The Westwood Media Dub

[linkdude20002001]

So, we all know about the English dub by Westwood Media: it used the Vancouver talent pool, and the ADR skills of Ocean Productions; it began airing in 2000 in the Netherlands (followed shortly after in the UK and Ireland); and it was finished two years later, with 169 episodes dubbed. Also, I should mention it aired in Canada too, but it didn't start till 59 episodes after the other countries. And by using the Vancouver talent pool, Dragon Ball Z could once again be voiced the actors we new and loved.

This thread is for identifying and pointing out the good acting and the bad acting of this dub. Please do not speak rudely to others, and please put a good chunk of thought into each post.

In my personal opinion, I feel that the voice acting is very rushed and awkward. I know they're all amazing actors, but just listen to how Gokuh sounds in this clip (click here). It's Kelamis, but his power up sounds worse than the strange sounds Nadolny makes, and the talking voice sounds very...odd; it's like he forgot what Gokuh sounds like. Now listen to his amazing Kaioh-ken in Movie Two, or his soft speaking voice in Movie Three after Chichi yells at Gohan "Hey. Take it easy Chichi." (sorry, I can't find any clips).

[jjgp1112]

I thought that most of the people in the Westwood dub were good actors, but they were obviously rushed/phoning it in. I mean for the love of God, look at this comparison:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh1cwsk4 ... re=related

Westwood is just...awful in this clip. FUNimation blew it out the water, chopped it's head off, poured the body with gasoline, tossed some alcohol in there too, burned it, and threw it in a body bag and sent it to a ship in Bermuda. Seriously, Vegeta and Goku in the Westwood clip sound unbelievably forced, whereas in the Funi clip, they sound way more natural. And damn, that recycled BGM in that dub is awful.

Also, the Eat My Hat clip is from Funi. The music gives it away.

[penguintruth]

I can't understand why unimaginably talented VAs like Scott McNeil and Brian Drummond were so terrible in this dub when they'd been at least decent in the Funimation-produced dub. I've read that it was "rushed", but I don't know if that's true or not. It's bizarre. If you compare some clips of it to say, the last Ocean-handled Funimation dub episode where Goku beats Recoome, it's clear that one episode is a lot better in its acting.

On the other hand, there are some clips here and there that are quite good, like the one I saw when Goku recovered from his heart illness. You can even feel the chemistry between Goku and Chi-Chi and it makes me feel really good watching it, because when I watched it in the Funimation dub, it just felt like another scene.

I will say this: I prefer Drummond's Vegeta, though I respect Sabat's Vegeta in Kai. I prefer McNeil's Piccolo, though I respect Sabat's Piccolo in Kai. I prefer Kelamis as Goku, even compared to Schemmel's Goku in Kai, but the Goku he was in the movies, mostly.

The later Ocean dub is weird and unsettling to me, to be honest. There are bright points, such as Brad Swaile's teen Gohan and a few others, but it all feels really forced. Not that I think Funimation's dub of DBZ was that much better. But Funimation's Kai pretty much blows all previous DB-related English dubs out of the water.

If Ocean does a dub for Kai, I hope they take their time and use the Kai soundtrack. But seeing as how good the Funimation dub is for Kai, I almost have no interest in it.

[linkdude20002001]

I thought that most of the people in the Westwood dub were good actors, but they were obviously rushed/phoning it in. I mean for the love of God, look at this comparison:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh1cwsk4 ... re=related

Westwood is just...awful in this clip. FUNimation blew it out the water, chopped it's head off, poured the body with gasoline, tossed some alcohol in there too, burned it, and threw it in a body bag and sent it to a ship in Bermuda. Seriously, Vegeta and Goku in the Westwood clip sound unbelievably forced, whereas in the Funi clip, they sound way more natural. And damn, that recycled BGM in that dub is awful.

Also, the Eat My Hat clip is from Funi. The music gives it away.

Haha. Oops... Well, that just shows that FUNi sucks just as bad (but in their own way). Lol.

Having watched that comparison clip, while the voices sounded weird in the FUNi dub, it certainly was better acted than the Westwood dub. Though, the difference wasn't quite as great as you made it seem... You can really tell how little thought was put into the Westwood dub; it's quite sad.

[MR.Mark]

Well, that just shows that FUNi sucks just as bad (but in their own way). Lol.

This pretty much, both are bad either way, but I'll concede that the Funi dub for this scene was better acted, but that's not saying much.

I fucking love the ocean group actors having grown up on Beast Wars and other fine anime dubs they've done but Jesus.

Brian sounds atrocious here, him and Morrow's deliveries can be summed up best as sounding robotic. The only thing Brian seemed to do better in that clip than Sabat was yell.

[jjgp1112]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bztEWBKz ... re=related

@ Piccolo's screaming iun the Westwood part:

HOLY.


FUCKING.


SHIT.

I can't tell if that's awesome or epically horrible.

[Metalwario64]

That "ADIDIADADADADA" and the "HUUDIGGGIDADIDIIGIGIDIDIAAAAaah!!" during the fighting made it perfect!

