Mike Shapiro's perspective on The-Gman (HL2: 20th Anniversary)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Mike Shapiro, the voice of both the G-Man and Barney Calhoun from Half-Life 2, shares his vision of why G-Man is the way he is. It is rather fascinating to think about the possibilities that the world of HL2 has to offer, and most certainly, very few have thought of this the way Shapiro does!
The clip is from - • Half-Life 2: 20th Anni...
Valve
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Lambda Generation (20th Anniversary Logo Design)
#halflife #halflife2 #hl2
You can tell he really prides himself on his role as G-man. Don't think anyone could ever replace that voice.
The guy from the cock-n-ball torture g-man video makes a pretty impressive impression
@@magicmirror8627 the guy from WHAT?!
@@magicmirror8627 THE GUY FROM what!?
JapanseBushBaby is probably the closest fan impression
I thought the guy in Hunt Down the Freeman did a pretty good impression (besides pronouncing "Black Mesa"), despite the absolute mess that project was. Still, Mike's performance is impossible to top.
“G-Man, why are you laughing?”
“You’d have to had been there.”
"You wouldn't get it..."
"it will all make sense to you in the course of...well... I'm really not at liberty to say"
@@pastedtomato "in the meantime... this is where i get off"
“You…had to have…been…therrrre… Dr Freeman….”
"You'll have to be there"
the best fucking voice ever
Iconic
Almost. Stephen Russell has done the best voice acting for games
@@DolphLundgrensDolphinDungeon While he is a great VA none of his role is actually that memorable, maybe except Nick Valentine. Mike's voice here is iconic but it is only a single entry. I'd rather go with Laura Bailey or Tony Jay or Simon Templeman. Honourable mention: Ellen McLain
@@afgncap That's where you're wrong. He was the voice of Garret the Master Thief, Karras, and many others from the Thief series. Which the stealth gaming fanbase has long considered Thief to be the most in depth steath game ever made. If that doesn't leave a mark on voice acting in the gaming industry then who knows what that was
@@DolphLundgrensDolphinDungeon Forgot about Thief but I was never a fan of stealth games. I still consider the Legacy of Kain cast to be the best VA work ever but this is all subjective, regardless of whether we agree who is the best, at least we can agree these are all legendary performances in gaming VA history.
He´s always ... over yooourr shoulderrrr ..... watchiiingg ... waitiiiing.... for the moment ...to............. speak....
Mister Freeman... hrmm... I am here... to extract... hrmm... some payment... from your... crowbar
he didnt even blinked once during that scene... he might be the real g-man :3
Doctor... Freeman. Hehe. If you really... are a... free... man. I, am... the... gee man.
Gave me goosebumps
Instantly iconic
The way he can just flow in and out of the G-Man voice like it’s nothing is extraordinary
it got me ngl
His entire segment is just an insane flex at the viewer. He just doesn't switch in and out of G-Man, he switches to Barney flawlessly too when describing Barney to the viewer
"Gee, Gordon!"
“Gee Gordon!” 🤠🤠🤠
@@knatspray "About that beer that i own ya' 🤠🤠🤠
@@paperhat_boi I’d kill to hear Mike sing a country song in Barney’s voice
We need Barney back
@@knatspray No Country for Old Citizens 😅
I genuinely had chills going down my spine when he went into G-Man mode. That was so incredibly eerie.
I want more.
I would watch a 2h Movie only over the G-Man where the Camera follows him where he watches Stuff and Speaks and nothing more. No Story arc, no final, nothing. Just the G-Man and 2h of following and seeing him what he is doing or experiencing^^
Серп и молот - смерть и голод!
same
Corny asf
Calm your bussy
I always assumed the strangled quality to Gman's voice was due to him not being human and having to contort his form or voice to mimic human speech. But it being more about his conciousness / attention split over multiple simultaneous moments in time is really cool.
i think both reasons at the same time (oops)
This also vibes with his portrayal in Alyx, where whenever he speaks, he "splits" into several other selves that fade away. I always interpreted that as a glimpse into other realities where he made a different choice.
@@meidunn which would make the most sense comming from his lore.
@@HansWurst1569And when you can see him in multiple instances across HL1 and the expansions.
He always sounded like he wasn't used to having lungs
He was also the Staples "That was easy!" voice
GTFO, thats awesome. My stepmom used to be a teacher and we had those growing up
WHAT
@@mrdarkshoe pea starch
Holy shit G-Man really is everywhere
That just blew my mind, so heres something that might blow yours (or anyone elses)
The guy that played captain Keyes in Halo CE is also the "REAL MAN OF GENIUS" guy
I saw a post where people were paraphrasing the " G-man stutters because he is experiencing multiple timelines "
And in a subpost someone gave the most horrific and possibly climatic scenario : ... Gman not stuttering for once. Just speaking, in a perfect flow. *Because you now have his undivided attention.*
That would be amazing
Or he finally successfully eliminated all other timelines... Or all other Yous.
