Which Piccolo voice do you prefer: Chris Sabat or Scott McNeil?

[DrakenballP]

Who is Scott McNeil, and what is the "Oceans" dub? I'm certainly missing something here!

Chris Sabatt is the voice behind Piccolo in Z and Kai, is he not?

The Funimation cast wasn't the only cast to dub DBZ. DBZ began airing in the US in 1996 and the Ocean Group based out of Vancouver was the group of actors who dubbed DB for its first two seasons before production was moved to Dallas in order to cut costs. Scott McNeil is the actor who voiced Piccolo for the first two seasons. Sabat was hired to take over as Piccolo starting with season 3 because he was the closest substitute FUNi could find locally. That's the answer in very broad strokes.

Ah, okay thank you. I'm going to compare the two voices. I haven't watched DBZ in a solid 10+ years and re-watching now, I'm only watching Kai.

[Ajay]

Scott McNeil for me. He gives Piccolo a demonic edge much in the same way Furukawa does in places. It's an unnatural voice delivered in a natural way, and I really appreciate it for that quality. Do I even need to mention those screams?!

I don't dislike Sabat's current Piccolo voice, but it's definitely missing that edge that I think is important to the character.

[Metalwario64]

Scott McNeil for me. He gives Piccolo a demonic edge much in the same way Furukawa does in places. It's an unnatural voice delivered in a natural way, and I really appreciate it for that quality. Do I even need to mention those screams?!

I don't dislike Sabat's current Piccolo voice, but it's definitely missing that edge that I think is important to the character.

I agree with this.

Sabat's current take on Piccolo is good enough, but it's probably held back by the fact that it has to be different enough from his Vegeta. It's basically him pushing his voice as deep as it will go, and it just makes it a little bit boring, but certainly still adequate.

[omaro34]

Scott McNeil for me. He gives Piccolo a demonic edge much in the same way Furukawa does in places. It's an unnatural voice delivered in a natural way, and I really appreciate it for that quality. Do I even need to mention those screams?!

I don't dislike Sabat's current Piccolo voice, but it's definitely missing that edge that I think is important to the character.

Here is Piccolo's sacrifice with McNeil voicing him back in the Saiyan arc. The scream at 1:44 is legendary. The one during the Garlic Jr film is crazy too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qShWep1UhP4

Couldn't find the Funimation version with Sabat to compare , but McNeil nails that particular scene much better. However, with that said, McNeil's voice is better for early Piccolo since he wasn't fully a changed person for the better yet. Sabat's voice fits the character a bit more once he permanently joins the Z fighters. The demonic tone by the Buu arc doesn't have the same impact as that tone during the Saiyan arc, mainly due to the progression level of the character.

[Robo4900]

McNeil. I love his Piccolo.
Sabat's is pretty good from Kai onwards, but was really underwhelming in the original series, and was just okay in Z and GT.

Early on, McNeil had the evil, demonic edge. And later on, in the Westwood media run of the Ocean dub, he kept a very similar tone, but took away a good chunk of the edge, which really fits his later persona. But, despite not having as much of that raspy, demonic edge to him, you still got the sense he could really mess you up if you crossed him. But, you could tell he'd mellowed a lot since the Saiyan arc, and could hear a lot more wisdom in his voice.

The #1 biggest disappointment of mine in Funimation's decision to lose the Ocean cast in '99 is that we never got to hear McNeil playing Piccolo Daimao. Same goes for AB Groupe's move over to Blue Water for DB and GT. We get a taste of how he might have done it in his performance in early Z, but as I say, it's only a taste.

[Quantum-Kakarrotto]

I have to agree with the majority here, while I did grow up with Sabat's Piccolo and like his voice in Kai and Super, McNeil's Piccolo is just the voice I can always hear and say "That's Piccolo." I loved how he was able to capture the demonic side and the warrior side of Piccolo into one voice.

My favorite moment with McNeil's Piccolo was when he spoke to Garlic Jr in Dead Zone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS5zTB-zAnA

[sangofe]

Ocean Dub's Piccolo had a snake like voice, and in some instances I prefered it better than the Funimation dub; especially when Piccolo saved Gohan against Nappa.

