A Man Alone: Odo's voice

[retroenzo]

This might have been brought up before but I did a quick search and couldn't see anything.

In 'A Man Alone', there's a scene in the holosuite where Odo is investigating the murder of Ibudan. During the whole scene, Odo's voice seems ...off. It doesn't seem as gruff as Odo normally is. Every time I see the episode I have to double-check who's talking and am always surprised it's Odo.

I know it's early in the run of the series but I thought Rene Auberjonois pretty much had Odo's voice and mannerisms nailed from the first moment you see him in Emissary. Was he experimenting with Odo's voice at the time or possibly trying to preserve his voice?

 

[Voth commando1]

I don't recall his voice in this episode-I do recall the main plot and Terry's rather stiff acting.

Come to think of it-it may have been a little softer than it usually was but I'd have to rewatch the episode.

 

[DS9forever]

Why criticize Farrell out of nowhere? The OP was talking about Auberjonois!

No wonder I ignore some users!

 

[Voth commando1]

Why criticize Farrell out of nowhere? The OP was talking about Auberjonois!

No wonder I ignore some users!

I was merely discussing one part of the episode that stood out to me personally.

With regards to Auberjonois I don't recall his voice being noticeably different.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I do remember Odo's voice not being quite as gruff during the first few episodes. Kind of like how Rom took awhile to become the milquetoast we all know him as (in Rom's first few appearances he's much more assertive and strong).

Things change, as actors get a better handle on their characters.

 

[Voth commando1]

Rom in a mane alone was an entirely different character. He was headstrong and very hostile to his son being educated.

It was an odd contrast to how he was shown in 95% of the show.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

a mane alone

Careful. You'll get the bronies excited.

 

[Voth commando1]

Careful. You'll get the bronies excited.

It was a typo on my part sorry.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ No worries, I just thought the bronies would come out of the woodwork for a pun like that. Well played.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Rom in a mane alone was an entirely different character. He was headstrong and very hostile to his son being educated.

It was an odd contrast to how he was shown in 95% of the show.

Rom is retooled like three or four times in the first two seasons before they settle onto his final personality. In episode 1 he's a generic Ferengi. By Nagus, he's been established as an idiot. Then they decide later, he's not an idiot, he's a genius who is an idiot by Ferengi standards because he's bad at business, has no confidence and empathizes with people.

Odo's voice in the first season always seems as a little different to me than later seasons. The gruffness you mention was a little less balanced and often came on too strong or too light, and in the later seasons it became more balanced.

I imagine Aberjonois going home every day with a scratchy throat.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I imagine Aberjonois going home every day with a scratchy throat.

Steve Smith of The Red Green Show always used to say that his Red Green voice (which, like Odo's, was deeper and more guttural than his own) was easier on his throat than his real voice...

 

[Sakonna]

On a related matter, does anyone know why "A Man Alone" and "Past Prologue" are reversed from their original airing order on Netflix? This restores them to the production order, and I think the episodes play better this way, but this is the only instance where they do this... "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" and "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang" would also play better if placed in production order, but they're left in original airing order.

And also Hulu and Amazon Prime both have "Past Prologue" and "A Man Alone" in original airdate order. Who is the mysterious Netflix Trek nerd that just had to swap these episodes?!?

Also, agreed on all other counts -- Auberjonois does have a strange early Odo voice. Farrell is so stiff in this episode (and how weird and unsexy is that detail about how the Trill have cold bodies). And so many Rom personalities!

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I didn't know they were reversed on Netflix. I know on syndication they usually showed TNG in production order (Which made Unification and Symbiosis awkward) but Netflix to my knowledge showed in air order.

 

[Sakonna]

I didn't know they were reversed on Netflix. I know on syndication they usually showed TNG in production order (Which made Unification and Symbiosis awkward) but Netflix to my knowledge showed in air order.

The entire series is in air order -- except for these two episodes. It's so strange! Stranger still that it's the only streaming service to sequence the episodes this way.

 

[retroenzo]

I'd say that on every series bar the original series, there's confusion over the order of their first to regular episodes.

Depending on the source, the orders of TNG (Code of Honor and Naked Now), DS9 (A Man Alone and Past Prologue), VOY (Parallax and Time and Again) and ENT (Strange New World and Fight or Flight) always seem to be swapped around.

Rom is retooled like three or four times in the first two seasons before they settle onto his final personality. In episode 1 he's a generic Ferengi. By Nagus, he's been established as an idiot. Then they decide later, he's not an idiot, he's a genius who is an idiot by Ferengi standards because he's bad at business, has no confidence and empathizes with people.

Odo's voice in the first season always seems as a little different to me than later seasons. The gruffness you mention was a little less balanced and often came on too strong or too light, and in the later seasons it became more balanced.

I imagine Aberjonois going home every day with a scratchy throat.

And yeah Auberjonois did seem a little like Christian Bale's Batman in the early episodes. Maybe that's why he seems so "not" Odo in that scene. In later seasons he could probably get away with doing that soft a voice and it wouldn't seem so much of a contrast.

As for Rom, they changed him as his character became more and more prominent. I get the feeling though that early Rom was just trying to not make any waves with his brother and maybe wanted to put on a united Ferengi front against the Federation as they must have done under Cardassian occupation. As he learned to trust the Federation administration aboard the station, he came out of his shell more. Did we see much of Rom in the flashback Terok Nor episodes?

 

[Voth commando1]

In Things Past we see Quark I believe but I don't recall Rom making an appearance in any of those episodes.

I can't imagine his "I'm an idiot but also awesome at engineering" persona would have played over well with the Cardassians.

Quark appears only in Things Past and I got the impression Odo kept him under constant supervision, and prior we don't know really-though I imagine he still had ties to the criminal underworld and didn't have the best reputation among the Bajorans.

Rom? I can see him living on Ferenginar during this time perhaps with his mother while Nog was still very little.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The in-world explanation for Rom's change is that living with Ferengi and especially his brother he always believed he was an idiot and only had greedy backstabbing role models to emulate. The more he got away from his brother and spent more time with
Leeta and humans who were kinder to him, he opened up and became comfortable being himself.

Out of world explanation is that he just wasn't working as a character is season 1.

 

[Sakonna]

I head cannon Rom as some version of Ferengi autism. Extremely high-functioning and brilliant in some areas, but obscured by behavioral issues that prevented everyone from noticing for the longest time.

Of course, what I find really difficult to explain away is that he full-on attempts to murder Quark in "The Nagus"... (and then Odo, having come upon this attempted-murder in progress, stops it, harrumphs, and walks off -- no reason to arrest anyone here!)

 

[Voth commando1]

I head cannon Rom as some version of Ferengi autism. Extremely high-functioning and brilliant in some areas, but obscured by behavioral issues that prevented everyone from noticing for the longest time.

Of course, what I find really difficult to explain away is that he full-on attempts to murder Quark in "The Nagus"... (and then Odo, having come upon this attempted-murder in progress, stops it, harrumphs, and walks off -- no reason to arrest anyone here!)

You know that reminds me of Resurrecton where Mirror Kira and Bareil try to steal the orb, assault guards, among other things yet somehow are not arrested, despite mirror Kira having been knocked unconscious and Bareil held at phaser point.

 

[tomalak301]

I've always wondered about why his voice in this episode was like that. I know this episode and Past Prolouge were filmed in reverse of air date, but I would have thought they tried out different voices until they got it just right. To have his voice that way in only this episode was a little weird.