Does English Dragon Ball need higher profile actors?

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I feel pretty confident in saying that Sean Schemmel’s Kaio/King Kai sounded worse back in 1999. I’m still not crazy about the voice nowadays, but back then, he sounded like someone who was doing a generic imitation of a fat person.

Yep it started out as a pseudo Don Brown impression that evolved into that unlistenable thing it is now.

Kind of like Nadolny starting with a half decent Henderson impression that became the chain smoker voice that eventually went into that nasally take.

Indeed, it has taken the top spot of my least favorite FUNi performances of a character in the series which was previously occupied by Linda Young's grandma Freeza voice.

[ArmenianPepsi]

When it comes to Vegeta however, I think it's about time Sabat stepped down for someone like this guy, as he clearly captures what makes Vegeta who he is, only second to Horikawa in my honest opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oISqn135sE

Speedy dub Vegeta is truly a gift from the heavens that we mortals take for granted

[ArmenianPepsi]

I feel pretty confident in saying that Sean Schemmel’s Kaio/King Kai sounded worse back in 1999. I’m still not crazy about the voice nowadays, but back then, he sounded like someone who was doing a generic imitation of a fat person.

Yep it started out as a pseudo Don Brown impression that evolved into that unlistenable thing it is now.

Kind of like Nadolny starting with a half decent Henderson impression that became the chain smoker voice that eventually went into that nasally take.

Indeed, it has taken the top spot of my least favorite FUNi performances of a character in the series which was previously occupied by Linda Young's grandma Freeza voice.

Ah yes, my favorite take on Frieza. Where he sounds like a guy who has a nasty cold and is about to lose their voice any moment, but all the time.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Yep it started out as a pseudo Don Brown impression that evolved into that unlistenable thing it is now.

Kind of like Nadolny starting with a half decent Henderson impression that became the chain smoker voice that eventually went into that nasally take.

Indeed, it has taken the top spot of my least favorite FUNi performances of a character in the series which was previously occupied by Linda Young's grandma Freeza voice.

Ah yes, my favorite take on Frieza. Where he sounds like a guy who has a nasty cold and is about to lose their voice any moment, but all the time.

I'll say, and it was her version of Freeza that got some of the most god awful, cringe worthy lines in the old Z dub.

"Alright big boy, whatever turns you on."

"You're shoes came untied."

"RIDE EM COWBOY!!!!"

"Any last words before you go the way of the dodo?"

"That means, let's get down to business."

"Why so blue, lizard boy?"

Good lord, i'm glad Freeza was recast to Chris Ayres for Kai onward because he's hands down a better match for the character in pretty much every way Young wasn't.

[Super Sonic]

It's also kind of a controversy with getting big name celebrities as some folks look at it like you have to be a big name before getting into voice acting. Not talking about character actors like Clancy Brown, Phil Lamarr and Hellboy (forget the actor's name at the moment, but will probably come back to me later, even though I met the guy) who do both live action and voice over. And heard the current guys who voice the Scooby Doo gang in tv and straight to video movies weren't happy they weren't even contacted with the "Scoob" movie and name celebs were doing the guys who they voiced for years. Also know while "My Little Pony" fans liked the movie that came out a few years ago, they were annoyed the posters put the big celebrity cast members on the top instead of the main cast in posters and the dvd covers.

[MasenkoHA]

Yep it started out as a pseudo Don Brown impression that evolved into that unlistenable thing it is now.

Kind of like Nadolny starting with a half decent Henderson impression that became the chain smoker voice that eventually went into that nasally take.

Indeed, it has taken the top spot of my least favorite FUNi performances of a character in the series which was previously occupied by Linda Young's grandma Freeza voice.

Ah yes, my favorite take on Frieza. Where he sounds like a guy who has a nasty cold and is about to lose their voice any moment, but all the time.

Young’s Freeza sounds Rita Repulsa getting plastered.

[The Bastard.]

As someone that only got to hear the English dub as an adult, half of the male cast should be fired, at the very least.

Trunks, Kuririn, Yamcha, Vegeta, teen Gohan(not a problem anymore anyways) Goten, Kid Trunks, all sound awful, either they sound like chain smokers with stage 7 throat cancer or like crackheads doing kids impersonations to score 3 bucks from a unsuspecting tourist in a poorly lit alley in Gotham city.

The girls are mostly fine, namely 18 is decent, Freeza sounds awkward and Bulma is annoying. Buu I only heard in FighterZ and he's unbearable too. Something about this dub sounds off to me.

Goku is okay... Not stellar but not unbearable either, but he's above almost every other male that is not Beerus I would say. In fact, the newest characters are much better than the original casting, at least for me.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Indeed, it has taken the top spot of my least favorite FUNi performances of a character in the series which was previously occupied by Linda Young's grandma Freeza voice.

Ah yes, my favorite take on Frieza. Where he sounds like a guy who has a nasty cold and is about to lose their voice any moment, but all the time.

Young’s Freeza sounds Rita Repulsa getting plastered.

Plus of course her Freeza was more or less a poor and awful impression of Pauline Newstone's take, as pretty much most of the cast were hired to sound like the Ocean VA's when they first started on the dub back in 1999.

