The Harmony Gold Dub & Broadcast Audio Discussion Thread

[atm5508]

Sorry superrayman3, no response yet. I get the feeling that he probably won't be responding.

[superrayman3]

Sorry superrayman3, no response yet. I get the feeling that he probably won't be responding.

Well that sucks but then again I had a feeling that things would be this way, oh well at least the Streamline tape topic can finally be finished as being nothing more than a nonexistent lie that we were dumb enough to fall for. Now that that's over with maybe we can get back to solving the remaining mysteries that still exist regarding the HG dub.

[atm5508]

Don't give up hope on that tape yet, it could certainly exist. However, it's getting to be impossible to find a reliable source who can be asked about it.

[Ashura]

So I was able to locate a copy of the same Zero Y El Dragon Magico VHS that's been previously mentioned in the thread.

Some interesting breakdowns...

-The overscan is absolutely bizarre... the video is shifted over to the left pretty extremely.
-For the 'Blood Rubies' portion, the introduction prior to the opening animation does exist, so I assume it does on the HG version now.
-The katakana in the Dragonball logo is wiped away on the intro to Blood Rubies.



-The opening music used is the same as the Harmony Gold version.
-The opening itself is a bizarre mish-mash of the second Dragon Ball opening and scenes from a bunch of stuff (I'd have to post it...too hard to explain.)
-It has its own title screen... this art looks oddly bootleg.




-The end credits use the same weird art.



-It sounds like a lot of the music is otherwise replaced with bad synth music... or fades between the original + synth music.
-Zero/Goku sounds a HELL of a lot like Barbara Goodson's version in this dub.
-Puar/Squeeker sounds almost like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch.
-At 43:48 in, it cuts directly to the third movie. The dialogue sounds like Pilaf and his crew are talking about Gurumes' defeat before Tsurusennin shows up. We would need someone can translate the dialogue to figure out what's actually being said.
-The opening where Goku and Kuririn are training is cut out.

VegettoEX might be able to help us with these final two bits, too; Does the version of movie 3 you have include the complete opening? Do you know what the dialogue consists of around the section where Pilaf and friends are gloating about building their own Dragon Radar in the original?

[Pokewhiz7]

Where did you get that from?

[superrayman3]

Where did you get that from?

Yeah where did you find a copy cause i've been looking like hell for a copy and have had no luck. also as a personal note the katakana in the DB logo was removed from the HG dub as well.

[Ashura]

I ended up being very lucky and a friend of mine who's good at locating stuff like this found it in an old tape store/good will/consignment shop/whatever. (He's not done the hat trick of being able to find someone's home recordings of the HG English dub, however!)

This blog seems to talk a lot about this series:
http://lacolumnademajunia.wordpress.com ... on-magico/

If someone lingual could translate the meatier bits, that would be awesome.

[Ashura]

Sorry to double post, but I'm almost convinced now that... any time the music is still the original music and there happens to be foley (ki-yahs, etc.)... that they've literally just left-in Barbara Goodson's shouting.

Clips to come.

[kei17]

Wow, these are amazing. I should have got a copy when I found the VHS on amazon.

Sorry to double post, but I'm almost convinced now that... any time the music is still the original music and there happens to be foley (ki-yahs, etc.)... that they've literally just left-in Barbara Goodson's shouting.

Clips to come.

I hope YT won't block them in Japan.

[Ashura]

Kei, if they block it for you, I'll PM you a link to MP4s or something. Just let me know.

[Ashura]

Again, sorry to double post... but here come the clips!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxCncdZn0Go
Zero Y El Dragon Magico Opening. You get your first dose of weird synth music in this one, where it cuts in oddly with the original Toei/Harmony Gold stuff. Then you get the oddly edited opening in its entirety, complete with bootleg lookin' title card.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjO7ANqmBZ0
Zero vs. THE FISH. Before there was Cell, before there was Freeza... there was... THE FISH. Listen to Zero's voice when he shouts 'Heyyy!' and his jumping grunts. It's obviously Barbara Goodson... and then only his speaking parts are dubbed over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wga_AZpAvs4
Zero meets Bulma. I think at some points like this they also just reuse some of the Japanese music from elsewhere. The version of Mysterious Adventure they use when Goku hits the car with Nyoibou is less fast paced than the actual one that plays in the movie. I like Bulma's 'mmmmn-hmmmm...' when Goku's asking her if she's human (or whatever he actually asks her in this dub.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mefMzUB8ro
Here's the big one. Here's how the movie transitions between Blood Rubies to Mystical Adventure. Notice the INSANE droning synth music. This is nothing like the actual music used in the original. We get a sample of Pilaf and his crew, plus Taopaipai here.

If someone out there can translate Pilaf and crew's dialogue here to see if I'm right about them talking about Gurumes, that would be neato bandito.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRA6fduxN14
Finally, here's the ending credits with that weird title card again.

[kei17]

Kei, if they block it for you, I'll PM you a link to MP4s or something. Just let me know.

