One Piece (Dub) Episode 67
The Ocean dub originated as an early English dub of Dragon Ball produced by BLT Productions and Funimation for syndication. Funimation and Ocean later dubbed Dragon Ball's sequel, Dragon Ball Z. This dub, which was distributed by Saban Entertainment, was also shown in syndication. It later aired on Cartoon Network. These episodes, which were recorded at InterPacific Productions Inc. in Vancouver, were heavily edited for content by Saban, and covered the first 67 uncut episodes of the series, reducing them to 53. The third movie was also dubbed in this form as an episode of the series, while the first three DBZ movies were given uncut dubs using the same voice cast in association with Pioneer (including a redub of the third film).
One Piece (Dub) Episode 67
FUNimation Productions acquired certain rights to the wildly popular Japanese television series Dragon Ball and its sequel, Dragon Ball Z, in 1995. At the time, FUNimation was a relatively new company (founded in 1994) and did not have the financial wherewithal to produce a dub entirely on their own, and instead collaborated with other production companies. They immediately began work on an English dub for Dragon Ball and completed the first 13 episodes of the series in the same year, and the series was shown in syndication. This dub had slight censorship, although not to the extent of the later Saban/FUNimation-produced Ocean dub. It was dubbed by BLT Productions at Dick & Roger's Sound Studio in Vancouver, featuring various freelance voice actors from the Ocean Group who would later dub Dragon Ball Z. Peter Berring's replacement score was used. Seagull Entertainment handled distribution for the show.[1] They also dubbed and edited the first Dragon Ball movie for home video release. The network ratings for Dragon Ball were very poor due to Seagull Entertainment being unable to get the show a good time slot,[1] so FUNimation cancelled work on Dragon Ball and opted to focus on the more action-oriented Dragon Ball Z instead in hope of better ratings. They concluded that Dragon Ball was "not a good fit for the US market."[1]
After Dragon Ball was put on indefinite hold, work on Dragon Ball Z commenced in 1996. This time, FUNimation collaborated with Saban Entertainment to handle distribution and directly with the Ocean Group for the dubbing. FUNimation drew from the same Vancouver voice over talent pool from Dragon Ball for this dub of DBZ, and the same voice actors appeared in both shows (albeit some in different roles). The first episode, "The Arrival of Raditz", premiered in the U.S. on September 13, 1996. Ocean dubbed the first 53 episodes (first two seasons, covering the first 67 uncut episodes), and the show was aired in syndication, mainly on local WB and UPN affiliate networks. The third DBZ movie was also split up into three episodes and was dubbed and edited in the same way as the other episodes.
Saban managed to secure the show better morning time slots. At first, the show aired as part of a morning block of Saban-produced shows, alongside Samurai Pizza Cats, Eagle Riders and Saban's Adventures of Oliver Twist. The improved exposure from Saban meant that the first season of 26 episodes was a success, so FUNimation contracted the Ocean Group to dub another season of episodes.[1] During its second season, the show was airing twice every week in its own hour-long block, due to the ratings success of the first season.[4] Saban Entertainment (distributor of the series and its major financier) and FUNimation (the series' rights holder) eventually parted ways in early 1998, effectively ending this incarnation of Dragon Ball Z. Saban at the time were leaving the syndication business to instead focus on producing original material for the Fox Kids block, thus leaving the FUNimation produced Dragon Ball Z surplus to requirements. After 56 episodes and two seasons worth of dubbed episodes, Dragon Ball Z's English dub abruptly ended production, with the last dubbed episode "Goku... Super Saiyan?", airing on May 23, 1998. An Ocean dub preview for "Ginyu Assault" was produced but would become the first episode dubbed by the Funimation Studios cast a year later.
