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

[JulieYBM]

Heads of Scooby Gang, I updated the thread title because I feel like I'll forget to do it next month and I'm a raging ball of anxiety over trying not to forget to do it.

Anyway, wow, twelve years have passed! I personally don't care about dubs but this is such a funny little saga to watch. Maybe it'll surface in another ten or twenty years ala the Harmony Gold dub?

[Kirbopher]

Finished it today; he was fantastic to talk to. I won't be posting it until October, but figured I'd post some details here. I asked about Trunks and he unfortunately couldn't remember who it was (I clarified that it wasn't Alistair or Matthew). He said he was pretty sure they were allowed to use curses, because he distinctly remembered saying "hell" and that they recorded both "it's over 8000" as well as "it's over 9000" for that scene, but he wasn't sure which one they ultimately would have went with for the final mix.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Finished it today; he was fantastic to talk to. I won't be posting it until October, but figured I'd post some details here. I asked about Trunks and he unfortunately couldn't remember who it was (I clarified that it wasn't Alistair or Matthew). He said he was pretty sure they were allowed to use curses, because he distinctly remembered saying "hell" and that they recorded both "it's over 8000" as well as "it's over 9000" for that scene, but he wasn't sure which one they ultimately would have went with for the final mix.

Much obliged, man -- I look forward to seeing the interview!

[MasenkoHA]

Anyway, wow, twelve years have passed! I personally don't care about dubs but this is such a funny little saga to watch. Maybe it'll surface in another ten or twenty years ala the Harmony Gold dub?

The HG dub had a leg up because it did air on tv it was just a matter of someone who had recorded the movie/episodes finding the tapes

Someone as Ocean would have to leak this.

I just don't think this thing is ever gonna be seen.

[JulieYBM]

Anyway, wow, twelve years have passed! I personally don't care about dubs but this is such a funny little saga to watch. Maybe it'll surface in another ten or twenty years ala the Harmony Gold dub?

The HG dub had a leg up because it did air on tv it was just a matter of someone who had recorded the movie/episodes finding the tapes

Someone as Ocean would have to leak this.

I just don't think this thing is ever gonna be seen.

While I agree with you I have learned to never quite say never to a lot of things the last few years. I do think that it will eventually leak someday, though, rather than be released officially.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Thanks to Kirbopher, can't wait to hear the interview. Drummond is always so real and down to Earth, and a pleasure to listen to on-screen and off.

I remember Brian saying in a previous interview (maybe the one with Geekdom?) that he was basically just brought in to do his lines, and that he knows very little about this dub beyond that.

Yeah, he said in the Geekdom interview all he's seen of this dub is his own lines. I was hoping with that he'd have at least heard the score playing to them.

While I agree with you I have learned to never quite say never to a lot of things the last few years. I do think that it will eventually leak someday, though, rather than be released officially.

Ocean are masters at preventing their video materials from being leaked, to the extent some actors have had difficulty getting clips for their convention panels. It sucks because when Funimation was dubbing Super there was one convention where fans were given a preview of the Future Trunks arc. Ditto a panel Chris Sabat did here in Ireland back in 2014 where we got to see Battle of Gods early. These sort of things are great for generating hype.

I remain hopeful one day this dub will be seen someway somehow. I have no way of saying it with confidence, but because this franchise and life in general is so unpredictable I still say never say never about anything.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Ocean are masters at preventing their video materials from being leaked, to the extent some actors have had difficulty getting clips for their convention panels. It sucks because when Funimation was dubbing Super there was one convention where fans were given a preview of the Future Trunks arc. Ditto a panel Chris Sabat did here in Ireland back in 2014 where we got to see Battle of Gods early. These sort of things are great for generating hype.

You know, now that you mention it, I thought of something just now.

So, as we all know, all of the Yu-Gi-Oh! animes are dubbed by 4Kids Productions in NYC (now called Konami Cross Media, but the people in the company are still virtually the same). Well, at one point, the parent company that produced Yu-Gi-Oh!, ADK, sued 4Kids, claiming that they were owed profits that 4Kids was illegally withholding from them. 4Kids ended up winning that case, but it took a while to do so, and while the lawsuit was happening, things got...shall we say a little tense between the two companies.

So tense, in fact, that ADK went ahead and started dubbing Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal without them. They started working with Bang-Zoom, who got far enough into the dubbing process to fully cast, record, and edit 26 episodes of the show with an LA-based cast. Thing is, ADK didn't let 4Kids know they were doing this, and when they learned...hooo boy, s*** hit the fan, legally speaking. The U.S. court overseeing the ADK v 4Kids lawsuit determined that the production of this dub was, in fact, illegal, since ADK was required to keep the property in the hands of 4Kids (at least until the case was over and any existing licensing agreements expied).

