Macross TV Dub

[Skull Leader]

smokes serious pole. Hikaru and Minmay I can live with... Misa, I'm indifferent on, Roy and Claudia? YGBSM...

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Heard em. I dunno I liked the old Robotech Roy voice better. It sounded deep but not loud. Maybe he should do kakizaki. Same with Claudia. Robotech Claudia I thought suited the character fine.

Hikaru: for his tiny size he should sound like that I think. When you see him standing next to all the other soldiers he is like a little kid.

Minmay: I have no probs with this actually. When I think of minmay an image of her in the chinese dress and the chinese restaurant floating in space comes to mind as well as her appearance in the kunf fu movie. "I'll have 2 chow mein, thanks".

I wonder how milia will sound?

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Heh, leave it to ADV to make so many people reconsider Robotech's casting.

The casting in Robotech really wasn't too bad, it's all the lines they added. I did hear Robotech first, so I was used to the voices(even West). I prefer the sub, but the RT voices aren't too bad, and at least have some character, which was common in the bad dubs of the day. Lots of recent dubs lack it. So I'll try to compare it to Robotech and not Macross.

Hikaru. So far, he's rather annoying. Though there were a few decent moments(like where he says he's not in the military). If the guy works on it a little, he might be fine. So far, I prefer Oliver.

Misa. Sounds like she's trying to hard to sound prissy. Very stiff, and the voice it self just lacks personality. Now I know why I've forgotten most of the VA's roles. Granted, Misa is really strict and uptight early on, but if she sounds entirely like the "Meet the Bridge Bunnies" clip, she's overdoing it. Right now, she just doesn't do it for me. Another RT win so far, though she did sound too old in that one(since they upped her age after all).

Minmay. The accent is a tad too thick. Though it does work to a degree. I'll admit that since it is Mari, I'm probably giving it much more slack than if it had been one of ADV's members.

Claudia. So far, I'm kind of liking her. She's about par.

Roy. I like Dan Woran in the role. I've met him a few times and he's a nice guy. Brett Weaver isn't too bad voice wise. The writing has him sounding a bit off though.

Global. I'm glad they didn't give him another thick accent. Aside from over doing it on the laughing, he sounds pretty decent.

Bridge Bunnies. Hilary Haag isn't too bad surprisingly. She's thankfully raised her pitch and doesn't sound as nasel. So it's not Nene 2.0. I couldn't hear the others.

So far, it's actually not to bad for a ADV dub. They put out a lot of the worst ones in my opinion. Maybe they finally wised up. Now if only they'd fire Steven Foster. I 'm sick of his, "I can change whatever I like and nobody cares so it's ok. Especially since I'm making it better" attitude.

Still, I don't double dip, and can't really see myself watching the whole dub. I only have the third box set, so I may wind up with ADV's first few volumes, it depends.

It's certainly not great, but it's not the usual travesty that ADV puts out like I was fearing.

[TheLoneWolf]

Hikaru's voice is definitely too high pitched, but MM is right when he said he's only supposed to be 16. But I hope his VA plans on making his voice deeper as Hikaru get's older, it'd be a travesty to have the leader of Skull Squadron sound like he's plugging his nose the entire time. My final gripe with Hikaru's voice is that he's making Hikaru sound like the goody-two shoes Rick Hunter. When we're introduced to Hikaru, he's pretty much an a-hole who's clueless when it comes to women. Again, the voice acting director is basing Hikaru off of Rick Hunter, two very different characters. Overall I think Jake Gyllenhaal, or someone with a similiar voice, would've made a better Hikaru.

As for Roy Focker, he sounds like Randy "Macho Man" Savage trying to impersonate a California surfer dude. Don Worren (sp?) got it right when he gave Roy a deep, relaxed but commanding voice. The script Don was given wasn't the best, but he nailed the voice perfectly.

Mari doesn't sound too bad as Minmay. A little too old, but not bad.

As for the rest, I'm scared to know.

Edited December 14, 2005 by TheLoneWolf

[Mechamaniac]

Global. I'm glad they didn't give him another thick accent. Aside from over doing it on the laughing, he sounds pretty decent.

Bridge Bunnies. Hilary Haag isn't too bad surprisingly. She's thankfully raised her pitch and doesn't sound as nasel. So it's not Nene 2.0. I couldn't hear the others.

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Did I miss something?. I didn't hear Global or the BB in those clips.

[valk1j]

The Episode 1 clips are Here

[bsu legato]

Yup, there's a second (first, actually) set of clips in that thread. As easy as I was on the set Mechamaniac posted, this other set highlighted how bad this dub could potentially be. But it also made me realize something that is also tainting my perceptions of this dub. Like many of you, I remember the old ( I hesitate to say "classic") RT cast, and now with my beloved Animeigo set I'm familiar with the original cast. So now we have yet another cast which to my ears sounds doubly weird. I'm sure I could warm up to some of them, given time. Except for "TMNT" Roy Focker. There's just no excuse for that.

