How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by precita » Wed Oct 28, 2015 2:28 am

Man, I'm watching the "updated" dub of Season 3, where Vegeta and Krillin have new performances and they sound fine.

Only problem is they're interacting with 1999-era Goku. Man, going from the redub back to Sean Schemmel's original performance makes you realize how much he had improved in terms of acting. His Season 3 performance has no depth or tone, he's just imitating a voice. He says everything in almost the same tone of voice.

Why on earth didn't they have Sean Schemmel redub his original lines when they did it for Vegeta and Krillin?

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by Mewzard » Wed Oct 28, 2015 12:51 pm

precita wrote:Man, I'm watching the "updated" dub of Season 3, where Vegeta and Krillin have new performances and they sound fine.

Only problem is they're interacting with 1999-era Goku. Man, going from the redub back to Sean Schemmel's original performance makes you realize how much he had improved in terms of acting. His Season 3 performance has no depth or tone, he's just imitating a voice. He says everything in almost the same tone of voice.

Why on earth didn't they have Sean Schemmel redub his original lines when they did it for Vegeta and Krillin?
I believe at that point Sean Schemmel had already moved to New York. They probably didn't want to pay the extra money to fly him out since the script didn't change.
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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by TheBlackPaladin » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:33 pm

Mewzard wrote:
precita wrote:Man, I'm watching the "updated" dub of Season 3, where Vegeta and Krillin have new performances and they sound fine.

Only problem is they're interacting with 1999-era Goku. Man, going from the redub back to Sean Schemmel's original performance makes you realize how much he had improved in terms of acting. His Season 3 performance has no depth or tone, he's just imitating a voice. He says everything in almost the same tone of voice.

Why on earth didn't they have Sean Schemmel redub his original lines when they did it for Vegeta and Krillin?
I believe at that point Sean Schemmel had already moved to New York. They probably didn't want to pay the extra money to fly him out since the script didn't change.
That's part of it. Schemmel hasn't lived in Dallas for quite a number of years now (he moved to New York, and now lives in LA), and was initially flying back to record on his own money until FUNimation started partially paying for his airfare, and now they pay for it completely. So, scheduling and money were certainly factors.

In addition to that, I believe it was deemed unnecessary because his voice hadn't really changed that noticeably since he started. His acting has changed--and improved--tremendously, but just his voice in and of itself hadn't changed that much. The whole reason other characters were re-dubbed was not to "fix" the sub-par acting (although that was an appreciated bonus), but rather, for vocal consistency. Kyle Hebert was now the narrator, who had a different voice than Dale Kelly, Sonny Strait was now using a different-enough-to-be-noticeable voice for Kuririn, and Chris Sabat was now using a completely different voice for Vegeta than when he started.
A "rather haggard" translation of a line from Future Gohan in DBZ, provided to FUNimation by Toei:
"To think of fighting that is this fun...so, it was pleasant fight, as many as, therefore is a feeling which is good the fight where."

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by ABED » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:41 pm

I dislike the patchwork dub. It's the same issue I have with every release of Star Wars that came after the 1995 vhs's. Quit making changes unless you are going to make the originals available.
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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by precita » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:55 pm

In the first episode of the Season 3 dub, one of Goku's lines is, "We're going to wish Piccolo and the others back to this dimension."

Ugh...one of those "next dimension" lines from the Ocean era still exists in the Funimation dub. At least he didn't say "next dimension," so when he says "this dimension" people who never watched the Ocean dub might not think its too weird. Still its a shame Goku's lines weren't fixed.

Man, a better Season 3 would be a redubbed Sean Schemmel and Chris Aryes doing Freeza. Just if they re-did all of Goku and Freeza's lines while fighting each other and throughout the saga, it would improve this saga dub tremendously.

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by TheBlackPaladin » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:56 pm

ABED wrote:I dislike the patchwork dub. It's the same issue I have with every release of Star Wars that came after the 1995 vhs's. Quit making changes unless you are going to make the originals available.
Well, I guess I don't mind it in the DBZ dub's case because the changes were for the better.......Star Wars, on the other hand............
A "rather haggard" translation of a line from Future Gohan in DBZ, provided to FUNimation by Toei:
"To think of fighting that is this fun...so, it was pleasant fight, as many as, therefore is a feeling which is good the fight where."

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by precita » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:59 pm

Is there any reason to care about the old dub unless you just have nostalgia for it? I mean I watched the FUNI dub on Cartoon Network all the time as a kid, but I no longer care that version isn't on the newest DVDs.

I still watch the dub because I do like the english cast and I enjoy watching the show without reading subtitles, but it does still disappoint me some of these "old relics" from a bygone era are still around. Still some bad scripts, and some old performances.

