Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by ArmenianPepsi » Mon Jul 20, 2020 3:20 am

Wow, reading about Dragon Ball's earliest days in North America is so interesting. This period really contains some of the most fascinating mysteries and stories. If anything more of the Vendar dub comes to light it'll be a miracle. :)
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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by Robo4900 » Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:19 am

AlexSketchy04 wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 4:50 pm
Kakacarrottop wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 2:24 am That test dub of Dead Zone likely had Peter Berring doing the music.

I found a link on the internet that suggested Ron Wasserman would have started working on the DBZ soundtrack around July 1996, whereas this Dead Zone dub was early 1996.
Considering the test dub of Dragon Ball had Peter's score, it's possible that Wasserman already had done some stuff, or maybe not
The "test dub" of Dragon Ball had the full Peter Berring score, as heard in the final product. We can be fairly sure Wasserman was not involved in a pre-July '96 Dragon Ball dub.

Most likely, the Vendar dub is what we saw in that Pioneer intro clip, and uses a Peter Berring score.
eledoremassis02 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 1:02 am This is funny because I remember reading long ago that there was another voice for Piccolo other than Scott McNeil in Dead Zone which made me think it wasn't him for the longest time. I literally thought Scott McNeil was a Disney grade replacement. I can't remember the name of the guy tho... I want to say it was Gary or something with a G but don't quote me on that lol.
Didn't happen to be David Gasman, did it? :lol:
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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by wjbraden » Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:48 am

@Robo4900 I don't suppose you could spell out a very basic timeline of events of Funi's early involvement with the franchise, could you? I've reread the article the OP posted a couple times and I think I am confusing myself as to when some of this stuff was done. :lol:
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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by eledoremassis02 » Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:49 am

Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:19 am
AlexSketchy04 wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 4:50 pm
Kakacarrottop wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 2:24 am That test dub of Dead Zone likely had Peter Berring doing the music.

I found a link on the internet that suggested Ron Wasserman would have started working on the DBZ soundtrack around July 1996, whereas this Dead Zone dub was early 1996.
Considering the test dub of Dragon Ball had Peter's score, it's possible that Wasserman already had done some stuff, or maybe not
The "test dub" of Dragon Ball had the full Peter Berring score, as heard in the final product. We can be fairly sure Wasserman was not involved in a pre-July '96 Dragon Ball dub.

Most likely, the Vendar dub is what we saw in that Pioneer intro clip, and uses a Peter Berring score.
eledoremassis02 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 1:02 am This is funny because I remember reading long ago that there was another voice for Piccolo other than Scott McNeil (this actually might have been the same time I realized the guy who voiced Duo Maxwell was Piccolo) in Dead Zone which made me think it wasn't him for the longest time. I literally thought Scott McNeil was a Disney grade replacement. I can't remember the name of the guy tho... I want to say it was Gary or something with a G but don't quote me on that lol.
Didn't happen to be David Gasman, did it? :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol I remeber it sated Scott McNeil wasnt the original voice and I was convinced for years it wasnt McNeil in the released dub (Roshi and stuff were different too so it wasnt that hard to belive lol) I don't recall it mentioning it being before even Z being dubbed and I didnt realized the movies were dubbed later on (let alone the fact the replaced Goku lol)
It's litterly driving me insane. It was in the late early -mid 2000's where I came across it. Piccolo was listed other than Scott McNeil and I remeber thinking "wow that guy sounded just like him *cause it was lol*" I don't remeber any other casting changes tho but it wasnt somthing I was looking for nor was I really invested about other VA's other than McNeil at the time, but I dont recall being like "Hey, everyone is different". It's simialr to when I found out the Ocean dub to Cell-Buu exited while browing IMDB and saying "Woa, Brad Swaile did adult Gohan?!"

I'm gonna head thru Planetnamek.com or Dragonball uncensored I remeber it being one of those sites, tho it could have very well have been any of the other smaller sites. I only ever came across it one time.

I'd guess it was tested with audiances once or twice and they may have decided to start with the films and not the show as it was a lower risk since Dragon Ball didnt do well.

