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

[8000 Saiyan]

When it comes to those voices, I'm not sure if they would work that well for Piccolo.

And besides, I wouldn't want Piccolo to sound like Goku. Yeah, Schemmel's Nail is good, but you can tell that it's Goku voicing him.

[Robo4900]

When it comes to those voices, I'm not sure if they would work that well for Piccolo.

And besides, I wouldn't want Piccolo to sound like Goku. Yeah, Schemmel's Nail is good, but you can tell that it's Goku voicing him.

I think Bob Carter or Kyle Hebert would be solid choices.

Or perhaps Jason Douglas, if they wanted to go a different direction with the voice.

[8000 Saiyan]

When it comes to those voices, I'm not sure if they would work that well for Piccolo.

And besides, I wouldn't want Piccolo to sound like Goku. Yeah, Schemmel's Nail is good, but you can tell that it's Goku voicing him.

I think Bob Carter or Kyle Hebert would be solid choices.

Or perhaps Jason Douglas, if they wanted to go a different direction with the voice.

Okay, maybe I can see Bob Carter working as Piccolo.

I actually think he would have been a much better Nappa than Phil Parsons.

And you know, you were right about one thing: that Brian and Scott sounding different in Kai won't be what will set their performances apart from their ones in Z. Sometimes I take myself way too seriously, like, I just want to prove to some people wrong that Brian and Scott can give genuine performances as these characters, much like Sabat did with Kai, when I don't really need to.

[Robo4900]

Okay, maybe I can see Bob Carter working as Piccolo.

I actually think he would have been a much better Nappa than Phil Parsons.

Yeah. I think Nappa is another one who Funi should have recast for Kai.

I think I've said this before, but really, Funimation should have been more merciless in their recastings in Kai.
Nappa, Piccolo, Kaio, Yamcha, Tenshinhan... Nothing against the actors behind those voices; even something as small as the actors being open to trying a different take on the character could have made a world of difference. Nappa still sounds like a poor man's Michael Dobson, Yamcha still sounds like Chris Sabat on weed, Piccolo like Yamcha on coffee and sulfur hexafloride, and Vegeta like Piccolo with a gravel-coated sandpaper throat, Kaio can't be taken seriously...

When you have actors like Bob Carter, etc. in the casting pool now, there's no reason they couldn't have tried out some new voices. Generally, the main cast was really well-handled in Kai; Schemmel's always been a solid Goku(Yes, I said always. Even back when he first started in '99, Schemmel was probably the best in the Funi cast; he wasn't a true depiction of Goku, but he did a great job with what he was given, he was a shining light in the otherwise honestly a bit crap 1999 Funi cast, and he only got better from there), Sabat's Vegeta in Kai was pretty great, Monica Rial is a great Bulma, Colleen Clinkenbeard is great as Gohan, Chris Ayres is an outstanding Freeza...
But the secondary and tersiary cast members are still a bit of a mess, and a few key main cast members(Piccolo, mainly) were overlooked in all this.

And you know, you were right about one thing: that Brian and Scott sounding different in Kai won't be what will set their performances apart from their ones in Z. Sometimes I take myself way too seriously, like, I just want to prove to some people wrong that Brian and Scott can give genuine performances as these characters, much like Sabat did with Kai, when I don't really need to.

Haha, I know what you mean.
Drummond and McNeil sounding different will be interesting, but yeah, the performance itself will be what matters, and I absolutely can't wait.

[Kamiccolo9]

Ehhhh, '99 Schemmel was pretty not great. I'd say Sonny Strait was the best one back then.

[8000 Saiyan]

Everytime I think of 1999 Schemmel, I think of his "Oh no" delivery when Frieza shoots Vegeta in the heart. And I certainly don't think he was suddenly good when he was dubbing the end of the fight between Goku and Frieza.

As for Strait, I'd say he got better when he stopped using that Popeye voice.

[Robo4900]

Ehhhh, '99 Schemmel was pretty not great. I'd say Sonny Strait was the best one back then.

Fair enough.

