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

[NitroEX]

It's too awesome

Case closed. Just kidding, obviously.

[8000 Saiyan]

Too awesome to be aired, eh Scott?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Scott McNeil = master troll

Nice to see actors be a bit humorous, you need it in a situation as depressing as a dub some have waited 7 years for and never even seen a snippet of.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Scott McNeil = master troll

Nice to see actors be a bit humorous, you need it in a situation as depressing as a dub some have waited 7 years for and never even seen a snippet of.

My thoughts exactly...and damn was Scott's explanation funny.

[Godgoku95]

Anyone know if Michael Hirsh likes Dragon Ball?

Damn, I was gonna report on this! You're too good, SSP.

But yeah, this could mean great things for Ocean Kai if a third company launches a children's network in Canada. Specifically one that "has shown a consistent investment in older youth animation" and "is looking to license content from third party distributor to help fill the channel."

I really hope Dragon Ball Kai or Super has a Chance to come to Canada now

[Robo4900]

That answer is probably the most useful information we're going to get out of the actors from now until it airs(And I'm sure it will air. It's just a matter of time).

As a side-note, that interview is awesome. Put it in your eyes right now.

[Super Sayian Prime]

It's probably too early to start requesting shows, but if you want to ask for Kai on Wow, Fred Seibert's comment sections are open:

http://fredseibert.frederator.com/post/ ... qus_thread
http://frederatornetworks.frederator.co ... qus_thread

[Robo4900]

Alright then, everyone; you know what to do. Get on it. The only way we're going to see Kai aired is by taking action, and this is an excellent opportunity to do so. As long as it's stressed that the Ocean dub is what we want, that the Ocean dub is a Canadian production, and that it's already ready for TV, I see no reason for this not to work.
Of course, that should be approached as a really cool side-issue; the main point to make is that Dragon Ball is popular, Kai is great, and no one in Canada is airing it right now, so they won't be competing to get the airing rights for it.

But remember, Funimation probably blocked Ocean Kai being an option for Kix in the UK, so unless a Canadian TV station can be convinced to air it, there'll be no chance of Ocean Kai seeing the light of day.

[8000 Saiyan]

Already posted it on the comments section.

[Scsigs]

But remember, Funimation probably blocked Ocean Kai being an option for Kix in the UK, so unless a Canadian TV station can be convinced to air it, there'll be no chance of Ocean Kai seeing the light of day.

Why would they have done that? Their dubs of DB, until Kai, have never been shown outside of America, New Zealand, & Australia because they don't own the license for the Canadian & European license.

[8000 Saiyan]

But remember, Funimation probably blocked Ocean Kai being an option for Kix in the UK, so unless a Canadian TV station can be convinced to air it, there'll be no chance of Ocean Kai seeing the light of day.

Why would they have done that? Their dubs of DB, until Kai, have never been shown outside of America, New Zealand, & Australia because they don't own the license for the Canadian & European license.

The Funimation dub of Z aired in the UK.

[Robo4900]

But remember, Funimation probably blocked Ocean Kai being an option for Kix in the UK, so unless a Canadian TV station can be convinced to air it, there'll be no chance of Ocean Kai seeing the light of day.

Why would they have done that? Their dubs of DB, until Kai, have never been shown outside of America, New Zealand, & Australia because they don't own the license for the Canadian & European license.

The Funimation dub of Z aired in the UK.

Not only that, but the UK broadcaster came out and said Ocean Kai wasn't given as an option.
Since Europe has always been given the Ocean dubs as their English-speaking dubs, I think it's pretty clear something's gone on there. Especially given that the actors were specifically saying that the Ocean dub of Kai was for Canada, and various places around Europe.

[8000 Saiyan]

Why would they have done that? Their dubs of DB, until Kai, have never been shown outside of America, New Zealand, & Australia because they don't own the license for the Canadian & European license.

The Funimation dub of Z aired in the UK.

Not only that, but the UK broadcaster came out and said Ocean Kai wasn't given as an option.
Since Europe has always been given the Ocean dubs as their English-speaking dubs, I think it's pretty clear something's gone on there. Especially given that the actors were specifically saying that the Ocean dub of Kai was for Canada, and various places around Europe.

Maybe the reason why the UK didn't air the Ocean Kai dub was because Ocean hadn't finished dubbing Kai yet, while the Funimation Kai dub had already been completed and aired in America. It took like what, a year to dub Kai for Funimation, while it took Ocean like three or four years.

