when exactly does the empire become english?

[Siyko]

I don't understand why the empire is suddenly english, can anyone else explain this to me?

[Ruliya]

I believe it started a long time ago, maybe the 20's? maybe the 40's? Sadly, I am no expert, however, the Americans have never forgiven us English (British) for you know... making America what it is... oh and there was the whole George the IVth Tea taxes. So they went to War for independence. Since winning the war, and since Movies have been a massive thing in America, you'll notice a lot of "evil" characters are English (British)

 

Make your own conclusions as you will.

 

To your post, I believe since Grand Moff Tarkin was played by Peter Cushing, a major Imperial. David Prowse was also Darth Vader (not the voice - or lightsabre scenes IIRC)

 

Although Peter Mayhew (who played Chewbacca) was also English.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Ruliya

[TheBentOne]

Everyone in the galactic empire of the original trilogy was english, (dont beleve me? rewatch them). so i imagine that the englishness of the sith empire in swtor is just a homage to the OT.

[Meetstick]

Well, going back to the original films, the Empire's uniforms and the name "stormtrooper" have Nazi German influences, but giving the characters a German accent would have been over the top. Going British gave the analogy with another empire and didn't single out the Germans any more than had already been done.

 

Believe it or not, we are over the whole Stamp Act thing and have moved on. I imagine it's more that Britain actually HAD an empire, so the accent was used. Own your history with pride, Brits. It's certainly worthy of it. Don't push Lucas' use of the comparison off on the "spiteful colonials."

 

[Ruliya]

Well, going back to the original films, the Empire's uniforms and the name "stormtrooper" have Nazi German influences, but giving the characters a German accent would have been over the top. Going British gave the analogy with another empire and didn't single out the Germans any more than had already been done.

 

Believe it or not, we are over the whole Stamp Act thing and have moved on. I imagine it's more that Britain actually HAD an empire, so the accent was used. Own your history with pride, Brits. It's certainly worthy of it. Don't push Lucas' use of the comparison off on the "spiteful colonials."

 

 

You know it's funny, when I mention "yea, we had an empire that spread a quarter of the world." people usually say, "yea well **** off that was like 100 years ago, so it doesn't count" xD

 

I only ever say it jokingly like. But still, it's fun. And Americans, also remember you're English... if not for us, your "country" would have been colonized fully by the French so you know, there's that (again, being totally joking)

 

But do look up Hollywood Villains, a lot of the early ones, even to this day English. Maybe it's not a tradition, I don't know.

 

But to the point, SW was filmed at Pinewood studios in England (when it wans't on location in Tunisia (for Tatooine ) At Pinewood, obviously you had a your fair share of English actors.

 

My favorite of course Was Alec Guinness (who played Ben Kenobi - who hated the dialogue and film so much, he convinced Lucas to kill his character off)

Edited January 11, 2012 by Ruliya

[Wolfninjajedi]

 

My favorite of course Was Alec Guinness (who played Ben Kenobi - who hated the dialogue and film so much, he convinced Lucas to kill his character off)

 

So I guess the guy that played ghost Obi-Wan in EP 5 and 6 was his twin brother? On his profile it said that he was in all 3 movies. Last I checked, if you hate something you usually don't continue to work with it.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Wolfninjajedi

[Vecke]

Everyone in the galactic empire of the original trilogy was english, (dont beleve me? rewatch them). so i imagine that the englishness of the sith empire in swtor is just a homage to the OT.

 

That's actually a common misconception about Star Wars. Some of the officers on the Death Star and star destroyers were British, but most of the Empire actually spoke with an American accent.

 

The officer accompanying Vader on Tantive IV ("holding her is dangerous") was American. Admiral Motti that got choked by Vader was American.

"TK421, why aren't you at your post" was American.

"Who is this? What's your operating number?" - American.

"We have analyzed their attack" - American.

"You rebel scum!" - American

Every single Stormtrooper - American.

 

Some of the more important Imperials were British, but the majority of the Empire - including Vader himself - spoke with an American accent.

[Ruliya]

So I guess the guy that played ghost Obi-Wan in EP 5 and 6 was his twin brother?

 

There's a difference between telling Lucas to kill off his character and pulling out of the series entirely. Remember it's Star Wars we're talking about, where minor roles as a force Ghost don't count as much as an actual living breathing character. (From what I understand, he had little faith int he project - understanding, since the company itself also didn't, which is why Lucas got so much from the merchandising. Hence his fortune to then build on.)

