Would Z Kai have benefited from a complete cast overhaul?

[Rory]

From my observations across the board, the majority here seem to love the voice replacements present in the NA Dragon Ball Kai dub.
Though there are still a few who speak out against the older voices.
The question I propose to you guys, is would you have preferred Z Kai's cast to be completely new, or are you glad a few have stuck around?
I mean sure, Schemmel has come a long way since his season 3 days, and it's hard to deny that he does a pretty impressive job in his role as Gokuu today, but do you think picking someone new (ala Chris Ayres' Freeza, somebody genuinely convincing as the character), would've been a better move than picking an actor simply for the sake of being the voice the majority of the dub fan-base know?
I'm not just talking about Gokuu obviously, this applies to every returning voice in the series.

[Puto]

Well, I'm sure penguintruth will agree with you :lol:

Either way, I'm quite happy with most of the returning cast, with few exceptions (Kaiô, Reacoom, Muten Rôshi...), but I wouldn't have minded a complete recast either, seeing as I have no attachment to the old dub cast.

[Turtle Marked Stone]

Am I glad some of them stuck around? Yes, I adore Sabat as Piccolo, it's a great choice and if I were dream casting I'd probably put him in that role. I can't think of a better voice actor than Sonny to voice Kuririn, he does some great things with the character. Chris Ranger as Mr.Satan, I love it. That being said we also have things like Kaio and Reccome. I believe they should have started off on a clean sleight. If they wanted to recast certain old voices in the new dub because they fit I'd be all for that. However casting just for the sake of "Well Sean played Kaio in the old dub, guess he'll play him here!" seems silly to me and not beneficial to the quality of the dub. Giving characters drastically bizarre over the top unfitting voices isn't something they practice anymore and still makes DB's dub stand out like a sore thumb, just a slightly less sore thumb than the old dub. That along side the dub terminology is why I have a hard time giving this dub any higher then a below average score mentally.

[JulieYBM]

So many characters still need recasting. Gokû, Kaiô, Nail, Karin, God, Yajirobe, Rôshi, Grandpa Gohan, Vegeta, Yamcha, Jheese, Burta, Ginyû, Reacoom, et cetera, et cetera. As good as all of the new actors are they're dragged down by a lot of the "same ol' bull" that retained actors have continued to bring.

[linkdude20002001]

I agree 100% with JulieYBM. Though, I think I'm happy with Nail, Jheese, Butta, and Ginyu. But I'd have to give them another listen first before I know for sure.

Oh, and add in Turtle, the Ox Demon-King, and Oolong. There are probably others as well that just aren't coming to me at the moment.

[DB_Fan1991]

No, not really, I honestly can't see anyone else other than Sean Schemmel playing Goku or Chris Sabat playing Vegeta in a FUNi dub. I think Kai's dub is almost perfect as it is. The only characters that need recasting now are Recoome & Kaio, and give Sabat Jeice back as Liebricht just doesn't work in that role.

[Piccolo Daimao]

No, because they'd probably fuck it up. And you'd get more people pissing and moaning. It wouldn't just be about nostalgia or people forming attachments to characters' voices. It could be that there are perfectly good voice casts, bu the replacements end up being worse than before or poor imitations of past voices. Some people have said that Travis Willingham's Cell is just an imitation of Dameon Clarke's, and imitations are never as good as the original.

But I don't think a complete cast overhaul would fix the problems the old dub had. The old dub's voices wasn't the only problem it had; it was the script and the acting. Just because you have good voices doesn't mean it'll automatically go well in the recording booth.

But aside from all this, I wouldn't have minded a complete re-cast. If the new script, voices and acting were great and more faithful to the original manga, then I'd be happy, even if Schemmel wasn't playing Goku or Sabat wasn't playing Piccolo. For every hater, there is a lover.

[linkdude20002001]

The entire cast is nothing but imitations. They were hired to imitate the original Vancouver cast, and slowly over the years, FUNi has replaced even more actors with imitations. Though, lately, there have been new portrayals like for Freeza and Gohan. And some of the actors switched from impersonating to doing their own interpretation.

