All The Tropes

Robo Speak: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Robo Speak (view source)

Revision as of 11:48, 8 April 2014

542 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
m (Mass update links)
m (Mass update links)
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Are you familiar with the old robot saying: 'Does Not Compute'?"''|'''Bender''', ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]''}}
 
Robots, androids, or any other artificially-intelligent machine with the ability to talk to humans very often does so in a flat and monotone voice that's devoid of emotion, with machine-like gaps between each word and/or sentence. In English, a robot may often speak without contractions, even though a contraction would be one of the easiest parts of speech to program a computer to do correctly. Their speech also often includes numerous specialized computer derived robotic [[Stock Phrases]], such as: "affirmative/negative" instead of "yes/no", "file not found", and the classic "does not compute" when [[Logic Bomb|confused]].
Line 25:
== Anime ==
 
* Subverted and deconstructed in ''[[Ghost in Thethe Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' where Section 9's main robot assistants are The Tachikomas who speak and act a lot like little girls outside their professionalism on duty. They eventually come to the conclusion that humans intentionally program robots to [[Robo Speak]] to avoid empathizing with them. At which point the Tachikomas start deliberately speaking and acting more robotic around Major Kusanagi so that she'll like them more.
** There's also a note that when they converse among themselves they really ''are'' "talking" through wireless links--it's just rendered as their normal speech for the reader/viewer's benefit. In fact, people with cybernetic enhancement ''also'' speak by wireless transmission.
** Further lampooned in the second season, when the Tachikomas are re-introduced to the surprise of the main cast, and the first one that they see plays a prank on Batou by immediately acting very robotic and saying "HE-LLO I AM A TA-CHI-KO-MA", as if they've been brain wiped. After it manages to produce a shocked look from the entire team, it immediately reverts to giggling and talking like a 15 year old schoolgirl.
* Android R Dorothy Wainwright from ''[[The Big O (Anime)|The Big O]]'' and KOS-MOS from ''[[Xenosaga (Video Game)|Xenosaga]]'' lack [[Robo Speak]]. However, both talk without inflections, even when Dorothy is obviously being sarcastic.
** Both only feel fit to express emotion when they absolutely have too however, though oddly enough KOS-MOS is explicitly stated to have emotions and Dorothy is explicitly stated not to. Any casual observer would state the opposite ([[Tin Man|Dorothy is almost definitely lying or mistaken]]).
* In ''[[FLCL]],'' the robotic version of {{spoiler|Naota's father}} begins speaking normally, except that he puts pauses in odd places and sounds somewhat emotionless. As he continues talking, however, his voice becomes much more stuttery, the pitch varies wildly and the dialogue becomes almost nonsense.
Line 36:
*** Except when she's [[Motor Mouth|Motor Mouthing]] machine code due to a viral infection. And when she's saying debug information after Accelerator messes up the virus' code enough for her to think it's corrupted and reset herself.
* [[Mahoromatic|Mahoro and Minawa]] don't do it, but whether they're straight [[FemBot|gynoids]] or cyborg humans isn't exactly clear.
* [[Mahou Sensei Negima|Chachamaru]], the [[Robot Girl]] of ''Negima'', is voiced in anime by [[Caitlin Glass]], and sounds like [[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation|Data's]] British sister, as described at the end of this page's notes above.
** Her pactio scene hasn't been dubbed yet, but chances are that she'll sound as emotional as she looks in that part of the manga.
* Father Tres, an android in ''[[Trinity Blood]]'', speaks this way, including using "Positive" for "Yes" & "Negative" for "No", and having little to no inflection. Preferred method of attack: [[More Dakka|a fusillade of bullets]] from [[Guns Akimbo]].
* Both Averted & used in ''[[Cannon God Exaxxion]]''. The cheap, massproduction [[Mecha -Mooks]] used by the Riofaldians talk in heavy robo speak. The Terminal Drone type robots even use a more "techno"-looking [[Useful Notes/Fonts|font]]. The main character's [[Robo Girl]] partner & other robots created by his grandfather don't, since they're designed to pass for human. It averts one of the major robospeak cliches, as well. We never see the Riofaldian robots talking out loud to each other, only to organics. There's one scene that depicts a robot sending a comunication requesting backup, wich is represented by a speach baloon filled with what looks like barcodes.
* An interesting example, [[Robot Girl]] Aiko in ''[[Magical Pokaan]]''. Her speech is perfectly normal, until episode 4, wherein a malfunction causes her to realistically stutter and repeat words, along with a very low buzz, similar to wet speakers. Seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQCTzDTxtXE#t=2m26s here].
{{quote| "If you're just going to siiiiiiit there, -it there, at least help me bring in laundry ple-please. ....Wha-a-at's wrong? You-ou guys?"}}
Line 46:
== Webcomics ==
 
