Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies is one of several English dubs of ドラゴンボール 神龍の伝説. This was the first English dub to be produced by the newly-established Funimation Productions (now Crunchyroll, LLC).
Background[]
The dub, which features Vancouver-based voice actors, was produced as a pilot to sell the Dragon Ball series to potential syndicators in the USA, and premiered on the same day as the first episode, "The Secret of the Dragon Balls". Initially, the characters names were roughly based around the previous Harmony Gold dub of the film, with Goku being renamed to Zero, Bulma as Lena, Oolong becoming Chester, Yamcha as Sedaki, and Puar as Prudence. These name changes were only used in a test dub in 1994; by the film's wide release in 1995, most of the names were reverted to their Japanese counterparts, with several lines being redubbed to reflect these changes.[1] In order to pad out the film for time, an extra scene from the second episode, "The Emperor's Quest", was inserted inbetween the shot of the mountains at sunset after Goku rescues Bulma with his Power Pole and the sequence of Bulma driving before Penny encounters Oolong. This scene wasn't originally in the 1994 test version. It is noticeable when one closely listens to Bulma's dialogue and it sounds like a different actress. (At the time, Maggie Blue O'Hara recorded all dialogue for the film and its redub, but, for unknown reasons, did not return to reprise her role for the series, instead replaced with Lalainia Lindbjerg. The scenes from the second episode interspliced in the 1995 version of the dub, features Lindbjerg's voice as Bulma. O'Hara would eventually reprise her role as Bulma for the latter Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Z, up until episode 260, when France Perras took over.)
Funimation would later be involved in redubbing this version in 2010 after the licensing by Lionsgate (which had acquired and merged with Trimark Pictures, the film's original North American distributor, in 2001) expired the year before, with all of the edits removed and the film released uncut, and a new voice cast (consisting of voice actors from Dragon Ball Z Kai, as most of the voice actors from the original series either moved on or retired from voice acting) dubbing in dialogue closer to the Japanese version.
Cast[]
| Character | Actor | |||
| Original name (1994 test version) |
Redubbed name (1995 version) | |||
|
Zero | Goku | Saffron Henderson | |
|
Lena | Bulma | Maggie Blue O'Hara | |
| Lalainia Lindbjerg (additional dialogue; 1995 version) | ||||
|
Chester | Oolong | Alec Willows | |
|
Penny | Andrea Libman | ||
|
Sedaki | Yamcha | Ted Cole | |
|
Prudence | Puar | Kathy Morse | |
|
Master Roshi | Michael Donovan | ||
|
Shenron | Doug Parker | ||
|
King Gurumes | Garry Chalk | ||
|
Raven | Teryl Rothery | ||
|
Domo | Bongo | Robert O. Smith | |
|
Penny's father | Michael Donovan | ||
|
Penny's mother | Kathy Morse | ||
|
Turtle | Doug Parker | ||
Additional voices
|
Michael Donovan | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kathy Morse | ||||
| Doug Parker | ||||
Narrator
|
Jim Conrad | |||
Music[]
| Song | Singer(s) | ||
| Dave Steele |
Crew[]
| Technical staff | |||
Produced by
|
Funimation Productions, Inc. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Executive producer
|
Gen Fukunaga | ||
| Cindy Brennan Fukunaga | |||
Producers
|
Daniel Cocanougher | ||
| Barry Watson | |||
Story editor
|
Cliff MacGillivray | ||
Writers
|
Cliff MacGillivray | ||
| Todd Himmel | |||
| Jeffrey M. Rose | |||
| Ian James Corlett | |||
| Terry Klassen | |||
| Christopher Neel (credited only in 1995 version) | |||
Voice director
|
Michael Donovan | ||
English reversioning
|
Josanne B. Lovick Productions Inc. | ||
Music
|
Peter Berring | ||
| Griffiths, Gibson & Ramsay Productions | |||
Theme song performer
|
Dave Steele (uncredited) | ||
Audio
|
Dick & Roger's Sound Studio Vancouver, B.C. | ||
Creative consultant
|
Terry Welder | ||
Title design & post supervisor
|
Barry Backus | ||
Logo animation design
|
Brian Farmer (credited only in 1995 version) | ||
Version editor
|
Mary Ungerleider | ||
| Brian Farmer (credited only in 1995 version) | |||