Original In-house Funi Dub fans, why do you like it?

[Bansho64]

While I know the title might sound very rude and sound like I'm about to bash dub fans, I'm actually not. I actually really wanna hear why fans like this dub in particular. I seriously wanna hear some of the opinions of current fans of this dub. Not because I wanna fight about it, but because I sincerely and genuinely wanna know about experiences and opinions from fans of this dub. I personally have a dislike for it, but that can't stop curiosity. Right?

And when I mean the original in-house dub, I mean the real original in house dub. Not the remastered dub from 2007. I'm talking about the one with Sabat's original Drummond imitation, Justin Cook's voice filter on Buu's voice, etc. Basically, the edited dub that originally started in 1999 on the later Ginyu section of the Frieza arc and ended in 2003. Here's an example of the dub I'm referring to.

[Metalwario64]

I "like" it only for nostalgia, and because it's great to laugh at (well, mostly in "season 3"). It brings me back to when I was a kid, watching the series after school, and somehow being oblivious to the quality (or lack thereof) of the acting I was listening to. I had so many conversations with friends at school about it, and even went to their houses and we all had great times playing games and watching Dragon Ball Z. I'm currently not in contact with any of them at this point (and haven't really socialized with anyone the past few years), and watching the old dub brings me back to those "good old days" (despite some seriously crappy shit happening in my life around that time).

When watching the dub, though, I use the Orange Bricks these days, because I lost a box of most of my singles in a move a year ago. It's a shame, but I at least still get a lot of nostalgia from it, and I also now have memories of almost 10 years ago getting back into the franchise.

[Danfun64]

I'm not a fan of the original dub, but the biggest thing it had in its favor compared to the average DBZ dub made during or before that time what that it was uncut, and even the edited versions showed several scenes not found in most of Europe thanks to AB Groupe's censorship "technique" of removing scenes wholesale. Also, while I prefer Kikuchi, there are several pieces of Faulconer music that I like. In fact, I'd argue that Faulconer's music was the best original component of the dub. The scripts were bad and the voices were bad, and to be fair there were points where Faulconer was bad to, but it was probably the best thing that came from Funi at that time.

[Dbzfan94]

The music, some of the lines, mostly for nostalgia though. Kai is the better dub even though I'm really hit and miss with Clinkenbeard's Gohan and especially her Goku.

[Anime Kitten]

I've probably seen the 2007 one; not quite sure. But I'll give my two cents anyway. The acting is fun to laugh at (no offense to the actors), and I personally love the jokes in Season 3, though Second Form Freeza takes the cake. There may be other reasons, but those are what come to mind right now.

[Boo Machine]

I feel like most of the charm for me is mostly just the nostalgia. Though I do actually like some of the weird lines and music choices. Not much other reason I can think of.

[Mewzard]

Well, I was young when I liked it. It got better as I got older, but after it ended...I kept growing, and reached the point of expecting more.

Kai really was my saving grace because, for all of their faults early on...I loved many of the voice actors we had in the FUNi dub (took me a bit to get used to the transition from Ocean to FUNi, but hey), and knew, in a dub that had a good script and let them get another chance at the show, they'd be fantastic. Kai proved that internal feeling right (though stuff like some of the games like Burst Limit helped).

Amusingly enough, if Kai didn't happen when it did, I might have moved wholesale to the sub. As it stands, I'm just glad I can enjoy both Masako Nozawa and Sean Schemmel as Goku, and all the casts of both really (I can enjoy my Dragon Boxes and my Kai sets).

So yeah, the voices were my draw for the uniquely American things. A few of the dub score tracks hit me right in the nostalgia...but overall, I can recognize it really doesn't fit the series in many points, doesn't end, and many bits really aren't that good.

[Metalwario64]

As it stands, I'm just glad I can enjoy both Masako Nozawa and Sean Schemmel as Goku, and all the casts of both really (I can enjoy my Dragon Boxes and my Kai sets).

I can agree with this. I also have tons of nostalgia of the Japanese version, and while I definitely prefer it not only due to nostalgia (the days of "OMG HARDCORE JAPANESE DBZ FULL EPS" on the internet), but also because I feel it's superior, I do love being able to enjoy Japanese Z and English Kai for their genuine quality.

[Sin]

It's definitely the music and nostalgia, those early episode titles were amazing. Watching it now feels like a different show somehow, but I guess that separation helps me to appreciate it within its own right and not have too high expectations of it.

[90sDBZ]

I love it for the following reasons:

-Team Faulconer's music. It brings excitement and suspense to action scenes, and is also great in more calm and serene scenes like the episode were everyone gets revived after Namek. It fits DBZ perfectly and is also great music in and of itself.

-The voice cast. Even in the early days when the cast was inexperienced I felt that the vast majority of the voices still fit the characters very well. Schemmel is great at doing both heroic Goku and a more faithful to the original Goku.

-The dialogue. I loved stuff like Goku's Kaioken x20 speech to Frieza in the dub because it just sounded more dramatic and inspirational. I also felt there were many times that Funimation's script replaced generic dialogue with something much more memorable. An example of this is when Piccolo senses Mystic Gohan approaching and describes his power as "Mind boggling" while in the Japanese version he just says there's a strong Ki headed their way. Another example is Goku's "We've lost our old race" speech to Vegeta. In the Japanese version it's just another "We aren't strong enough to win like this" speech. And there's also Buutenks' added taunting to Gohan in the dub which really feels believable in the way it would bother him.

