New Interview with Creator of Dragon Ball GT Rap

[GS7X7]

I guess for Faulconer it's kind of a pride thing at this point. But, the truth's already out there.

It'd be best for him just to say, "I had a team of people who worked in conjunction with me to create music per my instructions and approval" and just move on from there. If Derek's going to interview his other employees it'd prob. be best if Faulconer came in and owned up to it all early in an interview beforehand.

[DerekPadula]

Bruce, Kikuchi, and Shuki Levy are the only ones I have left to interview.

What's with Tokunaga or Sumitomo?

Ah, right. I forgot the GT soundtrack was done by someone else, and the new guy on Battle of Gods and 'F'. Then Yamamoto too! It never ends.

Though to be realistic, I don't think I'll be speaking with anyone who is currently employed by the official companies. And especially for the Japanese.

[Blade]

I guess for Faulconer it's kind of a pride thing at this point. But, the truth's already out there.

It'd be best for him just to say, "I had a team of people who worked in conjunction with me to create music per my instructions and approval" and just move on from there. If Derek's going to interview his other employees it'd prob. be best if Faulconer came in and owned up to it all early in an interview beforehand.

I don't think it's a case of owning up, as technically he hasn't done anything wrong. I mean, do you think Hans Zimmer composes, arranges and orchestrates every piece for every film he works on? Having 'composers in residence' is nothing new or shocking in the industry - I honestly just think that Bruce doesn't want to engage with the fandom. There was a lot of bitterness and ill-feeling on the internet towards his work back in the day which clearly seemed to irk him, (or at least, appeared to judging on this he has said in some of the interviews he did back then) then, of course, there was the legal battle which ended things with Funimation. I think that was probably the final nail in the coffin in regard to any interest he has in talking about Dragonball Z.

[thaman91]

I honestly just think that Bruce doesn't want to engage with the fandom. There was a lot of bitterness and ill-feeling on the internet towards his work back in the day which clearly seemed to irk him, (or at least, appeared to judging on this he has said in some of the interviews he did back then) then, of course, there was the legal battle which ended things with Funimation. I think that was probably the final nail in the coffin in regard to any interest he has in talking about Dragonball Z.

Well he did have this interview about a year ago: http://speakhertz.com/6813/interview-br ... oundtracks
I think he would probably know nowadays that his music has a huge following. Just like Shorty realized in 2006/7 that a lot of people were talking about his rap intro, Bruce would probably have seen how much attention his company's DBZ music has gotten over the years.

[Kakacarrottop]

Bruce, Kikuchi, and Shuki Levy are the only ones I have left to interview. I suppose there's the guy who did the Mega Man music on the Ocean dub

That would be Tom Keenlyside. There was also Peter Berring who did the replacement score for the 13 FUNimation/BLT dub Dragon Ball episodes in 1995. Also i'm pretty sure Shuki Levy wouldn't have much to say in an interview about Dragon Ball Z, seeing as he likely never even composed anything for the show (Ron Wasserman was the actual composer of the Saban era dub).

[GS7X7]

I guess for Faulconer it's kind of a pride thing at this point. But, the truth's already out there.

It'd be best for him just to say, "I had a team of people who worked in conjunction with me to create music per my instructions and approval" and just move on from there. If Derek's going to interview his other employees it'd prob. be best if Faulconer came in and owned up to it all early in an interview beforehand.

I don't think it's a case of owning up, as technically he hasn't done anything wrong. I mean, do you think Hans Zimmer composes, arranges and orchestrates every piece for every film he works on? Having 'composers in residence' is nothing new or shocking in the industry - I honestly just think that Bruce doesn't want to engage with the fandom. There was a lot of bitterness and ill-feeling on the internet towards his work back in the day which clearly seemed to irk him, (or at least, appeared to judging on this he has said in some of the interviews he did back then) then, of course, there was the legal battle which ended things with Funimation. I think that was probably the final nail in the coffin in regard to any interest he has in talking about Dragonball Z.

