As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Discussion specifically regarding the "refreshed" TV version of DBZ created in Japan for its 20th anniversary, including individual threads for each episode.

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MasenkoHA
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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by MasenkoHA » Thu Apr 26, 2018 10:45 pm

Ryuji-Otogi wrote:When I watch the dub, I watch Kai. It just seems pointless to watch the Z dub when its quality is lacking and it's so drawn out. Having said that, it feels equally pointless to watch the Japanese version of Kai. So for dub, I watch Kai, and for sub, I watch the original. I get nostalgic for some of the old DBZ dub stuff, but not enough to watch all 300 episodes all over again. I get plenty enough of that feeling from playing the old Budokai games.
This seems to be the general take. Watch Z for the sub Kai for the dub.

[/quote] In hindsight, it's really great that we got this re-dub of Kai just before Super came out. That's a great thing for continuity. [/quote]

I honestly feel like Super is a follow up to Kai and GT is a follow-up to Z, tbh
Yikes, I have to disagree wholeheartedly with that. Censorship wasn't a big deal with Yu-Gi-Oh's dub. It was already a show about a card game and the original Japanese anime censored the manga already. All the dub did censorship-wise was tone down the language, erase some cleavage, take out some hexagrams and scrubbed a few references to death.
Yu-gi-oh was interesting to me because that was the first show I realized I was watching a bastardized version while I was watching it. I hadn't seen the Japanese version but thanks to the internet I was aware of the changes. I wasn't aware the extent to what was changed in DBZ and Sailor Moon until after they finished their original US run. But that dub had characters who died disappeared or sent to the shadow realm. Death threats were watered down to threats of the shadow realm (dark energy disk come to mind) although oddly they kept the plot point of Yugi and Joey having a duel where the loser would be dragged to the bottom of the sea intact with Tea being threatened with having a box crush her. Maybe because that was all unavoidable.

But I was SUPER into complaining how evil 4KIDS was for ruining the show (that I never really watched) with their CENSORSHIP when I was 11.

From what I remember the biggest problem with the 4Kids dub was villains motivations to ruuuuuule the world often time rendering things nonsensical. Like I'm pretty sure they had Pegasus talk about ruling the world (I could be wrong its been a while) until oops actually he just wants to see his dead wife again. And they definitely wanted Marik to rule the world even though he just wanted to kill the Pharoh (which okay makes even less sense) so you him wanting the puzzle for its power even though at certain points he's fine with destroying it?

Some of the changes to make the show more PC were just silly. Like Kaiba threatening to jump off a cliff if he loses a duel to being changed to him standing over a ledge and saying if Yugi attacks the shockwaves from the holograms will send him toppling over. So...changing threats of suicide to threats of assisted suicide?

My favorite change was when they changed a fat clown hired to impersonate Kaiba as a ghost changed to being Kaiba's dark side brought back from the shadow realm by Pegasus. Kaiba's dark side is a fat clown.
Where the dub went wrong was bastardizing the script and replacing the original score.
I don't remember the dub score being that bad, per say. Then again I remember watching the Japanese clip of Dark Marik summoning Ra and preparing to attack Mai and the music being really good and dark and dramatic and then really sad and tragic as Jonouchi tries to save Mai and the dub music was just....there.

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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by gokaiblue » Sat May 12, 2018 11:46 am

I usually watch Kai, but when I'm feeling nostalgiac (or feigning feelings of nostalgia). I watch the Ocean/Funi dubs. Been watching some old DVDs and VHS tapes of those two dubs recently.
Looking for these rare items/information:

Any information or recordings pertaining to Dragon Ball Z's syndicated run on WAWB
Any information regarding the stations that carried the origin Dragon Ball in the USA
Dragon Box (any deals would be nice)
Shonen Jumps with Dragon Ball in them

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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by MasenkoHA » Mon Sep 24, 2018 7:07 pm

So here’s a fun thing I tried rewatching the Faulconer era Z dub (Ginyu assault specifically) and I just couldn’t between some laughably bad dialog and cringe worthy acting (especially Sean Schemmel) I just couldn’t. Pretty sure this crap only passed by in 1999 because we all thought it was cool as kids to see cartoon characters bleeding. I know taste is subjective but how anyone can enjoy this is beyond me. If I’m gonna watch Z it will be the Saban/Funi/Ocean collab or in Japanese. Otherwise its Kai

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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Wed Oct 03, 2018 4:12 am

MasenkoHA wrote:So here’s a fun thing I tried rewatching the Faulconer era Z dub (Ginyu assault specifically) and I just couldn’t between some laughably bad dialog and cringe worthy acting (especially Sean Schemmel) I just couldn’t. Pretty sure this crap only passed by in 1999 because we all thought it was cool as kids to see cartoon characters bleeding. I know taste is subjective but how anyone can enjoy this is beyond me. If I’m gonna watch Z it will be the Saban/Funi/Ocean collab or in Japanese. Otherwise its Kai
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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by SheonGT » Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:39 pm

Nope! Fantastic English dub but the fact that they only use the misplaced bastard child of the Kikuchi score ruins it for me. Not a fan of Sumitomo either.
Ask me about my love for the Faulconer Productions score!

