Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 16; Still Unreleased

[8000 Saiyan]

Paul Dobson could definitely make for a good Perfect Cell however I don't see him being great in the previous forms.

I think Paul Dobson could pull off Imperfect Cell with a variation of his Nidhiki from Bionicle, and as for Semi-Perfect Cell, he would use an awkward version of his E.O. Captain from Black Lagoon.

If I had to cast someone new I'd probably go for Andrew Francis, he'd be a great fit especially if he used a similar voice to his Chiaki Mamiya.

Now that I think about it, I think you may have a point on Andrew Francis being a great fit for Trunks.

For other casting choices, I would love to see Maryke Hendrikse as Bulma, although Kelly Sheridan and Rebecca Shoichet could fit her too. For Recoome, I would go with Colin Murdock or Mark Gibbon, Garry Chalk for King Cold, Peter New for Oolong and Guldo, Nicole Oliver for Android 18, Alessandro Juliani for 19 and Brian Dobson for 16, French Tickner for Roshi. The other supporting characters don't need to be replaced.

I'm glad Saffron Henderson is back as Kid Gohan, and I hope she doesn't disappoint in the Super Saiyan 2 transformation. As for Drummond and McNeil, I always preferred them over Sabat, and I could see them outclass his performances in Kai.

I've just noticed this topic will turn six years old tomorrow.

...Can any dub possibly meet six years worth of hype for those that actually care? Especially when there's a perfectly good English dub of it that's been around for even longer than this topic? There is such a thing as missing your window.

How many places can this air on TV that hasn't already run Kai? Hell, even more importantly, how many places would want to run this on DVD/Blu-Ray that haven't already done the FUNi dub of it?

I honestly don't mind another second English dub of Kai. And let's face something, you can't please everyone (some people never became accostumed to the Funi voices). I want to see this dub because I'm a big fan of the Vancouver talent pool and their dubs (Death Note, Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, Gundam, Black Lagoon, Shana, Sword of the Stranger...etc). I think they deserve a chance to redeem themselves after the trainwreck that was the Westwood dub, and prove to some people that they can actually act and aren't talentless idiots who ruined Dragon Ball with their voice acting.

[Attitudefan]

Absolutely. If FUNi can get a pass for retrying after their first attempt, I think the Vancouver (and even Blue Water's talent) deserve to prove that they can do better for Dragonball as well.

I feel that we need to at least know by the producers themselves what is going on with Ocean Kai. At least something worth noting: why it has taken so long or why they decided to make a dub etc. I need these questions answered man!!

[8000 Saiyan]

Absolutely. If FUNi can get a pass for retrying after their first attempt, I think the Vancouver (and even Blue Water's talent) deserve to prove that they can do better for Dragonball as well.

I feel that we need to at least know by the producers themselves what is going on with Ocean Kai. At least something worth noting: why it has taken so long or why they decided to make a dub etc. I need these questions answered man!!

I honestly don't think it was necessary to cast Blue Water voice actors for this. But since there are some in the cast, then I hope they give good performances. Calgary's talent pool pales in comparison to Vancouver's and even Toronto's. But they have some good voice actors such as Carol-Anne Day, Brendan Hunter, Jonathan Love, Dave Pettitt and Lucas Gilbertson. I even liked Leda Davies as Bulma and Victor Atelevich as Yamcha.

As to why this dub was made, probably because of Canadian content laws. And the reason why it has taken so long to be produced is because of recastings and retakes. I have a feeling they intend to surpass Funi Kai's dub in terms of quality. I could see Tockar outclass Ayres with his British Mark Hamill Joker's voice. Same thing with Drummond, McNeil and Henderson. I just hope there aren't that many recastings.

[Attitudefan]

Absolutely. If FUNi can get a pass for retrying after their first attempt, I think the Vancouver (and even Blue Water's talent) deserve to prove that they can do better for Dragonball as well.

I feel that we need to at least know by the producers themselves what is going on with Ocean Kai. At least something worth noting: why it has taken so long or why they decided to make a dub etc. I need these questions answered man!!

I honestly don't think it was necessary to cast Blue Water voice actors for this. But since there are some in the cast, then I hope they give good performances. Calgary's talent pool pales in comparison to Vancouver's and even Toronto's. But they have some good voice actors such as Carol-Anne Day, Brendan Hunter, Jonathan Love, Dave Pettitt and Lucas Gilbertson. I even liked Leda Davies as Bulma and Victor Atelevich as Yamcha.

