Ocean dub vs Funi Dub

[Velasa]

That's totally his fault though. He literally shouted every line angrily, even when Piccolo was just casually talking.

God don't remind me, it was so mind-knumingly out of character...

There's nothing wrong with doing multiple characters if you can distinguish them- like say if the same guy can jump flawlessly between Silverbolt (the noble knight type) and Waspinator (psychotic little henchmen #3) sixteen times in an episode. Some people just can't. My problem with Sabat was never multiple characters- it was what he decided to do with those characters that makes my blood boil.

[Super Sonic]

A few of Mr. Sabat's characters are done with slight differences that you can spot, though you know it's the same guy. Similar to how you can distinguish Jimmy from Zatch, or Buttercup from Tommy. With some of the really, really minor characters, whether it matters or not varies from person to person.

[OutlawTorn]

My first exposure to Dragon Ball Z was through the Ocean dub (yes, I'm a dubbie, but please try not to hold that against me) and even with all the cuts and ridiculous dialogue, I managed to enjoy it.

Through the release of the season sets, I have come to appreciate the FUNimation dub even more, though I am one of those dubbies who will watch it with the English dialogue and original Japanese score. With the exception of a few tracks, I wasn't too fond of the Faulconer dub score and other animé I've seen, such as Outlaw Star and Rurouni Kenshin, use the Japanese score, so it wasn't difficult adjusting at all.

And I hope that it continues in that direction. I'll always prefer the Canadian cast and the Japanese cast, but I can't deny that Sabat's continually getting better.

Even I can't deny that. At least as far as Vegeta, at least.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. He sounded weird when he tried to do an impression of Brian Drummond's Vegeta, but the performance on the season sets no longer make me mute the volume whenever Vegeta performs a lengthy power up.

[Metalwario64]

Eh, FUNimations in house dub has much fewer inaccuracies and stupid jokes (Yes, yes, outside of Season Three and most of Four...I'm not saying there aren't any at all)

FUNimation's is still inaccurate, but they can mention death, and it is more accurate... It is also completely uncut, whereas the Ocean dub cut out whole episodes. That, and now you can watch it with the Japanese music!

Well I would go as far as to say there are stupid joke throughout the entire dub even though the script does get somewhat better.

Yes, yes, outside of Season Three and most of Four...I'm not saying there aren't any at all

[Freeza.exe]

Eh, FUNimations in house dub has much fewer inaccuracies and stupid jokes (Yes, yes, outside of Season Three and most of Four...I'm not saying there aren't any at all)

FUNimation's is still inaccurate, but they can mention death, and it is more accurate... It is also completely uncut, whereas the Ocean dub cut out whole episodes. That, and now you can watch it with the Japanese music!

Well I would go as far as to say there are stupid joke throughout the entire dub even though the script does get somewhat better.

Yes, yes, outside of Season Three and most of Four...I'm not saying there aren't any at all

Yes but they are in greater quantity then you seem to be implying.

[Metalwario64]

Yes but they are in greater quantity then you see to be implying.

If I was making false implications then I apologize.

I was trying to point out that there were far fewer than the Ocean dub. I mean, just watch all of "season 1" with Ocean's dub, and then go and watch the whole "season" via FUNimation's dub.

Many jokes were removed, although not all of them.

"Season 2" removed nearly all of them from what I can remember though.

[Freeza.exe]

Yes but they are in greater quantity then you see to be implying.

If I was making false implications then I apologize.

I was trying to point out that there were far fewer than the Ocean dub. I mean, just watch all of "season 1" with Ocean's dub, and then go and watch the whole "season" via FUNimation's dub.

Many jokes were removed, although not all of them.

"Season 2" removed nearly all of them from what I can remember though.

Maybe I was just interpreting things wrong. Season 1 and 2 were fairly decent as far as purging shitty jokes go. I just meant "season" 5,6,7,8 and 9 all contained a copious amount of them too, less then 3 and 4 but still a lot.

Then again I guess it depends on what you define as a shitty joke. I tend to be picky about the dub adding their own humor because it never hits home with me, but it may for some people.

[Captain Awesome]

Is it me or are people forgetting that FUNimation produced the "Ocean dub" they wrote the scripts, they did the editing (under Saban's directive) the only thing they didn't do was the voice acting, which was outsourced to the Ocean group.

