Turns out the Westwood dub was in pre-production as early as May 2000 when Brian Drummond, and interestingly Ian Corlett (whom it's been well documented didn't return because he was unhappy with what Ocean was willing to pay him) also got the call:
We don't know how many members of the Ocean cast recorded their lines in 2000, Saffron Henderson who had to because going into 2001 would have conflicted with her wedding plans, so she may have been fast-tracked. I was also told yesterday only the first 3 episodes of the Westwood dub aired in the Netherlands in January 2001 before a 3 month break, meaning it was in April that further episodes aired there as well as the UK and Ireland where it debuted that month. This means between Brian Drummond being confirmed to return to the series in May 2000 there was almost a year before any more than the first 3 episodes of the Westwood dub aired anywhere.- 19 May 2000; 10:37 pm EST - I'm sure everyone's (by now) checked out Brian Drummond's e-mail, as first seen on The Brian Drummond Mini-Shrine. It appears Mr. Drummond was called in to do some recordings for.. *gasp* .. DBZ!! So with that in mind, I asked myself, "Self.. if Drummond might be coming back, how about Mr. Corlett? You have his e-mail address. Drop him a line!" So I did. And he got back to me this very evening (I sent the e-mail before I went to work.. this guy's good o_O). Guess what? He was contacted, too. Unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing, but it's good to see that Mr. Corlett's not taking any shit from anyone, still. Check out the e-mail by clicking here. As for future updates... eh... I'll get to them. Got an English project to finish up this weekend, I'm and working all day tomorrow and Sunday. I've got the mailbag done... that'll be up soon ^^
Doc Harris also confirmed he started recording his lines in October 2000:
Does anyone remember if any actors besides Saffron Henderson and Doc Harris recorded lines before 2001, particularly early summer 2000? Just thinking now because season 3 premiered in the UK and Ireland in late summer/early autumn 2000, so if enough of the cast were available in time Westwood theoretically could have dubbed season 3, the jump in quality with Tom Keenlyside, John Mitchell and David Iris composing original tracks and more Monster Rancher music being used likely would have happened earlier in the Boo arc.14 October 2000: Ocean Cast to return to the dub? Hmmm...wishful thinking, maybe.
Jon: By now I'd say that it's safe to say that everyone's seen the posts on "Planet Namek" regarding the impending return of the former cast. While there's probably no bigger fan of some of the former cast than I (Let's face it, they're a tough act to follow), keeping my somewhat skeptic distance was a good choice. Most members of the current cast had absolutley no idea about this. When informed by me though, they seemed none too pleased. To quote Sonny Strait, current voice of Krillin;
"Ok, I don't want to cast aspersions and say that someone's bullshittting the fans but I just talked to Chris and he said it was COMPLETE bullshit."
He goes on to state that FUNimation will be scheduling another set of auditions for the Buu saga, and that doing so would be a waste of money if they were to suddenly hire back the old cast. As many of you may recall, Brian Drummond pulled this kind of thing back around June-July this last summer, and absolutley nothing came from it. When I asked Chris Sabat and Gen Fukunaga what it was about (the previous incident in Jun-July), they basically told me that it was either a reunion or for a YTV promotion. Ian Corlett had also been offered for the same thing in June-July, but basically gave us the same tired speach about "Yes I was offered, but I've got a writing career now and blah blah blah." The difference in this case is that the former announcer for Dragonball Z's dub, Doc Harris, has also been quoted that he's returning to voice the show.
"Just thought you should know: the DBZ tracks are going to be done in Vancouver again, starting next week. I'll be back narrating, and most of the old cast will be reassembled for the series.
Spread the word!"
I generally don't think Brian Drummond to be the kind of guy who'd just mess with the fans like this, as I know from emailing him a couple times that he is very greatful for the continued fan support, so this leads me to wonder if perhaps all of this has somthing to do with the theatrical releases of two of the movies (either 5 and 6, or 7 and . There had been a rumor circulating for a while that had FUNimation ever worked out a deal for the theatrical releases, they'd bring back some of the old cast. What somewhat contradicts this is when I called FUNimation's production room a couple months back asking what future auditions would be held, I was informed first by I beleive Brian or Justin Cook that they had not casted the movies yet, while in my next call Chris Sabat had informed me that they'd had the movies covered.
So where does this leave us? Is some sort of prank being pulled? Have the powers that be been secretly talking with the Ocean Group while leaving the current cast in the dark? Has Sonny Strait taken his pills today? I have to admit that I'm at a loss for answers. I've emailed Doc Harris asking if he knows any more about this than Brian does, and I'm trying to get EX to email Ian to get his take on the whole thing, but as of now I'm still pretty much in the dark. I will say this however. I wouldn't exactly make any million dollar bets on the older cast returning to the episodes, but the movies could possibly be a different matter. However, as big a fan as I am of the Ocean Group, I think it's pretty damn messed up to spend a year getting the newer cast over, and basically giving them a slap in the face like this, much in the same way they would have done with Freddie Prinze Jr. Perhaps bringing two or three of the older voices back to record episodes concurrently with the actors in Texas might be kind of neat, but who knows. I personally think that they've improved to the point that the voices are no longer the major issue anymore, while the issue with the music continues to be a problem, and perhaps the biggest problem holding back the dub's full potential. To use a cliche, "More on this as it develops."