Question about FUNi! (Seasons 1+2 Re-dub)

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:16 am

Yes, the guy who was doing Kuririn in the Blue Water GT dub really, really needed to die. Honestly, Sonny Strait is a god compared to him. (Actually, I'd say he's a minor deity compared to Klassen, but that's another argument).

And listening to the Blue Water people trying to do Drummond's Vegeta and McNeil's Piccolo actually makes you think that, really, Sabat actually did a not bad job, considering that he was trying to emulate two of the greatest voices in the industry today.

Drummond's Vegeta is quite weird, actually. It's nothing at all like the original, and yet...it works. Eventually. At first, it's shocking (or at least, I imagine it is if you're used to Ryo), but whether it's his charisma, acting skill, or the fact that no other English VA is anywhere near as good as him at doing the "power-up scream", he becomes as much Vegeta as Ryo, to me.

Whereas, say, Freeza's English voice doesn't sound anything like the original, doesn't suit him, and is an abomination that should be wiped from the cosmos. I really want to know who was behind the original decision, because I have a horrible feeling it went:

Not Gen: "Hey, this guy has lipstick!"

Gen: "Oh, okay. Must be a girl. Get a woman to do him!"

*minutes later*

NG: "No, wait, apparently he is a man."

G: "Okay."

"Shall we change actor?"

"No."

"But she hasn't recorded any lines or..."

"No. No voice acting changed ever! Except for Goku. He must change voice actor constantly, just to confuse people! Bwahahahahaha!"

Yes. Definitely.

If I do have one compaint about the Ocean dub, it's that they seem to have even less people on staff than FUNi, and they don't even get the actors to change voices. I'm sure even 5 year olds were sitting there thinking "Why does Babidi sound just like Kuririn?" Or the King of Demons sounding just like, er, the Great Demon King. (Was Dabura the King of Demons? If not, then my cunning word play really does fall down).

And Gohan changing voice for the final 15 episodes where he's a kid? Couldn't they have got Henderson to hang on for one more week, and THEN changed voice? It was weird getting used to a new voice for Gohan (at the most important point in the story for him, too), only for him to grow up and Goten to get his voice.

And, finally (yay!) Eric Vale's Trunks really is a million, million, billion times better than the Ocean Group Trunks. Hell, the GT version is better than the Ocean Group one. He was awful. AWFUL! IN CAPITAL LETTERS!

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:19 am

My friend the world of the "annoying Fangirl" is truly a strange thing!

That's why Dayspring, Zacko, Psyliam, Mochi, and myself have our little guild of " annoying fangirl hunters" to rid the anime world of their evil!

And I totally agree with you Liam about Brian's Vegita. I thought he did an excellent Zechs in Gundam Wing as well. I also like Eric Vale as Trunks. I think he pretty much sounds like the English equivalent to Kusao Takeshi, the original Trunks.

Mattias · Post by **Mattias** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:21 am

I think Ted Cole played Trunks for a bit. Correct me if I'm wrong. Yamcha suits Ted Cole, however. It just works.

And yes, I was constantly annoyed about how many minor roles Terry Klassen gave to himself.

As for Saffron Henderson, I don't know why she left. Probably said, "WTF, liek no more, kay?" or something. Beats me. I thought Kirby Morrow did an admirable job as Goku for the last part of the show. That's, like, four different Gokus now. Ian Corlett, Peter Kelamis (Chris Psaros said that Peter sounded too "Canadian". WTF), Sean Schemmel and...well, Kirby.

DBZ is a wacky, wacky world.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:27 am

Ted Cole was fine as Yamucha. I absolutely love his Kuno in Ranma 1/2. Kirby has been the worst Goku ever in my opinion. Worst casting decision ever made! He just doesn't have the power in his voice to handle Goku. I shuddered the whole time he spoke during the Cell Games until I couldn't stand it anymore and actually muted the t.v.! He is more suited to young teens such as Van of Escaflowne and Trowa of Gundam Wing.

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:33 am

Ted Cole's Yamcha was good (although Sabat's wasn't bad, after he'd gotten rid of the whole "school jock" thing). Of course, by that point in the series Yamcha was just a pale shadow of his former self, so it's not overly important. Sabat does a good job on the DB dub.

If that was Ted Cole doing future Trunks though, then...what the hell happened? Why'd he pronounce it "Go-KU", when everyone else on the show (including Yamcha) pronounced it "GO-ku"?

Chris Psaros also said that Kelamis sounded too "surfer-dude", which also confused me. And he also had a go at Jeice having an accent, since British-Australian hybrids shouldn't exist in the DB universe. Stuff like that always makes me laugh, as, to me, everyone in the show has an accent. Americans don't exist in the DB universe, either.

Was Henderson a "valley girl"? Or was that just amusing random weirdness that I've made myself look foolish by not getting?

