When exactly did the Ocean cast return to Dragon Ball Z?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Fans have often asked why the Westwood dub started from Dragon Ball Z episode 108/123 instead of 54/68. The most logical explanation has always been when Ocean returned to dubbing the series they had to act quick to be able to sell their dub to international territories and Funimation had already sold their dub of season 3 to the countries that aired it.

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:

- 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 ^^

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.

Doc Harris also confirmed he started recording his lines in October 2000:

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."

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.

[Kakacarrottop]

The earliest year I remember hearing is 1999. On sites like IMDB and Wikipedia the Westwood dub episodes are listed as having begun in 2000, since that year corresponds with the airdates of the concurrent Funimation dub. It seems as though the Westwood dub never actually aired until 2001. Looking at the credits of TV recordings isn't helpful since they list the year 1997 for some reason, which is basically an impossible timeframe for the dub to have been recorded.

I'm pretty sure the Saban era dub had all been recorded by 1997, and that later the same year was when they did the Pioneer dub of the three movies. Although I've read bits of information suggesting that other aspects of the episodes (ie stuff like the background music and sound effects) weren't actually fully completed until a few weeks before the episodes went to air, which means it was still in production during early 1998 (despite all the Namek episodes having the year 1997 in the credits). It could be a similar scenario with the Westwood dub episodes, in that they might have been recorded one year, but not completed until another.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

The earliest year I remember hearing is 1999.

There was a credit on Azur Vancouver's website that read:
DRAGON BALL Z (animation)
1999-2001: ADR Recordist

Basically NitroEX emailed Hendrik J. Britton (the owner of the studio) who said he was subcontracted and recorded the voices during his time on DragonBall Z. As the Westwood dub was mostly recorded at Airwave Sound Design it's safe to say they were the studio who hired Britton.

The Dragon Ball Z credit was removed from Azur's site, it was on Hendrik's IMDB, although listed as 1996. I suspect he was misremembering because if it was 1996 he would have been recording voices on the Saban dub, and, as you said, that wouldn't have stretched further than 1997. Likewise, there's no reason to suspect the Westwood dub was even in pre-production as early as 1999 as Dragon Ball Z hadn't aired anywhere in Europe by that point so the decision to bring back the Ocean cast couldn't have been made yet.

Of course all English-speaking countries other than the Philippines started with Funimation's Saban dub, and I'd assume the plan originally was for all the territories that aired it and the early inhouse dub was to carry on with the inhouse dub until the end. Even Canada, the Westwood dub's country of origin was an afterthought as they were airing the Funimation inhouse dub well into the Cell arc until YTV got sick of receiving tapes too late and made the switch for good.

I believe it was between March and June of 1999 that the Ocean Group began managing Dragon Ball Z's airings on YTV but that was when they began editing Funimation's dub with their own sound effects and used a different placement of the Faulconer Productions score, some alternate lines and ran the series with the OP many fans recognize as the Westwood dub OP. The dub itself was certainly not in production by then but Ocean/Westwood had everything they needed to get the ball rolling as they clearly had access to Funimation's raw materials by this point and had their own library of royalty-free music to use, so there was not much else they needed for pre-production other than getting the actors to return, which wouldn't have been a consideration at that point because they would have needed channels to sell their dub to (or in Europe's case to sell on their behalf).

It seems as though the Westwood dub never actually aired until 2001. Looking at the credits of TV recordings isn't helpful since they list the year 1997 for some reason, which is basically an impossible timeframe for the dub to have been recorded.

I watched Dragon Ball Z from the first day it aired on Cartoon Network in Ireland, which was March 2000. It started with the Saban dub and we didn't get the Westwood dub until April 2001. It's long been known the Westwood dub premiered in the Netherlands in January 2001 and in recent years I've confirmed with local fans it aired in Belgium and Finland in 2003 and 2005 respectively, but I've never heard about it airing anywhere earlier than the Netherlands. I don't think it's likely, I'd say if there was a more obscure broadcast in some other European territory in 2000 we would have at least heard anecdotal accounts of it.

My understanding is the news about Ocean returning was widespread throughout the net in mid to late 2000s. Fans who weren't active online were caught by surprise when the first Westwood dub episode aired, but I suspect those who heard the mumblings about Ocean's return were keeping an eye on the series international broadcasts.

