Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

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Tom_Servo
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Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by Tom_Servo » Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:48 pm

Hello all,

I have had the chance to get in contact with Wendee Lee, who voiced Bulma in the 1990 Harmony Gold dub of Dragon Ball. She also happens to be good friends with Dave Mallow, who voiced Pilaf and directed the five episodes dubbed by Intersound Inc (the ADR studio Harmony Gold worked with). Lee agreed that if I gathered a list of questions from Dragon Ball fans, she would let me email them to her and she could forward them to Dave Mallow and he’d answer them to the best of his ability. If anyone wants to ask a question about the dub and it’s production, here’s where you can ask. I will get as many questions answered as possible.

Thanks a bunch everyone, and I’m looking forward to sending your questions!

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by MasenkoHA » Tue Jan 05, 2021 5:12 pm

1. The movie had a lot less censorship than the 5 episodes and seemed more closer to the Japanese scripts in general. Was there a reason for this?

2. Were you guys surprised when Dragon Ball picked up in the US less than a decade later?

3. Was the project really cancelled due to low ratings?

4. Wendee, when you got the role of Bulma for the Bang Zoom dub of Dragon Ball Super where they aware you had experience voicing the character 25 years prior or was that coincidental?

5. Your dub actually kept the original Japanese background music and even did a loose adaptation of the opening theme which was practically unheard of for kids broadcast anime in the 80s and 90s. Was there any particular reason you guys decided to keep the music?

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Tue Jan 05, 2021 5:33 pm

1. Was there any plans in place for a VHS release of this dub?

2. What was your reaction to this dub being so lost and sought after for many years?

3. Was Barbara Goodson given any of Masako Nozawa's performances to listen to while reading for Goku?

4. Did TOEI have any say in how they wanted Harmony Gold to approach the dubbing process?

5. We're there any apprehensions about how this dub would be received by American kids in the late 80s and early 90s for how different it was to western cartoons?
Do you have any info about international non-English broadcasts about the Dragon Ball anime or manga translations/editions? Please message me. Researching for a future book with Dragon Ball scholar Derek Padula :thumbup:

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by KPike87 » Wed Jan 06, 2021 9:51 am

1. Did any work, such as scripting or voice acting, ever go into any episodes beyond the fifth, or for the movie Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle?

2. Given the very loosely adapted nature of Robotech, was the plan to stay fairly in the lines of the Japanese script, only follow the main plot points of the episodes, or to possibly splice and dice episodes to create your own flow down the line?

3. Were there any non-local stations you went to to try and pick it up, and if so, what was their general response to the show/dub?

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by Kingbrockstar1995 » Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:25 am

does toei still have the audio somewhere?

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by eledoremassis02 » Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:45 pm

1) Were you (or anyone else for HG's dub) ever contacted by Ocean/FUNimation to reprise your roll for the BLT Dub of Dragon Ball?
2) When did you become aware another dub (BLT) existed of Dragon Ball and what was your thoughts on the dub in general
3) Was there any talks of skipping Dragon Ball and going to Z or just doing the films?
4) What were some of the ideas in regards to censoring any future episodes?
5) Do you recall how many episodes were dubbed, are they any more lost episodes?

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by Robo4900 » Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:56 pm

eledoremassis02 wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:45 pm 3) Was there any talks of skipping Dragon Ball and going to Z or just doing the films?
This would be very foolish given this stuff aired in December 1989/January 1990. If they jumped straight to Z, they would be in great danger of running out of material.

Plus, the "Skip to Z!" mentality the west is so used to was entirely from the brain of Gen Fukunaga, and only because he'd happened to catch a couple of episodes of Z at one point in Japan and thought the action-packed fighting he saw in those episodes would go down well with American children.
The point of Dragon Ball is to enjoy it. Never lose sight of that.

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by MasenkoHA » Wed Jan 06, 2021 1:27 pm

Robo4900 wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:56 pm
eledoremassis02 wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:45 pm 3) Was there any talks of skipping Dragon Ball and going to Z or just doing the films?
This would be very foolish given this stuff aired in December 1989/January 1990. If they jumped straight to Z, they would be in great danger of running out of material.

