Funi's redub of DB Movie 1 is "OG Dragon Ball Kai"

[mecha3000]

As we all know, Dragon Ball Kai only covered the second half of the manga, which meant Funimation could only redub the Z portion of the anime with Kai. For obvious and overstated reasons, the Kai dub is mostly superior to Z. Some fans, however felt the first half of Dragon Ball (OG Dragon Ball) also deserved an English redub. At this point, however, the only way that will happen is in a Dragon Ball anime remake that covers ALL 42 volumes.

Curse of the Blood Rubies, however, came out when Funimation acquired the rights to dub Movie 1 uncut after the edited version. Coincidentally, this Movie 1 redub was recorded and released around the same time as Funimation's Dragon Ball Z Kai dub in 2010, I believe. Because of this, Colleen Clinkenbeard and Monica Rial voice Goku and Bulma respectively (I think Oolong also has his Kai voice).

All in all, Funimation's Curse of the Blood Rubies redub is the closest thing we have to an "OG series/first half of manga" Dragon Ball Kai sort of redub. Sure, the movie's non-canon and only focuses on the Pilaf Arc era, but it essentially retells the arc with new villains. The length of the movie is almost as long as an episode, so it almost can act as a Dragon Ball (Z) Kai prequel episode, despite its non-canon status. The only con is that Funimation changed a lot of the dialogue, but the general premise and plot of the movie remains the same and some things are even improved upon such as: Goku and Bulma actually learning each other's names, along with some of the dialogue/jokes landing a little better than some of the sub lines. And the original English dub of the opening and ending songs are used here. But again, they changed a lot from the original Japanese script.

Interestingly enough, when Daima comes out, I believe Colleen and Monica will return to voice Kid Goku and Kid Bulma, which will almost give us a new way to see how they would've acted in a Dragon Ball redub. But unlike DB Movie 1, it won't feel as authentic because Funi's Curse of the Blood Rubies was LITERALLY recorded when Funi was first dubbing Kai 1.0 back in 2010.

I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking this, but I still think Movie 1 has some value as a sort of OG Dragon Ball Kai. If anyone loves Funimation's dub of Dragon Ball Kai and feel its an improvement on Dragon Ball Z, I recommend checking out their Movie 1 redub to see if they prefer it to the original Dragon Ball dub.

[MasenkoHA]

The problem is unlike Kai it's a pretty straight redub of the 95 movie just uncut and with the dumb corny 90s kidvid humor removed (ex Goku asking if the Gurumes coin has chocolate inside) but otherwise the dialog is nigh identical. Not the worst thing in the world as the 95 dub script wasn't horrendously inaccurate but disappointing when Funimation was doing such great work with Kai and putting in effort to translate the scripts more closely.

To the credit of the CoBR redub they did keep the sexual humor pretty much intact. Something the tv series dub went out of its way to avoid whenever it could. So we get told Oolong got kicked out of school for stealing the teacher's panties and discussions about his panty collection and Roshi asking to see Bulma's boobies and Pafu Pafu getting adapted as Bouncy Bouncy.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I was thinking the Ultimate Uncut redub of Dragon Ball Z would be more comparable too. Sure it doesn't feature Kai-era recasts like Colleen Clinkenbeard and Monica Rial, but the scripts are basically identical to the Saban dub scripts with only erroneous errors like "Your father was an average fighter Kakarrot, but he was a brilliant scientist" removed.

Although, perhaps ironically the Kai approach of a recut with a different score and new recordings by the actors was something Funimation did for the Saban dub, long before Kai was even a thing, and the Ultimate Uncut was a restoration of the anime's original cut.

Someone needs to get Funimation's cast to dub KBABZ's Dragon Ball Kai: The First Chapters as if we had new recordings that would be the closest thing to an original Dragon Ball Kai.