What do you guys think overall?

Scott without doubt.

[Lord Beerus]

McNeil for me.

Watching the Rock The Dragon DVD set has really provided me with a stark reminder of just awesome Scott McNeil's rendition of Piccolo was. Sabat's Piccolo quite good in own regard, with how is extremely refined and natural it sounded in Kai and onward, but McNeil just delivers that wonderfully smooth savagery tone, much like Furukawa does, that elevates the interpretation of the character.

[Cure Dragon 255]

The REAL DEAL with Scott McNeil!

...LOL Newsradio!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjNP3tiE6N8

[Ripper 30]

I think it will be Scott McNeil. Now I don't dislike Sabat's Piccolo now as he tries to make him sound more natural and smooth In Super and Kai dub compared to his Voice in Z Dub which sounded so forced and Raspy. In DB and GT dub it improved a little but still average.
but, the thing with Scott was he actually gave Piccolo that unique demonic Type voice and a menacing tone whereas Sabat's Portrayal was more of a typical "Heavy Monster voice" and despite improving in recent dubs now Sabat just tries to sound as deep as possible and trying to differentiate it from his vegeta voice and at times its difficult to tell whether it's Vegata speaking or Piccolo so it doesn't sound as unique compared to Scott's Voice which sounded different. Also, the Bang Zoom Dub Piccolo isn't bad either actually I may even prefer it more but I haven't seen much of Bang Zoom Dub.

I feel as if this is a tad myopic question & a bit of a false equivalency? I like Scott's take better, but out of English voices I like Ray Chase almost as much as Scott & much better than Sabat tbh.

However I don't think any of them have really captured the tone of the Japanese actor that well; they always tend to go for a big brutish voice, whereas Furukawa & the Japanese version's portrayal had more of a husky, sinister sound.

That has been the problem with FUNimation. They seem to go for Stereotypical Voice casting like Piccolo may look like a monster so give him a hulky voice sounding monstrous. I think this is quite common in Dragon Ball English voices because most of the voices are not based upon how their Japanese counterparts sound like but how they sounded like in Z Dub.
That's why Kaiō and Fat Boo still sound like how they did in older dubs same goes for most of the cast but for other anime dubs like Naruto or Deathnote the English voices are actually based on their original voices. I think they could have hired someone else for Piccolo from Kai onwards and I am sure there are many talented American voice actors who can imitate that Furukawa's Sinister Tone for Piccolo.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

That has been the problem with FUNimation. They seem to go for Stereotypical Voice casting like Piccolo may look like a monster so give him a hulky voice sounding monstrous. I think this is quite common in Dragon Ball English voices because most of the voices are not based upon how their Japanese counterparts sound like but how they sounded like in Z Dub.
That's why Kaiō and Fat Boo still sound like how they did in older dubs same goes for most of the cast but for other anime dubs like Naruto or Deathnote the English voices are actually based on their original voices. I think they could have hired someone else for Piccolo from Kai onwards and I am sure there are many talented American voice actors who can imitate that Furukawa's Sinister Tone for Piccolo.

I think I mentioned it earlier, but the difference is FUNi is American-only, & they pay for & conduct the dub themselves (especially in the old DB's case where they didnt have the Japanese audio), unlike Japanese-owned companies that are supervised by the original production team. A lot of people from Shueisha were involved with Naruto & Death Note dubs, so a lot of similarities are seen in their choices.

I think the one dub I can think of which is both paid for by the original company, but is also very different, is Metal Gear. Snake (both Liquid & Solid) & Raiden especially strike me as strange compared to the JP version. This is kind of an anomaly because most game dubs IME are accurate to the sub.

[AloversGaming]

Scott McNeil's Piccolo (and Buu) were out of this world.

Still to this day even with Super, Chris can't get Piccolo's voice consistent.

