Magenta's accent?

[shaqui]

His bio says he's irish but going by the series what accent would you say he has?

Ditto for the supposedly Mancunian Captain Black...

[Marion]

I assume you mean in the classic version CS - as I don't think we've seen - let alone heard - Magenta in the CGI version.
I understood that although born in Dublin, in 2034, Patrick Donaghue's family emigrated to New York - the 1993 CS annual says: 'when he was three years old' - other reference books are less detailed. He was certainly there by 2052 - because he went to prison for protesting in 'anti-Bereznian' riots. The actor - Gary Files -who voiced Magenta, is Australian. Not being that knowledgeable about American accents, I can't say if Magenta has a New York accent or not - but his family background might explain why it isn't a typical accent from the city (If it isn't!)
Captain Black (Conrad Turner) was born in Manchester and went to college there too - so he ought to have an English accent. Before he gets Mysteronised he sounds American and afterwards he speaks with ' the voice of the Mysterons'. Maybe his years in the World Space Patrol (2054-2065) wore his Mancunian accent away?

Checked Chris's website and it gives the following information about Black's accent:

To explain the American accent of Black at the time (he was supposed to be British), it was implied by Century 21 that the relative with which Conrad Turner stayed from the age of only 7 months lived in America. And the reason why Black speaks with an apparently English accent after Mysteronisation is simple: it is not in fact Black himself who is speaking, but the Mysterons’ voice speaking through Black, using him as a voice box on Earth.

That would ignore his stint at the Northern University's Technical Academy in Manchester - as specified by the 1968 CS annual.

Looks like the Anderson-Continuity-Gremlin strikes again!

[Sage]

LOL yeah exactly

Hmm maybe it is kind of a New York accent, definetly American at least.
Of course in fanfic we seem to end up going with an Irish accent, just because it sounds good (even though, duh, you can't hear it)

[Marion]

Whilst I'm not conscious of writing him with an Irish 'accent', Sage - I do sometimes pepper his speech with an Irish phrase or two (or what I imagine is an Irish phrase)- such as he might've heard at home.... But that is the universal problem of writing any fiction - how do you write an accent? Especially one like Destiny's.... 'eeve you 'ave 'er talkin' like zees,... it sounds silly and looks worse and can be very tiresome to read as well...
I am frequently being taken to task - by my beta-readers mostly - for having the American characters say words they wouldn't use... My only defence is: I'm not an American and whilst I try to be as true to life as I can in my dialogue - I'm bound to get some of it wrong...
BTW - I get told off for using 'whilst' as well - even for the English. Apparantly it is a northern word and the English characters are all from south of the Trent... there's no winning, is there?

[shaqui]

In one of the 'Countdown' strips, set in Ireland, I'm sure Magenta comes over as particularly Irish! I'll have to dig up the strip and have a re-read...

[Mary]

As an American, I didn't have the opportunity when watching the original series in my adolescence to learn any of the backstory through annuals etc. I NEVER for once thought Magenta was either Irish-born or from New York. He just struck me as "American." Also, his excitable nature led me to believe he was the youngster amongst the captains, not one of the oldest...

To me, living in closer proximity to New York than most of our membership, Magenta sounds more like a New York transplant than a born-'n-bred "Noo Yawkuh." If you want a Noo Yawk accent, listen to Joe Pesci or any movies featuring Mafiosi. (Or for that matter, characters *supposedly* hailing from Philadelphia. Yo Hollywood, we DON'T all sound like we're from Brooklyn, honest!) It *is* possible that Magenta's Noo Yawk accent got toned down significantly during his tenure at Yale, where he'd be surrounded by people in a much different socioeconomic status than himself.

Alas, Magenta doesn't sound that Irish either. In my fanfic I put in words and phrases that he could have picked up from home (or from the Irish buddies he probably hung out with on NY's tough streets). However, I don't think I ever really gave him a thick brogue, except when he was "putting it on" himself to emphasize a point such as in War of Nerve.

