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

[Super Sayian Prime]

The last of which was over 10 years ago, so I figured it wasn't really relevant.

Haha, ouch those shows were a perfect confluence of insane deadlines and inexplicable BS from all possible sides. If you want to learn what a horrible, thankless task ADR is, there's your poster children

I'm well aware of how much a mess the dubs for those three shows are. It would be nice if someone like Discotek one day got their hands on Armada and Cybertron and set the audio to the finished Japanese animation, but they're too lowkey of a company for Hasbro. That wouldn't fix all the problems with those shows anyway. Voicebox also got Zoids Fuzors, which was a similar mess production wise. I'm guessing Ocean knew what was going to happen since they presumably turned down the series after working on the original and Zero.

[8000 Saiyan]

The Unicron Trilogy series suck anyway. Redubbing Energon wouldn't make it more tolerable than it was.

[Super Sayian Prime]

The Unicron Trilogy series suck anyway. Redubbing Energon wouldn't make it more tolerable than it was.

None of those shows are getting redubbed, I'm just saying it would be nice to not have episodes with unfinished animation.

[8000 Saiyan]

If Ocean ever dubs the Final Chapters which is unlikely to happen, then I would like if Scott emulated Kozo Shioya's Majin Buu.

[Arian]

If Ocean ever dubs the Final Chapters which is unlikely to happen, then I would like if Scott emulated Kozo Shioya's Majin Buu.

Hold up. You think that if the Saiyan-Cell Sagas air, they wouldn't commission more episodes?

Anyway, to respond to your statement, I actually liked Scott's voice for Buu, it'd be nice to hear it again.

[Attitudefan]

I'm quite excited by all of this and have been revisiting clips from older dubs etc. on YouTube to try and get a sense of how the show may sound. Found something sorta interesting:

https://youtu.be/cTk15DGQwC0

Uploaded Oct 2016. Never seen it before. Usually when Brian Drummond performs these bits, the recordings leave a lot to be desired e.g. lots of background noise & booming sound systems etc.

This is different.

Outside of the few fan uploads and the music video by BB & G-Wize (circa 2010) this is the first I have seen & heard of such good quality, where he talks for a while whilst in character.

Not sure if he was entirely committed to it or if the voice just happens to be closer to to his own now. But if this is really how it is in the dub then Vegeta sounds great. That scream!!

If I recall correctly in an interview, Drummond said he would go for a deeper pitch.

When I talked to him a few years ago, he indeed is going for a lower pitch. He's not destroying his vocal cords like he did the first time around. He, of course, can still do the higher pitch, but opted for something that has longevity for his own health. Although, speculating now rather than what he told me personally, I wouldn't be surprised to hear a higher pitch in the earlier parts compared to later... but who knows.


Anyways, it's been over a year at least since I was on the forum and am wondering what the updates are. So, what is going on around this project? Someone named Marni has gotten hold of a TV network and is attempting to convince them to use Ocean DBZ Kai? Who is Marni? Funimation played a role in holding airing rights of the dub?

I tried to read through the forum but the posts are all over the place.

[SX10]

I'm quite excited by all of this and have been revisiting clips from older dubs etc. on YouTube to try and get a sense of how the show may sound. Found something sorta interesting:

https://youtu.be/cTk15DGQwC0

Uploaded Oct 2016. Never seen it before. Usually when Brian Drummond performs these bits, the recordings leave a lot to be desired e.g. lots of background noise & booming sound systems etc.

This is different.

Outside of the few fan uploads and the music video by BB & G-Wize (circa 2010) this is the first I have seen & heard of such good quality, where he talks for a while whilst in character.

Not sure if he was entirely committed to it or if the voice just happens to be closer to to his own now. But if this is really how it is in the dub then Vegeta sounds great. That scream!!

If I recall correctly in an interview, Drummond said he would go for a deeper pitch.

When I talked to him a few years ago, he indeed is going for a lower pitch. He's not destroying his vocal cords like he did the first time around. He, of course, can still do the higher pitch, but opted for something that has longevity for his own health. Although, speculating now rather than what he told me personally, I wouldn't be surprised to hear a higher pitch in the earlier parts compared to later... but who knows.


Anyways, it's been over a year at least since I was on the forum and am wondering what the updates are. So, what is going on around this project? Someone named Marni has gotten hold of a TV network and is attempting to convince them to use Ocean DBZ Kai? Who is Marni? Funimation played a role in holding airing rights of the dub?

I tried to read through the forum but the posts are all over the place.

