Why did the remastered Funimation dub of Z backtrack on decisions made for the original dub?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

One of the most, if not the most common criticism of Funimation's "remastered" dub of Dragon Ball Z is how jarring the partial redubbing is. Things like Sean Schemmel's 1999 voice for Goku clashing with Chris Sabat's 2007 work as Vegeta feels unnatural compared to the original dub which was at least consistent, despite the recast being a significant downgrade.

Additionally this redub also features not only a different pre-final placement of the Faulconer Productions score (which was previously only seen on Ocean Studios' edit of Funimation's dub exclusive to YTV) but unused lines from the actors that were cut before the OG Funimation dub's broadcast. Examples of unused dialogue that made its way to the redub was Goku's speech to Kid Boo during the flashback (which was in the Westwood dub as Ocean, likely because Ocean were uninformed about Funimation's decision to drop it and were under no obligation to do the same) and Vegetto's inner monologue prior to being absorbed.

My question is has anyone ever heard an explanation for why Funimation changed the placement of the Faulconer score for broadcast and the singles only to change it back for the 2007-2009 season DVDs? Likewise why was the recorded, but unused dialogue finally put in? It seems strange counterproductive in theory if Funimation were unhappy with these aspects of their original dub and the remastered dub was intended to be an improvement.

[MasenkoHA]

I feel like the straightforward/obvious answer is they didn't care or were too rushed to care.

Like, I very much doubt anyone at Funimation said "Hmmm lets use the early version of the Faulconer tracks!" they just took the workprint version and ran with it. They probably didn't even realize it was different than what was on the dvd singles/Toonami broadcast. They also had Kyle Hebert redub narration that no longer made any sense "Stay tune for scenes from the next episode of Dragon Ball Z!!!" what are you talking about Kyle?!?! which reeks of being rushed to get these remastered sets out by a deadline.

[EnoYaka]

I think I've become partial to the remastered dub, I didn't even know for the longest time that it was different than what aired on tv, going back to the singles feels a bit weird now with the different sound effects and score placement. I do remember the filter on the voice for 19 really well though and it feels off hearing it without the filter. one of the criticisms of the US dub was that they're always playing music and changing things so maybe it's not so bad if theres less interruptions but I haven't watched the singles through yet to be able to give my opinion.

[90sDBZ]

I assume it was just so they could pass it off as "revised", so the bricks could have a unique selling point for those who already owned the singles.

The changes were a mixed bag. There were some real strange choices like Goku saying "Hey Mister" to Yajirobe (which was actually dialogue lifted from the driving episode), and 18 randomly saying "Time for bonus points" while on Kami's Lookout (lifted from the episode after where her future counterpart says it). These 2 examples were actually fixed on the Blu-ray releases.

One positive change in the remastered dub was Goku's full speech to Kid Buu during the final flashback being reinserted. The exact same speech was actually in the Westwood dub, meaning the dialogue in Funi's dub must have existed beforehand, only to be removed prior to broadcast. It's one scene that actually works better with dialogue than without.

[jjgp1112]

It's just as simple as them thoughtlessly using an older audio tape for the dub - probably just plucked the first recoding on hand that didn't already have the music and effects mixed in. Besides all the things you mentioned, voice filters from the OG dub are gone here, ie Coffee Vegettos sped up voice and Super Buu and Coolers voices being slightly higher.

[WittyUsername]

Removing the voice filter for Candy Vegetto was a crime.

[KPike87]

The weirdest change to me is episode 30. For the longest time, I thought the first 67 episodes weren't redubbed at all for the OB's, since the UUE dub was fairly recent. I have no idea how much of it was, but there is one change I know of. In episode 30, if you select "Broadcast Audio" (Johnson score), Vegeta will say Kaioken correctly, just as he did on Cartoon Network. If you select the 5.1 option (Kikuchi score), he will incorrectly say "Kayo-ken". You'd think this would be an earlier line, but the incorrect Kayo-ken line actually sounds newer, sounding more like he did in the later redubbed episodes for the OB's and Kai. I also think this is the only time dialogue changes depending on your score choice.

Edit: Video for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LutPRjD7eb8

[MasenkoHA]

Removing the voice filter for Candy Vegetto was a crime.

It seems less they removed it and more they forgot to add it back in.

The weirdest change to me is episode 30. For the longest time, I thought the first 67 episodes weren't redubbed at all for the OB's, since the UUE dub was fairly recent. I have no idea how much of it was, but there is one change I know of.

Supposedly, that dude who voiced the main character in Full Metal Alchemist was the voice of Burter for the Cartoon Network broadcast of the UUE dub but he was redubbed by Chris Sabat for consistency with the Tenkaichi Budokai games.

[KPike87]

Supposedly, that dude who voiced the main character in Full Metal Alchemist was the voice of Burter for the Cartoon Network broadcast of the UUE dub but he was redubbed by Chris Sabat for consistency with the Tenkaichi Budokai games.

That's pretty crazy. Since the UUE DVD's were canned and the original broadcasts are some of the hardest to come by in English Dragon Ball for some reason... It's kind of weird we may never hear that interpretation of the character.

[jjgp1112]

Removing the voice filter for Candy Vegetto was a crime.

It seems less they removed it and more they forgot to add it back in.

The weirdest change to me is episode 30. For the longest time, I thought the first 67 episodes weren't redubbed at all for the OB's, since the UUE dub was fairly recent. I have no idea how much of it was, but there is one change I know of.

Supposedly, that dude who voiced the main character in Full Metal Alchemist was the voice of Burter for the Cartoon Network broadcast of the UUE dub but he was redubbed by Chris Sabat for consistency with the Tenkaichi Budokai games.

It likely had more to do with Vic not being available to redub episode 68; so rather than have his voice change for one episode, might as well have Chris Sabat dub over the whole thing for consistency's sake.