In a 1997 interview, FUNimation producer Barry Watson said it cost approximately 30,000 dollars to dub an episode of Dragon Ball Z at the time, in part due to the heavy amounts of edits that were required to get the show onto syndicated television. This means that in total it cost around 2 million dollars to dub the first two seasons of Dragon Ball Z in this heavily censored style.[5]
The series' target audience was eventually found when the first two seasons aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block during the summer of 1998. Ratings were very positive, and the series found new life, thus warranting the series' English dub to continue. By this point, FUNimation decided to continue dubbing the project in Texas with non-union actors, due to not being able to afford the Vancouver actors without Saban's financing. From episode 54 onward (the beginning of season 3, midway through uncut Episode 67), FUNimation began using their in-house talent, based in Ft. Worth, Texas, to dub the rest of the series. Until these new episodes were recorded and produced, re-runs of the Ocean dubbed Saiyan and Namek sagas ran indefinitely for months. Ocean Studios continued to assist FUNimation with scripting and editing. Bruce Faulconer and his team's new score replaced the Saban score due to FUNimation not liking the music and not having the money needed for the Saban team to continue producing new music for the series.[3] Initially many fans accustomed to the Saban dub criticized the FUNimation dub of the third season due to the voice acting and music being of a noticeably lower quality level, due to FUNimation's shoe-string budget. The most common complaint was the new voice actors, who were originally asked to imitate the former Ocean Group actors. The third season FUNimation dub did however manage to receive some praise due to the phasing out of most censorship (which was due to Saban no longer being involved with the show).
Dubbing of this version commenced in the summer of 2000, starting at episode 108 (equivalent to the uncut 123), and ended in December 2002, finishing at episode 276 (equivalent to 291 uncut); thus, completing the second half of the series. Episodes 108-276 (123-291 uncut) of the international dub were voice-recorded at various Vancouver studios with Ocean Studios providing the postproduction. The episodes used an alternate music soundtrack in an effort to make the dub provide as much "Canadian content" as possible. Unlike the original 1996-1998 Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Z, this dub did not feature Shuki Levy's music. The soundtrack featured a new theme song and some original music pieces from Tom Keenlyside with John Mitchell and David Iris, though most of the background music was recycled material from other productions Ocean had connections with, most notably the 1994-1995 Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon and the 1999-2001 English dub of the Monster Rancher anime. In addition, the episodes were lightly edited for content in order to meet broadcast standards. Because Ocean Studios was still helping with scripting and digital editing of the FUNimation dub, the same script used in the FUNimation dub was also used for this dub with some light revisions, and also used various graphics originally created for the FUNimation dub. The Westwood dub of DBZ is also notable for being very rushed in production, which resulted in many of the key voice actors leaving the show midway through the run, the voice director not being consistent, and the voiceover performances themselves showing a noticeable decline in quality from the original Saban/FUNimation co-production.
The United States (CN:USA) and Canada (YTV) received the Saban/Ocean dub from episodes 1-53 (1-67 uncut). From episode 54 onward, both received the FUNimation dub. Though the Westwood dub began at episode 108 (an equivalent of episode 123 uncut) specifically due to demands of Canadian broadcasting laws, Canada began receiving the Westwood/Ocean dub from episode 168 (equivalent to uncut episode 183) onwards. The United Kingdom (CN:UK then CNX) and the Netherlands (CN:NL then Yorin) received the early Saban/Ocean dub from episodes 1-53, the FUNimation dub for episodes 54-107, and then the full Westwood/Ocean dub for episodes 108-276.
With the success of the Blue Water dub of Dragon Ball GT, Westwood contacted them again to create a dub of the original Dragon Ball series despite the fact that the first 13 episodes had already been dubbed in Vancouver in 1994. The Blue Water dub of DB was similar to that of DBGT in that it was edited for content and did not use FUNimation's English script (with the exception of character names). The dub also made use of AB Groupe's opening title sequence for the French dub of the series (but with an English singer) and a translation of the lyrics (though the UK broadcast featured a completely different opening). This dub was broadcast in Canada and the UK after the Blue Water dub of Dragon Ball GT completed its run.
The 53 episodes of the early Ocean/Saban dub were released on VHS and DVD (distributed by Pioneer Entertainment in the late 1990s & early 2000s). Pioneer's license lapsed in 2004, and VHS/DVD sets featuring the Ocean dub of episodes 1-53 were out of print until 2013. These sets have since been replaced by FUNimation's "Uncut" re-dubbings of Seasons 1 and 2. These re-dubs feature FUNimation's in-house actors as well as the 14 episodes worth of content missing in the initial Ocean dubbing of the Saiyan and Namek sagas. The Ocean dub of episodes 108-276 have not, and will likely never be, released for English language DVD viewing. It's worth noting that FUNimation Entertainment does not own the North American rights to 108-276 of the Ocean Dub, as it is instead owned by AB Groupe. In addition, the FUNimation dub is on DVD in the UK and Canada in place of the Ocean dubs. 041b061a72