Who's the better voice for Superman? Tim Daly or George Newbern? [Archive]

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Batman's Biggest Fan

03-26-2002, 11:13 AM

which of the Superman voice actors is better?

See Also
*Best Superman voice over actor? (http://www.toonzone.net/forums/showthread.php?227013-Best-Superman-voice-over-actor&highlight=Tim+Daly+George+Newbern)

The Green Hornet

03-26-2002, 11:44 AM

i may very well weep if ANYONE votes for Newburn

no offense to George, hes a GREAT Superman, but man o man is he BETTER than Tim??

Not yet anyway...........

DisneyBoy

03-26-2002, 11:57 AM

There was a obvious answer if I ever saw one!

M'ral

03-26-2002, 12:51 PM

I read somewhere that this is Newburn's first acting job, so if that's true, Daly has the serious advantage of experience, and maybe Newburn will get better as the series goes on (His voice doesn't fluctuate from super-young to ancient-sounding anymore, though he still sounds like he's got a wad of cotton stuck in his throat :rolleyes: ). I agree, as of now, he's not the voice for Superman, but maybe as he gets used to it he'll make the part his. Personally, I doubt he'll ever be as good as Tim Daly was, but since we're stuck with him, we might as well give him a fair chance.

BTW, Green Hornet, you'd better start weeping, because somebody voted for Newburn! It wasn't me, I swear! :D

The Green Hornet

03-26-2002, 01:15 PM

*WEEP*

my god

something tells me someone voted out of spite, so ill forgive them ;)

M'ral

03-26-2002, 01:23 PM

I won't. ;) That vote was on there before I voted (a solid Tim Daly, BTW). Apparently, he/she decided to remain anonymous...probably a wise policy :rolleyes: .

Wumbo

03-26-2002, 01:35 PM

tim daly sounds like superman.
george newbern doesn't. i read somewhere that the almost depressed sound of newbern's voice is being played off as the results of the legacy storyline on supes. something about losing confidence in himself. i can't quite remember how it was worded.

M'ral

03-26-2002, 01:51 PM

the almost depressed sound of newbern's voice is being played off as the results of the legacy storyline on supes. something about losing confidence in himself.

Yuck. I hope that isn't true. If they want to show that Superman's a little depressed right now, they should use the stories and writing. That's what they're there for. Granted, Legacy dealt a helluva blow for Superman, but somehow I doubt that would make his voice turn wussy. Daly managed to sound sad and depressed without turning wussy. And the JL stories so far haven't shown Superman losing confidence much--just his voice. Like I said, if they want to show that Superman's lost his self-confidence, they should use the stories to get the message across, not give him a bad voice.

optimal321

03-26-2002, 04:46 PM

I've only seen part of one ep of JL, but Daly is so much better. He just sounds like Superman.

carsonm

03-26-2002, 06:22 PM

Originally posted by M'ral
I read somewhere that this is Newburn's first acting job, so if that's true, Daly has the serious advantage of experience, and maybe Newburn will get better as the series goes on (His voice doesn't fluctuate from super-young to ancient-sounding anymore, though he still sounds like he's got a wad of cotton stuck in his throat :rolleyes: ). I agree, as of now, he's not the voice for Superman, but maybe as he gets used to it he'll make the part his. Personally, I doubt he'll ever be as good as Tim Daly was, but since we're stuck with him, we might as well give him a fair chance.

BTW, Green Hornet, you'd better start weeping, because somebody voted for Newburn! It wasn't me, I swear! :D

George Newborn has acted before. he was the groom in 'father of the bride' pt 1 and 2, and he was the 'yeddy' from a Friends episode. he was the guy that Rachel was dating from across the hall, and he was too close to his sister that it freaked Rachel out.

Livewire

03-26-2002, 06:52 PM

TIM DALY, TIM DALY, TIM DALY!!!

Tim Daly was fantastic as the voice of the Man of Steel. And you're right, carsonm- Newbern has acted before, which is why I don't think he has any excuse for not sounding a lot better. I just can't seem to get used to Newbern, especially after Daly's magnificent voice acting .

M'ral

03-26-2002, 10:30 PM

Originally posted by carsonm

George Newborn has acted before. he was the groom in 'father of the bride' pt 1 and 2, and he was the 'yeddy' from a Friends episode. he was the guy that Rachel was dating from across the hall, and he was too close to his sister that it freaked Rachel out.