Hi! Yeah, I remember reading your posts about that, way back before I even joined Kanzenshuu; would love to hear the voice in person like you did, that must have been so awesome. Was it very similar to the video I posted the link to?

Best summary I can muster before my 10 min break ends:

A company named Wow! Unlimited are acquiring a Canadian tv channel so they can broadcast content for young and teenage audiences.

It's should have a healthy amount of anime on it.

Marni Shulman is spearheading the channel and in charge of finding content for it. Via twitter, she has been made well aware of the Ocean Kai dub and to our knowledge so far, she has placed some calls and is HOPEFULLY negotiating with the right people so that it can finally air on this new channel.

Hope this helps!

[Robo4900]

Anyways, it's been over a year at least since I was on the forum and am wondering what the updates are. So, what is going on around this project? Someone named Marni has gotten hold of a TV network and is attempting to convince them to use Ocean DBZ Kai? Who is Marni? Funimation played a role in holding airing rights of the dub?

I tried to read through the forum but the posts are all over the place.

Marni Shulman is one of the heads for a new Canadian TV network, and thanks to a big outpouring of support for it, she's looking to air Ocean Kai on there.

Last few things she said on the matter were:
5th of November: "Tnx to all 4 help & advice. Have already had calls last week. More next wk. No promises, but trying to make something happen "
2nd of December: "Sorry for the delay. No news yet. Will keep everyone posted."

I'm optimistic about this, and I'm getting pretty pumped for it.

I've also been thinking about something; assuming it gets on air, once Ocean Kai reaches the end of its 98-episode run, I imagine it might take a while for them to get everything together for some new episodes... So, I wonder if they would rerun the Blue Water dub of the original series in the meantime.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

If Ocean ever dubs the Final Chapters which is unlikely to happen, then I would like if Scott emulated Kozo Shioya's Majin Buu.

If Wow airs the first 98 episodes (and that's a big "If" at this point) I do believe Ocean will go back and do The Final Chapters. It's unlikely they will get to do Super as the reports about Funimation's dub being released seemed to indicate they had locked down broadcast rights for Canada, but I'd say Ocean will want to at least have a full dub of both parts of Kai to be able to move on to future Dragon Ball series TOEI puts out.

When I talked to him a few years ago, he indeed is going for a lower pitch. He's not destroying his vocal cords like he did the first time around. He, of course, can still do the higher pitch, but opted for something that has longevity for his own health. Although, speculating now rather than what he told me personally, I wouldn't be surprised to hear a higher pitch in the earlier parts compared to later... but who knows.

Anyways, it's been over a year at least since I was on the forum and am wondering what the updates are. So, what is going on around this project? Someone named Marni has gotten hold of a TV network and is attempting to convince them to use Ocean DBZ Kai? Who is Marni? Funimation played a role in holding airing rights of the dub?

I tried to read through the forum but the posts are all over the place.

I'd say we'll be getting the lower pitched voice for the entirety of Kai because even when Drummond was doing lines from the Saban dub at recent cons it's been lower. My guess is that the voice will be a combination of his traditional Vegeta voice and Zechs Marquez in an attempt to better emulate Horikawa's smooth delivery. I'd like to see them take this approach, but if it's slightly different and we get the higher pitch for earlier episodes I'll be ok with that as long as the scripts are as accurate as Funi's dub.

SX10 and Robo4900 answered your question about Marni and the current situation as best as I could.

I've also been thinking about something; assuming it gets on air, once Ocean Kai reaches the end of its 98-episode run, I imagine it might take a while for them to get everything together for some new episodes... So, I wonder if they would rerun the Blue Water dub of the original series in the meantime.

I hope if this dub gets on the air and starts making money they will start work on The Final Chapters sooner rather than later. If they start early they can always go back at later points to do retakes if necessary. It would also partly resolve the issue of them rushing a dub out if they have more time during Ocean Kai 1.0's hypothetical (and fingers crossed eventual) broadcast to get it together before being bombarded by deadlines. A rerun of the Blue Water dubs of DB and GT would be nice, even if it was just for better TV rips, although I'm not sure what it would take to get them back on the air after all this time. Maybe Mediawan could do something but it's hard to say.

[TheBlackPaladin]

If Ocean ever dubs the Final Chapters which is unlikely to happen, then I would like if Scott emulated Kozo Shioya's Majin Buu.

Hold up. You think that if the Saiyan-Cell Sagas air, they wouldn't commission more episodes?

