Voices which still hold up today

OldSchoolerSimpsons

Who gives a hoot
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It's rare that a character's voice still sounds really strong when a show has been going for 33 years (35 if you include the shorts), but there are definitely still exceptions.

Abe Simpson is my number 1 pick every time. I've watched random snippets from the newest seasons, and ironically despite being a bumbling grandpa he hasn't aged a day! Dan Castellaneta voices him so effortlessly even Homer doesn't seem as consistent by comparison. Though I'd place him among the better-lasting voices too.

Skinner and Principal Lovejoy sound pretty good as well, probably because they are some of the easier characters for Harry Shearer to play.

Sideshow Bob, despite how badly they've treated this character for a long time has that cool edge to his voice that is both chilling and pleasing to the ears at the same time.

And Maggie... well, she's Maggie. That effects team making the pacifier sound is still going strong!
 
Lenny has started slipping the last few years in my opinion. But he held up longer than a lot of Shearer's other characters.

It's strange I forgot to mention Krusty. I guess Kent Brockman holds up as well.

Carl and Dr. Hibbert still sounded really good before... you know :/
 
Yeardley Smith's voicing of Lisa still holds up well, her voice has changed little over the years, especially since the end of the classic era. I find Lisa's voice almost indistinguishable between the Scully/Early Jean era and today.

I think what helps is Lisa's voice is similar to Yeardley's real voice so she doesn't have to try as hard to make it work. But yeah, she's had the most consistent voice.
 
I'm pretty sure Nancy Cartwright makes the pacifier sound for Maggie, it is not a sound effect
 
Principal Lovejoy
I think your typo could make for quite an interesting episode plot :D

I would say Hank Azaria's background characters all sound really good to me.
I've really enjoyed Homer's current VA; even if he can't hit all the high notes he did before, the comedic timing is consistently excellent and gets a giggle out of me so I'd say it holds up very well in its own right.
 
I would say Hank Azaria's background characters all sound really good to me.
I've really enjoyed Homer's current VA; even if he can't hit all the high notes he did before, the comedic timing is consistently excellent and gets a giggle out of me so I'd say it holds up very well in its own right.
homer sounds spot on if he's talking quietly or something, but whenever he's shouting or talking loudly he sounds horrible

an example is the newest episode, the opening scene he didnt really sound all that good. but in the scene where he drives near lisa to warn her about the sabotage and is like whispering, he sounds spot on ''dont worry sweety, i'm gonna get you out of this mess''
 
A correction to my opening post: I found out a while ago the pacifier sounds actually come from Nancy Cartwright herself. What a talent.
And for an update, Skinner and Brockman sound tired as hell now and Homer has been slipping a lot lately
 
At this point I'd say ALL the reccuring voices sound noticably aged. And sure it's like "well duh, people age" but there were definitely voices that sounded pretty much identical from the time they were set in stone during the golden age to at some point during the 2010's.

What differs more between voice actors than regarding whether their voices have aged is regarding how good a performance they still give. Shearer and Kavner sound really un-engaged a lot of the time, while Castellanetta still seem to always be giving the best performance he possibly can. Most others voice actors rank somewhere in between.
 
What differs more between voice actors than regarding whether their voices have aged is regarding how good a performance they still give. Shearer and Kavner sound really un-engaged a lot of the time, while Castellanetta still seem to always be giving the best performance he possibly can. Most others voice actors rank somewhere in between.

For a lot of them, I think their performances depend on the script and voice direction, with some clearly being more invested some times than others and putting more effort into it, such as Julie Kavner (whom, as I've argued, can do great with a good competent showrunner, which Carolyn Omine has proven with 'Mid-Childhood Night's Dream', one of the standout modern episodes of the series. In fact, I think that Kavner is generally overcriticized with most focusing on her lesser performances & her good/great ones tend to be overlooked by many).

But still, most of them have all had their moments where their age has been affecting the voice performances. I think Shearer struggles the most, with his age having caught up to his performance, which makes someone like Mr. Burns sound kinda wonky these days.
 
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For a lot of them, I think their performances depend on the script and voice direction, with some clearly being more invested some times than others and putting more effort into it, such as Julie Kavner (whom, as I've argued, can do great with a good competent showrunner, which Carolyn Omine has proven with 'Mid-Childhood Night's Dream', one of the standout modern episodes of the series. In fact, I think that Kavner is generally overcriticized with most focusing on her lesser performances & her good/great ones tend to be overlooked by many).
Not sure if that's true. If you look at the reactions to the clip from that episode that went viral on twitter, half of them is still crapping on her voice

 
Well, they focus on the voice itself. It's the performance that remains overlooked. And Kavner can give really solid ones (there's also Bartless, Iron Marge, The Pookadook...). Just like she can give lackluster ones (McMansion and Wife, Ae Bonny Romance) that make her voice even more stick out like a sore thumb, but I can't say she's generally un-engaged. Shearer sounds even more tired besides the occasionnal solid performance (The Very Hungry Caterpillars).
 