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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by ricky84 » Sat Oct 06, 2018 5:20 pm

MasenkoHA wrote:So here’s a fun thing I tried rewatching the Faulconer era Z dub (Ginyu assault specifically) and I just couldn’t between some laughably bad dialog and cringe worthy acting (especially Sean Schemmel) I just couldn’t. Pretty sure this crap only passed by in 1999 because we all thought it was cool as kids to see cartoon characters bleeding. I know taste is subjective but how anyone can enjoy this is beyond me. If I’m gonna watch Z it will be the Saban/Funi/Ocean collab or in Japanese. Otherwise its Kai
There's also the remastered DBZ Funi dub before Kai existed. It has much better voice acting than their 1st outing in 1999.
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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by MasenkoHA » Sat Oct 06, 2018 10:03 pm

ricky84 wrote:
MasenkoHA wrote:So here’s a fun thing I tried rewatching the Faulconer era Z dub (Ginyu assault specifically) and I just couldn’t between some laughably bad dialog and cringe worthy acting (especially Sean Schemmel) I just couldn’t. Pretty sure this crap only passed by in 1999 because we all thought it was cool as kids to see cartoon characters bleeding. I know taste is subjective but how anyone can enjoy this is beyond me. If I’m gonna watch Z it will be the Saban/Funi/Ocean collab or in Japanese. Otherwise its Kai
There's also the remastered DBZ Funi dub before Kai existed. It has much better voice acting than their 1st outing in 1999.

This was the remastered dub lmao. Schemmel never rercorded his lines so season 3 is still shit. Plus Nadolyny and Young never stopped sucking

Unless you meant the remastered redub of season 1 and 2 which yeah that one is mostly ok but no matter what it eventually transitions into season 3

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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by Scsigs » Sat Oct 06, 2018 10:57 pm

MasenkoHA wrote:
ricky84 wrote:
MasenkoHA wrote:So here’s a fun thing I tried rewatching the Faulconer era Z dub (Ginyu assault specifically) and I just couldn’t between some laughably bad dialog and cringe worthy acting (especially Sean Schemmel) I just couldn’t. Pretty sure this crap only passed by in 1999 because we all thought it was cool as kids to see cartoon characters bleeding. I know taste is subjective but how anyone can enjoy this is beyond me. If I’m gonna watch Z it will be the Saban/Funi/Ocean collab or in Japanese. Otherwise its Kai
There's also the remastered DBZ Funi dub before Kai existed. It has much better voice acting than their 1st outing in 1999.

This was the remastered dub lmao. Schemmel never rercorded his lines so season 3 is still shit. Plus Nadolyny and Young never stopped sucking

Unless you meant the remastered redub of season 1 and 2 which yeah that one is mostly ok but no matter what it eventually transitions into season 3
If you ask me, Schemmel should've rerecorded the entirety of season 3 on, since even his Buu Saga recordings were badly acted most of the time. Sabat rerecorded the majority of his early recordings as Vegeta & Sonny Strait & Nadolny rerecorded a lot of their early recordings as well so they're more strong in their performances, as well as to keep continuity between actors that later replaced earlier ones, as well as to record for scenes that might've been cut to air on TV. Schemmel is the one weak link, as you said, since they never had him rerecord his earliest lines. Hence why he's one of the standout performances in Kai.

Also, I don't understand the hate for Nadolny. Sure, she's probably not the best pick for Gohan, but I don't think she was a poor one. Young was TERRIBLY miscast for Frieza, but it was done to maintain vocal consistency with the actress from the Canadian cast like most of the rest of the cast. I don't think each are as bad as one another. Young was a bigger miscast than you can argue Nadolny was. Case in point, Chris Ayres, who's only hated by the most diehard Z dub fans. He has a similar performance to Little Kuriboh, who's been praised since he made his debut in DBZ Abridged. Now, I also don't mind Nadolny's replacement, Colleen Clinkenbeard, but just ask any One Piece fan their opinion of her performance for Luffy & they'll tell you that her voice for him is a thing you either love or hate. She's not a bad actress as young Gohan or Goku, but she's not my ideal pick for them.
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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by MasenkoHA » Sun Oct 07, 2018 2:33 pm

