Weird Old Dub Stuff

[MasenkoHA]

So weird how they didn't use the Pioneer dub script of Tree of Might as the basis for their in-house redub like the first 2 movies. Reminds me of the fact that they just reused their '95 dub script of Curse of the Blood Rubies when they redubbed it in 2010 rather than redo the whole thing. The fact that they also just didn't redub the first 3 movies in the 2000s when they dubbed Path to Power is also a big question mark for me. There's no consistent cast with those 4 movies, as you have 3 different Gokus, 3 different Bulmas, & probably some other recurring characters as well between them. Path to Power is the only dub of the pre-Battle of Gods movies to have the full cast from the OG DB dub. I think only Chris Sabat as Yamcha & Mike McFarland as Roshi are the only consistent cast members across the 4 movies unless I'm forgetting a few more.

I think they used their tv script for Tree of Might as the basis for their redub because that was the version on Toonami that played a hundred bajillion times in 1999 and the early 2000s. Or maybe it was just the first version of the script they found in a filing cabinet.

I imagine there was no point in redubbing Curse of the Blood Rubies in the early 2000s because Lionsgate retained the home video rights to that movie and the first 13 episodes until 2009. At least with the first 13 they could air an edited down version of their redub on Toonami and save the uncut episodes for an eventual home video release. I don’t think they anticipated Lionsgate keeping the rights as long as they did either.

They should have redubbed Sleeping Princess and Mystical Adventure. Not just because of the inconsistent actors thing but the former sounds like ass and the latter has that obnoxious nonstop “kidvid quip after kidvid quip” mentality Funimation didn’t lighten up on until the 2000s. But I guess since it was original Dragon Ball and not Z they just didn’t give a shit

[Scsigs]

I think they used their tv script for Tree of Might as the basis for their redub because that was the version on Toonami that played a hundred bajillion times in 1999 and the early 2000s. Or maybe it was just the first version of the script they found in a filing cabinet.

I imagine there was no point in redubbing Curse of the Blood Rubies in the early 2000s because Lionsgate retained the home video rights to that movie and the first 13 episodes until 2009. At least with the first 13 they could air an edited down version of their redub on Toonami and save the uncut episodes for an eventual home video release. I don’t think they anticipated Lionsgate keeping the rights as long as they did either.

They should have redubbed Sleeping Princess and Mystical Adventure. Not just because of the inconsistent actors thing but the former sounds like ass and the latter has that obnoxious nonstop “kidvid quip after kidvid quip” mentality Funimation didn’t lighten up on until the 2000s. But I guess since it was original Dragon Ball and not Z they just didn’t give a shit

I mean, even if they couldn't release it until Lionsgate's licensing rights expired, it would've also been good to do. Maybe they could've aired it on Toonami to justify the cost of doing it. I'm just more surprised they didn't redo the entire script with their current dub team, as they used the cast from Kai for the redub. But, in terms of redubbing it, they redubbed the first 13 episodes of DB for TV to have consistency with the cast from Z & later on in the series, redubbed the first 67 episodes of Z & other episodes with certain cast members for the Ultimate Uncut releases, redubbed the first 3 Z movies for consistency with their Texas cast, & were in the process of dubbing what they could get their hands on anyways. It would just make more sense to me to do everything while you're dubbing the rest anyways.

[MasenkoHA]

I think they used their tv script for Tree of Might as the basis for their redub because that was the version on Toonami that played a hundred bajillion times in 1999 and the early 2000s. Or maybe it was just the first version of the script they found in a filing cabinet.

I imagine there was no point in redubbing Curse of the Blood Rubies in the early 2000s because Lionsgate retained the home video rights to that movie and the first 13 episodes until 2009. At least with the first 13 they could air an edited down version of their redub on Toonami and save the uncut episodes for an eventual home video release. I don’t think they anticipated Lionsgate keeping the rights as long as they did either.