The heart-to-heart speech was fucking terrifying already without this information, too. You could tell he was not happy at all with Gordon.
@@afungai1649To me thats Mike Shapiros apex with Gmans voice. He sounds so sinister and almost childlike with a hint of “oooooh man you have no idea how small you are”
That's exactly how the Half Life 2 Episode 2 Intermission begins, The G-Man's little "Dooooctooor Freemaaan" is delieverd without any hitches or stuttering, that whole sequence is now far more terrifying in hindsight.
"Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, he's a highly trained professional"
You know, he should have recreated that line (if you dont know, mike shapiro voiced some of the scientists in half life 1, including the one that said this line)
@@ImTiredOfWalking And in Black Mesa (the remake), I believe Kevan Brighting (the narrator from The Stanley Parable) voiced that scientist.
@@dogman15 "This is the story of a man named Gordon."
@@collinlee5927 "Gordon worked at a company in a research facility, as an employee of the anomalous materials department. The job in the anomalous materials department was simple, he entered the chamber in the anomalous materials department, where he pushed a button and a cart into a mass spectrometer, this is what Gordon did every day, of every month, of every year. and although others might have considered it soul rending, Gordon relished every time he had to push buttons and sample carts with questionable ethics, as though he had been made exactly for this job. And Gordon was happy."
@ImTiredOfWalking Funny Gordon is technically a prankster, and he is happy on with his job of pushing carts and buttons with a PhD.
he still got it 💪🏻
I love how Mike has these detailed background thoughts about G-Man. The idea of him being in multiple places at different times and that affecting his enunciation is just the type of nuance that I think a great voice actor thinks about when being so invested in their character.
And then when he talks about Barney he just says "Gee, Gordon".
For today Half Life 2 Anniversary, I rather have a cold beer with Barney.
I don't know man. Knowing Barney and the gman are the same guy is kinda a plot twist in itself.
@@NickFoxQuixand only if you never played the game it would be a twist…
Literally one of the most memorable characters in gaming of all time. I don’t think anything has reached the level of nuance, intrigue and genuine mystery of this character. He’s an enigma wrapped in a riddle!
The same can be said about Venom Snake too funny enough
@@mrdarkshoeHe's already a demon... Here in robot hell!!
@@mrdarkshoe"The same can be said for me, huh?"
truly incredible how after 20 years he can just walk right back into character! Mad respect!
Well, he reprised the Role recently for Half Life Alyx.
@@darthjumpdiddnt half life Alyx come out 4 years ago?
@@thepopmanbrad In Half Life development time, 4 years ago is yesterday.
@@thepopmanbrad Fffffuuuuck, it's been FOUR YEARS ALREADY?
Since he's the Gman, all of this happens simultaneously for him
Man... That made me grin like a little kid...
Same. 😁
I somewhere read that during the development of HL:Alyx, Valve planned 2 or 3 days for recording Shapiros G-Man voiceover because it has been almost 15 years since the last Half-Life. Apparently they were done after about half an hour because Shapiro still nailed it.
"Not the most capable"
I think Barney managed the resistance quite well that week Gordon and Alyx went "missing"
i love the amount of thought hes put into the character. the idea that his vocal tics are due to him being omnipresent is so cool
Still think it's incredible that he can sound as innocuous as barney but as unsettling as g-man, great range
I giggled so hard when he did that in the documentary
It's on my bucket list to meet this man. Just the biggest inspiration for a cosmic horror fanatic. G-Man is the voice of Existential Dread washing over you. While Barney is the buddy who tries to calm you down from it.
Why hasn’t this man gotten more work?
He should be as iconic as Nolan North, Troy Baker, Dan Castanella or Clancy Brown to name a few.
Unbelievably talented.
He used to voice act in a lot of video games back around 1999.
I have my gripes about HL: Alyx but the idea of G-Man being in so many timelines at the same time was beautifully showcased in the ending where he keeps splitting off and fading in and out with a different one speaking each time
The biggest surprise of this documentary for me was Mike’s pronunciation of his last name
His explanation as to why he choose that speaking pattern is honestly far better than any fan theory I've heard. G-man quite *literally is* pulling a 5th dimensional galaxy brain move by having every conversation you'll ever have with him, all at once, *while* retroactively feeling the timelines he's in change from doing so. No wonder the dude sounds disjointed. He's hustling the whole multiverse at the same time.
G-Man's mannerisms being the result of him being in multiple places at once is such a cool bit of info.
Watching the documentary i never would have guessed i would see a live action performance from G-man
God that voice gives me the chills.