So there's a Bang-Zoom dub of the first 26 episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal that never saw the light of day...officially speaking.

Those last two words were added very deliberately, because clips of it have been shown at cons, years after the lawsuit. So hopefully, one day, somebody can convince Ocean to at least show some clips at cons. I'd say that's our best bet at this point, and even then, I'm not optimistic. But hey, it's something!

[MasenkoHA]

[

Those last two words were added very deliberately, because clips of it have been shown at cons, years after the lawsuit. So hopefully, one day, somebody can convince Ocean to at least show some clips at cons. I'd say that's our best bet at this point, and even then, I'm not optimistic. But hey, it's something!

That is probably the best case scenario. Some clips being shown at cons.

[MistaL]

God, so frustrating that, had WOW Unlimited's new channel actually worked out, there was a very very good chance we'd have this entire dub by now

[Arian]

God, so frustrating that, had WOW Unlimited's new channel actually worked out, there was a very very good chance we'd have this entire dub by now

WOW! was a pipe dream for the reason that Michael Hirsh didn't have his heart in the endeavour. No pouring amounts of advertising money out of the gate, he's out of there before the battle even begins.

You have to be willing to fail a little bit at least to be successful.

[MistaL]

WOW! was a pipe dream for the reason that Michael Hirsh didn't have his heart in the endeavour. No pouring amounts of advertising money out of the gate, he's out of there before the battle even begins.

You have to be willing to fail a little bit at least to be successful.

True. WOW! was gonna fail like that anyway but like, we actually got way further with that than we should have. The whole mix-up where someone (sorry, I don't remember the name at the moment!) got pulled into the email chain and the stuff we saw there, the confirmation that Toei does indeed still have Ocean Kai on hand and that it's an option; that shit was crazy. At least we know it's never impossible for a network to get Ocean Kai now, but it's still a matter of if a network would get it.

[Arian]

WOW! was a pipe dream for the reason that Michael Hirsh didn't have his heart in the endeavour. No pouring amounts of advertising money out of the gate, he's out of there before the battle even begins.

You have to be willing to fail a little bit at least to be successful.

True. WOW! was gonna fail like that anyway but like, we actually got way further with that than we should have. The whole mix-up where someone (sorry, I don't remember the name at the moment!) got pulled into the email chain and the stuff we saw there, the confirmation that Toei does indeed still have Ocean Kai on hand and that it's an option; that shit was crazy. At least we know it's never impossible for a network to get Ocean Kai now, but it's still a matter of if a network would get it.

Toon-A-Vision is a big contender. I won't say any more than the fact that I'm privy that Adam Mimnagh, the president of the small-time network is actively working to strike a deal. He's aware of the hunger for this dub too.

[ATA]

Finished it today; he was fantastic to talk to. I won't be posting it until October, but figured I'd post some details here. I asked about Trunks and he unfortunately couldn't remember who it was (I clarified that it wasn't Alistair or Matthew). He said he was pretty sure they were allowed to use curses, because he distinctly remembered saying "hell" and that they recorded both "it's over 8000" as well as "it's over 9000" for that scene, but he wasn't sure which one they ultimately would have went with for the final mix.

If this dub ever come out. Why would they use over 9000? It's played out and just tad bit corny to be honest.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Finished it today; he was fantastic to talk to. I won't be posting it until October, but figured I'd post some details here. I asked about Trunks and he unfortunately couldn't remember who it was (I clarified that it wasn't Alistair or Matthew). He said he was pretty sure they were allowed to use curses, because he distinctly remembered saying "hell" and that they recorded both "it's over 8000" as well as "it's over 9000" for that scene, but he wasn't sure which one they ultimately would have went with for the final mix.

If this dub ever come out. Why would they use over 9000? It's played out and just tad bit corny to be honest.

To hear the guy whose voice made the meme legendary do it one more time, in the actual show...I admit, that would get a smile out of me.

[90sDBZ]

Finished it today; he was fantastic to talk to. I won't be posting it until October, but figured I'd post some details here. I asked about Trunks and he unfortunately couldn't remember who it was (I clarified that it wasn't Alistair or Matthew). He said he was pretty sure they were allowed to use curses, because he distinctly remembered saying "hell" and that they recorded both "it's over 8000" as well as "it's over 9000" for that scene, but he wasn't sure which one they ultimately would have went with for the final mix.