[Robo4900]

Judging by what the voice actors have said, it was ready by the time the UK aired Kai.

[SX10]

Excellent, I have commented as well This could be great news. Not getting anywhere fast but things do kind of feel like they're coming to a head.

Btw, I never said anything sooner because I wanted to have some information to come back with, but I wrote a letter to Diana Gage of Ocean Productions back at the start of May. I know the letter reached Canada, but, I don't know if she got it or not as I haven't received a reply. I basically just said that I was on Linked In, came across her profile and saw Kai on her credits (all true) and that I was wondering when it might air as I'm a big fan and many are curious about it. Who knows ? If she can't reply for legal reasons, fair enough.

Was going to write a letter to Scott McNeil but thankfully he did that interview, the question got asked and with the answer he gave, I'm glad I didn't have to pay again for international postage

I've also e-mailed WOW but nothing back. Please, PLEEEASSEEE let this happen!

[8000 Saiyan]

Judging by what the voice actors have said, it was ready by the time the UK aired Kai.

Well, then I don't know what happened there. If it was really ready, then why was the Funimation dub aired instead? Was it fan favoritism or something?

[Robo4900]

Judging by what the voice actors have said, it was ready by the time the UK aired Kai.

Well, then I don't know what happened there. If it was really ready, then why was the Funimation dub aired instead? Was it fan favoritism or something?

Again, the network said they weren't given the option of airing the Ocean dub. I'm not sure why, but I'd guess Funimation made some deals with Toei to get their dub preferential treatment.
The Ocean dub has always been the one that's aired over here, so if they had the option, I'm 99% sure they'd have gone with Ocean's.

[Scsigs]

Judging by what the voice actors have said, it was ready by the time the UK aired Kai.

Well, then I don't know what happened there. If it was really ready, then why was the Funimation dub aired instead? Was it fan favoritism or something?

Again, the network said they weren't given the option of airing the Ocean dub. I'm not sure why, but I'd guess Funimation made some deals with Toei to get their dub preferential treatment.
The Ocean dub has always been the one that's aired over here, so if they had the option, I'm 99% sure they'd have gone with Ocean's.

I wouldn't suspect FUNi of foul play here. It was probably DB's distributers over in the UK who did it. Manga Entertainment has be sublicensing FUNi's dubs for YEARS. On top of that, the Canadian dubs have never been released on home video in either Canada, or Europe, from what I can tell. The UK's version of the DBZ season set DVDs only have the Japanese audio with translated subs from what I saw from a listing a few years ago when they started coming out. They were also apparently in widescreen, showing that they got their masters from FUNi, most likely, instead of Toei. Given that they probably get the masters of their anime releases from whoever they license the dubs from, it wouldn't be very out there to say that they got the FUNi dub with the materials they got for Kai. Though whether that was FUNi, or Toei, who instituted that, I don't know. It's entirely possible that they didn't see the point of getting the Ocean dub because FUNi's is so prevalent online. Most clips you'd find on places like YouTube are from the FUNi dub. It's pretty much the default for anyone who uploads clips online. You'd have to specifically look for Ocean Dub clips if you wanna hear the audio from it. So, they probably didn't wanna confuse the younger generations who hadn't seen the ocean dub of Z before.
Though the fact that Toei, apparently, has to get Bang Zoom to dub Super for Tonami Asia rather than just using the FUNi dub makes it all very confusing, but that's par for the course of Dragon Ball's English releases; confusing & unnecessarily so. Then again, if anyone else has listened to Geekdom101's interview with MasakoX, when Z ran on TV over a decade ago, Masako said that their airing of Z was really weird. For one stretch of episodes, they'd apparently get the Ocean dub, then for another stretch, it'd be the FUNi dub, so it's not like the UK market has NEVER heard FUNi's actors before. It all has to do with what materials they acquire to use & apparently FUNi's has become the go-to for the dub over there. Remember, the continued Ocean dub was only made in the first place to conform to Canadian broadcast standards. Everything else was from somewhere prior. The cast was brought back because Ocean Studios was still in charge of the dub, the scripts were sourced from Texas as FUNi dubbed the episodes as well, & they probably got their episode masters from FUNi as well, though if anyone has other info on those, please correct me, though FUNi didn't even get their episode masters from Toei at first, they got them from Mexico for a while.
This shit is so complicated & weird that it still confuses the hell out of me, even though I understand why these things happened & how. Anyone else smell copper?

