Thoughts on Brian Drummond's Vegeta?

[mAcChaos]

Back in the early 2000s, around 2003-2004, during the DBZOA era, Drummond was pretty much universally well liked.

There was even another site wholly dedicated to how great the Ocean dub was and how terrible Funi's was, though I can't remember it. I just recall it being hilarious.

I've seen Drummond criticized more as the years went on, perhaps because new fans entered the community, or because the nostalgia goggles wore off. Without Funi's terrible dub to compare it to the shine isn't as bright, perhaps.

[ABED]

Back in the early 2000s, around 2003-2004, during the DBZOA era, Drummond was pretty much universally well liked.

There was even another site wholly dedicated to how great the Ocean dub was and how terrible Funi's was, though I can't remember it. I just recall it being hilarious.

I've seen Drummond criticized more as the years went on, perhaps because new fans entered the community, or because the nostalgia goggles wore off. Without Funi's terrible dub to compare it to the shine isn't as bright, perhaps.

I'm pretty sure the criticism is from the new fans who didn't watch the Ocean dub. If the nostalgia is for anything, it's the FUNi dub. The Ocean dub was panned for years and it was mostly from niche fans because DB hadn't amassed a somewhat mainstream audience. I think as those fans grew up, they reevaluated and came around to many of the Ocean dub actors.

[MasenkoHA]

Back in the early 2000s, around 2003-2004, during the DBZOA era, Drummond was pretty much universally well liked.

There was even another site wholly dedicated to how great the Ocean dub was and how terrible Funi's was, though I can't remember it. I just recall it being hilarious.

I've seen Drummond criticized more as the years went on, perhaps because new fans entered the community, or because the nostalgia goggles wore off. Without Funi's terrible dub to compare it to the shine isn't as bright, perhaps.

I'm pretty sure the criticism is from the new fans who didn't watch the Ocean dub. If the nostalgia is for anything, it's the FUNi dub. The Ocean dub was panned for years and it was mostly from niche fans because DB hadn't amassed a somewhat mainstream audience. I think as those fans grew up, they reevaluated and came around to many of the Ocean dub actors.

There was enough nostalgia to market an over priced Rock the Dragon set.


I think its a combination of factors

1. The Ocean dub was only on Toonami a year or so before they picked up season 3 with a new cast and that cast pretty much took over in most people's minds. I imagine a lot of fans from then might have abandoned the show because of the new cast while new fans had nothing to compare it to

2. The Ocean dub was the only dub from 1996-1998. Only in the final year did it recieve fsvorable ratings due to Toonami picking it up. The Funi in house cast has been doing it since 1999 and they're still going plus they ended up redubbing the Ocean era episodes in 2005. All that is going to make Funi in house dub more remembered

[ABED]

There was enough nostalgia to market an over priced Rock the Dragon set.

Yes, 20 years after that dub aired and when it wasn't readily available on the market.

There's more nostalgia for the FUNi dub because more people saw it.

[precita]

Popular? God, I can't believe it. I don't know how anyone can endure that for any period of time.

Have you been part of any Dragonball related forum where people watch the dub for years? Because even back in the early 2000's when the Ocean dub was still recent everyone loved him, and then when Season 3 came out and switched to Sabat everyone said they wanted Drummond back. Obviously part of that was Sabat didn't improve his voice as Vegeta until into the Cell arc and beyond, but besides that Drummond was always popular.

I've been in online Dragonball communities since the early 2000's, he has a huge chunk of fans.

I've only been into DB since 2014 and I was a toddler in the early 2000's so I've never heard this anywhere. Personally I'm a Horikawa fan because, though Sabat does an exceptional job, it still sounds extremely strained and I can't piece together whether his Vegeta is supposed to have an accent or not, and if the accent is supposed to be British.

Well if you were a kid in the early 2000's obviously you wouldn't know about this.

For those of us who were teens or in online fandoms in the early 2000's, he was very well liked.

[Lookerman]

The acting behind his Vegeta is very good, as he was already a fairly seasoned veteran of voice-over work at the time, but I've never been a huge fan of the character voice he used. I wonder whose idea it was to take it that high and raspy.

