DBZ Kai Dub - Ideal Recasts?

[Innagadadavida]

So you wake up one morning, grab a bowl of cereal and check the Daizex forum like you always do, when suddenly you get a phone call. On the other end of the line is FUNimation, they're recruiting you to recast some of the roles in the new FUNimation dub of Dragon Ball Kai. Who will you give the boot and why? Who might replace him/her for the role in question? Who will you keep on staff and why?

My boots to the head:
1) Linda Young as Freeza
Obviously, ispso facto, by and large, the most inappropriate casting in the FUNimation version. As a hardcore Dragon Ball fan, Linda Young's portrayal is borderline insulting at times. It may just be because of the terrible script that FUNimation forced her to work with... Er, nevermind, I don't think a better script would be enough to change anything. That's not to say that Linda Young is a bad actress, quite the contrary. She does a fantastic job as Baba and I would have no-one else play the old fortune teller in an English version of DBZ.. But the galactic tyrant? No way. I have nobody in mind as a replacement, but I'm sure I would be fine with any male taking the role instead of Miss Young.

2) Stephanie Nadolny as Kid Gohan
Oh, Stephanie Nadolny- You're a beautiful woman, a great actress, and a gorgeous singer and I know you've had a hard time finding work recently. But stay the hell away from Gohan. Your portrayal is much to raspy and articulate for a four year old child. As a fourteen year old, innocent, little Goku? Somehow it works and I love it. But Gohan is not your cup of tea. Who played Gohan in that terrible edited Ocean dub? That was a good casting call. I liked his voice in that dub. He actually sounded like a kid.

3) Chris Sabat as Recoome and Jeice, Brice Armstrong as Captain Ginyu
For Recoome and Jeice... It's Chris Sabat. Just... No. You have enough roles son, give it a rest already. Also, what the hell are you doing, Mr. Sabat? Rtard Recoome and Planet Australia Jeice? That's just stupid.
As for the Captain. I just never liked Brice Armstrong's portrayal. Maybe because I kept hearing the Narrator from Dragon Ball in him. It just never seemed like it fit.

My Keepers:
1) Sonny Strait as Adult Krillin
Yes! I can not imagine Krillin with any other voice in a FUNi dub. His portrayal just clicks and his acting is superb. Sonny Strait's Krillin is the only voice that I believe outshines his original Japanese counterpart in Dragon Ball Z.

2) Dameon Clarke as Cell
Oh shit!

3) Chris Rager as Mr. Satan
You da man, Chris. Get well soon!

4) Others: Chuck Huber as Android 17, Travis Willingham as Tenshinhan, Chris Sabat as Not-a-surfer Yamcha, Brad Jackson as Oolong, Meredith McCoy as Android 18 and Lunch, and probably a few more minor roles.


All the others, I can take em or leave em. So how about you? What's your ideal cast within reason?

[DemonRin]

Linda Young As Freeza:
Freeza needs to go. Sorry to the dubbies, but she does. Pretty much for every reason the thread starter said. Replace her with any male actor on FUNi's list and it'll be good, but maybe give it to J. Michael Tatum or oooh, Vic Mignogna might do a good Freeza.

Anyone Chris Sabat Plays who isn't Piccolo and/or Vegeta:

IE, his more minor roles. Just give someone else a chance to play those characters. But if he has to come back for them, these things need to happen:
Yamucha: Drop the Surfer-tude.
ReaCoom: Drop the Moronic Meathed Accent
Jheese: Drop the Aussie Accent

That's all I think NEEDS to change. If Just those change, I'll be happy... but in an Ideal world, I'd have these ones change too

Stephanie Nadolny as Kid Gohan:
A tad too raspy. Give it to someone else. Maybe Colleen Clinkenbeard or Brina Palencia. OR, Whoever played Conan in Detective Conan, she did a REALLY good job of sounding like a little boy.

Pu'erh:
I don't care who plays her, even if its the same actress, so long as whoever it is drops the pitch of the voice a LITTLE. The original was so high-pitched it actually hurt my ears to listen to her.

I'm sure I could think of more, but that's it for right now.

Also, they need to keep Chris Rager as Mr. Satan. That HAS to happen.

[penguintruth]

I did an article about this a while back. Pretty sure there's still a link to it in my signature.

