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

[Big Boss]

So who owns the rights to the Ocean dubs of movies 1-3 these days? Are Pioneer still clinging on to it? Do Funimation have it (they were included on Rock the Dragon set, but not uncut)?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

As far as I'm aware Pioneer's rights have expired, so Funimation should have them back. If they were able to release those movies (albeit Movie 3 being the edited version) on the Rock the Dragon set I don't see why they wouldn't own them. Also, if they would be willing to go to the hassle and expense of licensing a dub owned by another country they may as well seek out the Westwood and Blue Water dubs too, which sadly they have never and will probably never do.

[Scsigs]

So who owns the rights to the Ocean dubs of movies 1-3 these days? Are Pioneer still clinging on to it? Do Funimation have it (they were included on Rock the Dragon set, but not uncut)?

FUNi still has the rights to the movies in North America, since the rights reverted to them after some time of Pioneer having the rights, similar to DB. Ocean & Pioneer would have the recordings, I believe, somewhere on a hard drive like their Kai dub. FUNi might have them, but they had nothing to do with those dubs of those movies, so I doubt it.

[Big Boss]

As far as I'm aware Pioneer's rights have expired, so Funimation should have them back. If they were able to release those movies (albeit Movie 3 being the edited version) on the Rock the Dragon set I don't see why they wouldn't own them. Also, if they would be willing to go to the hassle and expense of licensing a dub owned by another country they may as well seek out the Westwood and Blue Water dubs too, which sadly they have never and will probably never do.

I doubt the Westwood dub of DBZ even exists in any official capacity anymore. I can only assume it was discarded once the Funimation releases became common place in the UK. Same with Blue Water. Maybe YTV still have some copies, but I highly doubt that. To be honest, I'm not too familiar with the situation in Canada, have they ever aired re-runs of those dubs?

[Attitudefan]

As far as I'm aware Pioneer's rights have expired, so Funimation should have them back. If they were able to release those movies (albeit Movie 3 being the edited version) on the Rock the Dragon set I don't see why they wouldn't own them. Also, if they would be willing to go to the hassle and expense of licensing a dub owned by another country they may as well seek out the Westwood and Blue Water dubs too, which sadly they have never and will probably never do.

I doubt the Westwood dub of DBZ even exists in any official capacity anymore. I can only assume it was discarded once the Funimation releases became common place in the UK. Same with Blue Water. Maybe YTV still have some copies, but I highly doubt that. To be honest, I'm not too familiar with the situation in Canada, have they ever aired re-runs of those dubs?

Canada doesn't air anime on TV. Reruns used to happen, until about 2005 or so. Not much anime since.

[Robo4900]

You know I am REALLY looking forward to Scott McNeil's return to Jeice! I have an irrational attachment to that performance and character. It was just such a stand out to hear that voice among characters like the Ginyu Force.

He's from space Birmingham.

NOT.
SPACE.
AUSTRALIA!!
(although that was fun too)

YES!

Funi's Jheeses have honestly just been okay IMO, meanwhile I always thought McNeil's was a real blast. Just a really memorable performance.
And yeah... Space uhh... Liverpool, I think was where he was aiming for...? I think he specifically said in panels and such that he got the voice from doing impressions of Lister from Red Dwarf.

So who owns the rights to the Ocean dubs of movies 1-3 these days? Are Pioneer still clinging on to it? Do Funimation have it (they were included on Rock the Dragon set, but not uncut)?

Funimation do. But naturally, they don't want to release the older Ocean dubs on the uncut releases, because their redub is supposed to be definitive...

As far as I'm aware Pioneer's rights have expired, so Funimation should have them back. If they were able to release those movies (albeit Movie 3 being the edited version) on the Rock the Dragon set I don't see why they wouldn't own them. Also, if they would be willing to go to the hassle and expense of licensing a dub owned by another country they may as well seek out the Westwood and Blue Water dubs too, which sadly they have never and will probably never do.

I doubt the Westwood dub of DBZ even exists in any official capacity anymore. I can only assume it was discarded once the Funimation releases became common place in the UK. Same with Blue Water. Maybe YTV still have some copies, but I highly doubt that. To be honest, I'm not too familiar with the situation in Canada, have they ever aired re-runs of those dubs?

