Opinions on the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball

[gohann]

Hopefully if FUNimation does re-dub Dragon Ball then it's with Nadolny again not Colleen.

I agree with this statement though I wouldn't mind it being left alone, since it's fine as is to me. Though we'd lose Brice Armstrong as the narrator, since he's retired from voice acting.

[Valerius Dover]

The only way I can see them redubbing DB would be through Kai, but that'll happen the day pigs fly. If they do, I'd prefer they go with Colleen to stay consistent with the the flashbacks in Z Kai. Plus, we've only heard her Goku in these aforementioned flashbacks and Curse of the Blood Rubies.Come on little piggy, fly...

[linkdude20002001]

What is wrong with Goku and Bulma's voices? Save for the original DBZ dub, Tiffany Vollmer was a great Bulma -- how can you say she's grating, but not Monica Rial, who is an imitation of her? Not to mention that Monica Rial's voice for her, while almost as good, gets too exaggerated at times. Stephanie Nadolny is a great Goku, she captures all facets of his personality. Her voice is age-appropriate, and her acting is great. The two actresses play off of each other perfectly.

Good acting?? Those two were some of the WORST I've ever heard in an English dub. Sure, I like Nadolny's voice for Gokuh, but the acting is an abomination. Just listen to her laugh or cry as Gokuh. And Volmer is even worse... Every other character sounds great, so it's a real shame to have them bringing down the dub. And then you have the Westwood dub by comparison which had poor acting for EVERY character, but was still much better than the two bad ones in Funi's dub. Funi's could have been the best, hands down.

[gohann]

I've listened to a couple of clips multiple times and still don't see your problem. Goku's crying sounds genuine, and while his laugh might be a little stiff, it at least sounds real. Colleen Clinkenbeard isn't exactly a good actress for Goku, her voice for him was forced and screechy.

[ABED]

I've listened to a couple of clips multiple times and still don't see your problem. Goku's crying sounds genuine, and while his laugh might be a little stiff, it at least sounds real. Colleen Clinkenbeard isn't exactly a good actress for Goku, her voice for him was forced and screechy.

It doesn't sound remotely real. Those screams and laugh are forced and her delivery had some of the oddest inflections I've ever heard. I don't hear screechy from Colleen at all, whereas many of Nadolny's are piercing.

And no, Rial isn't an imitation of Vollmer. Vollmer still has way too much valley girl in her performance, and doesn't have a pretty sounding voice. Last but certainly not least, both Nadolny and Vollmer aren't good actresses. I don't believe any of the dialog they deliver.

[gohann]

I've listened to a couple of clips multiple times and still don't see your problem. Goku's crying sounds genuine, and while his laugh might be a little stiff, it at least sounds real. Colleen Clinkenbeard isn't exactly a good actress for Goku, her voice for him was forced and screechy.

It doesn't sound remotely real. Those screams and laugh are forced and her delivery had some of the oddest inflections I've ever heard. I don't hear screechy from Colleen at all, whereas many of Nadolny's are piercing.

And no, Rial isn't an imitation of Vollmer. Vollmer still has way too much valley girl in her performance, and doesn't have a pretty sounding voice.

Could you give some examples of odd inflections so I can have a better idea of what you're talking about?

I think "piercing" is a better description for Colleen Clinkenbeard. There is no subtlety to her performance. Goku is around twelve years old, but sounds almost a decade younger, and when you combine that with the aforementioned subtlety (or lack thereof), you get one of the most annoying voices.

The valley girl voice was really only in the original DBZ dub.

[thomas1up]

I've listened to a couple of clips multiple times and still don't see your problem. Goku's crying sounds genuine, and while his laugh might be a little stiff, it at least sounds real. Colleen Clinkenbeard isn't exactly a good actress for Goku, her voice for him was forced and screechy.

It doesn't sound remotely real. Those screams and laugh are forced and her delivery had some of the oddest inflections I've ever heard. I don't hear screechy from Colleen at all, whereas many of Nadolny's are piercing.

And no, Rial isn't an imitation of Vollmer. Vollmer still has way too much valley girl in her performance, and doesn't have a pretty sounding voice.

Could you give some examples of odd inflections so I can have a better idea of what you're talking about?

I think "piercing" is a better description for Colleen Clinkenbeard. There is no subtlety to her performance. Goku is around twelve years old, but sounds almost a decade younger, and when you combine that with the aforementioned subtlety (or lack thereof), you get one of the most annoying voices.

The valley girl voice was really only in the original DBZ dub.

Decade younger? For a 12 year old it's not uncommon to have a high pitched voice.

[ABED]

I've listened to a couple of clips multiple times and still don't see your problem. Goku's crying sounds genuine, and while his laugh might be a little stiff, it at least sounds real. Colleen Clinkenbeard isn't exactly a good actress for Goku, her voice for him was forced and screechy.

It doesn't sound remotely real. Those screams and laugh are forced and her delivery had some of the oddest inflections I've ever heard. I don't hear screechy from Colleen at all, whereas many of Nadolny's are piercing.