They should have redubbed Sleeping Princess and Mystical Adventure. Not just because of the inconsistent actors thing but the former sounds like ass and the latter has that obnoxious nonstop “kidvid quip after kidvid quip” mentality Funimation didn’t lighten up on until the 2000s. But I guess since it was original Dragon Ball and not Z they just didn’t give a shit

I mean, even if they couldn't release it until Lionsgate's licensing rights expired, it would've also been good to do. Maybe they could've aired it on Toonami to justify the cost of doing it. I'm just more surprised they didn't redo the entire script with their current dub team, as they used the cast from Kai for the redub. But, in terms of redubbing it, they redubbed the first 13 episodes of DB for TV to have consistency with the cast from Z & later on in the series, redubbed the first 67 episodes of Z & other episodes with certain cast members for the Ultimate Uncut releases, redubbed the first 3 Z movies for consistency with their Texas cast, & were in the process of dubbing what they could get their hands on anyways. It would just make more sense to me to do everything while you're dubbing the rest anyways.

Sure. But maybe Toonami just wasn’t interested in the Dragon Ball movies or maybe Funimation expected to get the home video rights back a lot sooner than they did (Pioneer’s home video rights to the first 3 Z movies and the Saiyan and Namek sagas expired in like late 2003 and I imagine Funimation expected close to the same for Dragon Ball’s first 13 and movie) and wanted to save Curse of the Blood Rubies for a home video release first before realizing they weren’t getting the rights back anytime soon? They had a good reason to redub the first 13 episodes even with Lionsgate keeping home video rights; if they had a deal with Toonami they could provide them with 153 episodes of original Dragon Ball it made sense to redo those first 13 episodes to be consistent with the proceeding 140 episodes they were going to dub (Texas cast and original Kikuchi score vs Vancouver cast and Peter Berring score). Redubbing the first movie was probably something they planned on saving for later and it just ended up being a lot later than they expected. I guess they coulda shoulda just jumped the gun and redubbed Curse of the Blood Rubies in 2004/2005 when it was clear they weren’t getting video distribution rights back anytime soon and tried to get a tv deal or something but also I think at that point they had forgotten about original Dragon Ball and wanted to focus on GT and the UUE release of Z and their other properties. I’m under the impression original Dragon Ball did “just good enough to justify dubbing the entire series but not much better than that”. Same reason their eventual 2010 uncut redub stuck close to the 1995 edited script instead of a complete rewrite. Just wasn’t worth the effort to them.

[Tian]

Even though Blue Water of GT is more faithful than whatever dark crap FUNimation attempted to do, I can't help to share this.

It's the kind of line you can expect from a Nickelodeon sitcom or a 4Kids dub.

[MasenkoHA]

Even though Blue Water of GT is more faithful than whatever dark crap FUNimation attempted to do, I can't help to share this.

It's the kind of line you can expect from a Nickelodeon sitcom or a 4Kids dub.

Or the Funimation dub of Z


Props to Blue Water for using the word ki, though. It only took Funimation….29 years to get around to using it

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Even though Blue Water of GT is more faithful than whatever dark crap FUNimation attempted to do, I can't help to share this.

It's the kind of line you can expect from a Nickelodeon sitcom or a 4Kids dub.

I never understood this line at all, people point to Goku's "Bring it on momma's boy" as an example of Blue Water GT's lowest point but I think this one takes the cake, not only because its cheesy in of itself but also it assumes Goku knows what a boyband is.

I actually just popped in my Manga UK DVD to check the subs and heres how the line was rendered:

"It's no use. Even though I ain't able to see, I can still feel your Ki, and dodge you by a hairsbreadth!"

So yeah, not sure where Blue Water's writers got the idea of Goku comparing Yi Xing Long's punches to a boyband being able to bring out a hit song. Maybe they were trying to get the point across Goku was cocky after the power up, but I still don't think it works and just makes the line unnecessarily jokey.

Theres another line in that episode where Yi Xing Long blocks Gohan and says "I think he has a headache, better call a doctor", which also comes off like a parody so I suppose this episode in particular was just not scripted on one of the writers' good days.

[Tian]

So yeah, not sure where Blue Water's writers got the idea of Goku comparing Yi Xing Long's punches to a boyband being able to bring out a hit song. Maybe they were trying to get the point across Goku was cocky after the power up, but I still don't think it works and just makes the line unnecessarily jokey.

