Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 14; Still Unreleased

[8000 Saiyan]

]Me neither. I don't see the Ocean dub actors as that much more cartoony than Funimation. Both have their fair share and cartoony is fine if its well executed and doesn't feel forced.

Indeed. Another thing I don't understand is people saying that Scott McNeil as Piccolo sounds like a cartoon villain from the 80's. I've seen 80's cartoons and I can't remember a villain that even sounded like McNeil's Piccolo.

So, potentially fun question for everyone: Hypothetically, if you could watch one episode of Ocean Kai, which one would it be, and why?

Ooh, this is a tough one. I think I'll go for the episode where Vegeta dies on Namek.

[NitroEX]

So, potentially fun question for everyone: Hypothetically, if you could watch one episode of Ocean Kai, which one would it be, and why?

Aside from the obvious Vegeta death scene, I'd really like to see the introduction of Cell in this version, just because we have no idea who voiced him and what direction they went in with the voice. To be honest, even the first episode would be amazing just to hear the new Goku.

Another thing I don't understand is people saying that Scott McNeil as Piccolo sounds like a cartoon villain from the 80's. I've seen 80's cartoons and I can't remember a villain that even sounded like McNeil's Piccolo.

I've never encountered a single person who holds this opinion. Like, ever. If I didn't know any better I'd think you were just concern trolling.

[8000 Saiyan]

I've never encountered a single person who holds this opinion. Like, ever. If I didn't know any better I'd think you were just concern trolling.

A person here on Kanzenshuu holds this opinion. In order to not start drama, I will not reveal his identity in this thread.

[TheGreatness25]

Search deep enough and you'll find any kind of opinion lol I think opinions like that are just trying to protect Funimation. I can't imagine anyone objectively thinking that McNeil's Piccolo is any worse than Sabat's, for example. At least not his Piccolo. When he makes voices for other characters and makes silly voices, then yes he does sound like a cartoon villain from the 80's... but that's mainly because McNeil did voice so many cartoon characters from the 90's and even 80's.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

So, potentially fun question for everyone: Hypothetically, if you could watch one episode of Ocean Kai, which one would it be, and why?

Aside from the obvious Vegeta death scene, I'd really like to see the introduction of Cell in this version, just because we have no idea who voiced him and what direction they went in with the voice. To be honest, even the first episode would be amazing just to hear the new Goku.

To be honest the Cell arc is down the pecking list for me. I'm always going to be cautiously optimistic until we know who is playing Cell. The actor they cast is probably fine but I always prefer to have an idea what to expect. It also helps the anticipation for when and if this dub ever gets released. I also would've liked to have seen Dale Wilson with better direction.

I can't imagine anyone objectively thinking that McNeil's Piccolo is any worse than Sabat's, for example. At least not his Piccolo.

I can agree to McNeil being superior to even modern day Sabat but voice acting, much like art in general is subjective.

[NitroEX]

I too would have enjoyed hearing Dale Wilson with better direction and script but it appears he wasn't involved this time (unless he's just really good at keeping a secret). I've always been partial to the Cell arc more so than the majority of the Freeza stuff so hearing a version of that with Saffron Henderson's Gohan in the Cell Games, as well as a new Cell, is something I'm very interested in.

I don't think Ocean would skimp out on Cell's actor either, just like Freeza he's one of the main villains with tons of important dialogue with the main cast, they're bound to have cast an actor of high caliber for that role.

[8000 Saiyan]

I too would have enjoyed hearing Dale Wilson with better direction and script but it appears he wasn't involved this time (unless he's just really good at keeping a secret). I've always been partial to the Cell arc more so than the majority of the Freeza stuff so hearing a version of that with Saffron Henderson's Gohan in the Cell Games, as well as a new Cell, is something I'm very interested in.

I don't think Ocean would skimp out on Cell's actor either, just like Freeza he's one of the main villains with tons of important dialogue with the main cast, they're bound to have cast an actor of high caliber for that role.

Are you implying that he would lie about not playing Cell?

[SX10]

The actors do sometimes tell small lies about their involvement in dubs they aren't allowed to talk about.

