If there’s one Shōnen series that’s had a big impact on American audiences, “Dragon Ball” is one franchise that really rocked the house in it’s hayday. The series itself enjoyed a very successful run on Toonami with it’s influence on both anime and manga still being felt to this very day. One thing most DB fans are aware of is how many English dubs it had between the late 1980s and well into the early 2000s. Nowadays this sort of thing doesn’t happen in modern anime anymore given how the English dubbing industry has vastly changed but this sort of thing wasn’t completely uncommon. Many attempts had been made to bring “Dragon Ball” to a US audience well before Toonami became it’s home since the others didn’t work out too well. So today, i wanted to talk about the various English dubs that were made for “Dragon Ball”. These dubs vary from being marketed towards America or other places such as the UK, Canada, and even European countries as well. Some extra entries didn’t exactly make the cut since i wanted this blog to be relatively shorter than my usual work. With that being said, let’s get started shall we?
1.)The “Harmony Gold” Dub (1989-1990)
By the end of the 1980s, Harmony Gold had already dipped their toe into the world of anime with their most successful venture being the “Robotech” series. The company had made several attempts to bring other anime into the States with varying degress of success. “Dragon Ball” would end up being one of these attempts during the late 1980s while DBZ had already begun airing in Japan in 1989. This would become the very first English dub for the series aimed at an American market with Harmony Gold only being able to dub 5 episodes and two films which were edited into an 80 minute special. As far as the quality of the dub goes it’s somewhat decent for 80s standards with the music itself remaining intact compared to future “Dragon Ball” dubs. Name changes were abound as characters like Goku would be renamed to Zero while others such as Master Roshi and Chiaotzu were able to keep their respective names. Only a few places in the US broadcasted this dub and didn’t really make the series become a household name. For a long time this dub was lost while small clips were the only proof of it’s existence outside of various articles online. Thankfully all 5 episodes of the Harmony Gold dub were found a few years back and readily available on the Internet Archive website.
2.)The “BLT Productions” Dub (1995)
The 1990s would prove to be the decade where the series would finally break out into the mainstream. But before that could actually kick off, another dub before the Ocean dub would be recorded by a fresh faced company by the name of Funimation. The company acquired the rights to both DB and DBZ somewhere in 1995 just a year after they had formed and didn’t exactly have the money to make a dub right on the spot. Funimation soon collaborated with other studios such as BLT Productions with Seagull Entertainment helping them distribute the show. Unlike the Harmony Gold dub that only got to air 5 episodes in syndication, this dub only got up to 13 episodes but didn’t air any of the films probably due to budget issues. I’ve heard little of this dub so i can only really say that it sounds alright but not like something that would’ve helped it become a powerhouse much earlier. Anyways, this dub as far as i guess only aired in specific parts of America and only pulled in very poor ratings. The reason being wasn’t exactly because of the dub’s slightly censored content but due to the fact Seagull Entertainment wasn’t exactly pulling their weight when it came to promoting the show. One can only imagine what life would’ve been like if this dub had become the one to make the franchise a hit in the US since it actually sounds alright.
3.)The “Saban/Ocean” Dub (1996-1998)
A year after the failed BLT dub of “Dragon Ball” had aired, Ocean decided to start working on it’s sequel series “Dragon Ball Z” since both Funimation and Ocean themselves didn’t think that the original series would actually garner a following in the US. The very first dub of DBZ would soon materialize into 53 episodes that were distributed with the help of their new ally Saban Entertainment in 1996. Commonly known as the “Ocean dub” by fans, this English dub featured talent that came from Vancouver since some of the voice actors from that place had a role in the dubbing of “Dragon Ball” a year prior. Many fans who grew up with this dub back in the late 90s consider this to be the best English dub of DBZ with both Ian James Corlett and Peter Kelamis’s interpretations of Goku garnering praise as well. Soon this dub found a home through both UPN Kids and The WB in 1996 where it’s ratings were faired far better than the previous attempt at airing the show. Sadly this came to a halt once Saban and Funimation’s partnership ended which caused them to not be able to use the Ocean voice actors anymore. Thankfully this didn’t mean the series itself would be over and by the time the second half of 1998 rolled around, DBZ had secured a much bigger home in Cartoon Network, particularly it’s newest anime block: Toonami.
4.)The “Funimation” Dub (1998; 1999-2004)
1998 would be the year DBZ broke into the US with ratings that proved to be even more successful than what it was pulling in on the previous networks. Toonami at this point had been airing the series’ first two seasons for a good part of the year and even up until early 1999. Funimation were in a bit of a bind since Saban Entertainment had pulled out of the show which meant they couldn’t use the original cast anymore. Without being able to hire the talents who were at Ocean during the time, they decided to use in-house talents for the remainder of it’s run who of course became big names in the dubbing industry. 1999 would mark the year Funimation started using it’s in-house voice actors starting from episode 54 and onward until it reached it’s conclusion in the 2000s. Obviously like many 2000s kids this was the dub i grew up on back in the day so i always assumed a lot of people still liked it even into adulthood. Shockingly to me that wasn’t exactly the case as you’ll usually find people today voicing their dislike of this particular dub. It’s also not too big of a shock as apparently fans back in 1999 were far from accepting of this sudden change in casting either. This was largely due to the fact the cast tried too hard to emulate what the Ocean cast had already done which made slightly older fans of the show weary of the dub’s future. Thankfully everyone managed to grow and develop their respective voices as the anime progressed which probably slightly quelled the complaints that were common around that time period. Overall, this dub proved to be a successful one with the films and future DB projects largely being dubbed by the Funimation cast from that point onward.