Since Kai uses a mostly-accurate script, having a completely new cast with voices and portrayals more accurate to the characters would mean it would automatically go well in the recording booth. You seem to think that FUNi would replace the entire cast just to do imitation, but no, if they were to replace the entire cast, it would of course be to find the perfect actors for the characters. Otherwise, the large-scale re-casting would be absolutely pointless.

[Turtle Marked Stone]

No, because they'd probably fuck it up.

I dunno most of their modern dubs have magnificent (or at the very least appropriate) voice casts with veteran actors.

[Chuquita]

I would've liked to see who they'd come up with if they were to recast Goku simply because I really like where TFS went with Goku's voice and I prefer that type now....I think I'd have them keep Sabat as Vegeta, but have him do something more like his Zoro voice for him. I don't think I'd want a complete recast of everybody, but I would shuffle things around more than they did.

Oh! And Kaio-sama; I'd definitely recast Kaio-sama. @_@

I'd kind of want to get back the original Cell though...

[Piccolo Daimao]

The entire cast is nothing but imitations. They were hired to imitate the original Vancouver cast, and slowly over the years, FUNi has replaced even more actors with imitations. Though, lately, there have been new portrayals like for Freeza and Gohan. And some of the actors switched from impersonating to doing their own interpretation.

Since Kai uses a mostly-accurate script, having a completely new cast with voices and portrayals more accurate to the characters would mean it would automatically go well in the recording booth. You seem to think that FUNi would replace the entire cast just to do imitation, but no, if they were to replace the entire cast, it would of course be to find the perfect actors for the characters. Otherwise, the large-scale re-casting would be absolutely pointless.

The FUNi cast being imitations of the Vancouver only further proves my point.

But what I'm saying is that a complete re-cast wouldn't automatically mean it would go well in the recording booth. If they replace the entire cast, they may get the portrayal wrong again (you've still got some bad replacements in Z Kai).

Of course, if the voices and portrayal were more accurate, then it would go well. Just want to clarify that a good vocie on its own doesn't equal good acting. You need both.

[Mountain]

So many characters still need recasting. Gokû, Kaiô, Nail, Karin, God, Yajirobe, Rôshi, Grandpa Gohan, Vegeta, Yamcha, Jheese, Burta, Ginyû, Reacoom, et cetera, et cetera. As good as all of the new actors are they're dragged down by a lot of the "same ol' bull" that retained actors have continued to bring.

Agreed.

[Adamant]

Oh, definitely. For all of Funi's promises about doing it "right" this time, they kind of ended up falling between two chairs when they ALSO insisted on keeping most of the old miscast voice actors from back when they were doing it so terribly wrong. Let the nostalgics have their old dub with all its miscasts, replacement music and "spruced-up" script, and give the new generation of English-speaking fans an opportunity to get the series done as it should be. And that includes casting actors cast because they fit the role, not because they're cheap and live nearby.

[penguintruth]

Maybe. But who wants the headache of all the long time dub fans bitching and moaning about the recasts? I already have to endure people who insist that Stephanie Naldony was a brilliant Gohan and that Monica Rial's Bulma is annoying, while Tiffany Vollmer's wasn't. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

I'm satisfied with most of the compromises Funimation made. Schemmel is back as Goku, but he's a bit better this time. Sabat is back as Piccolo and Vegeta, but he's improved, too. A new, accurate Freeza. A Bulma that can act. A Gohan that sounds cute and endearing. Scripts that are accurate to the intent of the originals. I still have to endure Cynthia Cranz, John Burgmeier, Mike McFarland, and others, but with Kai, a lot less.

Would I have appreciated a Goku recast? Sure. A Kaio recast? Hell yes. But to yearn for a complete recast at this point is a worthless fantasy. The Japanese cast is, for the most part, still there, and for the most part, still strong. The English cast is doing a pretty good job. We went from a terrible Z dub to a good Kai dub, and even if it's not perfect, at least it's doing the job right this time around.