And no, Rial isn't an imitation of Vollmer. Vollmer still has way too much valley girl in her performance, and doesn't have a pretty sounding voice.

Could you give some examples of odd inflections so I can have a better idea of what you're talking about?

I think "piercing" is a better description for Colleen Clinkenbeard. There is no subtlety to her performance. Goku is around twelve years old, but sounds almost a decade younger, and when you combine that with the aforementioned subtlety (or lack thereof), you get one of the most annoying voices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qbZmCTPAzo
It's not the best example and I'm not going to go digging right now for a bunch of videos, but towards the end, Goku says "Mr. Police gave me a ride" and the way her voice goes up on that sentence is so unnatural. She does that A LOT, and it bugs me every time.

I don't get piercing from Colleen at all. Her voice is smooth, whereas Nadolny's Gohan is scratchy and when she screams or cries it's like nails on a chalkboard. Colleen's Goku voice was only heard in 1 movie. It was good, but we never got to hear more. Nadolny had over 100 episodes and never got better. You say "annoying" I can't for the life of me figure out why. I don't hear what you hear at all.

The valley girl voice was really only in the original DBZ dub.

There are vestiges of it into DB, and even as her performance gets a little better, it's still no treat and her voice isn't fitting. It doesn't sound pretty.

[Gyt Kaliba]

You say "annoying" I can't for the life of me figure out why. I don't hear what you hear at all.

That's the thing though, the same thing can be said for a lot of people towards Rial's Bulma and Clinkenbeard's Goku, and it's just as valid an opinion.

I've grown to like Rial's Bulma quite a bit, it's definitely a lot better than I initially feared it would be (at the time she was getting cast in a LOT of really shrill roles), but I also still don't really mind Vollmer, at least not as much as a lot of people do. Her acting got better over time just like everyone else's, and I would have been curious to hear what she would have done in Kai. Also, I still don't see the "valley girl" accusations at all, based on what I understand that accent to sound like.

Clinkenbeard's Goku though...I dunno. It's not bad, but it just doesn't have much difference between it and how she does Gohan, the only differences that come through are from their characters being so different, rather than in how Clinkenbeard plays them. While there are certainly issues I can see with Nadolny's Gohan, I personally don't see any of them in her Goku.

[ABED]

That's the thing though, the same thing can be said for a lot of people towards Rial's Bulma and Clinkenbeard's Goku, and it's just as valid an opinion.

I'm well aware. I wish I could hear things from their perspective because I don't understand it. I don't hear piercing screams from Clinkenbeard at all. I don't hear anything remotely shrill, no more than Nozawa.

Valley girl isn't an accent as much as an attitude and delivery.

Why does it matter if Clinkenbeard sounds the same as Goku and Gohan? Her performance and dialog differentiate the characters, and that's more important than different voices. As you can see, my opinion in regards to Nadolny is the opposite, I can stand her Gohan, but don't see why people enjoy her Goku. It's so overly exaggerated to the point of parody. There's nothing natural about it. The way some talk about Colleen's Goku you'd think she played the character over an extended period, but she didn't. She played him in a single movie, and not even a long one. We got a good chunk of time with Nadolny, and it's a relief when Goku turns 18.

[gohann]

Decade younger? For a 12 year old it's not uncommon to have a high pitched voice.

They're not as high-pitched as Colleen Clinkenbeard's Goku; I've never heard a 12 year old with that type of voice in my life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qbZmCTPAzo
It's not the best example and I'm not going to go digging right now for a bunch of videos, but towards the end, Goku says "Mr. Police gave me a ride" and the way her voice goes up on that sentence is so unnatural. She does that A LOT, and it bugs me every time.

I don't get piercing from Colleen at all. Her voice is smooth, whereas Nadolny's Gohan is scratchy and when she screams or cries it's like nails on a chalkboard. Colleen's Goku voice was only heard in 1 movie. It was good, but we never got to hear more. Nadolny had over 100 episodes and never got better. You say "annoying" I can't for the life of me figure out why. I don't hear what you hear at all.

You don't think it would be more unnatural if she sounded the same each time she talked? I can see what you're talking about now, at least.

Colleen Clinkenbeard's Gohan is smooth when talking normally, but emoting is a different story. Have you heard her screams as the character?

Stephanie Nadolny did improve, around the time of the King Piccolo conflict in Dragon Ball, she really grew on me there. Admittedly, it wasn't much, but then she was already near perfect to begin with. I still get chills when she says, "I'll tear that monster apart!" as the character.

[Superninfreak]

When I watch DB what I do is watch the dub with the subtitles turned on. There are often jokes that are in one but not the other, so that lets me see both.

There's a lot of covering up sex jokes, but I remember one scene where the dub actually added a sex joke.

If I remember right, when Krillin can't use the Flying Nimbus because his heart is impure, the subs said that it was because he only wanted to become a martial artist to impress girls. The dub had him say that it was because he reads dirty magazines.