Should Ocean Productions get another shot at Dragon Ball?

[Man-Child]

This is an issue that's been bugging me, recently, as I'm not too knowledgeable about the broadcasting of Dragon Ball in other countries. As I recall, in the U.S., the Ocean Group originally worked on Dragon Ball in 1995 before the show was cancelled due to low ratings. After Funimation's in house cast took over the voicing duties for the franchise, they redubbed the entire show and broadcast it on toonami back in 2001. My question is, was the Funimation version of the show the default for other English speaking countries such as Canada? Was Ocean ever considered to finish the rest of the show or possibly redub it, given the time lapse? Would it be possible for them to provide a dub for Dragon Ball now?

And I guess this is more opinion based, but would anyone here even like to see/have seen a completed dub of Dragon Ball from the Ocean Group?

[NinjaGoku]

There was an entire Blue Water/ Ocean dub of Dragon Ball that aired in the UK and Canada. There's not a chance they would re-do it. Besides, the show is nearly 30 years old.

[Bullza]

No Funimation is enough.

[NitroEX]

Ocean have had (and still continue to have) very bad luck with the series and have never got to consistently dub the entire thing like Funimation. What remains of their dub (Saban & Westwood dubs if we're only counting Z) is their first and only attempt.

When you consider the amount of redubbed lines Funimation made to their dub of Z I'd say Ocean did a pretty good job for their first try and their version(s) still hold up pretty well for being censored and having a rushed production schedule.

To my knowledge they only dubbed the first 13 episodes or so of Dragonball but as far as I'm aware this only ever aired in the US because it wasn't successful at the time. After DB they moved onto dubbing Z which is where we got the now famous censored dub of the first 53 episodes as well as the TV version of Tree of Might (with the Shuki Levy score). Shortly before Funimation ended their partnership with Ocean they also dubbed the first three DBZ movies uncut and left the original Japanese score in tact. These movies are still considered some of the best Dragonball dubbing even by today's standards and we can only imagine what the series would have been like if they had been able to dub the entire series uncut.

In case you're wondering the first 53 episodes of Z weren't exclusive to the US and were seen in many English speaking countries all over the world. Unfortunately for various reasons this dub wasn't initially as popular as Saban or Funimation were expecting so they ended the partnership prematurely, this left Funimation without enough money to continue hiring the Ocean cast. Once the show was moved onto the Toonami channel it grew in popularity and there was now an increasing demand for new episodes, Funimation chose to hire replacement actors and continued dubbing with a cheaper in house cast. These episodes were also seen across the world however during the Trunks saga (episode 108 I believe) a lot of European countries and eventually Canada would switch to an alternate English dub which I believe was produced by AB groupe. This dub once again brought back the Ocean cast with a few recasts here and there, this is what most refer to as the Westwood dub because it was produced in westwood studios Canada. Canada themselves continued to use the in house Funimation dub for a little while longer but would eventually switch to the Westwood dub too somewhere during the Cell games. This is how it remained on TV for the remainder of the TV broadcasts aside from a brief period when the UK started getting Funi episodes again during the premiere of the Fusion saga (the channel switched back to Ocean later on).

Unfortunately after Z ended that was it for Ocean and their involvement with the series. All remaining dubbing of GT and the original Dragonball series were handed over to the cheaper Blue Water dubbing studio which, in a surprising move, kept the original Japanese score for television broadcasts.

Anyway as for your question about if I'd like them to dub the series uncut? Of course I would, I think they have always done a pretty awesome job dubbing anime when not hindered by censorship and rushed production schedules (as evidenced by their dub of the first three films). Obviously Dragonball Z will never get redubbed in this day and age since there's far too many episodes but there's always hope for the Kai dub (if it get's released).

[Man-Child]

There was an entire Blue Water/ Ocean dub of Dragon Ball that aired in the UK and Canada. There's not a chance they would re-do it. Besides, the show is nearly 30 years old.

I've read up on the Blue Water dub and checked out some clips on youtube, and was surprised to see how decent it actually was. I was honestly expecting something a lot worse, given that they hired the BW group simply to save money. I guess I can see now why they never felt the need to bring back Ocean. It is still kind of a shame, though.

[Man-Child]

@ NitroEX

Very informative, thank you. I too admire Ocean's first 13 episodes of the show, and am still genuinely curious as to how they would've done for the rest of the show. Especially with Saffron Henderson's Goku and Scott McNeil's Piccolo. I guess Kai then will be their only chance at completing an entire DB series. Here's hoping Funimation actually goes through with it in the end.