Plus, the "Skip to Z!" mentality the west is so used to was entirely from the brain of Gen Fukunaga, and only because he'd happened to catch a couple of episodes of Z at one point in Japan and thought the action-packed fighting he saw in those episodes would go down well with American children.

It helped that by the time Funimation acquired the license Z in Japan was on the Boo saga and GT would be airing when Funimation started airing Z in the US.


But yeah I can’t imagine going straight to Z was ever on the table especially since the deal was probably made before Z was even airing.



I know dubs coming out relatively quickly now and sometimes and rare case before they air in Japan (Space Dandy) but back in the day the only anime I can think of that got a dub relatively quickly from when the Japanese version was airing was Digimon (5 months apart) which was almost certainly because Saban/Fox Kids/Bandai wanted to compete with Pokemania as soon as possible.

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by SuperSaiyaManZ94 » Wed Jan 06, 2021 1:43 pm

MasenkoHA wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 1:27 pm
Robo4900 wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:56 pm
eledoremassis02 wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:45 pm 3) Was there any talks of skipping Dragon Ball and going to Z or just doing the films?
This would be very foolish given this stuff aired in December 1989/January 1990. If they jumped straight to Z, they would be in great danger of running out of material.

Plus, the "Skip to Z!" mentality the west is so used to was entirely from the brain of Gen Fukunaga, and only because he'd happened to catch a couple of episodes of Z at one point in Japan and thought the action-packed fighting he saw in those episodes would go down well with American children.

It helped that by the time Funimation acquired the license Z in Japan was on the Boo saga and GT would be airing when Funimation started airing Z in the US.


But yeah I can’t imagine going straight to Z was ever on the table especially since the deal was probably made before Z was even airing.



I know dubs coming out relatively quickly now and sometimes and rare case before they air in Japan (Space Dandy) but back in the day the only anime I can think of that got a dub relatively quickly from when the Japanese version was airing was Digimon (5 months apart) which was almost certainly because Saban/Fox Kids/Bandai wanted to compete with Pokemania as soon as possible.
Especially when you consider that it took just over a year for Pokemon to formally premiere dubbed on TV over here after already having been running almost continuously in Japan since early 1997 barring the four month hiatus later that year and partway into the next due to the "Pokemon Shock" incident and controversy surrounding it. By the time series one of Digimon started airing on Fox Kids the initial run of Pokemon's first season in syndication had already happened and the show subsequently moved over to Kids WB for the next batch of episodes in the Kanto/Indigo League (Plus repeats of the 50 some odd episodes which aired syndicated prior) section in early '99. It was already a full blown massive craze on both sides of the aisle at that point between the show, videos games, card game and everything else.

Digimon came over here more quickly for sure, but Pokemon had already beat them to the punch and definitely possesed the bigger franchise machine.
DB collection related goals as of now:

1.) Find decent priced copy of Dragon Box Z Vol. 4 (Done)

2.) Collect rest of manga

3.) Get rest of Daizenshuu (2-7)

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by kei17 » Wed Jan 06, 2021 2:55 pm

1. Have you ever heard of any other English versions that predate the HG dub like the Frontier Enterprises dub?
2. What did you honestly think when the DB franchise gained great success long after the HG dub was cancelled?
3. Did you like the show when you were directing it?
4. Did you listen to the original Japanese version as a reference?

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by eledoremassis02 » Wed Jan 06, 2021 3:57 pm

Robo4900 wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:56 pm
eledoremassis02 wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:45 pm 3) Was there any talks of skipping Dragon Ball and going to Z or just doing the films?
This would be very foolish given this stuff aired in December 1989/January 1990. If they jumped straight to Z, they would be in great danger of running out of material.

Plus, the "Skip to Z!" mentality the west is so used to was entirely from the brain of Gen Fukunaga, and only because he'd happened to catch a couple of episodes of Z at one point in Japan and thought the action-packed fighting he saw in those episodes would go down well with American children.
True, but it's just a question and it doesn't hurt to ask someone who was apart of the production. From the sounds of it, FUNi started with Dead Zone before doing the series, and while it was Fukunagas idea it wouldn't be hard to think of someone else coming up with it before. Clearly, there was an issue that caused H.G to stop dubbing. I'm simply asking if they considered any alternatives to keep the brand.