* The '''''LASER COWS''''' in ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' speak like so;
{{quote| Auditory Response: '''Moo.'''<br />
'''Grass Length Deviation Detected. Resizing In Progress.''' }}
Line 59:
** Corrective statement: The Rigellian Recorders were introduced in Lee and Kirby's [[Thor]]. Qualifier: The humor potential lay unused until Roy Thomas's run on the book.
** Shockwave, when penned by Simon Furman, often begins trains of thought in the same way, using even longer words like 'observation', 'interrogative' or 'hypothesis'.
* The robots in the original ''[[Magnus, Robot Fighter]]'' series were particularly stilted examples, with pauses between each word. The [[Valiant Comics]] version justified [[Robo Speak]] as deliberate law, to discourage the use of robots in fraud (along with a prohibition on making robots too human in appearance).
 
== Film ==
Line 67:
* Somewhat averted by Jarvis in ''Iron Man'', the AI of Tony Stark's computer - though it's difficult to tell when he's being genuinely polite and when he's being sarcastic.
* In Grandma's Boy, videogame programmer J. P. sometimes does this for no clear reason.
* Deliberately averted with C-3P0 on the original ''[[Star Wars]]'' trilogy, since he is a protocol droid fluent in six million forms of communications and mannerisms, played straight with the [[Mecha -Mooks|battle droids]] on the prequel trilogy, as well as a few other examples.
* [[Robo CopRoboCop]] tends to straddle the trope, since he's basically a heavily armored robot powered by an actual human. By default, he speaks in Robospeak, but sometimes with some emotion thrown in. Stronger emotions, such as [[Unstoppable Rage]], come just shy of overriding the default monotone.
** Other robots in the Robocop world, however, play the trope straight. Notably one ED-209.
 
