An observation on Dragon Ball's English-speaking fanbases.

[Adamant]

So, how was it in Norwegian?

Non-existant. Only the movies have been dubbed, and I've never heard Vegeta's dub voice. Given the overall quality of that dub, I'd say a hypothetical dub version of that scene would probably involve a lot of cringing as well, tough. But, at least we'd have the original music.

[Velasa]

Don't we all still get goosebumps when Vegeta fires that Ki Blast at Cell during the Final Kamehameha Clash?

Nope, because I was completely caught up the moment Pic dived in there first, and Veg taking his sweet time ain't distracting me. If I do think about Veg it's how this is all his bloody fault anyway < <

But really, I do like the rest of your post. I disagree on points, but all in all we're Dragonball fans and we have that connection to us ^^

[Gozar]

LOL, I can't help but giggle out of the fact that out of my entire post, 3 people took my single example of a scene. OK maybe I gave a bad example. Perhaps Goku's first Super Saiya-jin transformation or Gohan's SSJ2 Transformation would suffice better...My basic point is that whether Spirit Vs.Spirit or Faulconer's "Hyper-Bolic Time Chamber" track is playing in the background. Whether there's an inner monologue by Gohan or not. In the end no matter which version you're watching, people are enjoying it for the same singular purpose. The awakening of power through a burst of anger in a typically meek and timid child. We all love the same thing, we all love the same characters. OK, maybe Goku doesn't talk like a country bumpkin anymore and occasionally uses big words. But at the core he's still the same man. The fairly naive, warm-hearted, yet stern when necessary Goku.

Now dang it, I wanna see the Dragonball dub with that kickbutt narrating from Brice Armstrong!

Oh god I know what you mean. I love his voice so much. It's funny how DB got the best treatment of the 3 series. Original music, the scripts were pretty darn faithful, and we didn't have to suffer through those 3 Episode per disc releases. I think that if Z & GT got the same treatment as DB from the get go we wouldn't really have such a head-butting Dub Vs.Sub thing going on. The vast differences in the voices between the Original and FUNi would eventually subside probably.

[NeptuneKai]

The only thing is I feel like the dub watchers aren't seeing the same thing as the sub watchers are, for example lets take the SSJ2 Gohan scene

In the original it was a giant build up to Gohan's brain snapping and the audience having a silent understanding that the mind spirit and body were all coming together as a confident yet soothing song was playing in the background only to end with the song cutting off and Gohan looking angrily yet confidently at Cell.

In the dub we have blaring techno rock shit while Gohan yip yip yips away all through the scene...it's just not the same experience in my opinion.

Not to mention the dub does change countless character personalities, Freeza becomes a stand up comic, Racoome and Nappa become border line retarded Goku is now a wise articulate man in his speeches Chi Chi and Bulma become complete and utter bitches so on and so forth.

Then we have all the horrible WWF grunting and shouting which I believe a lot of the American fanbase is attracted to, no longer are they shouting like martial artists...nope they are yelling like someone has their balls in a vice grip. The dub seems like an "LOL X-TREME" version of the show filled with corny dialouge, bad music and for the most part unnatural voices.

Even the dialouge that isn't downright stupid is bad because a lot of the time it consists of slinging back and fourth corny "this is supposed to be cool" Saturday morning action cartoon one liners that impress 12 year olds.

I used to watch the dub but due to all these things I just couldn't stomach it any longer, I honestly feel like the dub is a beast in itself and if people like it that's fine but I don't really think it can be compared to the original version.

[Gozar]

I agree with you on the change made to Gohan's SSJ2 scene...However, like I said. Though altered, what the scene in the end boils down to is "The awakening of power through a burst of anger in a typically meek and timid child."

Also, I 100% agree with your mention of Freeza's personality. I actually gave a mini-rant on a Podcast I was on recently regarding the change of Freeza in the Dub. Freeza loses that polite confidence that he has in the original and THAT is something that not even I can forgive the Dub for.

A prime example is the "Dance of Joy" scene from Ginyu.

Original: Uh, perhaps you could save it for another time.

Hell in the Manga Freeza's facial expression is almost nervous looking, lol.

While on the other hand...

Dub: Uh Ginyu if you value your life, stop...Aw did I hurt your feelings...GET OVER IT!!!

On the subject of Goku though...Even in the Original he can give a pretty decent speech. My thing has always been that the Dub takes that smaller aspect of Goku and enhances it too much. As a result we get "I am the light in the darkness...I am truth"

Bulma & Chi-Chi...er...ARE pretty bitchy in the original. As for Nappa and Recoome...I think that's more or less a matter of voice. Especially on Nappa's part. I did not like the Ocean Cast's Nappa. He literally made Nappa sound like there was something wrong with him mentally. I think Phil Parsons did a better job at bringing around the original intention of Nappa.

[Rocketman]

In the original it was a giant build up to Gohan's brain snapping and the audience having a silent understanding that the mind spirit and body were all coming together as a confident yet soothing song was playing in the background only to end with the song cutting off and Gohan looking angrily yet confidently at Cell.

In the dub we have blaring techno rock shit while Gohan yip yip yips away all through the scene...it's just not the same experience in my opinion.

Actually, in the original, it's a sudden blast of pure rage that takes two panels.

