Did the Orange Brick 2007 (partial) redub feel pointless overall?

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I mean, i definitely get the intention behind what they were trying to do here though it seems the end result was more or less an ineffective band aid. The partial re dub was basically a patch work attempt at making their own dub from the Freeza arc onward seem less awful and more consistent with the then recent 2005 re dub of the Saiyan/Namek episodes for the Ultimate Uncut Edition release and broadcast on Cartoon Network. Even then, they only got up to either the end of Garlic Jr. or just prior to Freeza and King Cold's (and Trunk's) arrival on Earth before basically going "screw it" and stopping, thus leaving the audio more or less untouched dialogue wise from how it had been on the previous bilingual single discs. With that, it's not really consistent but to the contrary and even then the supposedly untouched dub from Trunks onward still had the music shuffled around as well as inexplicably missing vocal effects when compared to the initial TV run on Toonami and single DVD's. Given that Kai has come out since then and basically filled the gap of a more faithful dub of the show with FUNi's cast, it makes the 2007 re dub seem like even more of an obsolete exercise in pointlessness even with what FUNimation had initially intended it to be. Because no matter how you slice it, the Z dub especially of the Freeza episodes even in partial re dubbed form is still a highly inaccurate interpretation of the series though most of the performances were made less cringe worthy and some (but not all) of the worst lines and jokes removed or replaced. If only they'd made the effort at the time to do a more faithful dub at the time with better scripts, rather than the Frankenstein mess that we have had on every release since then.

Basically, i feel like it was an ultimately aborted project to make the dub better than it was initially even though they ultimately didn't do that great a job and the results speak for themselves.

[MasenkoHA]

It felt pointless because they barely did anything.

What’s the point in Sabat redubbing his season 3 dialog if he’s still gonna default back to sounding like poor man’s Brian Drummond by the Android saga?
Also he only redubs Vegeta. His surfer boy Yamcha and bad Scott Mcneil impression as Piccolo were just as bad.


I’m hardly a fan of Nadolny as Gohan.. Like at all. But I’ll definitely take her using her Goku voice for Gohan over her chainsmoker voice she used for Gohan when she first took the role from Saffron Henderson. But she only re-does her dialog up until the middle of episode 79 when she probably should have redubbed all her dialog or at least until the 3-year time skip to the Androids.

It’s cool that they fixed their “brilliant scientist dad” and “Vegeta killed grandpa Gohan” blunders but all the metric fuckton of errors they made in the Android/Cell saga are still present.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

It felt pointless because they barely did anything.

What’s the point in Sabat redubbing his season 3 dialog if he’s still gonna default back to sounding like poor man’s Brian Drummond by the Android saga?
Also he only redubs Vegeta. His surfer boy Yamcha and bad Scott Mcneil impression as Piccolo were just as bad.


I’m hardly a fan of Nadolny as Gohan.. Like at all. But I’ll definitely take her using her Goku voice for Gohan over her chainsmoker voice she used for Gohan when she first took the role from Saffron Henderson. But she only re-does her dialog up until the middle of episode 79 when she probably should have redubbed all her dialog or at least until the 3-year time skip to the Androids.

It’s cool that they fixed their “brilliant scientist dad” and “Vegeta killed grandpa Gohan” blunders but all the metric fuckton of errors they made in the Android/Cell saga are still present.

My point exactly, it only sort of half fixed what made the in house dub so bad initially as far as the Freeza episodes go and while i like that they corrected a good deal of the dialogue censorship i.e "next dimension" and most blatantly wrong lines such as the aforementioned ones in Season 1 and 2 which go back to the old 1996 scripts it still retains most of the problems (amateurish 1999 performances, bad jokes, script/translation errors.etc) and doesn't go together very well if at all with the re dubbed Saiyan and Namek episodes after they stopped. Thank god Kai came along not too soon after which gave them the chance to do a (mostly) faithful adaptation and this version has basically been rendered useless to me as a result of the former proving a way better dub experience by far. Heck, when i watch Z proper on my Dragon Boxes it's exclusively subbed in Japanese because even the Kikuchi music doesn't make it but only slightly more tolerable than with the Johnson/Faulconer replacement music.

Basically, it was made less bad when compared to their first go around with these episodes in 1999/2000 but still far from being a good dub in pretty much every other way.

[WittyUsername]

The redubbing didn’t entirely stop going into the Cell arc. They still had Kyle Hebert dubbing over all of Dale Kelly’s lines as the narrator, as well as Mark Britten’s lines as Ox-King, among a few other minor changes.

As for why Chris Sabat stopped redubbing Vegeta after the Garlic Jr. arc? I’m guessing they simply didn’t feel like going through the trouble of doing that. Sabat’s Vegeta voice in general was going through a weird transitionary period around that time, but it did sound a bit less bad compared to how it was in season 3, so they probably decided that it wasn’t worth going through the trouble, especially considering how many episodes Sabat would have to redub for that.