Edit: Ok, if the OP catches this. I'd like to re-phrase it a little

"Was there any talks of Skipping to Z, or just dubbing the rest of Dragon Ball films or perhaps skipping to a later part of the original series (if the team was aware of what happened later on in Dragon Ball *king piccolo/piccolo Jr.*"

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by MasenkoHA » Wed Jan 06, 2021 4:19 pm

eledoremassis02 wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 3:57 pm [From the sounds of it, FUNi started with Dead Zone before doing the series
They dubbed what was probably a pilot pitch for Z using Dead Zone that probably got junked when they switched
from Peter Berring to Ron Wasserman as their music composer and Jim Conrad to Doc Harris as their narrator along with some other actors likely being recasted. (Piccolo)

But that’s not really relevant to Harmony Gold who was working on Dragon Ball when Z was just starting in Japan.
, and while it was Fukunagas idea it wouldn't be hard to think of someone else coming up with it before
It’s not that someone else couldn’t have come up with the same idea (however unlikely any company would have done something as incompetent as skipping 140 episodes) it’s that it would have been nigh impossible for Harmony Gold to do so because DBZ was only about 26 episodes in Japan when Harmony Gold’s Dragon Ball aired in the US

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by Cure Dragon 255 » Wed Jan 06, 2021 9:10 pm

My one and only question: DId you have a Standards and Practices person (I almost said "lady" because most are women.) like most syndicated shows and Funimation themselves back when they were with Saban?


A Standards and Practices person is the censor that is meant to keep the show out of trouble, by keeping controversial content out of the show.
Marz wrote: Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:27 pm "Well, the chapter was good, the story was good and so were the fights. But a new transformation, in Dragon Ball? And one that's ugly? This is where we draw the line!!! Jump the Shark moment!!"

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90sDBZ wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 2:44 pm19 years ago I was rushing home from school to watch DBZ on Cartoon Network, and today I've rushed home from work to watch DBS on Pop. I guess it's true the more things change the more they stay the same. :lol:

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by Tom_Servo » Sat Jan 09, 2021 5:17 pm

Thanks for all your questions, everyone! Wendee Lee has gotten them and sent them over to Dave Mallow. She specifically asked me to say that she appreciates everyones patience and to not track her down to harass her about it. I'll make an update post when I hear back from her!

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by eledoremassis02 » Sat Jan 09, 2021 9:45 pm

Tom_Servo wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 5:17 pm Thanks for all your questions, everyone! Wendee Lee has gotten them and sent them over to Dave Mallow. She specifically asked me to say that she appreciates everyones patience and to not track her down to harass her about it. I'll make an update post when I hear back from her!
Many thanks to her and you! Looking forward to the answers! :)

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by KBABZ » Sun Jan 10, 2021 8:15 am

Tom_Servo wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 5:17 pm Thanks for all your questions, everyone! Wendee Lee has gotten them and sent them over to Dave Mallow. She specifically asked me to say that she appreciates everyones patience and to not track her down to harass her about it. I'll make an update post when I hear back from her!
Tell her we appreciate it! Take as long as ya need. : )

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by superrayman3 » Sun Jan 10, 2021 7:56 pm

Tom_Servo wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 5:17 pm Thanks for all your questions, everyone! Wendee Lee has gotten them and sent them over to Dave Mallow. She specifically asked me to say that she appreciates everyones patience and to not track her down to harass her about it. I'll make an update post when I hear back from her!
Drats I forgot to post my questions both of which were for Wendee and about her history with Bulma, the questions I was going to ask just in case the door hasn't completely closed yet are these:

1. Were the people behind the Bang Zoom dub of DBZ aware about your previous history with voicing Bulma/Leena in 1989 beforehand?

2. How did you get the role of Bulma for the Bang Zoom dub of DBS and what was it like for everything to in a way come full circle the how it did and get another chance to voice a character you haven't done in over 25 years, did you ever think something like that would happen in your career?
If anyone has any of the DB/DBZ/DBGT or Maho Tsuaki Sally Japanese single DVD's that they'd be interested in selling send me a PM and I'll see if we can work something out. ;).