Edit: Thinking about it now, it does make sence with the way Tree of Might was initally dubbed.

Edit 2: This and the FUNi Zero Dragon Ball dub are stuff I wish were on the Rock the Dragon set (we atleast got tree of might)

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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by Robo4900 » Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pm

wjbraden wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:48 am @Robo4900 I don't suppose you could spell out a very basic timeline of events of Funi's early involvement with the franchise, could you? I've reread the article the OP posted a couple times and I think I am confusing myself as to when some of this stuff was done. :lol:
The timeline of everything I know about all this (probably excluding a bunch of things I've forgotten, but all the important details are here):

1989-1990: Harmony Gold tries Dragon Ball in various markets in the USA. The ultimately gave up, but we don't know why. It's been suggested this was due to the content edits they realised they would have had to make to episodes 6-9 in the first arc, which led them to pass on the hassle of that. It is also possible ratings just weren't good enough, and/or distributors just weren't interested.

Some time from 1994 to early 1995: License passes to Funimation (it's unclear if it was late '94 or early '95. I've heard talk that it happened in '94, but this article is the earliest mention I can think of off the top of my head).
They called on the services of Josanne B Lovick productions and recorded at the Dick & Rogers studio (now defunct), with post production at BLT Productions (some sources suggest Josanne B Lovick became known as BLT later, others suggest they're distinct. Realistically, I don't think it matters). Basically all of the actual work on the show was happening in Vancouver, but Funimation is the producer of the dub, meanwhile Josanne B Lovick productions signs the paychecks, handles the unions, etc. Possibly they helped Funi out in finding the talent in Vancouver too, but I'm not sure.

Early-mid 1995: Funimation and Josanne B Lovick produced a dub of the first DB movie. It's worth noting that voice directors Doug Parker and Michael Donovan cast themselves in a few roles (Donovan as Roshi, Parker as Shenron) which they would continue to play when they went to series, but they were never involved in Dragon Ball again after recording moved away from Dick & Rogers. Also worth noting is that the initial casting for Bulma was Maggie Blue O'Hara. The score is done by Peter Berring.
The first DB movie was recorded with the actors delivering two versions of each line that contains a character name; one version used largely names taken from Harmony Gold, with some of their own (Goku becomes Zero and Yamucha becomes Zedaki as in Harmony Gold, but Puar became Prudence rather than Squeaker, and Oolong became Chester rather than Mao Mao), the other reverts a large number of these (Yamcha/Zedaki, Goku/Zero, Oolong/Chester, Puar/Squeaker, Bulma/Lena, and probably a bunch of others were reverted to basically be faithful to their Japanese names, but Muten Roshi was still left as Master Roshi as in Harmony Gold -- inaccurate because Roshi means master, while Muten is implied to be a name, so his name should be Master Muten, really -- as was Power Pole, which is a holdover from Harmony Gold's script change that says Goku is only strong because of his "Power Pole", and Flying Nimbus, which is a totally meaningless name. I believe there are a few other name holdovers, but these are the only ones that come to mind).
The one with more name changes was the primary one used initially for demo-ing the series around, but later distribution would only use a version with the other names (as a sidenote I just realised, it is possible even more names such as Power Pole, Nimbus, etc. were recorded with more accurate alternates, but that they decided to keep these changed for the commercial releases).

Mid-late 1995: Funimation and Josanne B Lovick go ahead with producing 13 episodes and pre-producing a further 13 for after that, to be syndicated by SeaGull Entertainment; a toy line was prepared (including figures for Kuririn and Lunch). Bulma's original voice actress, Maggie Blue O'Hara, is recast to Lalainia Linbjerg, but otherwise all returning characters keep their castings from the movie. As far as I can tell, the ratings may have ended up being okay for its timeslot, but not astounding, though I'm not actually sure. (A lot of people assume the ratings were godawful, but anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise, various other things lead me to believe otherwise, and no one ever seems to cite a source on this, so... I think the main problem is just that SeaGull were a small-time distributor who didn't give them great coverage, and gave them a poor timeslot, so ratings were pretty lukewarm; Funi broke off the deal, and decided to try again with another partner...)

