NeptuneKai wrote:I'm not trying to start an argument I'm genuinely curious what didn't people like about the Ultimate Uncut dub?
[rant]While I wouldn't presume to speak for
Duo directly, I can point out that the most common complaints toward the Ultimate Uncut dub revolve around something to the effect of: it was an unprecedented second chance for FUNimation to prove the lessons learned and dub those episodes (and the entirety of
DragonBall Z, when you think about it) as competently as possible, and instead they just . . . well, they put a very slack attitude toward that chance.
The script is the main issue. It follows so closely to the original dub that they may as well have had Drummond and McNeil come back to voiceover what little was changed rather than put the Texas cast through an entire redub-- the effort in general isn't without merit, but it can be very lax and half-assed where dialogue nuances and even just genuine series facts are concerned. Obvious things like "I can see their parachutes" and Bardock being a brilliant scientist were (thankfully) corrected, but this was the exception rather than the rule; the new dub is neither solid nor is it consistent with the rest of the series, be that series either the original Japanese or FUNimation's own dub (particularly now that we know just how far "Revised English Audio" for Season Four+ goes), and its problems range from minor, eye-rolling trivialities to glaring logistical errors that make me want to scratch my head with a dirty razor. Unchanged, mistranslated power level values from 1996; different, conflicting pronunciations of words like
Kaio-ken and
Saibamen depending on the character (which makes them all look about as retarded as FUNi) as opposed to getting Mr. Schemmel to dub the pronunciation CORRECTLY; questionable VA choices (I'm speaking of Parsons in particular as Nappa, who ain't bad but chewed a little too much scenery for my taste); an indifferent, almost asexual musical score (and again, the baffling decision to NOT use the original for a second time); and of course . . . as
Akira previously stated, things like the rather unGoku-like reason for sparing Vegeta in the end that just (with respect to the original Japanese) completely gut the story and its characters.
Taken by themselves, or even when put all together, these things don't necessarily negate the effort; the VAs clearly had fun with exploring this part of the DBZ mythos, and it's more competent than most of what FUNimation has done throughout the series. I am grateful for the implied consistency that they were shooting for. But it's just such a dropped ball, with so much wasted opportunity, that one wonders why they even bothered.
There is also the nostalgia issue. For some people, even a 100% competent redub on FUNi's part might still equal Massive Suck compared to the voices they grew into with the Ocean cast.
To be somewhat clever in summary, the redub of the first two seasons is to
Dragonball Z is what UPN's
Enterprise prequel series is to Star Trek; it's a revisionist "new beginning" that looks great in theory and runs decent in practice, but it doesn't live up to its own expectations and could have been done with MUCH more care with respect to the greater whole . . . not to mention that it makes for a lot of contradictions in future shows because of this. (Where, oh where will Vegeta's potty-mouth'd redub have gone to that he's gonna be spouting "darn it" anywhere past the Freeza set? Probably to the same place as
Enterprise's Suliban, Xindi, the pioneering NX-01 and all the other crap we never heard of anywhere in or past TOS.)[/rant]
Ah, well. Back
ON-TOPIC: Season 4, anyone? My thoughts on the set, I suppose, can be summarized in one sentence:
Utter disappointment over Sabat's choice to end his redub of Vegeta this soon. And smack-in-the-middle of a freeking set, no less!! . . . as if to say, "PAY CLOSE ATTENTION, EVERYONE!! VEGETA'S VOICE IS GONNA CHANGE." Their error is so nakedly obvious that it may as well have been intentionally spoon-fed to us for laughs-- jus' stick a post-it on Vegeta's forehead that reads "Irritating Voice Flip; Make Sure You Hear It", already.
Then again, I'm somewhat validated: I called on this whole Vegeta business way back in August of last year, and quite perfectly . . . not that I
like being right in this instance, mind you.
In the Season Three Redub Predictions thread, Lemmy wrote:Christopher Sabat/Vegeta
Status of Episodes 68-74:
Vegeta was completely redubbed for these episodes. However, I think Sabat left grunts and groans from his original recording in spots during the final two . . . very strange.
Season Three predictions:
Given that he was willing to continue beyond the initial redub commitment and segue into what he's gone on record to claim as his least favorite arc of the series, I suspect that Sabat will bite the bullet and completely redub Vegeta throughout the remainder of the Freeza arc to give consistency and ultimately closure to the character. More cursing will be added to balance out a mostly unchanged script dialogue.
Certain lines will be altered past this point as we move into later seasons, but I don't anticipate any heavy redubbing beyond Freeza. "Season Four", as FUNi calls it, just about marks the end of the (super-obvious) Drummond impression, and the difference between Androids/Cell Vegeta and Buu Vegeta is not drastic enough where I think Sabat will seriously consider it.
*sigh*
~Da Lemmy
)
