Opinion of Sabat?

MagicBox · Post by **MagicBox** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:34 pm

SSj Kaboom wrote:Overall though, he's a much better director than an actor. Portions of DBZ he's directed like Movie 8 and the Kid Buu saga are really good.

Agreed. I actually wish he had written/directed the entire English series. While I know that's an incredibly large amount of work for one guy, we would have gotten a much more accurate script, and the proper pronunciation of some techniques. Say what you want as an actor, but as a writer, he cared a good bit about sticking to the original.

As an actor, I'm kinda on the fence. I like his Shen Long, Porunga, Mr. Popo, Adutant Black, and a few more of his minor characters. I'll be perfectly honest and admit that his Vegeta really doesn't annoy me too much, and his Yamcha is great, voice-wise, when he's not spouting surfer dialogue. His Piccolo has been getting on my nerves as of late, though. Too angry.

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:38 pm

I have respect for the guy. When I think of "dub" I think of Chris Sabat.

I have no problems with his voices.

KaiserNeko · Post by **KaiserNeko** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:00 pm

I've always felt that Sabat was a bad pick for most of the characters he as cast as.

Never liked his Vegeta, never liked his Piccolo, never liked his Yamcha, never liked his Jeice. This isn't just a matter of comparison to the Ocean cast, either, I just don't think that any of his voices beside perhaps Kami, King Piccolo, and maybe even Zarbon were close to the original characters'.

I do like Chris Sabat though. Wonderful Zoro and Armstrong!

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:03 pm

KaiserNeko wrote:I've always felt that Sabat was a bad pick for most of the characters he as cast as.

Never liked his Vegeta, never liked his Piccolo, never liked his Yamcha, never liked his Jeice. This isn't just a matter of comparison to the Ocean cast, either, I just don't think that any of his voices beside perhaps Kami, King Piccolo, and maybe even Zarbon were close to the original characters'.

I do like Chris Sabat though. Wonderful Zoro and Armstrong!

This.

Especially if you listen to the Ginyu Force, you can hear ALL of them sounding damn near identical (mainly because Sabat voices them all except for Ginyu). I know the Japanese cast has reused people for characters, but it was never to this degree where one person voiced nearly a good half of the male cast.

But he is indeed a helluva good Armstrong and Zoro. Sorta okay Kuwabara.

Zuhalter2000 · Post by **Zuhalter2000** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:14 pm

VegettoEX wrote:It's intriguing for me to see how many people are genuinely noting that they had no idea how many roles Chris Sabat had in the series. For those of us that have been following the company for so long, it's just one of those seemingly-common-sense bits of information.

For those who stated such, how old are you? I'm wondering if this falls in line with other examples of used-to-seem-like-minorities, but now-seems-to-be-a-majority (for an additional example, Faulconer music; the online vocal majority during its actual heyday was overwhelmingly negative [and possibly contributed to his drop for DBGT], but I have a hypothesis that the opposite was true in reality and said "true" majority simply didn't have the age or internet access to reflect these opinions, which are only just now getting expressed).

I am 19. I watched DBZ from 5th grade till about 7th grade then stopped until senior year till present. My early DBZ years I was still taking it all in, but now I am discovering a whole other world of DB related information. If you asked me back in February what the Diazenshuus were I'd have no fucking clue.

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:17 pm

Conan the SSJ wrote:Actually, the redub premiered on Cartoon Network in June of 05, which was about two months after the first UUE release. No worries though, Lemmy. I confuse years too when it comes to DBZ releases. @.@

Was it 2005? Ugh. M'gettin' too old for this shit.

JAPPO wrote:I have respect for the guy. When I think of "dub" I think of Chris Sabat.

I can agree with this. Whether for better or worse, Sabat's name is pretty much synonymous with the American dub of DragonBall Z and even FUNi's dubs in general.

~Da Lemmy

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:31 pm

I like him. Some of his roles are better than others, and I think his Vegeta and Piccolo voices were better when they were evil. (Some actors do like to play villains more). Still think his Popo was better than the japanese, but that has more to due for personal reasons as well.

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:49 pm

Super Sonic wrote: Some of his roles are better than others, and I think his Vegeta and Piccolo voices were better when they were evil.

His Piccolo Daimao was rather good, and I was saddened that some of that didn't spill over into the redub of the first two seasons when it would have been appropriate for Piccolo to be a touch more demonic than as dubbed.

~Da Lemmy

TheGreatness25 · Post by **TheGreatness25** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:49 am

I liked his Vegeta. I liked how his Vegeta progressed throughout the series. The first few episodes he tackled were HORRIBLE. But then, you get this natural maturity to his voice. It gets deeper and deeper. Wish when they redid the "Ultimate Uncut" line, that he'd use a lighter voice to match it up, but eh whatever.

I HATE his Piccolo, at least later on in the series. For some reason, I liked his Piccolo during the Frieza Saga. Where he had this rasp to his voice. Later on, I'd say around the Great Saiyaman Saga, when his voice just got really dull and more monotone (best word I can think of at the moment), it just makes me want to fall asleep. Hate his Piccolo. Surprisingly, I like his first tackles of Piccolo. Later on, he just gets super annoying.

I like his Yamcha. Though I don't like the whole surfer thing, still think that his voicing was done rather well.

Shenron... Well you can't go wrong there. It can be 20 different actors and you'd probably be able to tell like 4 apart. It's a super deep voice. I mean I can do that.

Mr. Popo... Well it's okay. Unfortunately, all I can think of when I think of Popo is, "Mr. Popo does not lie." "Somehow I believe you." "Yes. That's because I never lie."

And like the other million people he voices... After a while, they all sound the same.