This comment is even better though:

where the funi mucis my remasred have it and funimation dubble

[linkdude20002001]

I can't tell if that's awesome or epically horrible.

It's talking forever to load, but I'm gonna say it's awesome, 'cause I know how amazing his screams are.

EDIT: Yup, it's awesome. ^_^ But Sabat's Piccolo sounds like his Kuwabara... :<

[Ashy-kun]

I remember hearing Scott McNeil saying, I believe in a Q & A session, that he could get through a couple of episodes of Dragonball Z a day, so evidently, it was a case of getting it done and shipped. I like to think this, at least, as the actors are great when given the time to give their performances.

[Blue]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bztEWBKz ... re=related

@ Piccolo's screaming iun the Westwood part:

Holy shit! Someone needs to synch that scream up with some heavy bass and wailing guitars.

Edit: Did Scott just go "WHOOOO" when he punched 17? This is the best dub.

[jjgp1112]

I can't tell if that's awesome or epically horrible.

It's talking forever to load, but I'm gonna say it's awesome, 'cause I know how amazing his screams are.

Oh, you lucky soul...

[linkdude20002001]

I just realized that Videl has the same voice as Kagome (from Inuyasha). Yay!

[MR.Mark]

Did Scott just go "WHOOOO" when he punched 17? This is the best dub.

Scott indeed sounds odd in that clip at times, but Sabat sounds like he pushing out a huge turd. Not to mention that comment to 17# about batteries, Sabat sounds like some shitty WWF wrestler. I see no real advantage in either dub in that clip.

[Zep]

I'll be honest and say Drummond was my favourite Vegeta voice, and even with Sabat's improved Kai voice where he doesn't sound like he's been gargling gravel before his performance, I still prefer it. I know, sacrilege...

But when I first saw the original dub of DBZ as a kid, I didn't know what the original Vegeta sounded like. To me, Drummond's voice fit the character as I saw him; he was short, rather scrawny and young compared to the other characters and had a weaselly, ruthless attitude. As the character design changed, he became bulkier and much more mature looking, so the voice did start to stop fitting... But I didn't much care, because I thought Drummond's performance was still vastly superior to most anything Sabat did.

Even in that clip where you claim Funimation blows them out of the water, I think Drummond's performance is better than anything the other three actors showcased there did. Half the problem is he doesn't have the same musical accompaniment (Funi's music wasn't that great either, but I'll vouch it was better than the recycled rubbish the Westwood/Ocean group were using).

Generally, as time has went by I see why people don't much like Drummond's performance, however I think if he changed the sound of his voice then he would be a perfect Vegeta. If he toned down the raspiness and lowered the pitch, I think it would fit much better... Basically if he used a voice more like the one he used for Zechs in the Gundam Wing dub, where the pitch of his voice is a bit more average and not high like his usual Vegeta or too low like the one Sabat uses (I will happily say his work is much better in Kai, but I still prefer Drummond).

[sangofe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bztEWBKz ... re=related

@ Piccolo's screaming iun the Westwood part:

Holy shit! Someone needs to synch that scream up with some heavy bass and wailing guitars.

Edit: Did Scott just go "WHOOOO" when he punched 17? This is the best dub.

It was good, but he slipped out of his voice.

[linkdude20002001]

Generally, as time has went by I see why people don't much like Drummond's performance, however I think if he changed the sound of his voice then he would be a perfect Vegeta. If he toned down the raspiness and lowered the pitch, I think it would fit much better... Basically if he used a voice more like the one he used for Zechs in the Gundam Wing dub, where the pitch of his voice is a bit more average and not high like his usual Vegeta or too low like the one Sabat uses (I will happily say his work is much better in Kai, but I still prefer Drummond).

I agree that if Drummond played the character differently, he'd make the perfect Vegeta. Sabat's voice is all wrong no matter how he may try, but at least Drummond's voice is in the right range. The problem is that they both sound too angry.

[JulieYBM]

Just a slight note, I remember reading on AoDVD that the Westwood dub was also recorded at Airwaves Sound Studio. Basically, from what I can recall, Ocean was just coordinating stuff while the show was being recorded by multiple different studios and directors in the area (therefore the rushed acting with different directing styles).

McNeil's screaming during the fight with #17 is something else. It's a shame it is covered up by the terrible music and sound effects, though.

[linkdude20002001]

Yeah, I remember the actors complaining about never having a consistent voice director. It was recorded at both Ocean Studios and Airwaves Sound Design, but since they are two of their busiest voice-over studios, they couldn't just pick one (well, not if they were to get it done as quickly as Westwood Media wanted it). The majority of the dub was recorded at Airwaves.

[penguintruth]

I love how cocky Drummond's Vegeta sounds, like he enjoys every word he's saying. But I'm really enjoying Sabat's Vegeta in Kai. It's come a long way.

[linkdude20002001]

That's one of the great things about Drummond's Vegeta. And that's why I think he could make the perfect Vegeta if he just took out the anger from his Vegeta voice. With some tweaking, he'd surpass Sabat any day. Well...he'd still need to be in a dub where they care about quality over quantity to surpass anybody.