Don't be silly, they wouldn't have discarded the masters. They'll still exist somewhere at Ocean, or the remains of AB Groupe, or something. They wouldn't be so irresponsible as to destroy every officially-held copy.

[SX10]

Thanks for the correction Robo! Listening to the voice again on YouTube. So obvious now I am listening for it, I dunno why I thought it was brummie. It's not over the top Liverpudlian.

This is why I love McNeil, he isn't afraid to just throw out these odd choices and they pretty much always work.

[8000 Saiyan]

He shouldn't have any problems with them because he should know by now that he's considered the definitive English Goku.

The main issue is that Schemmel believe he's the one and ONLY Goku, and any other English VA who voices him he'll decry to the extreme.

Oddly enough he doesn't have any problems with Lex Lang and Steve Blum.

[WittyUsername]

As I mentioned a while back, I think any problems that Schemmel has had or currently has with the other English voices for Goku might just be the result of having been unfavorably compared to them in the past. He might’ve had particular issue with Peter Kelamis because Kelamis had been praised a lot for his performance in the movies, and prior to Kai, there was a fair amount of people who considered him to be the definitive English voice for Goku. I’m not saying it isn’t petty on Schemmel’s part, but I figured it’s worth keeping in mind that he wasn’t always considered the definitive English speaking Goku.

[MistaL]

He shouldn't have any problems with them because he should know by now that he's considered the definitive English Goku.

The main issue is that Schemmel believe he's the one and ONLY Goku, and any other English VA who voices him he'll decry to the extreme.

Oddly enough he doesn't have any problems with Lex Lang and Steve Blum.

Well he "taught" Lex Lang how to properly voice Goku (which somehow ultimately resulted in Lang giving one of the worst English portrayals of Goku), and Blum was just in a GT game and Schemmel has already made it clear he doesn't really care much for GT.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Don't be silly, they wouldn't have discarded the masters. They'll still exist somewhere at Ocean, or the remains of AB Groupe, or something. They wouldn't be so irresponsible as to destroy every officially-held copy.

My guess is that if anyone still has the original masters for the Westwood and Blue Water dubs its Ocean Studios. As far as I know Dragon Ball is one of the franchises they are best known for, and indeed they provided the original English voices for the cast, so ideally they'd want to keep them for archival purposes. They also seemed to care enough to want to recast a more faithful Goku and get name pronunciations right. I look at that and look at AB Groupe, who seemingly just saw the series as another throwaway kids fad that wouldn't stick around, so much so that they didn't strike while the iron was hot and use Ocean for the movies or try to put out a home release of anything other than the movies, I have my doubts they'd care enough to hang on to the masters.

I hope Ocean (or maybe Turner) still has them. If Kai airs on Wow and does well it would be a nice treat if they could acquire the older Canadian dubs and re-air them for old YTV fans and adults introducing their kids to the series who might appreciate more Ocean dubbed Dragon Ball on the airwaves.

[8000 Saiyan]

The main issue is that Schemmel believe he's the one and ONLY Goku, and any other English VA who voices him he'll decry to the extreme.

Oddly enough he doesn't have any problems with Lex Lang and Steve Blum.

Well he "taught" Lex Lang how to properly voice Goku (which somehow ultimately resulted in Lang giving one of the worst English portrayals of Goku), and Blum was just in a GT game and Schemmel has already made it clear he doesn't really care much for GT.

I never expected Lang to be a great Goku. I mean, yes, he's a great VA, but I can't say he's a perfect fit for the character.

Oddly enough, he worked quite well as Gohan in the Final Bout game.

[Robo4900]

Oddly enough he doesn't have any problems with Lex Lang and Steve Blum.

Well he "taught" Lex Lang how to properly voice Goku

That's just a rumour.

which somehow ultimately resulted in Lang giving one of the worst English portrayals of Goku

I still don't get the hate people throw at Lang's Goku... It's different, sure, but bad? No, I think it's a rather neat alternate portrayal.

[Ajay]

Oddly enough he doesn't have any problems with Lex Lang and Steve Blum.

Well he "taught" Lex Lang how to properly voice Goku

That's just a rumour.

Schemmel actually confirmed that was totally untrue on Twitter following TotallyNotMark's video that perpetuated the rumour.

[8000 Saiyan]

Oddly enough he doesn't have any problems with Lex Lang and Steve Blum.

