What's your opinion on the Ocean dub music?

[dbboxkaifan]

I really enjoy the tunes of the Ocean Dub score (way more than the Faulconer score), whether it's the Shuki or the Mega Man + Monster Rancher recycled soundtrack.

Like the BGM that starts at 2:14 and after - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrMRGmx-jlc

[Kakacarrottop]

Well, I suppose I like it better than the recycled music of the Westwood dub and Menza's score for GT.

All things considered, though, whenever I hear the phrase, "Levy score," nothing really sticks out to me. Like, I could identify a piece of his score if I heard it, but I can't recall or hum any specific tune off the top of my head other than--maybe--the episode preview music.

I massively prefer all of the original scores, but if I had to pick a replacement score, I'd pick the Faulconer score.

I think one of the scores only problems musically was that some of the happy/comedic tunes sounded pretty generic. But IMO the dark/meditative stuff on that score is some of the best music i've ever heard in my life. When the music from that score was actually placed well then it worked incredibly, Like in this TV Saban dub scene for Goku fighting Tullece (or any scenes from the TV Saban dub for Tree of Might really since the overly dramatic music works better as a film score as opposed to a TV score). I think most people assume this score is terrible since they haven't actually listened to it on it's own musical merit and associate it with the Saban dub which had lacklustre scripts and generally only decent and or passable acting.

Mmmmm....well, to each their own. I actually own the official CD release of the Levy score for DBZ, so I have listened to the score separately from the dub. I have a hobby of hunting down rare soundtracks (odd, I know), and it was that more than anything else that led me to seek it out. Despite it being in my iTunes library, I've never listened to a track all the way through. They all sound so similar to me. Too similar for me to associate them with any particular moments in the series.

Of course, I'm not saying there has to be a new track for every scene. Quite the contrary, I like the use of leimotifs in musical scores, and being familiar with certain pieces of music has its advantages. However, in the case of the Levy score, I can't differentiate one track from another, for the most part.

Actually, here's the best way to put it. I looked up an old site called DBZ Uncensored, in which a fan of the original Japanese version, Chris Psaros, chronicled the English dub as it aired on TV. I don't agree with everything he said on that site, but here is an example of a case where I believe he was absolutely, 100% right. He was talking about the scene where Goku found out that his friends who perished in the battle against Nappa had made it to King Kai/Kaiou's place:

"The part where Goku's friends contact him telepathically for the first time since their deaths is completely screwed up in the English version, all because of the music. This scene feels TOTALLY different. In the Japanese one, that 'touching moment' music is used, which, well, makes the moment a whole lot more touching, it almost brings a tear to your eye. In the English one it's just that aimless, wandering crap in the background, and you don't feel any of the emotion that is expressed by this scene in the Japanese version.

I realized something about FUNimation's score, it is incredibly narrow. There are seemingly three types of themes: action, heroic, and mischievous. There simply isn't any music for this type of scene, one of those emotional, tearjerking moments. Therefore, when one of those scenes comes up, they aren't effective at all at getting the viewer to feel what he is supposed to feel. They really need to work on this, because some of these scenes are the best ones in all of Dragon Ball. Anybody remember (from much later in the series) when Goku meets Goten for the first time? Man, I just break down every time I watch that scene, and so much of it has to do with the music used."

For a reference, the original music he referred to can be found here at the 9:45 mark, and the Ocean score here, at the 7:38 mark. Please note, the latter link points to the actual episode, not the individual music. Normally I'd try to look for that individual music piece by name and search for it that way...but again, I couldn't tell you which track it is, as they all sound too similar to me.

I totally respect your opinion, but i think it's slightly unfair to judge the score by that 1996 OST CD, since a lot of the better, more memorable pieces were never released on that or anywhere else (probably because they were too dark/heavy or something)

These are some of them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W15zitNTarM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9L8Gbw1Mg0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgcQnfcYqgE

Anyways i don't think music needs to be memorable to be considered good, or then only generic pop music would be considered as such, i appreciate the score's musical creativity and mix of genres. Also how did you get that Ocean dub OST CD? i'd die for it, it seems like a real rarity in the Dragon Ball world these days.

[dbboxkaifan]

It's available on Amazon for a starting price of $22 so hardly a rarity (or an expensive one).

[TheBlackPaladin]

Yes, I got my copy on ebay a few years ago. A pretty good deal, as I recall...under ten bucks, even with shipping. It has been out of print for a long time, but there are copies floating around still.

As for those tracks...I mean, if you and others enjoy them, then awesome, I'm glad you do. I certainly wouldn't call them horrible. Levy's score never stood out to me as good or bad, but part of the reason for that is because it never stood out to me at all. Again, the differences from one track to another, even in the ones you posted, sound rather inconsequential to me. They all sound like the same track with just the smallest of differences to me. I still couldn't tell you, just by listening to these pieces, in what moments of the series they were used in. Even Faulconer's score strikes me as having more distinguishable variety and more memorable placement.

