The Doctor's voice

[Okmyx]

I also have difficulty understanding his words. Even with my hearing aids, although they do help a bit. It's a combination of the deep, quiet voice and his accent. I have no high-pitch hearing so to me he's just a muffled mumbling murmer.

 

[Ragitsu]

A timbre wrapped in wool.

 

[ScottJ85]

The original series sets and canon weren't good enough? Yet Continues gets the chop?
JB

Really not sure how the existence of other shows diminishes the original in any meaningful way.

 

[Sci]

I had a little bit of trouble understanding Babs Olusanmokun's dialogue at first because I'm not very familiar with what Nigerian accents sound like, but eight episodes in now I think I've developed a better ear for how his accent sounds. I haven't had trouble understanding him for a couple episodes now. I just needed a little bit of familiarity.

 

[Ragitsu]

I think this week was the first time I heard the Doctor say his own name "M'Benga out", pronounced mmm-benga.

Other characters kept pronouncing it muh-bengna and I didn't think that sounded right. I'm no kind of expert on Kenyan languages, but I thought it should have been (at least) em-benga or just mmm-benga.

What's for dinner?

"Mmm...benga!"

 

[Kor]

I know this doesn't have anything to do with M'Benga's voice, but since we're on the subject of this character, at some we need to see him administering the smack therapy on Spock!

Kor

 

[Ragitsu]

I know this doesn't have anything to do with M'Benga's voice, but since we're on the subject of this character, at some we need to see him administering the smack therapy on Spock!

Kor

Played straight-up or with a twist?

 

[Yistaan]

I know this doesn't have anything to do with M'Benga's voice, but since we're on the subject of this character, at some we need to see him administering the smack therapy on Spock!

Kor

But Chapel can't be around for that right? Because she's surprised when M'Benga asks her to smack Spock in TOS.

 

[Ovation]

But Chapel can't be around for that right? Because she's surprised when M'Benga asks her to smack Spock in TOS.

Or perhaps she doesn’t want anyone else to smack him around.

 

[fireproof78]

Or perhaps she doesn’t want anyone else to smack him around.

Huh...that's weird. A whole new category just popped up on AO3.

 

[Ragitsu]

Has it changed?

 

[Pauln6]

Yes his voice is a bit low for my diminished hearing and the accent makes it harder, but I catch most of it and if I can cope with Vulcan and Klingon subtitles, I can always put the captions on. There are also many US accents I struggle to understand. Plus Glasweigan...

 

[Ragitsu]

I hear a degree of improvement, but there's still too much wool; this obstruction becomes especially pronounced whenever he is describing classic Trek technobabble.

 

[fireproof78]

I understand him fine and want more.

 

[Gilora]

He's nothing like Booker Bradshaw who appeared in two episodes of the original series. I don't know why they have to reuse these old characters and have such different actors cast.

M'benga is an African, but back in the late 1960s, I'm guessing that there weren't many African actors available for the role, so they cast an American of African descent.

Reason: it was only in 1965, when the new Immigration Act was passed, that persons from non-Western countries began to immigrate in larger numbers. Before that, only a few Africans had migrated to the USA after the end of the American Slave Trade. Now, there are many African actors, as we've seen.

 

[Gilora]

I turn the captions on for all the shows.

 

[Ragitsu]

If you think about it, it's little different from Picard being French yet speaking with an English accent or Geordi being Somalian yet sounding like a contemporary United States citizen.

 

[gweeps]

I turn the captions on for all the shows.

Interesting, but this is only a problem with certain actors.

 

[Gary Seven of Nine]

The Hoarse Whisperer.

 

[Ragitsu]

"Thank you, Christian Bale."