Did Funimation ever say why they didn't replace DB's OST?

[Theophrastus]

I hadn't really thought about this previously (and maybe I've mixed up the timeline a bit), but their in-house Dragon Ball dub came out before the GT dub, right? It's not as if Funimation had moved completely beyond the practice of replacing soundtracks by that point, then, since they did it for GT.

Why, then, was the original DB anime the odd one out? Different producer(s) working on the dub? Did it look sufficiently old that they didn't see a point in trying to modernize the soundtrack? Was there too much comedy and lightheartedness for them to believably try to make it seem more "hardcore" like they did with Z? Did they just not care enough about the series to spend the time and money to get someone to re-score a whole 153 episodes?

I'm glad they left the soundtrack alone for Dragon Ball, but I'm really curious if any sort of official statement was ever given in an interview or something as to why that was the case.

[Valerius Dover]

Hmm, I don't know either, but I can say that Dragon Ball was dubbed at around the same time as the Buu Arc of Dragon Ball Z, so they were definitely still actively replacing music for its sequel.

[TheBlackPaladin]

No official statement, I'm afraid.

Among the rumors...

-They used their Dragon Ball dub as a guinea pig of sorts to see what the original music would do to affect the show's popularity, if anything, and they decided to replace GT's OST because DBZ did better than Dragon Ball did, and DBZ had a replaced score.
-They were kind of scared/hesitant to do GT. Not scared and hesitant enough not to do it, but they were aware that it was the least popular series in Japan. Their marketing reflected this. They tried to lure those who were familiar with it back to the show in the hopes that they would like the "re-versioned" version more (and this backfired tremendously).

[Kakacarrottop]

It's worth noting that FUNi's original Ocean voiced dub of Dragon Ball used a replacement score (by Ocean's in-house musician Peter Berring). This production flopped and was cancelled, with FUNi and Ocean moving onto DBZ. If they did continue with this dub then i'm pretty sure we would have ended up with a replacement score for the entirety of Dragon Ball.

When the decision was made to re-do Dragon Ball with the in-house cast, FUNimation probably weren't able to rehire Berring, and couldn't use Faulconer (or Levy) since the music didn't fit the show's tone.

[TheBlackPaladin]

When the decision was made to re-do Dragon Ball with the in-house cast, FUNimation...couldn't use Faulconer (or Levy) since the music didn't fit the show's tone.

Well, I would argue that Faulconer's music didn't fit the tone of DBZ, either. Nor did Mark Menza's score for GT. So, while no explanation was given, I don't think concerns over "fitting the tone" were present at all.

[Sayo-chan]

When the decision was made to re-do Dragon Ball with the in-house cast, FUNimation...couldn't use Faulconer (or Levy) since the music didn't fit the show's tone.

Well, I would argue that Faulconer's music didn't fit the tone of DBZ, either. Nor did Mark Menza's score for GT. So, while no explanation was given, I don't think concerns over "fitting the tone" were present at all.

Faulconer's music, or the placement of his music? I would argue Kikuchi's music is as dull as dishwater. I don't think age is an excuse either, seeing that Osamu Shoji created an amazing soundtrack for Space Cobra in 1982 that still holds up today. Even in the 90s it sounded like lifeless stock music. Just compare it to Yusuke Honma's work with Yu Yu Hakusho around the same time.

[TripleRach]

When FUNimation announced they were going to do the first series again, they treated it like a niche product for hardcore fans. I don't know if there are any official quotes about it anywhere, but that was the definite consensus in 2001. The reasons why they'd try it this way seemed pretty clear. DBZ was marketed like "punch kick explode fuck yeah," and they eventually cut around GT to do the same thing. Obviously that doesn't work for much of DB, and the show had already failed them once before.

On top of using the original music, there were also polls to vote for some of the voice actors (particularly Gokuu and Shuu). They initially made a point of using more accurate scripts, although that only applied to episodes 14-28 in practice; 1-13 reused a lot from the 1995 scripts, and later episodes were on par with DBZ's Boo arc at best.* The "Tournament Saga" VHS releases (which started coming out before it premiered on TV) were uncut only, as opposed to DBZ's dual uncut and edited releases.