Actually, I meant it was his first voice acting job. Still, you're right, it's not much of an excuse

Barb Gordon

03-26-2002, 10:37 PM

Daly, easily. He's got a great Superman voice, and that one that always comes to mind. But Newburn is new to this area, and has to reach his full potential. Right now yes, I consider Daly the best by far, but in a few years, who knows?

Barb^-^

Dark Knight

03-26-2002, 11:48 PM

In all honesty I can't decide. I liked Tim Daly but I didn't think he was as phenominal as a lot of you do. Some voiceactors come in and define the voice for me so that I actually hear it when I'm reading comics and stuff, but Daly just didnt do that to me. Especially in the earlier episodes he always sounded kind of like a cardboard cut out kind of superhero with very little emotion. But by the time he was doing "Legacy" he had gotten a lot better (It felt like Darkseid was the only villain in the show who could make superman the least bit peeved.) I think George Newbern is kindof starting out the same . Hopefully he'll get better as well, but neither of them IS superman yet as far as I'm concerned.

Domino

03-27-2002, 07:35 AM

Originally posted by M'ral

Actually, I meant it was his first voice acting job. Still, you're right, it's not much of an excuse

He was a voice actor in "Pirates of Dark Water" and did the voice for a live action dinosaur in the Whoopi Goldberg movie, "Theodore Rex."

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Newbern,+George

Manhunter

03-27-2002, 04:23 PM

Originally posted by Domino

He was a voice actor in "Pirates of Dark Water" and did the voice for a live action dinosaur in the Whoopi Goldberg movie, "Theodore Rex."

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Newbern,+George

That's right.He was Ren in "Pirates of Dark Water". That was a cool show.

Anyway, I don't think it's fair to heave all these high expectations on Newbern. He's just starting out as Superman.I think he just needs time to get comfortable with the role.Look at Susan Eisenberg(Wonder Woman).She's seemed to grow her role with time.Is it unreasonable to assume the same for Newbern?

carsonm

03-27-2002, 04:28 PM

well, i dont have high expectations of newborn, or ever expected him to be any good, but compared to tim daly, HE SUCKS!!

what was the first thing he said in JL??
"need help?...they dont look so tough" (to Batman)

i first thought, are you kidding me, he sounds nothing like tim daly :p

i thought shooter mcgavin did a better job in BB's 'the call'

JohnStewart-GL

03-27-2002, 05:28 PM

Originally posted by carsonm
well, i dont have high expectations of newborn, or ever expected him to be any good, but compared to tim daly, HE SUCKS!!

what was the first thing he said in JL??
"need help?...they dont look so tough" (to Batman)

i first thought, are you kidding me, he sounds nothing like tim daly :p

i thought shooter mcgavin did a better job in BB's 'the call'
I think newbern was better than his bb voice.

Dark Knight

03-27-2002, 05:51 PM

Originally posted by JohnStewart-GL

I think newbern was better than his bb voice.

The Batman Beyond voice was better for an older superman. Newbern definately would make more sense for young superman in JL.

M'ral

03-27-2002, 08:49 PM

PuppetMaster21J

03-06-2005, 03:57 AM

I saw a Thread where Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy were compared... how about one comparing the two Supermans... Supermen... Clark Kents... ya'll's know what I mean.
Anyway, so how's about it? Who plays a better Superman, George Newbern or Tim Daly? Personally, I say it's George Newbern in Justice League. He brings more depth to the character than Mr. Daly had... or it may be the writing.
If there has already been a thread created to voice this debate, my apologies for stealing anyone's thunder.

~Joe

Allen CARR

03-06-2005, 04:16 AM

DLM

03-06-2005, 04:42 AM

Tim daly was far more superior if you ever watched any Superman the animated series episode. Newborn gets stale sometimes and his voice is very Flat.I dunno. Thats conventional wisdom, especially after the 1st season of Justice League when Supes was an entirely uninspiring character. But Im not so sure now. There have been some really GREAT performances by GN. For the Man Who Has Everything alone should give him huge points on the Superman portrayal scale. And serioulsly.. he's done a GREAT job in every appearance since JLU started. Newburn may be the most underrated voice actor in the DCAU. Rocky start but great finish

Buddy Lee

03-06-2005, 04:54 AM

After watching the Superman:TAS Volume 1 box set, I got to marvel at Tim Daly's voicework. He brought conviction, vulnerability, and confidence all at the same time. I thought Daly was brilliant.

