Why is Freeza's dub voice so hated?

Xyex · Post by **Xyex** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 11:52 am

Super Sonic wrote:Acotrs who play the same role often interpret them differently, and thus play them differently. For example, were any of you who saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" expecting Johnny Depp to rechannel Gene Wilder? And don't use the "movie remakes are different" excuse.

Yeah, that pretty much nails it. Another example is stage plays. You see a play by one group, then go see it by another with different actors, and the characters will be portrayed differently. It's still the same exact character but you don't get people going "No, no, he's supposed to sound snobby!" when an actor doesn't interpret the character that way.

The bad lines are the fault of the early writers and Saban. Not the voice itself. I love Freeza's dub voice. It perfectly suits his appearance, IMO.

shannarafan · Post by **shannarafan** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:30 pm

Shoot me, but it's my favorite dub voice. So she has godawful dialogue and doesn't live up to the original VA -- like the others don't? At least her acting wasn't as shitacular as everyone else's in Season 3.

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:09 pm

I think I hate the terrible english romanization of the name more than the voice.

JohnnyBoy_Z · Post by **JohnnyBoy_Z** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 3:22 pm

I didn't care for the dub voice either. To me, it makes him sound smaller than he already is. At least in the Japanese version he sounds like an evil and powerful spoiled brat, which fit his character perfectly.

jjgp1112 · Post by **jjgp1112** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 4:59 pm

If you listen closely, they both have that weird nasal-voice. I was watching Japanese clips from the Frieza battle on youtube, and he has the nasal voice like how it is in the dub.

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 5:45 pm

I swear I have a theory on this, stick with me here. Frieza's voice in the dub was looked over by Saban. They were also doing Power Rangers at the time. Dragonball and Power Rangers were aimed at the same target audience more or less. With Frieza looking slightly like Rita and maybe to attract the Power Ranger fans they made Frieza sound like Rita. Maybe they did it as a joke? Oh well just a theory.

JohnnyBoy_Z · Post by **JohnnyBoy_Z** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:09 pm

Holy crap! That's true. I remember Rita from Power Rangers having the same exact voice.

Da Games Elite · Post by **Da Games Elite** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:20 pm

NeptuneKai wrote:I swear I have a theory on this, stick with me here. Freeza's voice in the dub was looked over by Saban. They were also doing Power Rangers at the time. Dragonball and Power Rangers were aimed at the same target audience more or less. With Freeza looking slightly like Rita and maybe to attract the Power Ranger fans they made Freeza sound like Rita. Maybe they did it as a joke? Oh well just a theory.

Wow! That's an amazing irony, lol!

Rocketman · Post by **Rocketman** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:30 pm

Da Games Elite wrote:
NeptuneKai wrote:I swear I have a theory on this, stick with me here. Freeza's voice in the dub was looked over by Saban. They were also doing Power Rangers at the time. Dragonball and Power Rangers were aimed at the same target audience more or less. With Freeza looking slightly like Rita and maybe to attract the Power Ranger fans they made Freeza sound like Rita. Maybe they did it as a joke? Oh well just a theory.
Wow! That's an amazing irony, lol!

That's not irony.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:42 pm

Da Games Elite wrote:
NeptuneKai wrote:I swear I have a theory on this, stick with me here. Freeza's voice in the dub was looked over by Saban. They were also doing Power Rangers at the time. Dragonball and Power Rangers were aimed at the same target audience more or less. With Freeza looking slightly like Rita and maybe to attract the Power Ranger fans they made Freeza sound like Rita. Maybe they did it as a joke? Oh well just a theory.
Wow! That's an amazing irony, lol!

That was one of the reasons for their heavy censorship. The crap they got for PR being violent was still fresh in their memories so...

Holy crap! That's true. I remember Rita from Power Rangers having the same exact voice.

Actually that was Pauline Newstone who did Frieza then, not Barbara Goodson. Will say though, kind of shows how Funimation had some say, otherwise, DBZ might have had some of the vas Saban mainly used then on Power Rangers who were also much of the Digimon cast.

Adamant · Post by **Adamant** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:47 pm

Tsukento wrote:I mean, compare this scene with this one. Even with the retarded dialogue, Frieza comes off no where as sinister sounding as Freeza.

I actually found Gohan's dub voice even more unfitting. Why is it so deep? He's supposed to be 5, dubbers.