Everytime I think of 1999 Schemmel, I think of his "Oh no" delivery when Frieza shoots Vegeta in the heart. And I certainly don't think he was suddenly good when he was dubbing the end of the fight between Goku and Frieza.

As for Strait, I'd say he got better when he stopped using that Popeye voice.

Goku vs Freeza was not well voiced. And yeah, there were some incredibly iffy deliveries when he started out. But I still think he was the best in a cast of amateurs in '99.

Admittedly, Strait wasn't bad, but he was... Well, more than mediocre, I suppose.

Problem with '99 Funi is that the direction was pretty poor, so even the better performers like Schemmel and Strait were often messy. And we all know how bad the lesser performers turned out...

But I do still maintain that Schemmel did a pretty great job with the material and direction he was given.

[8000 Saiyan]

I think you're being too kind to Schemmel. We should be thankful he doesn't sound like that anymore.

[Attitudefan]

It's so frustrating that we can go back and compare how the Funimation actors have improved or see how different direction works, but we cannot do the same for Ocean.

It saddens me that it has been about a decade and still nothing....... It would be awesome if Funimation could release it as a special edition. It's a no harm or foul release, so why not?

[Cure Dragon 255]

Soooooo... I know its most defintely not set in stone that it will air there, but what happened to WOW?

[TheBlackPaladin]

It would be awesome if Funimation could release it as a special edition. It's a no harm or foul release, so why not?

I've been told by those in the biz that it's a legal nightmare to license an anime. My guess is they can't do it because there's some weird clause (or clauses) in the contracts.

On top of that, I know there's a lot of passion for the Ocean dub on this thread--myself most definitely included--but I don't think there's quite enough of a demand for this dub for it to get a DVD release. It'd be nice if something could get released based on passion among the fans, but anime licensing, dubbing, and DVD distribution is a business...and whether something will make a profit or not is most definitely a discussion that gets brought up whenever a company contemplates a DVD release.

[8000 Saiyan]

Does Funimation even own the rights to Ocean Kai? I'm quite sure they don't.

Also, just listened to Dean Galloway's Roshi and I'm not sure if I want him back. I'd rather have Michael Donovan reprise.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Does Funimation even own the rights to Ocean Kai? I'm quite sure they don't.

I'm also quite sure they don't. We know they have some sort of agreement with Ocean (who don't own the rights but are just used as a production house) because they share the footage. Beyond that I doubt Funimation have any say or control over this dub. That said they do own the home video rights to the series as a whole in North America so if the rights holder wanted this dub to get a DVD or Blu-Ray release theoretically Funimation would have the power to make that happen through some sort of an agreement but that more than likely won't happen or make financial sense to do so, especially considering the fact being an edited for TV dub and a non-bilingual release would hurt sales.

[8000 Saiyan]

Okay, maybe I can see Bob Carter working as Piccolo.

I actually think he would have been a much better Nappa than Phil Parsons.

Yeah. I think Nappa is another one who Funi should have recast for Kai.

I think I've said this before, but really, Funimation should have been more merciless in their recastings in Kai.
Nappa, Piccolo, Kaio, Yamcha, Tenshinhan... Nothing against the actors behind those voices; even something as small as the actors being open to trying a different take on the character could have made a world of difference. Nappa still sounds like a poor man's Michael Dobson, Yamcha still sounds like Chris Sabat on weed, Piccolo like Yamcha on coffee and sulfur hexafloride, and Vegeta like Piccolo with a gravel-coated sandpaper throat, Kaio can't be taken seriously...

When you have actors like Bob Carter, etc. in the casting pool now, there's no reason they couldn't have tried out some new voices. Generally, the main cast was really well-handled in Kai; Schemmel's always been a solid Goku(Yes, I said always. Even back when he first started in '99, Schemmel was probably the best in the Funi cast; he wasn't a true depiction of Goku, but he did a great job with what he was given, he was a shining light in the otherwise honestly a bit crap 1999 Funi cast, and he only got better from there), Sabat's Vegeta in Kai was pretty great, Monica Rial is a great Bulma, Colleen Clinkenbeard is great as Gohan, Chris Ayres is an outstanding Freeza...
But the secondary and tersiary cast members are still a bit of a mess, and a few key main cast members(Piccolo, mainly) were overlooked in all this.

