*** Stephen Russell - Petition & Poll ***

InfinituS on 11/4/2013 at 21:56

Do mine eyes see right? :eek: Lovely message from an amazing man!!

And count me in too Alex :)

Cavalorn on 11/4/2013 at 22:00

Thank you Stephen for all your wonderful voice acting that you had done for Thief - and for other games as well. Garrett is my all-time favorite game character, you really made him a very special and iconic character.

Thank you very much for the countless memorable hours that I spent playing with Garrett!

Disturbation on 11/4/2013 at 22:01

Well, another voice in the choir here. Thank you, Mr. Russell.

It won't be Garrett without you.

Specter on 11/4/2013 at 22:10

Meanwhile, I posted in Eidos' forum mentioning that we had succeeded in making our sentiments known to Mr Russell. Their moderator had this to say:

Quote Posted by b1skit

Actually, it makes more sense to use the official Thief forums right here. The Thief team know Stephen personally and will be passing your messages to him directly as promised.

But, since you brought it up, I would like to extend my personal invitation to everybody on the TTLG forums who haven't already to join us here and share their fondness for Mr Russell's work. I think Skaadi's idea to do this was very thoughtful and kind - a truly lovely way to honor the legacy of a man who we all love and respect :)

If you happen to be a member of TTLG please feel free to pass on my invitation - everybody is welcome here! :) For those who wish to abstain that's up to them, but, I'm sure you'll agree that the only person who loses out by fragmenting our efforts is Stephen, and frankly I think that is counter to the whole idea of this thread and not the right path to take.

I've been loving reading everybody's contributions, can't wait to see more :)

So, lets get this thread back on topic, but feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss more.

Interesting.

thiefinthedark on 11/4/2013 at 22:17

It pleases me to know that even though he won't be voicing Garrett, SR is widely aware of how the fan base views his role in the original series and continued VA roles in the industry.

Your voice made that character for me, Mr. Russell, and I hope you see continued success! :thumb:

ras2a on 11/4/2013 at 22:35

First post in a long time. Been a Thief fan since 1998. Stephen you are a LEGEND

As for an unofficial voice pack.... wicked!

Nuth on 11/4/2013 at 23:18

Thank you very much, Stephen, for enriching my life with your wonderful contributions to Thief. Stealing a few words from one of Garrett's adversaries, I'd just like to say that I can't tell you how disappointed I am that you won't be appearing in the new Thief, Mr. Russell--I simply can't find the words.

CloudOJD on 11/4/2013 at 23:19

Quote Posted by StephenR

To all of you who have taken the time to post here and elsewhere over the last few days, I wanted to finally come out from the shadows and express to you how truly overwhelmed and astonished I am by the appreciation so many people have shown. The fact that people all over the world have responded so positively to the work I was fortunate enough to be able to do means the world to me. Creating Garrett's voice (and Benny and Karras) and working closely with the incredibly talented and encouraging audio team at Looking Glass, particularly those geniuses Eric Brosius and Kemal Amarasingham, was one of the highlights of my life and I'm extremely grateful to them for the opportunity. I'm also more grateful than I can ever express that so many fans responded so enthusiastically over the years and continue to do so even now. Anyone who's been involved in the performing arts for any length of time knows full well the vagaries of the business, that there will be good times and there will be not so good times and one always hopes that the former will outweigh the latter. I consider myself very fortunate that I'm still working and enjoying what I'm doing even if the winds have change have once again brought new directions.
With sincere thanks and all best wishes.
Stephen

As the creator of the petition, I have to admit, this alone has made the entire petition worth it. Thank you so much, Stephen!
You are one incredibly talented voice actor, and I must say that the voice of Garrett is perhaps one of my favorite voices of any character ever, matching his personality perfectly.

Thank you for all the adventures we've had in the world of Thief, and thank you for taking the time to respond to us. You are awesome. :)

I hope we'll get a chance to hear you in a Thief game again. If nothing else, perhaps we could all arrange something and make a project of our own, and ask you to give life to one of our favorite characters once again.

Vae on 11/4/2013 at 23:19

Quote Posted by StephenR

I am so delighted that you have decided to join us here at TTLG, Stephen...It is quite an honor, and I wish to express my highest regards and appreciation for you and your profound work...As you know, the community at large is working diligently to reclaim your rightful place as Garrett in the next THIEF game...Please feel free to join in on the discussion, as of course, we would welcome it immensely.