Brakus · Post by **Brakus** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:23 am

KaiserNeko wrote:The Japanese Freeza sounds like an evil, conniving madman. The American Freeza sounds like an evil old woman who's smoked a bit too much.

Actually, it would sound a lot more like Tracy Turnblad's mom on Hairspray (i.e. Divine or Harvey Fierstein). At least they might have gotten the "Frieza sounds gay" right if they went in *that* direction.

Here's a question: How old is Frieza supposed to be anyway? Older than Goku or younger? As I mentioned in an earlier post, Frieza sounds like a spoiled brat in the English dub.....

DBW · Post by **DBW** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:43 am

The strange thing is, if they changed the English dub voice to a man, I don't think I'd like it. I just can't picture English Freeza being masculine. I kind of think of him as a woman in the dub now.

Brakus wrote:Here's a question: How old is Frieza supposed to be anyway? Older than Goku or younger?

Much older. Remember, he had control of planet Vegeta at the time of Goku's birth, and is the reason he was sent to Earth. However, I imagine he ages much differently than humans/saiyans, so although he's been alive for a long time, his maturity could still be that of a spoiled teenager.

Kunzait_83 · Post by **Kunzait_83** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 2:18 am

Thanos6 · Post by **Thanos6** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 3:11 am

Kunzait_83: What do you think of Dameon Clarke? I'm curious; personally, I think that his turn as Cell (especially as Perfect Cell) was the best voice in the entire American dub, and was the sole time the American voice was actually superior to the original.

Also re: #17, I think Chuck Huber was pretty good as Garlic and Pilaf...but then those two, especially Pilaf, ARE supposed to be a bit cartoony.

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:03 am

Kunzait_83 wrote:And Ryusei Nakao as Li'l Lemmy so aptly put it, is indeed a huge act to follow.

Well, I mean . . . he just is. And whether you count Freeza or not. But in speaking for him specifically?

Given the genuine complexity of Freeza's personality as it unfolds throughout the saga, I do believe that any casting choice considered would have had to bring an incredibly distinctive expression of voice, broad emotional range and considerable experience/talent to the role in order to be even remotely successful in working with it.

Ryusei Nakao had all that and more, and as a result he pulled off an incredible feat in bringing this character to life. Surprisingly, one or two dubs actually get it "right" (FUNimation's dub not included) and cast their Freezas rather similarly in terms of character-- right down to the polite mannerisms and chillingly calm tone-- but speaking on a very purist level, there simply is no other Freeza. And that's coming from a hardcore dubbie.

Hell, what else can you say about a VA whom Chris Psaros once billed "the greatest voice actor ever"?

~Da Lemmy

Kunzait_83 · Post by **Kunzait_83** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:18 am

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:23 am

Thanos is, uh . . . well, he's what'cha call a TruTen person. (Couple of 'em here.) Hence the avatar.

~Da Lemmy

Thanos6 · Post by **Thanos6** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 4:35 am

Admittedly, I haven't watched the Garlic Jr. saga since its original US airing, about, oh, 7 years ago.

So I'll bow to your expertise on that part. I'm going based off Huber as Garlic in the redubbed Movie 1, where I think he comes across as fairly decent; not as deadly serious as Chiba, no, but not goofily laughable either.

As for Clarke, I think he needed a bit to grow into the role. I'd agree about the lack of subtletly in the early Perfect Cell eps, like when he's taking the Final Flash; but by the end of the Cell Games, when he comes back after the "suicide bomb," he's really mastered it.

To each his own, I guess.

I'd forgotten about Dabra, and you're right. His American VA is Rick Robertson, whoever that is, according to the Net. Sounds sort of like a young James Earl Jones.

And I'm glad you like the icon. *blushes* They make such a cute couple. *grins*

caejones · Post by **caejones** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:18 pm

Since this has gotten to "why the dub voices fail... sometimes" topic for the time being, let me say...

The worst Gohan Dub moment I can remember off hand was when Gohan was on Namek with the Saiyan armor talking about how he felt invincible, and then made his "Super Gohan!" scene. It just... didn't... sound... right.
Actually, a lot between Piccolo Vs Freeza and the Ginyu battle had a very... like the animated Wizard of Oz voiceacting.

As for Garlic: the original Ocean/Pioneer release of Deadzone had a much more demonic-sounding Garlic than the Garlic JR saga... so when I rewatched it ... last year? I was... kinda surprised at how evil Garlic sounded...