If I had been the casting director, I would have recasted the following characters:
Vegeta (maybe...)
Krillin (maybe...)
Future Trunks
King Kai
Korin
Tenshinhan
Yamcha
Chi-Chi
Master Roshi
Kami
Android 16
Nappa
Raditz
Nail (maybe...)
Ox-King
Majin Buu
Jeice
Recoome
Yajirobe (maybe...)

[Scsigs]

Okay, maybe I can see Bob Carter working as Piccolo.

I actually think he would have been a much better Nappa than Phil Parsons.

Yeah. I think Nappa is another one who Funi should have recast for Kai.

I think I've said this before, but really, Funimation should have been more merciless in their recastings in Kai.
Nappa, Piccolo, Kaio, Yamcha, Tenshinhan... Nothing against the actors behind those voices; even something as small as the actors being open to trying a different take on the character could have made a world of difference. Nappa still sounds like a poor man's Michael Dobson, Yamcha still sounds like Chris Sabat on weed, Piccolo like Yamcha on coffee and sulfur hexafloride, and Vegeta like Piccolo with a gravel-coated sandpaper throat, Kaio can't be taken seriously...

When you have actors like Bob Carter, etc. in the casting pool now, there's no reason they couldn't have tried out some new voices. Generally, the main cast was really well-handled in Kai; Schemmel's always been a solid Goku(Yes, I said always. Even back when he first started in '99, Schemmel was probably the best in the Funi cast; he wasn't a true depiction of Goku, but he did a great job with what he was given, he was a shining light in the otherwise honestly a bit crap 1999 Funi cast, and he only got better from there), Sabat's Vegeta in Kai was pretty great, Monica Rial is a great Bulma, Colleen Clinkenbeard is great as Gohan, Chris Ayres is an outstanding Freeza...
But the secondary and tersiary cast members are still a bit of a mess, and a few key main cast members(Piccolo, mainly) were overlooked in all this.

If I had been the casting director, I would have recasted the following characters:
Vegeta (maybe...)
Krillin (maybe...)
Future Trunks
King Kai
Korin
Tenshinhan
Yamcha
Chi-Chi
Master Roshi
Kami
Android 16
Nappa
Raditz
Nail
Majin Buu
Jeice
Recoome
Yajirobe (maybe...)

The fact that you guys say this, yet there's nothing wrong with the majority of these voices, is quite astounding to me.

[8000 Saiyan]

Oh no, there are lots of problems with those voices:

McFarland's Roshi works only in comedic moments, when he has to do the serious moments he falls flat; plus, it's painfully obvious that it's a middle-aged guy doing the best stereotypical old man voice he can do. It's one of those Funimation dub voices I don't get the love for.
Vale might be better than the other English voices for Future Trunks, but he has that intolerable rasp. Apparently, he smoked for a while. That makes sense for Sanji, but not for Trunks.
Sabat's Yamcha still slips into surfer dude mode every now and then;
Burgmeier has no charisma whatsoever as Tenshinhan; at least he's more tolerable in other stuff I've seen with him.
Cranz only brings the bitchiness of Chi-Chi and none of her warmth;
Inman still sounds a bit flat as Android 16;
Liebrecht should have never played Jeice. The dude's a great VA, but he just makes Jeice sound like a pansy and that accent is quite grating on the ears;
Cook has no subtlety whatsoever as Raditz; that's what I love about Chiba and Gray-Stanford's renditions, they had subtlety.
Phil Parsons is a poor man's Michael Dobson; true, Michael Dobson had crappy scripts to work with, but he made Nappa more memorable.
Sabat shouldn't be voicing Kami or Korin.
Do I even need to explain the problems with Schemmel's Kaio? How am I suppose to take Kaio seriously with this voice? True, Kaio is mostly a comic relief character, but even he has his serious moments.
Sabat's Recoome still sounds "special";
There's never been a tolerable English voice for Buu; Josh Martin might be better than Scott McNeil and Corby Proctor in the part, but that doesn't mean much.
Oh yeah, I also forgot Hebert's Ox-King; too cartoonish sounding.