[TheGreatness25]

I'm curious why Funimation didn't redub the first movie back when they redid the original series. The BLT dub of "Curse of the Blood Rubies" is even featured in Madman's "Saga of Goku" release (Funimation's in-house dub release).

Funimation didn't seem to think it was worth their while until they released that remastered movie pack (after Colleen Clickenbeard replaced Stephanie Nadolny already). I think it's just Funimation's Ultimate Uncut style redub using Clickenbeard because she was already on staff and Nadolny wasn't.

I think there's a lot more to Kai than Colleen Clickenbeard replacing Stephanie Nadolny.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I'm curious why Funimation didn't redub the first movie back when they redid the original series. The BLT dub of "Curse of the Blood Rubies" is even featured in Madman's "Saga of Goku" release (Funimation's in-house dub release).

Funimation didn't seem to think it was worth their while until they released that remastered movie pack (after Colleen Clickenbeard replaced Stephanie Nadolny already). I think it's just Funimation's Ultimate Uncut style redub using Clickenbeard because she was already on staff and Nadolny wasn't.

I think there's a lot more to Kai than Colleen Clickenbeard replacing Stephanie Nadolny.

It was apparently due to the sublicense that Kidmark/Trimark/Lionsgate held which essentially prevented FUNimation from releasing the first arc uncut and bilingual for the longest time. Maybe that also applied to CotBR as well and given that sublicense was initially made back in 1994/1995 when FUNi was still just a startup company (much like the one Pioneer held for the distribution of the edited versions of the Saiyan and Namek arcs of DBZ which expired in 2003) and for some reason that license lasted longer than anyone expected. It took until 2009 for them to get the rights to release the first 13 episodes and first movie uncut along with producing a bilingual release of the latter.

[VegettoEX]

I'm curious why Funimation didn't redub the first movie back when they redid the original series.

They didn't have the rights to re-release it yet, so there was no viable physical product for them to make out of it for sale. They re-dubbed the first 13 episodes at the time because those were going to air on TV, which seemed like a good loophole for pre-emptively making them for later home distribution.

Reminder on the timeline:

• August 2001 the re-dub of DB's first 13 and continuation begins airing on Cartoon Network
• 2003-2004 America gets the two-disc DVD sets starting from the 21st tournament material
• March 2004 we see the Australian "Saga of Goku" come out with the re-dubbed 1-13 and original 1995 CotBR, sidestepping that American sub-license
• In early 2009 I contacted Trimark about the sub-license and was told it was confidential information
• Then (hilariously!) just a couple months later we got the initial Walmart listing for what would become the blue bricks
• More stuff starts leaking in June
• They finally announce it at Anime Expo in July
• Blue bricks start in September 2009

[mecha3000]

I was thinking the Ultimate Uncut redub of Dragon Ball Z would be more comparable too. Sure it doesn't feature Kai-era recasts like Colleen Clinkenbeard and Monica Rial, but the scripts are basically identical to the Saban dub scripts with only erroneous errors like "Your father was an average fighter Kakarrot, but he was a brilliant scientist" removed.

Although, perhaps ironically the Kai approach of a recut with a different score and new recordings by the actors was something Funimation did for the Saban dub, long before Kai was even a thing, and the Ultimate Uncut was a restoration of the anime's original cut.

Someone needs to get Funimation's cast to dub KBABZ's Dragon Ball Kai: The First Chapters as if we had new recordings that would be the closest thing to an original Dragon Ball Kai.

People seem to be mistaking what I mean by "OG Dragon Ball Kai". I'm talking more about the FIRST 16 VOLUMES of Dragon Ball getting the redub treatment. Curse of the Blood Rubies is the closest thing we have to that considering it carries over the same cast from Kai at the time. Ultimate Uncut is still a "Z" redub, so it doesn't count.

And if you think about it, isn't Curse of the Blood Rubies sort of a Kai style movie anyway that abridges the series' first arc anyway? I mean, sure, it doesn't have the manga content like the Pilaf Gang, but again, I just kind of look at it as an alternate retelling sort of prequel episode to Kai as far as the dub goes.