March 1996: YTV begins airing BLT Dragon Ball.

Unknown period sometime between late 1995 and mid 1996: Dragon Ball episode 13 airs, ending the BLT DB run. Funimation move away from working with SeaGull, and Gen Fukunaga negotiates with Toei to let them skip to Z (he had always wanted to start with Z anyway, but Toei had initially said no. With DB's first 13 episodes failing to gain traction, Toei seem to let up at this point and allow Funimation to skip ahead as they pleased). Funimation produce a dub of Dead Zone around this time, likely still with Josanne B Lovick signing paychecks and Dick & Rogers recording, with the score also likely still done by Peter Berring. Saban's interest is piqued enough that they get involved as the new distributor. This dub ultimately doesn't air, and in 2020 knowledge of it spreads around a little, calling it "The Vendar dub" after the alleged name of Garlic Jr. (Taken from an account given on a Dragon Ball newsgroup in the '90s, from someone who saw a preview tape of the dub)

Roughly mid 1996: With Saban lined up as a distributor, Funimation begin work on Dragon Ball Z. This time around, Funimation are far more hands-on. Saban are only involved a little, and get them their score guy, Ron Wasserman (who was only credited as an engineer, the composer was credited as Shuki Levy. It's possible Levy composed the OP/ED, and/or possibly Jeremy Sweet, but Wasserman composed all other music for this dub, so it's not a stretch to say he composed the OP/ED too. But it was standard practice at the time for Saban to credit their music as being done by Shuki Levy, rather than the independent contractors who actually did the majority of the work).
Ocean are involved at this stage, but only as the recording studio.
All the writers, actors, and other Vancouver talent aside from Doug Parker, Micael Donovan, and Cliff McGillivray stay involved, though several new people join, and some personnel in general are shuffled around; Chris Forbes (Forbis?) joined the writing team, direction was Sarah-Anne Dafoe, Karl Willems, and Barry Watson (though Watson was more a producer/co-director). Most notably, the voice cast added several mainstays such as Scott McNeil and Brian Drummond. I've probably left a bunch of other people out (mostly writers and directors), but this info is tedious to dig up in its entirety.

Late 1996: Dragon Ball Z begins airing in September. It has 85-90% coverage of the USA (exact number varies from article to article) thanks to Saban's wide reach. By November, there's already talk of season 2 (see previous link). By all accounts, the show was already showing clear signs of being a hit by November, with only about 8-10 episodes having aired so far.
Scripts are written from rough Engrish translations from Japan, and the networks sometimes suggest changes to help with this stuff. Most notably, starting from episode 5, all mentions of death become references to "Going to another dimension". Episodes 1 and 2 would then be re-edited slightly to remove all death references, but episodes 3 and 4 would be left intact. (The unedited versions of episodes 1 and 2 would eventually be released on the Rock The Dragon DVD set in 2013, but before that, the original versions were only known to exist from obscure domestic recordings of the first airings)

1997: DBZ is a huge hit. It consistently has top ratings for a weekly syndicated series. Season 2 moves from weekly half-hour slots to weekly hour-long slots (that is, two episodes a week instead of one).

Some point from 1996 to 1998: Funimation have Ocean take up Josanne B Lovick's previous role in their new dub production, of signing the paychecks and handling local day-to-day production duties that were difficult for Funimation to handle themselves.

December 1997: Pioneer puts out their uncut dub of "Dead Zone" as part of their deal with Funimation to produce an accurate, uncut version of DBZ alongside the censored version on TV.

March 1998: Pioneer puts out their uncut dub of "Tree Of Might".

May 1998: Pioneer put out their uncut dub of "World's Strongest". Episode 56 (later renumbered 53 to account for ignoring the 3-part TV version of Z movie 3) of DBZ airs on syndication, and ends up being the last episode produced with Saban, with Funimation working with Vancouver talent.
At some point after this, Saban reshuffle their programming block and focus on in-house content. DBZ is dropped, as it's not an in-house Saban show.

