When did liking the dub become acceptable?

[VegettoEX]

There was barely a functioning World Wide Web in 1996 when FUNimation started airing their DBZ dub. You could count the number of English-language DBZ fansites on... well, OK, two hands. All run by college students at the youngest age, and only getting into high school kids like me in 1997-1998 when AOL and a couple other ISPs started allowing for personal websites on a very generous 2 MB of web space.

Conversations were limited to rec.arts.misc.anime and then alt.fan.dragonball, and a little bit in IRC. Again, everyone knew everyone.

[Fionordequester]

Huh...fascinating. Sounds like a pretty cool world to interact in actually. I imagine things wouldn't have felt as cold and impersonal in the chat rooms as they sometimes do now.

Here's my question though. What about 1999, when the in-house dub started? That's the one I typically think of when I think of "the old dub". Was there any kind of cult following then, or was it still about the same?

[VegettoEX]

What about 1999, when the in-house dub started? That's the one I typically think of when I think of "the old dub". Was there any kind of cult following then, or was it still about the same?

Not really. After setting us up with the joint FUNimation/Pioneer DBZ Movie 1-3 dubs and then knocking us down with the "Season Three" in-house production, it remained an accepted piece of laughable garbage for quite some time.

I'd say the first changing tide came in 2000 when the first uncut/bilingual DVDs came out. It gave us a reason to stop bitching about the dub, because we had a product that nullified it. That gave a new opening for people who didn't know anything else but "the dub" to start talking about it in an open manner.

[Hellspawn28]

High-speed Internet was not available in homes until the early-mid 2000's. I remember people in my school would call you "cool" if you had Internet at your house. The computer lab hours was the best time to use the Internet to play games in Elementary School for me. I had Internet in my house as long as I can remember, but it was slow as shit in the 90's. I remember it was not until like 2003 when my family got faster speed internet.

[Gyt Kaliba]

The internet was definitely nowhere near what it is now when it started, or even by the early 2000's, so I can scarcely imagine what it must've been like for people that actually had it in the late 90's. I almost kinda envy having been able to be into it that early on, but eh - dial-up wasn't much more fun when I had it, I can't imagine it was any more fun further back.

[Fionordequester]

Personally, I just wonder what online multiplayer was like back in those days. Can't imagine Diablo 2 Battle Network was a ton of fun if the Internet was THAT slow in 2000. Heck, it STILL gets lag spikes even now, so how much worse must it have been before ?!

[Hellspawn28]

I played Quake III and Runescape around that time period and they are still fun to play. Online gaming was a popular thing back then too. AOL instant messenger and chat rooms was the main way for most people on the web around that time to talk and interact with each other since social media was not a thing at the time. There was Dragon Ball chat rooms in the late 90's that fans would use to talk with each other. I also remember the official DBZ website had a board which had a spoiler and non spoiler section. You would be banned if you use curse words and spoil things.

[Kendamu]

What about 1999, when the in-house dub started? That's the one I typically think of when I think of "the old dub". Was there any kind of cult following then, or was it still about the same?

Not really. After setting us up with the joint FUNimation/Pioneer DBZ Movie 1-3 dubs and then knocking us down with the "Season Three" in-house production, it remained an accepted piece of laughable garbage for quite some time.

That's pretty much the exact reason I stuck with the manga after discovering it. I had sat through "Season Three," which was something I was trying my hardest to cut some slack, and didn't really have access to the Japanese version in Nowhereville, Indiana. The only upside to Season Three was the inclusion of blood (which was super rad when I was like 14 or whatever).

I still try to go back and watch that dub sometimes as if it were a gag dub. I can easily do it with something like the Big Green Dub, but not with the FUNi in-house dub. It's like it's too personal for me because they took away my favorite cast for the garbage that they were producing back then.

Nowadays it's mostly awesomeness (still not a fan of Schemmel's Kaiou) and that's really calmed me down a lot in terms of dub hate.

[ABED]

I think there's a false idea that even now, the fans on the net are indicative of how the overall audience is responding to something. It's especially true back then when the internet wasn't what it eventually became. I still marvel at the fact that I was around to see the infancy of something that's so ubiquitous right now.

[dougo13]

To us older anime fans, it was never really acceptable. It still isn't for me. I started watching One Piece recently and can't stand the English voices at all. Subbed only for me. As far as the net, Usenet was the way we communicated back in the day, other than BBSes (remember those?). I still have discs with my correspondence from that period as well as many files from the Venice Archive. We even had our own group on Usenet. The WWW comes much later.