While I have gotten used to George Newburn's flat, understated style for Superman in JL, I have to say that Daly is still the Man of Steel. Newburn's Superman sounds like he has a bad headcold or coming down with the flu.

Daly's Superman had more of an edge while Newburn's Superman seemed kind of dim and slow allowing Batman to dance around him in most episodes.

Teo

03-06-2005, 05:35 AM

It's a touch difficult to compare, but I prefer STAS Superman overall to JLU Superman so I have to give the edge to Daly. Superman seems less likeable or too aloof with some of the Newbern readings. Both do fine and I don't really notice the difference when I'm not paying it too much attention (they both do a pretty fine job and are more than close enough).

Bobbywoodhogan

03-06-2005, 11:41 AM

In my opinion Tim Daly is the best but that's not say I don't like George Newburns Superman, to be honest when JL first started I quite liked Newburns voice as Superman, to me he just seemed like he was older (plus Superman looked it in Season 1). I have no problem with either man's version of Superman and I also think Christopher MacDonald did a good voice for the older Superman in the Call so I would just say it seems like he's getting older. Actually I wonder why they didn't try to cast Christopher MacDonald as Superman in JL? But no I like Newburn and I like Daly.

TimTwoFace

03-06-2005, 11:45 AM

George Newbern wasn't that great when he first started with JUSTICE LEAGUE, but as time wore on, he got better, and I grew to accept him as a worthy replacement.

Even so, Tim Daly is still the better of the two.

-Tim

Supremus

03-06-2005, 11:59 AM

Daly is to Superman what Conroy is to Batman. There is absolutely no comparison. Newbern has improved a lot, though, and he has shown that when given some decent dialog he can be pretty good.

Captain Clown

03-06-2005, 03:05 PM

EJill34

03-06-2005, 04:31 PM

Daly. Nothing particularly wrong with Newbern though. The worst part of the replacement was that it often just doesn't seem like the Superman from S:TAS is the same guy as the one on JL/JLU, but part of that's in the writing.
Well, the Batman from B:TAS/TNBA isn't really the same as the one on JL/JLU. Characters evolve and the events of "Legacy" obviously changed Superman. I will say that Superman isn't the most consistently written hero on JLU, though. He doesn't always come off as a leader, but once in a while you'll get something like "Hereafter" or "FTMWHE" which redeems some of his actions in other episodes.

Revelator

03-07-2005, 05:02 AM

People keep calling Newbern "flat," but I'd say Daly deserves that adjective far more. Compared to Newbern he's stiffer and capable of much less subtlety (Newbern's voice is grainier than Daly's too). Newbern's work in ABE, Twilight and FTMWHE has convinced me that he deserves to keep the part even if Daly comes back on his hands and knees to beg for it.

GF2814

03-07-2005, 08:58 AM

Harley_Quinn

03-07-2005, 09:31 AM

Personally I like George Newbern but I've only seen the first season of STAS. Why was Daly replaced? Just curious

konakazi

03-07-2005, 10:10 AM

I'm curious too.

I know when I first started watching JL , the new voice really put me off but now I'm totally used to it and wouldn't really have it any other way.

Bird Boy

03-07-2005, 10:27 AM

Why was Daly replaced? Just curious

He wasn't available when JL was beginning production. He was currently involved in the now-defunct "The Fugitive" series and couldn't commit time to the show.

As for the comparison--Daly's great, but by now I have absolutely no qualms with Newbern. His performance in FTMWHE pretty much made it. I couldn't imagine hearing Daly as Superman again---Superman's "grown" as a character in JL/JLU and the somewhat deeper/darker voice that Newbern provides fits it.

Had Newbern been first and Daly second, I guarantee you this topic would have a 180...

-BB

Harley_Quinn

03-07-2005, 11:42 AM

He wasn't available when JL was beginning production. He was currently involved in the now-defunct "The Fugitive" series and couldn't commit time to the show.

As for the comparison--Daly's great, but by now I have absolutely no qualms with Newbern. His performance in FTMWHE pretty much made it. I couldn't imagine hearing Daly as Superman again---Superman's "grown" as a character in JL/JLU and the somewhat deeper/darker voice that Newbern provides fits it.

