Thoughts on Brian Drummond's Vegeta?

[NitroEX]

I am very well aware that Vegeta and Zechs are different characters. What I was trying to say is that had he used his Zechs voice in the Westwood dub, I don't think there would have been complaints about him sounding out of place. His Zechs voice is kind of like Horikawa's Vegeta voice, a smooth voice.

I see what you mean but what I'm basically saying is that the way he plays the character is bound to have an effect on the way the voice sounds. Unless his Vegeta changes personalities completely there are rarely going to be moments when he can sound as calm and as smooth as he does when playing Zechs.

Also, if you watched the Westwood dub he did actually start applying some similarities to that voice towards the end of his run:
https://youtu.be/tCJUYbRVj_0?t=4s

[Lord Beerus]

Drummond played a damn good Vegeta. He sounded so sinister and evil, but ironically, the style of which he voiced started to sound less natural and fitting as the story progressed and Vegeta character started to calm down and mellow out. He was the perfect English voice for Vegeta up until the Freeza arc. I just can't Drummond style of voicing Vegeta working in this day and age, especially now that Super is a thing. It just wouldn't work. But for what's it's worth, his screaming and yelling is out of this world. No other English VA for Vegeta comes close to to him in that department. Not even Sabat.

[omaro34]

The "ITS OVER 9000" quote as well as when Vegeta is underwater in the Namek arc and realizes that Gohan stole the Dragonball which lead to a meltdown scene with rage is a classic for me.

I liked Drummond over Sabat, but maybe I'm biased because I'm Canadian

[Lord Frieza]

I like his Vegeta but I love him more as Gorgutz Eadhunter.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMefse9UfWc

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Pretty much echoing others his Saiyan arc performance was the best dubbed Vegeta performance in Z, after that his Vegeta as well as Sabat's weren't too great if I'm honest but Kai onwards Sabat has improved tremendously and it is a shame we never got to hear Drummond's second chance.

[dario03]

A widely held opinion that is unjustly applied to far to many people to try and dismiss their opinions. Something that happens far to much with the "they just like it because of nostalgia" "argument".

The fact that no one brings forth a strong argument for having such a strange preference is enough for me to dismiss it as nostalgia bias, I've had similar discussions about this before and that's what it usually comes down to. My theory on it also makes a lot more sense considering the history of the dubs in English speaking countries and how unavailable the Westwood dub was to most within in the English-speaking fandom. I'd say it's a bit more than simple coincidence that people who transitioned from Drummond to Sabat at an early age seem to prefer it this way and openly endorse it whenever the topic arises. Feel free to prove me wrong but for now, I'll go with what I've observed over the years.

The issue is even if people do bring up good points this is all based on opinions so anyone could just go "lolno, its all nostalgia you just won't admit it". And I have had this conversation before as well and my anecdotal evidence disagrees with your anecdotal evidence.
You could easily use that excuse for anything. "You watched the dub before the sub and like the dub better? Must be nostalgia." "You watched the sub first and like it best? Nostalgia." "You like Drummond over any version from Sabat? Where are you from? hmmmm sounds like nostalgia not letting go..." "You grew up on the Star Wars Prequels and like them better than Episodes IV-VI? Nostalgia it be" "You like Return Of The Jedi more than Revenge Of The Sith? How old are you? Ohhh....so its Nostalgia, that explains it".
For some it might be true, plenty of others though it is not. The bias can just as easily be with the claimer of nostalgia.

[ABED]

A widely held opinion that is unjustly applied to far to many people to try and dismiss their opinions. Something that happens far to much with the "they just like it because of nostalgia" "argument".

The fact that no one brings forth a strong argument for having such a strange preference is enough for me to dismiss it as nostalgia bias, I've had similar discussions about this before and that's what it usually comes down to. My theory on it also makes a lot more sense considering the history of the dubs in English speaking countries and how unavailable the Westwood dub was to most within in the English-speaking fandom. I'd say it's a bit more than simple coincidence that people who transitioned from Drummond to Sabat at an early age seem to prefer it this way and openly endorse it whenever the topic arises. Feel free to prove me wrong but for now, I'll go with what I've observed over the years.

The issue is even if people do bring up good points this is all based on opinions so anyone could just go "lolno, its all nostalgia you just won't admit it". And I have had this conversation before as well and my anecdotal evidence disagrees with your anecdotal evidence.
You could easily use that excuse for anything. "You watched the dub before the sub and like the dub better? Must be nostalgia." "You watched the sub first and like it best? Nostalgia." "You like Drummond over any version from Sabat? Where are you from? hmmmm sounds like nostalgia not letting go..." "You grew up on the Star Wars Prequels and like them better than Episodes IV-VI? Nostalgia it be" "You like Return Of The Jedi more than Revenge Of The Sith? How old are you? Ohhh....so its Nostalgia, that explains it".
For some it might be true, plenty of others though it is not. The bias can just as easily be with the claimer of nostalgia.