Line 81:
== Live Action TV ==
 
* Averted in ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' in which Kryten the robot and Holly the computer both talk in normal-sounding Canadian and East London accents respectively. Various appliances often appear that also talk like humans, such as Talkie Toaster.
** However, in Demons and Angels, Holly exclaims that "An electrical fire has knocked out my voice recognition unicycle!" and later in the episode says "The phrase 'cargo bay doors' does not appear to be in my lexicon." in a more robotic-sounding voice.
** In the episode "Inquisitor", a version of Holly in an altered timeline has no inflection to her voice. "Unauthorized entry. Intruder alert, intruder alert..."
Line 98:
** Averted in the episode "The Face of Evil", where the monster of the story is a computer called Xoanon. It has no voice of its own and instead speaks in the voices of multiple people, sometimes all at once - including the Doctor's own voice.
** Possibly the ultimate aversion is the computer BOSS in ''The Green Death,'' which not only talks in a resonant, emotional voice but even hums along to Wagner while plotting to take over the world.
* ''Almost'' averted in ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]''; Data cannot use contractions, but otherwise speaks with a human-sounding voice. (He points out that his creator did this deliberately, as he'd found androids that were ''too'' perfectly human in behavior while not being completely human in appearance [[Uncanny Valley|creeped people out]]).
** Data did properly use some contractions in the future parts of the TNG finale "All Good Things", set 25 years after the end of the series. Of course this future was completely averted by {{spoiler|the destruction of the ''Enterprise''-D in ''Star Trek: Generations'' and Data's own death in ''Star Trek: Nemesis''}} but it does show that he could have developed the ability over time.
** Somewhat [[Truth in Television]] -- there have been studies showing that the more "human" facial features a robot had, the more negative the reaction to it.
Line 105:
**** There were a few that got by before it was established that contractions were taboo.
** In the episode "Contagion," Data is infected by a computer virus that disables some of his functions. While infected, he reverts to robo-speak.
** The ships' computers especially show the evolution of what the writers expected such a computer to sound like. In ''[[Star Trek: theThe Original Series]],'' the computer's voice wouldn't sound out of place alongside Daleks and Cybermen, with. Each. Syll. A. Ble. Be. Com. Ing. Its. Own. Sen. Tence. It was very grating to listen to for any length of time and sometimes (and this goes double for any computer voice done by James Doohan in ''[[Star Trek: theThe Animated Series]],'' as good as his other voices were) so slow at getting the message across that the entire sentence appearing on a screen in a handy dialog box seems more efficient by far. Fast forward to [[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation|Picard's time]] and the computer speaks much more naturally -- you'd never have guessed that Original's "Wor. King. * clicks* The. A. Pplied. Phle. Bot. In. Um. Is. In. A. No. Ther. Cas. Tle. * more clicks* Try. A. Gain." and later series' "Unable to comply. [[Applied Phlebotinum]] not found." are actually ''the same actress.''
* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''. Homaged in the Captain Proton holodeck program, with Satan's Robot who always talks this way. "SUR-REND-DER!"
* In ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'', the Henshin Belt of Keisuke Nago/Kamen Rider IXA is the only Heisei Belt so far that, although in Engrish, states out everything in robo speak.
{{quote| '''IXA Belt:''' Le-e-di-i. (Ready.)<br />
Line 123:
* Cammy, Juli and Juni use Robo Speak in ''[[Street Fighter]] Alpha 3,'' when they're brainwashed.
* Siarnaq in ''[[Mega Man ZX]] Advent'' sounds like a DOS prompt, in fact. It's apparently just extreme [[The Stoic|stoicism]] after being [[Left for Dead]] by his pals.
** ''[[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]]'' not only averts the trope, he's downright snarky in ''9''.
* While not exactly monotone, E-102 Gamma from ''[[Sonic Adventure (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure]]'' does sound calm at all times. He talks to himself a fair amount, and while this doesn't hinder him at all, it doesn't make much sense, outside of letting players and viewers in on his data processes. Oh yeah, and stock phrases: "Insufficient data." "Does not compute." "Accessing data."
** E-123 Omega from ''[[Sonic Heroes (Video Game)|Sonic Heroes]]'', on the other hand, gets an angry monotone, but better lines ("WORTHLESS CONSUMER MODELS!").
*** In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'', he sounds more robotic, to a fault.
* The security robots in ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]'' use this trope. Their dialogue seems to consist of only a few phrases, two -- "Scanning area" and "Target acquired" the most commonly-heard. (In the case of the bigger bots, which shake the ground with each step, "scanning area" at least is not necessarily counterproductive, but it is redundant.)
** The [[A Is]] in the same game, however, speak relatively naturally, unnatural voices notwithstanding. Deadalus, being the oldest model, has perhaps the oddest speech pattern, but it's still believable. There are some exceptions: in one instance, he experiences a malfunction and sends the player the following message: "Incorrect inform -- ps -al : attach. Streets clear. No danger." ...This in possibly one of the most dangerous areas in the whole game.
* The mechanoids in ''[[Thief]] II''. Particularly creepy in that, when idling or patrolling, they spout religious phrases.
* The turrets in ''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|Portal]]'' use a version of robo speak in an adorable female voice. "Are. You. Still. There?" "Nap. Time." "Put. Me. Down." "I. Don't. Hate. You." GLaDOS also uses a very robotic sounding computerized voice up until the final battle, after you remove her [[Morality Chip|Morality Core]].