I've read bits of information suggesting that other aspects of the episodes (ie stuff like the background music and sound effects) weren't actually fully completed until a few weeks before the episodes went to air, which means it was still in production during early 1998 (despite all the Namek episodes having the year 1997 in the credits). It could be a similar scenario with the Westwood dub episodes, in that they might have been recorded one year, but not completed until another.

Yeah, as I said it appears only the first 3 episodes were aired in the Netherlands in January 2001 prior to a 3-month break, so it's possible, maybe even likely any recordings for further episodes by that point were incomplete.

Cartoon Network UK got through the first 107 episodes of Dragon Ball Z between March and November 2000 so they may have taken that 6 month break because they were waiting for a bigger batch of episodes to be ready. I know more Funimation dubbed episodes were complete but Cartoon Network UK must have decided by that point it would be too expensive to continue licensing their dub long term so AB Groupe, who was likely told by Ocean/Westwood a more affordable dub would be available soon.

My guess is that between January and April 2001 episodes after Goku's Ordeal still needed to mixed or for some cast members to record their lines because if they were done they would have aired sooner.

[ThunderPX]

Comparing the Dutch airdates to the UK ones, it's interesting that the UK chose to just delay airing any Westwood episodes at all, leaving the show stuck in the middle of the Trunks stuff. This is pure speculation on my part, but I think it's possible that Cartoon Network NL wanted to put their break in a sensible spot, right at a timeskip and the start of a new story arc, so they aired those three episodes early. I think it's rather likely since CN NL treated the show with a lot of care, making a lot of really cool promos and turning the marketing up to 11.

If that is the case, it doesn't necessarily mean that only those three episodes were finished and available, just that the entire batch (running up to before the Cell Games are announced) was very likely not finished in January 2001. It's a fairly sizeable chunk, after all.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Comparing the Dutch airdates to the UK ones, it's interesting that the UK chose to just delay airing any Westwood episodes at all, leaving the show stuck in the middle of the Trunks stuff. This is pure speculation on my part, but I think it's possible that Cartoon Network NL wanted to put their break in a sensible spot, right at a timeskip and the start of a new story arc, so they aired those three episodes early. I think it's rather likely since CN NL treated the show with a lot of care, making a lot of really cool promos and turning the marketing up to 11.

If that is the case, it doesn't necessarily mean that only those three episodes were finished and available, just that the entire batch (running up to before the Cell Games are announced) was very likely not finished in January 2001. It's a fairly sizeable chunk, after all.

The specifics have never exactly been known, but allegedly (one poster here has said they were told this via email) there was some dispute between Cartoon Network UK and Funimation which at least had some part to play in the Westwood dub's creation. As the first 107 episodes of the Z dub belonged to Funimation it is possible they were bought as a batch and they acquired further episodes from AB Groupe (who according to other anecdotes funded the Westwood dub, although this has never been confirmed).

Perhaps the Dutch branch of Cartoon Network was on better terms with Funimation or they were able to get episodes 1-110, which included the 107 Funimation episodes and 3 Westwood as a batch from AB Groupe? The only problem with this theory is AB Groupe's logo appeared at the end of all episodes that aired in the UK, including the Funimation episodes, which suggests they were always behind distributing the various English dubs.

It's very interesting Brian Drummond was confirmed to be returning to Dragon Ball Z in May 2000. At that time only the first 26 episodes of Funimation's Saban dub had aired in the UK, so Ocean must have already been in talks about getting a separate English dub to air with potential broadcasting partners already lined up.

If Cartoon Network UK had issues with Funimation only two months into Dragon Ball Z airing it must have been easy to convince them to switch dubs. The fact the Fusion saga was originally aired with Funimation's dub (on CNX, which was a sister channel that ran from late 2002 until mid-2003) and replaced by the Westwood dub after a certain number of reruns and every future rerun of them alongside the Kid Buu saga was aired with Westwood's dub Cartoon Network UK clearly had a commitment to that version.

I suspect this is all part of the reason the Westwood dub had mystified people for so long, even if at the end of the day it was probably a pretty straightforward deal that got it off the ground and on to TV.