[MasenkoHA]

Removing the voice filter for Candy Vegetto was a crime.

It seems less they removed it and more they forgot to add it back in.

The weirdest change to me is episode 30. For the longest time, I thought the first 67 episodes weren't redubbed at all for the OB's, since the UUE dub was fairly recent. I have no idea how much of it was, but there is one change I know of.

Supposedly, that dude who voiced the main character in Full Metal Alchemist was the voice of Burter for the Cartoon Network broadcast of the UUE dub but he was redubbed by Chris Sabat for consistency with the Tenkaichi Budokai games.

It likely had more to do with Vic not being available to redub episode 68; so rather than have his voice change for one episode, might as well have Chris Sabat dub over the whole thing for consistency's sake.

That makes sense. I think he was busy with FMA at the time of recording for the partial redub and that whole mess was so obviously rushed

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

They also had Kyle Hebert redub narration that no longer made any sense "Stay tune for scenes from the next episode of Dragon Ball Z!!!" what are you talking about Kyle?!?! which reeks of being rushed to get these remastered sets out by a deadline.

I didn't think about it, but looking back it was quite jarring to hear that and for no NEP to follow.

One positive change in the remastered dub was Goku's full speech to Kid Buu during the final flashback being reinserted. The exact same speech was actually in the Westwood dub, meaning the dialogue in Funi's dub must have existed beforehand, only to be removed prior to broadcast.

Apparently Terry Klassen was still doing scripts up to GT, so the Westwood dub probably used his script with the speech, which Schemmel recorded, but Funimation felt sometime before Spirit Bomb Triumphant aired it wasn't needed, and later decided the scene worked better with it. I also liked how the Westwood dub had Goku say "see you on the flipside", it was nice foreshadowing of Boo being redeemed through reincarnation.

Since the UUE DVD's were canned and the original broadcasts are some of the hardest to come by in English Dragon Ball for some reason... It's kind of weird we may never hear that interpretation of the character.

It's really interesting Ultimate Uncut recordings are so exceptionally rare. I would have thought given fans were burned out by expensive 3-4 episode DVD releases more would have recorded them on TV.

[MasenkoHA]

Apparently Terry Klassen was still doing scripts up to GT, so the Westwood dub probably used his script with the speech, which Schemmel recorded, but Funimation felt sometime before Spirit Bomb Triumphant aired it wasn't needed, and later decided the scene worked better with it. I also liked how the Westwood dub had Goku say "see you on the flipside", it was nice foreshadowing of Boo being redeemed through

Klassen might have been (I know he was still writing up to the Cell saga) but Chris Neel wrote the english script for Spirit Bomb Triumphant.

Whatever business arrangement Funi and Ocean had that led to Klassen and Ward Perry staying on as writers and Ocean distributing the show to YTV is probably what led to Ocean having access to the same scripts

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Klassen might have been (I know he was still writing up to the Cell saga) but Chris Neel wrote the english script for Spirit Bomb Triumphant.

Fair.

Whatever business arrangement Funi and Ocean had that led to Klassen and Ward Perry staying on as writers and Ocean distributing the show to YTV is probably what led to Ocean having access to the same scripts

We will probably never know what were the terms of the contracts both companies signed, but if the Ocean edit of Funimation's dub is anything to go by Ocean could facilitate Funimation's dub airing on Canadian TV but in exchange for providing scripts, video and audio materials Funimation couldn't dictate how their dub would be presented to the networks (Ocean clearly saw this as an opportunity to add in their own sound effects and ultimately bring back their own cast and slightly change the scripts).

Evidently while their business relationship lasted into the 2010s (Ocean provided the edits for Funimation's dub airing on Nicktoons) Ocean had the freedom to do as they wished as they would later do their own translations for the Blue Water dubs disregarding Funimation entirely (which was a blessing as they were more accurate).

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

The partial redubbing at times had such inconsistent and jarring shifts, particularly due to the fact that Schemmel didn't redub his earliest material as Goku. Hearing his green Season 3 performance from back in 1999 (when he was trying to imitate Peter Kelamis) in scenes with Sabat's redubbed Vegeta voice in the Ginyu stuff is so bizarre. Thing is, it was more fitting in the old dub with the latter when he was doing his poor impersonation of Brian Drummond because in the remastered dub you have an almost decade separation in the two takes. The '99 version was a bad product dub wise, but at least it didn't have clashing things like this.

[KPike87]

They also had Kyle Hebert redub narration that no longer made any sense "Stay tune for scenes from the next episode of Dragon Ball Z!!!" what are you talking about Kyle?!?! which reeks of being rushed to get these remastered sets out by a deadline.

Since the UUE DVD's were canned and the original broadcasts are some of the hardest to come by in English Dragon Ball for some reason... It's kind of weird we may never hear that interpretation of the character.

It's really interesting Ultimate Uncut recordings are so exceptionally rare. I would have thought given fans were burned out by expensive 3-4 episode DVD releases more would have recorded them on TV.

You know, that's a good point. While the UUE DVD's actually started releasing before the TV broadcast, it quickly fell behind, so for quite a while anything past episode 27 was I guess just not watchable anywhere until the OB's came out, like almost two years later. A little strange, really, though I also heard DBZ was pretty much old news at that point, and UUE really only got one full broadcast. Maybe if Toonami wanted to be cool they'd rebroadcast Z again and we could get some fresh recordings, maybe the whole series uncut, though that's just a pipedream.

[BaddAss]

I would love to live in a world where we could have season box sets with the original Funimation dub instead of the cheaply thrown together workprint version we're stuck with. Hearing Super Buu without his deep voice and all the distorted moments is one particular thing that bugs me to no end, he sounded demonic and terrifying in the OG dub.