[Robo4900]

It's entirely possible that they didn't see the point of getting the Ocean dub because FUNi's is so prevalent online.

Except, from what I've heard -- and pay attention this time, I've said it at least twice before now, -- they weren't given the option of getting the Ocean dub. That's why I suspect some kind of foul play.
Granted, there's no concrete evidence of this, but it's not hard to imagine Funimation asking Toei to give their dub preferential treatment in Europe -- or perhaps the UK in particular -- when it comes to English dubs. And it's not too much of a stretch from there to imagine Funimation asking the licensors to not offer the Ocean dub to the UK.

Then again, if anyone else has listened to Geekdom101's interview with MasakoX, when Z ran on TV over a decade ago, Masako said that their airing of Z was really weird. For one stretch of episodes, they'd apparently get the Ocean dub, then for another stretch, it'd be the FUNi dub, so it's not like the UK market has NEVER heard FUNi's actors before.

He says that in the interview, but I don't remember it like that. It's possible I was just too young at the time though, and a lot of people do mention this, so my current theory is that during the Androids and Cell sagas, Ocean sometimes couldn't get their tapes to the UK in time. Anyway though, even if the initial airings switched around a little, all re-airings of 1-53 and 108-276 used the Ocean dub only. I am certain of this.
Besides, if it turns out MasakoX is wrong about it, it wouldn't be the first time he's been inconsistent about which dub he says he saw. He's talked a few times about how the version of GT we got in the UK was the Blue Water version, which had far superior scripts to Funimation's, kept the original music, and aired all 64 episodes from the beginning. But in his interview with Megami33, he specifically said that the version that first aired for him was the Funimation version...

It all has to do with what materials they acquire to use & apparently FUNi's has become the go-to for the dub over there. Remember, the continued Ocean dub was only made in the first place to conform to Canadian broadcast standards. Everything else was from somewhere prior. The cast was brought back because Ocean Studios was still in charge of the dub, the scripts were sourced from Texas as FUNi dubbed the episodes as well, & they probably got their episode masters from FUNi as well, though if anyone has other info on those, please correct me, though FUNi didn't even get their episode masters from Toei at first, they got them from Mexico for a while.

There's a lot of misinformation in there, which is understandable, given how much of this stuff is poorly explained(Or not explained at all) online. I myself am still a little hazy on some details, but allow me to share what I do know...
The second run of the Ocean dub from episodes 108-276 originally didn't air in Canada. Canada didn't actually switch to Ocean until the mid-Cell Games saga. The Canadian content thing was a bonus, and that's why Canada switched to using the Canadian dubs starting from mid-Cell Games, but up until that point, the Westwood run of the Ocean dub was actually only produced for European territories like the UK.
I suspect Canada's switch to the Ocean dub was a major contributor to the higher budget during the Boo arc, although this is just speculation on my part.

You say the scripts were sourced from Funimation as if that's a new development; the original Saban run of the Ocean dub had scripts from Funimation. And just like with the Saban run, Funimation had their video masters, initial scripts(Re-translated from Mexican Spanish, and rather poorly at that), and M&E tracks given to them from Mexico, which were then sent to Canada along with adapted scripts to be dubbed. The two Blue Water dubs were the only time they used their own scripts, although really it was just GT that did that(Blue Water's OG DB dub is an odd thing script-wise. A third of the time, the dialogue is the exact same as the Funimation dub, a third of the time it's completely different, and a third of the time it's in an odd middle-ground. I suspect Blue Water's DB dub used the same Spanish>English rough translations Funimation were given, which the Blue Water script adaptors then did their own work on separate from Funimation. I'd guess the way this works is the third that's the same as Funimation is what was well-translated on the Spanish>English scripts, the third that's completely different was a mess the different script adaptors took different approaches at fixing, and the third that's an odd middle-ground is probably down to the different approaches the two dubbing houses took to censorship, and general dubbing convention(In episode of 1 Blue Water Dragon Ball, when Bulma asks Goku for his name, he says "It's Goku. Well, Son Goku, actually."). GT, however, was an entirely new translation from the original Japanese scripts).

[NitroEX]

It's entirely possible that they didn't see the point of getting the Ocean dub because FUNi's is so prevalent online. Most clips you'd find on places like YouTube are from the FUNi dub. It's pretty much the default for anyone who uploads clips online. You'd have to specifically look for Ocean Dub clips if you wanna hear the audio from it. So, they probably didn't wanna confuse the younger generations who hadn't seen the ocean dub of Z before.