August 1998: DBZ reruns were on Cartoon Network. Among these reruns is the TV premiere of episode 10, which had been skipped in syndication for unknown reasons, though it was available on home video before this. I'm unsure if the TV Tree Of Might aired as a part of Cartoon Network's reruns in this early stage, but if it did, it aired as one feature, rather than as three episodes in season 2. I'm fairly sure the Pioneer uncut dubs of Z movies 1 and 2 also aired, though in a slightly edited form.

December 1998: The VHS tape of Funimation's in-house dub of DB movie 2 hits store shelves. From this point onwards, Funimation would handle all home video themselves (cutting Pioneer out), and handle dub recording and production themselves (cutting Ocean and the Vancouver gang out), though some Vancouver-based scriptwriters from the first two seasons stayed on (such as Terry Klassen).

May 1999: The first two VHS tapes of Funimation's in-house dub of Season 3 hits store shelves, making episode 54 available to fans only a year after episode 53 had aired on TV.

September 1999: Funimation's in-house dub of Season 3 begins airing on Cartoon Network.

Late 1999 to early 2000 (I can't remember exactly where): Rumours circulate of Ocean returning to DBZ. The Funimation guys insist this is not the case. The fans aren't sure what to think.
When the Garlic Jr. saga airs on YTV, YTV switches over their version of Funimation's dub to a slightly different TV edit done by Ocean. They use Ocean edits of all reruns of episodes prior to the Garlic Jr. saga as well. It is not known exactly why this happened, and most people likely didn't notice anything was different aside from the OP/ED changing to the familiar "Westwood dub" opening/ending.

April 2001: Thanks to the details of Ocean's contract with Funimation from the late '90s, the Ocean cast return with their own dub (produced by Westwood Media, who are a defunct company who essentailly functioned as a production arm of Ocean), starting from episode 108 of DBZ, in Holland. The UK follows suit, once they reach that episode. Canada switches to this dub too, once they reach episode 168. Cancon laws almost certainly have absolutely nothing to do with any of this. The Vancouver Ocean cast from the last round of dubbing almost entirely return. Notable recasts include Roshi going to Terry Klassen, Bulma returning to her original casting of Maggie Blue O'Hara, and King Enma being recast from Dale Wilson to Ward Perry.

The end of 2002/beginning of 2003: The Ocean cast move on to dub GT, ahead of Funimation by this point. The music is to be the original Japanese music, and the scripts are to be original translations done by Ocean staff. Some Vancouver actors are auditioned for the new parts in GT. However, Ken Morrison (head of Ocean) moves production to the Calgary-based Blue Water studio, with its own cast, to save money. The actors stepping into pre-established characters mostly imitate their Vancouver counterparts.

2005: Ocean finishes dubbing Dragon Ball in Calgary.

2005-2006: Funimation redubs the first two seasons of DBZ uncut for home video.

2007-2008: Funimation redubs parts of the rest of their in-house dub of DBZ for home video, and add the original Japanese score. In the process, they mess up the placement of various pieces of Faulconer score, miss a few lines, use a few incorrect alternate takes, screw up some sound effects, forget all vocal filters, and make various other mixing errors.

Some point in 2009-2010: David Steele, who sung the OP to the original 1995 Dragon Ball dub's opening, records a demo of a potential Dragon Ball Z Kai OP song for Ocean. It seems that this song was entirely scrapped at some point after this demo recording.

2010-2013: At the same time as Funimation is doing their Kai dub, Ocean return to Dragon Ball, only five years after their last work on it, to do their own dub of Kai, using actors from both Calgary and Vancouver. This dub has yet to see the light of day (it was likely going to air on Kix UK in 2011, but Funimation intervened; they really don't want Ocean's dub to get out, they want their own dub to be the only English dub of Dragon Ball that people see), but Ocean continue to pitch it to potential outlets to this day.
Ocean's TV edited video master is given to Funimation to use as a basis for their own TV edit; they edit the score, SFX, and their dub voice track (with many alternate lines recorded for TV used instead of their uncut counterparts) to fit the Ocean video edits, and use their own versions of the OPs/EDs (shortened to fit the video), as well as putting their own credits on the end.

