Funimation dub
From Dragon Ball Encyclopedia
The Funimation dub is the second English dub voice track dubbed for Dragon Ball Z.
Funimation has also dubbed Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Z Kai into English.
History
Originally, FUNimation and Saban Entertainment contracted Ocean Productions to dub the first 53 episodes (67 in uncut episode numbering) of the Dragon Ball Z series for television broadcast in U.S. syndication from 1996 to 1998. However, when FUNimation stopped working with Saban, the former could no longer afford the services of the cast at Ocean Productions nor could they afford the original musical score produced by Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahehi. Therefore, from episode 54/68 onward, FUNimation began using their own in-house talent based in Ft. Worth, Texas to dub the rest of the series. Episode 54-276 (68-291 uncut) were dubbed by FUNimation and broadcasted with that dub in the U.S. on the Cartoon Network from 1999 to 2003.
Pioneer Entertainment had the initial rights to distribute the first 53/67 episodes to VHS and DVD and released them with the Ocean Productions dub. FUNimation later relased DVDs from Episode 54/68 onwards, which contained their in-house dub. When FUNimation acquired the rights for the first 53/67 episodes from Pioneer in 2004, they created the Ultimate Uncut Special Edition line to release its own version of these episodes to DVD. FUNimation then re-dubbed the first 53/67 episodes with its in-house talent for consistency with the rest of its dub and restored the removed content.
The first three movies had also been dubbed by Ocean Productions and released to DVD by Pioneer. The rest of the movies (4-13) had been dubbed by FUNimation's cast. When FUNimation acquired the rights for the DVD distribution of the first three movies from Pioneer, it re-dubbed those three movies using FUNimation's cast. They were released in Dragon Ball Z: First Strike in 2006. At this point, FUNimation had all the episodes and movies from Dragon Ball Z dubbed or re-dubbed by its in-house talent.
The Remastered Season Box Sets use FUNimation's in-house dub for all the episodes of the series.
Changes from the original
- FUNimation's dub of Dragon Ball Z does differ from the Japanese dub dialogue, notably having characters speak during a scene that was intended to be silent. There have also been numerous changes to the dialogue that have resulted in errors. For example, in the FUNimation dub of Episode 100, the dialogues of Son Gohan and Freeza leads viewers to believe that Son Goku has been killed and then revived by the Dragon Balls (which makes no sense since by that time Goku had already been revived once by Shen Long), rather than just knocked out as in the Japanese dub. Though the incident is never specifically spoken of again, later dialogue seems to correct the earlier error. In another example, when Future Trunks explains the origins of the Artificial Humans to Goku in the FUNimation dub, he claims that Goku allowed Doctor Gero to live after he had defeated the Red Ribbon Army in Dragon Ball. However, Goku never actually encountered Gero when he fought against the Red Ribbon Army. Also, the origins of Artificial Human No. 17 and Artificial Human No. 18 in the FUNimation dub are said to be that they were based off of Human counterparts, whereas the Japanese dub said that they were kidnapped by Gero and turned half-Artificial Human by his experiments. Again, later dialogue would correct this mistake, particularly using the fact that No. 18 and Kuririn were able to have a daughter, Marron. The previous Ocean Productions dub of the series also featured similar changes from the Japanese dub that caused errors, most notably the infamous claim by Vegeta that Goku's father, Bardock, had been a scientist.
- However, FUNimation's dub of Dragon Ball Z Kai has been much more faithful to the Japanese dub. This includes a more accurate translation of the Japanese dialogue and episode titles, as well as use of the Japanese background music and insert songs (similar to their dub of Dragon Ball). Other corrections include the proper pronunciation of the Kaio-ken technique, as well as Guru being addressed only as the "Grand Elder." Also, in Episode 48 of the dub, Goku announces in front of Freeza, "I am the Super Saiyan, Son Goku!" This marks the first time in the history of the English-dubbed anime that Goku had addressed himself by his full name.