Here are some highlights:

Brina Palencia as Goku, Gohan, and Goten
Chris Sabat as Vegeta (provided he drops other parts and concentrates on this one)
Travis Willingham as Piccolo
Gwendolyn Lau as Kuririn
John Burgmeier as Freeza
Brice Armstrong as Kaio
John Swasey as Cell
Mike McFarland as Tenshinhan
Avery Rice Williams as Chaozu
Aaron Dismuke as Future Trunks

[SonGokuGT]

John Burgmeier as Freeza
Brice Armstrong as Kaio
Mike McFarland as Tenshinhan
Aaron Dismuke as Future Trunks

I must say... Intriguing!!

[B]

Drops:
Linda Young as Freeza
Kara Edwards as Goten
Christopher R. Sabat as anyone who isn't Piccolo, Mr. Popo, or Karin
Dameon Clarke as Cell
Tiffany Volmer as Bulma
Kyle Hebert as Narrator
Sean Schemmel as North Kaiou

Keeps:
Chris Rager as Mr. Satan
John Burgmeier as Tenshinhan(provided he uses his natural voice)
The Androids minus Cell

Replacements:
Troy Baker or Jason Liebrecht as Freeza
Britney Karbowski as Goten
Travis Willingham as Vegeta(non-imitation a la Cell in the games)
Orion Pitts as Yamcha
Markus Lloyd as "Kami-sama"
Kenny Green as Cell
Jamie Marchi as Bulma
Brice Armstrong as the Narrator
John Swasey as North Kaiou

And maybe Chris Patton as young adult Gohan. That might take a few casting sessions.

[sangofe]

I'd say get back the early Ocean cast... Most of those voices were great.

[Innagadadavida]

I'd say get back the early Ocean cast... Most of those voices were great.

I still don't know why so many people say this. I hated most of those voices. They all sounded way to Saturday morning cartoon to me. Especially Vegeta.

[sangofe]

I'd say get back the early Ocean cast... Most of those voices were great.

I still don't know why so many people say this. I hated most of those voices. They all sounded way to Saturday morning cartoon to me. Especially Vegeta.

Are you sure it wasn't just the music that made it "saturday morning"?

[jjgp1112]

I'd say get back the early Ocean cast... Most of those voices were great.

I still don't know why so many people say this. I hated most of those voices. They all sounded way to Saturday morning cartoon to me. Especially Vegeta.

I agree. I was listening to those voice comparisons Tanooki did a couple of days ago, and everyone in the Ocean Dub delivers there lines in an incredibly over-dramatic manner. And Scott McNeil must have been watching too much Clint Eastwood movies when trying to figure out how to portray Piccolo.

[Blue]

I too agree the ocean cast wasn't very good. Every line they delivered was incredibly drawn out for some reason. I especially dislike Terry's Kuririn.

[VegettoEX]

Please keep the conversation on-topic. This thread has nothing to do with the original Ocean Studios cast, unless you are specifically pointing out preferred re-castings based on that group. Blanket statements about which group you like more really have no place here.

[LeprikanGT]

What's everyones deal with hating Chris Sabat so much?

Did miss something he did or .... ? ASIDE from personal opinions on his voicing choices.

[JulieYBM]

I really don't think anyone 'hates him', at least not here. His in-series work is not up to the standards of a number of people, however.

[Greenman]

I really don't think anyone 'hates him', at least not here. His in-series work is not up to the standards of a number of people, however.

This is exactly it for me. I love Chris Sabat. I just don't think his voices are right for most of his DragonBall roles. I think he's a good voice actor, actually. I like him as Zoro and I think he'd be an 'OK' Piccolo if he voiced him a little more in that direction.

[LeprikanGT]

I guess it's just that for most of the Sabat characters, he was the first voice that I've heard and if they were different it wouldn't really feel the same.

He's got the talent and the know-how to handle things and I think he's done a good job so far.

[Xyex]

but I'm sure I would be fine with any male taking the role instead of Miss Young.

I find the statements like this both annoying and amusing, especially since a lot of them come from the same people who have no issues with Goku being voiced by a woman in the JP version.

As for me, the only one I'd change is Puar because it's just too damned high. Everyone else is fine.

[Kendamu]

I'd say get back the early Ocean cast... Most of those voices were great.

I still don't know why so many people say this. I hated most of those voices. They all sounded way to Saturday morning cartoon to me. Especially Vegeta.

That's interesting considering that the FUNi recasts for all characters up to that point (except Krillin) were hired to imitate the Ocean cast and, even in all their current differences, you can still easily tell that they were originally hired as imitators of the Ocean cast. Back then, everyone called them "pale imitations" of the old cast.