Probably the voice director.

[8000 Saiyan]

The acting behind his Vegeta is very good, as he was already a fairly seasoned veteran of voice-over work at the time, but I've never been a huge fan of the character voice he used. I wonder whose idea it was to take it that high and raspy.

Probably the voice director.

It wasn't the voice director. The producers originally told him that Vegeta was a complete and evil psychopath, so that's how he came up with that voice.

Much like his Zechs voice, this voice probably wouldn't have gotten him too many complaints:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpADfKolHJY

[Metalwario64]

Brian Drummond was held back by the voice direction and the overall product that was Saban era Dragon Ball Z. If he'd have a chance to give a genuine performance, I think he'd be a very good match for Ryo Horikawa's Vegeta in an English dub.

[Soppa Saia People]

I liked it quite a bit.

I think it's pretty laughable when people say that his voice wouldn't fit later Vegeta. He's a professional VA, I'm sure he would change the voice from Vegeta's introduction to when he's a Father and married.

[8000 Saiyan]

Not really a fan of Drummond in DBZ, although I can't speak for his greater volume of work. Scott McNeil was the real standout of the Ocean cast, in my opinion.

Incidentally, McNeil does pull off a role similar to the Vegeta situation (guy with evil voice who starts off bad but ends as good guy) mentioned above, in Beast Wars, where he totally owns the Dinobot role.

You should watch Beast Machines, the sequel to Beast Wars. It's not as good as the latter, but Drummond gives a great performance there as Jetstorm.

[Kamiccolo9]

Not really a fan of Drummond in DBZ, although I can't speak for his greater volume of work. Scott McNeil was the real standout of the Ocean cast, in my opinion.

Incidentally, McNeil does pull off a role similar to the Vegeta situation (guy with evil voice who starts off bad but ends as good guy) mentioned above, in Beast Wars, where he totally owns the Dinobot role.

You should watch Beast Machines, the sequel to Beast Wars. It's not as good as the latter, but Drummond gives a great performance there as Jetstorm.

I'm aware of Beast Machines. I prefer to believe that it was a bad dream.

[DBZAOTA482]

Definitive English Vegeta.

[LordCrumb]

I liked it quite a bit.

I think it's pretty laughable when people say that his voice wouldn't fit later Vegeta. He's a professional VA, I'm sure he would change the voice from Vegeta's introduction to when he's a Father and married.

He didn't really change his voice at all though. The pitch might be slightly lower due to natural age, but it sounds the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKqqpDYFxWk

Definitive English Vegeta.

How can he be considered 'Definitive' when he didn't even complete the series.

I swear the same people who prefer Drummond over Sabat, are the same people who go out of their way to try and like the 'B Tracks' on albums, rather than the regular mainstream hits.

[ABED]

I swear the same people who prefer Drummond over Sabat, are the same people who go out of their way to try and like the 'B Tracks' on albums, rather than the regular mainstream hits.

Sabat's come a long way but for the longest time, Drummond was the better of the two. And do you not think it's possible for someone to prefer the "B tracks" to the mainstream hits?

[Bansho64]

How can he be considered 'Definitive' when he didn't even complete the series.

I don't see what him not completing the series has anything to do with it. A lot of people consider actors and actresses the definitive versions of characters regardless of whether or not they finished the series of movies, TV shows, etc.

EX: Many people consider either Nick Castle or Dick Warlock's version of Michael Myers from Halloween to be the definitive version of that characters. And neither of them did anything more than one movie for that franchise.

In any case, I feel like you're just looking for reasons to question or find some issue with his opinion just because you don't agree with it.

I swear the same people who prefer Drummond over Sabat, are the same people who go out of their way to try and like the 'B Tracks' on albums, rather than the regular mainstream hits.

Not sure what this is supposed to mean...... What's your issue?

[Ajay]

How can he be considered 'Definitive' when he didn't even complete the series.

Can you clarify what you mean by this?

Excluding that short portion of the Freeza arc, Drummond most certainly finished Z. It's what we had here in the UK, along with McNeil and the rest of the crew... and horrendous recycled music from various other cartoons!

