Nea Culpa

[neadods]

Forgive me fandom, for I am about to sin. John Barrowman is a sexy, sexy man and a sparkling performer... and he can't read audiobooks worth a damn.

I'm trying to get into Another Life, a job already made difficult by the sucktastic writing - all staccato subject-verb-predicate sentences that are only a step or two above Dick and Jane in complexity - and John just isn't helping. He's not trying to do voices, he's only occassionaly modulating his tone... it's a not-very-good book read not-very well.

That my most recent audio comparisons are David doing the Who tie ins (he always goes to town on the voices: Stone Rose is another wimp plot but it's worth it just to hear what that man does with his vocal cords), the Big Finish full audios, and Stephen Fry making a feast out of Harry Potter does not help.

Sorry, John, just not your strong suit. I give up.

Comments

[shawan-7.livejournal.com]

Drop him a kind note and tell him.

[nnwest.livejournal.com]

Darn, you beat me to it. I was just going to post the same thing. How far did you get? Halfway through the first disc he begins to find his stride. By the end of it, he's at least reading Jack's lines like Jack. But really, he knows these characters, knows the actors who portray them. I'm halfway through disc two and he has yet to try with the other characters. Although he is now putting a bit of appropriate emotion into the scenes. I was disappointed that he ran across a Scottish character and didn't do it in the Scots.

More, I'm aghast at some of the abridgment. Three or four times a car-ride (listening in 15-minute chunks on my drive to/from work), I'm going "You can't cut that out! It's needed for the plot later." And of course I'm completely indignant that they gutted the two best Jack/Ianto flirtage scenes.

And randomly, he still pronounces 'zebra' like a Brit. Made me giggle.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

How far did you get?

Not quite halfway through the first disk. I'd put aside Harry Potter to listen, and when I found out online that all the flirting was gone, I was like "well, that just gutted the only thing I was really interested in."

But really, he knows these characters, knows the actors who portray them

Exactly. If he can't really do their voice, he could at least not do his own voice, y'know? That seems to have been David's compromise when he read his audiobooks. (I'm quite sorry he's not doing more of that. Now there's someone who really got into it!)

Plot? I don't think they particularly care what's needed for the plot... which is a bit of a pity, because plot-wise that was one of the stronger Torchwood tie-ins.

[nnwest.livejournal.com]

...which is a bit of a pity, because plot-wise that was one of the stronger Torchwood tie-ins.

This is true, sadly. And it still isn't very good. :(

Oh, along with the flirtage, they cut many of the bits where Jack is just a total bastard too! Pity, I liked that take on his character.

[cedara]

I'll give it a try, let's see how far I'll come.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I just can't imagine JB being all that great of a voice actor. Heh heh. (Actually, I couldn't listen to DT either... *RUNS*)