Even I want to cut Funimation a little slack.

[B]

Yes and no. Many of them have come into their own, and others were just never right in the first place. Perhaps a COMPLETE recasting would have done the job, but I honestly think they should have done what they actually did with more follow-through. Sabat actually admitted he had every intent to have Linda Young play Freeza in Kai, but she literally couldn't portray him correctly. The general idea behind most of these recasts shouldn't have been so conservative.

[Mewzard]

A complete recast would have probably killed all interest in a Kai dub for me. Half of the thrill is hearing these VAs give the performances that they couldn't a decade ago or so, due to inexperience, poor direction, and laughable scripts.

Hell, before Kai came out, I was starting to give the original series more and more favor. Now, Kai's dub is my top choice to view the series, with the original Japanese version (Dragon Box of course) as my secondary, typically watching them side by side.

Some of the voices have proven to be vast improvements, warranting their return (Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta), some have left people scratching their heads (Kaio, Recoome). And some of the new voices I love (Freeza, Gohan), and some I'm not fully sold on (Jeice). I do like R. Bruce Eliot's Ginyu, for instance. Though, I miss Brice Armstrong's go (of course, I understand he retired), I can enjoy the new take, because he's a good voice actor, and the voice works.

http://www.youtubedoubler.com/?video1=h ... Old+vs+New

I don't even need to show this comparison to make it clear that Sean Schemmel has vastly improved over what his voice originally was, do I? He's come vastly far from some poor imitation voice with no acting experience reading an inaccurate script with poor voice direction. And...he's Goku for me. So is Nozawa, of course. They both are. I have room in my heart for two Gokus, and he's there, with Nozawa, to me. A recast would mean I would have this take on a character I love...that's not acceptable to me as a fan. Not one bit.

Of course, any complete redub would also be good, I imagine...but, I would always be a bit disappointed we didn't have this, if that were the case.

[AgitoZ]

I have a question about the topic. What aspect do you mean benefited? Dub quality, sales, etc?

Either way I don't think I'd like a complete overhaul. Maybe look over each actor and see if they can actually pull this character off. Not just rely on familiarity and not worry about fan reactions, just trying to make a good product. Maybe then we wouldn't have atrocities such as Kaiou or Recoome.

[xzero]

In America, there are basically 3 groups of fans with some overlap:

(1) sub fans from way back or people who became sub fans at some point (probably a majority on this forum, though likely a minority in the rest of the fandom)
(2) dub fans from 1999-2003 era DBZ who still enjoy the dub cast
(3) new fans whose first exposure is Kai

For group 1, would new voices honestly have made a difference? Of course not. As much as you may acknowledge Chris Ayers' talents for Frieza, you're still going to prefer the Japanese voice for him and most of the other characters.

For group 2, Funi has a good balance. Many controversial voices have been replaced (Freeza), popular ones retained and improved upon (Goku, Vegeta), and others just replaced for other reasons with good actors/actresses.

For group 3, it wouldn't have made much of a difference for Kai, but if they went back to watch Z or play the Z games after watching Kai, the difference would be jarring.

A complete recast would have been a bad idea. More than ten years later, the original actors/actresses are finally getting it right, and for dub fans who've waited this long, it's a tremendous payoff. Kai's is primarily for groups 2 and 3 above. Getting people from group 1 to acknowledge the positives of the Kai dub is just a bonus.

[ohaimynameiserik]

The entire cast is nothing but imitations.

The only "imitation" I can think of that remains is the new Ginyu, simply because Armstrong is now retired. The only thing the new Jeice has in common with Sabat's is that they have a fake Space Australian accent.

Everyone else who is a returning cast member has made the roles their own. Not just "some". Even if you don't like them, they're far beyond imitations of the Ocean cast at this point.

[ConfusedPhantom]

I guess it would have been nice to hear a new Goku, Vegeta, and such. But, eh. We're getting a respectable dub now. We more can you want, y'know?