Anyway, to answer your question, I wouldn’t exactly call it pointless, since it did help soften the transition a bit. It is of course pretty obsolete in light of Kai, but FUNimation had no way of knowing that they would ever even get another chance with DBZ at the time.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

The redubbing didn’t entirely stop going into the Cell arc. They still had Kyle Hebert dubbing over all of Dale Kelly’s lines as the narrator, as well as Mark Britten’s lines as Ox-King, among a few other minor changes.

As for why Chris Sabat stopped redubbing Vegeta after the Garlic Jr. arc? I’m guessing they simply didn’t feel like going through the trouble of doing that. Sabat’s Vegeta voice in general was going through a weird transitionary period around that time, but it did sound a bit less bad compared to how it was in season 3, so they probably decided that it wasn’t worth going through the trouble, especially considering how many episodes Sabat would have to redub for that.

Anyway, to answer your question, I wouldn’t exactly call it pointless, since it did help soften the transition a bit. It is of course pretty obsolete in light of Kai, but FUNimation had no way of knowing that they would ever even get another chance with DBZ at the time.

Yeah, it's true that the Orange Brick re dub did sort of make things a little easier going from the Ultimate Uncut re dub of the Saiyan/Namek arcs to Season 3 though still not the best by a long shot, especially considering how amateur and terrible the original 1999 version was in terms of the cast and their performances at the beginning. Thinking about it now, i guess you could say that pointless wasn't quite the accurate word to use although it no doubt has been rendered effectively obsolete and needless to watch with Kai's far superior dub in pretty much every way.

[Soppa Saia People]

it's mega pointless and the whole thing just feels like a Frankenstein monster version of the show, you jerk between different era's of actors, they fix somethings but don't bother with most, the dialogue is even more all over the place, etc, it's just a mess. i get that it would've cost a lot of money and kai came out 2 years later so it would've been a bit pointless, but they really should've redubbed the whole show, the orange bricks were gonna sell a ton regardless, and i have to imagine advertising a whole new dub would've helped them sell even more. at the very least just to make the whole show consistent within the dub, because i kinda doubt that they would've put a ton of work into making it accurate.

[MasenkoHA]

^would the average Funi fan even notice or care if the dialog had been completely redubbed as long as the cast remained the same from what they remembered?

Somehow I don’t think even the most hardcore dub fans would have missed Freeza demanding a countdown or Bulma saying the prospect of death makes her bad hair day seem almost insignificant or Piccolo telling Nail he’s charging him rent.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

they really should've redubbed the whole show, the orange bricks were gonna sell a ton regardless, and i have to imagine advertising a whole new dub would've helped them sell even more.

I don't know, I think that probably could have hurt sales of the orange bricks rather than helped them. Would anyone who grew up on the Funimation dub really be happy to know that product they grew up with was redone from scratch? Maybe a small minority who wanted it to be different, but the majority would want it to stay the same. Granted it seems very few people who bought the bricks were displeased with the partial redubbing but we have to remember it was the first cost effective way of collecting the series and fans may have been more hesitant if the changes pointed out to them in the marketing. It's no different than Manga UK ignoring the fact their first release of the series (which ironically was also the orange bricks) contains a different dub than what was mostly shown in the UK and Ireland because they don't want to promote any aspects that could potentially cause controversy.

[Soppa Saia People]

I don't know, I think that probably could have hurt sales of the orange bricks rather than helped them. Would anyone who grew up on the Funimation dub really be happy to know that product they grew up with was redone from scratch? Maybe a small minority who wanted it to be different, but the majority would want it to stay the same. Granted it seems very few people who bought the bricks were displeased with the partial redubbing but we have to remember it was the first cost effective way of collecting the series and fans may have been more hesitant if the changes pointed out to them in the marketing. It's no different than Manga UK ignoring the fact their first release of the series (which ironically was also the orange bricks) contains a different dub than what was mostly shown in the UK and Ireland because they don't want to promote any aspects that could potentially cause controversy.

to be fair, considering the fact that it's not all that rare to run into people who think that the 2007 re-dub was the dub that aired on toonami in 1999 it probably wouldn't have mattered in the long run. but yeah you're right, advertising a entire re-dub on the first complete home release of the series in America probably wouldn't have gone over super well, i'm very much thinking from a sub fan perspective lol.

[theoriginalbilis]

If the re-voiced lines were also re-written, it would've felt like a better use of that money (if any was spent in the first place).

That said, Kai's dub has basically made the ol' 1999-2003 dub even more of a relic. It's so good, I've barely watched any DB dubs since then since I feel like Kai was great overall and about as good as FUNi will ever treat a Dragon Ball localization. The recent batch of movies (BoG, RoF, Broly) have been good too.

[jjgp1112]

I mean it worked as far as there not being too many jarring changes mid arc - Vegeta going from deep voice to Drummond impression is still annoying once we reach the Android saga, but considerably less so thanks to him barely having a presence in the 10 episodes between the Frieza saga and Android saga.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

If the re-voiced lines were also re-written, it would've felt like a better use of that money (if any was spent in the first place).

