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

[TheBlackPaladin]

Since it's unlikely that the producers are going to reveal that the dub has been canceled officially, should we cancel this thread?

That's up to the mods. As such, I have no real say in this, but just for the sake of giving my opinion...I say we keep it open and just make sure to not post anything unless there's a real news update. I'm 99.99% sure we won't see this dub, but even after all this, I still hold out a 0.01% hope that maybe, someday, we might. Kai still hasn't aired on Canadian TV, and it took...how many years for the FUNimation dub of The Final Chapters to come out?

I'm acting under the assumption that we'll never see this dub, but if there's one thing I've learned about the Dragon Ball franchise over the years, it's that it will never be short on shocking and weird announcements.

If this dub isn't airing on Canadian TV, then the producers should just stream the damn dub on the internet. Do they really think people on the internet aren't interested in this dub? They have nothing to lose if they stream it.

I agree, but the producers of this dub can't just unilaterally decide that. Streaming rights are indeed an actual, legal thing that has to be negotiated with the original animation company (Toei, in this case) and paid for by the producers of the dub. I don't have a completely clear understanding if FUNimation's streaming rights extend to Canada, but I know they at least have them in the U.S., and Canadian Kanzenshuuers have said that they were able to watch the show on the Nicktoons website when Nicktoons was still streaming it.

Which, again, leaves me completely baffled as to why the dub producers went ahead with paying for a giant, 98-episode dub before a Canadian TV network expressed interest in airing this TV-only dub. That, to me, is one of the most bizarrely short-sighted financial decisions in show biz that I've ever heard of.

[8000 Saiyan]

That's up to the mods. As such, I have no real say in this, but just for the sake of giving my opinion...I say we keep it open and just make sure to not post anything unless there's a real news update. I'm 99.99% sure we won't see this dub, but even after all this, I still hold out a 0.01% hope that maybe, someday, we might. Kai still hasn't aired on Canadian TV, and it took...how many years for the FUNimation dub of The Final Chapters to come out?

I'm acting under the assumption that we'll never see this dub, but if there's one thing I've learned about the Dragon Ball franchise over the years, it's that it will never be short on shocking and weird announcements.

If this dub isn't airing on Canadian TV, then the producers should just stream the damn dub on the internet. Do they really think people on the internet aren't interested in this dub? They have nothing to lose if they stream it.

I agree, but the producers of this dub can't just unilaterally decide that. Streaming rights are indeed an actual, legal thing that has to be negotiated with the original animation company (Toei, in this case) and paid for by the producers of the dub. I don't have a completely clear understanding if FUNimation's streaming rights extend to Canada, but I know they at least have them in the U.S., and Canadian Kanzenshuuers have said that they were able to watch the show on the Nicktoons website when Nicktoons was still streaming it.

Which, again, leaves me completely baffled as to why the dub producers went ahead with paying for a giant, 98-episode dub before TV rights were secured for this TV-only dub. That, to me, is one of the most bizarrely short-sighted financial decisions in show biz that I've ever heard of.

~

They probably thought that it would simply air because Dragon Ball is popular. If this dub won't ever truly air, then I want a list of the cast who worked on it.

[TheBlackPaladin]

They probably thought that it would simply air because Dragon Ball is popular. Releasing Dragon Ball Kai's Ocean dub in Canada would be the perfect way to bring anime back to Canadian TV.

Agreed again. I've long been of the belief that they acted under the, "It's Dragon Ball, of course someone's gonna be interested!"-mentality. The fact that no one was should be a powerful reminder that the anime industry is just not what it once was...and a painful financial loss for whoever paid for the directors, engineers, writers, and actors for this 98-episode dub.

[NitroEX]

If this dub isn't airing on Canadian TV, then the producers should just stream the damn dub on the internet. Do they really think people on the internet aren't interested in this dub? They have nothing to lose if they stream it.

Not up to them. Funimation most likely hold all the cards when it comes to home releases and streaming rights across the US and Canada and there's no way they're streaming another dub over their own.

I say we keep it open and just make sure to not post anything unless there's a real news update.

This. It gets a bit annoying to constantly see this thread bumped back up for no real reason. If someone finds any bits of new info such as cast members, a potential Canadian TV air date or new rumours regarding the production (preferably with some evidence) then we'd all appreciate it but if it's not that then you're kind of getting people's hopes up for nothing.

[Robo4900]

I think we will see it eventually. Because of the way Canadian broadcast regs favour Canadian content, if Kai airs in Canada, I'm almost certain they'll use the Ocean dub.

[eledoremassis02]

Even though the Rock the Dragon set came out 3 years later, I wonder if it was testing the waters here to see how well Ocean would still do? That set still feels very random.

[NitroEX]

I think we will see it eventually. Because of the way Canadian broadcast regs favour Canadian content, if Kai airs in Canada, I'm almost certain they'll use the Ocean dub.