Well he "taught" Lex Lang how to properly voice Goku

That's just a rumour.

which somehow ultimately resulted in Lang giving one of the worst English portrayals of Goku

I still don't get the hate people throw at Lang's Goku... It's different, sure, but bad? No, I think it's a rather neat alternate portrayal.

It just doesn't sound Goku to me.

[Scsigs]

Oddly enough he doesn't have any problems with Lex Lang and Steve Blum.

Well he "taught" Lex Lang how to properly voice Goku

That's just a rumour.

which somehow ultimately resulted in Lang giving one of the worst English portrayals of Goku

I still don't get the hate people throw at Lang's Goku... It's different, sure, but bad? No, I think it's a rather neat alternate portrayal.

Lang's portrayal just isn't right. Like, throw shade at Schemmel all you want if anyone here does, but at least from day 1, he was decent in the role at worst, it's just that he couldn't act worth a damn. I mean, he was told to imitate Kelamis to the best of his ability, which isn't too far off from his regular voice. Lang just sounds out of his element with Goku. Trying to go more high pitched with Goku doesn't sound good on anyone whose vocal chords don't lend themselves to it. I don't even like when Schemmel does it that much, but at least it doesn't sound completely unnatural when he does it. I mean, I don't have other reference for much of his other work, so I don't know how he does normally, but I don't think he was the best choice for Goku, especially when we have 3, or 4 if you're feeling generous to Kirby Morrow, or 5 if you include Blue Water, but rarely anyone does, previous portrayals in the previous dubs of Z to compare him to.

[MasenkoHA]

As I mentioned a while back, I think any problems that Schemmel has had or currently has with the other English voices for Goku might just be the result of having been unfavorably compared to them in the past. He might’ve had particular issue with Peter Kelamis because Kelamis had been praised a lot for his performance in the movies, and prior to Kai, there was a fair amount of people who considered him to be the definitive English voice for Goku. I’m not saying it isn’t petty on Schemmel’s part, but I figured it’s worth keeping in mind that he wasn’t always considered the definitive English speaking Goku.

Really? Maybe not here but in general I’ve seen people act like Sean Schemmel is THE ONLY English voice for Goku

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

As I mentioned a while back, I think any problems that Schemmel has had or currently has with the other English voices for Goku might just be the result of having been unfavorably compared to them in the past. He might’ve had particular issue with Peter Kelamis because Kelamis had been praised a lot for his performance in the movies, and prior to Kai, there was a fair amount of people who considered him to be the definitive English voice for Goku. I’m not saying it isn’t petty on Schemmel’s part, but I figured it’s worth keeping in mind that he wasn’t always considered the definitive English speaking Goku.

Really? Maybe not here but in general I’ve seen people act like Sean Schemmel is THE ONLY English voice for Goku

I'm sure there's probably casual fans out there who got into the series through Kai on Nicktoons/Kix and are under the impression he is the only English Goku. If and when this dub airs it will be interesting to see the reaction to Richard Ian Cox's portrayal, however it ends up sounding.

[WittyUsername]

As I mentioned a while back, I think any problems that Schemmel has had or currently has with the other English voices for Goku might just be the result of having been unfavorably compared to them in the past. He might’ve had particular issue with Peter Kelamis because Kelamis had been praised a lot for his performance in the movies, and prior to Kai, there was a fair amount of people who considered him to be the definitive English voice for Goku. I’m not saying it isn’t petty on Schemmel’s part, but I figured it’s worth keeping in mind that he wasn’t always considered the definitive English speaking Goku.

Really? Maybe not here but in general I’ve seen people act like Sean Schemmel is THE ONLY English voice for Goku

I was talking specifically about the pre-Kai days. Schemmel certainly wasn’t considered the definitive Goku back in 1999.

[Danfun64]

I look at that and look at AB Groupe, who seemingly just saw the series as another throwaway kids fad that wouldn't stick around, so much so that they didn't strike while the iron was hot and use Ocean for the movies or try to put out a home release of anything other than the movies, I have my doubts they'd care enough to hang on to the masters.

a throwaway kids fad that wouldn't stick around, eh? Does that explain why the French dub is one of the first European dubs of the series ever, or how dubs like the German dub and Big Green (let alone Westwood Z and Blue Water GT) were done near the end of the original French run...that is when they haven't come straight up after said run has finished?