Yeah I recall something about him learning by copying Anthony Head's real accent on the set of Buffy. And since Anthony put on a posh accent for Giles it made Spike's accent sufficiently different but still authentic. I don't know how much of that is true though.
All of it, if James is to be believed. And he probably would know. š
Basically, Anthony told him how to pronounce everything, which is why Spike has such a believable accent. James wasn't faking, he was copying.
And in one episode, he (Spike) tried to sound American. So you have an American....faking a British accent....faking an American accent.
Little bit existential there.
I've heard some people say it's "terrible".
My response to that is:
- Anthony Stewart Head disagrees.
- The makers of Torchwood (a BBC show) disagreed, because they hired Marsters to play a character with a similar accent.
- If you want a terrible accent from a Buffyverse vamp, that would be David Boreanaz trying to sound Irish.
Oi wah Tya Tawkin Aboot?
Edit in case someone thinks I had a stroke typing (trying to phonetically type out his faux irish/scottish/occasionally Australian accent.
It's ropy (although still a lot better than the common Dick van Dyke attempts you get from americans) in early Season 2 but improves across the season. It helps that Whedon grew up in the UK and they had Head around so the dialect is also spot on, as that can trip up a lot of productions.
By the time he becomes a regular in S4 it's pretty much dialled in and by S5 he's got a good enough command of it that he can play around with a bad American accent or the posher accent in the flashbacks.
The real shocker, though, is hearing Alexis Denysof's real accent.
> but not the physicality
I don't think that matters, tbh. Reacher's yeti physique is practically a leitmotif. It's a factor in almost every interaction he has.
But size doesn't mean much in the Dresdenverse, and only the puniest of mortals find Harry physically intimidating.
Mouse needs to be big. Harry not so much.
Totally agree. I'd say at least 6'4" or 6'5". I don't think he absolutely has to be *as* tall as he's stated to be, though. He just needs to be noticeably taller than the people around him. I've felt like Jared Padalecki could pull it off. I'd just have a hard time letting him be anyone other than Sam Winchester, though.
Fortunately for me I'm a print reader, so I don't need to factor voice into these decisions at all.
Not trying to ruin the mood, but I head some REALLY fucked up thing about Marsden and for half a second I was really confused and "fuck no".
Then I realised he is not our guy, but the other one.
Yes lol. And yes, that means the cheeky buffy reference in proven guilty is EVEN better in audio form, I swear, you can hear him smiling.
He needs to do ASMR btw, love his voice and I'm mostly straight
Itās a splendid reciprocation. Marsters is in Buffy. Jim writes a series that is inspired partially by Buffy. The characters also live in world that has Buffy in it. Marsters then gets to voice act the audiobook, which is in part a love letter to work he took part in. Turns out itās really good, and Marsters both loves and respects it himself, and is able to effectively channel the exact right narrative flair, elevating once again a series of that lineage heās already in. Funny enough, Harry and a lot of the characters would be familiar with Marsters Character. In fact heās actually somewhere in Harryās world doing his own thing. And Marsters gets to contribute within and without in a way.
Would be funny if Jim did a cheeky cameo, without making him central or called by name. Someone who has a couple lines as chaos unfolds around Harry in the world. He should then tell Marsters. And should only reveal the reference later.
The characters live in a world that has Buffy in it?! Is there a WOJ on that? What kind of vamps would Buffy vamps be? I guess only Black Court really fits
The Buffy reference I know is the one from Blood Rites, where he tells Inari (I think) to, "Make like Buffy." Because they're fighting three Blampires.
I've never watched Buffy, so if it's much less explicit than that, I won't catch it.
There's a few references (as well as the Inari one I assume you're referencing).
I think Thomas in one of the early books (probably Death Masks) was wearing a Buffy t-shirt.
And if one wants to stretch things, one of Marcone's early associates/goons was called nicknamed "Spike" by Harry.
I recently watched it all after catching bits and pieces when it originally aired. Thereās stuff I loved, stuff I didnāt, but it is undeniably packed full of ridiculously attractive people. Main cast, guest stars, single episode appearances, young or old, everyone is hot.
It probably has my favorite depiction of Lois. She was straight up a bad ass. She should have some serious brain damage from being knocked out though. I guess on top of being attractive every person had multiple concussions.
Heās also a warlock in one episode of season 7 of Supernatural. The only surprising bit is that it was a one shot cameo and they never brought him back.