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by ABED » Wed Oct 28, 2015 2:03 pm

TheBlackPaladin wrote:
ABED wrote:I dislike the patchwork dub. It's the same issue I have with every release of Star Wars that came after the 1995 vhs's. Quit making changes unless you are going to make the originals available.
Well, I guess I don't mind it in the DBZ dub's case because the changes were for the better.......Star Wars, on the other hand............
Sure, changes were made for the better, but the changes still stick out like a sore thumb. I'd much rather people don't go back into their artwork and make changes because if you pull on that thread... I don't mind it as much if the original version is still widely available .

The only things in Star Wars that was added that I don't mind as much is the inclusion of the scene between Han and Jaba in Star Wars, and the extra seconds of the snow beast in Empire. I don't think they affected the film negatively.
Is there any reason to care about the old dub unless you just have nostalgia for it?
Fair question, it's more like a principle to me. Every once and a while I like switching back to spot check a few things.
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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by TheBlackPaladin » Wed Oct 28, 2015 2:11 pm

precita wrote:Man, a better Season 3 would be a redubbed Sean Schemmel and Chris Aryes doing Freeza. Just if they re-did all of Goku and Freeza's lines while fighting each other and throughout the saga, it would improve this saga dub tremendously.
I don't know about tremendously. Just bringing them back in to record the existing dialogue wouldn't be enough. Linda Young's dialogue is not compatible with the performance that Chris Ayers gave.
A "rather haggard" translation of a line from Future Gohan in DBZ, provided to FUNimation by Toei:
"To think of fighting that is this fun...so, it was pleasant fight, as many as, therefore is a feeling which is good the fight where."

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by precita » Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:06 am

So even though Krillin and Vegeta re-did their voices, they still didn't change some stupid lines. Krillin still says "Mondo cool" when Goku is in the rejuvenation chamber, and then Vegeta replies, "That's right, mondo cool" in his thoughts.

Since both Vegeta and Krillin redubbed their lines, why was this stuff kept? I obviously know exchanges between two characters who didn't redub their old dialogue couldn't be changed due to the responses, but this was a case of new voice work and the old line was still there.

Vegeta also still says, "These dryers take forever" when he pulls his new armor out of the closet. In the original he was just talking about how he had a new model of armor. I don't get it. Didn't Chris Sabat know these lines were stupid? He could have re-did them himself.

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by TheBlackPaladin » Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:28 am

precita wrote:Didn't Chris Sabat know these lines were stupid? He could have re-did them himself.
People who are buying DBZ (as in not Kai or the new movies) for the dub's sake are doing so because they want the dub they remember when they watched Toonami all those years ago as kids. The dub is the driving force behind DBZ's sales in the English-speaking world, and nostalgia is the driving force behind that dub's continued appeal...and FUNimation clearly knows this based on their marketing. I've even seen some people who said they like Chris Sabat's Drummond impression voice better than his new one. I'm surprised that such a sentiment exists, but it does, and its a very strong one.

All that to say, Sabat likely didn't change it because FUNimation didn't want to mess too much with the dub's dialogue considering how attached many money-spending fans are to it. That, of course, begs the perfectly logical follow-up question, "Well, why re-dub at all, then?"

*Shrug.*

My best guess is that they were trying to strike a balance between staying faithful to what dub fans remembered and doing a better, more faithful dub. Keep in mind, this was before Kai was even announced, so they had no way of knowing that they'd eventually get a unique opportunity to do a complete, kinda/sorta re-dub. Kai really was the best possible thing that could have happened to FUNimation's English dub. They got to keep the dub that made them money, while still getting to do a new, more faithful dub that they were clearly itching to do.
A "rather haggard" translation of a line from Future Gohan in DBZ, provided to FUNimation by Toei:
"To think of fighting that is this fun...so, it was pleasant fight, as many as, therefore is a feeling which is good the fight where."

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by precita » Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:42 am

Yes, that makes sense. But still, do you really think dub fans remember every single line of the old FUNI dub?

I mean I remember a lot of these corny lines from Season 3, but that's only because as a kid I used to watch reruns of DBZ on Cartoon Network to death. But that had to have been what...over a decade ago now back in the early 2000's? All those people are in their mid to late 20's now.

Although admittedly I can understand some complaints. For example I find dub Jeice absolutely hilarious because of his bad British rocker accent, and I'm disappointed he sounds a bit different in Kai. So I guess there is some truth here. Its like even though you know an old dub voice is bad, you can't help but still like it if you grew up with it.

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by thaman91 » Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:45 am

TheBlackPaladin wrote: Well, I guess I don't mind it in the DBZ dub's case because the changes were for the better.......Star Wars, on the other hand............
Here are the problems I see with the way they did the re-dub:

1.) Whatever updates and changes they made are still not nearly good enough to please hardcore fans. The script is still inaccurate in many places and non-redubbed performances from Season 3 & 4 are still bad.

2.) The voice acting becomes inconsistent because you go from good acting in the redub back to the amateur acting from the original dub. This makes for a jarring experience, particularly when going from episode 67 to 68. Also, different voice actors stop redubbing at different episodes; this makes for one big inconsistent mess.