** In ''[[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]]'', GLaDOS voice is somewhere inbetween the robotic intonation she used for most of the first game and the seductive croon she used in the final battle. Most of the other AI characters avert this, however. In the developer's commentary, it is noted that Valve intentionally used a theme when creating the voices: smarter AIs sound more robotic, such that the most talkative and human-sounding character in the game, Wheatley, is also the dumbest.
* Valve's GoldSrc game engine, which ran the original [[Half Life]], its expansions, and many others, included a fairly simple speech synthesis system (of the word-based create-sentences-from-a-fixed-vocabulary type, although the voice could be inflected, sped up and slowed down, and the words chopped up and reassembled to create new words with a little creativity) used for the enemy Marines, the Black Mesa Announcement System (a.k.a. Vox), and the HEV suit. The degree of roboticity varies: Vox is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh32mC-dor0 inhumanly low-pitched and has a robotic rhythm], the HEV suit [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU0HttdfxkE still has a robotic rhythm but an otherwise human-sounding voice], and the Marines are [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLWUHoeYHlc closest to being passable as human aside from sounding like they're speaking through walkie-talkies] (warning: some profanity and possible mild spoilers).
** The qualities of the voices are different in translations. For instance, ironically enough, in German, Vox is completely human-sounding while the HEV suit is given a monotone that not even Vox has in English.
Line 138:
* Averted with Yumemi Hoshino in ''Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet''.
* The Early 1990s versions of the ''[[Mechwarrior]]'' computer games had mech startup and critical damages in a feminine Robospeak. "Critical Hit. Heat. Sink." "Critical Hit. Engine." "Shutting. Down." etc.
* [[Robot Girl]] Tio from ''[[Grandia II (Video Game)|Grandia II]]'' quips stuff like "Wind speed: 0.120" (before casting a wind spell) and "Centigrade: 9900" (that would be a fireball) in the middle of fiercest battles with that [[Dissonant Serenity|eerily serene]] voice of hers. However, since one of the prominent subplots is [[Become a Real Boy|her becoming a real girl]], she progresses to [[Spock Speak]] (and to [[The Stoic]], personality-wise) by the end of the game.
* In ''[[Star Control]] 3'', the Daktaklakpak precede HK-47 in the department of stilted phrasing. They sound like they're reading off scientific papers. "Clarification 1: Daktaklakpak is shortened form of complete species name. Clarification 2: Complete species name of Daktaklakpak contains complete assembly and maintenance instructions for Daktaklakpak race. Conclusion: Daktaklakpak name ''is'' 'big deal'!"
* Robo of ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'' speaks more formally than the human characters, and his text boxes are accompanied by an electronic noise, implying [[Robo Speak]]. Doesn't stop him from being a lovable character, though.
* ''[[Disgaea]]'': BEEP BEEP Thursday fits this trope BEEP BEEP
* [[Earthbound (Video Game)|Earthbound]], to an extent. The robotic Starmen speak for the most part in normal English -- albeit peppered with onomatopoeic machine sounds such as * whirr* and * click* . This is an invention of the localization, however; the original Japanese release differentiated the Starmen's robospeak by writing their dialogue entirely in katagana (the equivalent of using ALLCAPS TO SIGNIFY MONOTONE SPEECH.)
** [[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]] used the same strategy as its predecessor, in the few instances where you got to talk to robots. However, the unofficial English translation has them speaking in straight ALLCAPS, with no onomatopoeia.
* Illusion's H-game ''Artificial Girl 3'' has a variety of personalities the player can assign to a girl he creates, one of them ([[Emotionless Girl|the N type]]), has some [[Robo Speak]] lines like "Preparing to rest... shutting down... complete." and "Probability of pregnancy: 10%", the game even has the option of giving her [[Unusual Ears|robotic ears]] to fill the role better.
* Nu-13, the final boss of ''[[Blaz Blue]]'' speaks almost entirely in [[Machine Monotone]] Robo Speak complete with [[Loads and Loads of Loading]], which is creepy as hell coming from what looks like a human girl.
* Fracktail in ''[[Super Paper Mario (Video Game)|Super Paper Mario]]''. As well as a few references to bad translations in Nintendo's past, it pretty much speaks like a malfunctioning Windows operating system, using all manner of computer speak with semi puns. ''404 Computer Hamsters Not Found!'' and ''C:/ run query identification C:/ run insult generator C:/ results: go away yeti-lip!'' being some memorable examples.
** Similarly, the Robot Peach Castle speaks in incredibly stilted [[Robo Speak]]. ''ACTIVATE BLACK HOLE ENDGAME!'' and ''BOO SYSTEM ONLINE! INVISIBILITY FIELD NOW OPERATIONAL! ENEMY EVASIVE MANEUVERS NULL!'' being a few funny examples.
* ''[[No More Heroes]]: Desperate Struggle'': {{spoiler|Dr. Letz Shake.}} "Do you remember me. Question mark."
* ''[[Dystopia (Videovideo Gamegame)|Dystopia]]'' plays this for laughs. The heavies are actually human cyborgs, but they use Robo Speak and make jokes related to their more robotic tendencies.
* Malco in ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'' SPEAKS ENTIRELY IN UPPERCASE LETTERS. So do other NPC robots which aren't [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]].
* ''[[Starcraft]] II'' has damaged Dominion Adjutant and Raven speaking like this.
* While not exactly a robot, Chaos Lord Ledgermayne of ''[[Adventure Quest Worlds (Video Game)|Adventure Quest Worlds]]'', who is a being made of living magic, speaks calmly and coolly in a computerized fashion. And that's not all, it also refers to itself as "we" or as "this form". It's kind of like a magi-borg!
{{quote| '''Ledgermayne''': This form complies with the master's wishes.}}
** Of course, needless to say, Ledgermayne lets out a rare and truly single non-[[Robo Speak]] exclaimation in the form of a [[Big No]] when Drakath gives focuses his Chaos magic into the Supreme Arcane Staff, allowing the hero to use it to convert Ledgermayne back into the mass of mana from which it was made.
* The classic NES game ''[[Bionic Commando (Video Game)|Bionic Commando]]'' featured a boss robot that would begin the battle with the statement: "PI PI PI... WE HAVE FOUND AN INTRUDER... WE ARE GOING TO ATTACK"
* The Soldier of ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'' takes part in this when you equip his full Halloween set, going "beep boop", or even half-assing it and just saying "Robot noises"
 
