Weird Old Dub Stuff

[MasenkoHA]

Yeah I remember that. Trunks also told future Bulma he was dead. So weird to randomly skirt around it, then backpedal, but the old dubs were, if nothing else, inconsistent. Lol.

Reminds me of another line from Funimation's dub. When Vegeta dares Frieza to transform and mentions Zarbon telling him about Frieza being able to transform, even though Zarbon's line was omitted from the dub.

That one wasn’t actually the dub’s fault. The Japanese version of the anime omitted that scene as well.

At any rate Zarbon and Vegeta were co-workers so it would just kinda be assumed Zarbon told him about it offscreen sometime before the Saiyan arc

[90sDBZ]

That one wasn’t actually the dub’s fault. The Japanese version of the anime omitted that scene as well.

That's interesting. Kai's English dub actually does have Zarbon's line about Frieza transforming, so I just assumed the line was there in Japanese (it's been a few years since I watched Japanese Z).

[AlexSketchy04]

A lot of the "next dimension" lines, or death coverups on Season 1 of the Ocean Dub sound like alt takes done much later in production rather than what was recorded initially

Considering how episodes 1-4 did feature mentions of death early on, how episodes 5-15/16 just dance around the subject, and then how 17-22 does have some "next dimension" lines thrown in, it's likely that most of the season was recorded with the standards of episodes 1-4, but needed retakes due to S&P

I wonder if the mentions of death in episodes 1-4 are due to oversight from Saban, time limitations while they got the retakes and mixes, or if the changes were done at the very last minute once the show aired, I also wonder if there was ever an episode 3 with retakes as well

[demonontheleft]

I've been wondering about where some of the name changes for the dubs come from, because from what I know Hercule was not something that Funimation came up with and was a name from another international dub. Are there any other instances of this where translations were taken from different dubs?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I've been wondering about where some of the name changes for the dubs come from, because from what I know Hercule was not something that Funimation came up with and was a name from another international dub. Are there any other instances of this where translations were taken from different dubs?

Yup, Hercule came from the French dub.

For what it's worth "Master Roshi" came from the Harmony Gold dub and "Wolf Fang Fist" was in the Creative Corp Product dub, although the latter could have been a result of both Funimation and Creative Corp Products using the same translations provided by TOEI.

I also heard names in the Norwegian dubs of the movies and specials were taken from the Big Green dub, which is how we know they were based on that dub and not just the French dub.

[demonontheleft]

Yup, Hercule came from the French dub.

For what it's worth "Master Roshi" came from the Harmony Gold dub and "Wolf Fang Fist" was in the Creative Corp Product dub, although the latter could have been a result of both Funimation and Creative Corp Products using the same translations provided by TOEI.

I also heard names in the Norwegian dubs of the movies and specials were taken from the Big Green dub, which is how we know they were based on that dub and not just the French dub.

What about World Martial Arts Tournament? Was that a Funi dub name or was that a localized name adapted from another dub?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Yup, Hercule came from the French dub.

For what it's worth "Master Roshi" came from the Harmony Gold dub and "Wolf Fang Fist" was in the Creative Corp Product dub, although the latter could have been a result of both Funimation and Creative Corp Products using the same translations provided by TOEI.

I also heard names in the Norwegian dubs of the movies and specials were taken from the Big Green dub, which is how we know they were based on that dub and not just the French dub.

What about World Martial Arts Tournament? Was that a Funi dub name or was that a localized name adapted from another dub?

That one I'm not sure about, "World Martial Arts Tournament" is just a simplified translation of "Tenkaichi Budokai" (although Viz used this term since 1998), so it's possible other dubs may have went with it, I'm just not aware of any.

Another one that always confused me was in the Blue Water dub of GT episode 58 when Goku says to the One Star Dragon "If you really wanted to land a hit you should join a boyband" considering how faithful Blue Water GT is otherwise it was a jarringly jokey line.

[Thouser]

I've been wondering about where some of the name changes for the dubs come from, because from what I know Hercule was not something that Funimation came up with and was a name from another international dub. Are there any other instances of this where translations were taken from different dubs?

I’ve mentioned this before in another thread, but at some point in the ‘90s, Z was aired in Hong Kong on the channel TVB Pearl, in Japanese with Chinese and English subtitles.

I don’t know of it’s mere coincidence, or if influence from Toei was involved, or what, but the TVB Pearl English subs translate Kaioh as “King Kai.”

https://imgur.com/a/tvb-pearl-king-kai-8c5wYAm

Maybe “King Kai” came from those legendary badly translated English dialogue scripts from Toei that Funimation used back in the day? Who knows.

[FinalForumPodcast]

Not DUBBING specific, but English-release censorship:

There's an episode of Dragon Ball where Goku, while riding Nimbus, almost gets hit by an airplane (it's an early episode, the one where the Red Ribbon Army blows up Pilaf's flying fortress and he gives a Dragon Ball to Silver)


This brief moment was deleted from the television airing of the episode, because the episode aired in February of 2002, and censors thought it was too close for comfort to reminding people of 9/11.

