't.

... feeling that that is what happened and that they used the "Frank's voice is too old" arguement to cover that up.

What was Lorenzo's problem? What is the problem with Cullen or Welker? They have to know that a large base of support will come from TF fans both present and past, and maybe it's me thinking on a micro scale, but I would do all I could to make sure I capture the greatest number of people for my movie.

I find it incredibly stupid of people who make a film and want to leave its roots so far behind as if any association with a cartoon, comic, etc would alienate people from watching it. On the contrary, I think sometimes its ego just wanting to put a personal stamp on things. You hear the cheers going up when Peter Cullen's voice was officially announced as Prime?

I have been rewatching the G1 Transformers, and I think that Frank Welker would have been fine, if not downright great! They could synthensize his voice a bit maybe, but I find nothing inherently cartoony or non-transferrable to big screen with his voice. To say Frank's voice is "old" is an insult to Frank. If anyone can sound 'old' and powerful like he does in the cartoons, that'd fit well with Megatron, because he is both ancient and powerful.

As it is, although I am a fan of Hugo Weaving, I feel that because of the very few lines he did have, he was wasted. If it had been Welker's, few lines as they were, it would have been memorable.

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Bonecrusher27 wrote:

Raymond T. wrote:My guess is that it was all to compromise with Lorenzo DiBonaventura. From the very beginning he was very vocal at not wanting to use Frank Welker and not using Peter Cullen. There have been stories floating about that Lorenzo got in a big fight with Don Murphy about this. Don wanted Welker and Cullen, Lorenzo didn't.

... feeling that that is what happened and that they used the "Frank's voice is too old" arguement to cover that up.

What was Lorenzo's problem? What is the problem with Cullen or Welker? They have to know that a large base of support will come from TF fans both present and past, and maybe it's me thinking on a micro scale, but I would do all I could to make sure I capture the greatest number of people for my movie.

I find it incredibly stupid of people who make a film and want to leave its roots so far behind as if any association with a cartoon, comic, etc would alienate people from watching it. On the contrary, I think sometimes its ego just wanting to put a personal stamp on things. You hear the cheers going up when Peter Cullen's voice was officially announced as Prime?

I have been rewatching the G1 Transformers, and I think that Frank Welker would have been fine, if not downright great! They could synthensize his voice a bit maybe, but I find nothing inherently cartoony or non-transferrable to big screen with his voice. To say Frank's voice is "old" is an insult to Frank. If anyone can sound 'old' and powerful like he does in the cartoons, that'd fit well with Megatron, because he is both ancient and powerful.

As it is, although I am a fan of Hugo Weaving, I feel that because of the very few lines he did have, he was wasted. If it had been Welker's, few lines as they were, it would have been memorable.

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Trouble is he does sound too old. PLay the tf movie game and you will see why he wasnt used.

Bonecrusher27 wrote:What was Lorenzo's problem? What is the problem with Cullen or Welker? They have to know that a large base of support will come from TF fans both present and past, and maybe it's me thinking on a micro scale, but I would do all I could to make sure I capture the greatest number of people for my movie.

Thing is, appealing directly to the fanbase would have resulted in the movie flopping.

So things were changed up to appeal to the masses.

Considering the success and popularity of the movie I think it's safe to say that it's irrelevant whether it was Welker or Weaving. People enjoyed the movie for the action!

Weaving was just fine. I don't get this need to complain about everything I bet most people outside these small internet-message board groups don't even know who voiced Megatron in 80's, so why should it be any kind of issue?

The big bad robot is Megatron, not Welkertron or Weavingtron, so in my opinion it's all the same. The voice was menacing, and it's what matters.