Dragon Age: Origins - Kate Mulgrew and Inon Zur

This is the place where the leaders of the Chosen post news. News about the Chosen, news about drow/Eilistraee, news about NWN/NWN2 and news generally considered interesting to us. This is also the place where you can comment on those news items. :rss:

Moderators: Shir'le E. Illios, Bhaern Quel

Post Reply
User avatar
Shir'le E. Illios
High Priestess
High Priestess
Posts: 2352
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:51 pm
Location: Eilistraee.com
Contact:

Dragon Age: Origins - Kate Mulgrew and Inon Zur

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

I've already reported before that [url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000550/:x5xp8eln]Kate Mulgrew[/url:x5xp8eln], best known for playing Captain Janeway in Star Trek Voyager, will be voicing one of the characters, namely the witch Flemeth, in Dragon Age: Origins. Now there are a couple of interviews with the actress regarding her work on the game. Both are largely spoiler-free, though she does talk a bit about there character and what might be going on with her.

The first interview is with [url=http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6229033.html:x5xp8eln]GameSpot[/url:x5xp8eln]. here's an excerpt:

[quote:x5xp8eln][b:x5xp8eln][GameSpot]:[/b:x5xp8eln] Talking more specifically about the game, what are your thoughts on being part of a high-fantasy story, speaking pseudo-Victorian-era English, and playing a character whose problems and motivations are not necessarily the same as a more modern character (or, for instance, a starship captain)?

[b:x5xp8eln][Kate Mulgrew]:[/b:x5xp8eln] Delicious. I mean, it's right up my street. It's classical, isn't it? I wouldn't say that it's Greek, but it's very smart, and it's all about mythology. It's better than fantasy--it's about a history, and from my own perspective, Celtic history. I think that these people at BioWare brought to bear on this video game just about every level of the imagination, and they have combined it with a high intelligence. So, I also think when I finish a job like this, "Ah, well, this is good." And whoever plays this game will find that it's good, and I'm proud to have been a part of it.[/quote:x5xp8eln]
The second interview is over at [url=http://fidgit.com/archives/2009/09/kate ... p:x5xp8eln]Fidgit[/url:x5xp8eln] Here's an excerpt:

[quote:x5xp8eln][b:x5xp8eln]Tom Chick: You've done voiceover projects before. There was a [i:x5xp8eln]Star Trek: Voyager[/i:x5xp8eln] videogame and some animation as well. Tell me about how this project differs from the other voiceovers you've done.[/b:x5xp8eln]

[b:x5xp8eln]Kate Mulgrew:[/b:x5xp8eln] I've done a significant body of voiceover work, but this particular videogame is in its own class. Very high caliber stuff. Very well written. Even beautifully written, which is why I was so drawn to it from the get-go. When they sent me the script, I thought, 'This is fantastic. This creature, Flemeth, this mysterious witch of the wilds'. She's a powerful mage, but she has a textured personality. Every single emotion that emanates from her is coming from something in her experience. Her interaction with her daughter is laced with every conceivable emotion. And then when she deals with the player, she tells him that he's going to have to come at her on ten different levels. She insinuates that if he's even slightly less than very very smart, he's going to die. Her mysteriousness lies in every clue she gives him. And every clue is a clue within a clue. It's like reading Greek mythology. I thought this was a wonderful story, let alone a game that you can climb into. What a fun thing.[/quote:x5xp8eln]
What gets me particularly in this interview is her description of her own visualization of the character. I've never really thought about it like that before, but that actually makes a lot of sense. After all, most of us probably have their own image of how they look that doesn't really match with the reality, so it makes sense for a (voice) actress to do the same for the virtual character.

Either way, they're quite interesting reads.

The other part of the title is that BioWare announced that Inon Zur is responsible for the soundtrack for Dragon Age: Origins. The press release has been posted in a few places, but [url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/102/10281 ... l:x5xp8eln]here's the one at IGN[/url:x5xp8eln]. An excerpt:

[quote:x5xp8eln]With a powerful original score recorded by the acclaimed Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra, Inon Zur's dramatic soundtrack to Dragon Age: Origins is the perfect complement to the game's epic, cinematic qualities, full of soaring melodies and lush, emotional orchestrations. The official soundtrack for Dragon Age: Origins will be available to purchase and download online from popular music sites when the game ships on November 3, 2009, while selected tracks from the soundtrack will be included in the Dragon Age: Origins Collector's Edition.

The soundtrack is a collaboration between composer Inon Zur, vocalist Aubrey Ashburn and BioWare Audio Director Simon Pressey. The creative team will be presenting their work during a panel at the Hollywood Music in Media Interactive Conference on November 20-22, 2009, at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.[/quote:x5xp8eln]
YouTube has a video up showing an interview with the composer, vocalist and audio director as well:

[center:x5xp8eln][youtube:x5xp8eln]PIEXGSEf7NM[/youtube:x5xp8eln][/center:x5xp8eln]
And finally BioWare also put up a of the music on their site. Unfortunately I can't directly link to the post and the player on their website doesn't work for me anyway, so instead I'll just [url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/assets/min ... f:x5xp8eln]link you to the Flash app[/url:x5xp8eln]. If you want though you can find the post on [url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/home/:x5xp8eln]the Dragon Age website[/url:x5xp8eln]; just click on the Sept 24 news item to open it.

Oh, and don't forget that pretty soon they should be posting [url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/pennyarcad ... 4:x5xp8eln]page four of the Penny Arcade comic[/url:x5xp8eln]. :)


[[url=http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6229033.html:x5xp8eln]link[/url:x5xp8eln]] to interview with Kate Mulgrew at GameSpot.
[[url=http://fidgit.com/archives/2009/09/kate ... p:x5xp8eln]link[/url:x5xp8eln]] to interview with Kate Mulgrew at Fidgit.
[[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/102/10281 ... l:x5xp8eln]link[/url:x5xp8eln]] to Inon Zur press release at IGN.
[[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIEXGSEf7NM:x5xp8eln]link[/url:x5xp8eln]] to interview with Inon Zur at YouTube.
[[url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/assets/min ... f:x5xp8eln]link[/url:x5xp8eln]] to sample music player.
[[url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/pennyarcad ... 4:x5xp8eln]link[/url:x5xp8eln]] to Penny Arcade comic.


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le
F'sarn natha tithaur wun l'su'aco.

-= Shir'le E. Illios =-
Chosen of Eilistraee
Post Reply