Also, it's a shame that First Chapters project never took off. The last post on that thread (as of my post) is literally someone talking about it being essentially canceled.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I think people associate Dragon Ball Kai with "The English Dub being done right" even by people who dont like Kai or even by people who STILL think Kai tier dubbing is bad.

[jjgp1112]

I was thinking the Ultimate Uncut redub of Dragon Ball Z would be more comparable too. Sure it doesn't feature Kai-era recasts like Colleen Clinkenbeard and Monica Rial, but the scripts are basically identical to the Saban dub scripts with only erroneous errors like "Your father was an average fighter Kakarrot, but he was a brilliant scientist" removed.

Although, perhaps ironically the Kai approach of a recut with a different score and new recordings by the actors was something Funimation did for the Saban dub, long before Kai was even a thing, and the Ultimate Uncut was a restoration of the anime's original cut.

Someone needs to get Funimation's cast to dub KBABZ's Dragon Ball Kai: The First Chapters as if we had new recordings that would be the closest thing to an original Dragon Ball Kai.

People seem to be mistaking what I mean by "OG Dragon Ball Kai". I'm talking more about the FIRST 16 VOLUMES of Dragon Ball getting the redub treatment. Curse of the Blood Rubies is the closest thing we have to that considering it carries over the same cast from Kai at the time. Ultimate Uncut is still a "Z" redub, so it doesn't count.

And if you think about it, isn't Curse of the Blood Rubies sort of a Kai style movie anyway that abridges the series' first arc anyway? I mean, sure, it doesn't have the manga content like the Pilaf Gang, but again, I just kind of look at it as an alternate retelling sort of prequel episode to Kai as far as the dub goes.

Also, it's a shame that First Chapters project never took off. The last post on that thread (as of my post) is literally someone talking about it being essentially canceled.

The Ultimate Uncut comparison lies in the fact that it's just the previous script minus the kiddie edits and corny jokes, not the casting. Kai would be a more apt comparison if they sought to make a more accurate dub; outside of Chris Ayres as Frieza, Kai's casting was a matter of convenience and availability, best demonstrated by Brad Jackson and Meredith McCoy returning to the Oolong and 18 roles starting from Battle of Gods (though Colleen still voices 18 in Kai TFC)

[MasenkoHA]

.

And if you think about it, isn't Curse of the Blood Rubies sort of a Kai style movie anyway that abridges the series' first arc anyway? I mean, sure, it doesn't have the manga content like the Pilaf Gang, but again, I just kind of look at it as an alternate retelling sort of prequel episode to Kai as far as the dub goes.

I mean, not really. Kai is a recut of Z that tries to stick closer to the manga (while leaving a lot of anime original content in but oh well) Curse of the Blood Rubies is retelling of the first arc with an original anime story as the main narrative. It's a remake, not a recut. As far as the Funimation dub is concerned (which is what you seem to be focusing on) sharing a cast is the only thing it has in common with Kai's dub. Otherwise it takes the same approach Funimation did for their redub of the first thirteen episodes, the UUE redub of the Saiyan and Namek arc, and the redub of Tree of Might i.e a visually unedited redub of a previous script with less jokey jokes and a little bit spicier content at times.

Kai's dub was no stranger to re-using old dub dialog (Kami and Mr.Popo's discussion about Piccolo being word for word the same as what they said in the Z dub instead of properly explaining the whole demon clansman thing as in the Japanese version comes to mind) but there was a much greater effort in sticking closer to the Japanese script,.especially in the Namek saga, something CoBR redub just wasn't concerned with.