Except that the dub is proveably awful in terms of dialog and the in-house dub was green as grass. And who in their right mind prefers the prequels?

[NitroEX]

The issue is even if people do bring up good points this is all based on opinions so anyone could just go "lolno, its all nostalgia you just won't admit it". And I have had this conversation before as well and my anecdotal evidence disagrees with your anecdotal evidence.
You could easily use that excuse for anything. "You watched the dub before the sub and like the dub better? Must be nostalgia." "You watched the sub first and like it best? Nostalgia." "You like Drummond over any version from Sabat? Where are you from? hmmmm sounds like nostalgia not letting go..." "You grew up on the Star Wars Prequels and like them better than Episodes IV-VI? Nostalgia it be" "You like Return Of The Jedi more than Revenge Of The Sith? How old are you? Ohhh....so its Nostalgia, that explains it".
For some it might be true, plenty of others though it is not. The bias can just as easily be with the claimer of nostalgia.

The difference being that I can actually take sub/dub fans and Star Wars OT/prequel fans seriously because they provide reasons and back up their preferences with good arguments (Kikuchi vs Faulconer, CG vs practical FX just to name a few). I have no problem understanding where they're coming from and wouldn't simply call them nostalgic just because.

When talking about someone who claims to only prefer Drummond's Vegeta for the first two seasons of DBZ and nothing but Sabat thereafter... firstly, at that point It a no-brainer which type of fan I'm talking to, I don't know what else to tell you other than people who didn't grow up with the Saban dub don't talk like this. It's just kind of absurd for me to pretend some casual unbiased newbie would suddenly go out of their way to seek out and watch the series in such a contrived way, they would just stick with Sabat out of convenience. In reality, the OG dub is so far off of most people's radar that they probably don't even know it exists let alone know the Canadian actors by name.

It just seems obvious to me that the majority of fans spouting this opinion are just the older crowd trying to cobble together two separate dubs that they're equally nostalgic for, but don't logically fit. I'm not saying you can't prefer the performance of one actor in a certain arc vs another but to say "he's great" in one arc but "too evil" in another (to paraphrase others online) just comes across to me as a bit of a weird and flimsy argument for an unbiased person to make. As for the UK fans who share this opinion too, well, there's bound to be at least some. I mean popular opinions online can be pretty contagious but aside from that, there's still only one uncut English dub on the market so it's easy to be swayed after 10+ years of no alternate DBZ home releases.

[Man-Child]

I can't comment on his Westwood performances as I've seen so little of it, but Drummond was absolutely spot on for the version of the character he was asked to play during the Saban era. Pure menace and cockiness in equal measure. Like most of the Ocean actors, he seemed to put a lot of effort into the voice and I believed in the character because of it.

And just as a side note, everyone always brings up Drummonds yells, but his laughs in character are so hearty and infectious.

[MasenkoHA]

The issue is even if people do bring up good points this is all based on opinions so anyone could just go "lolno, its all nostalgia you just won't admit it". And I have had this conversation before as well and my anecdotal evidence disagrees with your anecdotal evidence.
You could easily use that excuse for anything. "You watched the dub before the sub and like the dub better? Must be nostalgia." "You watched the sub first and like it best? Nostalgia." "You like Drummond over any version from Sabat? Where are you from? hmmmm sounds like nostalgia not letting go..." "You grew up on the Star Wars Prequels and like them better than Episodes IV-VI? Nostalgia it be" "You like Return Of The Jedi more than Revenge Of The Sith? How old are you? Ohhh....so its Nostalgia, that explains it".
For some it might be true, plenty of others though it is not. The bias can just as easily be with the claimer of nostalgia.

The difference being that I can actually take sub/dub fans and Star Wars OT/prequel fans seriously because they provide reasons and back up their preferences with good arguments (Kikuchi vs Faulconer, CG vs practical FX just to name a few). I have no problem understanding where they're coming from and wouldn't simply call them nostalgic just because.

When talking about someone who claims to only prefer Drummond's Vegeta for the first two seasons of DBZ and nothing but Sabat thereafter... firstly, at that point It a no-brainer which type of fan I'm talking to, I don't know what else to tell you other than people who didn't grow up with the Saban dub don't talk like this. It's just kind of absurd for me to pretend some casual unbiased newbie would suddenly go out of their way to seek out and watch the series in such a contrived way, they would just stick with Sabat out of convenience. In reality, the OG dub is so far off of most people's radar that they probably don't even know it exists let alone know the Canadian actors by name.


.