Both reinterpretations throw in a lot of "contemplate our navels" and a stupid bird that's probably symbolic of something, one is just louder than the other.

[Herms]

Everything in the DB Faniverse is always a big deal. No matter what it is, not only do people take sides. But the bulk of people become insanely hard assed about their opinion.

I don't think it's true that the majority of people are like that. I think it's just that the ones who are tend to be the ones who stand out the most.

[NeptuneKai]

I agree with you on the change made to Gohan's SSJ2 scene...However, like I said. Though altered, what the scene in the end boils down to is "The awakening of power through a burst of anger in a typically meek and timid child."

Right but the way the mood is portrayed changes the scene in the dub. I can't honestly think that a watcher of the dub felt the same way that the sub watchers did while watching this scene.

I guess what I'm trying to say is we all are watching the same scene but the mood set while watching said scene is different thus changing the scene almost entirely. Just like how I felt nothing while watching the Saban dub (Yeah I know OMG SABAN DIDNT DUB the ANIMU but let's just use this term for now because you all know what I mean) as Piccolo died and we have this flat acting and horrible stock music in the background yet when I watched the Japanese version I actually shed a few tears.
(Not that me crying is saying much, I cry every time I watch the Usopp pirates disband. )

On the subject of Goku though...Even in the Original he can give a pretty decent speech. My thing has always been that the Dub takes that smaller aspect of Goku and enhances it too much. As a result we get "I am the light in the darkness...I am truth"

Which all n' all I think matters plenty and makes the show that more corn ball but really the one speech that springs to mind is the scene where Goku asks Kurin-chan to spare Vegeta's life. In the dub it was this long rant about "HE CAN CHANGE, HES LIKE PICCOLO, LOVE AND HOPE AND FRIENDSHIP!!!" while originally it was nothing more then "I wish to fight him again".

Bulma & Chi-Chi...er...ARE pretty bitchy in the original. As for Nappa and Recoome...I think that's more or less a matter of voice. Especially on Nappa's part. I did not like the Ocean Cast's Nappa. He literally made Nappa sound like there was something wrong with him mentally. I think Phil Parsons did a better job at bringing around the original intention of Nappa

In the case of Chi Chi I saw her more as an overly concerned parent in the Japanese version, to me the dub just makes her out to be a raging lunatic bitch.

As for Nappa and Racoome I think it is the mix between the bad dialouge and the bad voices. We have Vegeta's big deworming speech to Nappa we have Racoome wanting to watch soap opera's and on top of that we have them both sounding like reincarnations of Bebop and Rocksteady.

[Chrono Trigger]

Alright. So the original version had the better Super Saiyan 2 transformation scene. I still say the dub did Super Saiyan 3 better. Just uh throwing that out there.

[NeptuneKai]

Alright. So the original version had the better Super Saiyan 2 transformation scene. I still say the dub did Super Saiyan 3 better. Just uh throwing that out there.

It was an impressive scene for the dub I agree but if you don't like rock techno or any of the dub voices I think it falls flat on its face if you aren't already a dub fan.

[Chrono Trigger]

That's true. I also think the dub handled the Super Saiyan Vegeta transformation a bit better too. I not saying FUNI doesn't fuck up but SOME stuff they just hit right on the head and nail it.

[NeptuneKai]

That's true. I also think the dub handled the Super Saiyan Vegeta transformation a bit better too. I not saying FUNI doesn't fuck up but SOME stuff they just hit right on the head and nail it.

Well we also have his speech in that scene that if you really examine it doesn't make a lot of sense, he didn't care anymore...gave up and became a SSJ? Last time I checked that wasn't how SSJ worked.

[Chrono Trigger]

Oh! I was just talking about the part where he kicks 19 in the head up to the part where he goes Super Saiyan. After that I switch back to the Japanese version. (I like to mix and match when I watch.)

[NeptuneKai]

After that I switch back to the Japanese version. (I like to mix and match when I watch.)

I used to do that all the time, it was almost like slowly going into a cold pool and warming up to the Japanese voices and music.

To be honest I don't believe I've seen that scene in the dub so I can't give an opinion on it.

[Super Sonic]

Didn't watch it on tv years ago?

[NeptuneKai]

Didn't watch it on tv years ago?

I was always more of a manga reader and I was never home early enough to watch Dragonball Z, I ended up watching bits and pieces but I never watched it religiously when it was on Cartoon Network. I then went back and bought the DVD's but they were so pricey I only managed to collect the uncut Freeza stuff and the Fusion saga before just saying "fuck it" and spending my money on collecting the rest of the manga in its entirety.
Which is part of the reason I have a love hate relationship with the season boxsets, finally I can watch the show for a much more affordable price but then we have the footage quality issue etc.

[Raki]

Alright. So the original version had the better Super Saiyan 2 transformation scene. I still say the dub did Super Saiyan 3 better. Just uh throwing that out there.

Funi's music KILLED the SS3 transformation for me. Great scenes but terrible music...and this was before I knew of the original Japanese score.

[Remix]

The SSJ2 transformation wasn't killed by the music.

Gohan's internal monologue while he was in the middle of screaming is what killed it for me.

[Kunzait_83]

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[mAcChaos]

*brain explodes*

Even though Funi took an axe to DBZ, I'm on one level grateful for them taking it up, because all anime was relegated to the niche market, I probably never would have seen it or ever been a fan today.