[demonontheleft]

That one I'm not sure about, "World Martial Arts Tournament" is just a simplified translation of "Tenkaichi Budokai" (although Viz used this term since 1998), so it's possible other dubs may have went with it, I'm just not aware of any.

Another one that always confused me was in the Blue Water dub of GT episode 58 when Goku says to the One Star Dragon "If you really wanted to land a hit you should join a boyband" considering how faithful Blue Water GT is otherwise it was a jarringly jokey line.

The other day I saw a listing for one of the french Dragon Ball translations, one of the earlier ones. On the inside blurb of Volume 17 they use "Monde des Arts Martiaux" which google translate gives me as World of Martial Arts. I wasn't entirely sure if the old french manga took names and terms from it's old dub or if this is just saying that Goku is the current martial arts champion, but I found it interesting to see Strongest Under the Heavens be translated in a different way.

[TheBigBoy]

Not DUBBING specific, but English-release censorship:

There's an episode of Dragon Ball where Goku, while riding Nimbus, almost gets hit by an airplane (it's an early episode, the one where the Red Ribbon Army blows up Pilaf's flying fortress and he gives a Dragon Ball to Silver)


This brief moment was deleted from the television airing of the episode, because the episode aired in February of 2002, and censors thought it was too close for comfort to reminding people of 9/11.

Speaking of English-release oddities. The early parts of the Saiyan arc in the Viz vversion have Piccolo speak in bizarre antiquated quasi-Shakespearean way. Is it controversial to say I don't hate this? He's the reincarnation of a 300 year old "demon". Of course he's going to talk a little funny!

https://i.imgur.com/BfaNBYs.jpeg

[Vorige Waffe]

Funi/Crunchy LLC's lackadaisical approach to preserving the old US dub(s) as they were is more irksome than anything. I'm still annoyed at how the remastered edition of Movie 5's English dub and licensed soundtrack is totally out of sync to how it sounded in its original 2001 tape/DVD release. The cues to the animation Funimation came up with are mangled and it feels like the music's just overlayed to the footage.

And let's not get started the on the amount of "restored" dialogue we've had since 2007 that mostly was better left unheard.

Everyone knows about the problems with the Big Green dub in terms of casting and scripting, but I'm always surprised at what little post-production is on them. You can hear the reverberation of the booth all six actors are in, the voice track sounds noticeably louder than the M&E track, said M&Es sound like they were played under a mattress, you can hear the talent taking breaths in between hilariously wordy lines (thanks, rythmo band), I could go on. It just adds to the cheapness, but it's more amusing than anything.

Spoiler:

And it's minor gripe, but I do think Kai's English dub, while an improvement, is quite overwritten.

[MasenkoHA]

Funi/Crunchy LLC's lackadaisical approach to preserving the old US dub(s) as they were is more irksome than anything. I'm still annoyed at how the remastered edition of Movie 5's English dub and licensed soundtrack is totally out of sync to how it sounded in its original 2001 tape/DVD release. The cues to the animation Funimation came up with are mangled and it feels like the music's just overlayed to the footage.

And let's not get started the on the amount of "restored" dialogue we've had since 2007 that mostly was better left unheard.

Everyone knows about the problems with the Big Green dub in terms of casting and scripting, but I'm always surprised at what little post-production is on them. You can hear the reverberation of the booth all six actors are in, the voice track sounds noticeably louder than the M&E track, said M&Es sound like they were played under a mattress, you can hear the talent taking breaths in between hilariously wordy lines (thanks, rythmo band), I could go on. It just adds to the cheapness, but it's more amusing than anything.

Spoiler:

And it's minor gripe, but I do think Kai's English dub, while an improvement, is quite overwritten.

I understand the frustration but as far as the movies go the original DVDs tend to be relatively cheap

https://www.ebay.com/itm/257245590779?c ... =view_item



The tv series is a bit different as fans are still looking at collecting some 80 or 90 DVDS just to get the original dub so that probably is aggravating for those fans

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

The tv series is a bit different as fans are still looking at collecting some 80 or 90 DVDS just to get the original dub so that probably is aggravating for those fans

Funimation should have went along with Lance Heiskell's original idea for Rock the Dragon, which was shelf friendly box sets to be sold at Walmart with more than one disc per volume and over 3 episodes per disc (maybe 6 or 7). There are fans that would have bought those for the Saban and 1999-2003 inhouse dubs.

I have most of the DVD singles but I'm considering getting slim cases for them because they take up so much space.

[WittyUsername]

Funi/Crunchy LLC's lackadaisical approach to preserving the old US dub(s) as they were is more irksome than anything. I'm still annoyed at how the remastered edition of Movie 5's English dub and licensed soundtrack is totally out of sync to how it sounded in its original 2001 tape/DVD release. The cues to the animation Funimation came up with are mangled and it feels like the music's just overlayed to the footage.