And if we count Chibi Goku, he's had more that 4 voice actors. We had Henderson (good). Nadoley (surprisingly good. Possibly even better than Henderson). Kelamis (flashback episode of GT. Weird as hell). And the Blue Water GT/original DB dub (rubbish. rubbish rubbish rubbish rubbish. Shit).

Oh, and the Blue Water adult Goku, too. Who is average. Better than the kid version, certainly.

Does anyone have any idea of who does what voice in the Blue Water dub? Or who the hell those people actually are?

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:40 am

No, but I'll tell you one other voice that I wanted to throttle during the Buu saga for the Canadian/British version. Maggie Blue O'Hara as Buruma! I'm sorry, but the " teenage valley girl" voice does not work on a Buruma that's 39 years old okay!!! Go back to acting class! If you even took any in the first place! Of course, I've never forgiven her for her obnoxious pronunciation of Sakura's name as "Saa-kerr-ra" in "Cardcaptors" anyway. For God's sake woman, earn your paycheck and do some research on Japanese phonetics at least.

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 12:49 am

Bulma does seem cursed to get the worst voice actors. Everyone hated Linda whatserface originally. Then, er, FUNi's actress-whose-name-I've-forgotten came in, and made things ten times worse. Then the "new" Ocean Group dub comes back, but also replaces Linda with someone who overdoes the "valley girl" thing.

At least it works (kinda) for the character when she is 16 in DB. Ish. It's still probably the worst voice out of the "regulars" (and yes, I'm including Kame Sen'nin. I've gotten used to that voice, whereas I've never gotten used to Bulma's. Plus the guy doing Roshi is better at acting than Bulma's VA).

So we have original Ocean group: Intelligent, but too bitchy.
FUNi dub: Less intelligent, even more bitch, with a valley girl twist.
New Ocean Group: More intelligent than FUNi, less than orig OG. Also has valley girl twist.

Seriously, where'd that come from? None of the other women in the show get anything like that? Chi Chi's voice is fine. #18's is fine. Videl's voice is fine. GT Pan's voice makes me want to scream, but that's partly the character's fault.

What did Bulma do to deserve this?

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 1:00 am

Good question, I have no idea. I think my favourite line that Funi's "Buruma" did was when she said in a reeeallly overdone "valley girl" voice "WHAT A JEEEERRRRK!" I don't even remember who it was she said it about, though I think it might have been Freeza. I think the Roshi I get the biggest kick out of was when Ian Corlett did him during the first thirteen DB episodes. I'm still trying to figure out why he kept having him sing "Come on Ladies, Won't You Come Out Tonight" to himself all the time. I also got the vague feeling that Corlett was trying subtley put some of Roshi's pevertedness back in the story through his voice.

kobrokailp · Post by **kobrokailp** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 9:09 pm

Jerseymilk wrote:My friend the world of the "annoying Fangirl" is truly a strange thing! That's why Dayspring, Zacko, Psyliam, Mochi, and myself have our little guild of " annoying fangirl hunters" to rid the anime world of their evil!

*runs and hides*

Ha ha...Sorry for this random post. I wish I could contribute to this nice discussion, but I really can't.

Ok, I shall go find a subject where I can sound half intelligent in now...

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 10:22 pm

kobrokailp wrote:
Jerseymilk wrote:My friend the world of the "annoying Fangirl" is truly a strange thing! That's why Dayspring, Zacko, Psyliam, Mochi, and myself have our little guild of " annoying fangirl hunters" to rid the anime world of their evil!
*runs and hides*

kobro: You don't have to run and hide if you're just a plain Fangirl!

Notice I said "annoying" Fangirl. They're the crazy ones that can't calm down, are possessive, and insist on speaking "pidgin" Japanese. So don't worry my friend.

Sun_Wukong · Post by **Sun_Wukong** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:02 am

It seems like Funimation has the record for the most voice actors used in one series. Think about it, Goku has at least 5 from Funimation alone. Gohan has 3, then again, he does age 7 years in the middle of the series. There's probably even a joke going around FUNI about how many darn voice actors Tenshinhan had. FUNI's voice actors arent bad mind you, its the pitiful scripts that they use that really shoots down their talent. Can you even count how many added lines are in one episode alone? Honestly, I think no other dub can compare to FUNI's. Depending on how well they write the script, and if they actually keep the original BGM, i think the redub will go really well, just from seeing the 23rd Budokai alone.

Now for Faulconer's stuff. Its really not that bad, but the problem is, it would work better for say a video game or a movie trailer than DBZ. Its just too distracting. How could someone possibly focus on an anime while listening to Faulconer's stuff in the background. As for Menza's stuff, its "meh". Considering he actually takes breaks in episodes, I can put up with it in small doses. Faulconer's stuff is just too intense.

