What is your favorite English dub for Tree of Might?

[Kakacarrottop]

The third Dragon Ball Z film "Tree of Might" is notable for having the most English dubs of any Dragon Ball related media. First there was the 1997 TV Ocean dub done in association with Saban which was made in a similar vein to the TV series at the time (Shuki Levy music and all), then a year later there was the critically acclaimed uncut Ocean dub which until Kai was as accurate as English DBZ ever got. A few years later (2003ish i think) there was the infamous "Big Green" dub for it made by AB Group. It's probably the most notorious of all Big Green movie dubs due to some particularly wretched acting/miscasting (even by Big Green standards), such as Tien being voiced by Beavis. Another bad English dub for Tree of Might is the Malaysian-English dub, although i have no idea when it was made. Finally there is the FUNimation redub from i think around 2006, which was dubbed in a similar way to the "Ultimate Uncut" episodes since it featured Nathan Johnson's music. It recycled the bad script from the 1997 TV Ocean dub.

My favorite is the TV Ocean dub simply because i really like the music used and Corlett's Goku. I also enjoyed Tullece's raspy, somewhat effeminate voice in that dub, in most of the other dubs he sort of just sounded like a generic deep-voiced He-Man Villain. Close second for me would be the Big Green dub since it's so unintentionally hilarious, the Malaysian-English dub is also amusing but at times it gets a bit too stupid & silly for me. I've only seen snippets of the uncut Ocean dub but i reckon it's inferior to the TV version due to the actors sounding less enthusiastic (since they had to dub the film a second time) and the Japanese music/silence (in my opinion) not being on par with the TV version's music, although i acknowledge it's far more faithful to the Japanese version and has better dialogue. I've also only seen clips of the FUNi redub, but Chris Patton's Turles struck me as very bland and generic, also some of the henchmen's voices were terrible. Nathan Johnson's music as usual failed to wow me in the key moments.

For comparisons sake here's a video i made which compares all 5 English Tree of Might dubs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wwFk2sJVDs

[NitroEX]

The uncut Pioneer version with Kelamis Goku and Japanese music is the superior version above all others for me. The Pioneer/Ocean sound mix still sounds amazing to this day and in general I prefer Kelamis to Corlett especially for the screams and fight noises/kiai. The Japanese score wasn't my favourite at first but it grew on me over time and the song that plays during the Spirit Bomb makes the film better IMO. That's not to say the Shuki Levy music was bad, in fact I thought it suited the dark setting of that film really well, maybe if they had produced more music exclusively for that film it would have been better.

The TV version had some minor lines that I wish were kept in the Pioneer version ("you singed my fingernails" sounded better than this line).

The Funimation version I haven't seen in it's entirety. The new replacement score for the film doesn't do anything for me and while the performances are acceptable the inferior sound mix leaves a lot to be desired after you've experienced the Pioneer version.

[90sDBZ]

For me it's the TV Ocean version simply because I prefer the Levy/Wasserman score to Jonson and Kikuchi. And even though Schemmel is my favourite I also love Corlett's Goku, and this is the only time we get to hear him in a movie. Kelamis was also good but I've always preferred Corlett to him overall.

[gregoryluis09]

Funny Fact: The complete opposite thing happened in the Brazilian dub. The edited dub (made by Studio Gábia) aired in theaters and was released in VHS and DVD while the uncut dub (made by Álamo, the same one that did the series) only aired on Cartoon Network.

As for the English dubs, the Ocean Uncut dub is the best by far.

[MagicBox]

The uncut "Ocean dub" easily gets my vote.

I'm still so, so disappointed in the redub FUNimation did with the current cast. Such lazy effort, and a huge missed opportunity.

[Man-Child]

Definitely the edited Ocean Group dub. Being the first time they worked on the film, the cast didn't seem as dull as they were the next time around. Ian Corlett in particular gave a much better performance than Peter Kelamis. As for the music, Kikuchi's score for Tree of Might never seemed as good to me as his work on the previous films, so I never did mind Levy's score being used.

[samuraix123]

It's gotta be the ocean dub group for me as well. the first 3 movies and 53 episodes were amazing in my opinion.

[TheGreatness25]

I think that Ian James Corlett is an awesome Goku. I vote the edited Ocean dub version. I could be biased because that was the version that I knew (I didn't see the uncut Ocean dub version until roughly 2009 when I bought the DVD). I'm so happy that it's included in the "Rock the Dragon" set!

That scene where Goku says, "You planted this tree in our land? Well it's gotta go!" I remember that scene so vividly, it's almost as if I'm watching/listening to it. I don't know why that line in particular, but that's what I remember the second "Tree of Might" is mentioned.

I am just a huge Ian James Corlett fan. Sean Schemmel is great, but Corlett was my favorite. Like in the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, when he says, "This is my home and these are my friends, so it doesn't matter what you say I am!" Just a very powerful performance, I think. Though Kelamis did most closely resemble the Japanese version of Goku, I found his performance really annoying.

[Valerius Dover]

I've only seen the Funi dub, so I can't really make any big statement here. That comparison video is really unfair, though. The Funimation and Malaysian clips show a lot less than the other three. Judging by those Ocean clips, it really isn't my cup of tea. Goku's Ocean VAs don't really do it for me, though I can say that's because I'm used to Schemmel.

[Dbzfan94]

Funimation with Kikuchi for me.

Nothing against Ocean dub or their fans, just don't really like the voices. I never grew up with the ocean dub so that could be why, and I might be just too used to FUNi, but oh well

[Ajay]

Easily Ocean. Can't beat them for those first three films. They're great!

[ShinGaijin]

Ocean Dub, uncut version (with Peter Kelamis as Goku + original Japanese BGM).However, I don't have anything against the edited version, Levy' score is pretty cool !

[Lord Beerus]

Ocean Dub get my vote too. This was arguably their Magnum Opus as far as dubbing Dragon Ball Z goes. And previous their dubs for Dead Zone and The Worlds Strongest were really good as well.

[TheBlackPaladin]

1. Uncut Ocean dub.
2. FUNimation dub with Kikuchi score (very close second).
3. Edited Ocean dub (very distant third).

Miscellaneous Notes:

-Whenever I watch the FUNimation dub of DBZ or the movies anymore, I never watch it with the replacement BGM...now that I have the option not to, that replacement score doesn't really exist anymore, in my mind.
-As one of the last movies that FUNimation dubbed with their in-house cast, I'd say that the acting was on par with the uncut Ocean dub by that point. I give the edge to the uncut Ocean dub only because they had a slightly better script.

[Singh is King]

Uncut Ocean Dub

[Ree]

From what i watched it goes to Ocean and then Big Green

[theoriginalbilis]

The uncut Ocean dub done for Movies 1-3. Until Kai, those were pretty much as close to perfection as far as adapting DBZ into English got.

That's why I'm still super curious to watch that Ocean dub of Kai (if it ever comes out), just to see if the voice acting and voice direction are still up to that standard.