Actually, remember how I said I didn't agree with everything DBZ Uncensored wrote? Well, this would be an example. Psaros felt Faulconer's score was a downgrade, and I remember as a kid thinking it was an upgrade. Even now, I think it's an upgrade, even if I don't enjoy it as much as the work of Shunsuke Kikuchi, Akihito Tokunaga, or Kenji Yamamoto/Howard Shore.

[Dbzfan94]

I don't like it much..at least from what I've seen of the Ocean dub, which isn't really that much. I very much prefer the Faulconer for Z. Even Kikuchi I think is better, and I don't like Kikuchi Z as much as DB

[Lord Beerus]

I don't like it much..at least from what I've seen of the Ocean dub, which isn't really that much. I very much prefer the Faulconer for Z. Even Kikuchi I think is better, and I don't like Kikuchi Z as much as DB

Kikuchi started to get a bit lazy in second half of Z, especially during the Majin Boo arc. But that doesn't devalue the awesomeness of his work overall for the Dragon Ball franchise.

[Dbzfan94]

I don't like it much..at least from what I've seen of the Ocean dub, which isn't really that much. I very much prefer the Faulconer for Z. Even Kikuchi I think is better, and I don't like Kikuchi Z as much as DB

Kikuchi started to get a bit lazy in second half of Z, especially during the Majin Boo arc. But that doesn't devalue the awesomeness of his work overall for the Dragon Ball franchise.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing Kikuchi by any means as I love his work on DB and DBZ 1-67. but once Faulconer comes in at 68 I almost instinctively switch. The Freeza, Cell and especially Buu sagas are connected to the Faulconer score in my opinion.

[NitroEX]

Levy's score never stood out to me as good or bad, but part of the reason for that is because it never stood out to me at all. Again, the differences from one track to another, even in the ones you posted, sound rather inconsequential to me. They all sound like the same track with just the smallest of differences to me. I still couldn't tell you, just by listening to these pieces, in what moments of the series they were used in. Even Faulconer's score strikes me as having more distinguishable variety and more memorable placement.

I'm no expert at musical scores but I do recall reading somewhere that professional scores for television should be subtle and less conspicuous to avoid becoming grating for the audience. They also need to be able to spread the music across a large number of episodes so this is probably why the music for the Saban scored episodes isn't as memorable for you. I think they're intention wasn't to create individual melodic pieces like Faulconer did but instead to just set the mood of the show and to stay consistent with those few episodes they were given.

If you look at other shows Saban did the music is a similar case, it was always more consistent in style throughout and doesn't usually draw too much attention to itself. Although I imagine had they been given the rest of the episodes the music would have evolved over time but for what they produced I think it was still good and served it's purpose.

Faulconer's stuff had it's moments but for me personally it became way too bombastic and overbearing to really enjoy. I think the "mickey-mousing" didn't help either as it would be almost constantly telling you what to feel during a scene like we're not smart enough to figure it out ourselves. There was nothing really "subtle" about that score at all.

[Dbzfan94]

Even as a Faulconer fan, the constant music does get somewhat irritating. Some scenes just have music there and it would be better silent.

[90sDBZ]

It's interesting how people always blame Faulconer for the constant music, even though it was actually the Levy/Wasserman score that started that practice with DBZ. Not to mention it was also continued in the Westwood dub with the Megaman score.

[TheGmGoken]

It's interesting how people always blame Faulconer for the constant music, even though it was actually the Levy/Wasserman score that started that practice with DBZ. Not to mention it was also continued in the Westwood dub with the Megaman score.

Because people blame Funimation and not Faulconer productions....

[Dbzfan94]

It's interesting how people always blame Faulconer for the constant music, even though it was actually the Levy/Wasserman score that started that practice with DBZ. Not to mention it was also continued in the Westwood dub with the Megaman score.

I'm not blaming anyone, just a minor nitpick. I overall love the Faulconer score, I just feel some scenes are better without music.

On that note, I've been watching a fanmade DBZ Kai with Faulconer, and even though the placement is pretty much nonstop lol, I find that I'm enjoying Kai much more than I do on TV with the Kikuchi music. Just my opinion though.

[DBZAOTA482]

It's interesting how people always blame Faulconer for the constant music, even though it was actually the Levy/Wasserman score that started that practice with DBZ. Not to mention it was also continued in the Westwood dub with the Megaman score.

The music in the Ocean dub isn't exactly noisy like the Faulconer stuff

[90sDBZ]

It's interesting how people always blame Faulconer for the constant music, even though it was actually the Levy/Wasserman score that started that practice with DBZ. Not to mention it was also continued in the Westwood dub with the Megaman score.

The music in the Ocean dub isn't exactly noisy like the Faulconer stuff

Not so much in the Saban dub but in the Westwood dub it's just as noisy, and made worse by the fact that it's so limited.

[Kakacarrottop]

On the topic of Ocean related scores, i was just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on Peter Berring's score from the original 1995 Ocean voiced FUNi dub of Dragon Ball? Here is a bit of his Dragon Ball score for those of you who aren't familiar with his music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERUN40u5dDg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlfa7Pz8Zk8

Despite being pretty generic i quite liked the fantasy feel it had, although i don't think the original score in Dragon Ball really needed replacing anyway.