Had Newbern been first and Daly second, I guarantee you this topic would have a 180...

-BB
Thanks for the info BB

Toddman

03-07-2005, 12:06 PM

By my count, after three more Superman appearances on JLU, Newbern will eclipse Daly's number of performances as Supes (not including video games).

Daly was Supes in 52 episodes of STAS.

Newbern has done 41 episodes of JL, 1 episode of Static Shock, and so far 8 episodes of JLU.

Just something else to think about when considering this topic.

Toddman

Bobbywoodhogan

03-07-2005, 02:22 PM

I'm the biggest Daly supporter here. When I heard he was being replaced for JL I was heartbroken. For some reason he really seemed to be prefect, I can't even put my finger on it. Not to take anything away from Newbern, he really has gotten better but I say Daly blows him away. He really came off as someone who could be a farmboy from Kansas, salt of the earth or something. That being said I liked the S:TAS design better too. Larger pompadore, black underpants, tanner skin tone...

God I miss Tim Daly:sweat:
Reagrding your comments on Superman's design I like bits of each versions for example I prefer the long cape on Jl and the red pants actully being red but in S:TAS I prefer the darkness of the costume and the \S/

http://wf.toonzone.net/WF/superman/bios/heroes/superman/01.gif
http://wf.toonzone.net/WF/jl/bios/heroes/superman/01.jpg

Here are some better ones to compare the costumes

Heres the link: http://www.chez.com/theballbreaker/dc/superman/superman.htm

Love4ever

03-07-2005, 06:36 PM

Even though I've gotten use to hearing Georges voice as Superman in JL over the past few years, Tim Daly voice is still better, not mush better, but better.

DisneyBoy

03-07-2005, 06:51 PM

Captain Clown

03-07-2005, 07:52 PM

After hearing a bit of "The World's Finest" three parter (thanks YTV) and recalling Tim Daily's take, I'll say this.

George Newburn sounds older and more "gaw shucks".

Tim Daily sounds more cold, more intelligent.
I'll go with that. One cool thing about Daly is that in spite of sounding like a "nice guy", he can actually sound rather intimidating.

maxnugget

03-07-2005, 11:35 PM

Newbern has been on quite a journey.

After an abysmal JL S1 performance, his S2 performance was far better, with some great performances (see Twilight, ABW), yet he still seemed to have a lot of stilted lines here and there, and his performances were of inconsistent quality.

Then came JLU. Newbern upped his game yet again, with far more consistency and another standout performance (FTMWHE). All in all, Newbern actually hasn't had that many lines or episodes in JLU S1, but he's been pretty consistent with what he's done. Superman will presumably play a large role in the remainder of JLU S2, so hopefully he'll stay on top of his game.

...

Having said that, I unfortunately must say I STILL think Daly was better. Watch "World's Finest," "The Demon Reborn," "Legacy," "Late Mr. Kent," "Brave New Metropolis"...

First, let's try to compare apples to apples here. JL/JLU's Superman has had much more opportunity to be more dynamic, emotional, and three-dimensional. He's faced more personal conflicts, more grave threats to the world, more dramatic/emotional moments. By contrast, Superman was more constrained in STAS, and aside from clashes with Darkseid and a couple other key episodes, is usually constrained to protecting Metropolis from the villain-of-the-week. So we can't simply say Daly was "flat" and subdued, because, for the majority of STAS, so was his character. By contrast, Newbern has had a LOT of dramatic/emotional/dynamic episodes to play with (though not always the best-written dialogue).

As has been said, Daly's strength was in the fact that his voice had a very confident sense of authority and even iconic-ness to it. He could sound intimidating rather than simply angry, and his voice had a sense of built-in morality that was perfect for the character. Newbern has tried to imitate some of these qualities, with mixed success.

But what really made Daly's performance so different (and IMHO better) than Newbern's was the degree of subtlety. When Daly did portray more dynamic emotions, they seemed more three-dimensional. He portrayed rage as a subtle undertone, the human emotion of anger making small cracks in the iconic, morally perfect persona. This was perfect in the Darkseid episodes. Darkseid was "getting under Superman's skin," so to speak, and that's exactly how Daly portrayed it vocally. Newbern, by contrast, portrayed Superman's rage as if it were a normal part of the personality of the character, rather than the staunch, moral hero being pushed to his breaking point. Newbern's approach feels less dramatic and three-dimensional, IMHO. All the emotions Daly portrayed seemed to percolate up from within his otherwise-consistent base of iconicism and morality. When Daly portrays emotions, it just sounds like "the Superman voice" doing emotion X. This, I think, is the main distinction between Daly's Superman and Newbern's Superman.

