Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 14; Still Unreleased

[JohnnyCashKami]

Pretty much this, and honestly, they're pretty incompetent and lazy when it comes to their own releases too - see their abysmal handling of the Pokemon classics on BR. They would most likely botch or at least make a very half-hearted attempt at an Ocean dubbed release of Dragon Ball if they tried.

Manga UK doesn't put any effort in their own trailers too, they just take what other companies have done and slap an image of their product on it which sometimes it feels so out of place. I've unsubscribed from their YouTube channel because of it. Lazy ass bums.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

The main problem with Funimation acquiring and selling Ocean Kai is that their priority will always be the American market first and foremost. From their standpoint, an English dub that didn't air in the US (Ocean Kai, Westwood, Blue Water, Bang Zoom etc) is something I don't think they'd give second thought as they'd struggle to market it.

True, but if an Ocean Kai release also contains the Nicktoons broadcast dub (which will probably happen if an Ocean Kai home release ever becomes a reality) one could argue they were catering to both audiences. I could see the Nicktoons version (which would almost certainly be the default audio track) having its own niche as I've heard a lot of complaints about the excessive swearing in the uncut dub. Including Ocean Kai in such as release would widen the customer base and Funimation's possible revenue stream.

I'd go as far as to say the only dub they'd need to market is their own, as the Ocean dub (for better or for worse) could be treated as a bonus.

Releasing the RTD set changes very little in regards to this as they obviously owned and produced all that material themselves, plus it was a dub that had strong nostalgic value for the US market and they wanted to make one last quick profit from it without any middleman being attached this time (the previous US home video distributor being Pioneer). I can't see them ever finding any value in negotiating a deal with any other company behind Ocean Kai or AB Groupe for DB/Z/GT dubs, for Funi that seems to be too big of a barrier to entry as they'd instantly be gambling money or at the very least, losing a share of the profits.

True, but they could easily make this release manufacture on demand to cut distribution costs. Ultimately we won't know for sure until we know whether or not TOEI commissioned it as the lack of a middleman would reduce the possible profit loss for Funi.

That said, it would be a small miracle for Ocean Kai to get a home release (or be released at all for that matter) but I do think if we want it there's no harm in discussing and advocating for it.

[MistaL]

I wanna mention that yes, even if Toei didn't produce Ocean Kai themselves, they still own it. The rights to other-language dubs are always owned by both the American and Japanese companies equally (except in some rare occurrences in the 80s-90s, like the 1989 Akira dub that took a while to be properly reaquired). This is why it's so easy for Manga UK to get dubs from companies like Funimation or Viz, because even if sometimes they can't get the same DVD/BD masters, they can still request and get the English audio from the Japanese side. At that point Funimation or Viz might as well hand over their menus and shit for some cash.

[C. Smith]

True, but they could easily make this release manufacture on demand to cut distribution costs.

Manufacture-on-demand isn't a good idea for anime. Whenever an anime is released that way, people get angry.

[Scsigs]

True, but they could easily make this release manufacture on demand to cut distribution costs.

Manufacture-on-demand isn't a good idea for anime. Whenever an anime is released that way, people get angry.

Whenever anything's released that way, people get angry.

[C. Smith]

True, but they could easily make this release manufacture on demand to cut distribution costs.

Manufacture-on-demand isn't a good idea for anime. Whenever an anime is released that way, people get angry.

Whenever anything's released that way, people get angry.

Especially anime. This article explains it best.

[Robo4900]

New Tweet from Marni Shulman.

Sorry everyone. Haven’t been keeping up with my twitter feed. Ramping up a new brand as well as all the platforms including a channel takes time. I promise to teeet when I have updates. Thx 4 UR patience & support!

[Cure Dragon 255]

God bless Marni, she's awesome.

[Attitudefan]

Sounds real positive!!

[SX10]

My gut tells me this is coming April 2019, a spring release! Though a winter release around November/ December would be awesome! Get the feeling talks and negotiations haven't exactly finished up yet. But Marni's tweet seems pretty chill and collected. She's got this

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Definitely appreciate Marni updating us, moreover saying "All Good" as I was worrying about her being put under pressure about Kai. I'm going to be patient, but hopefully there's been no major issues with finalizing the deal on this dub.

[Robo4900]

I think, as with before, we just have to sit tight.

Honestly, it might even be best if we let this thread die down for a while; only bring it back if/when news arrives. There's not really much to say that hasn't been said at this point, and there's unlikely to be until we get some official announcement. So, maybe just let this one fall off the main page and such, so when there is news, people will see it pinging as a new thing for the first time in a while.

[SX10]

Maybe some of you guys know, but I am sure I read somewhere on here that Doc Harris wasn't returning as narrator? I have a vague recollection of that and it's bumming me out, so I HOPE I'm wrong!

[Robo4900]

Maybe some of you guys know, but I am sure I read somewhere on here that Doc Harris wasn't returning as narrator? I have a vague recollection of that and it's bumming me out, so I HOPE I'm wrong!