 

As a final thing, I plucked this from a site "Despite popular belief he NEVER uttered the line 'May the force be with you' in ANY of the Star Wars films (the closest he came was 'the force will be with you')."

[Tullianus]

I remember reading once that those 'british' individuals were supposedly speaking with a core worlds/coruscanti accent, which had seemed like a viable explanation then...

 

Now though, it's just a nod at the Original Trilogy

[Terin]

Honestly?

 

It's because, to us silly Americans, British accents just sound cooler.

 

To us, there's just something really intimidating about British accents, as they tend to just sound more intelligent, or at least condescending, which kind of implies more dangerous.

[Ruliya]

Honestly?

 

It's because, to us silly Americans, British accents just sound cooler.

 

To us, there's just something really intimidating about British accents, as they tend to just sound more intelligent, or at least condescending, which kind of implies more dangerous.

 

May I stop you right there please?

 

British Accent? Are you referring to the Scottish (Glaswegian, Edinburgh, Dundee, etc) Welsh, (Cardiff, Carmarthen, etc) or English? Now here we have a lot of variety (Geordie, Scouse, Yorkshire, Manc/Lancashire, Brummie, Bristol, Norwhich (Midlands) to Devenshire, Essex, Cockney(London) and the list can go on and on.

 

So please, could you elaborate, which British Accents sound cooler? (we really would like to know, for when we go to America )

[Guildrum]

Welsh.

[sosolidshoe]

I remember reading once that those 'british' individuals were supposedly speaking with a core worlds/coruscanti accent, which had seemed like a viable explanation then...

 

Now though, it's just a nod at the Original Trilogy

 

The Coruscanti accent is supposed to be Ewan McGregor-style "educated RP with a hint of Scottish", which is I suspect just an excuse for the fact that he can't do a proper English accent

[eisra]

British Accent? Are you referring to the Scottish (Glaswegian, Edinburgh, Dundee, etc) Welsh, (Cardiff, Carmarthen, etc) or English? Now here we have a lot of variety (Geordie, Scouse, Yorkshire, Manc/Lancashire, Brummie, Bristol, Norwhich (Midlands) to Devenshire, Essex, Cockney(London) and the list can go on and on.

 

I swear one of the quest givers on Balmorra was voice acted by Billy Connelly.

[BrigOrion]

I believe it started a long time ago, maybe the 20's? maybe the 40's? Sadly, I am no expert, however, the Americans have never forgiven us English (British) for you know... making America what it is... oh and there was the whole George the IVth Tea taxes. So they went to War for independence. Since winning the war, and since Movies have been a massive thing in America, you'll notice a lot of "evil" characters are English (British)

 

Make your own conclusions as you will.

 

To your post, I believe since Grand Moff Tarkin was played by Peter Cushing, a major Imperial. David Prowse was also Darth Vader (not the voice - or lightsabre scenes IIRC)

 

Although Peter Mayhew (who played Chewbacca) was also English.

 

I had a nice long answer to this, but the interwebz ate it. Suffice it to say, the British are evil, Americans are awesome, we kicked Britain's butt then saved them from the Nazis, and the British accent, when properly enunciated, sounds sufficiently foreign yet easily understood to make the Imperials seem both familiar and yet different, because Star Wars is an American film, like that or not.

[BrigOrion]

May I stop you right there please?

 

British Accent? Are you referring to the Scottish (Glaswegian, Edinburgh, Dundee, etc) Welsh, (Cardiff, Carmarthen, etc) or English? Now here we have a lot of variety (Geordie, Scouse, Yorkshire, Manc/Lancashire, Brummie, Bristol, Norwhich (Midlands) to Devenshire, Essex, Cockney(London) and the list can go on and on.

 

So please, could you elaborate, which British Accents sound cooler? (we really would like to know, for when we go to America )

 

Can you tell me about all the different accents we have in the States? Not everyone speaks with the bland California accent you hear in the movies or on US television shows.

 

By the way, why do all British recording artists sing with a California accent?