We'll never truly be able to answer the question of who's the better Superman in the context of JL/JLU because the character has evolved so much since STAS and we don't really know how Daly would have played the more-dynamic JL/JLU version of the character. In the meantime, Newbern is doing a fine job at this point, and the only reason we all got on his case in the first place was because his JL season 1 performance was so bad. I'd love to see how Daly would have done JL/JLU but thanks to Newbern's much-improved VA work I'm no longer losing any sleep over it.

adoptedBatpuppy

03-08-2005, 01:17 PM

Wow! That's really hard to argue, to me both of the Supermen on JL and the Animated Series sound very simular! :shrug:

GL Zeeguy

01-07-2012, 03:35 PM

If I knew how to make a poll, I would for this subject, but alas, I don't. So you're just gonna have to tell me individually what you think.

I grew up with both of them as the voice of Superman. Tim Daly voiced him for Superman: TAS and then George Newbern came to take over for Justice League. I actually heard George Newbern first, though, because I only started watching reruns of Superman: TAS after Justice League premiered, but I never really registered the difference in his voice. I didn't really care. All I cared about at that age was that he was beating up villains. Anyway, when I got older, I started to question: who's the better voice for Superman? I'm somewhat neutral on the subject. Either one is fine with me and they both bring something different to the table.

Newbern has that authoritative weight in his voice that you'd want in Superman. When he gets mad, you can hear it booming in his voice. So when he's voicing Superman, its a Superman who's gonna take charge, crack some skulls, and get his teammates out of trouble.

Daly also brings something else of value to the table. Daly has that Midwestern sensibility in his voice. He sounds like someone who was raised on a farm and Superman is nothing if not a corn-fed Kansas farm-boy. He brings a sense of wisdom to Superman that comes with experience.

So, like I said, I could go with either, but I just wanted to know, which one do you guys prefer: Daly or Newbern?

P.S. If there is already a thread about this, I'm sorry.

Citizen_H

01-07-2012, 06:14 PM

I feel almost the exact opposite of Tim Daly as you do.
He was born in New York and he sounds like it. For me, he never had the 'heartland vibe'. Was he a bad Superman? Not at all, but he's not my favorite choice. He was good for a Superman who was still wet behind the ears, although sometimes I felt he was a little flat and 'phoned in' with his performances.

Newbern will always be my top pick, but in some ways he got off easy. He never had to dual voice Clark except for a couple of times so only only had to express the one voice and personality. Also, acting in an ensemble is a little easier then carrying a series by yourself. But, he hit all the right emotional notes and against Conroy's Batman, he felt more like a equal as opposed to some kid Bats talked down to. Lastly, he got the famous 'world of cardboard' speech that I'm not sure just any VA could pull off without sounding silly or narm-ish.

DerekPowers

01-07-2012, 09:31 PM

DEFINITELY Tim Daly.

He's a better actor. He conveys a lot of different emotions in his voice. And he sounds sharp and crisp and smart. IMO he was the perfect voice for Superman, as he conveyed all of Superman's traits in his voice, NOT just the "strong-man" angle. His acting and voice sounds thoughtful, bright, clever, and nuanced.

George Newbern, on the other hand, always sounded very mono-tone to me. He never gave much range as Superman, and just has a tired or sleepy sound to his voice, that just NEVER felt like Superman to me. I feel his portrayal of Superman was always too narrowly focused on him being "tough", and that just misses the point of Superman, imo.

When I hear Newbern, I hear "meat-head". When I hear Daly, I hear "Boyscout". And Superman IS a boyscout NOT a meat-head.

JTMarsh

01-07-2012, 10:33 PM

Tim Daly's voice always felt more natural to me as Superman, but George Newbern got better as he went along and did very well in episodes like "Comfort & Joy" and "For The Man Who Has Everything".

Laugh Anyway

01-10-2012, 06:44 PM

By the time JLU rolled around, Newbern had Superman down cold.