All the best to you,

~Vae

Quote Posted by b1skit

I'm sure you would like to improve your public relations regarding this matter...yet, I don't think you'll be finding 88% of the community agreeable to such an unsavory notion...We the community, not Eidos, have set into motion, proper communications and respect with Stephen Russell...As soon as you start talking about the return of the one and true voice of Garrett, we'll be right there...but not a moment sooner.

Quote Posted by b1skit

If you happen to be a member of TTLG please feel free to pass on my invitation - everybody is welcome here! For those who wish to abstain that's up to them, but, I'm sure you'll agree that the only person who loses out by fragmenting our efforts is Stephen, and frankly I think that is counter to the whole idea of this thread and not the right path to take.

EM is the one who has fragmented the situation in the first place, by foolishly deciding on a misguided move...You have no one to blame but yourselves, and attempting to appease the THIEF community by means of dubious afterthoughts, is only insulting.

I would suggest you take the correct course of action, and start rethinking Stephen Russell's involvement.

Quote Posted by b1skit

I've been loving reading everybody's contributions, can't wait to see more

Skaadi has decided to close the thread over at Eidos, so good luck with that...

Quote Posted by Skaadi

Ok, so after thinking about it for a bit, I've decided to move the whole thank you card thread over here, if that's alright.

While I don't agree with a lot of points on the whole anti EM thing, I understand that I'm really not going to get much in the way of replies when people have so many concerns related to censorship, tact, timing etc etc etc. So I'm pretty much cutting ties with EM on the thing and the thread is getting closed on the forum.

So when we've got a decent amount of messages, I'll send it via PM on the theatre FB page. On that note, its entirely up to you guys, but for efficiency / proprieties sake, could we submit all messages to Stephen via the message thread? It's just that the theatre website isn't strictly Stephen related (or Thief related at all,) and I don't think it'd be a good idea if the FB page got flooded with Thief related messages when it wasn't created for that purpose.

So on that note, I'll get started on the thread when I get home (gotta transfer all the replies from the other thread etc etc)

(Replies to b1skit at Eidos)

Quote Posted by Specter

Speaking only for myself, I feel that EM's involvement in sending our messages to Mr Russell is a bit awkward given the fact that EM has decided that he should not be part of their Thief. As such, I choose not to contribute as I feel it is in conflict with the pressure we hope to exert on EM via the petition to bring Mr Russell back. Thank you for your offer, but we have successfully got in contact with him ourselves.

Quote Posted by HarlandMcTavish

Yes, a line of communication with him has been established by TTLG members and the thread starter has chosen to transfer the digital message movement there. These messages are an expression of our love for Mr. Russell and his work, but they are not a goodbye by any means. We intend to keep pushing for his return. There is always hope, so long are we remain hopeful and Mr. Russell's positive message to his fans certainly filled us with hope and positive energy. Nothing but love for Mr. Russell.

I too feel EM's involvement is somewhat hypocritical and would prefer not to have this gesture performed by them. Thank you, but the fans will take care of this.

Captain Spandex on 11/4/2013 at 23:20

Very considerate to post in here and let us know your appreciation, Stephen. Thanks a million.

I'll repost my original thank you message from the EM forums:

Quote:

Everyone's going to slobber over your performance as Garrett, and that's perfectly warranted. It's iconic. It's incredible. I'm a huge fan of it, and the series will be lesser for its absence.

For me, though, you completely stole (shameless pun intended) the entire series as Father Karras in Thief II. Those intercom messages in Soulforge Cathedral, as it's clear the man is going completely, slowly, unavoidably insane... absolutely genius. That I've often found myself, in the midst of countless enemies, with 1,000 things I need to do and even more things to worry about within the context of the game... nevertheless standing transfixed, hanging on Karras' every word...? It's a testament to your performance on every level. Enhanced further by how you simply disappeared into the role! I actually shook my head in disbelief when I was informed that the voice of Garrett and Karras were one and the same.

Your incredible voicework has enriched the entire series, no small feat for a game that's so auditorily oriented. By association, it's enriched the lives of the individuals that experienced it. It certainly has with mine, having inspired numerous artistic and creative endeavors.

Thank you from all of us, Stephen Russell.