Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 14; Still Unreleased

[Valerius Dover]

It's not like it really affects those of us who use the US releases to see out stuff. The Funi Dub won't go away or anything.

[TheBlackPaladin]

And while it's true that only some of the original cast are returning, the ones that are returning are some of my favorites, and some of the newer casting choices I've heard of (Richard Ian Cox as Goku, Lee Tockar as Freeza, etc.) sound like excellent choices.

I will admit, though, the part of the dub that I'm most looking forward to is the batch of episodes in the Freeza saga (starting with Reacome's defeat) for which no Ocean/Westwood/alternate English dub exists. I want to hear an Ocean dub of Vegeta's death scene, of the first Super Saiyan transformation scene, and several others...that will be genuinely new.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Oh boy! Replacement music? Completely different and weird theme song? Only some of the original cast returning? Sign me up!

No, seriously. Why are we excited for this. This is everything we shouldn't want. This isn't 1996 anymore. We should be beyond this. I think it's better for everyone that this never sees the light of day.

You know, you could post this exact same response to the original Kai announcement thread and it would fit with next to 0 modification.

[NinjaGoku]

I bet a new Dragon Ball series is announced before an Ocean dub of Kai ever comes out ... OH WAIT!

[eledoremassis02]

I bet a new Dragon Ball series is announced before an Ocean dub of Kai ever comes out ... OH WAIT!

It's sad a new series will be out and Ocean Kai is still not released lol. Hopefully this pushes them to release it!

[Lord Beerus]

I bet a new Dragon Ball series is announced before an Ocean dub of Kai ever comes out ... OH WAIT!

Man, you're just twisting the knife for Ocean dub fans.

[TheGmGoken]

I bet a new Dragon Ball series is announced before an Ocean dub of Kai ever comes out ... OH WAIT!

Maybe they will dub the new series instead?

[TheBlackPaladin]

I bet a new Dragon Ball series is announced before an Ocean dub of Kai ever comes out ... OH WAIT!

Maybe they will dub the new series instead?

The thought occurred to me that they may dub Super in addition to Kai. I mean, if it's really a legal situation relating to Canadian TV, I wouldn't be surprised if we get an Ocean dub of Super eventually.

But by "eventually".............at this rate, perhaps even ten years is too generous an estimate.

[jelleline89]

The thought occurred to me that they may dub Super in addition to Kai.

Don't make me laugh.

Toei just announced Super, do you really think Ocean got approached to dub this, let alone even know about it until this morning?

Come July, if this dub is still not yet released, I'm moving past this once and for all. There's no doubt in my mind it's fully dubbed and ready to be aired, but it's clear something is keeping it in the vault and at this point, it's only losing interest. The FUNi dub has been available to the general fanbase for almost three years and chances are anyone who has heard about Z Kai has either seen it subbed or dubbed by now. I will never fathom why an alternate dub of Z Kai was even necessary and at this point, we might never even see it.

[kei17]

The thought occurred to me that they may dub Super in addition to Kai.

Don't make me laugh.

Toei just announced Super, do you really think Ocean got approached to dub this, let alone even know about it until this morning?

He's talking about what they'll do in the future.

[Kendamu]

I'm sure there will be an Ocean Dub. It'll just be that nobody will ever see it.

[Lord Beerus]

I'm sure there will be an Ocean Dub. It'll just be that nobody will ever see it.

Is John Cena by any chance directing and organising the Ocean dub of Kai? Because that would explain a lot.

I personally think Ocean Kai will forever remain in development hell. I mean, there has been no progress as far that dub has been concerned since the initial "announcement". Let's face it, the Ocean dub of Kai is going to be forever stuck in limbo.

[jelleline89]

The thought occurred to me that they may dub Super in addition to Kai.

Don't make me laugh.

Toei just announced Super, do you really think Ocean got approached to dub this, let alone even know about it until this morning?

He's talking about what they'll do in the future.

But if they have still yet to release Ocean Z Kai, what makes you think Ocean Super would even be a possibility? Considering how Toei likes to cut corners, I can't see them throwing more money at Ocean to produce a dub that will never see the light of day. The only people still holding onto hope for this dub are the true Ocean fans. Despite music issues, FUNi did a very amazing job with Z Kai. If anything, I was curious to see ocean attempt to outdo the FUNi dub.

So no one should even be speculating an Ocean Super when we still need to have Ocean Z Kai released.

I'm sure there will be an Ocean Dub. It'll just be that nobody will ever see it.

This right here. There is no doubt in my mind that Ocean did produce a dub track for Z Kai, but something is obviously keeping it off the airwaves. My guess? YTV didn't want it. YTV recently transferred all of it's anime content over to Teletoon, leaving YTV with a good majority of Nickelodeon programming. Teletoon is the best candidate to air it but maybe they just can't, or simply don't want to, air it right now.

[OutlawTorn]

The thought occurred to me that they may dub Super in addition to Kai. I mean, if it's really a legal situation relating to Canadian TV, I wouldn't be surprised if we get an Ocean dub of Super eventually.

