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

[2quid]

Back during the early 2010s when lots of channels were rediscovering anime, Syfy, Scuzz, Sony Movie Channel and Viceland were the ones that actually had regular anime blocks, although in SyFy's case it was far lesser than their showings from the 90s. This could definitely be a route for ocean kai, especially considering Sky has aired DB movies in the past. Great find DB Ireland!

[Scsigs]

Spoiler:

why do we need another dub of Kai when you can always watch the Japanese version.

I personally don't like Japanese Dragon Ball Kai, everybody sounds tired and bored in that version. Their performances are still good, yes, but they just aren't as good as they used to be. Whereas over at the Fun House (FUNimation dub), they're way better than they used to be. I prefer English Dragon Ball Z Kai over Japanese Dragon Ball Kai.

Yeah, Chris Sabat even admitted you're getting more out of the dub of Kai than the sub. And he's not wrong, coming from someone like me who respects both. This is just one instance where sub fans don't really have a dog in the fight. Let the dub be superior for once because Kami knows those dub actors get crap all the time (mostly for stuff in the past that should be let go at this point). Hell, accurate dubs from Viz and Funimation STILL get crapped on compared to the subs in the some cases, even with great top-tier voice acting from both.[/quote]
When did he say that? I've seen him say that the Kai dub is much better than Z's (which it is, speaking as someone who has no nostalgia for the Z dub itself, only most of the cast because I was someone who didn't catch much of Z when it was on CN & played most of the games, which got more accurate scripts), but not better than the sub. I've seen some other people say they felt that the Japanese dub was lacking a bit, though.
As for other dubs getting shit on, that's mainly a thing that happens with sub purists. I don't understand why people feel the need to shit on a dub or a cast just because it's not 100% the sub, but in English. Dubs exist to make a show or movie more accessible to a more general audience of people, as you're more likely to get someone to watch something if it's available in their language than if they have to read subtitles with the audio being in a different language. While I can understand not liking some voice castings sometimes, if a dub is otherwise accurate & the acting is solid to very good, no one should really be complaining. It helps get more people into your favorite shows or movies, which is never a bad thing so long as they can watch it & get the original story & characterizations of the characters out of the experience. I mean, I actually defend the Naruto dub for instance. Even though people make fun of Maile Flannigan as Naruto & Yuri Lowenthal as Sasuke, I actually think they were really good choices. I mean, hell, Yuri Lowenthal's now 1 of the most celebrated actors ever after voicing teenage Ben 10 & Peter Parker/Spider-Man, so it was a really good casting in hindsight too. But, people are gonna people. I get it if you're like MistareFusion & prefer to watch a piece of media in its original language with subs, but not everyone's like that. It's really dumb.

Well, I'm glad that Chris Sabat thinks that the version he worked on is superior.

The reason why many feel that Kai was great for the dub, is because it gave the Funimation cast a shot at redemption after their unbearable performance in Z the first time around.

But that applies to the Ocean dub too. Because for Canadian and UK fans, the version of the series that they grew up with, was plagued by terrible directing, rushed production, and replacement music recycled from other shows.

A lot of people--myself included--feel that the Ocean Studios actors are superior to Funimation's and would prefer to listen to them as the English version of the series.

People aren't trying to get some massive fan project approved where someone should pay to have the Ocean crew get together and dub Kai--someone already did shell out the money for 98 episodes to get voiced over. But all that work is sitting in some vault somewhere. We would simply like for that work to be uncovered. Why not? It already exists.

I welcome as many English dubs of Dragon Ball (anything) because it just expands the viewing experience. When I watched the Ocean/Westwood dub, it reinvigorated my excitement to rewatch the series.

So, that's why I want it released.

I feel like it will not happen and the best shot will be some pirated leak years down the line after someone cracks open the vault... but I don't even find that to be likely. But, hey, dare to dream, damn it!

I can get wanting to hear the Ocean dub actors again. Wanting to hear the actors you grew up with again isn't a bad thing. Like, for all I say that I don't think this dub will be out any time soon, I would like to watch it myself & see what they did with it. It'd definitely give me a new excuse to rewatch Kai again.