(Thanks to VegettoEX for more precise dates for the second half of this)
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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by VegettoEX » Mon Jul 20, 2020 3:13 pm

Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pm (it's unclear if it was late '94 or early '95. I've heard talk that it happened in '94, but this article is the earliest mention I can think of off the top of my head).
We know FUNimation was formed in 1994. Off the top of my head I can't remember if there's a quote citing the fact that Fukunaga formed it explicitly to bring over Dragon Ball, but that's pretty evident. Since the 1994 "Blood Rubies" dub has a 1994 date on it... it's... uhh... from 1994... so they must have gotten the license in 1994! :lol:

(With regard to that Mangazine article, it's just that they were just getting word about the company and their involvement with Dragon Ball, so I wouldn't use that issue's publication date as anything more than that.)
Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pmUnknown period sometime between late 1995 and mid 1996: Dragon Ball episode 13 airs, ending the BLT DB run.
Well, it began in September, so just run the math from there. Could probably dig up some more specific dates on Usenet.

(EDIT: Yeah, looks like by January 1996 folks are already talking about the 13 episodes re-running.)
Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pmLate 1999 to early 2000 (I can't remember exactly where): Rumours circulate of Ocean returning to DBZ. The Funimation guys insist this is not the case. The fans aren't sure what to think.
Looks like this was already a big hubbub by October 2000. Not sure if I have any prior news posts about it.

One other little thing to add that was DBZ was briefly airing back in syndication again in mid-1999 while seasons 1 and 2 were repeating on Cartoon Network / ahead of season 3 debuting.

(I guess I could also add the Nippon Golden Network and International Channel broadcast histories...?! 8) )
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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by AlexSketchy04 » Mon Jul 20, 2020 5:43 pm

VegettoEX wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 3:13 pm
Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pm (it's unclear if it was late '94 or early '95. I've heard talk that it happened in '94, but this article is the earliest mention I can think of off the top of my head).
We know FUNimation was formed in 1994. Off the top of my head I can't remember if there's a quote citing the fact that Fukunaga formed it explicitly to bring over Dragon Ball, but that's pretty evident. Since the 1994 "Blood Rubies" dub has a 1994 date on it... it's... uhh... from 1994... so they must have gotten the license in 1994! :lol:

(With regard to that Mangazine article, it's just that they were just getting word about the company and their involvement with Dragon Ball, so I wouldn't use that issue's publication date as anything more than that.)
Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pmUnknown period sometime between late 1995 and mid 1996: Dragon Ball episode 13 airs, ending the BLT DB run.
Well, it began in September, so just run the math from there. Could probably dig up some more specific dates on Usenet.

(EDIT: Yeah, looks like by January 1996 folks are already talking about the 13 episodes re-running.)
Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pmLate 1999 to early 2000 (I can't remember exactly where): Rumours circulate of Ocean returning to DBZ. The Funimation guys insist this is not the case. The fans aren't sure what to think.
Looks like this was already a big hubbub by October 2000. Not sure if I have any prior news posts about it.

One other little thing to add that was DBZ was briefly airing back in syndication again in mid-1999 while seasons 1 and 2 were repeating on Cartoon Network / ahead of season 3 debuting.

(I guess I could also add the Nippon Golden Network and International Channel broadcast histories...?! 8) )
Funimation definitely got the license around early 1994, and seems the test dub was already completed in 1994

About the dub's airing...i know for sure it premiered early in September, and already finished around December

Nippon Golden Network airing of the show happened in 1993 but i don't know when it stopped airing, and IC airings were around February 1998 ti'll 2000/2001

