Friday, March 26, 2010

Life

Sitting on the sofa last week (?), knitting-check, snack-check, blanket-check, correct channel-check. I was much anticipating the new Discovery Channel mini-series, Life. I was imagining the greatness I saw during Planet Earth, the rich, melodic voice of Sigourney Weaver describing things more amazing than any special effect.

Oh, the horror and dismay when the opening credits of Life finished and Oprah Winfrey's voice fell over the images that flowed across my screen. Really? Discovery couldn't do better? I'm not knocking Oprah, but she's a talk-show host with a talk-show host voice (and I usually like her show.) However, her voice is not what I would call resonant or rich and melodic. I found it distracting. Ruined the show for me, tried watching in mute, couldn't get Oprah's voice out of my ears, had to turn it off. Damn it. I guess I should have paid more attention to the previews.

I don't know what the critics are saying (don't care) but when you spend that much $$ and that much time on filming images that, while they speak for themselves, need a little voice-over...you pick a voice that doesn't take away from your film. You pick a voice that flows with it.

Imagine Morgan Freeman's (yeah, I know he did March of the Penguins) voice instead.
Lovely, mesmerizing, captivating, adding a subtle dimension to the stunning imagery.

But maybe I'm wrong and everyone loves Oprah's voice-over.



1 comment:

Abbie said...

I haven't seen it yet but Oprah drives me bonkers. I really don't care for her voice either. Hhmm.. might have to watch it, from the beginning, with no sound. Or play some tunes in the background. :) how was your trek across country? Give a call whenever you want to get together!
xoxo~
Abbie