Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 16; Still Unreleased

[ABED]

Corlett "up to par". Funny, very funny. Listen to his Tree of Might dub: he sucks and he's just as monotone and boring as Schemmel in Ginyu Assult! Kelamis sounded natural and had very good acting. Hell, even the post-Freeza Ocean dub, he was still just as good and sometimes even better than Schemmel, however, Kelamis was working on the show quickly and with many different directors. Corlett was the George Lucas of voices at that time, everybody listens to him and the outcome is good. Kelamis, with great directing is the best Goku out there hands down. Schemmel, even with great/good directing, needed years to be good.

Watch the Tree of Might dubs and compare all, then you'll agree with me. I've done this with the Dead Zone dubs including the Japanese original, all playing on different TVs at the same time. Hands down Ocean was #1 in terms of dubs; it was the closest to the original source. They did such a good job with all their characters in that movie. The cast was perfect for a dub.

You guys see Corlett with rose coloured glasses. He sounded bland while he was angry, sad, happy... his Goku sounded bland! The acting wasn't really there.

What does the "George Lucas of voices" mean?
I don't have rose colored glasses, honestly. More often than not when I watch something that I used to like when I was younger, I come up disappointed. Most recently, I can't believe how much I liked Raimi's first Spider-Man movie. It doesn't hold up. I own the Pioneer dvds and watched them quite recently, and I still come to the same conclusion, I just don't like Kelamis in the role and never have. Sean may have taken time to sound good, and opinions differ as to when he got good, but as I've said, I found him a vast improvement over Kelamis from the beggining of season 3, dump Kamehameha not withstanding. Kelamis just sounds fake to me, so I have to disagree with your post. I don't have a copy of the Tree of Might tv version with Corlett so I can't do a comparison.

[CaBrPi]

I still don't understand the Kelamis-worship (for lack of a better term). None of the clips I've seen of him have been particularly impressive. There are bits and pieces I like, but generally, the voice just sounds fake to me. I dunno, maybe it's the poor sound quality that the Canadian-voiced dubs of DBZ have been known for, but it just... I can't really explain it any further. It just doesn't sound real to me.

Like, I think he could do very well if he worked at it more, but what I've seen (or heard I suppose) just hasn't elicited the same reaction from me as it has from you guys.

[Attitudefan]

What does the "George Lucas of voices" mean?
I don't have rose colored glasses, honestly. More often than not when I watch something that I used to like when I was younger, I come up disappointed. Most recently, I can't believe how much I liked Raimi's first Spider-Man movie. It doesn't hold up. I own the Pioneer dvds and watched them quite recently, and I still come to the same conclusion, I just don't like Kelamis in the role and never have. Sean may have taken time to sound good, and opinions differ as to when he got good, but as I've said, I found him a vast improvement over Kelamis from the beggining of season 3, dump Kamehameha not withstanding. Kelamis just sounds fake to me, so I have to disagree with your post. I don't have a copy of the Tree of Might tv version with Corlett so I can't do a comparison.

Ian Corlett has the final say over whatever he does because he is a veteran in the voice acting industry. He could leave DBZ or not try his hardest on DBZ because he can; he'll have another gig no matter what.
I guess we'll have agree on disagreeing. You don't like Kelamis, or you are not fond of his work. Fair enough. I always hear people crap on him just because he is not Corlett or Schemmel. He sounds a little different with his different pitch and take on the character. I like to defend him. I believe he is Goku when I watch it.

[penguintruth]

Kelamis has a sort of Rob Paulsen thing going for him.

Anyway, I've been rewatching the Ocean dubs of the first three DBZ movies and I'm really impressed with the way Kelamis, McNeil, and Henderson handle their scenes. I even have to say that I've been enjoying Ocean's voice(s) for Chi-Chi.

[90sDBZ]

I do enjoy Kelamis at times but overall I feel like he's overrated. It seems like some people like him just because he screams similar to Nozawa. It's cool that he's able to scream like that but it doesn't automatically make the overall performance great. I was re-watching the last Pioneer DVD yesterday where Goku arrives on Namek and some of his lines when he's talking to Gohan and Krillin just don't sound natural. I mean he's supposed to be talking to his son and best friend but you just don't get the feeling that he's really connecting with them through his performance. He's okay but a lot of the time he sounds like he's just saying lines. I did like his line to Recoome "You'll never lay a hand on me".

In the Westwood dub there were times when I felt he was disastrous. Like the episodes when Piccolo was losing to Cell and Tien was trying to hold Cell off and Goku was at the lookout sitting there screaming and sounding like he was putting his voice through hell while being constipated. I can honestly say if I compare Schemmel and Kelamis from the Android and Cell saga episodes that I much prefer Schemmel throughout. I get the impression that Kelamis as Goku is like Marmite. You either love him or hate him although I'm inbetween because he did have his moments in the movies.

As for Ocean Chi Chi she did sound good. My only problem with her is that she sounded much older than Chi Chi is. Although that would make her much more suitable at the end of DBZ.

[KingofWisdom]

Schemmel in Kai is currently my favorite English-language performance of Goku, but Kelamis in the uncut movie dubs is a close second. His acting is just a bit off at times.

[andrewtuell1991]

Schemmel in Kai is currently my favorite English-language performance of Goku, but Kelamis in the uncut movie dubs is a close second. His acting is just a bit off at times.

Pretty much this. Kelamis captures the man-child aspect of Goku better than any other English VA but his acting, even in the Pioneer trilogy, was inconsistent. He had the "surfer dude" thing always going on and at times he sounded stoned, such as the "the sea, the sky, the earth" Genki Dama chant in World's strongest. And let's not bring his, or anyone else's, performance in the Westwood dub. So far, I'd say Schemmel's Kai performance is the best English Goku, but that could change with Ocean Kai if the rumors are true.