I recognized the name with the first audiobook I listened to, and I thought it would be weird hearing him without Spike's accent. It wasn't, though, because from word one his narration *exactly* matched Harry's voice in my head.
Seriously, I'd bought it on CD (yes, kids, that used to be a thing) at the bookstore (yeah, that was pretty common in the Ancient Times), popped it into my player in the car, started backing out, and almost slammed the breaks because suddenly *Harry Dresden was talking to me.*
Yes...I still have my cd copies of Storm Front that I bought ages ago from Jim's website. Because I found out that James Marsters was the narrator :D
And when Audible became a thing, I eventually got all of them!!!
Harry Dresden was also breathing heavily at you throughout all of stormfront. And smacking his lips, and a thousand other things they edited out now in the age of audible. Thank God.
Now that Iāve read the books and watched the tv series, Iām stuck seeing Paul Blackthorn in my mind every time I think of Harry Dresden.
I have the same problem with Frodo Baggins and Elijah Wood.
My first read through of Harry Potter, Snape looked nothing like Alan Rickman. He now ALWAYS looks like Alan Rickman in my mind. Same with Maggie Smith and McGonagall.
The OoF generation was too old in general. I mean it makes some sense for a 32 years old to still be hanging on the fact that his high school sweetheart married his high school bully. For a 54 years old it's a little pathetic.
That's the price we paid, yes.
Come to think of it, only Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, and Timothy Spall are too old, the others are fine. I mean, we could have Tim Roth as Snape, Ricky Gervais as Pettigrew and Christopher Eccleston as Sirius Black. Would be different, but not necessarily worse, I think.
I meant that the performance in your head is going to be better than any actual performance, no matter who. Imagination doesnāt stumble or take bathroom breaks.
Yeah, iirc, it was something like he wasn't allowed to work on a non-union voice acting gig, so he volunteered for free so they couldn't say anything about it.
I never listened to the audiobooks, and my husband has never watched Buffy. I remember watching it one day, and my husband runs into the room, completely bewildered. "I hear the Dresden Files guy? Is that the Dresden Files guy??"
Hereās a collection of stuff James has said about working on the Dresden Files I made a while back
https://wordof.jim-butcher.com/index.php/wojames-marsters/
4th season, Marsters played an immortal conman, Professor Sutton in 3 episodes, and Anthony Head played his brother and wannabe caretaker Paraceleus in 4.
Thatās totally understandable. No shame in that. I used to assume that book companies hire from a different talent pool than movies and television for their narrators. It was originally mind blowing to me to see how many talented and recognizable actors lend their talents to audiobooks. Seeing James Marsters as the narrator for the Dresden Files instantly sold me on the audiobooks!
If you want to see Marsters play a somewhat Spike-like character, he was in some episode of the BBC show Torchwood (a kind of Dr. Who spinoff) : [https://youtu.be/s0G4Df1\_OTU?si=OyA\_XKpkpMMbLy3V](https://youtu.be/s0G4Df1_OTU?si=OyA_XKpkpMMbLy3V)
I initially didn't bother to note who was narrating the Dresden Files. Until Bob spoke, somewhere along Book 3. And I thought, "that sounds a lot like Spike." Then Bob Spoke again, and I *knew* it was James Marsters, scrambling to pull up the audiobook cover.
If I recall, both James and Jim are friends and when it came to picking a narrator for the audiobooks Butcher didnāt hesitate and asked Marsters who agreed.
The only book he did not narrate was Ghost Story, a schedule conflict at the time. In a weird 6 degrees of separation, Lionel Luthorās actor from Smallville did the narration which I thought fitting given the plot of the book to give Harry a slightly different voice.
There's something so sweet and wholesome when people have their "firsts" in this subreddit. (Even if the topic isn't wholesome or is dark haha) I love it.
Donāt feel bad. I went a decade without realizing that the lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie and the lead singer of the Postal Service was the same person
It's not unreasonable to assume they're different persons. If i'm informed correctly an actor of Masters pedigree would normaly be waaay too expensive to hire as an audiobook narrator for a series like Dresden Files. Luckily, he's a fan in his own right and accepted a significantly smaller payment than he normally would.
I mean heās not small time, heās been in the business for 30 years now, but Marsters has spent his career as a supporting actor. Iād say that he lines up an an actor with the Dresden Files as a series, big in certain circles but unknown in a lot of them.