As for Magenta's having an Irish accent while in Ireland, I imagine he could imitate one very effectively even though it's not the dialect he normally uses. People with ethnic roots often come in contact with family members, neighbors etc. with very heavy accents, and have heard these accents for a good part of their lives. Imitating the accent comes almost naturally, as does understanding what the people are saying. For example: I am of Polish descent, and I was often called upon by my fellow students to interpret the latest lesson by our Polish-immigrant economics professor, because they hadn't understood a word he said. (Not that *I* understood what he had said in the *lesson*... ) I can do a pretty good rendition of Polish-accented English as well...

[Marion]

Very true, Mary, Magenta does act as if he is the youngest - and most enthusiastic - member of Spectrum! I have read that - as far as 'Attack on Cloudbase' was concerned - the script originally called for 'Lieutenant Sepia' to be counting the spaceships in the radar room - but - to save money - they used the Magenta puppet instead!
Unfortunately, that has the result of making his biography seem even more unlikely than most - this guy is the big boss of an organised crime syndicate? Forgive me if I doubt that...
Even accepting that Magenta's inability to count is a product of Symphony's delerium - he does admit in the end scene that he is 'even more eager to please' than normal - or at least, he tries to be.
Maybe he feels he has more to prove than the other captains -most of whom come from military/ law enforcement or 'quango' type backgrounds - as he is the only absolute civilian captain?

[Scarlet Lady]

I always wondered whether he might be more eager to please because he wants to make his pardon and recruitment count? Maybe he feels a little guilty about his past, even...

[Sage]

Yeah, that's my theory too.

[Cerise]

I always thought that either

- they got his character wrong

or

- Given his past, I'm certain he's more than familiar with putting up a front. He could then use this front to make people less guarded around him. Reasons? Either, as suggested, he wanted people to forget his past or he just wanted to know what everyone was up to.

Whatever the possibilities, for fan fics, I and most people seem to have him behaving slightly differently to how he does in the show and I think that it's more realistic that way.

But, who knows? That's just *my* opinion!

[chrisbishop]

I would go for the second reason.

And, Cerise, I would not dare dispute youe opinion on that subject. You probably have written the most believable characterisation of Magenta in fanfic to date...

[shaqui]

Would anyone believe...

I always thought that either

- they got his character wrong

or

- Given his past, I'm certain he's more than familiar with putting up a front. He could then use this front to make people less guarded around him. Reasons? Either, as suggested, he wanted people to forget his past or he just wanted to know what everyone was up to.

Whatever the possibilities, for fan fics, I and most people seem to have him behaving slightly differently to how he does in the show and I think that it's more realistic that way.

But, who knows? That's just *my* opinion!

That the writers of the annuals simply made the stuff up on the spur to fill the many pages and meet a deadline?

[hazel]

Would anyone believe...
<snip>
That the writers of the annuals simply made the stuff up on the spur to fill the many pages and meet a deadline?

Oh, I can believe that very easily!
I can't remember off the top of my head who the puppet of Magenta was based on, if indeed he was based on anybody, but I always assumed that the biog in the annuals described him as Irish simply because he looks rather Irish. (I also think he bears a passing resemblance to the late, great Dave Allen.)

[shaqui]

I can't remember off the top of my head who the puppet of Magenta was based on, if indeed he was based on anybody, but I always assumed that the biog in the annuals described him as Irish simply because he looks rather Irish. (I also think he bears a passing resemblance to the late, great Dave Allen.)

Actually, he always reminded me of actor Gene Barry.

[Clya Brown]

I see that Gene Barry was born in New York in 1921, from which I wondered whether he might be of Irish descent, but then I saw in his online biography that his real name is Eugene Klass, so it's probably unlikely. Maybe he had an Irish mother - unfortunately the biography doesn't go into that level of detail.

Speaking personally, the person Magenta reminds me of is Milo O'Shea (not least on account of those heavy eyebrows), who obviously is Irish. I'd be interested to know whether whoever compiled Magenta's biography decided that he was Irish before or after the puppet was created. It was almost certainly afterwards, but if it was actually before, I take my hat off to the sculptors for being able to recreate such specific facial characteristics!

(Having said all that, I've no doubt at all that Shaqui's hit the nail right on the head with that observation that it was probably made up on the spur of the moment to fill up space in one of the annuals. How else do such things get invented?)