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 3:52 pm

It's just a different opinion, but I don't find Faulconer's score "intense" at all. Just completely forgettable. I haven't seen the GT dub, but the stuff Menza did for the History Of Trunks DVD at least sounded more professional and had a greater range than Faulconer's (although I still want to know who thought that the rap music was appropriate for the scene of Gohan giving the senzu bean to Trunks).

As for their acting skills, FUNi's lot have improved. Sure, they were going to look bad coming off the back of the Ocean Group, and indeed, they weren't great, especially for the Freeza saga. Kuririn and Gohan especially, which hurts because they had so much screen time.

But the Blue Water GT dub really has caused me to reexamine my opinions on them. I'd already thought that Strait and Nadoleyhad improved, but (as said above) watching people trying to do Ocean Group Vegeta and Piccolo has made me think that Sabat really, y'know, isn't that bad.

And I say this a lot, but I think that Nadoley does a great Goku. Either she's more comfortable with the character, or she's improved as an actress, or she's just being directed better, but her Goku is leagues ahead of the Blue Water one.

Good point about Chorlett's Goku. And possibly the reason I don't mind the FUNi DB dub version of him is because he still gets to be perverted. That annoying dirty laugh has actually grown on me.

(A question: Does O'Hara also do Kitty's voice on X-Men? Because there's another character who's actually suppossed to be a bit of an electronics genius who also gets a "valley girl" voice. Although at least Kitty is 16, and not 39.)

kobrokailp · Post by **kobrokailp** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 6:01 pm

Jerseymilk wrote:
kobrokailp wrote:
Jerseymilk wrote:My friend the world of the "annoying Fangirl" is truly a strange thing! That's why Dayspring, Zacko, Psyliam, Mochi, and myself have our little guild of " annoying fangirl hunters" to rid the anime world of their evil!
*runs and hides*
kobro: You don't have to run and hide if you're just a plain Fangirl! Notice I said "annoying" Fangirl. They're the crazy ones that can't calm down, are possessive, and insist on speaking "pidgin" Japanese. So don't worry my friend.

Heh heh ok. Now I don't have to worry. lol

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 12:19 am

Sun_Wukong wrote:

I think no other dub can compare to FUNI's.

Don't be too sure. I'll give you two, "Sailormoon" and "Cardcaptors". If possible, I think "Cardcaptors" will go down in history as the worst hack and dub job ever done to an anime, worse than DB and Sailormoon! And that is quite an accomplishment!

They did also use the Blue Waters actors, but also the miscasting was horrible for it. The only one that brought any class to it was Brian Drummond as Sakura's father and teacher.

Psy: I don't think O'Hara does Kitty's voice in X-Men Evolution, but I know that she does Shadowcat, and I also find her annoying there. As a matter of fact, the only role that she's ever done that hasn't annoyed me was Holly from Monster Rancher.

B-kun · Post by **B-kun** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 12:37 am

Jerseymilk wrote:
Psy: I don't think O'Hara does Kitty's voice in X-Men Evolution, but I know that she does Shadowcat, and I also find her annoying there. As a matter of fact, the only role that she's ever done that hasn't annoyed me was Holly from Monster Rancher.

*blink* Uhm.. Kitty IS Shadowcat. And with my luck, I'm missing something.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 1:09 am

B-kun wrote:
Jerseymilk wrote:
Psy: I don't think O'Hara does Kitty's voice in X-Men Evolution, but I know that she does Shadowcat, and I also find her annoying there. As a matter of fact, the only role that she's ever done that hasn't annoyed me was Holly from Monster Rancher.
*blink* Uhm.. Kitty IS Shadowcat. And with my luck, I'm missing something.

Oh shoot! I forgot that's right!

I'm sorry! I forgot that that's her real name isn't it?! I haven't watched the show in a while. I'm not as big a fan of it as the original X-Men you see. Well, then Psyliam, you are totally correct sir!

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 2:10 am

Fair enough. Odd though. Whenever I've watched it, she's called "Kitty" a lot more than she's called "Shadowcat". Everyone's called by their real names in that show, actually, compared with the FOX version.

And how can Cardcaptors have used the Blue Water people if Drummond was in it?

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 3:10 am

Actually, I just double-checked the recording studio and it was in fact Ocean Group, my mistake, so now that's even more scary! They actually managed to do a bad dubbing job even though they had Ocean Studios.

I guess it's mainly because as I said before, the majority of the voices were miscast.

Mattias · Post by **Mattias** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 9:36 pm

I thought the chick who played Sakura/Holly/Bulma was Carly McKillip...? Can somebody verify this...?

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 11:21 pm

No, no my friend. Holly and Buruma, at least in the Buu saga of DBZ, as well as the first DB movie was done by O'Hara. And she didn't play Sakura, she voiced her friend Tomoyo, oh wait, I'm sooorrry, I mean Madison. What a name!

Cary McKillip did indeed do Sakura.