[OmegaRockman]

I think part of me sees where you're coming from, but I don't know if I'd call the Movie 1 dub the "OG DB Kai." More of "a vague glimpse at what a modern redub of OG DB might look like but filtered through a smudgy glass window." Like, the reused BLT script (which already borrowed a lot from the Harmony Gold script) indicates that they rushed to get it out while the cast and crew put their real focus on Kai. It's a shame too, because the performances in this dub are REALLY good. To me, Clinkenbeard and Rial are phenomenal in it (though I know a lot of people disagree with me on Clinkenbeard's Goku).

And hey, the script isn't all bad: while they reused a ton of it from the BLT days, a lot of that script actually wasn't too terribly off the mark for an old 90's dub. Yes, some exchanges are completely rewritten (one of the early conversations between Pasta and Gurumes comes to mind), and there's the odd punch-up here and there (though I do love Goku's "Shouldn't you have exploded or something?"; it's a fun, well-delivered line that still gets across Goku's surprise at the Kamehameha failing). But most of the total rewrites aren't 100% plot or character essential, and they actually did dial some of the worst lines back to something more accurate ("harder than this morning's crossword," for example). It also seems like the worst lines that remained/made the lateral move to a new but still inaccurate line all come from the BLT dub changing something that the Harmony Gold dub actually got right. Gotta love the game of telephone. But it would've been nice to see additional fixes for those lines; I assume they had translations on hand when tweaking the script based on the fixes they did make. Still, the script generally improves as the movie goes on, which is kind of an odd reversal of a lot of the old Z movies that sometimes started fairly accurate only to fall apart the further you go (like the first Cooler movie). The restored scenes for the in-house dub also seem to have been rescripted from scratch, so they more or less match the level we've come to expect from modern dubs.

Spoiler:

Too bad the most prominent of those scenes revolves around the sexual harassment of a minor, but that's a different conversation.

The one kept line that got kinda close to the old days of completely rewriting characters into something they're not would be Kame Sennin going on about how Goku has the power of light or whatever in him (another line courtesy of the BLT dub where Harmony Gold more or less got the original "believe in your friends" point correct). Even then, he still brings it back around to the original point from the Japanese version, and at least it isn't Goku saying these things about himself. Maybe I'm coping a bit since I like a lot of this dub, but I still maintain that this bit isn't quite a Hope of the Universe moment. Still bugs me though.

So while I agree that this dub's ADR script suffers from a lot of the same problems as the DBZ 1-67 and Movies 1-3 redubs, the reused script they used was kinda sorta okay-ish for a 90's dub; there are some problematic bits, but movie is still recognizable. Between the tweaks the new dub makes to the worst lines and the newly adapted uncut scenes, the Movie 1 dub ADR script ultimately the gets the job done in a way that the other English OG DB scripts tended not to outside the occasional episode. I'd call it a C+ script, maybe a B- if I'm being generous. The A+ Kai-era performances and pronouncing Kamehameha correctly bump the dub a B for me overall, but it's a frustrating B. Like, a B that could've easily been an A if they just took some more time with the script, especially when I know they could've done better because they'd been doing it for years with other shows and WERE DOING IT AT THAT MOMENT IN TIME WITH THIS VERY PROPERTY.

Like, this was their one shot to give an OG DB dub the love and attention it really deserved, an OG DB property that covered (a version of) the start of the story no less. Instead, we just got a half-measure. Even moreso than the half-measures of attack names or certain legacy castings in Kai. I mean, I can deal with all that if the underlying script is good (which for the most part is true for Kai). But a lightly edited script from the 90's? Like, I'll take the fixes where I can get them, but I was kinda hoping for better.

Is it the best English dub of OG DB? Out of the ones we can actually access, I'd probably say yes. But considering how low the bar is, that might be damning with faint praise.

Is it a dub I like? I'd also say yes. But by now you know that comes with a ton of script-related caveats. Caveats that prevent it from being a dub I adore like Kai's.