Scsigs wrote: If you ask me, Schemmel should've rerecorded the entirety of season 3 on, since even his Buu Saga recordings were badly acted most of the time. Sabat rerecorded the majority of his early recordings as Vegeta & Sonny Strait & Nadolny rerecorded a lot of their early recordings as well so they're more strong in their performances, as well as to keep continuity between actors that later replaced earlier ones, as well as to record for scenes that might've been cut to air on TV. Schemmel is the one weak link, as you said, since they never had him rerecord his earliest lines. Hence why he's one of the standout performances in Kai.
I pretty much agree with this. They should have at least had all the primary cast members rerecord all their lines for the show if they were going to go through the trouble of season 1 and 2 and then half ass redo season 3 and 4 with Sabat, Nadolyny, and Strait
Also, I don't understand the hate for Nadolny. Sure, she's probably not the best pick for Gohan, but I don't think she was a poor one.
I mean you have heard Nadolny’s Gohan speak right?

Young was TERRIBLY miscast for Frieza, but it was done to maintain vocal consistency with the actress from the Canadian cast like most of the rest of the cast.
Difference is while Pauline Newstone was horrendously miscast (I’m pretty sure Barry Watson or whoever just took a look at a picture of Freeza in his first form without knowing a damn thing about the character and went based on that) she gave a good performance. Linda Young is just terrible. It’s not just “oh Freeza isn’t suppose to sound like that” it’s “oh that’s a really bad performance”.

That’s the difference between the Ocean cast in the early days and the Funi Z cast. Even when casting was wrong the Ocean cast did an admirable job. I think Brian Drummond’s Vegeta is the wrong direction making him sound waay more Saturday Morning Cartoon villain than it should but he did a good job.

I don't think each are as bad as one another. Young was a bigger miscast than you can argue Nadolny was.
I mean they were both horribly miscast. But if I was pressed to say which one was more miscast? I’d say Nadolny. I mean if someone showed you a picture of Freeza and you knew nothing about the character I guess I could understand where you came up with “Well it’s androgynous looking so it should sound like that” I can’t for the life of me figure out why you would have a little
boy sound like a chain smoking divorcee.

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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by Shad73 » Sun Feb 17, 2019 9:04 pm

I would say it’s on its’ way to becoming my new primary. I say that because I have decided to purchase all eight Kai DVDs and am therefore capable of enjoying anything Z as an extension of either the subbed version of Kai, or the Faulconer Kai as allows me to be objective about voice acting comparisons where I can’t with Yamamoto or Kikuchi’s respective scores in the dub version. I admit my bias.
However, “replace” is a big word. I would say the struggle between Z and Kai pushes me to the manga, rather than either anime version. Meanwhile, I entertain the idea of Kai as a wholly different version from Toriyama’s story in the manga on the basis of little differences. I just hope that Z in its’ subbed version never disappears and Funimation at least recognizes where we’d like to have the Z versions available. I’d love to see a comprehensive Z Blu-Ray release with all the dubs available, including a new English dub modeled after Kai’s cast. It’d be like “The Z Version of Kai.”
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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by superfan2024 » Mon Feb 18, 2019 1:52 pm

Yes, Kai has replaced Z for me dub wise. If Z was entirely re-dubbed in the same manner as Kai was, then i'd obviously choose Z. Unfortunately, Z's dub isn't too good (especially in the Namek arc) in my opinion, and my opinion and choice will stay like that unless if they ever re-dub it.

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Re: As A FUNi Dub Fan, Has Z Kai Replaced Z for you?

Post by MasenkoHA » Tue Feb 19, 2019 11:31 am

superfan2024 wrote:Yes, Kai has replaced Z for me dub wise. If Z was entirely re-dubbed in the same manner as Kai was, then i'd obviously choose Z. Unfortunately, Z's dub isn't too good (especially in the Namek arc) in my opinion, and my opinion and choice will stay like that unless if they ever re-dub it.
I know episode 68-107 gets the most shit dub wise (which is entirely fair) but pretty much eveything in the Z dub from episode 68 until maaaybe the Otherworld tournament filler arc/Great Saiyaman saga is a hot dumpster fire. Between Schemmel still having not learn how to voice act in 2000-2001, Nadolny’s ear grating chain smoker voice, and Sabat not re-recording any of his dialog post-Garlic JR and reverting back to his poor man’s Brian Drummond voice it’s all pretty crap.

The redub of the first 67 episodes is nowhere near perfect especially since they just recycle the 1996 scripts as often as possible without the Saban BS&P notes but its probably the best pre-Kai portion of the Z Funi dub. It’s tolerable

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