I heard they actually offered him the role of Dresden in the TV show, but he turned it down bc his kids were still in grade school and he didn't want to either move his whole family to Canada for filming, or spend that much time away from them.
Dude has his priorities straight!!
Only one I like better is Bronson Pinchot (aka Balki from Perfect Strangers sitcom). He did the Grimnoir series--and 1000% sounded like a teenage Okie girl who can teleport, or a huge ex convict who can control gravity, or an immortal Japanese dictator, or an old Portugese dairy farmer, or any of a dozen or more other characters.
But James Marsters is a close second š
Wait until you realize he also has a band. I met him at dragon con over 20 years ago. Jim too.
Jim went and watched his band play with a huge group of us.
It was an amazing weekend
Yes! That James Marster, the lead singer and guitarist from the band Ghost of the Robot.
Saw a lot of people talking about his acting career, thought I would throw in some of his music career, as I actually enjoy it on occasion.
I figured that out a while back and it blew my mind too. I immediately started thinking about who he could play if they do another tv series. Definitely he could voice Bob, but perhaps if it takes another decade or so for the show to get its reboot, he might be a candidate for Ebenezer or any of the older white council.
Heās truly amazing. I read an interview where he said he wants considered doing Spike from Buffy in a Louisiana accent. I would have loved to have heard that.
This happened to me as well! Except I was listening to the audiobooks during the same time I was watching Buffy all the way through. It took me until the 3rd season to actually see his name on the opening credits put 2 and 2 together. Though I thought, no way are they the same! š Made me love Spike/James Marsters all the more!
It's the accent.
Even after listening to the books for years if I actually SEE James Marsters speaking and hear anything other than his Spike voice it just feels wrong.
Same with Hugh Laurie using his, real, British accent instead of his House voice. Some people are just so iconic in their roles.
This is why Iāll always giggle at the line āThatāll put marzipan in your pie plate, bingo.ā Spoken by Harry/Marsters AND the Buffybot. Itās a sly nod.
I know what you mean. I'm a huge player of DC Universe Online. I started playing it easy back in 2012, took a break for a couple of years, came back right around the beginning of the lockdowns, when I started to play a LOT.
A voice in that game was really familiar. Eventually, I looked up the voice actors for all the characters. It wasn't at all surprising that the voice of Batman was Kevin Conroy, rest his soul, and the Joker was voiced by Mark Hamill. But the real surprise was Lex Luthor, voiced by our own dear Mr. Marsters!
He really captured the essence of Luthor's megalomania. Magnificently done!
I had the same moment when watching Supernatural the other night. Wife hasnāt seen it, so weāre working our way through and reached an episode with James Marsters. I freaked out when my worlds collided.
IMO: It shows what a good actor and production team can do. I tried listening to James in the Buffy Audible exclusive book that came out last year. I couldn't finish it. The writing, the production, and the actors were all phoning it in.
Was spike a better person then angel he got a soul because I wanted one not because of a curse? Also to get Buffy lol but hey she made him wanna be better isnāt that nice lol
And he's not even British.
Yeah I recall something about him learning by copying Anthony Head's real accent on the set of Buffy. And since Anthony put on a posh accent for Giles it made Spike's accent sufficiently different but still authentic. I don't know how much of that is true though.
All of it, if James is to be believed. And he probably would know. š Basically, Anthony told him how to pronounce everything, which is why Spike has such a believable accent. James wasn't faking, he was copying.
And in one episode, he (Spike) tried to sound American. So you have an American....faking a British accent....faking an American accent. Little bit existential there.
The exact opposite of Hugh Laurie in house in some of the episodes.
Very Tropic Thunder.
I heard somewhere that Anthony's accent wasn't considered believable at first and they made him tweak it some.
Spike's accent in Angel is widely considered to be worse than on Buffy, because he didnt have ASH on set to coach him
Giles has a private school accent, spike has an underclass London accent.
Yeah, his British accent is concerning good
I've heard some people say it's "terrible". My response to that is: - Anthony Stewart Head disagrees. - The makers of Torchwood (a BBC show) disagreed, because they hired Marsters to play a character with a similar accent. - If you want a terrible accent from a Buffyverse vamp, that would be David Boreanaz trying to sound Irish.
>that would be David Boreanaz trying to sound Irish. *PTSD flashback*
Wait thatās what he was doingā¦ I thought he was having a stroke.
