Legendary Narrator QOTD
    Question Of The Day

    Major Spoilers Question of the Day: Legendary Narrator Edition

    Matthew PetersonBy 3 Comments1 Min Read

    Thanks to SyFy and their constant reruns of classic Twilight Zone episodes, I’ve been thinking a lot about the traditional idea of a narrator, someone who moves the story along in a voice-over capacity.   It’s a classic storytelling technique, and there are a lot of examples of a legendary narrator: Captain Kirk opening every episode of ‘Star Trek’, Earl Hamner Jr. as the voice of grown-up John-Boy in ‘The Waltons’, even more recently examples like Ron Howard’s work on ‘Arrested Development.’  Of course, my fave-rave sitcom also uses the technique, though Ted Mosby is a highly unreliable example of the trope, leading us to today’s expository query…

    The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) spent some time perusing old Transformers clips recently, and could also make a serious case for Generation 1’s voice-over announcer Victor Caroli, asking: Who is the most legendary narrator of all?

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    Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.

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    3 Comments

    1. Vrynn on

      There are tons of great ones, but it’s probably hard to beat Morgan Freeman as the all time best.

    2. Daniel Langsdale on

      Jean Sheherd in A Christmas Story is pretty pervasive. It inspired The Wonder Years, after all.

      But there will always be a special corner of my heart for Waylon Jennings telling me “Y’all come back now, y’hear?” to find out how them Duke boys got out of their latest predicament.

    3. Frank on

      David Attenborough comes to mind for any documentary. When Sigourney Weaver replaced him on the US broadcast of Planet Earth, it was sacrilege.