Dragon Ball (All Series)

[Kiddington]

Yeah, the original Dragon Ball dub was pretty good. Oddly enough, Terry Klassen is actually credited as one of the writers for a good number of those early episodes that Ocean grabbed the rights to back in '96 or something... and yet, they don't suck. It's kinda funny how terrible of a writer he was for DBZ, but for the original Dragon Ball, he didn't do a bad job at all. No "Mondo Cool's", no "Balls are Inert", none of that cutsey shit he was messing around with in DBZ. It was a pretty faithful translation all around.

[Eddy]

I haven't really watched DBZ Kai that much (I don't get Nicktoons) but I find it kind of strange they're not doing the Buu Saga. I have to admit, I enjoyed the Buu saga. I thought Majin Buu made a good villain (it was really the first time we saw a villain show a sense of remorse and second guessing some of the things he was doing) not to mention he was the only villain who actually succeeded in blowing up the Earth (unless you count Baby in GT...).

Maybe it's just nostalgia talking or I haven't heard it enough, but while I don't think Frieza's VA in Kai is bad, I can't help but miss his classic voice.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I think what most people's issue with the old dub voice is that Linda Young (which a great voice actress in other roles more suited to her) just doesn't suit Freeza's persona. While his character is childish in a sense, its more in the sense that he has an inner spoiled brat in him that's used to getting whatever he wants thanks to his physical superiority to other alien species. Linda Young certainly got that part down. That said, he is also quite intelligent on the outset, very much like a war general who is both played out as a strategist of sorts and also purposely talks in a gentleman like tone except for when he loses his temper. This is the part most people feel that Linda Young couldn't capture. In the old dub he just seemed childish and like a very generic villain all the time. To be fair his goals do make his a generic villain, but the way that he presents himself makes him feel a bit unique in and of itself. He also has a businessman sort of personality to him with how his trade his wiping entire planets extinct to sell them off to rich buyers from other alien species. Overall I just feel that Chris Ayres does a much better job of capturing his personality than Young does, but I suppose it depends more on which version of Freeza you prefer, the originally intended character or the new type of character that the dub invented. As someone who grew up with the dub myself, I still immediately came to prefer his original war-general/gentleman like personality as the type of character that he was originally intended to be.

[Kiddington]

Maybe it's just nostalgia talking or I haven't heard it enough, but while I don't think Frieza's VA in Kai is bad, I can't help but miss his classic voice.

Well, I suppose you wouldn't be the first. As for me personally, though, I can't stand his original dub voice. Linda Young is like the exact opposite of everything that Frieza is supposed to be. The voice is kinda chilling and creepy, I'll give you that... and they did fix it up pretty well on the remastered DVD sets (the orange bricks, as some so affectionately refer to them as)... but still, it just doesn't really work for me. Especially now, when comparing it side-by-side to Chris Ayres interpretation. He does a much, much better job, IMO.

[gunswordfist]

I watched an episode of the Cell saga yesterday on my newly regained Nicktoons Network. It was Picolo vs Android 17 or 18 or whatever his name. I was told to pay attention to this fight by a fan because I ignored it when I was a kid. Good to see Picolo not be completely useless.

Anyway, since they are going going to show more Cell episodes (I was somewhere on the Frieza saga on Fox) I am going to talk about Cell. I hate his first form. He's just a creepy pos. Imperfect Cell is a punkass who is the most cowardly main villain in the series. Do not care for him. I do like it when Tien of all people holds him off. Sucks that the music is changed in Kai because what's played when Tien Tribeams him like crazy is perfect. Will be watching that online. Just another case of the lesser characters not being completely useless. Then there's Perfect Cell. Definitely in a tie with Frieza for my favorite DBZ villain. He's not exactly evil because he basically wants to compete and show that he's the strongest in the universe. Cue in lots of great challenges. Cell's voice actor really helps make the character great. Best voice acting out of any of the DBZ villains imo. Can't wait to see him in Kai

[Kiddington]

Admittedly, I've been losing track of Kai. The music debacle, combined with the whole "skipping the Buu arc entirely" deal has really drained my interest in keeping up with the new episodes.

It's a shame, really. Things started out on such a promising note, too; the new soundtrack was fantastic, the re-dubbed voice acting superb, the action was much faster without some of that nasty filler dragging it down. I just... I don't know what happened. It's too bad.

I should try and get back into it at some point, though. We'll see.

[gunswordfist]

I hate the Buu saga. It's just the music that's holding it back for me

[Dr. Insomniac]

Thank God for Chris Sabat.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oh man, I remember that game. That dub is still awful. 

[Kiddington]

Steve Blum of all people is actually listed in the credits as having voiced Goku. My reaction:

[Daxdiv]

Man Blum, you have come far from the days of doing a crappy dub for a video game to being a big name in VA. Man, I still prefer Sabat over this Vegeta, but I'm still partial to his Canadian VA.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Once again, thank you FUNi.

[Kiddington]

Even Krillin doesn't believe how bad they sound. Also; "Cockarot"... lol.

[Dr. Insomniac]

But then again, there was always something off about the dub we got.

[Kiddington]

The fact that a good 95% of those lines weren't edited for the comedic purposes of this video is pretty... well... 

You can't help but wonder just what exactly they were going for, all those years ago. The overt sexual undertones of FUNi's original scripts back then were truly something else.