[mecha3000]

When did he say that? I've seen him say that the Kai dub is much better than Z's (which it is, speaking as someone who has no nostalgia for the Z dub itself, only most of the cast because I was someone who didn't catch much of Z when it was on CN & played most of the games, which got more accurate scripts), but not better than the sub. I've seen some other people say they felt that the Japanese dub was lacking a bit, though.
As for other dubs getting shit on, that's mainly a thing that happens with sub purists. I don't understand why people feel the need to shit on a dub or a cast just because it's not 100% the sub, but in English. Dubs exist to make a show or movie more accessible to a more general audience of people, as you're more likely to get someone to watch something if it's available in their language than if they have to read subtitles with the audio being in a different language. While I can understand not liking some voice castings sometimes, if a dub is otherwise accurate & the acting is solid to very good, no one should really be complaining. It helps get more people into your favorite shows or movies, which is never a bad thing so long as they can watch it & get the original story & characterizations of the characters out of the experience. I mean, I actually defend the Naruto dub for instance. Even though people make fun of Maile Flannigan as Naruto & Yuri Lowenthal as Sasuke, I actually think they were really good choices. I mean, hell, Yuri Lowenthal's now 1 of the most celebrated actors ever after voicing teenage Ben 10 & Peter Parker/Spider-Man, so it was a really good casting in hindsight too. But, people are gonna people. I get it if you're like MistareFusion & prefer to watch a piece of media in its original language with subs, but not everyone's like that. It's really dumb.

Well, I'm glad that Chris Sabat thinks that the version he worked on is superior.

The reason why many feel that Kai was great for the dub, is because it gave the Funimation cast a shot at redemption after their unbearable performance in Z the first time around.

But that applies to the Ocean dub too. Because for Canadian and UK fans, the version of the series that they grew up with, was plagued by terrible directing, rushed production, and replacement music recycled from other shows.

A lot of people--myself included--feel that the Ocean Studios actors are superior to Funimation's and would prefer to listen to them as the English version of the series.

People aren't trying to get some massive fan project approved where someone should pay to have the Ocean crew get together and dub Kai--someone already did shell out the money for 98 episodes to get voiced over. But all that work is sitting in some vault somewhere. We would simply like for that work to be uncovered. Why not? It already exists.

I welcome as many English dubs of Dragon Ball (anything) because it just expands the viewing experience. When I watched the Ocean/Westwood dub, it reinvigorated my excitement to rewatch the series.

So, that's why I want it released.

I feel like it will not happen and the best shot will be some pirated leak years down the line after someone cracks open the vault... but I don't even find that to be likely. But, hey, dare to dream, damn it!

I can get wanting to hear the Ocean dub actors again. Wanting to hear the actors you grew up with again isn't a bad thing. Like, for all I say that I don't think this dub will be out any time soon, I would like to watch it myself & see what they did with it. It'd definitely give me a new excuse to rewatch Kai again.

Here's the video and timestamp where Chris Sabat talks about why the Kai dub is more significant than the sub (his opinion, of course): https://youtu.be/YlNXhGizk3w?t=93

[TheGreatness25]

Spoiler:

When did he say that? I've seen him say that the Kai dub is much better than Z's (which it is, speaking as someone who has no nostalgia for the Z dub itself, only most of the cast because I was someone who didn't catch much of Z when it was on CN & played most of the games, which got more accurate scripts), but not better than the sub. I've seen some other people say they felt that the Japanese dub was lacking a bit, though.
As for other dubs getting shit on, that's mainly a thing that happens with sub purists. I don't understand why people feel the need to shit on a dub or a cast just because it's not 100% the sub, but in English. Dubs exist to make a show or movie more accessible to a more general audience of people, as you're more likely to get someone to watch something if it's available in their language than if they have to read subtitles with the audio being in a different language. While I can understand not liking some voice castings sometimes, if a dub is otherwise accurate & the acting is solid to very good, no one should really be complaining. It helps get more people into your favorite shows or movies, which is never a bad thing so long as they can watch it & get the original story & characterizations of the characters out of the experience. I mean, I actually defend the Naruto dub for instance. Even though people make fun of Maile Flannigan as Naruto & Yuri Lowenthal as Sasuke, I actually think they were really good choices. I mean, hell, Yuri Lowenthal's now 1 of the most celebrated actors ever after voicing teenage Ben 10 & Peter Parker/Spider-Man, so it was a really good casting in hindsight too. But, people are gonna people. I get it if you're like MistareFusion & prefer to watch a piece of media in its original language with subs, but not everyone's like that. It's really dumb.

Well, I'm glad that Chris Sabat thinks that the version he worked on is superior.

The reason why many feel that Kai was great for the dub, is because it gave the Funimation cast a shot at redemption after their unbearable performance in Z the first time around.

But that applies to the Ocean dub too. Because for Canadian and UK fans, the version of the series that they grew up with, was plagued by terrible directing, rushed production, and replacement music recycled from other shows.