Even though the pun on "hit" was hilarious and creative, they couldn't have picked a worse context and less appropiate character to use it with.

I mean, the line could have worked with Pan, since it would make more sense that someone her age knows about boybands.

Not to mention that Goku is someone who doesn't seem to be interested in fashions or even media at all. Mostly because he's lived most of his childhood apart from the civilization.

[Yellow Flower King]

Even though Blue Water of GT is more faithful than whatever dark crap FUNimation attempted to do, I can't help to share this.

It's the kind of line you can expect from a Nickelodeon sitcom or a 4Kids dub.

I never understood this line at all, people point to Goku's "Bring it on momma's boy" as an example of Blue Water GT's lowest point but I think this one takes the cake, not only because its cheesy in of itself but also it assumes Goku knows what a boyband is.

I actually just popped in my Manga UK DVD to check the subs and heres how the line was rendered:

"It's no use. Even though I ain't able to see, I can still feel your Ki, and dodge you by a hairsbreadth!"

So yeah, not sure where Blue Water's writers got the idea of Goku comparing Yi Xing Long's punches to a boyband being able to bring out a hit song. Maybe they were trying to get the point across Goku was cocky after the power up, but I still don't think it works and just makes the line unnecessarily jokey.

Theres another line in that episode where Yi Xing Long blocks Gohan and says "I think he has a headache, better call a doctor", which also comes off like a parody so I suppose this episode in particular was just not scripted on one of the writers' good days.

Is Japanese Goku smart enough to know what a "hairsbreadth" is?

[MasenkoHA]

Even though Blue Water of GT is more faithful than whatever dark crap FUNimation attempted to do, I can't help to share this.

It's the kind of line you can expect from a Nickelodeon sitcom or a 4Kids dub.

I never understood this line at all, people point to Goku's "Bring it on momma's boy" as an example of Blue Water GT's lowest point but I think this one takes the cake, not only because its cheesy in of itself but also it assumes Goku knows what a boyband is.

I actually just popped in my Manga UK DVD to check the subs and heres how the line was rendered:

"It's no use. Even though I ain't able to see, I can still feel your Ki, and dodge you by a hairsbreadth!"

So yeah, not sure where Blue Water's writers got the idea of Goku comparing Yi Xing Long's punches to a boyband being able to bring out a hit song. Maybe they were trying to get the point across Goku was cocky after the power up, but I still don't think it works and just makes the line unnecessarily jokey.

Theres another line in that episode where Yi Xing Long blocks Gohan and says "I think he has a headache, better call a doctor", which also comes off like a parody so I suppose this episode in particular was just not scripted on one of the writers' good days.

Is Japanese Goku smart enough to know what a "hairsbreadth" is?

I mean he literally said the line so….

Also GT Goku is like somewhere between 50-52 years old. I’m sure his vocabulary has expanded since he was 12 living in Mount Paozu sequestered from society

[Yellow Flower King]

I never understood this line at all, people point to Goku's "Bring it on momma's boy" as an example of Blue Water GT's lowest point but I think this one takes the cake, not only because its cheesy in of itself but also it assumes Goku knows what a boyband is.

I actually just popped in my Manga UK DVD to check the subs and heres how the line was rendered:

"It's no use. Even though I ain't able to see, I can still feel your Ki, and dodge you by a hairsbreadth!"

So yeah, not sure where Blue Water's writers got the idea of Goku comparing Yi Xing Long's punches to a boyband being able to bring out a hit song. Maybe they were trying to get the point across Goku was cocky after the power up, but I still don't think it works and just makes the line unnecessarily jokey.

Theres another line in that episode where Yi Xing Long blocks Gohan and says "I think he has a headache, better call a doctor", which also comes off like a parody so I suppose this episode in particular was just not scripted on one of the writers' good days.

Is Japanese Goku smart enough to know what a "hairsbreadth" is?

I mean he literally said the line so….

Also GT Goku is like somewhere between 50-52 years old. I’m sure his vocabulary has expanded since he was 12 living in Mount Paozu sequestered from society

No, he didnt. That's a translation by someone who didnt account that he shouldnt know such an obscure word. It really doesnt sound like Goku at all? What did the USA (Very well done subs) use?