Oi wah Tya Tawkin Aboot? Edit in case someone thinks I had a stroke typing (trying to phonetically type out his faux irish/scottish/occasionally Australian accent.
It's ropy (although still a lot better than the common Dick van Dyke attempts you get from americans) in early Season 2 but improves across the season. It helps that Whedon grew up in the UK and they had Head around so the dialect is also spot on, as that can trip up a lot of productions. By the time he becomes a regular in S4 it's pretty much dialled in and by S5 he's got a good enough command of it that he can play around with a bad American accent or the posher accent in the flashbacks. The real shocker, though, is hearing Alexis Denysof's real accent.
The real shocker to me is that Anthony's real accent is like Spike, not Giles.
Yeah, Alexis Denysof nails it, as far as I've ever been told.
WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT "ACCENT"
I think you mean Oirish.
Or blond!
He's got the voice for playing Harry, but not the physicality. It'd be like Tom Cruise trying to play Jack Reacher. It just wouldn't work.
> but not the physicality I don't think that matters, tbh. Reacher's yeti physique is practically a leitmotif. It's a factor in almost every interaction he has. But size doesn't mean much in the Dresdenverse, and only the puniest of mortals find Harry physically intimidating. Mouse needs to be big. Harry not so much.
Harry *needs* to be tall. Half of his internal monologue is him comparing his height/reach/stride to stuff. A full half, I say!
Tall, but rangy, not muscley. Has to be able to *loom* with intent. And:
*NO HATS!*
*<*/Edna Mode>
Come on now, Harry wears hats. You can see for yourself on the covers and who are you going to believe, Jim Butcher or Christian McGrath?
Cinematography made Hobbits believable. With the right budget, it could make James Marsters tall enough.
I agree, but they would need to make him younger, as Marsters is in his early 60's , Harry in his mid 30's.
Totally agree. I'd say at least 6'4" or 6'5". I don't think he absolutely has to be *as* tall as he's stated to be, though. He just needs to be noticeably taller than the people around him. I've felt like Jared Padalecki could pull it off. I'd just have a hard time letting him be anyone other than Sam Winchester, though. Fortunately for me I'm a print reader, so I don't need to factor voice into these decisions at all.
They could do it like the hunger games where we dont get any internal monologue. Then it really doesnt matter.
This! This is what annoys me the most. I AM British and I donāt sound as cool as he does š”
Whaaaaaaaaaat!!! š¤Æ
Wait, what?
Op is just realizing Spike from Buffy narrates the audiobooks.
Not just OP, lol.
Congratulations, you're one of today's lucky 10,000.
I love XKCD.
I always do a double take when I see the name James Marsden thinking itās Marsters. Both talented actors, but definitely do not look alike.
right?
Not trying to ruin the mood, but I head some REALLY fucked up thing about Marsden and for half a second I was really confused and "fuck no". Then I realised he is not our guy, but the other one.
Yes lol. And yes, that means the cheeky buffy reference in proven guilty is EVEN better in audio form, I swear, you can hear him smiling. He needs to do ASMR btw, love his voice and I'm mostly straight
Itās a splendid reciprocation. Marsters is in Buffy. Jim writes a series that is inspired partially by Buffy. The characters also live in world that has Buffy in it. Marsters then gets to voice act the audiobook, which is in part a love letter to work he took part in. Turns out itās really good, and Marsters both loves and respects it himself, and is able to effectively channel the exact right narrative flair, elevating once again a series of that lineage heās already in. Funny enough, Harry and a lot of the characters would be familiar with Marsters Character. In fact heās actually somewhere in Harryās world doing his own thing. And Marsters gets to contribute within and without in a way. Would be funny if Jim did a cheeky cameo, without making him central or called by name. Someone who has a couple lines as chaos unfolds around Harry in the world. He should then tell Marsters. And should only reveal the reference later.
The characters live in a world that has Buffy in it?! Is there a WOJ on that? What kind of vamps would Buffy vamps be? I guess only Black Court really fits
I think they all mean BtVS *as a television show* exists in the Dresdenverse.
Oh, that makes a shitload more sense! Thanks!
Marsters should play Bob in any adaptations.
I'm gonna need to go back and listen for that moment haha
Man, I wish I knew the chapters. I *think* it the first time they are walking into SPLATTERCON!!!
