Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 15; Still Unreleased

[JulieYBM]

I keep forgetting how old this saga is. Like, wow. 2010?! I was a completely different person back then!

Same. I was 40 lbs lighter, thought Dragon Ball Z Kai was amazing and only nostalgiatards could like Z better and was all around a much more optimistic person.

Wow, I was 40 pounds heavier, thought Dragon Ball Z was better and pretended to be a guy! O.o The world is a funny place!

Now, if only I could lose another 40 pounds...

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

It really is astounding what has happened in the time since this dub went into production, from global events like recessions, the ongoing COVID pandemic to all the new Dragon Ball content since Kai that's come and gone, and of course our own personal stories.

I was jobless, in secondary school (known as high school in the US), living with my parents back when news of this dub leaked, didn't have many good friends, barely knew how to talk to girls, and in my experience there was still a lot of ignorance surrounding people like me on the autistic spectrum. Since then I've gotten married (Monday this week) to the girl I've also been with since 2014, made some truly amazing friends, enrolled in three different universities, both home and abroad, got my driver's license, had two low-paying, but secure jobs, bought a house, and luckily autism, like any other niche in our society is becoming more accepted, and I've been very proud to see that changing everywhere.

I will never give up hope of this dub seeing the light of day, I'll always long for the day we can all enjoy hearing the Ocean cast grace this franchise with their incredible talent once again.

[Super Sayian Prime]

This conversation seems to imply Don Brown returned for this dub:

They were definitely working on the Ocean dub up to at least 2013, one of the voice actors was a regular at a place I used to work in BC and we chatted about it a couple times. [...]

Don Brown, voice of King Kai and Hercule/Mr. Satan. I was working at a thrift store a couple cities over from Vancouver at the time. I didn't know the DBZ dubbing landscape at the time, so I got him to sign a DBZ Kai blu-ray I had, not realizing that it was a different dub than the one he was working on. I was going to give it to Rocco at a con, so I got him to sign "Do the Skit", and he accidentally wrote "Script". I showed Rocco and he said I should hold onto it, so I got the boyz to sign it too.

[Robo4900]

That's cool. Don Brown was a lot of fun in Z, it would be great if he was back.

[SX10]

Don Brown is great, no dpub he is back as King Kai at least. Loved his Saban era King Kai. Trevor Devall is Mr. Satan (don't recallthe source but he hinted heavily... really heavily).

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Trevor Devall moved to L.A in 2013, so if he is Mr. Satan he must have finished recording before some of the other actors (Brian Drummond, if I'm not mistaken finished his lines in 2014).

Be definitely good to have Don Brown back as King Kai, he was one of the better castings for that character (Michael McConnohie in the Bang Zoom dub was the best), and maybe the Dragons too.

[NitroEX]

Trevor Devall is Mr. Satan (don't recall the source but he hinted heavily... really heavily).

I... don't recall him ever saying that. He did talk about people mistaking one of his MLP voices for Chris Rager in an Everfree Network (?) interview (which is dumb considering Rager only worked on Texas productions) but he did also say that his voice was pitched down for that role which helped disguise his voice.

I don't think Trevor would be Mr. Satan/Hercule. It would be a very bizarre choice if he was since Don Brown did a great job with it in Z.

[SX10]

I'm kicking myself trying to remember where I got this from. Some discussion about how his MLP voice sounded like Macho Man Randy Savage or something and it went from there. Was almost certain he was in it.

Doesn't matter to me XD

[8000 Saiyan]

Don Brown is a great talent, but that voice that he did for Mr. Satan doesn't scream Mr. Satan. Mr. Satan is like an anime Hulk Hogan, he should sound deep and gruff.

[NitroEX]

Mr. Satan is a dynamic character that requires more than just a deep voice. He's comic relief in addition to being a showboat. Don Brown's voice and performance lend themselves well to showing both sides of the character's personality due to his range. He's better at matching the cartoon mannerisms and is effective at conveying Satan's good side underneath the persona. He can do a deep voice but doing that all the time would only detract from the performance and come across as one dimensional.

Rager's wrestler affectations are a fine choice for his version of the character but it's not the only choice. It leans more into the persona side of Mr Satan but in my opinion, has difficulty doing much else.

Anyway, the Bang Zoom dub already did Rager 2.0 with Jamieson Price and it was criticised for sounding too similar. There's literally no winning here. Though from my point of view I always find Don's performances entertaining so I'm fine with him returning.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Anyway, the Bang Zoom dub already did Rager 2.0 with Jamieson Price and it was criticised for sounding too similar. There's literally no winning here. Though from my point of view I always find Don's performances entertaining so I'm fine with him returning.