Hopefully, unless they've given up pitching it to the networks and written it off as a tax loss which would (as far as I understand) scrap the broadcast rights altogether. It's been revealed that CN has done this sort of thing to shows they deem as failures in the past such as IGPX, Megas XLR and Sym-Bionic Titan (although IGPX was an exception as it was later revived for Toonami). Since this dub's only source of revenue was going to be a television broadcast with no hope of a DVD/Blu Ray or streamed release I would imagine there's a very real possibility they've given up on it completely by this point.

even tho the rock the dragon set came out 3 years later I wonder if it was testing the waters here to see how well ocean would still do? That set still feels very random

I wouldn't look too far into that. The Saban/Funi dub was the only Ocean dubbed material that Funimation actually owned. They likely just made that set to get one last use out of the footage and make a quick buck while DVD was still viable. I'd imagine that Pioneer probably took a substantial amount of the profits from the original Ocean dubbed releases so Funimation likely wanted to squeeze what was left now that all the rights reverted back to them. If they actually cared about that dub I don't think they'd have put such little effort into the RTD set, I mean it wouldn't have been hard to give us some retrospective interviews from the Canadian actors or something. Instead all we got was a poorly printed booklet and no extras.

Based on how it's now sold out everywhere I don't think it sold poorly either, they probably could've tried to acquire the Westwood dubbed episodes for a future release if they wanted but the difference is they'd have to pay someone else for the rights to that footage since it wasn't theirs to begin with.

Don't forget, this year was the anniversary of the Ocean dub and there wasn't a single acknowledgement made by Funimation, not even tweet. That says it all really.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Since it's unlikely that the producers are going to reveal that the dub has been canceled officially, should we cancel this thread?

That's up to the mods. As such, I have no real say in this, but just for the sake of giving my opinion...I say we keep it open and just make sure to not post anything unless there's a real news update. I'm 99.99% sure we won't see this dub, but even after all this, I still hold out a 0.01% hope that maybe, someday, we might. Kai still hasn't aired on Canadian TV, and it took...how many years for the FUNimation dub of The Final Chapters to come out?

I'm acting under the assumption that we'll never see this dub, but if there's one thing I've learned about the Dragon Ball franchise over the years, it's that it will never be short on shocking and weird announcements.

While The Final Chapters dub was certainly long overdue I can't help but feel that unlike Ocean Kai it was inevitable because the Funimation version had a TV deal and it just took Toonami forever to get there because they ran all of Kai at the pace of one episode a week. But I agree while I've personally lost a lot of hope this dub will be released Dragon Ball just seems to be one of those franchises where the phrase "never say never" is often true.

That said I'm still curious about Lee Tockar's revelation he was cleared to say he's playing Freeza and hope we will hear more soon about what the story was on that. I know that as a voice actor he's not privy to distribution info but if by some miracle this dub is still happening it would be nice to hear about its official status from other sources as a follow-up (although since this dub was never officially announced I'd imagine in the 0.01% chance it is still going ahead all we will hear is confirmation a Canadian network licensed Kai and the airdate, possibly not even specifying the dub that will be used).

even tho the rock the dragon set came out 3 years later I wonder if it was testing the waters here to see how well ocean would still do? That set still feels very random

It may have been an attempt by Funimation to test the waters in terms of whether or not there was still interest in the dubs they produced with the Ocean cast (It is for this reason I don't doubt the likelihood for a re-release of the Pioneer trilogy, perhaps on Blu-Ray?). They haven't shown any interest in the Ocean cast dubs they didn't create (the Westwood dub is another example) however so unless they had any involvement in the production of the Ocean Kai dub other than using their edited footage (which isn't likely) I wouldn't count on them doing anything to get it out. The way I could see this dub getting a Rock the Dragon-style limited edition release would be if Funimation released a collector's Kai edition with the two TV Kai dubs (Funimation and Ocean respectively), I would absolutely buy a release like that just to see this dub (and introduce my future kids to the Funi Kai dub if the wife thought there was too much profanity) but it probably wouldn't recoup the costs of production since dub-only home releases don't sell well, much less censored versions when the standard release contains the uncut equivalent.

[8000 Saiyan]

That said I'm still curious about Lee Tockar's revelation he was cleared to say he's playing Freeza and hope we will hear more soon about what the story was on that. I know that as a voice actor he's not privy to distribution info but if by some miracle this dub is still happening it would be nice to hear about its official status from other sources as a follow-up (although since this dub was never officially announced I'd imagine in the 0.01% chance it is still going ahead all we will hear is confirmation a Canadian network licensed Kai and the airdate, possibly not even specifying the dub that will be used).

It's possible that the producers knew that people were aware of this dub's existence, so they told Tockar it was okay to confirm his role as Frieza.