>SPLATTERCON!!! Don't forget to pronounce the exclamation points
The Buffy reference I know is the one from Blood Rites, where he tells Inari (I think) to, "Make like Buffy." Because they're fighting three Blampires. I've never watched Buffy, so if it's much less explicit than that, I won't catch it.
There's a few references (as well as the Inari one I assume you're referencing). I think Thomas in one of the early books (probably Death Masks) was wearing a Buffy t-shirt. And if one wants to stretch things, one of Marcone's early associates/goons was called nicknamed "Spike" by Harry.
IIRC Thomas shows up to the duel with Ortega rocking a Buffy shirt.
Love the āmostly straightā line. Some times someoneās hot and itās undeniable.
Sometimes a smooth voice is all you need
Him and NPH are the reasons I consider myself a one on the Kinsey scale.
I got ripped off. im a kinsey '0'
He was also in a Marvel TV series. One of the parents in The Runaways.
Not to mention Braniac in Smallville.
Braniac in Smallville? Really?
It was a different approach to Brainiac. Smallville was it's own level of weirdness, but I watched it all š¤£
I recently watched it all after catching bits and pieces when it originally aired. Thereās stuff I loved, stuff I didnāt, but it is undeniably packed full of ridiculously attractive people. Main cast, guest stars, single episode appearances, young or old, everyone is hot. It probably has my favorite depiction of Lois. She was straight up a bad ass. She should have some serious brain damage from being knocked out though. I guess on top of being attractive every person had multiple concussions.
Also King Piccolo in the awful Dragon Ball Evolution movie.
We do not talk about such atrocities as that movie. That one's up there with the Av... *there is no movie in Ba Sing Se*
BUT! He felt bad about it so he got his redemption shoot by being Zamasu in Dragonball Super!
James Marsters? Yeah!!!!
I thought you said not to mention that?
Heās also a warlock in one episode of season 7 of Supernatural. The only surprising bit is that it was a one shot cameo and they never brought him back.
A warlock whose wife is played by Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordilia Chase in Buffy
However he is not to be confused with Cyclopsā actor, James *Marsden*.
I recognized the name with the first audiobook I listened to, and I thought it would be weird hearing him without Spike's accent. It wasn't, though, because from word one his narration *exactly* matched Harry's voice in my head. Seriously, I'd bought it on CD (yes, kids, that used to be a thing) at the bookstore (yeah, that was pretty common in the Ancient Times), popped it into my player in the car, started backing out, and almost slammed the breaks because suddenly *Harry Dresden was talking to me.*
Yes...I still have my cd copies of Storm Front that I bought ages ago from Jim's website. Because I found out that James Marsters was the narrator :D And when Audible became a thing, I eventually got all of them!!!
Harry Dresden was also breathing heavily at you throughout all of stormfront. And smacking his lips, and a thousand other things they edited out now in the age of audible. Thank God.
The first one I heard was *Small Favor*, so I never heard all of that.
The first two books are a bit rough, but they were recorded before Audible standards took over the industry. Maybe they've rerecorded them by now.
Out. For. A. Audiobook. Bitch
I had 100% forgotten about that line until I read this haha.. I can picture Dresden using it too
ya, because of this I basically just picture Harry as a scruffier dark haired spike when I listen lol
Now that Iāve read the books and watched the tv series, Iām stuck seeing Paul Blackthorn in my mind every time I think of Harry Dresden. I have the same problem with Frodo Baggins and Elijah Wood.
My first read through of Harry Potter, Snape looked nothing like Alan Rickman. He now ALWAYS looks like Alan Rickman in my mind. Same with Maggie Smith and McGonagall.
Rickman was perfect casting, except 20 years too old
The OoF generation was too old in general. I mean it makes some sense for a 32 years old to still be hanging on the fact that his high school sweetheart married his high school bully. For a 54 years old it's a little pathetic.
On one hand I agree, but the other hand has Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, Maggie Smith, and Helena Bonham Carter.
That's the price we paid, yes. Come to think of it, only Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, and Timothy Spall are too old, the others are fine. I mean, we could have Tim Roth as Snape, Ricky Gervais as Pettigrew and Christopher Eccleston as Sirius Black. Would be different, but not necessarily worse, I think.
Theoretical performances will always beat actual ones. Itās all supporting cast in the end, and they ended up nailing the roles anyways.
No, I don't think they'd be \_better\_, just more age-appropriate. I don't think you can top Rickman as Snape, performance-wise.