There really is no winning with some fans, many are so accustomed to the Funimation voices now that if Ocean Kai is ever released they will criticize the actors for sounding too different and "not understanding the characters". On the contrary if they sound too similar (which I doubt will happen) they will be written off as cheap knockoffs. Another reason it would have been ideal had this dub been released around the same time as Funimation's dub newer fans would be on the same page when it comes to discovering the show and developing their perception of how characters should sound.

[8000 Saiyan]

I don't give a crap if the Ocean guys don't sound like the Funimation guys. I simply don't think Brown works as Mr. Satan. And seriously, Jamieson Price is not really Chris Rager 2.0. He and Rager are basically doing the same type of voice Mr. Satan has in the Japanese dub, a deep gruff voice.

[Scsigs]

I don't give a crap if the Ocean guys don't sound like the Funimation guys. I simply don't think Brown works as Mr. Satan.

I can get this. If you're gonna have a different voice actor for a character, the voice they do needs to fit the character, even if it's not the same as another one that already does. It's why I respect most of the VAs in all languages that I've heard.

[NitroEX]

I don't give a crap if the Ocean guys don't sound like the Funimation guys. I simply don't think Brown works as Mr. Satan.

To be fair, your initial post didn't come across that way. You did say "Mr Satan is like an anime Hulk Hogan" which exactly describes Chris Rager's portrayal since he admitted based his voice on Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.

When it comes to Don Brown, most of the arguments against his portrayal boil down to him not sounding consistently deep or not sounding like Rager, but the argument about him not being deep isn't even entirely valid, it comes across as not understanding the difference between pitch and range or simply not being familiar with his voice, because Don Brown often plays deep-voiced characters. He's making a choice as an actor to sound silly and over the top at points but that doesn't mean he's in the wrong range to play the character.

As of yet, you haven't really provided any arguments of your own in favour of recasting Don Brown or given any alternatives so I remain unconvinced.

And seriously, Jamieson Price is not really Chris Rager 2.0. He and Rager are basically doing the same type of voice Mr. Satan has in the Japanese dub, a deep gruff voice.

The Rager 2.0 comment was hyperbole but it's likely there's at least some truth to it as Freeza's voice actor confirmed that they wanted him to match the Funimation voice initially. The casting decisions were likely influenced in some way by the Funi cast and this was evident in a few of their other voices such as Majin Boo and their early voice for Vegeta.

I do agree that the Jamieson Price version is most accurate to the Japanese. His voice is less affected than Rager's and he was essentially doing his own take but to most, he still came off sounding very similar which led to a lot of the criticism. I will say that I preferred it simply because it had less of a detectable "Hulk Hogan" style accent but that's just me.

In Rager's case, he wasn't trying to match the Japanese voice, it was more coincidental for the reason I already mentioned. But in any case, while I can appreciate a voice that's closer to the Japanese I'm also factoring in the performance, which I personally preferred Don Brown for. It's the same reason I tend to prefer his King Kai to Michael McConnohie, who was also more accurate to the Japanese.

[2quid]

It really is astounding what has happened in the time since this dub went into production, from global events like recessions, the ongoing COVID pandemic to all the new Dragon Ball content since Kai that's come and gone, and of course our own personal stories.

I was jobless, in secondary school (known as high school in the US), living with my parents back when news of this dub leaked, didn't have many good friends, barely knew how to talk to girls, and in my experience there was still a lot of ignorance surrounding people like me on the autistic spectrum. Since then I've gotten married (Monday this week) to the girl I've also been with since 2014, made some truly amazing friends, enrolled in three different universities, both home and abroad, got my driver's license, had two low-paying, but secure jobs, bought a house, and luckily autism, like any other niche in our society is becoming more accepted, and I've been very proud to see that changing everywhere.

I will never give up hope of this dub seeing the light of day, I'll always long for the day we can all enjoy hearing the Ocean cast grace this franchise with their incredible talent once again.

Haha, I was in secondary school too back then, and while I definitely haven't posted a lot on this site at all I've been steadily lurking. It's kinda crazy to see how far I've come from the kid who was ecstatic over Kix airing Kai to an adult trying their best to break into the industry. Full circle, maybe?

[SX10]

It really is astounding what has happened in the time since this dub went into production, from global events like recessions, the ongoing COVID pandemic to all the new Dragon Ball content since Kai that's come and gone, and of course our own personal stories.

I was jobless, in secondary school (known as high school in the US), living with my parents back when news of this dub leaked, didn't have many good friends, barely knew how to talk to girls, and in my experience there was still a lot of ignorance surrounding people like me on the autistic spectrum. Since then I've gotten married (Monday this week) to the girl I've also been with since 2014, made some truly amazing friends, enrolled in three different universities, both home and abroad, got my driver's license, had two low-paying, but secure jobs, bought a house, and luckily autism, like any other niche in our society is becoming more accepted, and I've been very proud to see that changing everywhere.