A lot of people--myself included--feel that the Ocean Studios actors are superior to Funimation's and would prefer to listen to them as the English version of the series.

People aren't trying to get some massive fan project approved where someone should pay to have the Ocean crew get together and dub Kai--someone already did shell out the money for 98 episodes to get voiced over. But all that work is sitting in some vault somewhere. We would simply like for that work to be uncovered. Why not? It already exists.

I welcome as many English dubs of Dragon Ball (anything) because it just expands the viewing experience. When I watched the Ocean/Westwood dub, it reinvigorated my excitement to rewatch the series.

So, that's why I want it released.

I feel like it will not happen and the best shot will be some pirated leak years down the line after someone cracks open the vault... but I don't even find that to be likely. But, hey, dare to dream, damn it!

I can get wanting to hear the Ocean dub actors again. Wanting to hear the actors you grew up with again isn't a bad thing. Like, for all I say that I don't think this dub will be out any time soon, I would like to watch it myself & see what they did with it. It'd definitely give me a new excuse to rewatch Kai again.

Here's the video and timestamp where Chris Sabat talks about why the Kai dub is more significant than the sub (his opinion, of course): https://youtu.be/YlNXhGizk3w?t=93

It says that the video isn't available.

Now, I agree that it meant more for the dub than Japanese version, but... when did he become the authority on Dragon Ball? Why listen to him? Lol Also, has nothing to do with other dubs. I'd say that it's a lot more important for the Ocean dub who doesn't have their body of work on the series released every year.

[MistaL]

The Nicktoons version of Kai 1.0 did have Ocean credited for video editing and production so it's reasonable to assume they were sharing materials for that at least. Whether they copied and pasted that same footage for their own dub is unclear but it's very likely given it's only for broadcast and not home video.

I know I'm super super late on this, but the Nicktoons version definitely is the footage Ocean was going to use for their own dub; in the Dragon Ball recap in the first episode, the sign at the Tenkaichi Budoukai is actually directly transcribed as "Tankaichi Budoukai" rather than Funimation's "World Martial Arts Tournament", so there's no way the footage was specifically made for the Funi dub

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I suppose its worth noting the Westwood dub, which also shared footage with Funimation's dub up until the last 4 episodes had extra cuts unique to that version (though in this case Ocean only provided edits for the Canadian airings of Funimation's dub but the base video track was the same). So there's always the possibility the Ocean dub of Kai could have additional cuts too, but otherwise, yes, visually it will be near identical to what aired on Nicktoons.

[BeaBumby]

So what does everyone hope for out of this dub?
Personally with how accurate they wanted to be with Goku's voice, I'm eager to heard Richard Ian Cox's performance

[TheBlackPaladin]

So what does everyone hope for out of this dub?

That it'll be seen.

[MasenkoHA]

So what does everyone hope for out of this dub?

If it's released that Tockar Freeza doesn't sound nearly as bad as that one audio clip suggests and that the replacement score is at least decent

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

So what does everyone hope for out of this dub?

If it's released that Tockar Freeza doesn't sound nearly as bad as that one audio clip suggests and that the replacement score is at least decent

I mean, the initial reaction to the late Chris Ayres' Freeza was overwhelmingly negative. It's no different than now where we only heard a single line. Funimation had the luxury of fans only having to wait a few days before new episodes aired, as once they heard Ayres in context everyone made a complete 180. I'm sure Lee Tockar will sound better in context too.

The replacement score is by the same guys who composed the tracks whom Ocean's editors uses to assemble the Westwood dub score. Although Ocean weren't under as much pressure to catch up with Funimation, which likely did wonders for the score, including having more original tracks composed, as was the case later on in Z.

[Kirbopher]

I'm going to be interviewing Brian Drummond tomorrow and I'd like to bring up DBZ Kai briefly, but I don't wanna spend too much time on it. I was thinking of asking about if he remembers who voiced Trunks and if he said "over 8000 or over 9000". If you guys have any suggestions for questions, I'd love to hear them; can't promise I'll ask them, but while I have the opportunity I figured I'd put it out here.

[MasenkoHA]

I'm going to be interviewing Brian Drummond tomorrow and I'd like to bring up DBZ Kai briefly, but I don't wanna spend too much time on it. I was thinking of asking about if he remembers who voiced Trunks and if he said "over 8000 or over 9000". If you guys have any suggestions for questions, I'd love to hear them; can't promise I'll ask them, but while I have the opportunity I figured I'd put it out here.

