Opinions on the original Funi Dragon Ball dub

[ABED]

It's too avuncular. He sounds like he's reading a bedtime story or teaching schoolchildren or something. And his voice is too straight-laced and upstanding to me. I don't really get so much of that from Yanami.

That's actually the entire poitn. He plays it straight which is in contrast to the silliness of the story. It's a fun dynamic. It's exactly what Yanami goes for as the narrator

[MasenkoHA]

. The Faulconer score helped to define what Funi's Z dub was. Not to mention that DB and DBZ are suppose to be two parts of a whole

DBZ’s dub itself didn’t have a consistent score let alone a consistent cast at the time so I don’t know why any of that would matter.

The music is still a factor. They might be more likely to tune in if they hear Faulconer's sounds over Kikuchi's.

And yes somehow I’m willing to bet even in 2001 DBZ dub fans had no problem tuning into reruns of the first 2 seasons or showings of the first 3 movies.

The idea the Faulconer score was the end all be be all of DBZ in America is such revisionist history.

. It's about preserving the Faulconer style and energy.

Ear rape?

[Shobijin 小美人]

He sounds like he's reading a bedtime story or teaching schoolchildren or something. And his voice is too straight-laced and upstanding to me.

I mean, that's kind of exactly the vibe I get from Yanami. Whenever he (Yanami) narrates I'm always picturing Kaioh sitting in an armchair by a fireplace reading out of a storybook to the audience at home (or Bubbles). As much as I can't stand the dub, I think the narration is the one thing they did well.

[Robo4900]

The Funi dub of DB is just as unforgivably terrible as their dubs of Z and GT.

It doesn't have as much of the iconically bad stuff that either of those have, since it was made a couple of years after the Z low-point of season 3 (in fact, it was just before the "high point" of the Boo arc, though "high point" here is entirely relative, since it was still shit), and didn't have GT's problem of Funi outright wanting to make a completely different show due to a general disinterest in what GT originally was (which is how we got the GT rap, the edgy narrator, the droning metal music, etc.), but it has all the hallmarks of Funi's generally shitty work on Z and GT.

The DB dub is still heavily censored, the majority of the dialogue is padded out with added shit that often ends up completely changing the focus of the conversation, unfunny jokes are added everywhere (including in dramatic moments), no moment is allowed to be free of dialogue, random changes to plot and charcterisation are made to fit whatever Funi's writers felt like on that day, mysticism in general is removed wherever possible, theological references are removed, at one point they actually added a reference to power levels to please Z fans, as in the clip linked above...

The DB dub is horseshit, and the more a Blue Water episode veered away from the Funi scripts, the better it got.
For those unaware: BW's early scripts were clearly based on Funi's scripts, but rewritten to make the dialogue read better, and fairly often the result was closer to the Japanese version, but often they would end up replacing Funi bullshit with their own bullshit, so in the very early run, the two dubs are of a similar standard. This changes as the dub goes on; by the middle of the Red Ribbon arc, Blue Water's scripts are only barely referencing Funi's scripts, with at least a few episodes being very obviously completely re-translated from the Japanese dialogue (the first one I remember being the filler in the amusement park). Episode titles are still mostly borrowed from Funi, but the scripts are very faithful to the Japanese version, and even though there's visual cuts and censorship, the dub as a whole is still a closer adaptation of the Japanese version just by the dint of its better translation, and the fact it actually keeps basically all the mysticism, characters, and names (and Funi's wasn't uncensored anyway, dialogue-wise); at one point in the 23rd Tenkaichi, when Goku figures out that Shen (or, in Funi's dub, "Hero") is God (sorry, "Kami"), Funi changed the scene to instead have Goku realise that he's an alien, which makes absolutely no sense. They also had Piccolo at one point say that he's "fought all over the universe". Neither of these really stupid changes are in the Blue Water dub, thankfully.
The situation is sort of comparable to GT, except that for GT, Blue Water used entirely original scripts from the very beginning, and most episodes of BW GT are actually uncut aside from the shortened OP and ED, and (as in their DB dub) the removal of the title card and "Next time" preview (though a couple of episodes do actually leave the preview in). But, it remains the case that Blue Water's version is made by people who actually cared about respecting the original work; Funi's simply wasn't. They've changed a lot since then, with Kai 1.0 being a massive turning point, but back in 2001 when they did DB, Funi had no interest in dubbing Dragon Ball properly. In fact, think the only reason they bothered dubbing the original series was to eliminate the risk of someone else dubbing and making money off it in the USA. It's clear they didn't care to market it properly, and they had no idea how to handle its tone, and most of the time it sounds like none of the actors, directors, or writers really wanted to be there.

