Big Bird's Voice?

[jeffkjoe]

I have to disagree.

Outside of cloining Carroll Spinney or making him younger, I think Matt Vogel does a great job in capturing th essence that is Big Bird.

I'm a fan of the much older Sesame Streets, so it's nice to hear the Big Bird of yesteryear come back.


Aren't you glad that they have an understudy to carry on the life of Big Bird?

By the way, if you're gonna be in town this weekend, Carroll is coming to sign his book in San Jose, Saturday, May 18th at some mom/pop bookstore. Check the Children's Museum of San Jose website...I think I found the info there.

 

[trekkie1701E]

Really???????????????

Was this date just added?

 

[WiGgY]

I hear very little difference between the voices. I think Matt does a great Big Bird. When I first saw JTE, I didn't really know it was a different person. And it's much better then letting the character retire if Carroll Spinney does. Now if only Matt can try doing Scooter on the new show. I heard he does a great Scooter.

 

[Aaron]

it's too high it sounds girl'ish

 

[scarecroe]

Originally posted by WiGgY
Now if only Matt can try doing Scooter on the new show. I heard he does a great Scooter.

Brian does a fantastic Scooter and I hope he continues to do so

 

[WiGgY]

I agree. I just wanna hear what it sounds like. Maybe Matt should take over Janice though. Unless of course Brian can do some more practicing and get that voice down. it would be nice to have Brian do at least those 3 characters on the new show, Sal, Scooter, and Janice. He also does some good background characters.

Does anyone know if Brian ever tried to do Kermit? He and his father have a similar speaking voice, I think.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

To be honest, Matt's voice kinda bugs me too - but overall I think he does a fabulous job as Big Bird. Anyone who takes issue with minor aspects of Matt's performance should check Carrol's early work - remember he's had 30+ years to refine and perfect Big Bird.

Oh, and Trekkie I actually don't think there are too many people who could actually do Big Bird that well. That is a very hard part to perform just from a technical standpoint - never mind worrying about character and voice.

 

[Hays]

Funny - this is becoming a thread about recasts.

Just want to remind everybody that toughpigs has a really good lists for those "that voice sounds funny..." itch. http://www.toughpigs.com/extrarecast.htm

I have to say I'm not a fan of recasts in general...think of Mr. Rogers and Charles Schultz's take on retirement.

However, there is this to be said : Kermit Love, who designed most of the classic Sesame Street muppets, died years ago. No designer since has captured his vision. If you don't recast, the look of Sesame Street will slowly change completely - and the original designs are timeless, as they can be re-created over and over.

I also think they've been doing a pretty good job of recasting - but every puppeteer is going to bring a little of him or herself to every character. It's a little odd to have them right next to each other, like with Matt Vogel and Caroll Spinney (how DO you spell that) because you will see the differences. But I'd hate to think that children in the future will never get to know Big Bird at all.

After the original puppeteer retires, and the new one has a few years to really create the character, it won't seem so glaring...and the kids will love the new version as much as the old.

 

[WiGgY]

I think it's a good thing to have both the original and the alternate on the show at the same time. It makes the transition easier I think. You get use to both voices, and lets remeber, most children watching this show will not watch it for more then like 5 years at most. So, new viewers probably don't even notice a difference.

I do agree that this is much better then having Big Bird and Oscar retire into storage. That would just be awful. Big bird IS Sesame Street.

 

[trekkie1701E]

Technical stuff ... from this aspect, you are correct. I wasn't thinking about that part, I guess.