What's the (Toy) Story?
April 13, 2010 6:07 PM Subscribe
I have this Toy Story talking Woody doll from around 1998 or 1999. For the last ten years, I haven't been able to figure out one of the phrases he says when you push the button on his chest. Help me figure it out!
I've uploaded a short .wav file here so you can hear for yourself. I'm talking about the second phrase in the clip. After "Yee-haw, Cowboy!" and before "Howdy, Partner."
He's saying something about an alien, I suppose. But what? Thanks to my three two-year-olds, I've watched Toy Story 1 and 2 a billion times in the past month and I am pretty sure it's not something he says in the movie.
So what is he saying? Please save my sanity!
More details on Woody - he's 11.5" tall, not the 16" model with the pull string that's for sale now. You push a button on his shirt to make him talk. I can't remember exactly when I got him, but it was sometime between 1998-2000. Presumably tied in with the Toy Story 2 release.
Oh, and there's one listed on ebay that claims he's saying "Look, there's an alien" but I don't buy it.
I've uploaded a short .wav file here so you can hear for yourself. I'm talking about the second phrase in the clip. After "Yee-haw, Cowboy!" and before "Howdy, Partner."
He's saying something about an alien, I suppose. But what? Thanks to my three two-year-olds, I've watched Toy Story 1 and 2 a billion times in the past month and I am pretty sure it's not something he says in the movie.
So what is he saying? Please save my sanity!
More details on Woody - he's 11.5" tall, not the 16" model with the pull string that's for sale now. You push a button on his shirt to make him talk. I can't remember exactly when I got him, but it was sometime between 1998-2000. Presumably tied in with the Toy Story 2 release.
Oh, and there's one listed on ebay that claims he's saying "Look, there's an alien" but I don't buy it.
Best answer: "Look, there's an alien" sounds about right to my ears.
posted by lore at 6:11 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by lore at 6:11 PM on April 13, 2010
Best answer: That's definitely "look, there's an alien". I mean, the first part of the phrase is kind of difficult to understand, but you can't argue that he says "alien".
posted by _cave at 6:12 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by _cave at 6:12 PM on April 13, 2010
Best answer: Yep. "Look, there's an alien." Or possibly, "Buzz! There's an alien." But more likely the first one.
posted by cooker girl at 6:13 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by cooker girl at 6:13 PM on April 13, 2010
Best answer: At first it sounded garbled to me too, but after listening to it a few times I can hear "Look Theeer's un alien!!"
Did you try just putting your mind to it and deciding you were going to here it? That works sometimes.
posted by amethysts at 6:13 PM on April 13, 2010
Did you try just putting your mind to it and deciding you were going to here it? That works sometimes.
posted by amethysts at 6:13 PM on April 13, 2010
Dude, sesquipedalian.
posted by Some1 at 6:15 PM on April 13, 2010 [5 favorites]
posted by Some1 at 6:15 PM on April 13, 2010 [5 favorites]
Sounds like 'look' to me too, but I could be wrong.
Man, if you leave that .wav on repeat for a while, 'yee haw cowboy' loses all meaning.
posted by box at 6:15 PM on April 13, 2010
Man, if you leave that .wav on repeat for a while, 'yee haw cowboy' loses all meaning.
posted by box at 6:15 PM on April 13, 2010
Not quite the same words as the film: "Buzz look! an alien!".
posted by samj at 6:25 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by samj at 6:25 PM on April 13, 2010
Response by poster: Man. I just don't hear it. I'm really trying to hear it too!
What I hear is "What a prison alien" which obviously makes NO sense whatsoever. I think for whatever reason, that is stuck in my head and I can't get past it. My husband says it's "What a perfect alien" which makes no sense either.
I ordered two more of the dolls off eBay (so each kid can have one and they'll stop fighting over it) so maybe one of the others will be a little clearer. Hmm.
posted by pyjammy at 6:28 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
What I hear is "What a prison alien" which obviously makes NO sense whatsoever. I think for whatever reason, that is stuck in my head and I can't get past it. My husband says it's "What a perfect alien" which makes no sense either.