On the note of the actors, many people do take issue with BW's casting and voice performances, but personally I fail to see how this criticism could apply to BW's work but not Funi's. Nadolny's line deliveries were even more stiff and stilted than the dialogue she was given, ditto for their casting for Bulma at the time. In fact, this applies so universally to Funi's circa 2001 cast, I must assume it's the fault of the director and/or time constraints. (Probably a mixture of both, combined with how shit their dialogue was, and the greenness of the actors, even by 2001)

Neither dub is even close to ideal, but the reality is that Funi's is unforgivably a pile of shit. BW's is a pretty decent TV dub that surprisingly makes for better viewing than Funi's allegedly-"uncut" dub. If the BW dub ever gets released on DVD, I would urge anyone who prefers watching dubbed to make the permanent switch to the BW version.

For now, unfortunately, Funi's version is the only option for most people, so all I can say is, watch subbed. It's a far better experience than either dub, and it was actually done in order (DB, Z, GT. Or DB, Kai, Super, if you prefer) with a consistent cast, so you don't get sudden, jarring cast switches at seemingly-random points.
Another option if you must watch dubbed is to go ask KBABZ about his "The First Chapters" fanedit of Funi DB, which not only cuts out filler but also does wonders in terms of fixing the egregious dub changes.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Spoiler:

The Funi dub of DB is just as unforgivably terrible as their dubs of Z and GT.

It doesn't have as much of the iconically bad stuff that either of those have, since it was made a couple of years after the Z low-point of season 3 (in fact, it was just before the "high point" of the Boo arc, though "high point" here is entirely relative, since it was still shit), and didn't have GT's problem of Funi outright wanting to make a completely different show due to a general disinterest in what GT originally was (which is how we got the GT rap, the edgy narrator, the droning metal music, etc.), but it has all the hallmarks of Funi's generally shitty work on Z and GT.

The DB dub is still heavily censored, the majority of the dialogue is padded out with added shit that often ends up completely changing the focus of the conversation, unfunny jokes are added everywhere (including in dramatic moments), no moment is allowed to be free of dialogue, random changes to plot and charcterisation are made to fit whatever Funi's writers felt like on that day, mysticism in general is removed wherever possible, theological references are removed, at one point they actually added a reference to power levels to please Z fans, as in the clip linked above...

The DB dub is horseshit, and the more a Blue Water episode veered away from the Funi scripts, the better it got.
For those unaware: BW's early scripts were clearly based on Funi's scripts, but rewritten to make the dialogue read better, and fairly often the result was closer to the Japanese version, but often they would end up replacing Funi bullshit with their own bullshit, so in the very early run, the two dubs are of a similar standard. This changes as the dub goes on; by the middle of the Red Ribbon arc, Blue Water's scripts are only barely referencing Funi's scripts, with at least a few episodes being very obviously completely re-translated from the Japanese dialogue (the first one I remember being the filler in the amusement park). Episode titles are still mostly borrowed from Funi, but the scripts are very faithful to the Japanese version, and even though there's visual cuts and censorship, the dub as a whole is still a closer adaptation of the Japanese version just by the dint of its better translation, and the fact it actually keeps basically all the mysticism, characters, and names (and Funi's wasn't uncensored anyway, dialogue-wise); at one point in the 23rd Tenkaichi, when Goku figures out that Shen (or, in Funi's dub, "Hero") is God (sorry, "Kami"), Funi changed the scene to instead have Goku realise that he's an alien, which makes absolutely no sense. They also had Piccolo at one point say that he's "fought all over the universe". Neither of these really stupid changes are in the Blue Water dub, thankfully.
The situation is sort of comparable to GT, except that for GT, Blue Water used entirely original scripts from the very beginning, and most episodes of BW GT are actually uncut aside from the shortened OP and ED, and (as in their DB dub) the removal of the title card and "Next time" preview (though a couple of episodes do actually leave the preview in). But, it remains the case that Blue Water's version is made by people who actually cared about respecting the original work; Funi's simply wasn't. They've changed a lot since then, with Kai 1.0 being a massive turning point, but back in 2001 when they did DB, Funi had no interest in dubbing Dragon Ball properly. In fact, think the only reason they bothered dubbing the original series was to eliminate the risk of someone else dubbing and making money off it in the USA. It's clear they didn't care to market it properly, and they had no idea how to handle its tone, and most of the time it sounds like none of the actors, directors, or writers really wanted to be there.