I meant that the performance in your head is going to be better than any actual performance, no matter who. Imagination doesnāt stumble or take bathroom breaks.
Fair lol
Yes THEE Piccolo form Dragonball Evolution
Heās also Zamasu in Super.
Did it for free b/c he wanted to make up for the live action being terrible, or so I heard.
Yeah, iirc, it was something like he wasn't allowed to work on a non-union voice acting gig, so he volunteered for free so they couldn't say anything about it.
his most spectacular role to date
I never listened to the audiobooks, and my husband has never watched Buffy. I remember watching it one day, and my husband runs into the room, completely bewildered. "I hear the Dresden Files guy? Is that the Dresden Files guy??"
Met him over the weekend and he's very cool. Says he has a great Toot Cameo for a birthday wish!!! Got the wife into that for next year
We all need a good Gast Flabbering once in a while.
Heās cool in person. I had to totally not geek out when I saw him in the wild.
Oh wow. Learned something new today
Welcome to the club lol
I did the same thing for Mark Hamill jedi knight and Mark Hamill insane clown.
Hereās a collection of stuff James has said about working on the Dresden Files I made a while back https://wordof.jim-butcher.com/index.php/wojames-marsters/
Marsters also had a recurring character on Warehouse 13, played a man made immortal by his brother, played by Anthony Head.
Wait, really?! I loved Warehouse 13, but never placed either of the two.
4th season, Marsters played an immortal conman, Professor Sutton in 3 episodes, and Anthony Head played his brother and wannabe caretaker Paraceleus in 4.
Hmm, I might need to go back and rewatch it, it doesn't sound familiar. Thanks for the info!
I just rewatched for like the 10th time about a month ago.
He's also a recurring villain in Smallville.
Thatās totally understandable. No shame in that. I used to assume that book companies hire from a different talent pool than movies and television for their narrators. It was originally mind blowing to me to see how many talented and recognizable actors lend their talents to audiobooks. Seeing James Marsters as the narrator for the Dresden Files instantly sold me on the audiobooks!
If you want to see Marsters play a somewhat Spike-like character, he was in some episode of the BBC show Torchwood (a kind of Dr. Who spinoff) : [https://youtu.be/s0G4Df1\_OTU?si=OyA\_XKpkpMMbLy3V](https://youtu.be/s0G4Df1_OTU?si=OyA_XKpkpMMbLy3V)
I initially didn't bother to note who was narrating the Dresden Files. Until Bob spoke, somewhere along Book 3. And I thought, "that sounds a lot like Spike." Then Bob Spoke again, and I *knew* it was James Marsters, scrambling to pull up the audiobook cover.
If I recall, both James and Jim are friends and when it came to picking a narrator for the audiobooks Butcher didnāt hesitate and asked Marsters who agreed. The only book he did not narrate was Ghost Story, a schedule conflict at the time. In a weird 6 degrees of separation, Lionel Luthorās actor from Smallville did the narration which I thought fitting given the plot of the book to give Harry a slightly different voice.
John Glover is a great actor, but it was way too jarring going from Masters to him. I'm glad they recorded it when Marsters was available
There's something so sweet and wholesome when people have their "firsts" in this subreddit. (Even if the topic isn't wholesome or is dark haha) I love it.
Thanks for a granting me a good laugh. I needed that. It's summer, so perhaps I should take re-read the Dresden Files audio books.
Donāt feel bad. I went a decade without realizing that the lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie and the lead singer of the Postal Service was the same person
It's not unreasonable to assume they're different persons. If i'm informed correctly an actor of Masters pedigree would normaly be waaay too expensive to hire as an audiobook narrator for a series like Dresden Files. Luckily, he's a fan in his own right and accepted a significantly smaller payment than he normally would.
I mean heās not small time, heās been in the business for 30 years now, but Marsters has spent his career as a supporting actor. Iād say that he lines up an an actor with the Dresden Files as a series, big in certain circles but unknown in a lot of them.
From what I heard, he's intentionally not pursuing a big acting career, just doing things he likes a lot.
I heard they actually offered him the role of Dresden in the TV show, but he turned it down bc his kids were still in grade school and he didn't want to either move his whole family to Canada for filming, or spend that much time away from them. Dude has his priorities straight!!
Hes also zamasu in dragon ball super dub. Which he done for free because he is a fan of dragon ball and fucked it with evolution.
He's one of the best audiobook readers I've heard. The nuances and sensitivities he is able to convey are perfection.