5.)The “Big Green” Dub (2000-2003)
Arguably one of the most hilariously awful and notorious dubs of the franchise’s history, the “Big Green dub” was aimed at many different places including the UK, Sweden, Ireland, and many more. Thankfully they never exactly had access to the shows themselves but usually they provided alternate dubs of the first three “Dragon Ball” films including the first nine DBZ films as well. Also labeled the “AB Groupe” dub, this one featured some of the worst delivery i’ve seen in an older dub and this is coming from a guy who’s seen “Angel Cop” dubbed. Piccolo for whatever inane reason was renamed “Big Green” hence the entry’s name and several other instances of bad voice acting would include Goku sporting a very generic and almost “mocking Superman” voice with lines that don’t even fit specific scenes either. So thankfully enough the company behind it didn’t have the chance to dub the whole series and even if they did, then i’d feel sorry for anyone in places like Ireland if they had to grow up with this dubbed version of the show. Is this dub worth watching for a good laugh? Well, obviously yes.
6.)The “Westwood” Dub (2000-2002)
At a certain point in the show when Funimation had taken over the Canadian based cast from Ocean Productions were gone, another dub for the series aimed at Canadian viewers would be made. Funnily enough AB Groupe were the ones who got Westwood Media involved with dubbing the remainder of DBZ for Canadian audiences once the show stopped meeting the TV qualifications of a “Canadian program”. This dub would begin airing in not just Canada but in Europe and other places that AB Groupe were allowed to distribute the series. According to sources the music was the most significant thing that was changed while the script was just the exact same ones Funimation were using around this time but with some light edits to them. This dub also had a rushed production which made several cast leaving the show. It’s also noteworthy for featuring the late great Kirby Morrow as Goku during the final half of the Westwood dub. Episodes of the Westwood dub are very much available online so if you want to watch them then i suggest checking them out.
7.)The “Blue Water” Dub (2003)
Yet another entry that was created by not just AB Groupe, but also Westwood Media. After their dub of DBZ had wrapped up in the UK and Canada in 2002, the two companies decided to go ahead and start work on the then undubbed “Dragon Ball GT”. This would be a good opportunity for them as the series wasn’t dubbed by Funimation just yet and by some s i’ve read their dub of GT actually had some success in non-American markets back in the day. As far as i’m aware there’s only a few episodes of their dub for the original “Dragon Ball” series available online while the entire Blue Water dub of GT is available in it’s entirety. Not much to really add in this entry other than the music being swapped for a different one and any info about censorship in this dub allegedly fluctuated from time to time.
8.)The Alleged “DBZ Kai” Ocean Dub (Possibly 2010?)
Finishing this list we have a very elusive and possibly nonexistent Ocean produced dub of “DBZ Kai”. This series was made to fix the pacing issues that were prominent in DBZ and was also provided by Funimation’s brand new dub that featured a far more accurate script compared to what they had done on Toonami a decade prior. While this dub never had an official announcement nor saying who exactly would be creating it, most fans agree that Ocean Productions were going to be behind this alternate dub. On the contrary there were several leaks that got out with one provided by a on an internet forum who claimed to have heard the dub first hand. Various voice actors such as Kirby Morrow and Sean Schemmel himself who had confirmed that the dub did exist but that the music wasn’t that great and cartoonish sound effects were allegedly used. There was also a point where it was flat out “confirmed” by Scott McNeil (the original voice actor for Piccolo) that the Ocean version of “Kai” was finished. In the years since the anime’s release there’s been so many instances of cast giving out elusive answers and hints of this being a real dub with no real audio evidence or let alone clips of their dub ever surfacing on the internet. The likelihood of this being real is very uncertain but then again we’ve seemed to be in the “golden era” of lost media getting found so maybe it’ll just pop up when we least expect it to.
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So this pretty much wraps up this blog for now and i really hope you guys enjoyed it. This blog was something i had made back in February just days prior to Akira Toriyama’s ing so once that happened i ended up abandoning this blog until i picked it back up earlier in November. I honestly thought this would’ve had at least two more entries considering the franchise has had several different dubs made but some didn’t make the criteria. The Animax dub has little information so it didn’t make the final cut and the other one had a blend of both English and Tagalog while this list is primarily covering 100% English dubs so that one didn’t make it either. Anyways, i hope you guys enjoyed this blog so i’ll see you in the next one. Make sure to like and share this post with your friends as well as to check out my other blogs where i make anime/manga reviews, chronicle anime history, discuss anime related news, and make opinion pieces regarding the medium and the industry itself. See ya~!!
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