On the note of the actors, many people do take issue with BW's casting and voice performances, but personally I fail to see how this criticism could apply to BW's work but not Funi's. Nadolny's line deliveries were even more stiff and stilted than the dialogue she was given, ditto for their casting for Bulma at the time. In fact, this applies so universally to Funi's circa 2001 cast, I must assume it's the fault of the director and/or time constraints. (Probably a mixture of both, combined with how shit their dialogue was, and the greenness of the actors, even by 2001)

Neither dub is even close to ideal, but the reality is that Funi's is unforgivably a pile of shit. BW's is a pretty decent TV dub that surprisingly makes for better viewing than Funi's allegedly-"uncut" dub. If the BW dub ever gets released on DVD, I would urge anyone who prefers watching dubbed to make the permanent switch to the BW version.

For now, unfortunately, Funi's version is the only option for most people, so all I can say is, watch subbed. It's a far better experience than either dub, and it was actually done in order (DB, Z, GT. Or DB, Kai, Super, if you prefer) with a consistent cast, so you don't get sudden, jarring cast switches at seemingly-random points.
Another option if you must watch dubbed is to go ask KBABZ about his "The First Chapters" fanedit of Funi DB, which not only cuts out filler but also does wonders in terms of fixing the egregious dub changes.

I agree, the FUNi DB dub isn't a remotely good dub by any means, it's not as laughably bad as most of the Z dub is but still not all that great either. This was in a period of time where they had not quite yet figured out how to competently produce dubs. Indeed, i have watched a good sampling of Blue Water's DB dub as with GT and yes there was some iffy not so great casting of characters at times but on the whole it didn't sound as awkward as most of the FUNi cast's of the times voices. It seems over time they actually attempted to produce something more faithful to the original even if not completely so, as such it really feels like what FUNi should have done rather than rewriting left and right and making a bastardized product of the series based upon their own interpretation of it.

Overall, i just watch the series in Japanese for the most part but dubbed is unquestionably Blue Water because even with the visual/dialog censorship in being a TV only thing it still feels more like the original.

[GhostEmperorX]

Wish they had just done a replacement score, preferably Faulconer.

But then that would make it even more of a fake version than it already was.
Plus, DB is a series where even the fans of that replacement score think Kikuchi’s material works best, so they made the right call avoiding replacing the score no matter which way you look at it.

[MyVisionity]

Wish they had just done a replacement score, preferably Faulconer.

But then that would make it even more of a fake version than it already was.

Better a fake whole than a not-so-fake half in my view.

[ABED]

Wish they had just done a replacement score, preferably Faulconer.

But then that would make it even more of a fake version than it already was.

Better a fake whole than a not-so-fake half in my view.

So consistency is good for its own sake?

[Dbzfan94]

Don't like it. Wish they had just done a replacement score, preferably Faulconer. Don't like the narrator. Don't like the actors. Don't like the dialogue.

Coming from someone who loves Faulconer, no. OG DB’s OST is amazing as it is. I may prefer Faulconer in Z and then back to vastly preferring Tokunaga for GT (can’t explain it I just do) but I wouldn’t like a replacement score for the original.