Do they pronounce it Say in or Sai Yan

[NitroEX]

Perhaps debunking your past assertion that the Ocean cast imitated Funi's cast upon returning for the 'Westwood' dub would be a good place to start.

Regarding Kai, I can't imagine he'd have much more to say on the matter since the Geekdom interview but maybe specific questions about castings might jog his memory. It could be worth asking if he knew what role Kirby Morrow might've had as he did audition.

Outside of Dragon Ball, I would be curious if he knows anything about the English dub for Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai. Ocean Media was supposed to be the producer of the dub but there's been no update about it since news of the SAG-AFTRA union issue.

Do they pronounce it Say in or Sai Yan

This would be a good question. It might also be worth asking him how they pronounced Namek to see if it matches what McNeil said years ago.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I'm going to be interviewing Brian Drummond tomorrow and I'd like to bring up DBZ Kai briefly, but I don't wanna spend too much time on it. I was thinking of asking about if he remembers who voiced Trunks and if he said "over 8000 or over 9000". If you guys have any suggestions for questions, I'd love to hear them; can't promise I'll ask them, but while I have the opportunity I figured I'd put it out here.

Any questions I have about Kai, you've already thought of. Maybe, for fun's sake, ask him what he recalls about learning that'd he be voicing Vegeta again for the Westwood dub. How he learned that, how he felt about it, etc. It must be weird to think you're done with a character...only to find out a few years later that you're not!

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I'd love to hear Brian Drummond's thoughts on Kai's replacement score and if he can corroborate Lee Tockar's comment about it being dark.

Think everything else I would have asked has been mentioned.

Maybe tell him if people continue to make their voices heard Kai could air on Toon-A-Vision.

[FPSSJ4_Goku]

I'm going to be interviewing Brian Drummond tomorrow and I'd like to bring up DBZ Kai briefly, but I don't wanna spend too much time on it. I was thinking of asking about if he remembers who voiced Trunks and if he said "over 8000 or over 9000". If you guys have any suggestions for questions, I'd love to hear them; can't promise I'll ask them, but while I have the opportunity I figured I'd put it out here.

Three questions I'd have for him is "Will the Ocean dub of Kai be released on home video?" "Will you get the rights to dub Dragon Ball Super too?" and "Will the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Kai air on Adult Swim?" I also told my Discord friends about this, and these are the (serious) questions they asked:

-Do you think Vegeta can beat Goku?
-When will the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Kai air?

The rest of them asked joke questions but that's about it

[NitroEX]

Three questions I'd have for him is "Will the Ocean dub of Kai be released on home video?" "Will you get the rights to dub Dragon Ball Super too?" and "Will the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Kai air on Adult Swim?"

Actors aren't privy to any of this information. Asking him this would be a waste of time.

[Scsigs]

Three questions I'd have for him is "Will the Ocean dub of Kai be released on home video?" "Will you get the rights to dub Dragon Ball Super too?" and "Will the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Kai air on Adult Swim?"

Actors aren't privy to any of this information. Asking him this would be a waste of time.

Well, if the cast members are part of the production team, like the dub director or producers, I can see them knowing the information then. Like, I doubt Chris Sabat doesn't know anything about the home releases, since he's the FUNi dub's main director & producer, even having input on what goes on the home releases for DB. I mean, hell, Sabat was the person who obtained the old 80s dub of Akira that FUNi's put on their home releases in addition to the 2001 dub. Same with Mike McFarland for One Piece & Attack on Titan.
But most actors aren't like that, so you have a point still.

[90sDBZ]

I remember Brian saying in a previous interview (maybe the one with Geekdom?) that he was basically just brought in to do his lines, and that he knows very little about this dub beyond that.

In other words he hasn't seen the finished product, so he can only offer his first hand experience of recording his own lines. He's probably heard some stuff from his castmates, like who's playing who, but beyond that he's likely just as in the dark as us.

Maybe ask how he handled Vegeta's death on Namek?

[Scsigs]

I remember Brian saying in a previous interview (maybe the one with Geekdom?) that he was basically just brought in to do his lines, and that he knows very little about this dub beyond that.

In other words he hasn't seen the finished product, so he can only offer his first hand experience of recording his own lines. He's probably heard some stuff from his castmates, like who's playing who, but beyond that he's likely just as in the dark as us.

Maybe ask how he handled Vegeta's death on Namek?

Depending on when he recorded in relation to the other dub actors, he may have heard bits & pieces of their performances too. Depends on when he recorded & if they mixed the other takes they chose for the other actors into the audio track.