Linda Young and Chris Ayres (Ep 94/95)

[8000 Saiyan]

Is it possible Funi will delay production of the dub alittle to wait for Chris to get better? I know the show must go on but I really do love Chris's work as Freeza and I'd hate to see him replaced.

Maybe.

[Lord Exor]

Alright, but no one is saying Linda has to be given the sarcastic one-liners, I'm only talking about the voice itself. Linda liked those lines (her favorite one, if I recall, is calling Nail's severed arm a backscratcher), but she doesn't write them. And I can't agree over Frieza sounding more intelligent; to me, intelligence is measured by actions, and as far as vocal performances go, in how calculated and methodical they sound. The Ayres incarnation of Frieza is a gibbering chatterbox talking as much he can before needing to stop and catch his breath, and I don't know if I'd necessarily equate that with intellect.

Linda talks with a far more natural cadence, and manages to convey a creepy villain at the same time. Given different, less subjectively "childish" lines, I fail to see the issue.

[MR.Mark]

There isn't much nuance to Linda's rendition, just a raspy "evil" voice, even if you gave her the same lines as Kai it wouldn't be half as effective as Ayres.

[8000 Saiyan]

Alright, but no one is saying Linda has to be given the sarcastic one-liners, I'm only talking about the voice itself. Linda liked those lines (her favorite one, if I recall, is calling Nail's severed arm a backscratcher), but she doesn't write them. And I can't agree over Frieza sounding more intelligent; to me, intelligence is measured by actions, and as far as vocal performances go, in how calculated and methodical they sound. The Ayres incarnation of Frieza is a gibbering chatterbox talking as much he can before needing to stop and catch his breath, and I don't know if I'd necessarily equate that with intellect.

Linda talks with a far more natural cadence, and manages to convey a creepy villain at the same time. Given different, less subjectively "childish" lines, I fail to see the issue.

I don't think Young could have handled the scripts for Kai as well Ayres did.

[Lord Exor]

I hate to break it to you, but there isn't much nuance to Frieza in general. He's a faux affable evil psychopath, and that's evident with both performances--he's evil, that's it. The scripts for Frieza in both Kai and Super are absurdly overwritten to the point of, again, coming across as a caricature. Fast talkers don't sound very menacing--in fact, it's when people slow their speech down and place greater emphasis on words that they come across as creepy. He talks too fast, rushes his words, and tries to fit as much within the gaps between mouth flaps as humanly possible. This is all the corollary of poor scriptwriting on Funimation's part; since they seem to be wanting to "compensate" for misinterpreting Frieza the first time, we end up with a Flanderized version of Frieza.

[dragon boss z]

I hate to break it to you, but there isn't much nuance to Frieza in general. He's a faux affable evil psychopath, and that's evident with both performances--he's evil, that's it. The scripts for Frieza in both Kai and Super are absurdly overwritten to the point of, again, coming across as a caricature. Fast talkers don't sound very menacing--in fact, it's when people slow their speech down and place greater emphasis on words that they come across as creepy. He talks too fast, rushes his words, and tries to fit as much within the gaps between mouth flaps as humanly possible. This is all the corollary of poor scriptwriting on Funimation's part; since they seem to be wanting to "compensate" for misinterpreting Frieza the first time, we end up with a Flanderized version of Frieza.

Frieza is supposed to sound like a sophisticated intelligent almost polite (man?). Chris does sound pretty similar to Nakao and a good job portraying what Frieza was supposed to be. I liked Linda's Frieza when I first watched it, but it wasn't the way Frieza was supposed to be.

[Lord Exor]

I don't know, Linda's Frieza was fairly polite with his clearly affected usage of the phrase "my good man" when addressing Namekians. "I can't hear you, perhaps if I let go." "Those rude little ruffians, that's no way for guests on my ship to behave!"(Other instances of phony geniality.) I also wouldn't necessarily call Linda's voice intrinsically "unintelligent" sounding.

[roninwolf1981]

I hope I'm not violating any rule about "Thread Necromancy" with my comment, but...

Given the most recent English dub episode of Dragon Ball Super, where Fortuneteller Baba brings back Frieza for the Universal Tournament of Power, I wonder if both Linda Young AND Chris Ayres were in the same recording studio at the same time for that episode? That episode aired today, but I was not able to see the end credits for myself.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I didn't see the credits either, but I was actively listening for Ayres this time and from what I could tell I think it was Mills doing Freeza's lines.

[DainIronfoot]

I didn't see the credits either, but I was actively listening for Ayres this time and from what I could tell I think it was Mills doing Freeza's lines.

Yes, it was Daman Mills as Frieza and he did wonderful!

[DasMuse]

Chris managed to voice Freeza in the movie which was nice.

[ShadowBardock89]

Is that possible? If Ayres is unavailable due to his health, Linda will return as Frieza? I would be super happy if that were to happen! I've missed Linda as Frieza so much. D:

Linda Young will not return as Freeza to Super despite Ayres illness.

There is a plan B, thats all I'll say, and its not Linda Young. She WILL be Baba for certain though.

You seem pretty confident... are you saying this because you don't like Linda or you actually know something everyone else doesn't?

No, dude. Ayres has an understudy to fill in for him for Freeza. His name is Daman Mills.
I imagine should the worst scenario come to fruition, I imagine Mills would step in as Freeza's main English voice actor.

The same scenario happened in Avatar: The Last Airbender and Samurai Jack.
When Makoto Iwamatsu passed away, his understudy, Greg Baldwin, became Iroh's and Aku's voice actor.