Also, Brice Armstrong was an amazing narrator.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Don't like it. Wish they had just done a replacement score, preferably Faulconer. Don't like the narrator. Don't like the actors. Don't like the dialogue.

Coming from someone who loves Faulconer, no. OG DB’s OST is amazing as it is. I may prefer Faulconer in Z and then back to vastly preferring Tokunaga for GT (can’t explain it I just do) but I wouldn’t like a replacement score for the original.

Also, Brice Armstrong was an amazing narrator.

Plus the only time any of OG DB even had a replacement score was eps 1-13 and COTBR in 1994/1995 with Peter Berring's music, though that ultimately ended up being a one off thing since the dub stopped at that point. Then again, at least it wasn't an unfitting score in of itself.

[GhostEmperorX]

So consistency is good for its own sake?

And ironically it was never all that consistent to begin with. Not even within the same distorted version of the series.

[theoriginalbilis]

The (FUNi) dub of DB just baaaarely gets a pass from me because of the original score being kept in and the VA talent having more experience by that point (2001/2002-ish). Also, Brice Armstrong is definitely a contender for best English narrator, right up there with Doc Harris and Doc Morgan. They nailed the tone perfectly with that casting.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the main issues with FUNI's Dragon Ball dubs have always been the scripts. And while DB fares better than Z and GT, it still plenty of issues: adding unnecessary dialogue to scenes that originally didn't have or need them, out-of-character moments, straight-up errors and plot contradictions (why would you spoil the great reveal that God and the Demon King are actually aliens a whole series earlier?) That said, the script's toning down of the more blatant sexual content doesn't really bother me. In fact, I'm glad they did it so the thing could actually air on TV and gain an audience.

But yeah, while it's definitely a step-up from the other two shows; I'd rather recommend that folks read the manga or watch it in Japanese for this portion of the franchise.

[MyVisionity]

Brice Armstrong is a talented narrator but Dragon Ball is not a fairy tale or fireside storybook. It's too much for DB, and the writing for the narration doesn't do it any favors.

But then that would make it even more of a fake version than it already was.

Better a fake whole than a not-so-fake half in my view.

So consistency is good for its own sake?

No, consistency is good when it works in the series' favor. I think having a replacement score throughout all of the shows would result in something better than one of those shows having the original score, especially when that show isn't done particularly well to begin with.

The Kikuchi score isn't going to suddenly elevate the quality of the rest of the material when it has as many problems as it does. At that point, a replacement score would be more likely to enhance the material than anything else. The fact that the other shows use replacement scores would compliment it and strengthen its overall result.

[ABED]

I disagree, the more original elements the show keeps the better. Z's replacement score may better fit the mangled version of the series, but it helps bring the whole thing down considerably. Keeping the original score wouldn't make things better, but it wouldn't make it worse either.

[GreatSaiyaJeff]

I personally don't mind the DB dub. Far from perfect but I think it's fine. The performances are leagues better then what season 3 and part of season 4 of their original DBZ dub.

The only real thing that bugs me was a random plotline that they added that went freaking no where. As a kid, watching General Blue be happy that he may have found his long lost brother but only to mumble that he was never coming back. Again, before I knew about Blue in the original, I thought this storyline would come back up in some form. Nope and years later I found out why they did it. I get it on a censorship level because of the implications that the original was trying to portray, but couldn't they just come up with something better?

[90sDBZ]

I saw the Blue Water dub first, but prefer Funi's dub. It's a solid dub with some really good performances. And Stephanie Nadolny is an awesome Kid Goku. Colleen Clinkenbeard sounds fine going by the videogames, but Nadolny is better at capturing that lighthearted goofiness.

Coming from someone who loves Faulconer, no. OG DB’s OST is amazing as it is. I may prefer Faulconer in Z and then back to vastly preferring Tokunaga for GT (can’t explain it I just do) but I wouldn’t like a replacement score for the original.

Also, Brice Armstrong was an amazing narrator.

This is pretty much how I feel too. I love the Faulconer score in Z, but love Kikuchi in DB and wouldn't want it replaced there as it's at its best. I prefer Tokunaga to Menza in GT, although I think a Faulconer score for that might have worked too.