If this dub ever come out. Why would they use over 9000? It's played out and just tad bit corny to be honest.

To hear the guy whose voice made the meme legendary do it one more time, in the actual show...I admit, that would get a smile out of me.

I'll second this.

Also it's worth mentioning this dub is roughly a decade old at this point, and the "OVER 9000!" meme was used more widely back in 2012 or so when this was recorded.

[TheQuazz]

WOW! was a pipe dream for the reason that Michael Hirsh didn't have his heart in the endeavour. No pouring amounts of advertising money out of the gate, he's out of there before the battle even begins.

You have to be willing to fail a little bit at least to be successful.

True. WOW! was gonna fail like that anyway but like, we actually got way further with that than we should have. The whole mix-up where someone (sorry, I don't remember the name at the moment!) got pulled into the email chain and the stuff we saw there, the confirmation that Toei does indeed still have Ocean Kai on hand and that it's an option; that shit was crazy. At least we know it's never impossible for a network to get Ocean Kai now, but it's still a matter of if a network would get it.

Toon-A-Vision is a big contender. I won't say any more than the fact that I'm privy that Adam Mimnagh, the president of the small-time network is actively working to strike a deal. He's aware of the hunger for this dub too.

That's good to hear! Fingers crossed aye, this dub is really the only Dragon Ball product I'm interested in anymore haha

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

So not Kai-related, but could lead to it as we now have Ocean's newest anime dub Dragon Quest Dai. It's currently only available for UK residents through the BBC iPlayer, but I suggest anyone who can watch it legally do so, it may lead to future anime Ocean dubs.

More importantly, as I was told Ken Morrison said some time last year Ocean didn't want to release Kai because they had other priorities, and we know there was a lot of controversy over Dragon Quest Dai being outsourced to non-union dubbing Studios in Los Angeles and upsetting the US unions. Of course we don't know for sure if resolving the issues with Dai were the other priorities Morrison spoke of, but if they were, now that that's all Water under the bridge maybe there's a chance Ocean can finally let Kai out.

Who knows. Maybe Kai and Dai could both end up airing on Toon-A-Vision. Both have Toriyama's art, they attract similar audiences, and now have the same voice cast.

Definitely anyone who hasn't emailed Toon-A-Vision yet do so. All is not lost yet, and we could very much still see this dub.

[GokuDaimao]

Definitely anyone who hasn't emailed Toon-A-Vision yet do so. All is not lost yet, and we could very much still see this dub.

I certainly agree with the prospect of people emailing Toon-A-Vision, but while you're at it, try emailing Corus staff about having DBK air on Adult Swim too. Couldn't hurt.

I just saw the promo for Housing Complex C, and while I am aware of the difference between an accessory of package deals and going out of one's way to contact smaller license holders, it was surreal as all hell to see an anime promo on one of Corus' channels in this day and age and see it really going through.

Plus, Corus still deals with the Pokemon Company for one property (even if there's a lot of advertising money in it), and even if Toonami originals are included in package deals, Corus themselves could have elected not to air them all the same, so this shows that at the very least, they don't go out of their way to alienate anime from their adult demographic.

Just my opinion. Toon-A-Vision's serious lack of access to homes concerns me is all.

adultswimcanada@corusent.com

[TheBlackPaladin]

So not Kai-related, but could lead to it as we now have Ocean's newest anime dub Dragon Quest Dai. It's currently only available for UK residents through the BBC iPlayer, but I suggest anyone who can watch it legally do so, it may lead to future anime Ocean dubs.

More importantly, as I was told Ken Morrison said some time last year Ocean didn't want to release Kai because they had other priorities, and we know there was a lot of controversy over Dragon Quest Dai being outsourced to non-union dubbing Studios in Los Angeles and upsetting the US unions.

Not just the US union, but the Canadian union too. One day I'll be able to tell the full story behind this dub. Honestly, I probably could now, but I still think it's best if I let a little more time pass just to be safe. Long story short, however...let's just say that some people were doing their damndest to make sure this dub was non-union and didn't use a Vancouver cast. Other people stood in solidarity to make sure that this dub did use a Vancouver cast and was union. Had the former group not tried to pull as many shenanigans as it did, this dub would've been released far sooner. The story behind the latter group is, by contrast, actually pretty cool and inspiring.

In any event, I too encourage people to watch this dub. It's been too long since we've heard a major anime dubbed by a Vancouver cast, and I'm eager to hear them back at work again!

[Kirbopher]

In case you guys were interested, here's that interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tFuDPeFhn8