[Scsigs]

Oh no, there are lots of problems with those voices:

McFarland's Roshi works only in comedic moments, when he has to do the serious moments he falls flat; plus, it's painfully obvious that it's a middle-aged guy doing the best stereotypical old man voice he can do. It's one of those Funimation dub voices I don't get the love for.

I mean, comedic old man tone for a perverted old man...
I get that he has more serious moments, but that was a thing in the Japanese as well. That's how Toriyama tends to write some of his characters, specifically the mentors.

Sabat's Yamcha still slips into surfer dude mode every now and then;

It's not a bad voice for the character, though.

Burgmeier has no charisma whatsoever as Tenshinhan;

Is he supposed to? Tien's never been one to be shown as charismatic.

Cranz only brings the bitchiness of Chi-Chi and none of her warmth;

Disagree. I had this opinion of Monica Rial as Bulma at first, though, but then I remembered Bulma's a bitch in the first few arcs of Z, hell, even in DB, & she gets better. Considering Chichi's mostly a bitch in her parenting style in Z, it's most of what you see with her.

Inman still sounds a bit flat as Android 16;

Considering 16 is, y'know, an android & he's not like 16 or 17 where he's an augmented human cyborg, I think that's what they were going for.

Liebrecht should have never played Jeice. The dude's a great VA, but he just makes Jeice sound like a pansy and that accent is quite grating on the ears;

Well, he was just trying to recreate what Sabat did for the character with him being from Space Australia. Maybe he should've used a different voice tone or accent, but Sabat was just trying to give someone else the role, but also have him do a version of the voice he did for the character. I mean, that's probably not the voice I would've gone with for the character, but I understand why they did.

Cook has no subtlety whatsoever as Raditz; that's what I love about Chiba and Gray-Stanford's renditions, they had subtlety.

Considering Raditz is basically a card-carrying villain, I don't see much wrong with his interpretation of the character.

Phil Parsons is a poor man's Michael Dobson; true, Michael Dobson had crappy scripts to work with, but he made Nappa more memorable.

Considering I've heard Dobson as Nappa, I disagree very much. Their voice tones are much different & I don't see any commonalities.

Sabat shouldn't be voicing Kami or Korin.

Kami is half the original being & Piccolo is the other, so that makes sense. Korrin, I don't see any problems with.

Do I even need to explain the problems with Schemmel's Kaio? How am I supposed to take Kaio seriously with this voice? True, Kaio is mostly a comic relief character, but even he has his serious moments.

I get this. I said most of the voices. Personally, I can take the character seriously & don't think Ocean did much better, considering Schemmel's ony imitating their actor's voice.

Sabat's Recoome still sounds "special";

Less so in Kai, but I understand this. Doesn't bother me, though.

There's never been a tolerable English voice for Buu; Josh Martin might be better than Scott McNeil and Corby Proctor in the part, but that doesn't mean much.

I can understand this, but I actually like the voice. Given the character is meant to be a subversion of your expectations, since he's a giant pink blob who acts with the mental capacity of a child, the voice makes sense. In fact, I find the Japanese voice more jarring than his English one. I could care less about the 3rd person speech, but I feel FUNi's interpretation isn't any less valid than the Japanese one. In fact, I kind of prefer it in a way.

Oh yeah, I also forgot Hebert's Ox-King;

I mean, I get it, but considering they casted him when all they knew about him was from the Z era when he became the bumbling grandpa, I don't blame them for casting him as him or using that voice tone.

[8000 Saiyan]

I mean, comedic old man tone for a perverted old man...
I get that he has more serious moments, but that was a thing in the Japanese as well. That's how Toriyama tends to write some of his characters, specifically the mentors.

Here's the thing though. When Miyauchi delivered the serious moments, he delivered them in a serious tone; McFarland, on the other hand, delivered them in the same tone he uses for the comedic moments IIRC.

Sabat's Yamcha still slips into surfer dude mode every now and then;

It's not a bad voice for the character, though.

It always feels to me like a poor attempt to try sound cool. Furuya sounds effortlessly cool.