[MasenkoHA]

It was a piss poor Pauline Newstone take for the 1999 recorded episodes. For 2005-2007 the new voice sounded more Rita Repulsa hacking up a lung

https://youtu.be/CwwTD4ql9ak

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

It was a piss poor Pauline Newstone take for the 1999 recorded episodes. For 2005-2007 the new voice sounded more Rita Repulsa hacking up a lung

https://youtu.be/CwwTD4ql9ak

Wow, and there's also Sabat's awful early take as Vegeta where he was clearly trying to sound like Brian Drummond which was of course redubbed in the remastered version with the then current circa 2005-2007 era performance. I had almost forgotten how just how bad that '99 version of his voice was.

[Planetnamek]

Indeed, it has taken the top spot of my least favorite FUNi performances of a character in the series which was previously occupied by Linda Young's grandma Freeza voice.

Ah yes, my favorite take on Frieza. Where he sounds like a guy who has a nasty cold and is about to lose their voice any moment, but all the time.

I'll say, and it was her version of Freeza that got some of the most god awful, cringe worthy lines in the old Z dub.

"Alright big boy, whatever turns you on."

"You're shoes came untied."

"RIDE EM COWBOY!!!!"

"Any last words before you go the way of the dodo?"

"That means, let's get down to business."

"Why so blue, lizard boy?"

Good lord, i'm glad Freeza was recast to Chris Ayres for Kai onward because he's hands down a better match for the character in pretty much every way Young wasn't.

I'll always have a soft spot for those lines and more.

"pop goes the weasel!"

Anyway I don't know if DB really needs big-name celebrities, it would be interesting but it could also potentially be distracting.
After all I remember there were a lot of Metal Gear Solid fans upset over Keifer Sutherland replacing David Hayter as Solid Snake in MGSV: The Phantom Pain, I thought he did a solid job but I can understand fans annoyance.

[Robo4900]

Outside of maybe Sean Schemmel’s Kaioh/King Kai (and even that has changed over the years), I don’t hear any lingering attempts to imitate the Ocean voice actors at this point.

A lot of the Ginyu Force still sound a lot like the Ocean cast. Particalarly the Kai recasting of Butta actually sounds a lot more like the Ocean VA than any of the previous Funi VAs of that character.

Kami/God is still Sabat's best Dale Wilson impression, Yamcha is still heavily modelled after Ted Cole, Tenshinhan is still clearly an impression of his Ocean counterpart... There's also Yajirobe, Enma...

In fairness, actually thinking of who sounds like who, it's less than I remember. Probably I've still got the older, pre-Kai dubs stuck in my head, back when Sabat's Piccolo was a lot less his own take, and a lot more an attempt at doing an impression of Scott McNeil, Linda Young was still around, kinda doing a Pauline Newstone impression; stuff like that.
... I guess that's another sign of Funi's improvement.

[Ringworm128]

Eh not really. Someone being more "high profile" doesn't really make them a better actor, union actors hogging rolls would essentially force wannabe voice actors into joining with them to find work; and voice actors being shafted for celebrities is honestly an annoying practice with big budget animated movies.

[Super Sonic]

The only recent bit of folks wanting higher profile actors in anime for was some guys wanted Boy Meets World's Matthew Lawrence to be in the dub of SSSS Gridman. That was mainly due to reference the original's adaptation, but of course, didn't happen.

[MasenkoHA]

The only recent bit of folks wanting higher profile actors in anime for was some guys wanted Boy Meets World's Matthew Lawrence to be in the dub of SSSS Gridman. That was mainly due to reference the original's adaptation, but of course, didn't happen.

Huh?

[Super Sonic]

Matthew Lawrence was in the US adaptation of the original Gridman called Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad. That's where the SSSS in the title of the recent anime comes from. I was saying on how I heard some folks wanted him in the dub of SSSS Gridman because of that. Here's the intro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N34MmqmxqD0

[Matches Malone]

Good lord, i'm glad Freeza was recast to Chris Ayres for Kai onward because he's hands down a better match for the character in pretty much every way Young wasn't.

Freeza in Z was simply terrible. It wouldn't be so bad for a minor character we wouldn't have to hear much, but to give Freeza of all character that voice was probably the worst dub decision made by Funi.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Good lord, i'm glad Freeza was recast to Chris Ayres for Kai onward because he's hands down a better match for the character in pretty much every way Young wasn't.

Freeza in Z was simply terrible. It wouldn't be so bad for a minor character we wouldn't have to hear much, but to give Freeza of all character that voice was probably the worst dub decision made by Funi.

Definitely, she was by far one of the biggest miscasts in the old dub. Again, it primarily goes back to the initial attempt to try to have the in house cast imitate the Ocean VA's back in 1999.

[WittyUsername]

Honestly, in terms of acting chops, Linda Young gave one of the better performances of season 3 (not great, mind you, but she sounded a bit less like some rando off the street), but they gave her some downright terrible lines. Some of these lines were removed for the remastered dub, but yeah, I can’t argue with the notion that she was miscast in general. She was pretty much just hired for that specific part because they wanted someone who could kind of sound like Pauline Newstone.

For the record though, I don’t agree with the notion that she sounds like some bad Rita Repulsa imitation. I think she was pretty solid as Genkai from Yu Yu Hakusho.

[Matches Malone]

Honestly, in terms of acting chops, Linda Young gave one of the better performances of season 3, but they gave her some downright terrible lines. but yeah, I can’t argue with the notion that she was miscast in general.

She's by no means a bad actress, she just didn't fit the character and had nothing to work with. Even the best in the industry can't turn sh*t into gold.