SonGokuGT · Post by **SonGokuGT** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:46 am

I think Chris Sabat is a great voice actor. I don't particularly like his Dragonball work but I think he's excellent in practically everything else. Dragonball Z was his "infancy" and he's developed his talents a lot since then. The Seasons 1 and 2 redubs were decent and his video game work is good as well.

Ayame in Fruits Basket was quite a departure, Armstrong was unique and endearing, and Zoro... Well, he's damn near perfect in my opinion. I look forward to his roles since he's proven that he can do a wide variety of characters.

The S · Post by **The S** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:51 am

My lil' joke is that I call DBZ "The Christopher R. Sabat Show Featuring Sean Schemmel"

But yeah, I like him. He does some decent voice work (some of which is more or less easy for me to mimic a close approximation to), and he's got a lot of charisma.

Sprite Satan · Post by **Sprite Satan** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:54 am

Too many roles, and I can't believe it when he starts to mix up his Piccolo and his Vegeta.

He's been good in a lot of other series, but I can't really stand most of his Z roles.

caejones · Post by **caejones** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:59 am

Sabat-Zarban bugs the hell out of me, for some reason. Sounds like European Yamcha getting ready to vomit something on his opponents.

... Actually, whenever I hear Zarban in the PS2 games, it makes me want to switch to the japanese voices... (Usually though, any japanese voice-setting is more a matter of whether or not we feel like changing it today.

).

... In the Cell saga, when they were making the wish to revive Cell's victims, I couldn't tell if it was Yamcha or Kami (using his voice from in Piccolo?) that was making the wish.

Hm. Overall, though? I don't really know... :-/

LeprikanGT · Post by **LeprikanGT** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:07 am

@EX - I'm 21, been watching the [american version] or almost a decade. I did know he had that many roles in the show but i forget which game but he did like 19 different voices. lol

But I heard he was doing the voice of Shenron in the movie? or was that just here-say?

xzero · Post by **xzero** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:11 am

I liked Sabat for Piccolo and Vegeta (his Shenron was spot-on as well). I think he does a good job portraying the big, strongman characters. Major Armstrong in Full Metal Alchemist was a perfect characterization for him, and he also did a great job with a (sp?) Kikucho from Samurai 7. He falls apart when he tries to do too many voices or get away from that group. Many people disliked his Kuwabara from Yu Yu Hakusho (the voice grew on me, but was grating at first). Overall, Sabat does a good job. I have to give him more credit for his writing, actually. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) he wrote some accurate Buu Saga episodes, as well as the really accurate redub of Season 2. He seems to actually care about delivering a quality product, and I'm pretty sure that the man-of-1000-voices thing was because Funi was a fledgling company at the time and couldn't afford to hire all of those actors for DBZ.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:38 pm

In the Dragonball franchise, Sabat does too much and I can usually tell when it's him. So, when seeing the show in English, it's kind of a turn off... Especially when Goku's fighting Piccolo and I start hearing Vegeta come through in his voice.

However, I've heard him on other shows and thought he was fantastic for whatever roles given. This probably has something to do with not directing himself to try and mimic the Ocean cast and then branching off from there.

Knowing how he talks in his normal voice, I think it would be really cool for Sabat to get set up in some roles where he was directed to use his natural voice. I think he has acting talent. Maybe he could put a little emphasis on it (like how Shemmel's Goku voice is similar to his natural voice), but I wanna hear how he would depict someone like Vegeta without having him go into his, "I'm having trouble exhaling," voice.

By the way, I'm 25, I've watched Dragonball and Dragonball Z on Toonami, and I've always preferred the Japanese version (or the Ocean cast with Japanese BGM).

Nikkolas · Post by **Nikkolas** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:32 pm

Ocean dub was over 9000!

But getting past old internet jokes
Sabat Vegeta vs. Drummond Vegeta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7RcpsJJBO4

Drummond does a good hysterical Vegeta like when he's having a breakdown back in the Saiyan Saga. But I can't stand him in any other light.

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:21 pm

Kendamu wrote:Knowing how he talks in his normal voice, I think it would be really cool for Sabat to get set up in some roles where he was directed to use his natural voice.

You probably know this already, but his Roronoa Zoro from One Piece is a good example. It's just a slightly deeper version of his natural voice, and it fits the character wonderfully.

Maybe he could put a little emphasis on it (like how Shemmel's Goku voice is similar to his natural voice), but I wanna hear how he would depict someone like Vegeta without having him go into his, "I'm having trouble exhaling," voice.

I noticed in this Infinite World video, that in the Majin Vegeta cutscene at about 1:23, he uses a much more subdued and far less raspy version of Vegeta's voice, and it sounds great. Maybe if we get a big enough online petition going (LOL), we can get him to redub the entire series that way.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:47 pm

SSj Kaboom wrote:I noticed in this Infinite World video, that in the Majin Vegeta cutscene at about 1:23, he uses a much more subdued and far less raspy version of Vegeta's voice, and it sounds great. Maybe if we get a big enough online petition going (LOL), we can get him to redub the entire series that way.

That was actually pretty good. I'm guessing that it was deep because of the whole Majin thing. If he raised it up just a little (like how Schemmel's is raised just a little) so that he could properly convey Vegeta's cocky stuck-up asshole side, it would be pretty damn good!

Now, if along with that, they would do a real script re-write that's closer to the original. No more of this "Cat loves food, ye-yeah yeah yeah!" stuff.

Chuquita · Post by **Chuquita** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:30 pm

Whoa! I'm not used to hearing Vegeta sound so deep; but I like it.

I like it because it reminds me of what Mr. Horikawa does with his Vegeta.

Vegeta's meant to have a deep, smooth voice.