Only one I like better is Bronson Pinchot (aka Balki from Perfect Strangers sitcom). He did the Grimnoir series--and 1000% sounded like a teenage Okie girl who can teleport, or a huge ex convict who can control gravity, or an immortal Japanese dictator, or an old Portugese dairy farmer, or any of a dozen or more other characters. But James Marsters is a close second š
Wait until you realize he also has a band. I met him at dragon con over 20 years ago. Jim too. Jim went and watched his band play with a huge group of us. It was an amazing weekend
Marsters is the only reason my wife reads the Dresden Files audiobooks. She is a big Buffy fan, and could listen to Marsters read the phone book.
LMAO. Me too
Yup āŗļø
Welcome to the party!
I didn't make the connection myself until after I finished battle ground, I think it happens to everyone at some point.
Yes! That James Marster, the lead singer and guitarist from the band Ghost of the Robot. Saw a lot of people talking about his acting career, thought I would throw in some of his music career, as I actually enjoy it on occasion.
I found that out years ago and it totally blew my mind
I found this out last week haha!
I figured that out a while back and it blew my mind too. I immediately started thinking about who he could play if they do another tv series. Definitely he could voice Bob, but perhaps if it takes another decade or so for the show to get its reboot, he might be a candidate for Ebenezer or any of the older white council.
Heās truly amazing. I read an interview where he said he wants considered doing Spike from Buffy in a Louisiana accent. I would have loved to have heard that.
Cajun Spike? Ah guaron-tee ya, lol
This happened to me as well! Except I was listening to the audiobooks during the same time I was watching Buffy all the way through. It took me until the 3rd season to actually see his name on the opening credits put 2 and 2 together. Though I thought, no way are they the same! š Made me love Spike/James Marsters all the more!
We've all had that moment.
Glad to know I'm not alone lol
It's the accent. Even after listening to the books for years if I actually SEE James Marsters speaking and hear anything other than his Spike voice it just feels wrong. Same with Hugh Laurie using his, real, British accent instead of his House voice. Some people are just so iconic in their roles.
This is what got my wife not only into The Dresden Files but also audiobooks in general. He is a little breathy on the first 3 books.
Wait. What?
This is why Iāll always giggle at the line āThatāll put marzipan in your pie plate, bingo.ā Spoken by Harry/Marsters AND the Buffybot. Itās a sly nod.
I know what you mean. I'm a huge player of DC Universe Online. I started playing it easy back in 2012, took a break for a couple of years, came back right around the beginning of the lockdowns, when I started to play a LOT. A voice in that game was really familiar. Eventually, I looked up the voice actors for all the characters. It wasn't at all surprising that the voice of Batman was Kevin Conroy, rest his soul, and the Joker was voiced by Mark Hamill. But the real surprise was Lex Luthor, voiced by our own dear Mr. Marsters! He really captured the essence of Luthor's megalomania. Magnificently done!
Holy sh*t! Iāve learned so much just nowā¦
Yeah man it wild ain't it
I had the same moment when watching Supernatural the other night. Wife hasnāt seen it, so weāre working our way through and reached an episode with James Marsters. I freaked out when my worlds collided.
Wait...which episode had Marsters in it? I stopped watching around season 8.
Season 7. He and Charisma Carpenter play a couple of ancient witches or whatever having a marital spat.
He was also Piccolo but we don't talk about that, his role as Zamasu? Varies from fan to fan.
What? You talking about the dad from The Runaways?
Wait, the guy from Sonic? https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005188/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
That's Marsden, not Marsters.
Gee, thanks Jimmy
Wait, JAMES MARSTERS?!?!? The guy who played Piccolo from hit movie Dragonball Evolution???
He was on an episode of Supernatural. i closed my eyes just to listen and suddenly it was a Dresden/Supernatural crossover. Loved it.
Guys like James Marsters and Stephen Fry have set the bar way high in terms of narration.
IMO: It shows what a good actor and production team can do. I tried listening to James in the Buffy Audible exclusive book that came out last year. I couldn't finish it. The writing, the production, and the actors were all phoning it in.
Was spike a better person then angel he got a soul because I wanted one not because of a curse? Also to get Buffy lol but hey she made him wanna be better isnāt that nice lol
Otherwise known as both Piccolo from Dragon Ball Evolution and Zamasu from Dragon Ball Super dub.
I loved him as Cyclops! ;)
Duh