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by KBABZ » Mon Jan 11, 2021 3:19 pm

superrayman3 wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 7:56 pm
Tom_Servo wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 5:17 pm Thanks for all your questions, everyone! Wendee Lee has gotten them and sent them over to Dave Mallow. She specifically asked me to say that she appreciates everyones patience and to not track her down to harass her about it. I'll make an update post when I hear back from her!
Drats I forgot to post my questions both of which were for Wendee and about her history with Bulma, the questions I was going to ask just in case the door hasn't completely closed yet are these:

1. Were the people behind the Bang Zoom dub of DBZ aware about your previous history with voicing Bulma/Leena in 1989 beforehand?

2. How did you get the role of Bulma for the Bang Zoom dub of DBS and what was it like for everything to in a way come full circle the how it did and get another chance to voice a character you haven't done in over 25 years, did you ever think something like that would happen in your career?
I'm fairly sure someone else posted these exact same questions.

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by MasenkoHA » Mon Jan 11, 2021 3:37 pm

KBABZ wrote: Mon Jan 11, 2021 3:19 pm
superrayman3 wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 7:56 pm
Tom_Servo wrote: Sat Jan 09, 2021 5:17 pm Thanks for all your questions, everyone! Wendee Lee has gotten them and sent them over to Dave Mallow. She specifically asked me to say that she appreciates everyones patience and to not track her down to harass her about it. I'll make an update post when I hear back from her!
Drats I forgot to post my questions both of which were for Wendee and about her history with Bulma, the questions I was going to ask just in case the door hasn't completely closed yet are these:

1. Were the people behind the Bang Zoom dub of DBZ aware about your previous history with voicing Bulma/Leena in 1989 beforehand?

2. How did you get the role of Bulma for the Bang Zoom dub of DBS and what was it like for everything to in a way come full circle the how it did and get another chance to voice a character you haven't done in over 25 years, did you ever think something like that would happen in your career?
I'm fairly sure someone else posted these exact same questions.
Indeed
MasenkoHA wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 5:12 pm
4. Wendee, when you got the role of Bulma for the Bang Zoom dub of Dragon Ball Super where they aware you had experience voicing the character 25 years prior or was that coincidental?

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Re: Harmony Gold Dub Q&A Thread

Post by Planetnamek » Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:34 pm

SuperSaiyaManZ94 wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 1:43 pm
MasenkoHA wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 1:27 pm
Robo4900 wrote: Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:56 pm

This would be very foolish given this stuff aired in December 1989/January 1990. If they jumped straight to Z, they would be in great danger of running out of material.

Plus, the "Skip to Z!" mentality the west is so used to was entirely from the brain of Gen Fukunaga, and only because he'd happened to catch a couple of episodes of Z at one point in Japan and thought the action-packed fighting he saw in those episodes would go down well with American children.

It helped that by the time Funimation acquired the license Z in Japan was on the Boo saga and GT would be airing when Funimation started airing Z in the US.


But yeah I can’t imagine going straight to Z was ever on the table especially since the deal was probably made before Z was even airing.



I know dubs coming out relatively quickly now and sometimes and rare case before they air in Japan (Space Dandy) but back in the day the only anime I can think of that got a dub relatively quickly from when the Japanese version was airing was Digimon (5 months apart) which was almost certainly because Saban/Fox Kids/Bandai wanted to compete with Pokemania as soon as possible.
Especially when you consider that it took just over a year for Pokemon to formally premiere dubbed on TV over here after already having been running almost continuously in Japan since early 1997 barring the four month hiatus later that year and partway into the next due to the "Pokemon Shock" incident and controversy surrounding it. By the time series one of Digimon started airing on Fox Kids the initial run of Pokemon's first season in syndication had already happened and the show subsequently moved over to Kids WB for the next batch of episodes in the Kanto/Indigo League (Plus repeats of the 50 some odd episodes which aired syndicated prior) section in early '99. It was already a full blown massive craze on both sides of the aisle at that point between the show, videos games, card game and everything else.

Digimon came over here more quickly for sure, but Pokemon had already beat them to the punch and definitely possesed the bigger franchise machine.
Digimon came to the states first? Huh i honestly did not know that, as a kid I didn't start hearing about Digimon until well after the Pokemon phenomenon had been underway so I always figured Digimon was a rip-off of it until many years later.

Anyways super-excited that Tom got in touch with Lee and excited to hear back from her, looks like everyone else has asked pretty much every question I would've asked myself.
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