As to why this dub was made, probably because of Canadian content laws. And the reason why it has taken so long to be produced is because of recastings and retakes. I have a feeling they intend to surpass Funi Kai's dub in terms of quality. I could see Tockar outclass Ayres with his British Mark Hamill Joker's voice. Same thing with Drummond, McNeil and Henderson. I just hope there aren't that many recastings.

Indeed. Drummond, in his recent interview by Geekdom, stated that they have only recorded up to Cell years ago. However, it is possible, that due to the NDAs, that he is not telling us that maybe he's been called in more recently to do retakes etc. Since knowledge of Ocean Kai was leaked years ago, the producers gave them some leeway so that they are now allowed to state what they did when it started, but anything since they finished it the first time around, is still under an NDA.

It does make me wonder, perhaps Goku has been recast, maybe getting Kelamis or Corlette to dub all of Kai, replacing Richard Cox since 2012... it does make me wonder. These are possibilities to make the show more marketable to older fans. These things do happen (see Back to the Future for a MAJOR recast of the main character despite the film being nearly 100% completed the first time). It could explain the delay. If this never got leaked, perhaps it would have been released a long time ago, or would come out many years later (seeing that the original Saban dub was done at least 1-2 years before airing, it might be why the producers didn't want this info to get out so it could be released years later without making fans wait since they would never even know). Perhaps the dub being leaked has lead them to do recasting and major retakes. This is all speculation. It simply could just be what has been assumed earlier: they could not get the airing rights.

[8000 Saiyan]

Indeed. Drummond, in his recent interview by Geekdom, stated that they have only recorded up to Cell years ago. However, it is possible, that due to the NDAs, that he is not telling us that maybe he's been called in more recently to do retakes etc. Since knowledge of Ocean Kai was leaked years ago, the producers gave them some leeway so that they are now allowed to state what they did when it started, but anything since they finished it the first time around, is still under an NDA.

It does make me wonder, perhaps Goku has been recast, maybe getting Kelamis or Corlette to dub all of Kai, replacing Richard Cox since 2012... it does make me wonder. These are possibilities to make the show more marketable to older fans. These things do happen (see Back to the Future for a MAJOR recast of the main character despite the film being nearly 100% completed the first time). It could explain the delay. If this never got leaked, perhaps it would have been released a long time ago, or would come out many years later (seeing that the original Saban dub was done at least 1-2 years before airing, it might be why the producers didn't want this info to get out so it could be released years later without making fans wait since they would never even know). Perhaps the dub being leaked has lead them to do recasting and major retakes. This is all speculation. It simply could just be what has been assumed earlier: they could not get the airing rights.

Perhaps this dub will finally air after Funi Kai's Buu Saga dub. It'll probably air in 2017.

[Dbzfan94]

I could see Tockar outclass Ayres with his British Mark Hamill Joker's voice. Same thing with Drummond, McNeil and Henderson. I just hope there aren't that many recastings.

I dont think Freeza would work with a British voice. As it stands Ayres is the perfect English Freeza at least to me.

[Kirbopher]

Hey folks, so I got some bad news.

I spoke with a couple folks who worked on the alternate Canadian dub for DBZ Kai. For their privacy, I won't be stating names. All I'll say is, it's some people who haven't been brought up in this thread at all; this was entirely new information.

The only new, and relevant, thing I found out...is that this dub isn't coming out. That may seem hard to believe, considering the money spent to produce it, but it was created for a very specific purpose and that purpose has more of less passed. It's a shame, as I know from 6 years of discussion and 180 pages of this thread ongoing, mostly because of little snippets of information that've leaked out, a lot of people wanted to see it. Unfortunately, while the whole thing is basically 'done', it looks like it's gonna stay in the vault forever. Sorry to disappoint.

[Attitudefan]

Hey folks, so I got some bad news.

I spoke with a couple folks who worked on the alternate Canadian dub for DBZ Kai. For their privacy, I won't be stating names. All I'll say is, it's some people who haven't been brought up in this thread at all; this was entirely new information.

The only new, and relevant, thing I found out...is that this dub isn't coming out. That may seem hard to believe, considering the money spent to produce it, but it was created for a very specific purpose and that purpose has more of less passed. It's a shame, as I know from 6 years of discussion and 180 pages of this thread ongoing, mostly because of little snippets of information that've leaked out, a lot of people wanted to see it. Unfortunately, while the whole thing is basically 'done', it looks like it's gonna stay in the vault forever. Sorry to disappoint.