While that seems perfectly logical, a number of illogical things have happened in the history of the Dragon Ball franchise, and that extends to the Ocean dub of Kai. For example, I wouldn't call it particularly logical to pay for the production of an English dub for a 98-episode TV show before a TV network had even picked the show up...especially when that dub was going to be TV-only. Seriously, that still blows my mind. Even looking at the situation entirely from a financial perspective, I just can't wrap my head around why somebody would pay so much money for a show before people were even sure if the show would ever see the light of day. Paying for just a few episodes before a deal was ironed out, sure, that I could understand, but paying for all 98 of them before a deal was even reached? I...seriously, like, I can't even......who made that call?

So, all that to say, they could end up airing it and then just never doing anything with The Final Chapters.

[Super Sayian Prime]

It's been so long since the first 98 episodes of Kai were recorded, that I wouldn't be surprised if a continuation would require recasts. Trevor Devall, for instance, no longer lives in Vancouver.

[8000 Saiyan]

It's been so long since the first 98 episodes of Kai were recorded, that I wouldn't be surprised if a continuation would require recasts. Trevor Devall, for instance, no longer lives in Vancouver.

He'll also need to be replaced by another actor for his character in Black Lagoon.

[OmegaRockman]

If Ocean ever dubs the Final Chapters which is unlikely to happen, then I would like if Scott emulated Kozo Shioya's Majin Buu.

Hold up. You think that if the Saiyan-Cell Sagas air, they wouldn't commission more episodes?

While that seems perfectly logical, a number of illogical things have happened in the history of the Dragon Ball franchise, and that extends to the Ocean dub of Kai. For example, I wouldn't call it particularly logical to pay for the production of an English dub for a 98-episode TV show before a TV network had even picked the show up...especially when that dub was going to be TV-only. Seriously, that still blows my mind. Even looking at the situation entirely from a financial perspective, I just can't wrap my head around why somebody would pay so much money for a show before people were even sure if the show would ever see the light of day. Paying for just a few episodes before a deal was ironed out, sure, that I could understand, but paying for all 98 of them before a deal was even reached? I...seriously, like, I can't even......who made that call?

Not only did they pay for 98 episodes, but supposedly a replacement score for those episodes on top of that. Though I hope they only did a few episodes to test the waters and will opt to do without it if Wow manages to air it. I actually really like Kikuchi Kai despite its flaws.

[Super Sayian Prime]

It's been so long since the first 98 episodes of Kai were recorded, that I wouldn't be surprised if a continuation would require recasts. Trevor Devall, for instance, no longer lives in Vancouver.

He'll also need to be replaced by another actor for his character in Black Lagoon.

First there would need to be a new Black Lagoon anime adaptation for that to happen. I think it's likelier they just do a remake, in which case Funimation would cast it exclusively in Texas.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Hold up. You think that if the Saiyan-Cell Sagas air, they wouldn't commission more episodes?

While that seems perfectly logical, a number of illogical things have happened in the history of the Dragon Ball franchise, and that extends to the Ocean dub of Kai. For example, I wouldn't call it particularly logical to pay for the production of an English dub for a 98-episode TV show before a TV network had even picked the show up...especially when that dub was going to be TV-only. Seriously, that still blows my mind. Even looking at the situation entirely from a financial perspective, I just can't wrap my head around why somebody would pay so much money for a show before people were even sure if the show would ever see the light of day. Paying for just a few episodes before a deal was ironed out, sure, that I could understand, but paying for all 98 of them before a deal was even reached? I...seriously, like, I can't even......who made that call?

Not only did they pay for 98 episodes, but supposedly a replacement score for those episodes on top of that. Though I hope they only did a few episodes to test the waters and will opt to do without it if Wow manages to air it. I actually really like Kikuchi Kai despite its flaws.

Since the 98 episodes were completed and registered as Canadian content I'd have to assume they were also fully scored. I don't think this dub will air with anything other than the replacement score because on top of the money that has been spent to create it, original Japanese scores don't come cheap, so it wouldn't make much sense to acquire and mix another score unless it seemed profitable. Also, at this stage when so much money has been spent only for no broadcasters to be interested I doybt the producers would be willing to take any more chances. I agree Kikuchi Kai is good and I'd love to see the dub with that track.

[8000 Saiyan]

I'm quite excited by all of this and have been revisiting clips from older dubs etc. on YouTube to try and get a sense of how the show may sound. Found something sorta interesting:

https://youtu.be/cTk15DGQwC0

Uploaded Oct 2016. Never seen it before. Usually when Brian Drummond performs these bits, the recordings leave a lot to be desired e.g. lots of background noise & booming sound systems etc.