[NitroEX]

Dale Wilson wouldn't exactly be obligated to tell fans the details about his work, especially if there was an NDA involved and other actors, such as Kirby Morrow, had already been punished for talking publicly about that same project. I still think there's a big possibility he was recast since they did reaudition everyone involved (and in the case of Goku, turned down the previous actor) but I wouldn't rule out the slim possibility of him being in there as we haven't seen him publicly talk about it, nor have we heard any other actor claim to have played Cell. So far we've only heard one first-hand (possibly second-hand) account which still keeps it in rumour territory.

[TheGreatness25]

I can't imagine anyone objectively thinking that McNeil's Piccolo is any worse than Sabat's, for example. At least not his Piccolo.

I can agree to McNeil being superior to even modern day Sabat but voice acting, much like art in general is subjective.

What I mean is that a lot of times, people just say what they need to further their purpose. "Oh I'm a Funimation guy not an ocean guy so everyone from Ocean automatically sucks." I meant that I can't see anyone without that mindset preferring Sabat over McNeil. It just boggles my mind. I can understand Vegeta because while I prefer Drummond, he had a style that I can see not appealing to a lot of people. I can also understand Goku (well depending which because I think Ian Corlett was incredible in the role). But Piccolo? I refuse to believe that someone would think Sabat is better without trying to push the whole "Funi>Ocean" mindset. There's no big style difference between the two Piccolos and it just comes down to delivery, performance, and the voice itself. I think McNeil beats Sabat in all of them.

And that's not a knock on Sabat either; McNeil is an extremely talented actor. I will say that McNeil's Majin Boo was way worse than Josh Martin's, so it's not that I'm just a blind McNeil/Ocean fan. There are lots of voices that I prefer from Funimation, but I can't see Sabat winning Piccolo... like ever.

[Super Sayian Prime]

She was asked about Kai on Twitter, and said she'd look into it. I recommend you guys at least "like" her Tweet. If you send anything to her (though, I recommend not Tweeting anything because I'm afraid she might not appreciate the mention spam lol), I implore you to be polite.[/b]

This morning Marni asked who owns the distributor rights to Dragon Ball. I've told her it's Toei Animation and Funimation, but I also mentioned that Inter Pacific Productions created the Canadian dub, so they'd know exactly who owns the rights here.

[Robo4900]

Regarding the development on Twitter: Funimation only own the rights in the US. If we're talking specifically about DVDs and Blu-Rays, yes I believe Funimation do own the rights, but Funimation have no bearing on TV airings at all.

In case IPPTV is as inactive as it looks, I suggested she try asking the actors. While they are of course just actors, they would hopefully be able to grab her an E-Mail address or something so she can talk to someone at Ocean about getting this. Granted, that may not be necessary, but it looks like she's seriously trying to get this on the air, so I really want to make sure she has all the available information she might need.
Also, holy crap, this might actually be happening.

Regarding the Ocean vs Funimation thing...
Sabat and McNeil are fundamentally different approaches to the voice; same with Sabat and Drummond, the various Ocean Gokus vs Schemmel, and many other voices. Although I have been vocal in the past about my preference for the Ocean cast, and my distaste for several of the Funimation voices that remain obvious impresonations of the Ocean cast, it's an entirely opinion-based thing.
Naturally, I'm firmly of the opinion that McNeil gives the better performance, largely because he's a much more seasoned, experienced actor than Sabat, but Sabat's version is a cool alternate take on the character; much more of the zen, wise master Piccolo emobodies later on, rather than the darker demonic Piccolo you'd probably think of as being him from earlier on(Although I've always loved how McNeil kept the darker undertones of Piccolo even once he'd mellowed out much later in the run).

Ultimately, both versions are valid, and just bashing one version as being strictly worse than the other is not the right way to go about this. As it is, we currently have the Japanese cast, the Funimation cast, the Ocean cast, and the Blue Water cast to enjoy(As well as numerous other non-English dubs). Rather than picking one as the definitive one and bashing all the others, why not just enjoy what's good about each of them?
Of course, the Ocean cast being the less well-known one in the US, that's the one that's bashed the most, which really sucks for us Ocean fans.
But, I guess that's the internet for you. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Of course, I'm far from the authority on all this; I'm definitely biased towards the Ocean dub)

[Super Sayian Prime]

I sent a private message to IPP's Facebook page, but they're as inactive there are on Twitter. At this point I think it's out of our hands.

