Robb of Winterfell Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 It took me a bit to get used to Roy Dotrice narrating the first 3 books... But now that I am, I love the guy. I am hesitant to buy AFFC audio with the narrating switch. Has anyone listened to it? I heard the samples availible on Audible, and from that, it doesn't sound like Lee has the ability to do chracterisations like Roy did. What do you all think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Ent Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Lots of Dotrice fans on this board, me included. Lee is different. He simply doesn't do consistent voice characterisations, with very few exceptions. It's not part of his approach. Others, who are annoyed with Dotrice, quite like Lee for that. There are many good audio book readers out there who simply "read the book", instead of "acting" it. No reason to give up on Lee beforehand. That being said, Lee is the narrator I have liked the least among all the audiobooks I have listened to. From my point of view, he simply isn't a very good reader, voice characterisations or not. But do get the recording anyway. It always gives another, fresh, dimension to the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb of Winterfell Posted March 11, 2006 Author Share Posted March 11, 2006 that's a shame.. was there a specific reason why Dotrice didn't continue doing the series? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 I believe it was a timing problem. While he would have liked to do it, he had other firm commitments at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb of Winterfell Posted March 11, 2006 Author Share Posted March 11, 2006 if so that is an even bigger shame.. i know not everyone would agree but I like it much better when a series is completed by the same narrator/cast/etc. while this would serve wonderfully for newcomers to the audio series, it kind of kills my sense of completion. I shall have to just read the book now and imagine roy's voice. ah well. Thanks for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Girl Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 if so that is an even bigger shame.. i know not everyone would agree but I like it much better when a series is completed by the same narrator/cast/etc. while this would serve wonderfully for newcomers to the audio series, it kind of kills my sense of completion. I shall have to just read the book now and imagine roy's voice. ah well. Thanks for the info! I wouldn't give up on Lee in advance if I were you. I'd heard negative things about the AFfC audiobook before buying it, and while I did miss some of Dotrice's voices, I did appreciate what Lee brought to the reading. He has a rather odd mannerism of drawing out and emphasizing unexpected words in a sentence that often makes people sound melodramatic and shifty. However, that happens to work really, really well for Cersei. I also love his Pod rendition...hysterical. That said, if Tyrion had been in this book I'd really have missed his Dotrice voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcv Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 I started listening to AFFC and I must admit that I found it quite jarring to listen to Lee after listening to Dotrice for so long. I had gotten quite used to Dotrice's voice characterizations, so some of Lee's voices just threw me off. He's not terrible, but I much prefer Dotrice and hope he will be back for the next book. I was only able to listen to about 1/4 of the book before deciding I couldn't take it anymore. I'm now reading the book with my eyes instead of my ears. As the previous poster mentioned - I can't imagine a different voice for Tyrion. Dotrice's Tyrion is spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lord Commander's Raven Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 I haven't heard Dotrice's versions, but I am familiar with him as an actor. I think he would be preferable than Lee. What I can't stand about Lee is his pronounciation of certain words or character's names. In particular, I dislike his pronounciation of Brienne as 'Braaynnne'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snuffaluffalee Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 The audible edition of AFFC I think is in two volumes-- or at least when it initally came out. I got the first volume and refuse to get the second. I miss Dotrice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaine Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 I prefer Lee. As much as I loved Dotrice's attempts at making every character more uh, "unique" than the last... I prefer Lee's deep voice. I agree with Ent that he could have read the work better, but at least 40% of Dotrice's voices annoyed me quite a bit and sounded nothing like the character in my head from the book. With Lee reading, I don't have to deal with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roeh61 Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 I preferred Doutrice. Although on a side note, it's a bit akward having a sex scene read to you by a guy (either). The lesbian scenes were especially...odd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E221b Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 I find John Lee far inferior to Roy Dotrice. For one, he doesn't respect Mr. Dotrice's pronounciations of the characters, Circe and Petyr are the two that annoy me the most (Petyr as 'peter' - I don't like it). Also, it's hard for me to follow complex conversations, when all the characters sound so similar. I've decided to read the rest of 'A Feast For Crows' and hope that 'A Dance With Dragons' features the return of Dotrice. For me, Dotrice is the voice of Westeros, and now that his voices are in my head, I can't let them go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaine Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Well, to be fair - Mr. Dotrice didn't respect Mr. Martin's pronounciation of the characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Girl Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Well, to be fair - Mr. Dotrice didn't respect Mr. Martin's pronounciation of the characters. Exactly. I was really surprised that this wasn't something that would have been gone over beforehand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurky Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 Lee sucks... if you want Roy Back sign the petition http://www.petitiononline.com/4Dotrice/petition.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asa Posted April 11, 2006 Share Posted April 11, 2006 I haven't listened to the audio books...but how do they do the female voices? I have trouble imagining a male trying to do Cersei's voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Girl Posted April 12, 2006 Share Posted April 12, 2006 I haven't listened to the audio books...but how do they do the female voices? I have trouble imagining a male trying to do Cersei's voice. Usually just slightly higher than their normal voices: a little more tenderly. It doesn't always work: Dotrice, for instance, reads Cersei that way and it makes her rather personalityless compared to Tyrion/Jaime, who have the accents. Dotrice manages to do a good Arya though, which is quite a stretch when you think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaine Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 Asa - There are basically 2 approaches. And Lee and Dotrice kinda represent both sides of that equation. One approach is to "act" or try to act every voice. That means going all high and squeaky for children, incorporating weird accents for foreigners. This is what Dotrice does and succeeds much of the time. Which is super-impressive, given the sheer amount of characters, accents and age ranges in ASOIAF. The other approach is to read the story in a storyteller voice. The nuance and phrasing can change for each character, but not trying to sound specifically like a child, woman or make each character a unique voice. This is Lee's approach. Think of a voiceover in a movie - more like that. Both have their ups and downs, obviously. IMHO, when approach one fails, it's much more laughable and that can ruin scenes that aren't supposed to be funny. Approach two, however, can never do what approach one does when it works. And that's making you feel like your listening to a talented cast, instead of one very talented reader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingosatemybaby Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 I bought all the audiobooks and was very disappointed when Dotrice was missing from AFFC. Especially since until about 3 weeks after the release, Amazon's image of the CD box set and description of the product still showed "Narrated by Roy Dotrice". I of course complained to them (which Im sure went ignored) but they eventually changed it. I honestly wouldnt have bought it if I'd known up front, but it was too much of a hassle to send back (yep, Im lazy). Anyway I *haaaaaaaaated* Doctrice when, after reading Game of Thrones way back I bought the audiobook. The voices I heard in my head while reading the book didnt match up to what Dotrice was doing, and at first it was hard to take. BUT, by the halfway point of GoT audio, I was hooked. Dotrice has a unique, consistent voice for every character, large or small and as we know thats HUNDREDS of voices. Lee just doesnt. As other posters here pointed out, its hard to tell who is speaking, since GRRM doesnt always use dialogue attribution. With Dotrice, its like you're listening to a one-man audio dramatization. Dotrice rules. Lee chews root. I hope Dotrice is available for the rest of the series. Otherwise I'll probably skip the audiobooks and just read it (blechhh.) Nothing like a good dose of Westeros in the car on my way to work.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Blade Posted May 22, 2006 Share Posted May 22, 2006 Anyone know whether they will re-release the audiobooks on CD? I'm not going to buy them on cassette, and now that AFfC is on CD... I was hoping they might put out the earlier books on CD. -Zen Blade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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