You can't compare the scripts to bolster your argument, because they come from the same company (albeit when the industry and the company itself were taking vastly different approaches), all you can compare is the acting itself, so if you hate the scripts in the original edited dub, direct your hatred at the writing staff working for FUNimation at the time, not the Ocean group.

[Sanjiscool]

It's odd how I used to prefer the Ocean Dub when Funimation took over, but now I prefer Funimation. I think the Ocean Dub had some awesome voice work the first two seasons, but the following seasons were not as good. Though I still love guys like Drummond and McNeil, I enjoy Sabat just as much if not more.

[VegettoEX]

Is it me or are people forgetting that FUNimation produced the "Ocean dub" they wrote the scripts, they did the editing (under Saban's directive) the only thing they didn't do was the voice acting, which was outsourced to the Ocean group.

I see this constantly.

One of my biggest pet-peeves is the original two seasons of DBZ being referred to as "the Pioneer dub" or "the Ocean dub" without any follow-up of... ya' know... FUNimation produced it. Pioneer did nothing* other than physically distribute the home videos, and Ocean Studios did nothing other than provide the voice cast they were paid for.

(*Ignoring involvement in DBZ movies 1-3, which we never got the clear story on.)

It gets even worse with the alternate-English-dub for the UK/Canada that went on to essentially steal FUNimation's scripts and used the Ocean Studios cast once again. Without further explanation, it's impossible to tell which exact product you're talking about.

[saiyangerl]

It gets even worse with the alternate-English-dub for the UK/Canada that went on to essentially steal FUNimation's scripts and used the Ocean Studios cast once again. Without further explanation, it's impossible to tell which exact product you're talking about.

Exactly how did that work? I have read things saying something like they had the rights so that's why the Ocean Group was able to finish the series and air it in Canada and the UK but because they don't have rights or something that it cannot go to video? How would they have the rights if they were just outsourced voice actors? How would that work if Funimation has always been the producer?

[VegettoEX]

Exactly how did that work? I have read things saying something like they had the rights so that's why the Ocean Group was able to finish the series and air it in Canada and the UK but because they don't have rights or something that it cannot go to video? How would they have the rights if they were just outsourced voice actors? How would that work if Funimation has always been the producer?

We don't know the exact legal loopholes that allowed for the "alternate" production to happen. I'm sure FUNimation isn't jumping at the chance to explain it, either... if they even know, themselves.

The general situation seems to be, though, that since FUNimation has the production/distribution rights in North America (and a few other places, like Australia, it would seem... though distributed by someone else like Madman)... well, Europe isn't North America. The AB Groupe (who seems to own the overall production rights in most of Europe) commissioned the production of ANOTHER English dub of the series, and this new dub just happened to hire Ocean Studios to provide the cast... which happened to include a lot of actors who did the roles in the prior FUNimation-produced dub.

How on Earth this dub ever made its way to Canadian television is another question. The main loophole has to be in what FUNimation owns or can dictate in terms of BROADCAST RIGHTS. Production and distribution, sure... it seems they've got that tied down. Someone airing another production, though? Seems it was possible; I mean, we did have the International Channel (AZTV, later, I think?) airing the original Japanese broadcast version straight-through DBZ & DBGT. And it seems YTV was getting frustrated with their delivery schedule, or something like that... or just wanted it faster... Hell, it sounds like they even flip-flopped on WHICH DUB they'd air during repeats, so they didn't seem to care a whole heck of a lot.

[SSJ Helldog]

I just went to YouTube and listened to some of the post-episode-53 VA work. Hadn't heard much of it before, and barely remembered the first few DBZ seasons on TV. I have to say, I think I like the Ocean cast a lot more, with the exception of Vegeta. His voice in the Ocean dub doesn't even sound human-like; it's the sort of voice I'd expect from Freeza or some odd alien.
I enjoyed what I heard of the dub score in the Ocean version, too. Not entirely fitting, but leaps and bounds above the Funi score. The original score is the best, naturally. The Ocean one really made me feel like I was watching a Saturday morning cartoon, though. Maybe I'm just remembering it from MegaMan, but I had the feeling I was watching Ninja Turtles or something.

[SSJ Helldog]

The AB Groupe... commissioned the production of ANOTHER English dub of the series, and this new dub just happened to hire Ocean Studios to provide the cast...

What I want to know is... why? Could they not just buy the American dub from Funi? Was it cheaper to hire actors to record 200+ episodes than to pay royalty costs? Was there bad blood between ABG and Funi that caused them not to share assets?

