This is a really insightful post (well, a lot of the thread is, but this post especially) thank you for posting this.GS7X7 wrote:
Haha, been saying that for years so I gotta agree with you 100%! I interviewed fans from Poland and Mexico pointing out the same thing to elaborate on my point.It's always what I said when people made a big deal about the dub's success in America while crediting Funimation for DBZ ever being a hit here.
My sig actually comes from something Schemmel said on this board many years ago when (I think?) some poster kept harassing and haranguing him online til he responded here. I think the original topic he made got deleted but I saved every last inch of it here (and my computer) at the time for posterity.
http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/viewtop ... lit=secret
Sean Schemmel- ""I'll talk as loudly as I want now, and I'll be heard. The reason is you're misunderstanding some things about companies and dubbing and how they control our mouths. Just because I was in the original DBZ, doesn't mean I liked it or supported it artistically. We were all frustrated with the old powers that be at Funimation, and for those of you who have never worked in show business professionally, which I would say is, all of you, you may not realize that many companies stance on gag orders is this. "Shut up or be fired." Also, I have a LOT more experience, writing, dubbing, directing and acting in anime than I did when I recorded DBZ the first time. That was my first acting audition. I understand Japanese culture, voice acting, adaptation, the differences between japanese and english significantly more, and, as far as music is concerned I have vast experience in that area, so when I tell you the music will suck, aside from your own subjective experience, I'm pretty qualified to talk about the suckiness of music or not. Of course to each his own at the end of the day. I will be silent about my opinions no longer. We did the best we could with DBZ with some really really crappy decisions that were made by people, who in my opinion, not only had zero artistic talent and experience, were also trying to appease american audiences to make money because perhaps they thought the Pokemon formula would work for DBZ. If America wasn't so uptight about things and parents didn't allow the tv to babysit their children, perhaps more shows would come the U.S. and be uncut. At the end of the day, I am, and have always been a freelance actor, and just because I work for a company doesn't mean I support their decisions. This is the first time I have supported Funi's decisions publicly, and the staff at Funi is now amazing. It's a completely different company.
Have a nice day."
Funimation did take a LOT of their online criticism personally. I know that from a handful of e-mail interactions ages ago during my DBZU 2 days.
I think a LOT of them had secret misgivings about the handling of the dub they kept bottled up inside- what Schemmel said publicly would seem to indicate that.
Before anyone asks me, I'll most definitely agree that a lot of the criticism of them was very mean-spirited and overly personal. Certainly some of my own, and I was the king of it during my heydays of DBZU 2. I'd definitely be more polite in several areas if I did it again. And just in case anybody from Funimation ever reading this, I do officially apologize for a lot of the dickish things I said in the past. There are too many Funi employees to list so I'll just list Chris Sabat here, you are NOT a hack and your Zoro/Vegeta are both quite excellent!Anger from many fans (including myself) didn't emerge from a vacuum or in response to a perfect product, that's all I'll say in defense of my past self so you can make of that what you will.
I wouldn't change my criticism of the many issues with the dub though. (ie, "I should have been more polite at certain times" is NOT the same as "I never should have criticized anything whatsoever.) The fact that the official VA for Goku essentially agreed with me on this very board does say a lot I think.
Criticism in general existed because their dub of DBZ had countless structural problems from voice acting, directing, music and even the accuracy of the scripts they were using. (they had really bad "Engrish" scripts from Toei before hiring Mr. Simmonds to handle that for them.) People criticized Funimation because they wanted them to improve and Funimation wanted to improve because they wanted to prove the people attacking them wrong.
If Funimation had gotten zero criticism then that would have gotten rid of most of their incentive to improve- after all, DBZ's uncut/dual dvd's originally came about because Brian Real and Simmonds started their uncut/dual petition that got 10,000+ sigs and contacted Funimation. 10,000+ people wouldn't have signed that if there wasn't demand and controversy for it. The dual-episodes thing is probably the biggest (arguably the only) blessing American DBZ fans got from Gen's uncle being one of the bigwigs in charge at Toei, I'm pretty sure no other countries had J. episodes for sale (even Japan!) until they came to America.
Both sides won in the end. Funimation's done a great job with the newest dub work and certainly all the their other animes, and all fans can now enjoy a great dub. The official man for dub DBZ agreed with all the fans in the end and even a dude like me can chill and get along friendly-like with one of the guys -cRookie_Monster, aka Mr. Morgan- that composed Team Faulconer and made some of the music for the dub. I even reversed course over time and admitted Team Faulconer did make a lot of good and catchy tunes.
Even people like me and Psaros have little hostility or complaints left about them (aside from maybe King Kai's voice and a few other quibbling things). Most of the criticism that exists for Funimation is merely archives of past history rather than an ongoing thing anymore these days.
So, that's my thoughts on it. Just wanted to share my two cents.
And just to clarify, I didn't post this to start any flame wars or personally attack anyone, either users here or actual employees of Funimation. (I know some dub discussions can get heated) I can respect people's points of views even if they may disagree with me much of the time so as long as they can be cool and polite. (Just ask Laserkid he'll tell you the same! Seriously, go ask him if you don't believe me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DmYLrxR0Y8
http://www.adultswim.com/videos/black-jesus/
I suppose this is also the right place to ask, I apologize if it;s not or if this was already discussed, but I heard that funi did something out of line, and that they and Team Faulconer had a falling out over it, and that's why we don;t hear any of those tracks anymore. Can anybody clarify on this or tell me if it's accurate?
Yea, past the first page or so it really started to get overly defensive. I have very controversial opinions about dragon ball (I prefer the Faulconer tracks, I dislike film grain, etc), ones that go against pretty much everybody else here, and that's okay. It's okay that I have a different opinion, it's okay that they have their opinion, and it's okay for us to point out why we have our opinions and what we like or dislike about how the series as been handled over the years.MagicBox wrote:It might be just me, but I can't help but think this thread has become nothing but validation-seeking. The question was, "Did some people at FUNimation regret how they handled Dragon Ball Z?" The answer is "yes." They've said they regret how it was handled. They've said they would do the whole thing differently if they could do it again. They've said they're very proud of what they accomplished with Kai's (mostly) faithful dub. It's all straight from the horse's mouth. You can still like the dub. Many people do. It's not going anywhere. The FUNimation cast and crew are merely acknowledging their poor judgment with DBZ and distancing themselves from it.
What I see in this thread are people just not willing to accept that. "But I like the dub. Now you're telling me other fans think it's flawed? Now you're telling me the cast thinks it's flawed? But I like it! Why are fans and the cast and the crew distancing themselves from it? Surely the changes were helpful in some way? Surely they improved something? Surely the original version must have been inherently wrong somehow? I like the changed version! Isn't there anyone out there who still likes what I like?"
I think having a calm debate and discussing things is good, but it was starting to be less about "why I think this way" and more just saying "I'm right and you are wrong". I'm glad the convo didn't get really nasty as I have seen sometimes (I've been insulted for my soundtrack preference more the once on these fourms, for example)
