Saffron Henderson Returning to Voice Gohan

We take credit for this one… at least initially. Back before FUNimation’s Dragon Ball Z “season three” broadcast began on Toonami in 1999, we decided a fantastic prank to pull would be with friend-of-the-website Matt, who at the time was capable of doing some pretty convincing Saffron Henderson impressions. We recorded some low-quality files using dialog similar to the original Japanese script for episodes during the Super Saiyan Goku era, claimed they were clips of Gohan from pre-production tapes, and a rumor was born.

Chris Psaros (owner of the then-contemporary website Dragon Ball Z: Uncensored) was the first person to figure out the shenanigans (in a post on alt.fan.dragonball), noticing some discrepancies between what was being said in the dialogue and where we claimed them to be in the show.

Of course, after the season premiered, it was pretty obvious that it was not Saffron Henderson playing Gohan; instead, it was Stephanie Nadolny, who played the character for some time until her eventual recast for Colleen Clinkenbeard during the Kai era. For its time though, this rumor was substantial. Whether the “joke” was funny or not is your own decision, of course.

Normally the story would be over then and there, but when an alternate English dub of the Dragon Ball Z television series debuted in the UK (and occasionally aired in Canada, as well) circa 2001 featuring many of the original Ocean Studios voice actors… well, Saffron Henderson did come back to play Gohan!