And let's not get started the on the amount of "restored" dialogue we've had since 2007 that mostly was better left unheard.

Everyone knows about the problems with the Big Green dub in terms of casting and scripting, but I'm always surprised at what little post-production is on them. You can hear the reverberation of the booth all six actors are in, the voice track sounds noticeably louder than the M&E track, said M&Es sound like they were played under a mattress, you can hear the talent taking breaths in between hilariously wordy lines (thanks, rythmo band), I could go on. It just adds to the cheapness, but it's more amusing than anything.

Spoiler:

And it's minor gripe, but I do think Kai's English dub, while an improvement, is quite overwritten.

Speaking of the remastered release of Movie 5, what was with them randomly redubbing that one line from Korin? It didn’t even sound like Chris Sabat and it resulted in Yaijrobe’s follow-up line making no sense. If they wanted to make the dub more faithful to the original, why was that the only line they went through the trouble of changing?

[Mr Baggins]

"Free will?! Pitiful humans! War, segregation, hatred. Is that what you've done with your free will, boah? Don't you lecture me with your thirty dollar haircut, Goku dies!"

Sorry guys it's obligatory

[WittyUsername]

"Free will?! Pitiful humans! War, segregation, hatred. Is that what you've done with your free will, boah? Don't you lecture me with your thirty dollar haircut, Goku dies!"

Sorry guys it's obligatory

Honestly, I don’t entirely fault the dub writers for trying to spice up the Movie 7 dub. It’s quite possibly the blandest of the DBZ movies in its original language. Also, that $30 haircut line managed to gain a life of its own in meme culture, so that’s something.

[FinalForumPodcast]

Not DUBBING specific, but English-release censorship:

There's an episode of Dragon Ball where Goku, while riding Nimbus, almost gets hit by an airplane (it's an early episode, the one where the Red Ribbon Army blows up Pilaf's flying fortress and he gives a Dragon Ball to Silver)


This brief moment was deleted from the television airing of the episode, because the episode aired in February of 2002, and censors thought it was too close for comfort to reminding people of 9/11.

Speaking of English-release oddities. The early parts of the Saiyan arc in the Viz vversion have Piccolo speak in bizarre antiquated quasi-Shakespearean way. Is it controversial to say I don't hate this? He's the reincarnation of a 300 year old "demon". Of course he's going to talk a little funny!

https://i.imgur.com/BfaNBYs.jpeg

This speaks to the biggest "oddity" (?) when it comes to English-language releases. So much of it started with DBZ, or DBZ and OG DB simultaneously, that if you go through the series from beginning to end in order, you get weird hiccups in the MIDDLE.

That can be really jarring for more casual people who notice things looking/sounding different for that stretch from Saiyan through Ginyu Sagas, which then flips again as the "Frieza Saga" starts

[MasenkoHA]

This speaks to the biggest "oddity" (?) when it comes to English-language releases. So much of it started with DBZ, or DBZ and OG DB simultaneously, that if you go through the series from beginning to end in order, you get weird hiccups in the MIDDLE.

That can be really jarring for more casual people who notice things looking/sounding different for that stretch from Saiyan through Ginyu Sagas, which then flips again as the "Frieza Saga" starts

It’s funny because yeah the UUE dub actually acts as a pretty consistent follow up to their dub of the original Dragon Ball i.e flashbacks use archive audio from that dub, the beginning of New Threat acknowledges Goku defeated Piccolo 5 years ago. Then you get to the portion that was dubbed before original Dragon Ball and flashbacks don’t line up like a flashback to Goku and Krillin training and Sonny Straits is doing the grunts instead of Laurie Steele. Or stuff we would know its not true like Bulma claiming she knew Goku since he was 5 or Piccolo acting like he and Goku fought at multiple tournaments.


And of course going back to amateur hour on the cast. Yamcha suddenly sounds like a surfer boy, Bulma is now a valley girl, Piccolo now sounds like a dumbass and makes stupid jokes, Gohan goes from sounding like Goku as a kid to smoking 20 packs a day. Only for them to back to sounding like their original Dragon Ball to Namek saga selves around Buu.

[Metalwario64]

Oh, speaking earlier of inconsistencies in scenes in flashbacks, the recap for the episode after Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan already changed Goku's dialog when yelling at Gohan to leave from "This is the last time I'm going to tell you! Get out of her right NOW Gohan!" to "Just do as I say! Leave NOW! Can't you see I need to be alone!". lol There was also the strange oddity the season sets introduced where they mostly accurately dubbed the scene where Gohan reminds Goku he promised to take him fishing with Krillin further reminding him as they dubbed that saiyan arc flashback scene where Goku promises to take Gohan fishing, which I guess someone caught and had them change it to fit in with the old dialog without the promise of fishing before it broadcast on Toonami.