Imagine him reading a short story on Audible in that voice…
I really love the idea of The Gman existing in a superposition.
0:17 Mike Shipyro.
Finally, we know who's under the gasmask.
Who?
@@NickCat01 well mike shapyro ofcourse!
The coolest moment in the documentary
"He's always over your shoulder watching" ... yes. yes, he is.
I adore his stilted speech pattern. Forever ingrained in my memory, especially the Episode 2 speech. "When - I - plucked - her"
If valve were to ever make a Live-Action Half Life show, I think that Mike would be perfect to play G-Man as is. He has the physical mannerisms down to a T, and it's really cool to see how talented he is. I'm not saying Valve should make a show, or any adaptation, just a what if.
0:31 "Fallable?" I'm sorry Michael, but anybody who survived Black Mesa is a certified badass in my book
He really doesn't think much of Barney based on his interview in the documentary. Like in a later part he's genuinely surprised that Barney made it all the way to Half-Life 2.
The way we anticipate him to say “arrive”, but he says “speak” is awesome
Not just the voice but he nails the mannerisms.
Well, time is fluid, like music.
BROOOOOOO his voice , hes the GOAT
We Are Waiting For You... Mr Gman
Hearing his voice brings a smile to my face
This was such a good game. Original, well balanced, immersive, good story. You could tell it was crafted with love, passion and dedication.
20 years passed and still the same awesome Gman voice improvisation.. The best voice actor in the franchise!
Remember the part in Half Life Alyx where she frees the G-Man from his prison, and as he’s talking, transparent versions of him walk away and disappear?
That’s the G-Man going to different times to influence key moments in the Half Life timeline, where you see him watching you from a distance etc.
God they need to make a movie of all this…
No, not a movie. Half-Life has always been about experiencing the events firsthand. A movie would remove the personal aspect.
The comparison of his own voice and the G-Man’s voice just terrifies me. Voice Actors are another breed, man.
Barney was G man all along!
We've known this for years😂
It was Barney all along!
It’s me Gordon! Barney, from Black Mesa!
Gman gives me goosebumps, and Barney makes me feel safe.
Thanks, Mr. Shapiro
I hate Gman, but I love Barney 😮🥺
@Freemelon07 gman is a weird, scary, government, lizard-brain freak, and Barney is a friendly, helpful, gentlemanly partner.
Both voiced by Mr. Shapiro. The talent blows my brain apart.
Also known as the Staples Easy Button guy for those unware
That's him? Lmaoooo no way, that's amazing
@@FlynnBTerrens indeed. He also voiced over some of the Staples commercials too.
It was always pretty obvious G-Man was all over the place when it came to time. The fact he talks about Gordon Freeman not being a suitable employee in Half-Life Alyx, a full five years before the events of HL2, means that to him either that's already happened or its all happening at once. The G-Man and his mysterious employers are literally playing a 4-D chess game and Gordon and all the other Half Life characters are but mere pawns. Heck, the Combine might even be pawns despite being this very powerful interdimensional empire.
It's clear that whoever the Gman works for is way above the Combine, considering the worst they could do to the Gman is use Vortigaunt energy to trap him for a time, assuming he didn't want to be caught in the first place. The Gman being able to teleport without portal technology and can be in multiple times at the same time is far beyond anything the Combine has been shown to do.
@@TeamSprocket obviously G-Man's "employers" are a separate entity from the Combine. I mean what's their role in the master plan? G-Man gave Black Mesa the crystal that caused the resonance cascade and didn't bring back Gordon during the Seven Hours War. Was the Nihilanth's invasion and later Combine invasion planned? How much does the Combine Overworld know about G-Man's employers? Questions I don't think will ever be answered.
@@Myne1001 i think we actually might meet his employers soon; all the HLX leaks are showing that we are going to xen (i'm guessing the borealis will take us there), which after HL1 is now controlled by the Employers
Still waiting for that beer.
i grasped and i have chills so many hours today. wasnt expecting He watches us when we watch this documentary, "I am imp-pressed"
The concept that G-Man is potentially speaking in several places at the same time and that's why his speech pattern is strange, is a really interesting concept. Imagine you manually had to control 3 of yourselves speaking simultaneously. That'd make you slow down and force your words out more awkwardly too.
Great job, Mike Shapiro.
fr
hl3 is ready for gman
My body is ready.
@@kaj7135What
we are all ready
He describes Gman like doctor Manhattan if he gave a fuck (and was probably evil)
He's more like Nyathlotep
0:04 reminded me of phrase "Shaitan is everywhere! Watching... Waiting... " from AC1
We need more of Gman.
We’ll get more in Hλlf-Life 3. Valve never would’ve made these documentaries unless they were hyping us up for it.
@@kaj7135Doubt it.
@@HOTD108_ Well on the bright side, you’re wrong.