3.) So keeping in mind that it's still bad and the improvements are minor, another downside is that it's different from the original dub. Now this would be okay if the entire show was redubbed with accurate scripts and amazing acting. But this was not the case. At least with the old dub, I could watch it for the nostalgia despite poor acting and inaccurate scripts. With the redub, the nostalgia is not there, the lines are still inaccurate, and the voice acting is inconsistent. The middle ground of improving a few things but not wanting to change too much doesn't really work for me. Either leave the original product alone or redub the whole thing with faithful scripts. And at the very least, keep the original product available. I agree with ABED's principle of not altering things once they are released. As bad as it is, the dub is a product of its time and should be kept that way.

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by precita » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:55 am

So I'm up to the part where Piccolo appears, and its Chris Sabat's original 1999-era performance. His Piccolo sounds completely different here than in either the redub or his modern take, so its kind of jarring. I really wish Chris Sabat re-did his Piccolo here too.

Its interesting how quickly Goku and Gohan's voices settled into their roles. They only felt off during the first few episodes, but now they sound the same as they always do. Tien sounds the same as always too, I'm surprised so I guess he didn't change much since 1999 in terms of performance.

Other than Sabat's Piccolo, I'm really surprised how different Bulma sounds. Now I know where the whole, "she sounds like a valley girl" thing comes from. Its really strange how different Season 3 Bulma is from any of her later voices. Considering how much filler there is with Bulma on Namek we have to hear her a lot too and its mostly her screaming or complaining...

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by TheBigBoy » Fri Oct 30, 2015 9:24 am

precita wrote:Tenshinhan sounds the same as always too, I'm surprised so I guess he didn't change much since 1999 in terms of performance.

Other than Sabat's Piccolo, I'm really surprised how different Bulma sounds. Now I know where the whole, "she sounds like a valley girl" thing comes from. Its really strange how different Season 3 Bulma is from any of her later voices. Considering how much filler there is with Bulma on Namek we have to hear her a lot too and its mostly her screaming or complaining...
There's a few weird episodes right in the middle of the Freeza fight where Ten is inexplicably voiced by a different guy. And he sounds a lot different, with a very soft voice. I wonder if they fixed that?

Bulma's valley girl voice in her early Season 3 appearances is really weird and awful. I suppose it fit with Yamcha sounding exactly like a freakin' Ninja Turtle at first.

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by Valerius Dover » Fri Oct 30, 2015 12:15 pm

Isn't this thread about the initial 67 episodes? It's obvious that those needed to be redubbed, since the previously existing dub for those episodes wasn't uncut and had a completely different cast. The touch ups afterwards were then done to make the transition from the newly dubbed early episodes easier. This absolutely needed to be done. The transition from Episode 67 to 68 would've been far worse had they been left alone. I do, however, think some things could've been handled better.
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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by precita » Fri Oct 30, 2015 2:00 pm

Yes, but they also updated Season 3. Vegeta and Krillin re-did their lines, and Ginyu, Dende, the narrator have new voices.

Disappointing though that Chris Sabat didn't re-do his Piccolo too since its really off back here. Freeza is the same as always though.

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by TheBlackPaladin » Fri Oct 30, 2015 2:09 pm

precita wrote:Freeza is the same as always though.
Technically Linda Young was brought in to re-dub some of her dialogue, too. I'm not sure why, though, as her Freeza voice hadn't really changed.
A "rather haggard" translation of a line from Future Gohan in DBZ, provided to FUNimation by Toei:
"To think of fighting that is this fun...so, it was pleasant fight, as many as, therefore is a feeling which is good the fight where."

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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by Valerius Dover » Fri Oct 30, 2015 2:26 pm

precita wrote:Yes, but they also updated Season 3. Vegeta and Krillin re-did their lines, and Ginyu, Dende, the narrator have new voices.

Disappointing though that Chris Sabat didn't re-do his Piccolo too since its really off back here. Freeza is the same as always though.
Yeah, I mentioned that when I talked about the transition. I think Piccolo should've been redone up until Cell, and Vegeta up until Buu, perhaps.
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Re: How was the redub of the Saiyan and early Freeza saga?

Post by precita » Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:31 pm

TheBlackPaladin wrote:
precita wrote:Freeza is the same as always though.
Technically Linda Young was brought in to re-dub some of her dialogue, too. I'm not sure why, though, as her Freeza voice hadn't really changed.
She did? Freeza sounds the same and still has the same lines. He still says "Ride 'em cowboy, yee-haw!" when shaking Krillin around in his horn.

Also a lot of lines like when he pulls off Nail's arm and says, "Here's your arm, you can use it as a back scratcher!" are the same.

Unless you're refering to when Goku shows up, I haven't gotten that far in my rewatch yet.

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