[Scsigs]

Even though Blue Water of GT is more faithful than whatever dark crap FUNimation attempted to do, I can't help to share this.

It's the kind of line you can expect from a Nickelodeon sitcom or a 4Kids dub.

That "WHAT!?!" has the exact same energy as that Spongebob clip from the early seasons of that 1 fish saying "YOU WHAT!?!" to Spongebob in the April Fool's episode.

If I have to give the FUNi dub of GT credit, when I last rewatched it like a decade ago, I remember the dialogue being decently close to the Japanese insofar as you understood character motivations & why shit was happening like it did. The main problem with the dialogue was writing Goku as smarter or more emotionally mature than he is, even in GT, which didn't make any sense because GT came a few years after they had dubbed OG DB. Even if the OG DB dub wasn't that great either, they would've at least had the context of Goku's origins as a country boy from the mountains who wouldn't address his kids as "son" (the familial relation, not their surname) at the end of sentences, which I remember he addressed Gohan as, iirc, after they got back to Earth. Then there are the moments where they made Goku more heroic by giving him dialogue that felt more like it was coming from a holy man than a country hick when he was talking to Omega. I really wish they'd spend the time & money to go back & redub the older stuff with more accurate scripts & better voice acting. They have Nadolny back after Daima, so they don't even have to worry about people not liking Colleen Clinkenbeard as kid Goku. Like, if they redubbed everything with their current actor pool with consistency & good scripts, we'd be golden on the dubs.

[MasenkoHA]

Is Japanese Goku smart enough to know what a "hairsbreadth" is?

I mean he literally said the line so….

Also GT Goku is like somewhere between 50-52 years old. I’m sure his vocabulary has expanded since he was 12 living in Mount Paozu sequestered from society

No, he didnt. That's a translation by someone who didnt account that he shouldnt know such an obscure word. It really doesnt sound like Goku at all? What did the USA (Very well done subs) use?

The same thing. They use the exact same subtitles. It’s not even an obscure word

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I should have mentioned that on the UK GT discs Funimation's logo appears right after Manga UKs, so these DVDs had very little, if any, reauthoring. There have been cases where the subs were changed, like the Resurrection 'F' release, but I don't believe that is the case here.

In any case Goku is smart when it comes to combat and makes comments to mess with his opponents because he likes the thrill of the fight. "Hairsbreadth" isn't a stretch because it is making a statement about Yi Xing Long's attacks and their lack of efficiency. "You should join a boyband" is however, because Goku is not someone that is immersed in the entertainment industry or pop culture in general. His life is literally fighting, training, eating and sleeping. He's not interested in anything else, even time with his friends and family takes a backseat (although he does still care for them).

[Yellow Flower King]

I mean he literally said the line so….

Also GT Goku is like somewhere between 50-52 years old. I’m sure his vocabulary has expanded since he was 12 living in Mount Paozu sequestered from society

No, he didnt. That's a translation by someone who didnt account that he shouldnt know such an obscure word. It really doesnt sound like Goku at all? What did the USA (Very well done subs) use?

The same thing. They use the exact same subtitles. It’s not even an obscure word

You win this one lol. I am not a native speaker, so I didnt really know that word. I knew what it meant but not that it was a simple word people would be familiar with.

[Quantum-Kakarrotto]

The biggest thing that caught me off guard was in the Ocean Dub, when Kami was "phasing into another dimension"; they had Popo shouting "Kami san!"

Like what?! That had me flabbergasted when I first saw that. How and why would they leave in the honorific? I assume the dub script writers believed it was Kami's last name for something. Also, another moment from the Ocean dub that's also in the Funimation remastered dub was having Goku mention how he was trained in the "Kame-senin style of martial arts."

One I genuinely laugh at, though, is in the 23rd Budokai when they say that Goku promised to marry Chi-Chi, and the flashback scene has Goku saying, "Do you think you'll ever think about me again?" meaning Goku in the dub never promised to marry Chi-Chi

[jjgp1112]

I never understood this line at all, people point to Goku's "Bring it on momma's boy" as an example of Blue Water GT's lowest point but I think this one takes the cake, not only because its cheesy in of itself but also it assumes Goku knows what a boyband is.

