Clones Wars Series Voice Actors (minor spoilers)

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Voice-over actors give life to Cartoon Network's 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'

By Michael Sheridan

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, October 4th 2009, 4:00 AM

They are the most unrecognizable actors in a galaxy far, far away.

Audiences generally associate Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor in the roles of the famously iconic Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. But, the truth is, other actors have inhabited those roles in far more performances, yet you'll never know what they look like.

They are voice-over actors, men and women who bring these Jedi Knights to life each week in the computer-animated series, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

And that's just the way they like it.

"If we do our job right, you have no idea you're hearing us," says James Arnold Taylor, who performs Obi-Wan Kenobi on the Cartoon Network series, which premiered its second season on Friday.

Taylor, who has also voiced the venerable Jedi Master in several video games, has been giving life to the animated version of the character for nearly seven years.

Initially, the 40-year-old actor shaped his vocals to mimic McGregor, so as to stay true to Episode III, which had not been released at the time.

"Now I've been given the freedom by Dave Filoni [series creator and director] and George Lucas to make the character my own," said Taylor, who also provides the voices of Fred Flintstone, along with Harry Osborn in "The Spectacular Spider-Man."

"I take a little of Alec Guiness... and I take a little of Ewan McGregor and I make my own Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Tom Kane, another veteran voice over actor, doesn't quite have the same freedom with his gravelly portrayal of Jedi Master Yoda.

"It's an odd experience doing a voice that is so well established," Kane told the Daily News from his home in Kansas City. "Your job is to not change him."

He also never forgets the man who created the voice in the first place, film director Frank Oz.

"I always have to run it through my Frank Oz filter," Kane said, even though he has never met the former Muppet man, despite having voiced Yoda now in multiple video games and shows for nearly a decade. "How would he inflect this, or how would he say that. That's always my concern, that it would true to what I think he would do."

The uniquely identifiable vocals of Yoda are made doubly challenging because of the manner in which he speaks, something Kane dubbed, Yodese. But after doing it for so long, easy it has become, the 46-year-old said.

"Dave [Filoni] and I, we know the moment when I say it if it's not right," he said.

Voicing Yoda does have another challenge, as well.

"Physically, it can be hard on your throat," Kane said, noting its harsh inflection. "But Yoda doesn't talk much, so I don't have to do it for long periods of time."

Ashley Eckstein, who voices Anakin Skywalker's padawan, Ahsoka, doesn't have to worry about mimicing another actor's voice. Her character is unique to the series and was never featured in the films or previous television outings.

"I don't have to try to sound like somebody else," Eckstein said. "I can just let a line fly off the cuff based on what I think she would sound like, not what someone else sounded like."

Ahsoka, who Eckstein promises will mature greatly and become far more independent in the second season of "Clone Wars," got off to a rocky start with more traditional "Star Wars" fans.

"I know in season one, she teeter-tottered the line of being annoying at times," Eckstein said. "But I think most of that goes away in season two."

"The war does take its toll on her," she noted, adding that Ahsoka will be targeted by the much ballyhooed bounty hunters that will take center stage in the new season.

Unlike many of her co-stars, 28-year-old Eckstein began her career in front of the camera, with roles on several shows including "That's So Raven," "Blue Collar TV" and "That '70s Show." But she sees doing voice over work as an education in acting.

"I feel like voice over is the boot camp for using your imagination," she said.

Of all the actors, however, Dee Bradley Baker's role has him routinely playing multiple characters.

You could say, Baker puts the clones in "Clone Wars."

The one-time stand-up comedian provides the vocals for the show's many clone troopers, offering him the unique challenge of using the same voice but keeping each one different at the same time.

"They want to give a sense of individuality and humanity to the clones," he explained. So "for me, it starts with the script... and sometimes the [trooper's] name will give you a clue as to how [the writers] want you to play them."

In season one's gritty episode, "Rookies," Baker played several troopers throughout the majority of the story, each often talking to one another.

"The goal is to try and make these guys feel like individuals," the 46-year-old actor said.

Of course, Baker isn't the only one talking to himself through different characters.

"In several shows I'm in conversations with myself," notes Taylor, whose talent for changing his voice has led him to provide voices for many characters, including Jedi Master Plo Koon, a fan favorite.