That's a damn shame. Thanks for the news. It is appreciated.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I'm REALLY sorry to pry like this Mr Kirbopher, but what exactly was the target audience of this dub? Was it the Canadian market? Or the UK? I ask because I'm curious about what exactly was the purpose of this dub.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Hey folks, so I got some bad news.

I spoke with a couple folks who worked on the alternate Canadian dub for DBZ Kai. For their privacy, I won't be stating names. All I'll say is, it's some people who haven't been brought up in this thread at all; this was entirely new information.

The only new, and relevant, thing I found out...is that this dub isn't coming out. That may seem hard to believe, considering the money spent to produce it, but it was created for a very specific purpose and that purpose has more of less passed. It's a shame, as I know from 6 years of discussion and 180 pages of this thread ongoing, mostly because of little snippets of information that've leaked out, a lot of people wanted to see it. Unfortunately, while the whole thing is basically 'done', it looks like it's gonna stay in the vault forever. Sorry to disappoint.

Thanks for procuring the info, Kirbopher.

Man, that really does stink....all that time and (and money!) for a 98-episode dub ...that'll never be seen. A small part of me wants to hold out hope just because Kai--even the FUNimation dub of it--still hasn't shown up on Canadian TV (or even that a petition could get it rolling for some kind of release), but if this is coming from a direct source, it looks like this just wasn't meant to be. Wow...

Oh, what could have been........

*silently stares off into a sunset with this music playing in the background*

[NitroEX]

Hey folks, so I got some bad news.

I spoke with a couple folks who worked on the alternate Canadian dub for DBZ Kai. For their privacy, I won't be stating names. All I'll say is, it's some people who haven't been brought up in this thread at all; this was entirely new information.

The only new, and relevant, thing I found out...is that this dub isn't coming out. That may seem hard to believe, considering the money spent to produce it, but it was created for a very specific purpose and that purpose has more of less passed. It's a shame, as I know from 6 years of discussion and 180 pages of this thread ongoing, mostly because of little snippets of information that've leaked out, a lot of people wanted to see it. Unfortunately, while the whole thing is basically 'done', it looks like it's gonna stay in the vault forever. Sorry to disappoint.

But wait... So then what was up with Lee Tockar's recent facebook post? Was he just trolling fans?

[TheBlackPaladin]

Nah, he wasn't trolling. There were only two possible explanations as to why the powers-that-be cleared him to reveal what he did....either because the dub was imminent, or because it wasn't happening (and therefore, keeping it a secret no longer mattered).

It appears we now know which of those two it was.

*sigh*

The one, minor, slight, tiny, it-really-doesn't-matter-anymore bit of good news I can interpret form this is that now, since it's no longer necessary to keep the dub a secret, maybe voice actors who previously kept their mouths shut can now come forward and admit certain things. We can now ask Terry Klassen if he came back as Kuririn, Saffron Henderson if she came back as Gohan, etc...

Ah, man. This really does stink.

[8000 Saiyan]

What a shame this isn't going to be released. I was hoping to see some of the best Canadian voice actors redeem themselves after a rushed dub. I feel bad for them since McNeil and Tockar seemed to be proud of their work. At least Ocean is going to dub Gintama, and I hope they do their best on that dub. Thank you for this news, Kirbopher. Since this dub won't be released, the voice actors can reveal the characters they played.

Saffron Henderson if she came back as Gohan, etc...

I'm quite sure Saffron Henderson returned as Gohan, since she said on her Twitter that she was temporarily replaced but got to do lots more. I don't think she would lie about coming back since she seems like a very nice person,

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Hey folks, so I got some bad news.

I spoke with a couple folks who worked on the alternate Canadian dub for DBZ Kai. For their privacy, I won't be stating names. All I'll say is, it's some people who haven't been brought up in this thread at all; this was entirely new information.

The only new, and relevant, thing I found out...is that this dub isn't coming out. That may seem hard to believe, considering the money spent to produce it, but it was created for a very specific purpose and that purpose has more of less passed. It's a shame, as I know from 6 years of discussion and 180 pages of this thread ongoing, mostly because of little snippets of information that've leaked out, a lot of people wanted to see it. Unfortunately, while the whole thing is basically 'done', it looks like it's gonna stay in the vault forever. Sorry to disappoint.

A little part of me just literally died inside there, that is truly devastating considering the hard work the actors, musicians, writers, sound engineers likely put in to creating this dub, and all the money spent on it... for nothing, no one ever other than anyone who was involved ever even saw a snippet of the product.