I ordered two more of the dolls off eBay (so each kid can have one and they'll stop fighting over it) so maybe one of the others will be a little clearer. Hmm.
posted by pyjammy at 6:28 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
'What a prison alien' and 'What a perfect alien' sound, to my ears anyway, like too many syllables.
posted by box at 6:35 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by box at 6:35 PM on April 13, 2010
I hear "what a perfect alien!" on preview like your husband.
posted by b33j at 6:35 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by b33j at 6:35 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I deliberately listened to it before reading any comments so I wouldn't bias my response. I heard (pretty clearly to me) "Look, there's an alien".
posted by mhum at 6:39 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by mhum at 6:39 PM on April 13, 2010
Best answer: it is very clearly "Look, there's an alien!" to me...
posted by p1nkdaisy at 6:39 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by p1nkdaisy at 6:39 PM on April 13, 2010
Best answer: I just had my husband listen to it, and I didn't tell him what he was "supposed" to hear. He heard, "Look! There's an alien!"
posted by cooker girl at 6:40 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by cooker girl at 6:40 PM on April 13, 2010
Best answer: Sounds like "Look, there's an Alien" to me too.
posted by delmoi at 6:51 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by delmoi at 6:51 PM on April 13, 2010
samj has the correct answer although the recording makes it sound like "What a prison alien!?"
posted by JJ86 at 6:54 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by JJ86 at 6:54 PM on April 13, 2010
I would guess the phrase comes from the part in the movie where Woody makes fun of Buzz for thinking he's the real Buzz Lightyear -- at least, that's what this IMDB quote suggests.
posted by lilac girl at 7:20 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by lilac girl at 7:20 PM on April 13, 2010
Best answer: Try slowing down the playback and listening to it--clearly "Look, there's an alien!" to my ears, too.
posted by asras at 7:37 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by asras at 7:37 PM on April 13, 2010
If I squint my ears and listen real hard, I can sort of make out "Buzz, look! An alien!" like Bdave says, but after listening to the actual clip (warning: repeats three times for no discernable reason), I'm positive.
posted by aubilenon at 8:06 PM on April 13, 2010
posted by aubilenon at 8:06 PM on April 13, 2010
WHAT A PERFECT ALIEN
(I hope)
"YEE haw! Cowboy. What a PERFECT ALien! Howdy pardner!"
posted by tristeza at 8:38 PM on April 13, 2010
(I hope)
"YEE haw! Cowboy. What a PERFECT ALien! Howdy pardner!"
posted by tristeza at 8:38 PM on April 13, 2010
I can buy it being "Buzz, look, an alien!" especially if that's the actual line from the movie. The inflection on "Buzz" is weird because it sounds low and flat, while the rest of the phrase is higher and excited.
If you tried saying it to yourself with that awkward speech pattern, it might be more plausible:
"buzz. LOOK! AN A-LI-EN!!"
And even the delivery of "yee-haw..... cowBOY" is weird. What up? And it (literally) sounds like Tom Hanks didn't sign off on using his actual voice for that toy.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 11:22 PM on April 13, 2010
If you tried saying it to yourself with that awkward speech pattern, it might be more plausible:
"buzz. LOOK! AN A-LI-EN!!"
And even the delivery of "yee-haw..... cowBOY" is weird. What up? And it (literally) sounds like Tom Hanks didn't sign off on using his actual voice for that toy.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 11:22 PM on April 13, 2010
I also listened to it before reading any comments, and my independent conclusion on the first playback was that it was either "Buzz, there's an alien!" or "Look, there's an alien!". After listening to it many times, I'm sure about "there's an alien!", but I'm still unclear on the first word. I'm about 60% in favor of 'look'.
posted by Malor at 12:38 AM on April 14, 2010
posted by Malor at 12:38 AM on April 14, 2010
It seems to sound like "What a perfect alien" (what I heard on first listen as well) if you listen to it right after the first line. But if you pause it after the first one and listen to it by itself it sounds much more like "Look, there's an alien." Isn't there a scene in the movie where Woody is trying to get Buzz to look away for a second and yells something like "Look, there's an alien!"?
posted by Ginkgo at 1:53 AM on April 14, 2010
posted by Ginkgo at 1:53 AM on April 14, 2010
Isn't there a scene in the movie where Woody is trying to get Buzz to look away for a second and yells something like "Look, there's an alien!"?
