Behind the voice actors: Sonic

Eh, I'm torn.

I remember White's voice almost getting on my nerves when I last watched Underground, but SatAM and AoStH still feel plenty nostalgic and I find the corniness in them less noticeable. It certainly didn't help that all three siblings used the prior shows' catchphrases on overkill.

Burke's voice... was okay, and fine within the context of the OVA, but admittedly very womanly at times and somehow 'felt' to me like he was trying (poorly) to imitate White, if only because there wasn't a circle of voice actors like nowadays to pick and choose to imitate from.

Hate to admit I'm tied for White and Drummond in first place, I think if only for the nostalgia of White and Drummond's... I dunno, the pre-4K actors were all extremely over-the-top, but the personalities were clear as day. While I can accept Dan Green and Mike Pollock because they clearly enjoy the work they do, something doesn't sit right with me that the lead character, Sonic, is now voiced with an ever-changing personality with every line Griffith reads - While Knuckles' personality, though now a bit more pumped up, is consistant. That said though, I'll admit he's getting much better. I enjoyed him in Unleashed, save for his shitty lines in the opening cutscene. The werehog was expected to suck, but the rest was fine. Now if only Griffith could actually, y'know, 'get into Sonic's personality' like Green and all the former actors all did, and he'd be all set.

 

My Opinion on the voices, best to worst:

Jaleel White
Ryan Drummond
Mike Burke
...
...
...
...
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Jason Griffith

 

DING DING DING DING DING DING

TJSonicWarrior indirectly states the main reason why people don't like Jason Griffith's voice acting. His diction is too forced. Even in Unleashed, his best work for Sonic, you can hear how the words don't really seem to flow together all that well, that Griffith is doing little beyond trying to pronounce every word in the sentence as clearly as he can with a broad emotion given by whoever's directing him. Granted, you don't want Family Guy like dialogue where you talk really fast and you stammer to sound more natural. If it's too natural, it's boring. There has to be some theatrical presence brought to the characters. This is why I like Mike Pollock. Though a little high-pitched for Robotnik for my liking, at least there's a sense of flow to his delivery, he knows the right parts of the lines to stress. And he's probably the only voice actor in the 4kids cast that can do this besides Dan Green.

Ryan Drummond wasn't that much better in my mind. Maybe if he had more lines where he could bring his voice down so it wouldn't sound like a scratchy hyped up yell... "I'm gonna bust this egg WIDE OPEN"!

Martin Burke was an interesting choice for Sonic's VA in the OVA, certainly had a more unique timber to his voice than the other three. I don't know if I should blame who directed his voice or Burke himself, because at times he sounded decent, at other times unbearable. Patchy, to be concise.

And Jaleel White, what to say about this guy? He's also like Burke, except his voice was more put on since it was borrowed from his Steve Urkel persona on Family Matters. What's good about this is that White seemed to naturally understand the right amount of emotion to put in Sonic's voice sometimes, mainly in AoSTH. He's not as good at dramatic acting, but that's the last thing anyone voice actor expects when they're asked to do a blue hedgehog. Still could sound a little iffy at times, though. I'm surprised some people want him to try and return to voice Sonic, since his voice had changed in the late 90's (see Sonic Underground), so I imagine it's thickened to the point where he can't really get as high as fans remember his voice being in the shows done seventeen years ago. It's been that long, wow.

I have no favorite voice actor for Sonic. They all comfortably fit their roles, but none of them have really made me go "That's the one!" as I listen to them again. I only hope that I will be able to hear that voice sometime soon.

 

The best part was me getting distracted at that part because of the horrible voicing and falling off.

 

Ryan Drummond is my favourite, but mostly because Sonic Adventure was the first time I was exposed to Sonic having a voice.

I think Jason Griffith is getting better, though. His performance compared from Sonic '06 to Unleashed is a huge leap in quality.

On terms with voice acting, I think the 4Kids Eggman voice actor is doing a really good job now. His performance in Unleashed was really good, IMO.

 

This site helped me realise how meh Drummond could be and that Griffith, with whatever flaws, still sounds better. Drummonds best is easily SA1 which to me means he actually got worse at playing Sonic. Griffith just fits and now it makes those stupid petitions to get Drummond back even worse.

Did Drummond get a raw deal? Yes. Was it a change for the better? Yes.

 

I had no idea Urkel was the voice of Sonic in that cartoon

 

This. "I don't have time to play little games with you! Get out of our way!"

 

I honestly have to say Martin Burke was and is the greatest sonic voice actor. Despite the voice being nasaly and high, it fits sonic so well, and at the time, and even now, it sounds just so darn cool. Whenever I think of sonic talking, martin burkes rendition of sonic always comes up. I do agree though that it wouldn't fit the newer sonic, though the new sonic seems more like a mutant adaptation of what he used to be. Some may argue that he has "Grown up" and that his looks, and albeit his voice have to change, but I don't like the direction voice has gone in. Like you may have guessed though, this does tie into looks, and it wouldve been great if they never changed his look, and actually had a cool 3D model of classic sonic. Then martin burke would be a sweet fit.

Edit: Contrary to some of you saying martin burke sounded like a woman at times, I disagree, but of course its my opinion and were all free to share/have one.