I don't think there's a "legal" situation which requires an Ocean-produced version of Dragon Ball in Canada, as we got the FUNimation version for years (well into the Android saga) and didn't even get the full Ocean alternate dub. After the cast switch, DBZ returned to YTV's schedule but, with the exception of a lone early Saiyan saga episode opening with "Rock the Dragon", even though it was the FUNimation version it featured the horrible excuse for a theme song of the alternate dub. Plus, all of the FUNimation DVD/Blu-ray releases are readily available in Canada.

If I remember correctly, the case of the alternate dub in Canada was due (in part, at least) to YTV's dissatisfaction with FUNimation's delivery of the episodes as well as the amount of editing, as the alternate dub tended to shy away form direct references to death, instead using stuff like "gone" to describe a dead character. The only potential legal situation I could see affecting the DBZ dub, depending on how much American programming YTV was broadcasting at the time, would be CanCon requirements, which replacing the American-produced dub with a Canadian-produced version takes care of.

It should also be noted that while the FUNimation Kai dub was available in Canada through CW, it has not been broadcast on a Canadian network, so there may also be broadcast rights to factor in. In which case, an Ocean-dubbed Super may be more plausible than people may think. I doubt it would be dubbed just because it is Dragon Ball, but considering it has been more than a decade since Dragon Ball was broadcast in Canada, outside of home media sales there really isn't anything to indicate whether there would be a demand for it. So people may just be content with picking up the eventual FUNimation releases.

Long story short: you just never know what's going on with Canadian broadcasting.

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

Oh boy! Replacement music? Completely different and weird theme song? Only some of the original cast returning? Sign me up!
No, seriously. Why are we excited for this. This is everything we shouldn't want. This isn't 1996 anymore. We should be beyond this. I think it's better for everyone that this never sees the light of day.

I really don't care what BGM the dub gets so long as its at least relatively within the same genre as the Japanese version. Orchestra is Orchestra regardless. Its subjective to which soundtrack conveys what better.... though I didnt like Oceans' first choice of music.

Drummond's higher pitch for Vegeta just sounds so much better, especially for Saiyan arc Vegeta and Namek arc Vegeta. I really hope he continues the high pitch during those arcs and deepens the voice as the show progresses. Even Drummond notes that Vegeta looks bigger later on in the Cell arc, thus dropping the pitch a bit top match the visuals a bit. It also goes with Vegeta's change in personality. I wish Sabat did something similar, using a higher pitch with Saiyan arc Vegeta and his deeper voice later.

Still, he sounds as good as ever.

Just hoping on the higher pitch in Kai to be used during Vegeta as an antagonist, with the same pitch used in the Saban days. He can still go that high in his older age and it still sounds as good as it was in 1996.

I really hope he doesnt try to mimic Chris' throaty/whiny Vegeta voice over his own. For Vegeta post-Freeza I'd rather he use the tone he did here:
https://youtu.be/nP8oBOh6GnU?t=7s hopefully Brian can at least sound closer to the Japanese version.

[Kakacarrottop]

I really don't care what BGM the dub gets so long as its at least relatively within the same genre as the Japanese version. Orchestra is Orchestra regardless. Its subjective to which soundtrack conveys what better.... though I didnt like Oceans' first choice of music.

Are you referring to the Levy bgm from the Saban episodes or the Megaman music? Honestly if this does end up having a replacement composer then i hope it would be someone trying to imitate Levy's style of music.

[TheBlackPaladin]

But if they have still yet to release Ocean Z Kai, what makes you think Ocean Super would even be a possibility? Considering how Toei likes to cut corners, I can't see them throwing more money at Ocean to produce a dub that will never see the light of day.

So no one should even be speculating an Ocean Super when we still need to have Ocean Z Kai released.

I don't know that Toei gave money to anybody. If anything, it would be the other way around; companies giving money to Toei in exchange for the various rights (home video, TV broadcast, etc.) needed to get a dub out there. I don't know to what degree the original animation companies are involved in financing dubs, but that sounds counter-productive to me, so I don't think that would happen.

As far as speculation.........the Dragon Ball franchise is, perhaps more so than any other franchise I can think of, one of the most unpredictable franchises in the history of franchises. I've lost count of the number of things that I never thought would happen that have. I never thought Super would happen, I never thought there would be a music scandal with Kai, I never thought prominent roles in the English dub would be recast, I never thought the Buu arc of Kai would have a green tint, or heck, I never thought Kai would happen at all. Just to name a few.

Granted, the news of Super really makes the already old news of the Ocean dub of Kai look like ancient news, but consider all the countries that don't even have a dub of Kai yet. Or, for that matter, Germany, which is going ahead with a dub of Battle of Gods despite not having dubbed any of Kai. Between the odd situations in other countries, and the overall unpredictability of this franchise, I think any sort of speculation is, at this point, fair game.

The only potential legal situation I could see affecting the DBZ dub, depending on how much American programming YTV was broadcasting at the time, would be CanCon requirements, which replacing the American-produced dub with a Canadian-produced version takes care of.

That's the legal situation I was referring to, yeah. I mean, hey, there are definitely loopholes in that theory of mine, but it's the closest I can get to a logical explanation for why this dub, which obviously has been produced, hasn't aired yet.

[Kirbopher]

Uh... http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Cole-Howard/

[sangofe]

Uh... http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Cole-Howard/

Interesting.

[Lord Beerus]

Uh... http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Cole-Howard/

This could be nothing more than a red herring.