Again, I don't remember if there were actually any official statements about it, but at the time it felt like an unquestionable fact that they were applying a new philosophy to Dragon Ball. At the very least the voice polls were evidence of wanting internet fans' attention.


*I never thought about this at the time, since the DVDs weren't released until 2003. But 14-28 were also the only episodes subbed by Steve Simmons. Maybe that's not a coincidence.

[ShadowBardock89]

When the decision was made to re-do Dragon Ball with the in-house cast, FUNimation...couldn't use Faulconer (or Levy) since the music didn't fit the show's tone.

Well, I would argue that Faulconer's music didn't fit the tone of DBZ, either. Nor did Mark Menza's score for GT. So, while no explanation was given, I don't think concerns over "fitting the tone" were present at all.

Faulconer's music, or the placement of his music? I would argue Kikuchi's music is as dull as dishwater. I don't think age is an excuse either, seeing that Osamu Shoji created an amazing soundtrack for Space Cobra in 1982 that still holds up today. Even in the 90s it sounded like lifeless stock music. Just compare it to Yusuke Honma's work with Yu Yu Hakusho around the same time.

Shots fired! lol.

But, seriously, I don't think Kikuchi's music aged that particularly well either (much like the soundtrack for the first Terminator movie). That 80s keyboard/drum sound is particularly jarring. There is also this one one instrument that is used constantly that I'm forgetting the name of it at the moment, which is sad because we had learned to use it my elementary school music class. Its that thing that sounds like a rattlesnake rattling when vibrates.

[Sayo-chan]

Shots fired! lol.

But, seriously, I don't think Kikuchi's music aged that particularly well either (much like the soundtrack for the first Terminator movie). That 80s keyboard/drum sound is particularly jarring. There is also this one one instrument that is used constantly that I'm forgetting the name of it at the moment, which is sad because we had learned to use it my elementary school music class. Its that thing that sounds like a rattlesnake rattling when vibrates.

Maracas? I don't remember the soundtrack from any of the Terminator movies. The main thing that comes to mind from the first is this creepy scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoRY8lKTv3o

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

I'm guessing that they didn't care to. The show wasn't Z or GT so they knew it wouldn't make as much. I remember reading an interview for Nathan Johnson that Kanzenshuu linked to a few months back that FUNimation and Faulconer apparently had a kerfuffle and that's (probably) why they bought in Johnson to score seasons one and two of Z. They didn't seem to like Faulconer for whatever reason, and it's probably why they've basically thrown away his score for Z now. But why they didn't use Mark Menza? Who knows. Believe it or not, I'm actually okay with Kikuchi's score in Dragon Ball. It may be old but it does fit in fairly well.

We just have to remember that this is not the cash cow of the series, and that back in 1996 or so some company dubbed it and had a replacement score but the series flopped anyway.

EDIT:

But, seriously, I don't think Kikuchi's music aged that particularly well either (much like the soundtrack for the first Terminator movie). That 80s keyboard/drum sound is particularly jarring. There is also this one one instrument that is used constantly that I'm forgetting the name of it at the moment, which is sad because we had learned to use it my elementary school music class. Its that thing that sounds like a rattlesnake rattling when vibrates.

I think age is an excuse. Kikuchi's music fits in well with Dragon Ball, but I had a feeling in the back of my mind that "this sounds like shit," and it's due to the age. Some people can make music that is timeless and some can't--I'm guessing Kikuchi can't/didn't with this. It's still nice, but it just sounds dated. If they had used a similar/re-orchestrated score it might've fixed the issue, but oh well. At least it's not as horrific as Kikuchi's music is for Z.

[DoomieDoomie911]

As others have said, I don't think it was a popular enough product to create a new score for.

I'm really glad they didn't, though.

[Gaffer Tape]

We just have to remember that this is not the cash cow of the series, and that back in 1996 or so some company dubbed it and had a replacement score but the series flopped anyway.

FUNimation. The company you're thinking of is FUNimation. Also, to be pedantic... '95.