Okay, I suppose I might aswell recap this kind of thing for everyone so people don't have to make these kinds of posts here for a while. And who knows, assuming I haven't significantly buggered up several details here, maybe this can be quoted in future if/when we decide to open up a new topic if/when this dub airs...

Voices that probably are not returning:
Doc Harris as the narrator - Said he wasn't back.
Dale Wilson as Cell, Kami, and King Yemma - Said he doesn't remember recording for this dub.
Terry Klassen as Krillin, Guldo, Cell Jr., Roshi, and Grandpa Gohan - Brian Drummond confirmed he isn't back; he's transitioned entirely into directing.
Paul Dobson as Zarbon - Kirbopher has claimed to have talked to the "New" voice of Zarbon.
David Kaye as Recoome - He works out of LA now, so it's pretty certain he's not back.
Robert O. Smith as Grand Elder Guru - Passed away in 2010. It is possible he was auditioned and did all his voicework for it in 2010 before he died, since the character isn't in a lot of episodes, but it's highly unlikely, especially since the last work he's known to have done was back in 2005/2006.
Jason Gray-Stanford as Raditz - He hasn't really done much voicework since the '90s, so he's unlikely to be back.
Pauline Newstone as Freeza - Recast in favour of Lee Tockar.
Ian Corlett, Peter Kelamis, and Kirby Morrow as Goku - Morrow was re-auditioned, but ultimately rejected. The other two weren't auditioned. Richard Ian Cox was cast in this role instead.
Matt Smith as Tien Shinhan - Rejected in favour of his Calgary alternative, Brendan Hunter.

Voices that are returning: (All confirmed by the relevant actors)
Scott McNeil as Piccolo, Jeice, Caroni, Dr. Brief
Michael Dobson as Nappa
Brian Drummond as Vegeta
Brendan Hunter as Tien Shinhan (Blue Water)

Known new voices:
Richard Ian Cox as Goku - Confirmed by Scott McNeil, Kirbopher, and I believe also KaiserNeko
Lee Tockar as Freeza - Confirmed by Tockar himself.
Cole Howard as #17 - He mentioned it in a Reddit post.
James Beach - Unknown role in episode 21. Likely an unnamed Namekian. Confirmed in a forum post where he asked for a copy of the episode to use in his demo reel.

Voices that may be returning: (Excluding actors we've heard nothing about)
Ted Cole as Yamcha - Brian Drummond said he may be returning. We know he was recast as #17 in favour of Cole Howard, though. Assuming he was re-auditioned as Yamcha, he was likely also re-auditioned as Korin aswell.
Saffron Henderson as Gohan - We haven't had 100% confirmation yet. It can be assumed she's back based on how and what she said in regards to voicing Gohan, but it's not a concrete thing.
Don Brown as King Kai, Emperor Pilaf, Burter, Moori, Hercule/Mr. Satan, Shenron, and Roshi - He still works, and Brian Drummond claimed to have worked with him as recently as 2013, so the jury is still out on this.
Scott McNeil as #16, and farmer in field - He has talked about playing basically all the same characters as he did in Z, including mentioning Boo, Old Kai, South Kai, and Dabura, but a handful of his old roles haven't been mentioned, and we're also unsure if he's gained any new roles this time around. If Alec Willows isn't reprising Oolong, there is precedent for McNeil playing that character in Willows' absence, after all... Whether this all just slipped his mind, or if he's been recast in some of his old roles is not known, though he can be quite forthcoming about this stuff at cons when asked. (Similar case for any characters not mentioned above played by actors I've mentioned)

Other misc. info:
Karl Willems was the primary ADR director of this dub, according to Brian Drummond.
At least one other ADR director was involved in some capacity, as at least one person connected to this dub knew it to be directed by someone else.
The idea of doing both a cut and an uncut version of this dub was discussed. We have no way of knowing which way this went, however a cut version does exist.
The edited video master for this dub's production was licensed by Funimation, though with their episode titles used instead of Ocean's. This video master is what aired on NickToons USA. It's possible this edited video master was only produced in standard-definition.
The edited video master gives us some small insights into one or two things about this dub; the tournaments will be referred to with a direct romanisation, "Tenkaichi Budoukai", instead of the localised "World Martial Arts Tournament" title Funimation's dubs, and productions that follow their naming conventions, have used in the past.
The romanised name of the Tenkaichi Budoukai goes along with the more-accurate approach this dub seems to be taking in other areas, with Freeza's recasting away from Pauline Newstone, Goku's recasting away from Kirby Morrow, and the fact Namek will be pronounced closer to how it's pronounced in the Japanese version.
Apparently, the scripts were done by Ocean.
One of the first people to be cast in this dub was apparently Scott McNeil. Lee Tockar allegedly heard some of the music for this dub, so he likely recorded much later in the production.
Because Maggie Blue O'Hara was not in Vancouver at the time this dub was recorded, and I believe the same as true of Lalainia Lindbjerg, it's probably safe to assume we're getting a new Bulma.
Any characters that aren't returning from a Vancouver casting may have been swapped out for their Calgary casting. Apparently the bulk of the cast is from Vancouver, but we know some Blue Water actors will be involved.
I would be rather surprised if Dave 'Squatch' Ward isn't back as Ox-King.
The last few seconds of the opening theme song are available via the online editing supervisor's demo reel. This video also notes "2 seasons", which gels with the CRTC listing of Kai(Page 2) as "DRAGONBALL KAI (I)(#1-50)" and "DRAGONBALL KAI (II)(#51-98)", which suggests it was packaged and officially considered as two "Seasons" of about 50 episodes each. This snippet also gels with something David Steele said about a 30-second snippet of a song called "Dragonball Kai" on his website: "I did that spot in 2009 and [...] I can't even remember if it was a demo or went final?" The voice doesn't sound like his, and the instrumentation sounds entirely different. It's possible the lyrics are also entirely different. So, this demo which has been going around online as "The opening to Ocean Kai" is likely nothing more than a scratch track.
Sean Schemmel has seen a small amount of this dub, likely because of Funimation's acquisition of Ocean's edited video master.
Last news we heard on this is that Marni Shulman of Wow TV in Canada is still working on acquiring it. It all seems to be going smoothly, so all we can really do is sit tight and wait for an update from her. She's said multiple times she'll send out a Tweet when there's any news on this.