Yeah, it was linked to earlier (and I think there is a discernable reason it repeats: it's supposed to look like Woody's faking him out three times in a row, and the results are hilarious.)
But again, it's clearly not the same audio from the movie, hence the confusion. I think instead of trying to figure out what it sounds like the toy is saying, we need to figure out what it's supposed to be saying.
But now that I think about, maybe they did replace "Buzz" because the Woody toy is ostensibly more geared for interacting with the kid that owns it, rather than a Buzz counterpart toy. Then again, would that mean he's trying to fake out the kid? Mean-spirited!
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:17 AM on April 14, 2010
Yeah, it was linked to earlier (and I think there is a discernable reason it repeats: it's supposed to look like Woody's faking him out three times in a row, and the results are hilarious.)
But again, it's clearly not the same audio from the movie, hence the confusion. I think instead of trying to figure out what it sounds like the toy is saying, we need to figure out what it's supposed to be saying.
But now that I think about, maybe they did replace "Buzz" because the Woody toy is ostensibly more geared for interacting with the kid that owns it, rather than a Buzz counterpart toy. Then again, would that mean he's trying to fake out the kid? Mean-spirited!
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:17 AM on April 14, 2010
Best answer: "Look, there's an alien". Without doubt.
"What a perfect alien" is ridiculous, although if you listen for it, you can hear it. But that's just because your brain has gone all "Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard" about it.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 2:25 AM on April 14, 2010
"What a perfect alien" is ridiculous, although if you listen for it, you can hear it. But that's just because your brain has gone all "Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard" about it.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 2:25 AM on April 14, 2010
Best answer: "Look, there's an alien!" I don't thing they pulled these lines directly from the movie because that sure doesn't sound like Tom Hanks to me.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:35 AM on April 14, 2010
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:35 AM on April 14, 2010
Best answer: Someone poisoned the water hole!
no, really, it's "look there's an alien"
there's a snake in my boot
posted by jrishel at 6:21 AM on April 14, 2010 [5 favorites]
no, really, it's "look there's an alien"
there's a snake in my boot
posted by jrishel at 6:21 AM on April 14, 2010 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: Well. I think I'm going to have to go ahead and believe y'all that it's "Look there's an alien", or "Buzz, look an alien!" but I still don't hear it. My brain is stuck. I especially think it's my brain because if I slow it down in my handy Windows Sound Recorder, I can hear it, sorta. But I can't hear it fast.
Thanks all!
posted by pyjammy at 6:32 AM on April 14, 2010
Thanks all!
posted by pyjammy at 6:32 AM on April 14, 2010
Response by poster: Oooh, now I can hear "Whata there's an alien!" (in normal speed) so I think I'm getting there....
posted by pyjammy at 6:34 AM on April 14, 2010
posted by pyjammy at 6:34 AM on April 14, 2010
Response by poster: Okay, so I'm following up on this, even though no one will probably ever see it. But we got another Woody that I ordered off eBay and he has a battery that's on its last legs. Therefore, the voice is slowed down just a little. Just enough to make it abundantly clear that he's saying "Look! There's an alien!" But with some weird emphasis on some of the words.
I still can't hear it on the "normal speed" Woodys, but at least I know what he's saying. (Just what so many of you told me!)
posted by pyjammy at 6:55 AM on April 22, 2010 [2 favorites]
I still can't hear it on the "normal speed" Woodys, but at least I know what he's saying. (Just what so many of you told me!)
posted by pyjammy at 6:55 AM on April 22, 2010 [2 favorites]
To explain why woody sounds off - Tom's brother Jim Hanks does recordings for merchandising and other toy story promotions.
posted by beardlace at 2:04 AM on August 31, 2010
posted by beardlace at 2:04 AM on August 31, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by BlahLaLa at 6:11 PM on April 13, 2010