[MasenkoHA]

(why would you spoil the great reveal that God and the Demon King are actually aliens a whole series earlier?)

That one was especially bad because Funi’s dub of Z (as in both the 97 dub they did with Saban and Ocean that already aired at that point and the 05 redub) got that part right where Piccolo and Kami didn’t realize they were aliens until Vegeta and Nappa told Piccolo. Messing up something because you didn’t know better is one thing. Messing up something you already should have known based on episodes you dubbed six years prior is just embarrassing.

That said, the script's toning down of the more blatant sexual content doesn't really bother me. In fact, I'm glad they did it so the thing could actually air on TV and gain an audience.

Toned down for tv is one thing. But it was toned down for the uncut dvds as well....the ones that have a TV 14 rating on the back (at least the Blue Bricks do)

Nobody in the right mind would expect Roshi to ask to poke Bulma in the boobs or to ask Goku to fetch the mermaid’s panties for the Cartoon Network airings. But it is peculiar when its still “a walk on the beach” in the uncut dub.

[Robo4900]

I disagree, the more original elements the show keeps the better. Z's replacement score may better fit the mangled version of the series, but it helps bring the whole thing down considerably. Keeping the original score wouldn't make things better, but it wouldn't make it worse either.

I agree with the notion that keeping the original score didn't necessarily make it worse or better, and giving it a replacement score wouldn't have helped or hindered it, really.

It's clear Funi had no interest in keeping the original tone of Dragon Ball, so in DB, Z, and GT, the original score is a bit jarring. It just doesn't fit. But conversely, the replacement scores don't fit the original show, and they're often not very good.

So, there's really no winning decision here. The dubs were already bad, putting the original score on there doesn't fix that.

[MasenkoHA]

I agree with the notion that keeping the original score didn't necessarily make it worse or better, and giving it a replacement score wouldn't have helped or hindered it, really.

I disagree the score is still part of the show’s identity and a replacement score would make it worse especially if the replacement score is well crap (and we know Funimation is batting a perfect score on godawful replacement music)

Does keeping the music for the original Dragon Ball save the Dragon Ball dub from bad stilted acting, stupid unfunny jokes being added in, careless script errors, and unnecessary censorship? Absolutely not. Those problems plague the Dragon Ball dub and having the Kikuchi music doesn’t change that. But would it be worse to have a crappy replacement score on top of those horrid creative decisions? Absolutely.

It's clear Funi had no interest in keeping the original tone of Dragon Ball, so in DB, Z, and GT, the original score is a bit jarring. It just doesn't fit. But conversely, the replacement scores don't fit the original show, and they're often not very good.

Again disagree. The music fits the show fine. Doesn’t make the dubs good. But they fit.

So, there's really no winning decision here. The dubs were already bad, putting the original score on there doesn't fix that.

It doesn’t fix a bad dub but it helps. It’s like, Brice Armsteong is a great narrator. But he’s just ONE good voice amongst a sea of really awful voices and Funimation can still misuse him (see the end of episode 65) Obviously he alone couldn’t save the dub and make it good but better to have him than another crappy Dale Kelly type.

[MyVisionity]

I disagree the score is still part of the show’s identity and a replacement score would make it worse especially if the replacement score is well crap (and we know Funimation is batting a perfect score on godawful replacement music)

Does keeping the music for the original Dragon Ball save the Dragon Ball dub from bad stilted acting, stupid unfunny jokes being added in, careless script errors, and unnecessary censorship? Absolutely not. Those problems plague the Dragon Ball dub and having the Kikuchi music doesn’t change that. But would it be worse to have a crappy replacement score on top of those horrid creative decisions? Absolutely.

The Kikuchi score was a part of the original show's identity. The Funimation version has a different identity. The replacement score is a reflection of that. Having a replacement score on top of Funi's other creative decisions would complete the process, fulfilling the show's new identity and allowing the dub to flourish. The Kikuchi score would have the opposite effect, inhibiting everything else that Funimation did with the series so that it never quite succeeds, or maybe even falls apart.