[NitroEX]

Matt Smith as Tien Shinhan - Rejected in favour of his Calgary alternative, Brendan Hunter.

Minor nitpick but I wouldn't frame it that was rejected - he likely never auditioned for this as he seems to have quit acting long ago and moved into a different line of work.

[8000 Saiyan]

Scott McNeil as #16, and farmer in field - He has talked about playing basically all the same characters as he did in Z, including mentioning Boo, Old Kai, South Kai, and Dabura, but a handful of his old roles haven't been mentioned, and we're also unsure if he's gained any new roles this time around. If Alec Willows isn't reprising Oolong, there is precedent for McNeil playing that character in Willows' absence, after all... Whether this all just slipped his mind, or if he's been recast in some of his old roles is not known, though he can be quite forthcoming about this stuff at cons when asked. (Similar case for any characters not mentioned above played by actors I've mentioned)

Because Maggie Blue O'Hara was not in Vancouver at the time this dub was recorded, and I believe the same as true of Lalainia Lindbjerg, it's probably safe to assume we're getting a new Bulma.

I'm pretty sure Lalainia Lindbjerg still lived in Vancouver (she still lives there considering she got a role in Gintama), she was just probably busy with theater work.

Dear God, I hope Scott doesn't reprise Android 16. He just sounded wrong for the part. I'm not the biggest fan of Jeremy Inman's performance, but even he sounded a lot better. If he does reprise the farmer, then YAAAAAY!

[Robo4900]

Minor nitpick but I wouldn't frame it that was rejected - [Matt Smith] likely never auditioned for this as he seems to have quit acting long ago and moved into a different line of work.

I don't know the details, so I went with that. But, noted.

I'm pretty sure Lalainia Lindbjerg still lived in Vancouver (she still lives there considering she got a role in Gintama), she was just probably busy with theater work.

Right. I couldn't remember why it was that we agreed she likely wouldn't be in Ocean Kai, but I remember the consensus was that Bulma will likely be a new voice, or perhaps a Blue Water reprisal(Though given the fact the Blue Water VAs for Bulma were both pretty middling, I would doubt this).
Regardless, noted.

Dear God, I hope Scott doesn't reprise Android 16. He just sounded wrong for the part. I'm not the biggest fan of Jeremy Inman's performance, but even he sounded a lot better. If he does reprise the farmer, then YAAAAAY!

I think McNeil could give us a good #16, if he tried a different approach. But his performance as-is in the original dub was... Yeah, not great. I imagine this dub will give us a new performance in the role of #16 one way or another, and I think that's something we're sorely in need of; #16 is one of many, many characters in Dragon Ball who has yet to have a truly great English performance, and I'm really hoping this dub gives us that at last for many of these characters.
I honestly really do hope McNeil reprises farmer in field. Him being that guy is such a fun little dumb thing to throw around as jokey trivia, and he was so perfect in that little bit part... I just really hope he reprised it.

One I'm hoping to see back is Alec Willows as Oolong. But, as I say, I don't think we're likely to get anything new on this dub until Shulman gives us an update on it, so I don't think it's worth speculating further, and clogging up this thread even more than it already is...

[8000 Saiyan]

I'm not confident in him doing a lot better. Just get either Garry Chalk or Brian Dobson to play the role. I can take a Blue Water VA if he fits the part.

[MistaL]

Marni said she's gonna ask for the cast list next time she talks to Toei or Ocean and will possibly share it with us!

[SX10]

Marni said she's gonna ask for the cast list next time she talks to Toei or Ocean and will possibly share it with us!

Hot damn! Marni's cool response seems very reassuring! However, I doubt they will be willing to divulge that or even allow Marni to share it publicly just yet.

It hits me every time how amazing it is that she is in direct talks with the correct people on this. THIS fan base did that. Us (and ToonBarn). Be proud guys!