[VegettoEX]

The AB Groupe... commissioned the production of ANOTHER English dub of the series, and this new dub just happened to hire Ocean Studios to provide the cast...

What I want to know is... why? Could they not just buy the American dub from Funi? Was it cheaper to hire actors to record 200+ episodes than to pay royalty costs? Was there bad blood between ABG and Funi that caused them not to share assets?

Why get involved in cross-country production and licensing when you can just do it on your own for cheap?

Why did FUNimation change the score to the series? They thought kids were stupid and wanted to charge money for it every time it aired.

All comes back to money, it seems.

[JulieYBM]

Seemingly, according to Scott McNeil, they had no idea how or why they were doing DBZ again, but the directors kept changing (they went through supposedly five) and they each had different visions so the acting suffered a lot (and boy, did it ever). They even had Kelamis voicing Red Ribbon Army arc Gokuu in a flashback (straining like hell to sound like a kid, don't even get me started on his screaming during the #19 back). McNeil and Klassen became regular Chris Sabat and Mike McFarlands, although in the case of Klassen his characters literally all sounded the same (during the Super Saiyan 3 fight Babidi would say something and in a cut Kuririn would say something in the exact same tone and range).

That 'Ocean/AB' dub...takes quite a bit of patience to get through (espicially Cell...my God, they had Ocean Kami-sama voice him)...

[Kendamu]

Is it me or are people forgetting that FUNimation produced the "Ocean dub" they wrote the scripts, they did the editing (under Saban's directive) the only thing they didn't do was the voice acting, which was outsourced to the Ocean group.

I see this constantly.

One of my biggest pet-peeves is the original two seasons of DBZ being referred to as "the Pioneer dub" or "the Ocean dub" without any follow-up of... ya' know... FUNimation produced it. Pioneer did nothing* other than physically distribute the home videos, and Ocean Studios did nothing other than provide the voice cast they were paid for.

(*Ignoring involvement in DBZ movies 1-3, which we never got the clear story on.)

It gets even worse with the alternate-English-dub for the UK/Canada that went on to essentially steal FUNimation's scripts and used the Ocean Studios cast once again. Without further explanation, it's impossible to tell which exact product you're talking about.

It's not that people are forgetting it. It's that we know this and don't need to clarify it every single time. As far as I can see, on this forum we know that when speaking of the "Ocean dub" and the "FUNi dub" we're talking about the cast, knowing very well that FUNimation was behind both dubs. Clarifying it every single time is like making sure we tell everyone "Hey, just so you know, Goku's a Saiyan," every time he comes up in conversation.

Yes, there are exceptions and sometimes people don't know, but just because it goes unmentioned doesn't mean that it's forgotten.

If it bothers you that much, think up a word filter.

[B]

"Ocean dub" to "Ocean cast?"

[penguintruth]

Well, that's true, the "Ocean dub" is really a Funimation-produced dub with the Ocean VAs, but I've always referred to it as the "Ocean dub", and I was never sure just how involved Ocean was versus Funimation (or Saban).

I always based my preference, by the way, on the central cast, the voices of Goku, Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, and Vegeta. Since I preferred those voices in the Ocean cast dub, there's my preference. Most of the time I couldn't stand Goku's voice in the Funimation cast because he sounded too forced, and like he was really hurting himself doing the voice.

Though when I say I "preferred" them, it doesn't mean they were great, just marginally better.

When you think about it, neither English dub was good at all. They made the show into something that really wasn't DBZ by changing the script so drastically that at times characters and situations were entirely different than intended.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

I'm a little late with the Sabat thing, however To be honest it wasn't until I was 14 that I started noticing similarities between Yamcha, Vegeta and Piccolo's voice. Yes you can hear a lot of similarity between them when you listen closely, but its like hearing Terra Strong's voice as both Bubbles and Raven from Powerpuff Girls and Teen Titans(respectively). Given the number of actors at the in house studio during the time its reasonable to expect one person to do multiple roles in the same show. I don't mind it and He has done a better job of giving each of his main characters a distinctive voice.

Normally when it comes to Ocean, I'm a fan of their work; I loved the acting in Zoids and Gundam for example. However with Dragonball it was just too forced and just plain wrong. Vegeta Sounds like a Demon(Ryuk cough cough ) and Brad Swaile made Gohan sound gay. There were too many voices that just made me cringe or laugh. Peter Kelamis' Kaio-ken and that one Dragonball clip make Goku sound a lot like Rolf. I could never take Oceans Dub seriously because of the voices.