Kane also does multiple voices, his most notable as the show's Narrator, a feature of the show that was initially widely criticized by fans.

"It got a lot of, I think, unfair criticism when it was in the movie," said Kane, who also does voice work for many film trailers, as well as animated shows and video games outside the "Star Wars" universe.

"I think it threw people for a loop," he said. "But George has gotten the last laugh on that, because what was criticized in the movie because it was different works brilliantly well on television."

Although Kane often does much of his voice work either in his home studio or by himself during trips to California, the actors in "The Clone Wars" often work together to act out scenes, reminiscent of old-time radio shows.

"I don't think we would have been able to achieve the kind of relationships both with each other and in the show if we weren't able to record our dialogue together," said Eckstein, whose first onscreen appearance was in the Nickelodeon game show, "GUTS," when she was 11 years old.

"I feel so blessed that I get to work with this amazing cast," she added, noting that she's been able to learn a lot from the experienced voice actors.

"I was very green when I started, kind of like Ahsoka," Eckstein said. "I'm very grateful they shared their knowledge with me, and were patient with me."

The biggest challenge for her was learning how to do all those grunts and groans actors need to perform, especially in the elaborate action sequences.

"I think a lot of oncamera actors get very uncomfortable when they learn they have to made their grunts and groans," Taylor said. But "you have to have no inhibitions."

He also made note that clothes make the voice actor.

"The key to voice over is quiet clothing," he said. "Sometimes you'll get someone who'll come in and has never done voice over work before, and they'll be all dressed up in their nice shirt and jacket. The first thing I tell them is that they've gotta lose all that stuff."

Taylor, who exercises his voice regularly after nearly losing it several years ago due to some toxic mold, stressed that voice actors need to keep it simple.

"Jeans and a t-shirt, and sneakers that don't squeak," he said. "And no jewelry, that's the key to a successful voice over."

Each of these actors also stressed that fans will have a lot to look forward to in the new season of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" - even if they weren't able to tell you much about it.

"I can't give away the specifics," said Bradley, an actor who specializes in animal and creature sounds, who developed the moans and groans for the zombies in 2002's "Dawn of the Dead" remake.

He did say, however, that "there are going to be a lot of surprises coming up, and there are going to be a lot of characters [fans have] never seen, and several they've seen but never heard before."

In fact, he provides the voice for one such character, although he refused to give up the ghost as to who it would be. Still, he was naturally quick to champion the show.

"I've seen about half of them already, and speaking as a fan of Star Wars, they're really incredible," Baker said. "There are some episodes that have some interesting angles and twists."

"I think [the show] is going in places more like ['Empire Strikes Back,']" said Taylor, where "you got to see this darker side where the good guys don't always win."

"Season two is the season of the bounty hunters, and they definitely come after Ahsoka," said Eckstein, who noted that the voice work for the season has already been completed. "By the end... she's definitely one tough cookie."



'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' director Dave Filoni (l.), with cast members Ashley Eckstein, Tom Kane (back) and James Arnold Taylor.



Voice of the clone troopers, Dee Bradly Baker.

So what do you think of the voice work? I think it's generally quite good and frankly, the actor who portrays Padme does a hell of a lot of a better job than Natalie Portman ever did. I also very much like the work of the actor who does Palpatine as well (neither of these actors are mentioned above, but you can read about the whole cast at the Wookiepedia entry on the show.

[Galvatron]

I don't care for Obi-wan's cartoon voice, but Anakin and Padme are far better than their live-action counterparts. Cartoon Anakin actually sounds like the commanding presence he always should have been.

[Themightytom]

I don't really like yoda's voicce, he just sounds dry. I do like Baker's work on the clones though. Obi Wan comes accross as a bit smarmy to my ear.

[Zac Naloen]

I knew I recognised the guy who did Obi Wan so just looked him up, he's been in everything!

He was also Tidus in Final Fantasy X.

[Darksider]

I have to say, initially I thought the opening narrator was kind of annoying, but it's really grown on me.
As for the voices in the show, Padme's voice actress does a far better job than Natalie Portman, but then again, so would a piece of cardboard.

I like Matt Lanter as Anakin, he's definitly better than the guy who did him in the original shorts, and definitely better than Hayden Christiansen's EpII performance.