[MondoCool]

I swear I don't like to self-promote, but I just felt like this was perfect lol
https://youtu.be/YGtpKE4TX_A

But in all seriousness, I grew up on the Ocean dub and definitely don't hate it. I remember being royally confused when Krillin's voice drastically changed (or at least I felt it was drastic at age 10ish)

Even though I don't see the dub itself happening as at this point we will have three English versions of the show, what would be really interesting to be is if Ocean and Faulconer Productions teamed up.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I dont get it you just said no version was coming out, why in the world would they cooperate with Faulconer and why is it interesting if this dub is never coming out?

[8000 Saiyan]

I think I've lost all hope on the chances of this dub ever airing. What a shame. I so wanted Ocean to prove to some of the DB fanbase that they're truly talented, but it doesn't seem it'll ever happen.

[90sDBZ]

I think I've lost all hope on the chances of this dub ever airing. What a shame. I so wanted Ocean to prove to some of the DB fanbase that they're truly talented, but it doesn't seem it'll ever happen.

I think they already proved that they were talented back in the early Saban/Pioneer dub days. It's the Westwood dub that damaged their reputation among the fanbase. Had Ocean Kai aired and turned out to be good it could have been seen as something of a redemption for them, even though the way the Westwood dub turned out wasn't entirely the fault of the actors.

[8000 Saiyan]

I think I've lost all hope on the chances of this dub ever airing. What a shame. I so wanted Ocean to prove to some of the DB fanbase that they're truly talented, but it doesn't seem it'll ever happen.

I think they already proved that they were talented back in the early Saban/Pioneer dub days. It's the Westwood dub that damaged their reputation among the fanbase. Had Ocean Kai aired and turned out to be good it could have been seen as something of a redemption for them, even though the way the Westwood dub turned out wasn't entirely the fault of the actors.

Even back in the Saban days, they had a mixed reputation among the fanbase, but at least they have other cartoons and anime dubs where their talents shine. But let's face it: I don't think there's something universally loved.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I mean there is always the chance one day someone will air it, they might not have a show to air and one day one exuc might be like "I may have something, there was a show that was recorded but never aired it is ready to go", "Brilliant lets air that then. "Okay I will make some phone calls". As-long as the dub isn't destroyed there is always the chance.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I think I've lost all hope on the chances of this dub ever airing. What a shame. I so wanted Ocean to prove to some of the DB fanbase that they're truly talented, but it doesn't seem it'll ever happen.

I think they already proved that they were talented back in the early Saban/Pioneer dub days. It's the Westwood dub that damaged their reputation among the fanbase. Had Ocean Kai aired and turned out to be good it could have been seen as something of a redemption for them, even though the way the Westwood dub turned out wasn't entirely the fault of the actors.

Even back in the Saban days, they had a mixed reputation among the fanbase, but at least they have other cartoons and anime dubs where their talents shine. But let's face it: I don't think there's something universally loved.

I think the main problem people have with the Ocean cast in the Saban dub of seasons 1 and 2 is the scripts they were given. The actual performances were phenomenal.

It's like the Star Wars prequels, you had great actors like Ewan McGregor and Jimmy Smits but the flaws with those movies are the scripts and direction, not the actors themselves.

But I agree, while I am holding out 0.01% faith that we will eventually (and finally) see this dub I do wish it could have happened already. The Pioneer trilogy was the Ocean cast's best work, and I would love to see another product like that where they give it their all and have good scripts to work with.

[8000 Saiyan]

I think they already proved that they were talented back in the early Saban/Pioneer dub days. It's the Westwood dub that damaged their reputation among the fanbase. Had Ocean Kai aired and turned out to be good it could have been seen as something of a redemption for them, even though the way the Westwood dub turned out wasn't entirely the fault of the actors.

Even back in the Saban days, they had a mixed reputation among the fanbase, but at least they have other cartoons and anime dubs where their talents shine. But let's face it: I don't think there's something universally loved.

I think the main problem people have with the Ocean cast in the Saban dub of seasons 1 and 2 is the scripts they were given. The actual performances were phenomenal.

It's like the Star Wars prequels, you had great actors like Ewan McGregor and Jimmy Smits but the flaws with those movies are the scripts and direction, not the actors themselves.

But I agree, while I am holding out 0.01% faith that we will eventually (and finally) see this dub I do wish it could have happened already. The Pioneer trilogy was the Ocean cast's best work, and I would love to see another product like that where they give it their all and have good scripts to work with.

Well, there were some bad performances like Matt Smith's Tien and some miscastings like Pauline Newstone's Frieza, but in the end, yeah, the other actors did great.

[Arian]

You know, guys. I'm seriously considering opening a Kickstarter for Ocean Kai and give the money to Teletoon for simply airing it.

[8000 Saiyan]

You know, guys. I'm seriously considering opening a Kickstarter for Ocean Kai and give the money to Teletoon for simply airing it.

You think that'd work?

[Arian]

It's worth a shot. I mean other Kickstarters achieved their goals for much dumber things. *cough*Veronica Mars movie*cough*

Plus fundraisers show better than petitions how badly the public wants something to happen.