Kirbographer, if you are still in touch with the producers do you know if we could even pay for digital copies of the dub? I honestly (and I know many other people in this thread) would chip in to help them recoup at least some of the money spent on this dub and be able to enjoy it regardless of edits or anything else, even if it will never fulfil its intended purpose (which I assume was to be broadcast on Canadian TV).

Thank you for the info, even if this takes time to sink in it's really better than being left in the dark wondering what is going to happen.

[Lord Beerus]

Hey folks, so I got some bad news.

I spoke with a couple folks who worked on the alternate Canadian dub for DBZ Kai. For their privacy, I won't be stating names. All I'll say is, it's some people who haven't been brought up in this thread at all; this was entirely new information.

The only new, and relevant, thing I found out...is that this dub isn't coming out. That may seem hard to believe, considering the money spent to produce it, but it was created for a very specific purpose and that purpose has more of less passed. It's a shame, as I know from 6 years of discussion and 180 pages of this thread ongoing, mostly because of little snippets of information that've leaked out, a lot of people wanted to see it. Unfortunately, while the whole thing is basically 'done', it looks like it's gonna stay in the vault forever. Sorry to disappoint.

What a pity. The dream is dead. It's shame the dub will never see the light of day. Part of me hoped that after all the years of speculation and rumour the dub would eventually get a release, but it seems it won't be happening. I was kind hoping that the long period the dub was stuck in post=development hell for, it would come out limbo and eventually get released. But unfortunately, the Ocean Dub of Kai will forever remain one of those projects that "happened", but never actually "happened".

And this thread has just lost its meaning.

[SX10]

Been keeping up-to-date with the thread but I've not had anything to add personally.

Oh god am I disappointed today very sad news. Just hard to understand after hearing Brian Drummond's recent interview where the production coordinator stated that they weren't sure where it was going yet.

The opportunity was truly missed when Toei didn't option the show for Kix. That was the moment.

But I'm interested in finding out what the 'specific reason' for producing this dub was.

[8000 Saiyan]

Been keeping up-to-date with the thread but I've not had anything to add personally.

Oh god am I disappointed today very sad news. Just hard to understand after hearing Brian Drummond's recent interview where the production coordinator stated that they weren't sure where it was going yet.

The opportunity was truly missed when Toei didn't option the show for Kix. That was the moment.

But I'm interested in finding out what the 'specific reason' for producing this dub was.

Probably because of Canadian content reasons. If this isn't airing on Canadian TV, then I would appreciate if the producers could allow the episodes to be streamed on the internet.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Been keeping up-to-date with the thread but I've not had anything to add personally.

Oh god am I disappointed today very sad news. Just hard to understand after hearing Brian Drummond's recent interview where the production coordinator stated that they weren't sure where it was going yet.

The opportunity was truly missed when Toei didn't option the show for Kix. That was the moment.

But I'm interested in finding out what the 'specific reason' for producing this dub was.

Probably because of Canadian content reasons. If this isn't airing on Canadian TV, then I would appreciate if the producers could allow the episodes to be streamed on the internet.

Most of us have assumed that Canadian content laws was a big part of it, but I can't help but feel there is more to it than that. I mean the Funimation dub of Kai hasn't aired on Canadian TV so it's not like there's any competition for the Ocean dub, at least when it comes to TV.

I agree, I'd love to see this dub be released by either streaming or digital download. Perhaps the first few episodes could be streamed for a price to gauge interest, I would certainly pay for it. If the dub is never going to air on TV the producers have nothing to lose, if anything it would be in the best interests of the producers, actors and everyone else involved for their work to be seen and to get the credit where its due for the work they put in.

[thomas1up]

Hey folks, so I got some bad news.

I spoke with a couple folks who worked on the alternate Canadian dub for DBZ Kai. For their privacy, I won't be stating names. All I'll say is, it's some people who haven't been brought up in this thread at all; this was entirely new information.

The only new, and relevant, thing I found out...is that this dub isn't coming out. That may seem hard to believe, considering the money spent to produce it, but it was created for a very specific purpose and that purpose has more of less passed. It's a shame, as I know from 6 years of discussion and 180 pages of this thread ongoing, mostly because of little snippets of information that've leaked out, a lot of people wanted to see it. Unfortunately, while the whole thing is basically 'done', it looks like it's gonna stay in the vault forever. Sorry to disappoint.

As frustratingly disappointing this is, at least we finally have closure on the subject. Guess Lee Tockar was given incorrect information https://twitter.com/leetockar/status/782425399997239296

[8000 Saiyan]

I wonder who commissioned Ocean to produce this dub. I have this feeling that it was someone at Funimation.