And as a fun fact, Telemundo airings were from July 1999 ti'll January 2002 or 2003 (depending on your affiliate)
Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pm
Unknown period sometime between late 1995 and mid 1996: Dragon Ball episode 13 airs, ending the BLT DB run. Funimation move away from working with SeaGull, and Gen Fukunaga negotiates with Toei to let them skip to Z (he had always wanted to start with Z anyway, but Toei had initially said no. With DB's first 13 episodes failing to gain traction, Toei seem to let up at this point and allow Funimation to skip ahead as they pleased). Funimation produce a dub of Dead Zone around this time, likely still with Josanne B Lovick signing paychecks and Dick & Rogers recording, with the score also likely still done by Peter Berring. Saban's interest is piqued enough that they get involved as the new distributor. This dub ultimately doesn't air, and in 2020 knowledge of it spreads around a little, calling it "The Vendar dub" after the alleged name of Garlic Jr. (Taken from an account given on a Dragon Ball newsgroup in the '90s, from someone who saw a preview tape of the dub)
I'll say Late 1995/Early 1996, as it seems that they were already with Saban as early as January 25 1996
Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pm Scripts are written from rough Engrish translations from Japan, and the networks sometimes suggest changes to help with this stuff[/url]. Most notably, starting from episode 5, all mentions of death become references to "Going to another dimension". Episodes 1 and 2 would then be re-edited slightly to remove all death references, but episodes 3 and 4 would be left intact. (The unedited versions of episodes 1 and 2 would eventually be released on the Rock The Dragon DVD set in 2013, but before that, the original versions were only known to exist from obscure domestic recordings of the first airings)
Episode 4 didn't had any mention of death (or at least the word, episode 3 was the last one to use it) and the practice to sugarcoat death (Next Dimension, Empty Buildings, Invisible Parachutes) didn't started to be used around the Vegeta and Nappa's arrival (Or a while back)
Last edited by AlexSketchy04 on Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by wjbraden » Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:49 pm

@Robo4900 Once again, you've gone above and beyond the call of duty my friend, excellent work! :clap:

Interesting, so this "Vendar" dub was actually done about 1.5-2 years before the Pioneer dub was recorded and released. So this was a reaaally early production for Funimation, maybe even taking place during or right after the first 13 eps of DB were produced.

Strange that they would dub the first of the DB movies, skip the second and third, and roll right into Dead Zone. But as you said, Funi initially wanted to start with DBZ, yet Toei blocked them from doing so. Maybe Toei wasn't so choosy about what order the movies were released in, so they got the green light to do that, sort of getting their way in a sense.

Stranger yet though, why didn't they release this Vendar dub to the public back in 1996? Was the screener tape they sent out not well received possibly?
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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by Robo4900 » Mon Jul 20, 2020 7:06 pm

VegettoEX wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 3:13 pm We know FUNimation was formed in 1994. Off the top of my head I can't remember if there's a quote citing the fact that Fukunaga formed it explicitly to bring over Dragon Ball, but that's pretty evident. Since the 1994 "Blood Rubies" dub has a 1994 date on it... it's... uhh... from 1994... so they must have gotten the license in 1994! :lol:

(With regard to that Mangazine article, it's just that they were just getting word about the company and their involvement with Dragon Ball, so I wouldn't use that issue's publication date as anything more than that.)
Ah, thanks. Wasn't sure. :)
VegettoEX wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 3:13 pm
Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pmUnknown period sometime between late 1995 and mid 1996: Dragon Ball episode 13 airs, ending the BLT DB run.
Well, it began in September, so just run the math from there. Could probably dig up some more specific dates on Usenet.

(EDIT: Yeah, looks like by January 1996 folks are already talking about the 13 episodes re-running.)
I wasn't sure, so I just lumped it with all the other 1995-1996 stuff. Thanks for the clarification. :)
VegettoEX wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 3:13 pm
Robo4900 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:41 pmLate 1999 to early 2000 (I can't remember exactly where): Rumours circulate of Ocean returning to DBZ. The Funimation guys insist this is not the case. The fans aren't sure what to think.
Looks like this was already a big hubbub by October 2000. Not sure if I have any prior news posts about it.