[SonEric84]

If they were able to do the show with the same cast as the first 53 episodes, I think that would be awesome to see. Of course, I think it would also be important to have a better script, directing, etc., but ideally that is the English cast I would have liked to see from beginning to end, because while I got "used to" Funimation's cast, I never felt the same about it.

[Man-Child]

Definitely. With less censorship and more faithful scripts, I have no doubt that Ocean would've done as good as Funimation's currently doing with Kai (if not much much better). Just out of curiosity, who was your preferred Goku of their first 53 episodes? And what do you think Richard Ian Cox possibly taking over the role?

[SonEric84]

Definitely. With less censorship and more faithful scripts, I have no doubt that Ocean would've done as good as Funimation's currently doing with Kai (if not much much better). For the sake curiosity, who was your preferred Goku of their first 53 episodes? And what do you think Richard Ian Cox possibly taking over the role?

I liked Corlett's portrayal the best, I think. I'm not really familiar with Cox's work in order to give my opinion on that, but ideally, I'd really just like the old cast in it's complete form.

[Kakacarrottop]

i'd only be interested if they kept using the Peter Berring replacement score from the first 13 edited episodes or something else (eg the Megaman music) since there are already two complete English dubs of the show which only use the Kikuchi score.

[Man-Child]

I liked Corlett's portrayal the best, I think. I'm not really familiar with Cox's work in order to give my opinion on that, but ideally, I'd really just like the old cast in it's complete form.

Makes sense. I remember Corlett saying he quit the role due to being unsatisfied with the pay. It's a shame that he'll probably never return. Any scenes with him and McNeil were always gold.

[Man-Child]

i'd only be interested if they kept using the Peter Berring replacement score from the first 13 edited episodes or something else (eg the Megaman music) since there are already two complete English dubs of the show which only use the Kikuchi score.

Would Peter Berring still be available today? I'm not too knowledgeable about his work outside of Dragon Ball. But you have a good point. It would be nice, if only for continuity's sake, to have him return. He was one of the few composers Funimation used who's score actually matched the tone and level of quality of the original. Hell the theme song wasn't bad, either. I know replacement scores aren't used much these days (and rightly so), but it would be nice to see the show completed with Berring's score and the original Kikuchi tracks available for a home release.

A bunch of wishful thinking, but it is interesting to ponder.

[IDreamtIWasABee]

The cast of the original 53 episodes should get another shot, yeah. Let FUNi handle the rest, though, including the voices for everyone post-Freeza. Sad fact is, I could never accept replacements for the later actors any more than I could accept the replacements for McNeil and Drummond. First impressions stick; some small part of me even rejects the new Freeza.

[Kakacarrottop]

i'd only be interested if they kept using the Peter Berring replacement score from the first 13 edited episodes or something else (eg the Megaman music) since there are already two complete English dubs of the show which only use the Kikuchi score.

Would Peter Berring still be available today?

Someone here said that he was one of the people who contributed music to the Westwood dub, so i assume he must have connections to Ocean. I'd say he'd be much more likely to return for another Ocean dub than someone like Shuki Levy, who was never connected to Ocean and hasn't composed music for TV in ages.

[Man-Child]

The cast of the original 53 episodes should get another shot, yeah. Let FUNi handle the rest, though, including the voices for everyone post-Freeza. Sad fact is, I could never accept replacements for the later actors any more than I could accept the replacements for McNeil and Drummond. First impressions stick; some small part of me even rejects the new Freeza.

True, we all have our preferences. But if I'm understanding, did you not like any of the new additions to Ocean's cast when they continued the show back in 2000? I thought, at least, Brad Swaile was a really good Gohan. His voice was as fitting to the character as Kyle Herbert. Enuka Okuma also did really well with #18. I think either one would be fine to come back to the show.

[Man-Child]

Someone here said that he was one of the people who contributed music to the Westwood dub, so i assume he must have connections to Ocean. I'd say he'd be much more likely to return for another Ocean dub than someone like Shuki Levy, who was never connected to Ocean and hasn't composed music for TV in ages.

Really? Huh. You learn something new, everyday. And here I thought the score was solely the Megaman music and that one track they played over and over again. Well then, it's awesome that if nothing else, Berring is available. I don't mind Shuky Levy's lack of return as much though tbh. I think one of your topics mentioned that Ron Wasserman was the real composer of the Z episodes anyway (it's true, the score definitely sounds more like "Power Rangers" than "Inspector Gadget"). Wasserman would likely be the more valuable grab, but he probably wouldn't have a place in the series as it is today. It's a hollow opinion, I guess (especially given the Yamamoto scandal, which effectively ended the idea of one official score for Kai), but I don't think a replacement score would be necessary for Kai. His music for DB would probably be less fitting, but who knows.