Is it the OG Dragon Ball Kai? Well, if what you mean by that is (and correct me if I'm misunderstanding here) that it can kinda serve as a pilot episode to Kai's dub by virtue of it being the OG DB dub that most closely resembles Kai's overall direction (the cast, certain pronunciations, keeping the music from the jump, etc.), then sure, if you want it to be.

I suppose if you look at it in the way that Funimation did back during the BLT days (and honestly Harmony Gold as well when they combined it with Movie 3), they also used the film as a sort of pilot to introduce the franchise stateside only for Z to become their focus soon after. So in that sense, I can sorta see the logic in it serving that purpose for Kai. _{(Yes, I know the BLT dub of the first TV arc was part of that. But I also remember seeing old press stuff where Funimation talked about using the movie as an initial entry point/test run/something like that; I think they sent the tape out to several reviewers to drum up some buzz for the series. Anywho, I'm getting off track.)}

But even if this dub were exactly what I wanted, overhauled script and all, I still don't know if this is adequate as a "Kai pilot." This movie covers so little of Goku's adventures before Raditz lands that it feels inadequate on its own. It might work better if there were, say, two other films you could watch alongside it. Maybe with modern dubs of their own with the Kai cast.

Oh, wait.

Yeah, I think DB Movie 1 dub as a "Kai pilot" would work a lot better for me if we got redubs of the other two movies in the trilogy to go with it. Sure, these movies don't cover Piccolo or the Red Ribbon Army (well, kinda with the RRA; what's the opposite of "In Name Only?"), but they at least cover Goku's friendship with Kuririn, training with Kame Sennin, Tao Pai Pai, Master Karin, and a martial arts tournament. I feel like all three films together would be a much better primer prior to diving into Kai, giving a viewer a better sense of the world, characters, and their relationships before they all...um...well, die against the Saiyans.

But sadly, despite their existing dubs being dated as hell (especially in Movie 2's case), Funi declined to redub these films. As-is, their dubs come with a laundry list of issues that make them wholly incompatible with the modern Movie 1 dub. Like, Yamcha's comment about Oozaru Goku pretty much positions the Movie 2 dub (and Movie 3's by extension) in continuity with the BLT dub of first TV arc rather than either the BLT or in-house dubs of Movie 1.

At this point, trying to fit that Movie 1 dub anywhere might be more headache than it's worth. Maybe it's best to just cut our losses and work with what we have. Kai's dub is great, and Super's is also pretty good. Daima will likely follow suit. OG DB's may suck, but at least it sucks less than Z's and GT's.

_{Speaking of GT, if you want a better dub of that and don't mind Canadian dubs, well... (As always, please support the official release)}

As for DB Movie 1's dub? It'll remain that smudgy look into a world where OG DB got the dub it deserved. A consolation prize of a consolation prize for the niche of the niche who would get really excited for that kind of thing.

[WittyUsername]

The in-house redub of DB Movie 1 seems like it was made purely because FUNimation felt they were obligated to make it. That’s why the script is largely based on the BLT dub. Why go through the trouble when you can just reuse a pre-existing script?

That’s also why FUNimation never bothered to redub Movie 2, despite how obviously dated it is. It was produced in-house and is visually uncut, so who cares? The OG Dragon Ball movies tend to be ignored by fans anyway.

[Danfun64]

The biggest problem with Funimation's redub of the first movie is that they didn't redub the second and the third, especially because of altered dialog in the second that makes it seem more like it's a sequel to the Pilaf saga than Curse of the Blood Rubies (mostly in the implication that Goku already went Oozaru). I could be misremembering things though. It's been awhile since I saw all these things.

But yeah, a redub of all three of those films with new scripts would have been great.

[mecha3000]

I think part of me sees where you're coming from, but I don't know if I'd call the Movie 1 dub the "OG DB Kai." More of "a vague glimpse at what a modern redub of OG DB might look like but filtered through a smudgy glass window." Like, the reused BLT script (which already borrowed a lot from the Harmony Gold script) indicates that they rushed to get it out while the cast and crew put their real focus on Kai. It's a shame too, because the performances in this dub are REALLY good. To me, Clinkenbeard and Rial are phenomenal in it (though I know a lot of people disagree with me on Clinkenbeard's Goku).