[sangofe]

I sent a private message to IPP's Facebook page, but they're as inactive there are on Twitter. At this point I think it's out of our hands.

How about contacting people at the Ocean studio address? Or finding their phone number?

[Robo4900]

I think the best thing to do is to try to get Marni Shulman any contact details she might be able to use. But, I think we've already done that. Super Saiyan Prime sent Shulman the contact details for IPPTV, Shulman's reached out to their Twitter, Prime has contacted the IPP Facebook page, I've mentioned two of the Ocean actors who've been outspoken about the Ocean dub(Drummond and Tockar) to Shulman, in case IPPTV are unresponsive, since I presume the actors would have some kind of email address or phone number or something that Shulman could use to at least establish contact with Ocean.

Also, if any of you want another Tweet to like to show your support for it specifically being the Ocean dub, there's this one. Liking this one a lot may very well improve our chances if things get sketchy in terms of Funi and Toei being awkward.

[NitroEX]

Are we sure IPP produced it? I always suspected they might have simply been involved in the casting process at most. That seems to have been their main role on other anime and cartoons such as X-Men Evolution and Planet Hulk.

Ocean Studios probably have all the answers but something tells me they will remain silent on the matter even in special circumstances such as this. Hopefully she's at least tried contacting them though, that could end up alerting the rights holder that there's interest if Ocean decides to do something.

The only other options I can think of right now are Anitunes.ca (Tom Keenlyside and John Mitchell's company) who no doubt produced the soundtrack, as evidenced by the credit listing on their site, and they have a contact page. That being said, I'm not sure they would realistically know any more information than the actors do. It's very possible that Ocean acted as the middleman and simply gave them orders without actually giving them the name of the company it was being made for.

Speaking of actors, I suppose they could be convinced to ask their agents about this (as some of them have alluded to in the past) but that seems like an unnecessarily long route to take and it could very well amount to something as pointless as their agent simply asking Ocean about it.

[SX10]

We're not 100% sure, but even as the middle man, it's Ocean that Drummond and Tockar go to for their information. Diana Gage was producer on this and that's who she works for. So they would get the word to the right people I think. I really hope someone is there to be reached. Thing is, we know they've pitched it a time least so this should be attractive to the powers that be!

[NitroEX]

The fact that they haven't already reached out to Wow Unlimited Media as soon as news of the channel broke is kind of a worrying thing in itself. Surely people in the TV industry would be well aware of a new channel, seems like an obvious opportunity to try and sell programming.

Hopefully they haven't given up on Kai already.

[Arian]

I too would have enjoyed hearing Dale Wilson with better direction and script but it appears he wasn't involved this time (unless he's just really good at keeping a secret). I've always been partial to the Cell arc more so than the majority of the Freeza stuff so hearing a version of that with Saffron Henderson's Gohan in the Cell Games, as well as a new Cell, is something I'm very interested in.

I don't think Ocean would skimp out on Cell's actor either, just like Freeza he's one of the main villains with tons of important dialogue with the main cast, they're bound to have cast an actor of high caliber for that role.

Dale Wilson is retired from the business as far as I know, so it doesn't surprise me if we don't hear him as Cell. Unless he has a personal attachment to the role like Eric Stuart towards Seto Kaiba for example.

The fact that they haven't already reached out to Wow Unlimited Media as soon as news of the channel broke is kind of a worrying thing in itself. Surely people in the TV industry would be well aware of a new channel, seems like an obvious opportunity to try and sell programming.

Hopefully they haven't given up on Kai already.

I think Marni is going to commit herself to the best of her ability to acquire the property from Ocean and Toei. If it doesn't happen, that's on our friends on the latter. I don't think one shred of blame should be put on Ms. Shulman because she's clearly sticking her neck out for us.

[sangofe]

Also, if any of you want another Tweet to like to show your support for it specifically being the Ocean dub, there's this one. Liking this one a lot may very well improve our chances if things get sketchy in terms of Funi and Toei being awkward.

Liked it