What... was... the legal battle even about?

I've heard people talk about in vague details every now and then for nearly a decade but I've never read a concrete story about it. I know he was upset about not doing GT's music but that's the closest thing I can think of.

[Gonstead]

I guess for Faulconer it's kind of a pride thing at this point. But, the truth's already out there.

It'd be best for him just to say, "I had a team of people who worked in conjunction with me to create music per my instructions and approval" and just move on from there. If Derek's going to interview his other employees it'd prob. be best if Faulconer came in and owned up to it all early in an interview beforehand.

I don't think it's a case of owning up, as technically he hasn't done anything wrong. I mean, do you think Hans Zimmer composes, arranges and orchestrates every piece for every film he works on? Having 'composers in residence' is nothing new or shocking in the industry - I honestly just think that Bruce doesn't want to engage with the fandom. There was a lot of bitterness and ill-feeling on the internet towards his work back in the day which clearly seemed to irk him, (or at least, appeared to judging on this he has said in some of the interviews he did back then) then, of course, there was the legal battle which ended things with Funimation. I think that was probably the final nail in the coffin in regard to any interest he has in talking about Dragonball Z.

What... was... the legal battle even about?

I've heard people talk about in vague details every now and then for nearly a decade but I've never read a concrete story about it. I know he was upset about not doing GT's music but that's the closest thing I can think of.

That's pretty much how it broke down. He gave out personal Funimation email addresses and tried to rally fan support for him to come back and do GT. Some legal battles broke down which ended in Faulconer will not receive royalties when the dub score is included on home releases but if played on TV, will.

[GS7X7]

Haha, tell me about it, I made more use of those email addresses back in the day than anyone else did!

So.... did he just give out the email addresses and then Funimation decided to punish him?

Or did he do it as a last attempt after seeing the legal case was lost?

[jelleline89]

Haha, tell me about it, I made more use of those email addresses back in the day than anyone else did!

So.... did he just give out the email addresses and then Funimation decided to punish him?

Or did he do it as a last attempt after seeing the legal case was lost?

So you basically harassed FUNimation? I'm just happy they blocked your e-mails after the third time.

[Gonstead]

Haha, tell me about it, I made more use of those email addresses back in the day than anyone else did!

So.... did he just give out the email addresses and then Funimation decided to punish him?

Or did he do it as a last attempt after seeing the legal case was lost?

IIRC it was before the legal battle began.

[GS7X7]

Haha, tell me about it, I made more use of those email addresses back in the day than anyone else did!

So.... did he just give out the email addresses and then Funimation decided to punish him?

Or did he do it as a last attempt after seeing the legal case was lost?

So you basically harassed FUNimation? I'm just happy they blocked your e-mails after the third time.

They never did block me! Nor were they same company back then that they are today.

I found out early that the music for DBZ Movie 8 was being replaced with some generic crap so I started a campaign up on DBZU 2/Dbzoa (around summer of 2003) to try to convince them not to.

I did a lot of that and other similar stuff primarily because of something Chris Psaros once said years ago.

http://www.animecauldron.com/dbzuncenso ... odbye.html

Chris Psaros- "Since the site opened, I have been preaching to the choir (while perhaps saving a few souls along the way), but never actually standing up against FUNimation themselves by getting in their faces. No letter writing campaigns, no petitions, no one-on-one debates with Gen, nothing. I could have arranged any of these if I had exerted the effort. So why didn't I? Perhaps I was just unimaginative, or busy, or lazy, or I simply didn't care enough. Perhaps I was afraid of wasting time on something that would make no difference. Or perhaps I'm just an armchair critic by nature, and that sort of thing isn't my strength."

I have some regrets from past things I've said towards Funimation (mostly being too harsh at times) but my e-mail campaign to get back the original music certainly isn't one of them.

Besides that, I contacted others at Funimation myself.... that led to a number of private correspondences with some illuminating details on their thoughts on things and even an anony interview with a VA there, so I think it worked out well.