And hey, the script isn't all bad: while they reused a ton of it from the BLT days, a lot of that script actually wasn't too terribly off the mark for an old 90's dub. Yes, some exchanges are completely rewritten (one of the early conversations between Pasta and Gurumes comes to mind), and there's the odd punch-up here and there (though I do love Goku's "Shouldn't you have exploded or something?"; it's a fun, well-delivered line that still gets across Goku's surprise at the Kamehameha failing). But most of the total rewrites aren't 100% plot or character essential, and they actually did dial some of the worst lines back to something more accurate ("harder than this morning's crossword," for example). It also seems like the worst lines that remained/made the lateral move to a new but still inaccurate line all come from the BLT dub changing something that the Harmony Gold dub actually got right. Gotta love the game of telephone. But it would've been nice to see additional fixes for those lines; I assume they had translations on hand when tweaking the script based on the fixes they did make. Still, the script generally improves as the movie goes on, which is kind of an odd reversal of a lot of the old Z movies that sometimes started fairly accurate only to fall apart the further you go (like the first Cooler movie). The restored scenes for the in-house dub also seem to have been rescripted from scratch, so they more or less match the level we've come to expect from modern dubs.

Spoiler:

Too bad the most prominent of those scenes revolves around the sexual harassment of a minor, but that's a different conversation.

The one kept line that got kinda close to the old days of completely rewriting characters into something they're not would be Kame Sennin going on about how Goku has the power of light or whatever in him (another line courtesy of the BLT dub where Harmony Gold more or less got the original "believe in your friends" point correct). Even then, he still brings it back around to the original point from the Japanese version, and at least it isn't Goku saying these things about himself. Maybe I'm coping a bit since I like a lot of this dub, but I still maintain that this bit isn't quite a Hope of the Universe moment. Still bugs me though.

So while I agree that this dub's ADR script suffers from a lot of the same problems as the DBZ 1-67 and Movies 1-3 redubs, the reused script they used was kinda sorta okay-ish for a 90's dub; there are some problematic bits, but movie is still recognizable. Between the tweaks the new dub makes to the worst lines and the newly adapted uncut scenes, the Movie 1 dub ADR script ultimately the gets the job done in a way that the other English OG DB scripts tended not to outside the occasional episode. I'd call it a C+ script, maybe a B- if I'm being generous. The A+ Kai-era performances and pronouncing Kamehameha correctly bump the dub a B for me overall, but it's a frustrating B. Like, a B that could've easily been an A if they just took some more time with the script, especially when I know they could've done better because they'd been doing it for years with other shows and WERE DOING IT AT THAT MOMENT IN TIME WITH THIS VERY PROPERTY.

Like, this was their one shot to give an OG DB dub the love and attention it really deserved, an OG DB property that covered (a version of) the start of the story no less. Instead, we just got a half-measure. Even moreso than the half-measures of attack names or certain legacy castings in Kai. I mean, I can deal with all that if the underlying script is good (which for the most part is true for Kai). But a lightly edited script from the 90's? Like, I'll take the fixes where I can get them, but I was kinda hoping for better.

Is it the best English dub of OG DB? Out of the ones we can actually access, I'd probably say yes. But considering how low the bar is, that might be damning with faint praise.

Is it a dub I like? I'd also say yes. But by now you know that comes with a ton of script-related caveats. Caveats that prevent it from being a dub I adore like Kai's.

Is it the OG Dragon Ball Kai? Well, if what you mean by that is (and correct me if I'm misunderstanding here) that it can kinda serve as a pilot episode to Kai's dub by virtue of it being the OG DB dub that most closely resembles Kai's overall direction (the cast, certain pronunciations, keeping the music from the jump, etc.), then sure, if you want it to be.