@@HOTD108_ data mines have shown that there is a new half life game in development
@@kaj7135 You don't know either. Valve is a weird company. When they do make games they're always bangers. But multiple projects have failed to materialize over the years, we don't know for sure if the rumored HL3 will make it through the dev process.
"I don't view him as Big Brother though" while there's a gigantic *G-MAN IS ALWAYS WATCHING* wallpiece right behind him
time to watch this over and over again during the course of a month
What an incredible voice actor!
The G-Man's cadence is weird in a incredibly distinctive way. I get the feeling pretty much only Shapiro could make it feel right - Guy's obviously just that comfortable with the character.
Learning that the odd manner of speaking is less "an alien attempting human speech" and more of a "temporal hitching due to being multipresent" makes sense. Especially how they portray him in Alyx, where it's clear he's analyzing different outcomes to decide when to "nudge" things and tip the scale in his favor. Excellent science fiction writing.
My goosebumps almost stomped me to death when he starts his G-Man voice
One of the best voice actors
I love how much depth of thought he’s put into this character.
Time to choose. It's time to choose.
The delivery of the line "The right man in the wrong place can make all the Di-ference in the world" is so legendary. Honestly amazing.
It's crazy how you can kind of tell a bit in his normal speech, there is the trace artifact of G-man, then, on command, he can just fully switch over to the voice, It's crazy cool.
Dude's incredible at what he does, always knows the assignment, understands the characters and nails them perfectly.
I always knew G-Man could be anywhere, but multiple places at the same time?! That just made me enjoy the character and replaying the game so much more.
10 years after playing HL2 for the first time I still can't wrap my head over this man's vocal range.
Kitchen tiles are peak.
Barney, my beloved.
"the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world"
- G MAN (Mark Shapiro)
such a profound dialogue I have ever heard
This makes the player even more hyped for the campaign and it basically defined a protagonist that who he is in this scenario.
honestly it would be lowkey cool seeing what time is like for g-man. like maybe gordon ends up taking some of his power and being overwhelmed, phasing in and out of one timeline after the other while trying to remember who he is and what his original goal was
Bro his voice is PERFECTION!!! 👍 Like this guy doesn’t even need any sort of editing whatsoever. The voice sounds EXACTLY the same irl as in the game 😂
Since G-Man is a metaphor for the developers (he's subtly controlling everything you do by manipulating the situation so you think you have free will but in reality you only have one choice), the idea of him being split across multiple timelines and dimensions fits into that quite nicely. He's not just talking to you, he's talking to past and future you that's playing the game again or after you've died and loaded a save, and maybe he's talking to everyone else who's playing the game at the same time too. He could be talking to everyone playing HL1, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, HL2 and the episodes, and Alyx across all time and space, across all players, across all saves.
But then I love meta stuff like that, so maybe I'm trying to find what I want to see.
You can tell by his giant grin when he voices Gman and how he sways while doing it, that Mike ADORES playing Gman. It brings him so much joy and I love that for him
I legitimately had goosebumps hearing him speak, and that's never happened to me before!
Mark is the EPITOME of “there are no small parts, just small people”
G-Man's voice is oddly soothing, I could listen to him talk for hours lol
I love how he doesnt just imitates the voice, he imitates his whole brain and identity
Probably the best voice humanity has ever had, when he does the Gman voice.
this mans amazing talents are so special to half life, so glad they found him!
"I'll see you, when I see you.."
That's the last time we saw him 😢
"[Barney's] not the *most* capable..."
...Wow, I know people forget Blue Shift, but damn. Barney might not be Gordon, but he's no pushover.
He is him!
I've always thought G-Man's way of speaking is caused by his constant assimilation to his human physical appearance, like a not very much experienced speaker of a foreign language. But the concept of him being simultaneously in different spacetime moments is so brilliant, I really like it.
Absolutely legendary
Its so sureal to hear that voice come from him, its almost like its fake.
Insane VA.
I love this voice ❤
Even today, he still nailed It with the G-man voice
I was watching this with a few family members and when he saud his name, I kid you not we all yelled "Shap-EYE-ro???" in unison. Of all the Shapiros we've seen, known, or heard of, none have ever pronounced it that way before. 😄
The little segment Mike had was maybe my favourite part of the whole documentary
incredible voice, its actually crazy. The pace and tone.
Amazing how naturally he can slip in and out of the g-man's voice.
For 20 Years Now In My Twenties It That Voice Of GMan Now Is STILL GOOD AND TERRIFYING ME Like Hes Still Gonna Do Something With Me With His Who Knows What Powers He Has ;O
To be honest I never saw Barney as a "not that bright but good guy" archetype, even though he's surrounded by theoretical physicists
A different kind of smart - a street smart versus Gordon and the scientists' book smart.