Moments FUNimation's English Dub Did Better?

[Great Saiyaman I]

I'm sorry, I just don't see how Freeza acting like a fourth-grade bully is better. In the original, it's a darker humor of his, while Gohan's mad but too scared for words. The dub makes him sound like he's taking Gohan's lunch money.

[Lord Exor]

Bullying a child only renders Frieza that much more depraved. If I were Frieza, I would debase his father's memory too. After all, the child is more likely to react negatively to that than a quip about mutual burial--it positively pierces the boy's little heart. How delightful.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

That's right, and he cried, like a big baby. It was sad. Ahahahahahaha!

Yeah... that dialogue just makes Freeza sound like a big baby! Seriously, that's considered good writing? (I also can't stand Linda Young's laugh. "A HA HA HA HA." Nakao did it better. Ayres does it better now, too.)

[Lord Exor]

To be perfectly blunt, neither version qualifies as a paradigm of exquisite literature. They're both on a comparable level.

[SolarBlade52]

The dialogue between Freeza and Gohan in episode 100.

Japanese translation:
Freeza: Where did all that spirit you had a moment ago go?
Gohan: <No dialogue in this version>
Freeza: I know, I just thought of something nice! I think I'll put you into the same grave as your father. What do you think? That must make you happy! You should be grateful for my kindness.

Original FUNimation Dub:
Freeza: Mhmhmm. Another pushover, just like your dad.
Gohan: You... you jerk!
Freeza: My my, so there's a little spark left after all. Since you have a little energy left, let me recommend a course of action: beg for your life, just like your father did before he died. That's right, and he cried, like a big baby. It was sad. Ahahahahahaha!

The latter evokes a more overt attempt to get under the boy's skin, portraying Freeza as more of a straightforward sadistic jerk. His lines also make Gohan's cringes more believable as a reaction, at least in my opinion.

I believe that you are completely missing a point of Freeza's original character. Not only is he a sadistic tyrant, but also speaks in a polite manner. He even apologizes for not controlling his own power (e.g. Kuririn getting impaled by Freeza's horn).

[linkdude20002001]

Yeah... FUNi's line there doesn't sound anything like Freeza; he'd never say that.

[TonyTheTiger]

I agree. Freeza isn't above taunting somebody but there's something about his taunts that makes him seem...disinterested. Or bored. Like he's only doing this to squeeze out as much amusement as he can from a universe so boringly weak and easy to conquer.

He's General Zod with a chuckle.

The first part of FUNi's line is fine but by the end of it he sounds more like Scut Farkus from A Christmas Story.

[XanatosVanBadass]

I'm utterly dumbfounded at how people are still acknowledging the troll's posts. C'mon, guys.

Anyway, while I don't think this counts as being, "better," perse, I will give Bruce Fulcner or whatever his last name is (I keep forgetting how to spell it) for at least trying to go the extra mile by composing original pieces for key scenes. I prefer the original Japanese music for Goku's SSJ transformation, but even I admit the music they used had been done to death at that point. Using a new piece in the American version at least showed an attempt at making the scene a little more special. Too bad it also missed the point in the process.

[Nippolyte]

The Spanish dub of his transformation is awesome too. He scream is what makes the scene.

[Lord Exor]

I'm not a troll.

[TonyTheTiger]

I'm utterly dumbfounded at how people are still acknowledging the troll's posts. C'mon, guys.

Anyway, while I don't think this counts as being, "better," perse, I will give Bruce Fulcner or whatever his last name is (I keep forgetting how to spell it) for at least trying to go the extra mile by composing original pieces for key scenes. I prefer the original Japanese music for Goku's SSJ transformation, but even I admit the music they used had been done to death at that point. Using a new piece in the American version at least showed an attempt at making the scene a little more special. Too bad it also missed the point in the process.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. As actual music I like what Faulconer produced. It's not bad as music for an animated series. My problem with the Faulconer score isn't with the music itself. It's with the music never knowing when to shut up. Not everything has to be wall to wall music and it's presence during scenes where there should be silence often crushes a lot of key moments.

[penguintruth]

Freeza: My my, so there's a little spark left after all. Since you have a little energy left, let me recommend a course of action: beg for your life, just like your father did before he died.

This part works. Somewhat.

That's right, and he cried, like a big baby. It was sad.

This is just juvenile. Especially because I know how Linda Young said this, the way a school bully would. Except with a pack-a-day smoking transvestite voice.

[XanatosVanBadass]

I'm not a troll.

That's right. You're not a troll the same way I'm a pirate-ninja-ghost-detective. In any case, if you're not a troll then you're the most blatant anti-intellectual I've seen in awhile, despite your pounding desperately at the keyboard in an impotent attempt at seeming coherent.

[Nippolyte]

That's right, and he cried, like a big baby. It was sad.

This is just juvenile. Especially because I know how Linda Young said this, the way a school bully would. Except with a pack-a-day smoking transvestite voice.

That's tame compared to "All right big guy, whatever turns you on."

[Cipher]

I'm not a troll.

That's right. You're not a troll the same way I'm a pirate-ninja-ghost-detective. In any case, if you're not a troll then you're the most blatant anti-intellectual I've seen in awhile, despite your pounding desperately at the keyboard in an impotent attempt at seeming coherent.

Woah, what?

He's been pretty coherent. And he made a point we just don't see often enough around here, which is that neither the Japanese nor American scripts are the pinnacle of intelligent writing. D-do you even understand what "anti-intellectual" means? Are you aware that "a while" is two words?

At any rate, on the Freeza line in question, I can see what they were going for. I mean, there probably wasn't much thought behind it other than creating a stereotypical cackling villain, which is what they seemed to do with Freeza back then, but it works. Telling a child his father cried and then rubbing it in school-yard style is some pretty fucked up shit. My only problem is that it misses the Japanese subtext of Freeza returning to form. Freeza's Japanese dialogue is less overtly sadistic because he's regaining his composure, and returning to his understated mannerisms. The English line is harsher, by far, and I don't consider it juvenile in a way that wouldn't be intentional. It's just not what Freeza's motivation is there.

Also, nitpick, nitpick, nitpick.

[SolarBlade52]

How could any one prefer Young's out-of-character Freeza over Ayers' in-character Freeza.

[Taku128]

*Stuff about Lord Exor*

Yeah, he's just one o' them fancy talkin' city folks is all. All of his posts have been completely on-topic aside from when people call him out on his vocabulary, and I'd hate to see him scared away from the forums just for that reason. Having a different opinion doesn't make you a troll, especially when you have reasoning to back it up.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I'm not a troll.

That's right. You're not a troll the same way I'm a pirate-ninja-ghost-detective. In any case, if you're not a troll then you're the most blatant anti-intellectual I've seen in awhile, despite your pounding desperately at the keyboard in an impotent attempt at seeming coherent.

So he's a troll because he likes the dub and uses a few long words that aren't in our lexica....?

[Super Sonic]

Something Funimation's English dub did better was imo Unbalanced Kiss. Like it more I have to say.

On topic more, don't remember if I mentioned it already but did like how before Goku defeats Buu there's a flashback, and in the dub there's dramatic music playing with no dialogue. Like it more than the original with Goku talking and choral "ahhing" going on.

[violadude]

I WOULD say that Vegeta's SSJ transformation was better in the dub because they actually explain why he couldn't blow up that meteor like he should have been able to (I dont think the Japanese version gives an explanation for that) but then they completely butcher that scene by saying Vegeta transformed into a SSJ because he didnt care about transforming into a SSJ anymore. (whhhaaattt??)