This is another one of those chicken and egg type scenarios. I'm tempted to say that, like a lot of dub fans feel, FUNimation might have thought the original score fit DB more than it did DBZ. But since I'm also of the mind that no one would have minded DBZ's original score had it just been there in the first place, and that it's only that confirmation bias causing people to believe that... I just don't know. It certainly did seem like they were trying to be more faithful, more receptive to fans at the time, what with the voice polling and DBZ getting slightly better at the time. But then you get to GT, and they're still doing the same crap. I think that's a bit more understandable. They definitely saw GT as the next Z and wanted to treat it just as horrifically. They're confusing sometimes. Just when you think they've learned their lesson about replacement scores with the original series, along comes GT. Just when you think they've learned from the mistakes of the orange bricks, they bring out the Blu-rays. They're wacky, those FUNimation guys. But they're also laughing all the way to the bank, so what do I know?

[theoriginalbilis]

If my memory serves, they were just starting to promote other anime as uncut/bilingual around the same time they were re-dubbing Dragon Ball... their first two non-DragonBall shows: Blue Gender and Yu Yu Hakusho. From what I remember, FUNimation reached out to hardcore fandom quite a bit with those two titles as well. I remember a few Q&As, press releases, and interviews with folks involved with the BG/YYH dubbing before they came out.

I feel that those two titles along with original DB were just a test to see if the "regular" anime market was something viable for them to tap into.

[kenisu3000]

There is also this one one instrument that is used constantly that I'm forgetting the name of it at the moment, which is sad because we had learned to use it my elementary school music class. Its that thing that sounds like a rattlesnake rattling when vibrates.

OK, first off, you're thinking of a vibraslap. Secondly, man, do you naysayers just show up in droves or something?

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

If my memory serves, they were just starting to promote other anime as uncut/bilingual around the same time they were re-dubbing Dragon Ball...

Man, I remember when all the talk in the anime kingdom was about how 4Kids was ruining anime and everyone was editing it. Now here we are and I can't believe it was ever an issue in the first place. It's amazing how time changes.

[Kakacarrottop]

For anyone who's interested, i was looking at Peter Berring's website, and i stumbled upon this in his biography:

"After that, there was the North American introduction of Dragon Ball. Sadly, this series continued without the updated score when the corporate owners insisted on the use of their original, Japanese, copyright-protected music."

[Theophrastus]

For anyone who's interested, i was looking at Peter Berring's website, and i stumbled upon this in his biography:

"After that, there was the North American introduction of Dragon Ball. Sadly, this series continued without the updated score when the corporate owners insisted on the use of their original, Japanese, copyright-protected music."

Huh. That's quite interesting...although one then has to wonder why Toei/the production committee would put their foot down when it came to only using the original soundtrack for the DB re-dub, but not do the same for the latter episodes of Z or GT.

[Valerius Dover]

When he refers to the corporate owners, is he referring to Funimation or Toei?

[ShadowBardock89]

Shots fired! lol.

But, seriously, I don't think Kikuchi's music aged that particularly well either (much like the soundtrack for the first Terminator movie). That 80s keyboard/drum sound is particularly jarring. There is also this one one instrument that is used constantly that I'm forgetting the name of it at the moment, which is sad because we had learned to use it my elementary school music class. Its that thing that sounds like a rattlesnake rattling when vibrates.

I don't remember the soundtrack from any of the Terminator movies. The main thing that comes to mind from the first is this creepy scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoRY8lKTv3o

Just listen to the main theme compared with the sequel:
Terminator:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68I3j2luW64

Terminator 2: Judgement Day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUup5OzH4XA

And that's just the theme. The rest of the first Terminator's soundtrack is VERY dated.

[ABED]

Terminator sounds dated because in spite of having Arnold Schwarzenegger, it's a very low budget film, even for the time. Had Cameron had more money, I'm sure they would've gotten a proper orchestra. Terminator 2 had a nearly 100 million dollar budget and this is back in the early 90s. As for DB, the score isn't dated, it's timeless. It fits DB like a glove. It's not a contemporary show, it has an eclectic mix of past, present, and future elements. There are flying cars, but there are dinosaurs.

The main thing that comes to mind from the first is this creepy scene:

How is that crappy? Yes, it's low budget, but does that alone make it terrible?