[8000 Saiyan]

That has been the problem with FUNimation. They seem to go for Stereotypical Voice casting like Piccolo may look like a monster so give him a hulky voice sounding monstrous. I think this is quite common in Dragon Ball English voices because most of the voices are not based upon how their Japanese counterparts sound like but how they sounded like in Z Dub.
That's why Kaiō and Fat Boo still sound like how they did in older dubs same goes for most of the cast but for other anime dubs like Naruto or Deathnote the English voices are actually based on their original voices. I think they could have hired someone else for Piccolo from Kai onwards and I am sure there are many talented American voice actors who can imitate that Furukawa's Sinister Tone for Piccolo.

I think I mentioned it earlier, but the difference is FUNi is American-only, & they pay for & conduct the dub themselves (especially in the old DB's case where they didnt have the Japanese audio), unlike Japanese-owned companies that are supervised by the original production team. A lot of people from Shueisha were involved with Naruto & Death Note dubs, so a lot of similarities are seen in their choices.

I think the one dub I can think of which is both paid for by the original company, but is also very different, is Metal Gear. Snake (both Liquid & Solid) & Raiden especially strike me as strange compared to the JP version. This is kind of an anomaly because most game dubs IME are accurate to the sub.

I'm sure it wasn't Shueisha who did the castings for those dubs. It was the voice and casting directors and despite the voices of the dubs sounding like the Japanese version, there are some castings that sound different. Drummond's Ryuk is deeper than the Japanese one.

[DragonBallKing]

Nowaday's McNeal is my prefered English Piccolo, Sabat is much better for characters like Armstrong from FMA or All Might from MHA.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

I'm sure it wasn't Shueisha who did the castings for those dubs. It was the voice and casting directors and despite the voices of the dubs sounding like the Japanese version, there are some castings that sound different. Drummond's Ryuk is deeper than the Japanese one.

I didn't notice that but good point. As for who cast the dub: the English-language studio had a lot of personal involvement with the actors, & their connections with actors creates the pool that the dub gets to choose from. However, auditions, in this case, get sent to Japan for the show's producers to choose from as they like.

Some of the bigger games & a few anime have the director actually in the studio or over Skype, listening to auditions, & occasionally (Kingdom Hearts & Street Fighter, I think) directing the dub VA's (hopefully with the help of the English director - some cases when this wasn't there is early Resident Evil, & it's sadly obvious).

[8000 Saiyan]

I'm sure it wasn't Shueisha who did the castings for those dubs. It was the voice and casting directors and despite the voices of the dubs sounding like the Japanese version, there are some castings that sound different. Drummond's Ryuk is deeper than the Japanese one.

I didn't notice that but good point. As for who cast the dub: the English-language studio had a lot of personal involvement with the actors, & their connections with actors creates the pool that the dub gets to choose from. However, auditions, in this case, get sent to Japan for the show's producers to choose from as they like.

Some of the bigger games & a few anime have the director actually in the studio or over Skype, listening to auditions, & occasionally (Kingdom Hearts & Street Fighter, I think) directing the dub VA's (hopefully with the help of the English director - some cases when this wasn't there is early Resident Evil, & it's sadly obvious).

It's better when they have an English voice director than a Japanese voice director directing the voice actors. If the Japanese producers want to have a hand in the dub, then okay, but after that they should leave the voice directing to the ones who can actually direct them.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

It's better when they have an English voice director than a Japanese voice director directing the voice actors. If the Japanese producers want to have a hand in the dub, then okay, but after that they should leave the voice directing to the ones who can actually direct them.

Well, I think definitely you need someone who speaks the language. But the director of the show is still the director & I think their input does matter; they do want the best for their story & I think a good correspondence can be had. If I'm not mistaken, I think Hideo Kojima helped direct MGSV, which was English-first.

[floofychan333]

Sabat is boss. So is the TFS VA, and Toshio Furukawa was decent from what I recall.

[Ripper 30]

Sabat is boss. So is the TFS VA, and Toshio Furukawa was decent from what I recall.

Furukawa only Decent ? I mean yes everyone is entitled to their opinion but still can you tell me why you found his Piccolo's voice inferior Sabat ?

[Cure Dragon 255]

I surprisingly agree with the whole "Furukawa is decent at best thing". Even he wondered at one point why he was being cast. There's a whole interview where he said that.