== Western Animation ==
 
* Parodied a few times in ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'', where in most cases robots did not talk in [[Robo Speak]]. For example, a Lucy Liu-bot confesses to Fry: "[Normal voice] Oh Fry, I love you more than the moon and the stars and the [[[Robo Speak]]] POETIC IMAGE NUMBER 37 NOT FOUND."
** Another ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'' parody came with an old, obsolete robot who ''did'' cart around a basket of tapes with various bits of speech recorded onto them, including a tape that reads "Snappy Response". Once punched in, the robot says "[[Your Mom|Your Mother!]]".
** There was also one where the leader of the robot Mafia was trying to teach another robot a lesson. The robot starts begging (not in [[Robo Speak]] yet), "Please, look into your hard drive, and access your mercy file!" to which the leader of the robot Mafia said "File not found!" Granted, it was used more as a snappy comeback said in a normal tone, but he still reverted to a primitive phrasing to describe the "missing" file.
** In the commentary for an early episode, the [[Word of God]] noted that when people auditioned for the voice of Bender they tended to use a "robotic" voice, which wasn't what they were looking for.
Line 171:
* In one episode of ''[[Atomic Betty]]'', [[Robot Buddy]] X5 admonishes a trick-or-treater wearing a robot costume and speaking in jarring [[Robo Speak]] that "Robots do not talk like that".
* In ''[[Invader Zim]],'' GIR tends to use a rather brusque and aggressive variant of [[Robo Speak]] in "Serious Mode" -- and talks like a [[Genki Girl|little girl on a sugar rush]] when his normal self. His former speech pattern may be from the fact that his better-constructed counterparts, SIRs, talk this way, being part of a warrior race and all.
* Thunderstick on ''[[Bravestarr (Animation)|Bravestarr]]'' stammers and repeats random words like he has a crossed wire. It could possibly be all the blows he takes to the head knocked a screw loose somewhere or it could be the robot version of an unhinged and psychotic personality, he ''is'' a [[Rogues Gallery|bad guy]] after all.
* Of all the robot characters on ''[[Transformers]]'', Megatron's toady Soundwave was the only Robo-Speaker, despite the fact that he transforms into a tape player, and would be expected to have an even firmer grasp of sound than the other characters -- he even frequently says "By your command," a Cylon [[Catch Phrase]]. Even his subordinates, who transform into the tapes he deploys from his chest, are more articulate; at least, those who aren't animals. Primitive Cybertronians with little intelligence tend to sound more like cavemen than Cylons (see the Dinobots, or any combiner team). On the other end of the scale, Autobots Jazz and Blaster not only eschew [[Robo Speak]], but were virtually [[Jive Turkey|jive]] characters, complete with large slang vocabularies.
** Omega Supreme talked in robo-speak, but this was [[Justified Trope|justified]] in that his mind was damaged in a failed attempt by Megatron to reprogram him as a Decepticon. This left him emotionally stunted, and this was reflected in his speech patterns. He ''could'' speak normally, with effort, but rarely chose to.
** In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', Perceptor, the Autobots' ultimate scientist, speaks with a voice synthesizer as an homage to [[Stephen Hawking]]. According to the creators, he deleted his personality to make room for more facts.
* In the ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'' episode "Imitation Krabs", Plankton creates and pilots a robot version of Mr. Krabs to infiltrate the Krusty Krab. Everything he says, even laughter, comes out as robo-speak, adding to the [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]. [[Machine Monotone|"whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"]]
* Red Tornado in ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]''. His [[Mirror Universe]] counterpart even prefaces a [[The Reveal|reveal]] with "Revelation:"
* ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' special "The Hoboken Surprise":
{{quote| "Must. Destroy. Animals."<br />
Line 187:
"Now that's just your robot voice."<br />
"End. Transmission." }}
* The Berbils from ''[[Thundercats 2011 (Western Animation)|ThunderCats (2011)]]''.
 
 
Line 199:
* Stephen Hawking's famous near-monotone voice synthesizer. He has turned down many offers to improve and humanise the voice, saying that it's become the voice that people expect him to have. And of course it is recognised the world over.
* [[Image Boards|Anonymous]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbKv9yiLiQ Youtube video] messages to [[Scientology]] are all done in [[Robo Speak]], so as to speak for all Anonymous and also to avoid retribution from the Church of Scientology.
* IBM's "Watson" system. He actually sounds less roboty than Stephen Hawking's synthesizer. It still uses the "string pre-read phonemes together" method. It sounds a bit like the [[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation|Enterprise-D's computer]], but male.
 
{{reflist}}
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/893402"