That said, Kai's dub has basically made the ol' 1999-2003 dub even more of a relic. It's so good, I've barely watched any DB dubs since then since I feel like Kai was great overall and about as good as FUNi will ever treat a Dragon Ball localization. The recent batch of movies (BoG, RoF, Broly) have been good too.

Definitely agree there especially with Kai, once it came out i haven't looked back since as far as dubbed Dragon Ball material goes. It's hands down the best production along with the recent movies that we have gotten from the FUNi cast in the 20 years they've been doing the characters and as mentioned before it's rendered the old dub (Orange Bricks or otherwise) effectively obsolete and useless to me and now as far as OG Z proper goes i exclusively watch it subbed on my Dragon Boxes.

So yeah, the intention was there with the 2007 re dub but it only part way addressed the initial in house dub's numerous issues.

[jjgp1112]

If it weren't for all of the nonsense with the score and how awful the Kikuchi Kai music placement was, Kai dub would easily become my definitive way to watch the series.

[GreatSaiyaJeff]

The only thing that bugged me about the redub is that Sean didn't redub Goku. Sabat did fine keeping on continuity from the redub of season 1 and 2. However when Sean's delivery clashes with the redubs. From what I hear he wanted use it to show howhas improved but it's a bit jarring.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

The only thing that bugged me about the redub is that Sean didn't redub Goku. Sabat did fine keeping on continuity from the redub of season 1 and 2. However when Sean's delivery clashes with the redubs. From what I hear he wanted use it to show howhas improved but it's a bit jarring.

It's especially awkward when you have the scenes of Sabat's circa 2005/2007 Vegeta and Schemmel's initial Goku from 1999 talking to each other. Then again, one can tell just how much he's improved playing Goku since first starting twenty years ago especially in Kai, the recent movies and video games where he's given some really good performances.

[GreatSaiyaJeff]

The only thing that bugged me about the redub is that Sean didn't redub Goku. Sabat did fine keeping on continuity from the redub of season 1 and 2. However when Sean's delivery clashes with the redubs. From what I hear he wanted use it to show howhas improved but it's a bit jarring.

It's especially awkward when you have the scenes of Sabat's circa 2005/2007 Vegeta and Schemmel's initial Goku from 1999 talking to each other. Then again, one can tell just how much he's improved playing Goku since first starting twenty years ago especially in Kai, the recent movies and video games where he's given some really good performances.

Ooops thats what I meant, the redub of Vegeta is akward with 99's Goku.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

The only thing that bugged me about the redub is that Sean didn't redub Goku. Sabat did fine keeping on continuity from the redub of season 1 and 2. However when Sean's delivery clashes with the redubs. From what I hear he wanted use it to show howhas improved but it's a bit jarring.

It's especially awkward when you have the scenes of Sabat's circa 2005/2007 Vegeta and Schemmel's initial Goku from 1999 talking to each other. Then again, one can tell just how much he's improved playing Goku since first starting twenty years ago especially in Kai, the recent movies and video games where he's given some really good performances.

Ooops thats what I meant, the redub of Vegeta is akward with 99's Goku.

Yeah, it really seems more bizarre in that than the old '99 dub did with Sabat's Drummond impression voice. I remember the first time i saw the '07 re dub and that immediately jumped out at me that Vegeta sounded different than i'd remembered but Sean's Goku was exactly the same as back then, so thus it's really inconsistent with the preceding Ultimate Uncut redub of the Saiyan and Namek arcs.

[Robo4900]

1. It didn't fix the shitty scripting, and the acting was still not very good in general.
2. It created a lot of jarring inconsistency with the rest of the dub.
3. The remixing of audio that was done alongside this was really badly done. (Some missing lines, tons of missing vocal postprocessing effects, generally poor mixing in some places, tons of incorrect takes used, etc.)
4. Rather than making the changeover from episode 67 to 68 less jarring, it makes that jarring change continue to feel jarring well into the run.

It was a failure at every level.

[VDenter]

To me it seems completely pointless. Why did they even bother?

It didn't fix anything substantial to be considered even a mediocre dub. Reading on some of the changes and seeing some comparison clips on YT, it's pretty much every bit as abysmal as the Original Funi dub. The flaws are still fundamental and no amount of polishing a turd will change the fact that it's still a turd. I guess the redub is more tolerable if watched with the original JP score but that's about it. Even that doesn't really come close to what i would call a tolerable viewing experience.

[ABED]

Yes, it was pointless. At most, they should've redubbed whatever episodes dub episode 54 consists of, since that is technically 1.5 episodes stuck together. Making Hebert the only narrator is an easy fix, but the dub was fundamentally broken from the start. It's like trying to fix a troubled movie with some clever edits and some reshoots. They were fundamentally broken to begin with.

And as bad as those original performances were, I don't like rewriting history. I'd rather they exist for posterity.