Edited January 11, 2012 by BrigOrion

[Vaelmor]

So please, could you elaborate, which British Accents sound cooler? (we really would like to know, for when we go to America )

 

The problem is, most Americans aren't particularly familiar with British accents. While we can usually recognize that a particular accent is British, we have no context with which to identify them. So what you may recognize as a very obvious accent from a specific area, the average American would only be able to tell that it's "British". If I heard two different British accents, I would most likely notice that they were different, but I neither have a way to place them, nor a name to identify them with.

 

tl;dr: I'm pretty sure most Americans aren't familiar enough with the various British accents to answer your question.

[BrigOrion]

Honestly?

 

It's because, to us silly Americans, British accents just sound cooler.

 

To us, there's just something really intimidating about British accents, as they tend to just sound more intelligent, or at least condescending, which kind of implies more dangerous.

 

I've never found the British accent to be cool. Now, the Australian accent is downright sexy.

[_Miranda_]

May I stop you right there please?

 

British Accent? Are you referring to the Scottish (Glaswegian, Edinburgh, Dundee, etc) Welsh, (Cardiff, Carmarthen, etc) or English? Now here we have a lot of variety (Geordie, Scouse, Yorkshire, Manc/Lancashire, Brummie, Bristol, Norwhich (Midlands) to Devenshire, Essex, Cockney(London) and the list can go on and on.

 

So please, could you elaborate, which British Accents sound cooler? (we really would like to know, for when we go to America )

 

The Moff you speak to on The Esseles would be a good example.

[Vereg]

The upper class "Officer" imperials tend to have accents from the south (some are pure kensington), and as such are immediately identified as pure evil.

 

I've noticed a bizarre pattern that sometimes borders on spoiler territory in game, where a republic character with a british accent is almost 100% guaranteed to be a traitor, and a imperial with an american accent will undoubtedly defect...

 

Hoth has an interesting "Middle ground" imperial character who has a british accent, oddly reminiscent of my home city of York, not "Emmerdale Farm", but not quite Hyacinth Bucket.

He also represents this mix of "Imperial but not actually evil". I'm fine with this.

[Rikalonius]

I don't understand why the empire is suddenly english, can anyone else explain this to me?

 

Because all the actors in Star Wars were English, and because it provides a decent audible que. When I watch Rome, do I complain, when did the Romans become English, no, I realize that used a lot of English actors as Romans to have the audible continuity. Same here.

[Rikalonius]

Can you tell me about all the different accents we have in the States? Not everyone speaks with the bland California accent you hear in the movies or on US television shows.

 

By the way, why do all British recording artists sing with a California accent?

 

When I was in the Military, and someone would ask where I was from. I woud say, California. This meant to the rest of the country that I was from Malibu, or "the valley". When really I was from the Northern California mountains and didn't speak like a surfer.

[XxZkoolxX]

I think I speak for all American when I say we don't think about Brits in a bad capacity in anyway. As a matter of fact we are the ones who saved you in WW2. Aren't you our closest ally. This made up animosity is hilarious. We aren't all of British decent ( though I am Scottish) it's Called a melting pot for a reason. Cheer up. Edited January 11, 2012 by XxZkoolxX

[haluo]

I believe it started a long time ago, maybe the 20's? maybe the 40's? Sadly, I am no expert, however, the Americans have never forgiven us English (British) for you know... making America what it is... oh and there was the whole George the IVth Tea taxes. So they went to War for independence. Since winning the war, and since Movies have been a massive thing in America, you'll notice a lot of "evil" characters are English (British)

 

Make your own conclusions as you will.

 

To your post, I believe since Grand Moff Tarkin was played by Peter Cushing, a major Imperial. David Prowse was also Darth Vader (not the voice - or lightsabre scenes IIRC)

 

Although Peter Mayhew (who played Chewbacca) was also English.

 

still mad that we beat you guys huh?

[Kitsunami]

Simple really:

 

Agent storyline - james bond storyline - needed english accents.

 

British stereotypical accent = Often used for the evil guys in games and movies.

 

The 'british' empire is often used as the evil doer in american videogames. Its sort of a funny cliche thing they have going on that a lot of british people find amusing. Its like the presumption we all drink tea

 

Yes, its the sith empire...but everyones british, and i, being british, find this utterly hilarious and so very awesome.

 

Plus as has already been said, the imperials in the movies were all voiced by british people, or at the least, sounded british.

 

Its all in all, a bit of fun and nothing to get upset about.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Kitsunami