[Count Chocula]

Ashley's hot, but she looks a little hard/old for 27. But there is now, after seeing the Season Two premiere, hope that Ahsoka's character won't be the Season One Lolita-whore. My money's on her going all Dark Side crazy and getting Ronco Dial-O-Matic sliced up by a fellow Jedi by the end of the Clone Wars.

[The Romulan Republic]

Ashley's hot, but she looks a little hard/old for 27. But there is now, after seeing the Season Two premiere, hope that Ahsoka's character won't be the Season One Lolita-whore. My money's on her going all Dark Side crazy and getting Ronco Dial-O-Matic sliced up by a fellow Jedi by the end of the Clone Wars.

Too dark for a kid's show. I don't know that they have the balls to pull it off.

[Stofsk]

I don't care for Obi-wan's cartoon voice, but Anakin and Padme are far better than their live-action counterparts. Cartoon Anakin actually sounds like the commanding presence he always should have been.

Not just his voice, his entire character is what Anakin should have been - a hero.

[Elfdart]

Is George Takei coming back?

[Balrog]

Ashley's hot, but she looks a little hard/old for 27. But there is now, after seeing the Season Two premiere, hope that Ahsoka's character won't be the Season One Lolita-whore. My money's on her going all Dark Side crazy and getting Ronco Dial-O-Matic sliced up by a fellow Jedi by the end of the Clone Wars.

Too dark for a kid's show. I don't know that they have the balls to pull it off.

This is the same kid's show where a Sith Lord snapped someone's neck with the Force and where a Jedi was tortured to death on-screen. I highly doubt Ahsoka going emo, building a red lightsaber and then getting slice'n'dice in the final act would be something they wouldn't have the balls to pull off.

Not that they would - IMO by the end she'll become a Knight, but get gunned down by Clones or successfully hide away - but this is hardly some 80's cartoon show where Cobra fighter pilots miraculously parachute to safety from a plane that just exploded.

[Vympel]

Dooku using the Force to make one guy shoot his compatriot, and then snap his neck, was easily one of the coolest things I've ever seen in Star Wars. Kudos to the cartoon for that.

[Count Chocula]

Ahsoka's not in the canon movies, so whatever form her demise may take, we can rest assured it will end badly.

As an aside, I'm liking the new season a lot more than the first...and a LOT more than the prequel movies. There's a lot more nuance to the characters, and despite Anikin's acting more like "The Hero Without Fear" in the cartoon series, you can still see the assholish part of him that becomes Darth Vader. Especially in how he treats his padawan.

[Vympel]

Ahsoka's not in the canon movies, so whatever form her demise may take, we can rest assured it will end badly.

As an aside, I'm liking the new season a lot more than the first...and a LOT more than the prequel movies. There's a lot more nuance to the characters, and despite Anikin's acting more like "The Hero Without Fear" in the cartoon series, you can still see the assholish part of him that becomes Darth Vader. Especially in how he treats his padawan.

Generally the animation and 'cinematography' for lack of a better word is much more interesting, too.

[Tiriol]

As an aside, I'm liking the new season a lot more than the first...and a LOT more than the prequel movies. There's a lot more nuance to the characters, and despite Anikin's acting more like "The Hero Without Fear" in the cartoon series, you can still see the assholish part of him that becomes Darth Vader. Especially in how he treats his padawan.

Sorry to pick this particular parapgraph out, Count Chocula, I hope you don't mind.

But I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea that the series would be of better nuancing quality than the movies (though it might indeed be) based on how the characters act. The movies, especially the Prequel ones, show mere days or weeks and are much more constrained in their time limits than the series is. They don't have much time to show nuances (but they did try, at least - there are several moments in Episode II where, for example, Anakin and Obi-Wan's more loving relationship is shown, but not spelled outright) and they can't do same amount or kind of character building as the series does.

Anakin in Episode III didn't get much time to ACT as a battlefield commander and general: the only times he interacted with clonetroopers were in the beginning (when he showed real concern for them) and when the Jedi Temple was assaulted (and that was a wordless scene). The story was about his fall from grace and how the Republic became the monstrous Empire. That's the whole point of The Clone Wars, though - to show the things what the movies couldn't show, like Anakin being a battlefield commander.

[generator_g1]

Not just his voice, his entire character is what Anakin should have been - a hero.

For the ladies, he's not bad looking himself...