As for Ocean Chi Chi she did sound good. My only problem with her is that she sounded much older than Chi Chi is. Although that would make her much more suitable at the end of DBZ.

Sadiq, and to a lesser extent Beley, did sounds a little too old at times but I'd easily take any of their performances other the raging bitch Chichi Cynthia Cranz does. How she didn't get re-cast in Kai is beyond me.

You know I've always found it ironic that both Japan and the West switched from a pleasant, warm Chichi to an over-the-top bitch Chichi on the same episode (Z 88).

[Metalwario64]

Schemmel in Kai is currently my favorite English-language performance of Goku, but Kelamis in the uncut movie dubs is a close second. His acting is just a bit off at times.

Yeah, that's about how I feel. I think there are just a couple of moments where he's not quite hitting the right tone with his performance, but overall he's almost as good as Schemmel's Kai performance.

You know I've always found it ironic that both Japan and the West switched from a pleasant, warm Chichi to an over-the-top bitch Chichi on the same episode (Z 88).

That's not ironic, that's a coincidence, a word everyone seems to have forgotten in the past 5 years or so.

[eledoremassis02]

I shift between Kelamis and Corlette as my favorite English Goku. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Schemmel. He's gotten pretty good with the serious parts but I feel he's too "manly" in his delivery. And I never found his goofy performance too convincing.

However, and this is not particularly his fault mind you, they're able to finally match the tone of his voice with the faces on screen. Sometimes in the Z dub Goku would have a causal don't worry look while his voice screamed paranoid

[NitroEX]

I dunno, maybe it's the poor sound quality that the Canadian-voiced dubs of DBZ have been known for, but it just... I can't really explain it any further. It just doesn't sound real to me.

Poor sound quality? What do you mean by that?

[TheBlackPaladin]

I shift between Kelamis and Corlette as my favorite English Goku. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Schemmel. He's gotten pretty good with the serious parts but I feel he's too "manly" in his delivery.

Do you mean a "manly" voice, or "manly" delivery? 'Cause I would agree on the former, but I'm not certain I would agree on the latter.

It seems to me that, at least among Kanzenshuuers and those who prefer the Japanese version, the higher-pitched the voice for Goku, the better that particular voice actor is viewed. I'm not saying this is without merit. Quite frankly, I suspect that this is because the higher-pitched the voice, the more child-like Goku sounds. Given Goku's character, that's quite appropriate.

With that said, while I never found Schemmel's voice to be particularly deep (especially considering the "Big Green" dub voice for Goku), I kind of liked that his voice wasn't super high-pitched. I've found Schemmel's delivery--especially during Goku's more nonchalant, happy, "everyday" scenes--to be both believable and childlike. He really sounds like a fascinated kid in his delivery there, and the contrast between his delivery and his deeper voice has served (as far as I'm concerned) as an effective source of comedy. Comedy comes in contrasts, and we get a good amount of that in Schemmel's Goku. It's like we're constantly being reminded by the voice itself he's a full-grown, adult male......but we're being reminded by the delivery that he constantly acts and thinks like a kid.

[Gonstead]

I dunno, maybe it's the poor sound quality that the Canadian-voiced dubs of DBZ have been known for, but it just... I can't really explain it any further. It just doesn't sound real to me.

Poor sound quality? What do you mean by that?

Well, it does sound at times to be a bit echoey or a bit flanged.

The Raditz episodes are especially noticeable.

[CaBrPi]

I dunno, maybe it's the poor sound quality that the Canadian-voiced dubs of DBZ have been known for, but it just... I can't really explain it any further. It just doesn't sound real to me.

Poor sound quality? What do you mean by that?

Well, it does sound at times to be a bit echoey or a bit flanged.

The Raditz episodes are especially noticeable.

Not just that, but there's constantly "noise" in the background whenever someone speaks. It might not be noticeable to bigger fans of the Canadian dubs, but it really irritates me.

[Metalwario64]

Something I've noticed with every Ocean voiced anime I've seen is that the voice recordings have a lot of treble, and sound sorta tinny. I don't know if their more recent works are like that or not.

[Gonstead]

The Westwood dub seemed to have fixed that problem though when it started.

[Attitudefan]

I wouldn't say there was noise, I find it very heavy on the base. For some reason though, I prefer it that way. FUNi's at first sounded like a studio but has gotten better over time.

[Gonstead]

It sounded like they were using older equipment than what newer technology should of been available at the time.

[NitroEX]

Are you sure the bad sound quality of the later Ocean dub isn't just the fault of the VHS tapes they were recorded on? When the show was airing on TV I never thought the sound quality was worse than any of the other shows of the time. Also the preserved episodes obviously have varying quality depending on the person who recorded them.

[Gonstead]

Are you sure the bad sound quality of the later Ocean dub isn't just the fault of the VHS tapes they were recorded on? When the show was airing on TV I never thought the sound quality was worse than any of the other shows of the time. Also the preserved episodes obviously have varying quality depending on the person who recorded them.

We're talking about the Saban episodes, not the Westwood episodes.

[Ringworm128]

Something I've noticed with every Ocean voiced anime I've seen is that the voice recordings have a lot of treble, and sound sorta tinny. I don't know if their more recent works are like that or not.

Good to see I'm not the only one who thought the recordings sounded a bit low quality, I've watched some of their Death Note dub and it doesn't have this problem.