It just seems obvious to me that the majority of fans spouting this opinion are just the older crowd trying to cobble together two separate dubs that they're equally nostalgic for, but don't logically fit. I'm not saying you can't prefer the performance of one actor in a certain arc vs another but to say "he's great" in one arc but "too evil" in another (to paraphrase others online) just comes across to me as a bit of a weird and flimsy argument for an unbiased person to make. As for the UK fans who share this opinion too, well, there's bound to be at least some. I mean popular opinions online can be pretty contagious but aside from that, there's still only one uncut English dub on the market so it's easy to be swayed after 10+ years of no alternate DBZ home releases.

These are interesting points because I actually hold very little if any nostalgia for the Saban dub. I remember seeing episodes on Toonami but I didn't really start watching DBZ until the Goku/Freeza battle and didn't REALLY start watching until the Trunk saga. So the Funimation in-house voices are the voiced I'm used to with the Falcouner score.


And yet making my way through the Saban dub I actualy universally prefer the Ocean cast WITH the exception of Brian Drummond as Vegeta. I just think his Vegeta is fine for the portion of DBZ he covered but I don't think he was better than say Sabat in the uncut redub. Better than Sabat in the original s3 dub for sure.
Brian Drummond is after all a better Brian Drummond than Chris Sabat is.


But man when Saban left the syndication business part of me wishes Pioneer had done more than the movies and picked up the rest of the Namek saga for Funimation and Ocean group to dub

[floofychan333]

Brian Drummond was pretty horrible. He sounded like the lovechild of Master Roshi and the bartender from Hearthstone.

[Char Aznable]

I really like Brian Drummond, absolutely fucking loved him as Zechs Marquise and he also made a great Vegeta - at least for the portion that aired in the U.S. I checked out some clips of him as Vegeta for the Ocean Dub that continued overseas, and he just didn't seem to have the same 'oomph'. The voice was obviously the same, but the delivery just seemed off.

[precita]

Brian Drummond was pretty horrible. He sounded like the lovechild of Master Roshi and the bartender from Hearthstone.

Uh, not at all. Brian Drummond's voice has always been well received and popular.

[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.

[VegettoEX]

Uh, not at all. Brian Drummond's voice has always been well received and popular.

As someone who's more or less been here since the beginning, I can say with certainty that:

- Drummond's performance was heavily disliked by the existing fanbase from the pre-FUNimation says
- Drummond's performance was heavily praised by the new, incoming fans brought in by the dub itself

See also for exact parallel: Faulconer Productions replacement score.

[ABED]

Though in the case of Drummond, I think it was a matter of reevaluation over time and not just a matter of a new group of fans.

[TheGreatness25]

I think that Drummond did a good job. Funny enough, I think that the work in the later episodes (Westwood dub) was pretty bad. But I don't think it spoke about Drummond as Vegeta as much as it did about direction. What I don't like about Sabat's performance is that he doesn't sound like anyone could have that voice. He sounds like he's forcing the voice, which makes it sound more cartoony. Yes, it's a cartoon, but I always appreciated the more natural-sounding performances. Drummond was obviously making a voice, but it sounded more natural. It sounded like someone could actually exist with that voice. Same with Ian James Corlett as Goku, whose portrayal is my favorite dub Goku. In general, I believe that the Ocean cast always sounded a lot more professional than Funimation's. I don't mind Funimation, nor do I think they're particularly bad (especially today), but Ocean always sounded a lot more natural and professional, Drummond included.

[ABED]

Sabat's performance is very natural now, but I've liked it back during the Buu arc when he made it his own. His Drummond impression was god awful.

[TheGreatness25]

I don't know, Sabat's Vegeta still sounds incredibly forced. It's a lot better than when he started, of course, but it's not great. I think that Sabat's PIccolo and non-surfer Yamucha sound a lot more natural than Vegeta. Team Four Star's Vegeta sounds a lot more natural than Sabat's, to be honest. And I'm not one of the fanboys that rips off TFS jokes, I'm just sharing my opinion. I think that TFS's approach to Vegeta and PIccolo in particular, are great.

[ABED]

I don't know, Sabat's Vegeta still sounds incredibly forced. It's a lot better than when he started, of course, but it's not great. I think that Sabat's PIccolo and non-surfer Yamucha sound a lot more natural than Vegeta. Team Four Star's Vegeta sounds a lot more natural than Sabat's, to be honest. And I'm not one of the fanboys that rips off TFS jokes, I'm just sharing my opinion. I think that TFS's approach to Vegeta and PIccolo in particular, are great.

It's not forced. It's more theatrical, but it works. Even so called more natural voice acting still has elements of being "over the top" for lack of better word, but it works given the medium. ANd no, TFS doesn't sound more natural than Sabat's Vegeta. He's doing an impression of Sabat and it's a parody. Nothing in that show sounds remotely natural and it's not supposed to. DB not a naturalistic show and the performances reflect that.

Drummond's take on Vegeta works for the character in that era, but doesn't work as well when Vegeta begins his babyface turn.