What would be interesting is if, in the Kai dub, they pulled a "One Piece" and interpreted things in their own way instead of basing it off of the old cast. So, maybe, Kaiou could have a deep voice or Freeza could sound like a spoiled rich boy! Whether the people voicing the characters need recasting or not is not depends on their capabilities for such a re-interpretation.

[Gozar]

2) Stephanie Nadolny as Kid Gohan
Oh, Stephanie Nadolny- You're a beautiful woman, a great actress, and a gorgeous singer and I know you've had a hard time finding work recently. But stay the hell away from Gohan. Your portrayal is much to raspy and articulate for a four year old child. As a fourteen year old, innocent, little Goku? Somehow it works and I love it. But Gohan is not your cup of tea. Who played Gohan in that terrible edited Ocean dub? That was a good casting call. I liked his voice in that dub. He actually sounded like a kid.

Let me throw this out there. Have you listened to her Cell Games Gohan in Raging Blast? It's quite a change. She mixed it up a bit with that specific Gohan. I understand you don't like her normal Gohan voice. But tell me what you think if she were to ONLY voice Cell Games Gohan as she did in RB.

Linda Young As Freeza:
Freeza needs to go. Sorry to the dubbies, but she does. Pretty much for every reason the thread starter said. Replace her with any male actor on FUNi's list and it'll be good, but maybe give it to J. Michael Tatum or oooh, Vic Mignogna might do a good Freeza.

Hmm...Vic...Interesting. Would you want it something like his normal voice. Or something a little more raspy like his Kougaji voice in Saiyuki? Or a mixture?

I'm curious to hear people's opinions in this topic. Even though I don't want any voices replaced as I'd miss even the ones that suck (Aussie-Jheese, lol).

Aaron Dismuke as Future Trunks

I can understand your feelings on most of your list PT, but as a Trunks fan I have to speak about this one. I'm sorry but I think that's an absolutely horrible fit. I've heard some of his more recent stuff since he hit puberty. I think that voice coming out of Trunks would be way to light. I think Eric Vale is the perfect mixture of polite/humble and been through hell/intense Trunks. Because we get both of those feels from Trunks. I think Eric really shines in this role.

May I ask what it is you'd like about Aaron as Trunks?

[Onikage725]

I find the statements like this both annoying and amusing, especially since a lot of them come from the same people who have no issues with Goku being voiced by a woman in the JP version.

Maybe it has to do with the original portrayal of the character's being decent. I usually hold the reverse of your statement true, since generally dubbies who bash Nozawa for being a chick and having lots of roles are very willing to ignore Young's performance or Sabat's vocal load.

All the same, Linda Young's performance of Freeza was an attempt to resemble Pauline Newstone's Freeza. One look at Newstone's credits, and Freeza stands out like a "what doesn't belong here" puzzle. She seriously uses the same voice for Freeza that she used for Heka on Mummies Alive (the comic relief sidekick). A glance at Young's filmography has a similar effect. Say what you want about personal preference, but you can't deny that she uses much the same voice for Freeza as she does for Genkai. The tone is different due to the differences in the characters, but the voices are very close. It is off-putting for many to have Freeza the arrogant tyrant being played by someone best fit to play old women (Genkai and Baba most obviously). At least Nozawa originated the role of Goku. You can't really compare that to an imitation of an interpretation that was horribly off base for how the character should have been portrayed. And that's before you add the script. You have a woman's voice saying "whatever turns you on, big boy" and suddenly Freeza comes off as a whole lot gayer.

Hell, I want a recast of Freeza just so I can avoid any more "debates" about Freeza's gender. I never had the problem with the original, but I've known many dub fans IRL who have been confused as to whether or not Freeza was a guy. Hell, some early merch even made it through with female pronouns when describing him.

It's not about gender, Xyex. It's about performance. Women play male roles all the time, if they sound appropriate for the role.

For the record, I think her son would make a better Freeza (just to keep this slightly on topic).

[penguintruth]

I can understand your feelings on most of your list PT, but as a Trunks fan I have to speak about this one. I'm sorry but I think that's an absolutely horrible fit. I've heard some of his more recent stuff since he hit puberty. I think that voice coming out of Trunks would be way to light. I think Eric Vale is the perfect mixture of polite/humble and been through hell/intense Trunks. Because we get both of those feels from Trunks. I think Eric really shines in this role.

May I ask what it is you'd like about Aaron as Trunks?

I just sort of want to hear him as Trunks, is all. I don't dislike Vale as Trunks at all (though sometimes he needs to dial it down). This was probably my least necessary recasting. I just really like Aaron Dismuke and think he might be able to handle it.