One other little thing to add that was DBZ was briefly airing back in syndication again in mid-1999 while seasons 1 and 2 were repeating on Cartoon Network / ahead of season 3 debuting.
I see. Thanks. :)
VegettoEX wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 3:13 pm (I guess I could also add the Nippon Golden Network and International Channel broadcast histories...?! 8) )
Oh, please do! Would be neat to have the full history there. :)
wjbraden wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:49 pm @Robo4900 Once again, you've gone above and beyond the call of duty my friend, excellent work! :clap:
Cheers. :)
wjbraden wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:49 pm Interesting, so this "Vendar" dub was actually done about 1.5-2 years before the Pioneer dub was recorded and released. So this was a reaaally early production for Funimation, maybe even taking place during or right after the first 13 eps of DB were produced.
Well, probably right after the first 13.
wjbraden wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:49 pm Stranger yet though, why didn't they release this Vendar dub to the public back in 1996? Was the screener tape they sent out not well received possibly?
My guess is they didn't think it fitted in well enough with their image for the brand with Ron Wasserman etc., and the cast wasn't Ian Corlett and Scott McNeil as Goku and Piccolo.
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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by wjbraden » Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:20 pm

wjbraden wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:49 pm My guess is they didn't think it fitted in well enough with their image for the brand with Ron Wasserman etc., and the cast wasn't Ian Corlett and Scott McNeil as Goku and Piccolo.

One has to wonder what their "image" for the brand actually was from the get-go. Just a theory, but I think a level of disagreement among the many parties involved up in Canada in Funi's early stages ultimately drove them to wanting to take complete control of the franchise, from production to distribution, etc, even when they clearly weren't ready to do so (as evidenced by DB Movie 2's and DBZ season 3's extreme drop in quality relative to the previously dubbed content).

The Canadian side was wanting to do one thing (like scoring Dead Zone with Berring's light-hearted music, which may have clashed tonally, for instance) which is why they kept switching studios and having different people to handle things. They really had to keep them though, at least for the interim, because there was no VA scene in Texas at the time and it was cheaper to have production up in Canada. I remember a behind the scenes video (or maybe it was an article) where Barry Watson said he was tried of going back and forth to Canada, but maybe he was also tried of working with them in general.

Once they had brought in enough capital from DBZ's syndication success, they finally decided to take the plunge and move pretty much everything to Texas. The rest is history. Just thinking out loud.
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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by MasenkoHA » Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:59 pm

wjbraden wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:20 pm
wjbraden wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:49 pm My guess is they didn't think it fitted in well enough with their image for the brand with Ron Wasserman etc., and the cast wasn't Ian Corlett and Scott McNeil as Goku and Piccolo.

One has to wonder what their "image" for the brand actually was from the get-go. Just a theory, but I think a level of disagreement among the many parties involved up in Canada in Funi's early stages ultimately drove them to wanting to take complete control of the franchise, from production to distribution, etc, even when they clearly weren't ready to do so (as evidenced by DB Movie 2's and DBZ season 3's extreme drop in quality relative to the previously dubbed content).

The Canadian side was wanting to do one thing (like scoring Dead Zone with Berring's light-hearted music, which may have clashed tonally, for instance) which is why they kept switching studios and having different people to handle things. They really had to keep them though, at least for the interim, because there was no VA scene in Texas at the time and it was cheaper to have production up in Canada. I remember a behind the scenes video (or maybe it was an article) where Barry Watson said he was tried of going back and forth to Canada, but maybe he was also tried of working with them in general.

Once they had brought in enough capital from DBZ's syndication success, they finally decided to take the plunge and move pretty much everything to Texas. The rest is history. Just thinking out loud.
It seems like the decision to skip 140 episodes of Dragon Ball and go to Z was made before Funimation partnered with Saban and this Vendar dub was a pre-Saban pilot for Z.

I do think Saban had some influence on the Power Rangers-esque approach Funi took for Z for the first two seasons.

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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by Robo4900 » Wed Jul 29, 2020 10:38 am

So, Ian Corlett remembers scripting DBZ movie 1 in the Josanne B. Lovick Productions era:
Ian Corlett wrote:
Ariyan-nee wrote:Hi, Ian. Do you remember scripting a dub for DBZ movie 1 when you guys were still dubbing with Josanne B. Lovick? I'd love to know! ^^
Of course I do!
Which pretty much confirms a lot of what we thought about this (as in, it was done with BLT before Funi moved to working with Saban).

