By Chris Snellgrove | Published
One of the most interesting Star Wars supporting characters is Asajj Ventress, a Sith assassin who often terrorized the Republic during The Clone Wars cartoon. He first served as the dark sidekick of Anakin Skywalker, who trained under Count Dooku just as the young Jedi trained under Obi-Wan Kenobi. In the end, his story took a strange turn: after being betrayed by Darth Sidious and Count Dooku, he tries to find a home with the Nightsisters and even cunning bounty hunters, including Boba Fett. Finally, he has a turnaround, finally helping to save Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ashoka, two Jedi who were once his sworn enemies.
While Asajj Ventress benefited from good writing, it was her voice actress, Nika Futterman, who brought this complex villain to life. Futterman is an accomplished actor who has voiced some of the genre’s best characters, including Hawkgirl and Catwoman. However, most Star Wars fans don’t realize that Futterman helped connect their favorite franchise to one of the most popular and controversial teams of the ’90s. You see, long before he voiced Sith’s disciple, Futterman sang the “give me baby” part of the hit song, “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”.
No Ventress, Nothing Gained
Like many voice actors, Nika Futterman has had an unusual career. Since the mid-90’s, he has voiced characters in almost every geeky franchise under the sun. These include Marvel, DC, Ninja Turtles, Scooby-Doo, and many more. In 2008, he portrayed Star Wars actor Asajj Ventress in the game The Clone Wars film, role transferred to The Clone Wars television show. Her casting was a pleasant surprise, as Ventress was originally voiced by Gray DeLisle, 2D. The Clone Wars the exhibition. Futterman traveled a long way to the galaxy far, far away and went on to voice Asajj Ventress in the Star Wars shows. Legends of the Underworld again The Bad Collection.
Early in Futterman’s career, he became involved in music. His most notable achievements on this stage include singing the Offspring’s 1998 hit “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy”). Futterman doesn’t sing with the band, of course; instead, he gives the iconic “give it to me, baby!” speech. that undoubtedly makes the song more memorable. While the song proved a lot popular, some found it offensive because many of its jokes were based on race. In particular, the song is full of language references to the levels of a white guy trying hard (and failing) to date by doing things like buying Vanilla Ice records and driving around in a Pinto.
Give him, my child!
The song became a hit for The Offspring, a group that made a name for themselves with profane lyrics that celebrated aggressive behavior and mocked everything from self-righteousness to authoritarianism. Therefore, they were considered very offensive by conservative critics of the ’90s, which, in retrospect, is not really fair. If you can get past the foul language and songs about sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll, you’re left with a successful band that just helped popularize punk attitudes and aesthetics. As far as punk goes, these guys aren’t so annoying as, say, hard punk legend GG Allin.
Whether you hate or celebrate The Offspring, their connection to Star Wars is amazing. One year before The Phantom Menace in theaters, the woman who would end up voicing the coolest character in the prequels was singing a rousing, sensual rendition of the decade’s most vulgar bop sound. In its own way, that song was prophetic when it came to the Chosen One of a galaxy far, far away: Anakin Skywalker. This angry young man may never have been given the rank of Master, but even the most hardened members of the Council can agree on one thing: is something nice fly, for a white guy!