I actually just popped in my Manga UK DVD to check the subs and heres how the line was rendered:

"It's no use. Even though I ain't able to see, I can still feel your Ki, and dodge you by a hairsbreadth!"

So yeah, not sure where Blue Water's writers got the idea of Goku comparing Yi Xing Long's punches to a boyband being able to bring out a hit song. Maybe they were trying to get the point across Goku was cocky after the power up, but I still don't think it works and just makes the line unnecessarily jokey.

Theres another line in that episode where Yi Xing Long blocks Gohan and says "I think he has a headache, better call a doctor", which also comes off like a parody so I suppose this episode in particular was just not scripted on one of the writers' good days.

Is Japanese Goku smart enough to know what a "hairsbreadth" is?

I mean he literally said the line so….

Also GT Goku is like somewhere between 50-52 years old. I’m sure his vocabulary has expanded since he was 12 living in Mount Paozu sequestered from society

I do think hair's breadth is another weird Simmons-ism, though. I've only ever seen that expression in Dragon Ball Z's subs

[MasenkoHA]

The biggest thing that caught me off guard was in the Ocean Dub, when Kami was "phasing into another dimension"; they had Popo shouting "Kami san!"

Like what?! That had me flabbergasted when I first saw that. How and why would they leave in the honorific? I assume the dub script writers believed it was Kami's last name for something.

It’s more out there because they didn’t use the correct honorific . At least if they used Kami-sama it would feel like an honest mistake by whoever wrote the episode forgetting to drop the sama when looking over the translation. They had to go out of their way to incorrectly call him Kami-san

Also, another moment from the Ocean dub that's also in the Funimation remastered dub was having Goku mention how he was trained in the "Kame-senin style of martial arts."

I feel the original Funimation/Ocean dub gets a pass since they skipped most of the original Dragon Ball so Goku just saying he uses the Kame-Sennin style of martial arts doesn’t feel weird or anything. These are basically new characters and we’re just entering their world. The uncut redub should have used Turtle Hermit style to be consistent with their Dragon Ball dub though.

One I genuinely laugh at, though, is in the 23rd Budokai when they say that Goku promised to marry Chi-Chi, and the flashback scene has Goku saying, "Do you think you'll ever think about me again?" meaning Goku in the dub never promised to marry Chi-Chi

This one never bothered me. Obviously knowing the intent of the Japanese version and the manga it’s supposed to be a flashback to “the marriage promise” but without knowledge of the original version it’s just as easy to assume the flashback was just a sentimental “How they first met” thing. Goku in the dub does later say “Back when we were kids I told you I wanted a bride” a dub only viewer could just assume it was an off screen conversation or something. Especially since episode 32 in both English and Japanese had Chi Chi asking about the wedding and Goku saying he’ll be back later to try that

[WittyUsername]

As far as one-liners go, the boy band joke actually is kinda clever, but it’s definitely something you’d expect from a character like Spider-Man, not Goku.

[LostTimeLord]

I do think hair's breadth is another weird Simmons-ism, though. I've only ever seen that expression in Dragon Ball Z's subs

It's not an uncommon term, but I would also say that it's a little old-fashioned? As far as idioms go, it feels quite formal to me. Mind you, we're talking about a translation that's over 20 years old now, right?

it’s definitely something you’d expect from a character like Spider-Man, not Goku.

It's exactly the kind of quip they'd give to the 1994 version of Spider-man; I can easily picture Christopher Daniel Barnes delivering that line as one of Spider-man's 'wisecracks'.

[TheRed259]

For some reason, in the MAT Serbian dub of Z, Kaioken was adapted as Leptonski Udarac (Lepton Punch)

A similar terminology was used in some episodes of the Greek dub:
https://youtu.be/YZGvWtNOtlc?t=15

I just saw that the term Leptune is listed in the original Japanese episode titles on home video releases by DeAgostini in Italy and Greece (in the first rows of the yellow box). This term must have been given incorrectly from the start by Toei Animation.

Also, King Kai himself is referred to as King Leptune in several episodes.
https://youtu.be/qLa7K0YoG8s?t=24