I will never give up hope of this dub seeing the light of day, I'll always long for the day we can all enjoy hearing the Ocean cast grace this franchise with their incredible talent once again.

Haha, I was in secondary school too back then, and while I definitely haven't posted a lot on this site at all I've been steadily lurking. It's kinda crazy to see how far I've come from the kid who was ecstatic over Kix airing Kai to an adult trying their best to break into the industry. Full circle, maybe?

I see you're now a TV exec! Nice one! Perhaps one little phone call to Ken Morrison at Ocean? (just kidding)

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

It really is astounding what has happened in the time since this dub went into production, from global events like recessions, the ongoing COVID pandemic to all the new Dragon Ball content since Kai that's come and gone, and of course our own personal stories.

I was jobless, in secondary school (known as high school in the US), living with my parents back when news of this dub leaked, didn't have many good friends, barely knew how to talk to girls, and in my experience there was still a lot of ignorance surrounding people like me on the autistic spectrum. Since then I've gotten married (Monday this week) to the girl I've also been with since 2014, made some truly amazing friends, enrolled in three different universities, both home and abroad, got my driver's license, had two low-paying, but secure jobs, bought a house, and luckily autism, like any other niche in our society is becoming more accepted, and I've been very proud to see that changing everywhere.

I will never give up hope of this dub seeing the light of day, I'll always long for the day we can all enjoy hearing the Ocean cast grace this franchise with their incredible talent once again.

Haha, I was in secondary school too back then, and while I definitely haven't posted a lot on this site at all I've been steadily lurking. It's kinda crazy to see how far I've come from the kid who was ecstatic over Kix airing Kai to an adult trying their best to break into the industry. Full circle, maybe?

I see you're now a TV exec! Nice one! Perhaps one little phone call to Ken Morrison at Ocean? (just kidding)

I must say SX10, considering you managed to convince a TOEI rep you worked for Wow Unlimited's proposed channel we owe it to you for showing the Dragon Ball community how far any of us can get to achieving our goals if we put our mind to it. Even though the channel didn't come to be, it was great to see our passion for this dub being released being recognized, and I remain cautiously optimistic all isn't lost, and one way or another Ocean Kai will one day see the light of day.

[SX10]

Thank you very much DBIreland, that means a lot to me. That is still one of the most surreal moments I've ever had.

[2quid]

It really is astounding what has happened in the time since this dub went into production, from global events like recessions, the ongoing COVID pandemic to all the new Dragon Ball content since Kai that's come and gone, and of course our own personal stories.

I was jobless, in secondary school (known as high school in the US), living with my parents back when news of this dub leaked, didn't have many good friends, barely knew how to talk to girls, and in my experience there was still a lot of ignorance surrounding people like me on the autistic spectrum. Since then I've gotten married (Monday this week) to the girl I've also been with since 2014, made some truly amazing friends, enrolled in three different universities, both home and abroad, got my driver's license, had two low-paying, but secure jobs, bought a house, and luckily autism, like any other niche in our society is becoming more accepted, and I've been very proud to see that changing everywhere.

I will never give up hope of this dub seeing the light of day, I'll always long for the day we can all enjoy hearing the Ocean cast grace this franchise with their incredible talent once again.

Haha, I was in secondary school too back then, and while I definitely haven't posted a lot on this site at all I've been steadily lurking. It's kinda crazy to see how far I've come from the kid who was ecstatic over Kix airing Kai to an adult trying their best to break into the industry. Full circle, maybe?

I see you're now a TV exec! Nice one! Perhaps one little phone call to Ken Morrison at Ocean? (just kidding)

Ooh not at all! My signature is sarcastic haha, although I wish I could be, and yeah, I was super impressed with how you managed to convince someone through email you were a professional

[Arian]

A couple of years ago, I reported that I had Episode #26 of Trevor Devall's "Voiceprint" podcast in my possession. This of course is the episode where the late, great Kirby Morrow had officially announced Ocean Kai's existence beyond mere heresay.

I was advised to keep it to myself until Trevor got his website revamped where Devall himself told me that he would have every episode of Voiceprint, including this one, back online. Well, it's been 2 and a half years now and his website is looking pretty plain. Not that I blame him, I'm sure he's a busy guy.

But without further ado, here is this important piece of history.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MLCiio ... sp=sharing

In loving memory of Kirby Morrow.

Hey, Arian! The link is dead, you freakin' idiot!!

Yeah, sorry to bump the thread like this. I just happened to notice that I inadvertently deleted the link I put up here due to some spring cleaning on my Google account, and Kanzenshuu doesn't let you edit old posts.

Here is a new link which I hope will be here to stay: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zqmvt0 ... sp=sharing

Again, sorry for the inconvenience. Carry on.