Thankfully, YT didn't block those clips. And, wow, they didn't even use the ME mix master for dubbing. It's almost exactly like the Albanian dub. Interestingly enough, the opening is identical to the one used on the later episodes of the TV series except for that strange title screen.

[Ashura]

I bet because the quality's so poor that the Youtube auto-detector doesn't, well, detect it.

One thing I find interesting about their fake-bootleg looking title screen... the logo has those 7 yellow balls without the katana too.

[kei17]

I bet because the quality's so poor that the Youtube auto-detector doesn't, well, detect it.

But they even blocked this video! There must be some reason other than the quality I guess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YXiIzMQpz4

One thing I find interesting about their fake-bootleg looking title screen... the logo has those 7 yellow balls without the katana too.

They did the same thing in the TV version, so I guess it's just that they wanted to hide Japanese characters which are totally nonsense for the Mexican viewers.

[Puto]

If someone out there can translate Pilaf and crew's dialogue here to see if I'm right about them talking about Gurumes, that would be neato bandito.

Pilaf: We did it!
Shu: Thanks to King Gurumes...
Mai: Who gathered all seven balls, we now have a way to find them.
Pilaf: Good news, Lord Uso(?).
Crane Hermit: So your little plan was successful.
Pilaf: Indeed. By focusing our sensors on the energy surge from the Gurumes Kingdom, we were able to follow all the balls as they dispersed. You can see them on the fire map, look.
Crane Hermit: Excellent. Then the Fire Balls (yes, that's what they call them) are as good as mine already!
Pilaf: I'm sure the Emperor will be impressed.
Mai: He'll be very impressed.
Shu: If you want anything else, you just have to ask.
Crane Hermit: Oh, there is one more thing. General, please inform them.
Tao Pai Pai: My lord requires a small favor, he needs you to give his best wishes to his ancestors in Heaven.
Pilaf: Bu-But we don't even know what they look like, General!

[kei17]

*snips*

Thanks for the translation. I listened to the video carefully, and yeah, Crane Hermit really says "las esferas de fuego". It's funny that the balls are not called dragonballs though the title says Dragon Ball, just like "les boules de cristal" in the French dub.

[Pokewhiz7]

If someone out there can translate Pilaf and crew's dialogue here to see if I'm right about them talking about Gurumes, that would be neato bandito.

Pilaf: We did it!
Shu: Thanks to King Gurumes...
Mai: Who gathered all seven balls, we now have a way to find them.
Pilaf: Good news, Lord Uso(?).
Crane Hermit: So your little plan was successful.
Pilaf: Indeed. By focusing our sensors on the energy surge from the Gurumes Kingdom, we were able to follow all the balls as they dispersed. You can see them on the fire map, look.
Crane Hermit: Excellent. Then the Fire Balls (yes, that's what they call them) are as good as mine already!
Pilaf: I'm sure the Emperor will be impressed.
Mai: He'll be very impressed.
Shu: If you want anything else, you just have to ask.
Crane Hermit: Oh, there is one more thing. General, please inform them.
Tao Pai Pai: My lord requires a small favor, he needs you to give his best wishes to his ancestors in Heaven.
Pilaf: Bu-But we don't even know what they look like, General!

It seems like they rewrote it to transition into the next movie.

[sangofe]

*snips*

Thanks for the translation. I listened to the video carefully, and yeah, Crane Hermit really says "las esferas de fuego". It's funny that the balls are not called dragonballs though the title says Dragon Ball, just like "les boules de cristal" in the French dub.

That's why it's a shame DBZ Kai didn't do all Dragonball, because in DBZ Kai, they call them Dragonballs!

[kei17]

I rechecked episodes 2, 3, 4, and 33 of the Harmony-Gold-based Mexican Spanish dub, and I noticed that early episodes were dubbed in the same way. The original audio suddenly gets muted when characters speak, and some generic synth music plays instead. Then in episode 33, they used the ME (music & sound effects) master, so the score and sound effects are kept intact. It's probably because only early episodes were dubbed in English, and other later episodes were exported with the voice-less audio. Or maybe after they imported only some early episodes from Harmony Gold, they started importing the rest of the episodes from another country like Japan. In either case, it is now clear that the English dub had the original Kikuchi score.

[sangofe]

I rechecked episodes 2, 3, 4, and 33 of the Harmony-Gold-based Mexican Spanish dub, and I noticed that early episodes were dubbed in the same way. The original audio suddenly gets muted when characters speak, and some generic synth music plays instead. Then in episode 33, they used the ME (music & sound effects) master, so the score and sound effects are kept intact. It's probably because only early episodes were dubbed in English, and other later episodes were exported with the voice-less audio. Or maybe after they imported only some early episodes from Harmony Gold, they started importing the rest of the episodes from another country like Japan. In either case, it is now clear that the English dub had the original Kikuchi score.

Wow, Harmony Gold had planned to go that far?