I suppose if you look at it in the way that Funimation did back during the BLT days (and honestly Harmony Gold as well when they combined it with Movie 3), they also used the film as a sort of pilot to introduce the franchise stateside only for Z to become their focus soon after. So in that sense, I can sorta see the logic in it serving that purpose for Kai. _{(Yes, I know the BLT dub of the first TV arc was part of that. But I also remember seeing old press stuff where Funimation talked about using the movie as an initial entry point/test run/something like that; I think they sent the tape out to several reviewers to drum up some buzz for the series. Anywho, I'm getting off track.)}

But even if this dub were exactly what I wanted, overhauled script and all, I still don't know if this is adequate as a "Kai pilot." This movie covers so little of Goku's adventures before Raditz lands that it feels inadequate on its own. It might work better if there were, say, two other films you could watch alongside it. Maybe with modern dubs of their own with the Kai cast.

Oh, wait.

Yeah, I think DB Movie 1 dub as a "Kai pilot" would work a lot better for me if we got redubs of the other two movies in the trilogy to go with it. Sure, these movies don't cover Piccolo or the Red Ribbon Army (well, kinda with the RRA; what's the opposite of "In Name Only?"), but they at least cover Goku's friendship with Kuririn, training with Kame Sennin, Tao Pai Pai, Master Karin, and a martial arts tournament. I feel like all three films together would be a much better primer prior to diving into Kai, giving a viewer a better sense of the world, characters, and their relationships before they all...um...well, die against the Saiyans.

But sadly, despite their existing dubs being dated as hell (especially in Movie 2's case), Funi declined to redub these films. As-is, their dubs come with a laundry list of issues that make them wholly incompatible with the modern Movie 1 dub. Like, Yamcha's comment about Oozaru Goku pretty much positions the Movie 2 dub (and Movie 3's by extension) in continuity with the BLT dub of first TV arc rather than either the BLT or in-house dubs of Movie 1.

At this point, trying to fit that Movie 1 dub anywhere might be more headache than it's worth. Maybe it's best to just cut our losses and work with what we have. Kai's dub is great, and Super's is also pretty good. Daima will likely follow suit. OG DB's may suck, but at least it sucks less than Z's and GT's.

_{Speaking of GT, if you want a better dub of that and don't mind Canadian dubs, well... (As always, please support the official release)}

As for DB Movie 1's dub? It'll remain that smudgy look into a world where OG DB got the dub it deserved. A consolation prize of a consolation prize for the niche of the niche who would get really excited for that kind of thing.

A lot of good points you made. You're right, it's not exactly Kai in terms of the script accuracy. I meant moreso by carrying over the Kai cast to Curse of the Blood Rubies and giving us a taste of a more experienced cast and how Colleen and Monica would've portrayed Goku and Bulma in the original 153 episodes of Dragon Ball.

[TechExpert2021]

Someone needs to get Funimation's cast to dub KBABZ's Dragon Ball Kai: The First Chapters as if we had new recordings that would be the closest thing to an original Dragon Ball Kai.

I don't think it will be possible, because large corporations aren't interested in fan-made projects featuring their intellectual properties. Unless they view them as infringing on copyright grounds, fan-made projects of their IPs are mostly ignored by large corporations.

I would recall that Funimation hired the TeamFourStar voice cast of DBZ Abridged to voice the characters in the Cell Games Reenactment in episode 106 of the international version of the Majin Buu arc of Dragon Ball Kai (named DBZ Kai: The Final Chapters). Home video releases and reruns of the episode completely replaced the TeamFourStar voices of those characters with those from FUNimation's original DBZ dub. That episode, titled "Who Is the World's Greatest? The Tournament Preliminaries Begin!", is a dub-exclusive episode; the Cell Games Reenactment never appeared in the original Japanese version of Dragon Ball Kai.