Battlestar Galactica And Transformers Are Linked By One Unique Special Effect

While the Cylons in the original 1978 "Battlestar Galactica" definitely looked like actors in chrome suits, they at least sounded like robots. Cylon Centurions spoke with a low-pitched synthesized monotone with a metallic echo. Behind the scenes, that voice was created in part with a vocoder machine, which analyzes a vocal track and then creates a synthesized sound based on the qualities of that vocal track. In effect, a robotic voice generator.

Vocoders (short for "vocal encoder") were first invented in the 1920s by engineer Homer Dudley. While Dudley was looking to make telephone communication easier, vocoders have since found use in entertainment. Electronic musicians (such as the duo Daft Punk) often use vocoders to create robot-like vocal tracks, as do movies and TV. The Cylons are one of the most famous types of the latter.

The identity of the actor(s) who supplied the Cylons' voices is something of a mystery; some "Battlestar" fan sites claim an actor named Michael Santiago voiced the Centurions, but primary sources don't corroborate this. The process of making the Cylon voice, though, has been documented. In 2019, music producer Joe Grandberg created a mini-documentary on the equipment used on the original "Battlestar Galactica" to make the Cylon voice; Grandberg even interviewed Peter Berkos, the original audio engineer on "Galactica."

Berkos is not the only Hollywood technician to ever make a robot voice from a vocoder. In 1984, not long after the original "Battlestar Galactica" went off the air, "The Transformers" debuted. Though the characters were robots, their voices sounded human — with one exception. The Decepticon Soundwave (Frank Welker) had a synthesized voice resembling the Cylons', edited by audio engineer Scott Brownlee using a vocoder.

Though Soundwave didn't appear in the 2007 "Transformers" movie, he's one of the franchise's most popular characters. His vocoded and oh-so-cool voice in the cartoon is a big reason why. Frank Welker and Scott Brownlee discussed how they made the voice together at TFcon LA 2025. 

Welker recorded the lines with a cavernous monotone, which he'd previously used unedited as the voice of Doctor Claw on "Inspector Gadget". (The voice was originally based on Welker's Barry White impression.)

"I knew what Frank did [as Soundwave] couldn't have tonality, it would conflict with the musicality of whatever was going on," Brownlee recalled. So, he suggested Welker use his Dr. Claw voice for Soundwave's lines to create "articulation without tonality." Brownlee added a background tone by playing different chords on a synthesizer and mixed Soundwave's voice with the vocoder. 

Soundwave's extra-robotic voice didn't just make him stand out to young viewers, it informed his character. The synthesized echo of his voice complemented how he spoke; he rarely showed emotion, and talked with the diction of a computer. When Soundwave launched his mini-cassette minion Ravage at the Autobots, he might say, for instance: "Ravage: Eject. Operation: Destruction." 

Moreover, Soundwave's original character bio described him as the Decepticons' communications officer, and a smooth talker who keeps blackmail on the other Decepticons to climb over them in the ranks. The contemporary Marvel "Transformers" comic used this characterization, and there was no hint Soundwave spoke any differently (in tonality or diction) than any of the other Transformers. The cartoon series bible also described Soundwave this way, but in the show itself, he had a different personality that reflected his emotionless voice.

While Soundwave was a spymaster in "The Transformers," he was no opportunist. Instead, he was Megatron's devoted right-hand man. In "The Transformers: The Movie," when Megatron falls in his last battle with Optimus Prime, the Decepticons rush to escape and abandon their leader — except for Soundwave, who carries Megatron to safety.

Most of the Decepticons were schemers and/or thugs, but not Soundwave. Like a computer — or a Cylon Centurion — he had no ambition beyond completing the task he was programmed for. Soundwave and the Cylons even share some design cues, like a red eye visor, boxy torsos, and angular mouth plates. Compare, even, their catchphrases: Cylon Centurions always saluted their superiors with "By your command," much like Soundwave often said "As you command, Megatron." 

That said, there's no concrete evidence the Cylons directly influenced Soundwave. Rather, his character originated as "Cassette Man" in the Japanese toyline "Micro Change," one of the many Japanese action figures that Hasbro imported stateside to make "The Transformers."

Both the original "Battlestar Galactica" and "Transformers" have more than their fair share of cheese, but the Cylons' and Soundwave's robotic voices stand as a genuinely cool part of both, respectively. A lot of that credit goes to both Peter Berkos and Scott Brownlee's skills with a vocoder.