[Kakacarrottop]

I do find it funny how people on Youtube will post comments on how Saban's version of Digimon sucks for being really cheesy and having terrible music. Yet Funimation's DBZ was not much different and people are cool with it?

I think it's mainly because FUNimation are now a highly respected anime company, so people assume everything they've done is automatically "acceptable" to like. Companies like Saban and 4Kids are mainly known for butchering animes, so people hate any dub they do, regardless of the quality.

[Puto]

Saban's version of Digimon IS pretty terrible though. The DBZ dub ALSO being terrible doesn't change that.

[Ree]

its a shame 4kids haters are still on about 4Kids One Piece even though they lost it almost a decade ago.

[Hellspawn28]

I never hated 4kids. They had to edit down stuff due to public TV rules on what is allowed and not allowed since KidsWB! and Fox Box aired on public TV. I grew up with NY voice actors from 4kids and CPM. The voice actors from Pokemon are nostalgic to me.

[Cure Dragon 255]

But did they have to erase text, replace music, Cut and or skip episodes? I dont hate them but I dont like them.

But you are right in that they could be good, Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh were awesome. But I will never forgive them for One Piece. We in Latin America STILL havent gotten around to redubbing it. They killed One Piece over here.

One good thing I think they did was air DBZKai on Toonzai. If they treated One Piece like they did DBZKai I would have had no problems with them. And the whole idea of Toonzai, it was to be a kid friendly Toonami but that dang lawsuit killed any third party interest (They were going to ask other companies to air their anime).

[fadeddreams5]

I do find it funny how people on Youtube will post comments on how Saban's version of Digimon sucks for being really cheesy and having terrible music. Yet Funimation's DBZ was not much different and people are cool with it?

D-did you really just compare dubbed Digimon to Funimation DBZ?

The former is like a radically different show with one-liners in every single piece of dialogue. Mind you, I'm fond of it, as it can be pretty funny. As for music, the original Japanese show has an amazing soundtrack with some iconic themes, whereas the dub... well, nothing really stands out at all besides the opening theme. No idea what they were thinking when they replaced the OST.

Funimation DBZ isn't that different, besides Frieza, a more heroic Goku, and some iffy dialogue here and there. It just happens to accentuate the action more with a soundtrack that has gathered a fanbase of its own. It's clear what their intentions were when they replaced the Japanese soundtrack.

[Hellspawn28]

Well they both had different musical scores than what they had in Japan, both had cheesy voice acting, cheesy dialouge and both had changes to feel more American. To me, Funimation in the old days is not much different compare to Saban and 4kids. Funimation finally step up to their game in the early-mid 2000's when they started to dub non DB anime like FMA and Trinity Blood.

[precita]

Its hard to believe even youtube didn't exist when DBZ had its original full run on Cartoon Network. Youtube started in 2005, by that point all of DBZ had aired already. In fact by then even all of Dragonball, and GT had aired. I think that was when the redub of Seasons 1-2 were airing.

It really puts into perspective how old the dub is, it pretty much pre-dates all modern stuff. Remember the 3 episodes released on VHS or DVD and sold for like $20?

People would pay $20 for 3 measly episodes on VHS/DVD. Absolutely crazy.

[Puto]

Funimation DBZ isn't that different

Except, y'know, it absolutely is. Only difference is they didn't remove any video footage.

[fadeddreams5]

Well they both had different musical scores than what they had in Japan, both had cheesy voice acting, cheesy dialouge and both had changes to feel more American. To me, Funimation in the old days is not much different compare to Saban and 4kids. Funimation finally step up to their game in the early-mid 2000's when they started to dub non DB anime like FMA and Trinity Blood.

The Japanese version has cheesy voice acting if we're referring to voices.

I'm not denying both adaptations made major changes to the series, but the execution couldn't be any more different. Dubbed DBZ just accentuated the action, which already existed, and gave male voices to the characters. Though it does have inaccurate dialogue in several places (i.e. Bardock being a scientist), made Goku more heroic (as did the Toei movies)... and Frieza. Dubbed Digimon just flat out created a different show with its dialogue; it changed the tone entirely. lol.

Funimation DBZ isn't that different

Except, y'know, it absolutely is. Only difference is they didn't remove any video footage.

The Android-Buu sagas aren't that far off at all. Season 3 Namek...eh.