Exactly. Deanna's parents essentially have the same accent. So where did hers come from?
The Daughter of the 5th House
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Mostly from Sirtis doing some decent acting, coming up with a logical sounding accent for a woman whose home planet doesn’t speak with their mouths on a day to day basis...and then having to eventually drop most of it because Aunty Mame of the Galaxy didn’t bother doing the same job xD
Top of the morning to ye.
Yeah. It’s kind of a normal thing isn’t it. What’s in a name? Usually whatever mum and dad fancied.
To the comment quoted...well..Treks already done that. Phillipa Georgiou most recently.
I think the somebody in India in this hypothetical would probably shrug their shoulders. For a start there are ‘white’ Indians. I see your point though. The reality is different for different countries with different histories. America has a very turbulent past when it comes to race, ethnicity and skin colour, and for immigrants to America, or third or fourth gen down, representation is a very different thing to what turns up elsewhere. In the U.K for instance, generally speaking ‘Black british’ literally means someone whose only difference is their skin colour (yes we still have some rascist buggers in various sides of the fence, but generally speaking.) and there’s no real division....Idris Elba I think was referred to as ‘too street’ by Danny Boyle infamously more because of him being a Londoner than because of his skin colour. But it’s hard to tell with Boyle. British Indian actors are likely to have midland or northern accents, or the same RP as white actors. There’s a massive under representation of Chinese British actors, given the population, but that’s partially a cultural thing...acting isn’t exactly an encouraged profession in the community. That’s changed a bit recently though. I suppose from the BBCs perspective, they need to find the new Burt Kwok (he was in bloody everything wasn’t he? There’s the actor whose name I forget from the midlands/Liverpool...played the wise monk in Tomb Raider. He’s in everything now.)
That’s all ultimately about cultures integrating, and ignorance in audiences (of several flavours...people still think Gandhi was played by a white man in brown face in the Oscar winning film....) diminishing. Trek wouldn’t go amiss doing a job closer to Babylon 5, which seemed to cast non-American actors more. That’s the reality of Hollywood though, it’s surprisingly parochial given its roots as a massive immigrant community when it started.
In that sense, I highly recommend ‘The Artist’ as a film that can make you think about Hollywood and it’s history.
Trek is, very very American, and that’s something that comes into play even before people’s ethnicity.
I know him from The Tomorrow People (he played a monk), and from Tenko (in which he played Major Yamauchi).
He was one of the good things in the last season of Last of the Summer Wine, but is perhaps most famous from The Pink Panther movies.
There is also David Yip, who starred in The Chinese detective, had parts in Indiana Jones and a James Bond movie. He is a Liverpudlian, British born actor from a Chinese father and White English mother. Back in the day Liverpool, being a port city was known for seaman taking a fancy to the local ladies
And the character is meant to be British according to the novels. Its the same reason why Charlton Heston never sounded like an ancient Hebrew in The Ten Commandments, Kevin Costner never sounded like an olde worlde Saxon in Prince of Thieves, (and neither did Errol Flynn). And most aliens in Star Trek sound like human Americans.
The audience is expected to use their imagination, when it comes to accents and pretend Patrick Stewart and his family sound French, rather than come up with in universe reasons why the actors are using their normal voices.
There is also David Yip, who starred in The Chinese detective, had parts in Indiana Jones and a James Bond movie. He is a Liverpudlian, British born actor from a Chinese father and White English mother. Back in the day Liverpool, being a port city was known for seaman taking a fancy to the local ladies
That’s him! Tomb raider green screen monk dude. Couldn’t place the name.
Edit...ok, wasn’t him. Someone called Ozzie Yue. Thought he aged a bit fast. The voice must have thrown me...that and I haven’t finished my Tom Raider rewatch, could have sworn it was a better known to British Audiences actor though.
Edit on the edit:
Actually he’s in loads of stuff too. I must have conflated the two actors. Bum. Still. It’s not like I am an avid viewer of Dinner Ladies, etc.
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Nope. He's a long time Angelino. I don't think he's ever spent a significant amount of time in SF.
The difference it makes is that if Sulu is born in SF but his family immediately moves (or returns) to Japan, or Russia, or Alpha Centauri for that matter, he probably wouldn't consider himself to be an American.
Heck, Zefram Cochrane originally came from Montana and was one of Earth's most famous scientists but by the time of Captain Kirk seemed to be associated with the Alpha Centauri sector, having lived there in the human colony in the years prior to his disappearance.
little ... I, too, am a Philadelphian (originally) from Rittenhouse Square! And we're in good company -- STAR TREK stars Robert Picardo & John de Lancie are from Philly, also. And Carrie Fisher from STAR WARS' Philadelphia connection is her father Eddie who, himself, was a native of The City of Brotherly Love.
Not sure what this post has to do with the post you quoted. We're not talking about anyone speaking alien languages; we're talking about anomalous accents when they're speaking Federation Standard (or English, if you prefer).
There actually is an in-universe reason why Picard's family can be French, yet Picard speaks with a British accent. The two countries share a history that goes back over a millennium even now, never mind centuries from now. I find it entirely plausible that Picard's childhood home is in France and he can speak French (we meet his very French-sounding mother in an early episode), yet he himself has a British accent... if he spent enough years attending school there.
I'd be willing to accept Deanna's out-of-place accent if she had a similar back story of studying or working in a region or on a planet where the locals have this accent, but she doesn't.
He's never said what he considers himself (except maybe D'Artagnan, in "The Naked Time").
Which Zephram Cochrane? The original? The version presented in the novel Federation, which is very respectful of the source material it's based on, or the drunken buffoon we saw in the movie, who bears no resemblance whatsoever to either predecessor?
That’s awesome!!! I love Rittenhouse. I was just there, stayed at the Sonesta for a weekend “away” haha
I grew up in South Philly by Tony Luke’s. I live in the burbs now though.
Awesome! one my friends recently moved to Bryn Mawr, in fact. But ... just to keep us on track, now, here's a 20 Questions interview with Majel that some might find interesting:
http://mycitypaper.com/articles/082897/article001.shtml
http://mycitypaper.com/articles/082897/article001.shtml
That’s too funny I’m in haverford!! Haha
Great article btw, need to learn more about this Gene Roddenberry’s Earth.
Deanna's accent is not out of place, the actress attempted to come up with an accent of a species who use their minds rather then their mouths to communicate, the fact other actors, including Majel Roddenberry, chose not to act this way is their decision.
Patrick Stewart could have come up with a French accent, maybe he tried and it sounded terrible or maybe like he just decided to act using his own voice. After all there is nothing 'African sounding' about either versions of Uhura and La Forge in the franchise. Some fans choose to come up with in universe reasons why the actors never use another accent.
I prefer to pretend Picard sounds French, La Forge sounds Somalian, Worf sounds Russian and Martok sounds Klingon. The latter three having American accents.
Coming up with in universe reasons without making it seem humans on Star Trek Earth are living one some planet wide American colony with pockets of Russian (Chekov), English (Picard), Scottish (Scotty) and Irish (O'Brien) influence is ridiculous.
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The post referred to Andrew Troi, I gave a reason why the actor playing her father, sounded different from Deanna Troi. Its not unusual for parents to have a different accent from their children, when the parents are immigrants. Andrew Troi was a human immigrant living on the planet Betazed.
Here's Majel in a (reportedly) rare interview in 2002:
