Will Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabat be in the dub forever?

[precita]

Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabat have been voicing the same characters for a whopping 16 years now since 1999. Sean Schemmel's Goku and Chris Sabat's Vegeta/Piccolo/Yamcha have been the main voices of the series for 16 years, along with Sonny Straights Krillin. These roles have never been recasted.

As we've seen with kid Gohan's new voice in Kai, as well as Freeza's, FUNI isn't opposed to changing long running voices to new performances. We've also had Bulma recasted despite her also playing the role for nearly a decade.

I wonder, are Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabat going to be in the dub forever? Let's say we still have new Dragonball products 10 years from now, will they still be doing the voices? I always wondered how the dub would be if they lost their two lead voices, and if people would accept new voices for dub Goku and Vegeta this late in the game.

[dario03]

I think as long as they want to do it, Goku and Vegeta will be voiced by them. But I could see Piccolo and Yamcha getting different voice actors. Pretty sure I remember seeing something where Sabat said he would rather Scott McNeil voiced Piccolo in RoF. Anybody have the quote for that? Or did I just imagine that?

[precita]

I think as long as they want to do it, Goku and Vegeta will be voiced by them. But I could see Piccolo and Yamcha getting different voice actors. Pretty sure I remember seeing something where Sabat said he would rather Scott McNeil voiced Piccolo in RoF. Anybody have the quote for that? Or did I just imagine that?

I'm pretty sure Sabat would never give up his Piccolo. He never gave up his other voices over the years like Yajirobe, Mr. Popo, Kami, Shenron, etc. so I can't see him giving up his second most important after Vegeta.

[Soppa Saia People]

I think as long as they want to do it, Goku and Vegeta will be voiced by them. But I could see Piccolo and Yamcha getting different voice actors. Pretty sure I remember seeing something where Sabat said he would rather Scott McNeil voiced Piccolo in RoF. Anybody have the quote for that? Or did I just imagine that?

I'm pretty sure Sabat would never give up his Piccolo. He never gave up his other voices over the years like Yajirobe, Mr. Popo, Kami, Shenron, etc. so I can't see him giving up his second most important after Vegeta.

Sabat didn't voice Yajirobe and he gave up Popo to Chris Cason.

[Gonstead]

I think as long as they want to do it, Goku and Vegeta will be voiced by them. But I could see Piccolo and Yamcha getting different voice actors. Pretty sure I remember seeing something where Sabat said he would rather Scott McNeil voiced Piccolo in RoF. Anybody have the quote for that? Or did I just imagine that?

I'm pretty sure Sabat would never give up his Piccolo. He never gave up his other voices over the years like Yajirobe, Mr. Popo, Kami, Shenron, etc. so I can't see him giving up his second most important after Vegeta.

Sabat didn't voice Yajirobe and he gave up Popo to Chris Cason.

Ironic considering Sabat took over from Cason originally.

[Polyphase Avatron]

Well Masako Nozawa has been doing it for a lot longer than they have, and the only obstacle to her still doing it seems to be her health, so as long as they remain in good health I don't see why not.

[eledoremassis02]

Well Masako Nozawa has been doing it for a lot longer than they have, and the only obstacle to her still doing it seems to be her health, so as long as they remain in good health I don't see why not.

Whats wrong with her health? :O I know king Kai has had problems tho

[Gyt Kaliba]

Well Masako Nozawa has been doing it for a lot longer than they have, and the only obstacle to her still doing it seems to be her health, so as long as they remain in good health I don't see why not.

Whats wrong with her health? :O I know king Kai has had problems tho

Nothing (at least, that we as fans are privy to or can tell by hearing her in recent stuff). I think they just meant that it would take something like that to cause her not to play the role.

I think it's pretty much the same for Schemmel and Sabat probably. Especially true for Sabat. He seems to more or less be in charge when it comes to the franchise for FUNi, and he kept both Vegeta and Piccolo when the Kai re-casting came, so chances are he wouldn't step away completely without a really good reason. Schemmel, they've managed to keep many times over the years despite his having moved out of Texas, and being the voice of the main character kind of gives him an added layer of protection as well. It's entirely possible something could happen and he would be replaced, but it's incredibly unlikely at this point.

The most likely case where we'll ever hear them not play the roles is in the somewhat-distant future when either 1) they pass on or retire from voice over, or 2) if FUNi were to lose the rights to Dragon Ball to another company. The second option is pretty unlikely from the outset too though, not to mention that the likeliness of another company rescuing the franchise and then spending the money to re-dub it all is...well, not monetarily feasible, probably.

[Wezenheim]

I don't think Schemmel and Sabat will be leaving anytime soon, which is fine with me because I think they both steal the show whenever I watch the dub. A fair amount of people believe that Schemmel doesn't always fit Goku's character (which I partially agree with), but I think he's improved so much to the point where I'd be fine if he never stops being Goku while he's healthy. Sabat has also improved a ton, and while his characters have the unfortunate disadvantage of competing with Ryo Horikawa and Toshio Furukawa (my two personal favorite actors in the series), he has really done a great job perfecting his voice these past few years.

That being said, I still don't really like Schemmel's King Kai. It is good for a laugh or two, at least.

[DoomieDoomie911]

They'll be there as long as they want to be there. FUNimation's definitely not going to get rid of them, though. They're far, far to iconic to the dub, and they're really popular, too.

[Mewzard]

Well, I certainly hope so. The cast we have now is almost the perfect dub Dragon Ball cast for me (few minor changes could probably help, but the main cast is pretty good for the most part).

With Masako Nozawa and Sean Schemmel, I'm happy with My Two Gokus (Coming soon to CBS).

I also like Sabat's work on Vegeta (and Ryo Horikawa as well).

I'd rather they not be replaced (Sabat is so involved in DBZ outside of the booth that his leaving would especially hurt the franchise's English releases).

[precita]

Come to think of it, were the only major voices replaced kid Gohan and Freeza after all these years? I know Bulma's VA retired too.

Sean Schemmel still goes Goku and King Kai. Chris Sabat still does Vegeta, Piccolo, and Yamcha. Sonny Straight still does Krillin. Macfarland still does Master Roshi. Tien is still the same, Chi Chi is still the same. Mr. Satan is still the same, even Trunks is still Eric Vale, etc.

Come to think of it the dub cast really has barely changed.

[Naruto6583]

Come to think of it, were the only major voices replaced kid Gohan and Freeza after all these years? I know Bulma's VA retired too.

Sean Schemmel still goes Goku and King Kai. Chris Sabat still does Vegeta, Piccolo, and Yamcha. Sonny Straight still does Krillin. Macfarland still does Master Roshi. Tenshinhan is still the same, Chi Chi is still the same. Mr. Satan is still the same, even Trunks is still Eric Vale, etc.

Come to think of it the dub cast really has barely changed.

We also got a recast for android 18 in kai, android 19, Ginyu, Burter, Jeice and Guldo,

[precita]

Yes, but the original Android 18 returned afterward didn't she? I think she'll be in Super too.

I'm honestly amazed at how different Chris Sabat's Vegeta/Piccolo/Yamcha sound now than they used to in Kai. Watch any of the Namek or Cell saga dubs with Vegeta/Piccolo/Yamcha, and he performs them completely differently now. Even the Buu saga and Season 1-2 redub of Vegeta/Piccolo/Yamcha are still different from his current voices.

I think Chris Sabat went through like 3 different voices for his Vegeta/Piccolo/Yamcha. First his Ocean dub imitations, then the voices he settled in for the Buu/Redubs of Seasons 1 and 2...and now his current voices.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Barring death, disease, retirement, or quitting, I think they'll be in the dub forever. And honestly, I'm glad, as I really like their performances now.

What'll be interesting to see is if, for Super, any of the other international dubs who replaced their casts for Kai will bring back the DBZ cast. For countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Germany, there have been a lot of very vocal, angry responses to the re-cast roles. In some cases, angry enough to cause the dubbing studios to pony up some extra money and get the original cast back (the upcoming Latino Spanish dub of the Buu arc of Kai has Laura Torres returning as Goten), and the newer movies are all using the original casts. These angry responses, I'd imagine, are giving the original DBZ dub cast members a lot of leverage with the studios who are dubbing the newer stuff.

Come to think of it the dub cast really has barely changed.

A point that I often bring up with people who voice concern over the re-casts. I've seen a lot of comments to the effect of, "They changed all the voices!" And my response has always been, "Not really, only a few were replaced, and some of them only temporarily due to other commitments." Heck, they had originally intended to bring back Young as Freeza, and only re-cast the role when they brought her in for a few sessions and she had trouble matching the lip flaps with the new, faster, and wordier dialogue.

[Hero]

If they are ever recast then it'll be a horrible, if not straight up dumb, decision. Don't forget that most DBZ fans in America are causal fans that got into the show via the old Funi dub and are dubbies. Replacing two of the most iconic voices of the old dub would turn many, if not most, American fans off. Personally, I wouldn't watch the dub if they got rid of Schemmel and Sabat.

[Gozar]

I think as long as they want to do it, Goku and Vegeta will be voiced by them. But I could see Piccolo and Yamcha getting different voice actors. Pretty sure I remember seeing something where Sabat said he would rather Scott McNeil voiced Piccolo in RoF. Anybody have the quote for that? Or did I just imagine that?

I don't recall hearing that, but I highly doubt Sabat would ever give up Piccolo. Frankly, I don't think it would matter anyway. Sure, some Ocean/Nostalgic fans would get a kick out of it, but the reality is that McNeil's Piccolo is just as far away from Furukawa's performance as Sabat's is.

Additionally, during the "Fujiko Mine" spin-off series of Lupin III, Sabat didn't give up the role of Jigen despite bringing in Richard Epcar (Geneon's Jigen and general fan-favorite English Jigen) to play the role of Zenigata. So I just don't really see Sabat giving up Piccolo.

[precita]

A point that I often bring up with people who voice concern over the re-casts. I've seen a lot of comments to the effect of, "They changed all the voices!" And my response has always been, "Not really, only a few were replaced, and some of them only temporarily due to other commitments."

I wonder if these people are mainly talking about Freeza's minions. The Ginyu Force and Zarbon/Dodoria have had a number of different voices over the years, haven't they? At one point Chris Sabat voiced almost all of them, not anymore.

[Lord Beerus]

As long as there are new Dragon Ball anime or videogames, Sabat and Schemmel ain't going nowhere. They are so recognized as the English voices of Goku and Vegeta, that it would be seen as travesty to fans of English Dub of DBZ for them to ever get replaced.

[B]

I guess there's a scenario where they become famous and the pay of anime dubbing won't cut it for them anymore. Beyond that, there'd probably need to be a regime change higher up at FUNimation (i.e. Justin Cook leaves to do something else).