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Not sure if that's true. If you look at the reactions to the clip from that episode that went viral on twitter, half of them is still crapping on her voice


Well, first off, I'll direct you to what @Wile E. the Brain said directly above this.

Many of the haters do seem focus on the voice itself and more or less ignore the performances. Julie can absolutely still do really well, if not great on occasions, but she also fails at doing well every now and then and those latter ones really tend to stand out negatively and viewers seem to latch onto those moments and paint her entire performance on an episode to episode basis with broad negative strokes, mocking it with kind of an "OMG Marge's voice is so horrid nowadays! Kavner is phoning it in and collecting those paychecks!" attitude , focusing on the overall quality of her voice now vs. then & act as if there's nothing about her performances themselves that is worthy of praise (also, to be honest, them sh*tting on Kavner's performance in 'Mid-Childhood' is mildly infuriating and almost makes me wanna clench my fist).

But yeah, as the above post argues, it often feels like she at least tries even if her engagement can sound like it falters (but there's been those episodes where she doesn't put as much effort into it). As already has been said, Shearer sounds more tired on a more consistent basis, but yes, he has done really well every now and then (he usually does well with Ned & 'Caterpillar's is no doubt a standout).
 
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The voice is integral to the performance though. If the character sounds too unrecognizable it's considerably more difficult for me to appreciate the actor trying to show off their range. Granted I haven't seen the episode itself, but even outside of the voice the line "This is silly. I don't need symbolism." is delivered in a noticeably flat way. Not being able to perform the voice as smoothly does hinder the acting to at least an extent. It's the same as how Mr. Burns sounding frail in every modern appearance makes Shearer give a less lively performance.

Rather than clenching fists or call the opinions about the voice unfair, it's better to accept that most fans' might not share the same perspective as on this forum.
 
Rather than clenching fists or call the opinions about the voice unfair, it's better to accept that most fans' might not share the same perspective as on this forum.
We sure can (and should) ! But we can debate as well, as long as it doesn't turn into an opinion war. Both are compatible, aren't they ? :)
 
Rather than clenching fists or call the opinions about the voice unfair, it's better to accept that most fans' might not share the same perspective as on this forum.
I do agree with that sentiment, but I think one thing to bear in mind when we're talking about somewhere like Twitter rather than a dedicated Simpsons community like this one or any other out there is that you're much more likely to get comments from people who aren't fans of the show and straight up trolls who happened across the tweet. We can't assume all messages are from sincere fans (or even lapsed fans) on an open, anything goes social media like we can here.
 
We sure can (and should) ! But we can debate as well, as long as it doesn't turn into an opinion war. Both are compatible, aren't they ? :)

Yeah, this is a good assessment.

But anyhow, there will be dissenting opinions and those are all right of course. Some, such as @OldSchoolerSimpsons, will absolutely think the voice and performance are both as integral as the other, and that is a fair point; if the voice is too unrecognizeable, it will be a bother to a lot of people, but in Kavner's case I would argue that she is still recognizeable, at least in her good to great modern performances. I'm not arguing we should "clench fists or call opinions about the voice unfair", especially as there's can be reasons for criticism & I'm all for accepting opinions (btw, the fist-clenching bit was meant as a joke), but things can be taken too far and there can easily be a lot of vitriolic debates and at worst some comments/forum war, yeah (so it is important to be civil and respectful).

Which brings me to what @I Love Lisa just pointed out above, with most comment section on social media, YouTube, Reddit and many more aren't like us where we tend to debate, discuss and explain our stances, but are more populated by a lot of very opinionated people like trolls and toxic fans who throw out snide, more or less surface level comments and bashing without elaborating anything (and, as I've said, tend to paint a lot of things with the same brush, for instance Kavner's performance overall in the modern seasons, which isn't always bad but according to a lot of of these commenters, it is pretty always terrible, overlooking those times when it does work and only seeing the bad. And I think it would be fair to factor in her age having shifted the delivery a bit, just like with Shearer).

That latter paragraph was more what I was thinking of: Criticism is a good and natural thing when due (and there's legit reasons to criticise vocal performances when they don't measure up and come across as low-effort, lazy or phoned in), but don't go behave like some toxic jackass or troll crapping on and bashing supposedly bad vocal performances left and right.
 
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