This is different.

Outside of the few fan uploads and the music video by BB & G-Wize (circa 2010) this is the first I have seen & heard of such good quality, where he talks for a while whilst in character.

Not sure if he was entirely committed to it or if the voice just happens to be closer to to his own now. But if this is really how it is in the dub then Vegeta sounds great. That scream!!

If I recall correctly in an interview, Drummond said he would go for a deeper pitch.

When I talked to him a few years ago, he indeed is going for a lower pitch. He's not destroying his vocal cords like he did the first time around. He, of course, can still do the higher pitch, but opted for something that has longevity for his own health. Although, speculating now rather than what he told me personally, I wouldn't be surprised to hear a higher pitch in the earlier parts compared to later... but who knows.


Anyways, it's been over a year at least since I was on the forum and am wondering what the updates are. So, what is going on around this project? Someone named Marni has gotten hold of a TV network and is attempting to convince them to use Ocean DBZ Kai? Who is Marni? Funimation played a role in holding airing rights of the dub?

I tried to read through the forum but the posts are all over the place.

I doubt Drummond would lie about not using a lower pitch.

[Arian]

I've also been thinking about something; assuming it gets on air, once Ocean Kai reaches the end of its 98-episode run, I imagine it might take a while for them to get everything together for some new episodes... So, I wonder if they would rerun the Blue Water dub of the original series in the meantime.

Yeah, I can see that. Not so much for GT, but at least the 2003 dub of DB can see the light of day again. Especially since they won't even give the tapes to the voice actors for their demo reels.

[Robo4900]

Yeah, I can see that. Not so much for GT, but at least the 2003 dub of DB can see the light of day again. Especially since they won't even give the tapes to the voice actors for their demo reels.

Well, GT wouldn't fit, now would it?
After Boo Kai, sure, that might work. But airing GT before the Boo arc has been done would be just silly. Plus, DB is 153 episodes, while GT is only 64.

I think the thing about giving tapes to the voice actors is that they were probably just a little paranoid about the legal ramifications. There's no reason GT would be any harder to get on air than DB; it's just a matter of which would make sense to air.

It's unlikely they will get to do Super as the reports about Funimation's dub being released seemed to indicate they had locked down broadcast rights for Canada

I don't think that's how that works.
A company gets the rights to make a dub, then the TV networks talk to the dubbing company about getting the rights to air that. I'm pretty sure that's how that works. Otherwise, Funimation would have locked AB Groupe out of Canada back in 2002, or more recently around 2009 when they first got wind Ocean were considering doing a dub of Kai 1.0, they could have locked whoever did Ocean Kai out from airing it in Canada...

[Arian]

If Ocean ever dubs the Final Chapters which is unlikely to happen, then I would like if Scott emulated Kozo Shioya's Majin Buu.

Hold up. You think that if the Saiyan-Cell Sagas air, they wouldn't commission more episodes?

While that seems perfectly logical, a number of illogical things have happened in the history of the Dragon Ball franchise, and that extends to the Ocean dub of Kai. For example, I wouldn't call it particularly logical to pay for the production of an English dub for a 98-episode TV show before a TV network had even picked the show up...especially when that dub was going to be TV-only. Seriously, that still blows my mind. Even looking at the situation entirely from a financial perspective, I just can't wrap my head around why somebody would pay so much money for a show before people were even sure if the show would ever see the light of day. Paying for just a few episodes before a deal was ironed out, sure, that I could understand, but paying for all 98 of them before a deal was even reached? I...seriously, like, I can't even......who made that call?

So, all that to say, they could end up airing it and then just never doing anything with The Final Chapters.

I understand what you're saying. If it was almost any other company, I'd be right there with you in thinking that they'd probably just drop it. But since Marni Shulman and the rest of Wow! Unlimited actually wants to hear what we think and what we want to see, I would think that all it would take is for us to tell them that there's more of Kai out there, and they're likely to commission it from that point, considering the ratings are substantial.

That's not withstanding the fact that Ocean would probably be interested in doing more and would inform them of that before we ever could anyway.

[8000 Saiyan]

If Ocean ever dubs the Final Chapters which is unlikely to happen, then I would like if Scott emulated Kozo Shioya's Majin Buu.

Hold up. You think that if the Saiyan-Cell Sagas air, they wouldn't commission more episodes?

Anyway, to respond to your statement, I actually liked Scott's voice for Buu, it'd be nice to hear it again.

It could happen or not.