Do you mean the various other products?

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Excluding that short portion of the Freeza arc, Drummond most certainly finished Z. It's what we had here in the UK

Ahh the gold old press red button and play games days, and then you find out you have to pay and they only give you a few free levels...

[8000 Saiyan]

I liked it quite a bit.

I think it's pretty laughable when people say that his voice wouldn't fit later Vegeta. He's a professional VA, I'm sure he would change the voice from Vegeta's introduction to when he's a Father and married.

He didn't really change his voice at all though. The pitch might be slightly lower due to natural age, but it sounds the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKqqpDYFxWk

He doesn't really sound the same. You can tell that it's Drummond, but there are some slight differences to how he sounds.

Definitive English Vegeta.

How can he be considered 'Definitive' when he didn't even complete the series.

I swear the same people who prefer Drummond over Sabat, are the same people who go out of their way to try and like the 'B Tracks' on albums, rather than the regular mainstream hits.

He doesn't really sound the same as he did in the Saban dub. You can tell that it's the same voice actor, but there are some slight differences.

There are some actors that are considered the definitive portrayals of a particular character even if they did only one movie as that said character. Heck, not everyone considers Kevin Conroy to be the definitive Batman voice despite him voicing Batman more times than any other actor.

What's your problem? Are you one of those Funimation in-house dub fans that get mad over the fact that someone prefers the Ocean voice actors to your precious Funimation voice actors? If so, that's pretty immature of you. And what's wrong with someone liking the B tracks? Can you explain me that?

[Forte224]

I'll never understand the double standard people have with loving the Ocean Dub but hating the Funi dub. I thought Kanzenshuu would be that one place where people understand but I guess nostalgia creeps here sometimes too.

I grew up with Ocean and Funi, yet these days I hate them both. That said, people crap all over Funi for unfaithful dialogue and raspy voices that don't fit and don't respect the original source material, but then they'll praise Ocean which does the EXACT same thing. Vegeta isn't supposed to sound like what Drummond makes him sound like. He makes him sound raspy and cheesy.

Vegeta is supposed to sound calm, collected and princely. Sure he yells and screams but during his calm scenes Drummond maintains the annoying rasp just like Sabat used to do. Ocean Dub is terrible, even the movies are just serviceable. I'm convinced the movies only get as much praise as they do is because they were better than what we got on TV (and accurate dialogue of course) but better doesn't equal good

[TheBigBoy]

I'll never understand the double standard people have with loving the Ocean Dub but hating the Funi dub. I thought Kanzenshuu would be that one place where people understand but I guess nostalgia creeps here sometimes too.

I grew up with Ocean and Funi, yet these days I hate them both. That said, people crap all over Funi for unfaithful dialogue and raspy voices that don't fit and don't respect the original source material, but then they'll praise Ocean which does the EXACT same thing. Vegeta isn't supposed to sound like what Drummond makes him sound like. He makes him sound raspy and cheesy.

Both productions are flawed in their own way. I would say that one advantage the Ocean/Pioneer dub has over the in-house dub is that while it's heavily altered and censored...at least it's feels like a professional production. The VAs are all experienced and talented, even if they don't match the characters. Even the VHS tapes look a lot better than the Funimation ones.

The "Funimation dub" on the other hand, while uncensored and arguably more accurate...just feels cheap. The new actors didn't have a ton of experience and for the most part, were trying to imitate the old voices. Yeah, it gradually got better, but it started off really rough. I think we still see some of the ramifications of those early days as far as the cast. While they've knocked it out of the park with more than a few voices recently, I feel like a lot of the core cast, while not bad, still leave a lot to be desired. Sabat's Piccolo still can't touch McNeil's for example...

I'm not ruling out nostalgia either - I grew up watching the dub at 6 AM Saturday mornings rather than on weekdays at 5 PM.

Anyway, Saiyan/Namek era "violent psycho" Vegeta is probably my favorite era of the character. Drummond does a fun job with this, but as many of said, he's not great when the character is required to be a bit more nuanced.

I heard a clip from the Majin Vegeta fight and I thought he sounded pretty good, for what it's worth.