If you're still talking about the Z dub here (which I assume you are)

I don't think this has anything to do with it, it's due to the fact that the Funi's orange bricks were the cheapest way to license the series in uncut form (cheaper even than the Dragon Boxes), the Funi dub was the only uncut English dub spanning 291 episodes so naturally, that's what they went with. Also, the fact that the Ocean dub was edited and incomplete made them disregard it regardless of preference because a small company like MangaUK is in no position to fund a complete Ocean dub. That being said, they could have arranged for a similar release to Funi's RTD set, specifically for the UK market with the incomplete dub as it was, but this is MangaUK we're talking about, they're one of the more lazy anime distributors who largely just repackage other countries releases. Also, as we saw on Twitter back in April, Jerome Mazandarani (the guy running Manga Entertainment) frankly doesn't seem to give much of a fuck about the Ocean dub and simply recommends us to let him know when Funimation release it (which doesn't even make sense since the Westwood dub didn't air in the US, giving Funimation no incentive to acquire and release it).

Then again, if anyone else has listened to Geekdom101's interview with MasakoX, when Z ran on TV over a decade ago, Masako said that their airing of Z was really weird. For one stretch of episodes, they'd apparently get the Ocean dub, then for another stretch, it'd be the FUNi dub, so it's not like the UK market has NEVER heard FUNi's actors before. It all has to do with what materials they acquire to use & apparently FUNi's has become the go-to for the dub over there.

It's unfortunate that people are getting their info on the UK airings from MasakoX. Not trying to bash the guy or anything but it's clear to anyone familiar with this stuff that he doesn't really have a strong grasp on the subject. He's spread wrong information before, such as when the Goku voice switches took place and he appears to have only a vague recollection of when the dub actually switched. At the end of the day, he's frankly just spreading misinformation to the community due to his lack of research although he's not the only Youtuber guilty of this. Geekdom's interview with Drummond as well as Kirbopher's "Did You Know Voice Acting? Dragon Ball Z" videos have also contained bits of inaccurate "facts" on the later Ocean dub episodes which simply aren't true, although the latter two can be somewhat forgiven since they didn't grow up with that version (although the lack of research is still pretty shameful considering the size of their audience). MasakoX has no excuse though, especially since he portrays himself as a knowledgeable Dragon Ball fan from the UK.

Anyway, MasakoX's claims are a bit exaggerated. The Ocean dub (Saban & Westwood) was shown for the majority of the DBZ series in the UK (1-53 + 108-276), the Funimation dub was shown here for episodes 54-107 and made a short-lived resurgence for the premiere of the Fusion saga, but it should be noted that this anomaly was later corrected to once again only show the Ocean dub version of those episodes, so the Funimation version was essentially used as placeholder before things returned to normal. I suspect the only reasons episodes 54-107 of the Funi dub remained in circulation was because AB or CN simply saw no point in paying for old episodes to be redubbed, that and the fact that the Ocean cast was relieved of their dubbing duties after Z ended, having been replaced by the Blue Water cast.

Remember, the continued Ocean dub was only made in the first place to conform to Canadian broadcast standards.

This isn't true or at least, there's little evidence to support that. The UK and European countries like Netherlands got the Westwood/Ocean dub long before Canada did. We got it from the Trunks saga onwards whilst they only switched over during the Cell Games. If it was made for Canadian broadcast standards the switch would have happened as soon as it became available.

Everything else was from somewhere prior. The cast was brought back because Ocean Studios was still in charge of the dub, the scripts were sourced from Texas as FUNi dubbed the episodes as well, & they probably got their episode masters from FUNi as well, though if anyone has other info on those, please correct me, though FUNi didn't even get their episode masters from Toei at first, they got them from Mexico for a while.

The Ocean cast was brought back apparently due to fan demand. This wouldn't have been too surprising given the drop in quality of the Funimation dub starting from episode 54 which Funi were still trying to pass off as the same product, imitating the previous cast for example (and probably charging the same rate as well). It seemed either Cartoon Network UK or AB Groupe were listening and decided that hiring Ocean to do more episodes was a better (and perhaps an even cheaper) option than outsourcing the dub from Funimation. Since Funi were also charging for music royalties that could have been another reason they came off as no longer appealing to these companies.