Do I even need to explain the problems with Schemmel's Kaio? How am I supposed to take Kaio seriously with this voice? True, Kaio is mostly a comic relief character, but even he has his serious moments.

I get this. I said most of the voices. Personally, I can take the character seriously & don't think Ocean did much better, considering Schemmel's ony imitating their actor's voice.

Sure, but what about the serious moments? Do you think Schemmel delivers them well? Better than Brown and Yanami?

There's never been a tolerable English voice for Buu; Josh Martin might be better than Scott McNeil and Corby Proctor in the part, but that doesn't mean much.

I can understand this, but I actually like the voice. Given the character is meant to be a subversion of your expectations, since he's a giant pink blob who acts with the mental capacity of a child, the voice makes sense. In fact, I find the Japanese voice more jarring than his English one. I could care less about the 3rd person speech, but I feel FUNi's interpretation isn't any less valid than the Japanese one. In fact, I kind of prefer it in a way.

Why? Because it doesn't correspond to your idea of what Majin Buu is like as a character? Like, he has a childish personality, so he should sound very obvious that he's a child?

[TheBlackPaladin]

Does Funimation even own the rights to Ocean Kai? I'm quite sure they don't.

I'm also quite sure they don't. We know they have some sort of agreement with Ocean (who don't own the rights but are just used as a production house) because they share the footage. Beyond that I doubt Funimation have any say or control over this dub. That said they do own the home video rights to the series as a whole in North America so if the rights holder wanted this dub to get a DVD or Blu-Ray release theoretically Funimation would have the power to make that happen through some sort of an agreement but that more than likely won't happen or make financial sense to do so, especially considering the fact being an edited for TV dub and a non-bilingual release would hurt sales.

Exactly. FUNimation doesn't own the rights to the Ocean dub of Kai, but what they do own is the rights to a whole lot of other stuff (like the home video and streaming rights) that makes the release of the Ocean dub of Kai--in any form other than a TV-only release in Canada--exceptionally difficult to pull off. Like Dragon Ball Ireland said, I'm sure it's legally possible that they could work out a deal, but it wouldn't make much financial sense to do so. At this point, the only kind of release for the Ocean dub of Kai that would both work out legally and make financial sense would be a TV-only release in Canada.

...........................While we're on the subject of making financial sense, though.......I would also argue that it makes zero financial sense to pay for the dub of an entire 99-episode show before the producers had even secured a deal with a Canadian TV network. Especially when the producers knew that was the only way this dub would ever be seen. But that's another story.

[Attitudefan]

Does Funimation even own the rights to Ocean Kai? I'm quite sure they don't.

I'm also quite sure they don't. We know they have some sort of agreement with Ocean (who don't own the rights but are just used as a production house) because they share the footage. Beyond that I doubt Funimation have any say or control over this dub. That said they do own the home video rights to the series as a whole in North America so if the rights holder wanted this dub to get a DVD or Blu-Ray release theoretically Funimation would have the power to make that happen through some sort of an agreement but that more than likely won't happen or make financial sense to do so, especially considering the fact being an edited for TV dub and a non-bilingual release would hurt sales.

Exactly. FUNimation doesn't own the rights to the Ocean dub of Kai, but what they do own is the rights to a whole lot of other stuff (like the home video and streaming rights) that makes the release of the Ocean dub of Kai--in any form other than a TV-only release in Canada--exceptionally difficult to pull off. Like Dragon Ball Ireland said, I'm sure it's legally possible that they could work out a deal, but it wouldn't make much financial sense to do so. At this point, the only kind of release for the Ocean dub of Kai that would both work out legally and make financial sense would be a TV-only release in Canada.

...........................While we're on the subject of making financial sense, though.......I would also argue that it makes zero financial sense to pay for the dub of an entire 99-episode show before the producers had even secured a deal with a Canadian TV network. Especially when the producers knew that was the only way this dub would ever be seen. But that's another story.

But I would argue that it makes little business sense to do an edited TV-Only dub in a world of streaming on the internet. To have no home release so it could be distributed as a stream as well, makes little sense. They should have produced the dub uncut at the very least, for marketability reasons in case it does get a home release.