We’ve seen various times when Woody’s voice box has been his undoing- such as when Scud hears it while Woody and Buzz are trying to escape Sid’s house. Other times, Woody talks through it, to Sid while trying to free himself and Buzz from Sid’s clutches (and the rocket)
[spoil]
In TS3, Bonnie says There’s a snake in my boot; and when Andy pulls Woody’s string, that’s the phrase that comes out.[/spoil] However, rather than being cycled through periodically, the phrases seem to be random, at Woody’s choosing.
Yeah, and when he [spoil]falls down but gets caught at the tree, he says “Reach for the sky!” Am I right?
I know that obviously is the same as “Hands up!”, but in this scene… oh, you get it) In one translated version of TS3 comic they interpreted it as “that was a nice fly…”[/spoil]
I myself wondered: is Woody a ventriloquist? Seems that he is) But not always.
I think in the world of the film that each of Woody’s phrases appears completely at random. However, I also think the film makers take liberty to coincide certain phrases with specific situations for the comedic/sentimental effect. I don’t think he has control though over which phrase is said himself. The sound clearly comes from a voicebox within Woody and not his own mouth. I can’t remember whether it is in Toy Story or Toy Story 2, but doesn’t Woody at one point pull his own string to remind himself who he is? I think that proves the no control/random aspect. Of course, I might just be making this scene up…
I’ve never thought about if he can choose which phrase comes out, although I don’t think he can. But it’s obvious the actual pulling of his string forces him to make noise. It seems all toys are forced to perform their functions, like how Woody made Buzz do karate chop action, RC was made to attack Buzz, etc.
I would think he does since in the original Toy Story he not only took control of his phrases without even having the pullstring pulled out, but he was even talking to Sid though his voice box voice.
Yeah but when somebody pulls his string does he control which of his phrases comes out? It would seem logical for the ending of TS3 and the way he says like “Reach for the Sky” at the perfect moment when somebody’s playing with him…maybe he does that for Andy
Well I think if he can do it without the string being pulled, then maybe. I’m guessing that he can’t when it’s unintentional or by accident, like for example when his pullstring gets caught on the railing in Sid’s house and he wakes up Scud, or in Toy Story 2 when he first meets Jessie and she pulls it unexpectedly.
woody was originally was going to be a ventriloquist in toy story 1, but they changed it…also add the fact that Woody was a ventriloquist (more of a puppet, but still) in the woody’s round up TV show, and they (the people who made the doll) based a pull string doll off of the woody’s round up puppet…so woody is technically a puppet/ventriloquist,
also john lasseter had a Casper doll when he was growing up that had a pull string, and that’s where the pull string idea came from.
Like everyone said, the technical answer to this question is no. Woody relies on a manual voice box mechanism through a gramaphone. When the string is pulled, the record for which his phrases are on is randomized. It’s not like an electronic toy, like Buzz, who can only cycle through their recorded phrases.
Situations have proved that Woody doesn’t have control over what comes out.
It was just a lucky thing that he always had the right thing to say when playing with Andy. Most other times, it’s just random.
I know all that trivia. Furthermore, when Toy Story was just an idea, they wanted to make a movie not about all these toys we know and love now, but about Red from Red’d dream. He met a ventriloquist’s dummy and they decided to stick together.
I myself always thought ventriloquists’ dummies were creepy so I’m gald Woody is not one in the end. But 't’s no wonder he has some vetriloquist skills himself - after all, he was talking to Sid through his voice box, wasn’t he?
Maybe, technically he can’t choose which phrases come out when the string is pulled - but he can talk himself through it when he wants.
Either I am wrong or people who told me were wrong - I’ve read and seen so much of Toy Story stuff lately that I may be confused sometimes. Thanks anyway)