When exactly did Chris Sabat become the ADR Director for Z?

[VejituhTheWarriorGuy]

Because I've heard many of the FUNi cast say that Watson was the director for a little while and I want to know when Sabat started doing the ADR direction for Z.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Well, he was the Assistant Director ever since FUNimation started their in-house production. It's unclear when he assumed the role of Director.

[VejituhTheWarriorGuy]

Well, he was the Assistant Director ever since FUNimation started their in-house production. It's unclear when he assumed the role of Director.

Ah! I assume it was during the Cell Saga or at the start of Buu. But do we know if Watson was a director for a little while?

[TheBlackPaladin]

Well, he was the Assistant Director ever since FUNimation started their in-house production. It's unclear when he assumed the role of Director.

Ah! I assume it was during the Cell Saga or at the start of Buu. But do we know if Watson was a director for a little while?

Watson was the director for quite a while, actually. I don't know when exactly Sabat took over completely, but it was relatively lateish. Even when FUNimation was using the Ocean cast, Watson would fly up to Vancouver to direct the sessions...excluding the recording sessions for the uncut Ocean/Pioneer movie dubs. For whatever that's worth.

He was in charge of casting as well, along with a lot of the creative decisions that fans of the Japanese version took issue with. Now, I don't mean to paint him in a one-dimensional way of course, especially since I've never met him. Peter Kelamis described him as a very nice guy, and Watson said in interviews that the dub was "trying to be true to the spirit of the original Japanese version." Now, while we may laugh at that statement, I think he genuinely believed that in his mind. After all, it's not like they pulled a Robotech and used unrelated footage to tell a completely different story. It's also worth noting that, while he may have made some questionable casting decisions, he also made some great ones, a good example being Scott McNeil as Piccolo.

I think Sabat took over sooner than this, but he was the the director at least as far back as 2008. I know this because Sean Schemmel did a panel at New York Comic-Con '08 where he did an impression of Watson, prefacing it with, "He doesn't work at FUNimation anymore, so I can make fun of him."

[Theophrastus]

I admit that this is a flimsy reasoning for thinking this, but I would guess that Sabat taking over the ADR Director position might have coincided with the change in his Vegeta voice in the Buu saga.

[DBZASHKACHU]

I'm always interested on which director directed which episodes of the series. I checked the Ginyu Assault credits on the old dvd singles and it lists Barry Watson as the director and Christopher Sabat as the assistant director. I believe it says that until the end of the Frieza saga. On the Trunks saga credits it lists Christopher Sabat as the director & John Burgmeier as assistant director. Going off that It had to be during or after the Garlic Jr. saga. where he takes the title of main ADR Director. I could be wrong but those old singles are probably the best source to find out where he took over the position.

Going back to those old singles it's interesting to note at some point towards the end of Z (Buu saga) they had several directors working on it. The credits lists Justin Cook, Mike McFarland, Denise Logan it doesn't list them as assistant directors for those episodes but I assume Mr. Sabat was still lead ADR Director. I don't believe he was the ADR director for the redub of the first 67 episodes other directors for those were Chuck Huber, Sonny Strait, Chris Cason, Mike McFarland and Zach Bolton. Extra info free of charge

[TheBlackPaladin]

Really now? That's interesting, I didn't realize Watson left the position that soon. I think he must have still had some kind of supervising role though, because he still appeared to be working for FUNimation when they got to GT, because he appeared in a video promoting it.

EDIT: I can't find the video that I mentioned, but in looking for it, I found a behind-the-scenes video for the dubbing of GT that I didn't know existed.

[DBZASHKACHU]

I think I know the other video you mentioned, I might have seen it on the old DBGT website long ago maybe? Barry Watson was Funimation's producer up until 2005 so he probably did some kind of supervision before leaving. Probably the only other DBZ thing he dubbed after Sabat took over was movie 6 Return of Cooler. He also directed the early Baby saga stuff or where Funimation started for GT eps 17-21 or so before Christopher Bevins took over the position for the remainder.

[jjgp1112]

I believe Sabat was listed as the voice director for the last 15-ish episodes of Z too. I think he also wrote most of Movie 8's script.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I think he also wrote most of Movie 8's script.

He did, and it was a preview of the good changes to come. That particular script was adapted quite faithfully. And now that you mention it, the things that were dubbed post-2005 (video games, some movies) did seem to mark a point at which things got noticeably better. It seems that the overall quality of the dub increased in direct proportion to how much creative power Sabat had.

[ABED]

I think not only did things get better when Sabat had more power, but also became more knowledgeable about the series. I recall movie 8's script being VERY close to the original. If scripts had been that good since the beginning of the in-house dub, I would've had far fewer complaints even if all else stayed the same.