[GodVegetto91]

1. I like it because it's in english. And the voices sound infinitely better and pleasureable in english IMO. I see no reason to watch and listen to something that isn't in my native tongue. That said, english is a supremely beautiful language in it's own right.

2. Bruce Faulconer. Need i say more? The guy is legendary. His music is so cool and beautiful. It makes about 50% of the show for me. In fact, this legendary god among us, Is soo good.. There's not a single theme i even find average at best. No. They are ALL good!

3. Nostalgia.

[NitroEX]

That said, english is a supremely beautiful language in it's own right.

Aside from moments when they butchered it.

[TheGreatness25]

Pure nostalgia. As an adult, I can concede that a lot of the performances are cringe-worthy, but then again, Power Rangers is the king of cheese and people seem to go crazy over that. Yeah, the dub was cheesy as all hell and inaccurate but I didn't care as a kid, and I really don't care now. There's no reason to really hate on it for being "inaccurate" because the Japanese version is just as available as the dub so if that's your cup of tea, by all means, enjoy.

[maroyasha]

I wouldn't exactly say I'm a huge fan of it, but I enjoy some of the stuff. In my group, I'm like the only one who enjoys Linda Young as Freeza. I do prefer Chris Ayres nowadays, but I still like to go back and watch her performance. Some of the music. I do enjoy the Faulconer scores, many of them on their own, but some worked for some scenes. Many people blame Faulconer for the misplacement of the songs, but that really isn't his fault. Once he makes the music and hands it off, he has no more control. I also enjoy some of the earlier stuff where they did some-what voice matching to the Ocean Dub since they were continuing the Toonami run. Those are my 3 main reasons for even really going back and watching some of the old stuff.

[Bansho64]

Many people blame Faulconer for the misplacement of the songs, but that really isn't his fault. Once he makes the music and hands it off, he has no more control.

Actually, a lot of the songs made in Faulconer Productions were made for specific scenes. Most of the tracks that people like weren't even made by him. He took way too much credit than he deserves.

Kikuchi's music is more like what you're describing. All of the tracks he made were placed separately by other people.

[maroyasha]

Many people blame Faulconer for the misplacement of the songs, but that really isn't his fault. Once he makes the music and hands it off, he has no more control.

Actually, a lot of the songs made in Faulconer Productions were made for specific scenes. Most of the tracks that people like weren't even made by him. He took way too much credit than he deserves.

Kikuchi's music is more like what you're describing. All of the tracks he made were placed separately by other people.

What I should've said was that a lot of tracks made by his company were used in wrong spots. Even songs for certain scenes were reused for incorrect scenes. And yeah, he didn't even make the SSJ3 Transformation theme last I checked.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I'll say this about the old dub: while I ultimately consider the Kai dub to be the better dub, that original dub is what introduced me to the cast that I have a sentimental attachment to.

VegettoEX once said in his review of the first home video release of Kai that the FUNimation dub cast was a cast that he was aware of, but didn't have much of a sentimental attachment to. For me, that's kind of how it is with the Japanese cast...I'm aware of them, I know their names, who they play, what their voices sound like, and I even greatly enjoy their work. However, they're not the cast that I have a sentimental attachment to...the FUNimation dub cast (with a few exceptions whose names I won't give) is. As I began to develop an awareness of how unfaithful an emulation of the original Japanese version the FUNimation dub was, I found myself losing fondness for a lot of things about the dub...I found myself loosing fondness for the music and the writing, especially.

I did not, however, lose my fondness for the dub cast.

I found myself thinking, "I love most of these voice actors, and I think a lot of these voices fit, I just wish they were saying the infinitely cooler-sounding dialogue that I'm reading on the subtitles!" With the video games, the Kai dub, and pretty much every Dragon Ball-related thing FUNimation has done since, I got my wish. I don't feel particularly inclined to watch the old dub these days, so I'm not sure labeling me a "fan" of it is appropriate anymore...but I guess I'm sort of still a fan in that my fondness for the English cast started with that dub and has still continued to this day.

[Sin]

VegettoEX once said in his review of the first home video release of Kai that the FUNimation dub cast was a cast that he was aware of, but didn't have much of a sentimental attachment to. For me, that's kind of how it is with the Japanese cast...I'm aware of them, I know their names, who they play, what their voices sound like, and I even greatly enjoy their work. However, they're not the cast that I have a sentimental attachment to...the FUNimation dub cast (with a few exceptions whose names I won't give) is.

For me at least, and for a lot of UK viewers I imagine, our sentimental attachment is kinda tarred by our exposure to multiple dubs. We had the 'Ocean Dub' cast for the anime, and the Funimation dub for video games, movies, and any clips online really.

As a result I'm not particularly attached to any English dub, if anything at all I only really feel nostalgia for the very original dub by Funimation (the 'Rock the Dragon' set).

[DBZAOTA482]

Music (even if it doesn't know when to shut up) and nostalgia.

[Valerius Dover]

I feel like a lot of posters are missing the point here. Isn't this specifically referring to the 1999 version of DBZ? Namely, elements that were replaced in the 2007 redubbing? Therefore, most comments about the music and it simply being in English are kind of moot here. This is something I'm curious about, since I haven't seen the old version.