And additionally, he confirmed that the actor playing Goku was none other than... Him.
Ian Corlett wrote:
Ariyan-nee wrote:Wow, that's so cool! Would you possibly know who were to play the roles of Goku and Piccolo? If you guys got that far? I heard that those two roles were different from you and Scott McNeil at first.
Ummm. I played #goku
Thanks go to Ariyan-nee for asking Ian Corlett these questions. :)
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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by eledoremassis02 » Wed Jul 29, 2020 10:47 am

Id love to even see just one clip of this

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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by AlexSketchy04 » Wed Jul 29, 2020 11:33 am

Robo4900 wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 10:38 am So, Ian Corlett remembers scripting DBZ movie 1 in the Josanne B. Lovick Productions era:
Ian Corlett wrote:
Ariyan-nee wrote:Hi, Ian. Do you remember scripting a dub for DBZ movie 1 when you guys were still dubbing with Josanne B. Lovick? I'd love to know! ^^
Of course I do!
Which pretty much confirms a lot of what we thought about this (as in, it was done with BLT before Funi moved to working with Saban).

And additionally, he confirmed that the actor playing Goku was none other than... Him.
Ian Corlett wrote:
Ariyan-nee wrote:Wow, that's so cool! Would you possibly know who were to play the roles of Goku and Piccolo? If you guys got that far? I heard that those two roles were different from you and Scott McNeil at first.
Ummm. I played #goku
Thanks go to Ariyan-nee for asking Ian Corlett these questions. :)
I was gonna ask him about that for my Youtube video, it's interesting to know that info

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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by Robo4900 » Wed Jul 29, 2020 11:49 am

AlexSketchy04 wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 11:33 am I was gonna ask him about that for my Youtube video, it's interesting to know that info
Yes, it is interesting.

I just wonder if he knows anything else about it that he's able to talk about... There's certainly a lot of unanswered questions remaining. He didn't answer about Piccolo, so I would presume he doesn't know, but maybe if someone here goes to a con (once cons are happening again), they could ask Scott McNeil if he remembers playing Piccolo in Z movie 1 twice.
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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by Planetnamek » Sat Aug 01, 2020 12:33 am

Another lost English Dub of DB that i've never heard of before? The world sure does keep on surprising, i'd love to see it.
"Why run away from something you're not afraid of?" - Goku

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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by ArmenianPepsi » Sat Aug 01, 2020 12:39 am

Planetnamek wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 12:33 am Another lost English Dub of DB that i've never heard of before? The world sure does keep on surprising, i'd love to see it.
If you already don't know too, the 5 Harmony Gold dub episodes from OG DB finally saw the light of day recently. And if they can resurface after being lost for 20+ years. who knows what will happen next :lol:
First time Dragon Ball fan as of March 2020. Still learning the ropes. Nothing much else to say,

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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by Planetnamek » Sat Aug 01, 2020 12:57 am

ArmenianPepsi wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 12:39 am
Planetnamek wrote: Sat Aug 01, 2020 12:33 am Another lost English Dub of DB that i've never heard of before? The world sure does keep on surprising, i'd love to see it.
If you already don't know too, the 5 Harmony Gold dub episodes from OG DB finally saw the light of day recently. And if they can resurface after being lost for 20+ years. who knows what will happen next :lol:
Oh i'm well aware and i'm very happy that happened, now if only that lost Frontier dub would turn up :mrgreen:
"Why run away from something you're not afraid of?" - Goku

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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by AlexSketchy04 » Tue Aug 11, 2020 5:02 pm

eledoremassis02 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 1:02 am This is funny because I remember reading long ago that there was another voice for Piccolo other than Scott McNeil in Dead Zone which made me think it wasn't him for the longest time. I literally thought Scott McNeil was a Disney grade replacement. I can't remember the name of the guy tho... I want to say it was Gary or something with a G but don't quote me on that lol.
Gary Chalk?

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Re: Unreleased "Vendar" English dub of Dead Zone (Funimation/Ocean, 1996)

Post by AlexSketchy04 » Tue Aug 11, 2020 5:06 pm

Btw, on the Pioneer intro clip, is that music from Peter Berring? it doesn't sound like wasserman, but it sounds a bit like Berring

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