[Apollo Leader]

After listening to those clips a few times through, I would have to say that:

1) Claudia and Misa sound all right.

2) Hikaru sounds either jittery or a bit timid (then again, Hikaru was unsure of himself and didn't sound confident at times).

3) Roy's actor sounds like he is speaking overly gruff and or obnoxious (of course Roy is suppose to be a bit obnoxious). I think if he tried to speak in a more normal voice, that would work just right.

4) I think I'll have to hear Mari's performance through out the whole show to make a complete judgement, but it's just so awesome to hear THE Minmay redo her role in English all these years later.

For those who want to compare this effort to Robotech, remember that a lot of us onboard here have had 1 to 2 decades worth of having the Robotech voices sink in. Here, we have only had a few seconds of exposure to these short clips. Probably in time, the new Macross dub over will be more excepted.

[Apollo Leader]

The Episode 1 clips are Here

352154[/snapback]

After hearing Roy speak in a more regular subdued voice, he sounds a lot better. The Bridge Bunny scene sounded good.

Whoever is doing Global sounds like he is trying to mimic the guy who did Gloval for Robotech, but Global should probably be depicted with some sort of accent.

I think this is going to end up alright in the end.

[Keith]

Robotech voice casting better? Reba Freakin' West! Tell me how it could possibly be better! The whole cast here could be done by Mike Meyers & Eddie Murphy, and it'd still be better than robotech.

[jenius]

My impressions:

1) Roy sounds like he's drivin' a big rig. I can totally imagine he's the driver in that Sega acrade game where you drive a big rig around smashing things. He is the only voice so far I absolutely hate.

2) Hikaru - goes in-and-out from being acceptable to being to pipsqueak-ish. I think it fits though for that portion of the series so I'll not be too critical yet. NOTE - At times he sounds EXACTLY like Eddy Fuhrlong (sp?) from Terminator 2.

3) Minmay - Yeah, Mari's great and Reba West sucks but Mari's English sure doesn't help the flow of the dialogue. So far I think she's more of a problem than Hikaru but everyone is right, it makes sense that Minmay would have an accent so I can live with it.

4) Who calls Roy "lame?" Is that Claudia? If Claudia calls him lame i'm okay with it... if it's Misa I think its... well, lame.

5) PUDKNOCKER? Now my Hong Kong subs may be admittedly bad but I'm pretty sure PUDKNOCKER was never supposed to be in the script. Why not just "idiot?" Hell, why not "Dumbass" What the heck is PUDKNOCKER?

PS - Keith, if you think the new Roy is preferable to Robotech's Roy than you need to put the glass pipe down before you pull a Richard Pryor

Edited December 14, 2005 by jenius

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

But the problem is if they were to use old roy, he would sound like Yang neuman from macross plus.

[Mechamaniac]

OK, listened to the Episode 1 clips...

Roy definitely sounds better when he's not shouting. The Bridge Bunnies are OK, and I too wish they would have given Global an accent.

However, the one thing that just sticks in my craw is Misa saying that Roy has to fly escort for the "muhcross" later on.

Umm, what's a muhcross? Did they not bother to listen to the AnimEigo set for the ten seconds it would have taken them to figure out the correct pronunciation of the word?

Oh, and I uploaded those clips to my site as well...

Hikaru Arrives

Meet the Bridge Bunnies

Lost Technology

Booby Trap

[Apollo Leader]

Robotech voice casting better? Reba Freakin' West! Tell me how it could possibly be better! The whole cast here could be done by Mike Meyers & Eddie Murphy, and it'd still be better than robotech.

352246[/snapback]

I guess you're responding to my comments, but let me make myself clear. People are USED to the Robotech dub, I didn't say it was better.

(Keith, please quote who you're responding to. )

[Pat Payne]

2) Hikaru - goes in-and-out from being acceptable to being to pipsqueak-ish.  I think it fits though for that portion of the series so I'll not be too critical yet.  NOTE - At times he sounds EXACTLY like Eddy Fuhrlong (sp?) from Terminator 2.

I think he sounds exactly like Matthew Broderick from "the Producers."

3) Minmay - Yeah, Mari's great and Reba West sucks but Mari's English sure doesn't help the flow of the dialogue.  So far I think she's more of a problem than Hikaru but everyone is right, it makes sense that Minmay would have an accent so I can live with it.

Actually, the more I hear it, the problem isn't her english per se (she is fluent, if with a thick accent), it's just with the fact that Japanese and English are so vastly different that someone who's been brought up in one from childhood will necessarily struggle with just the pacing and inflection of sentences. That's why I said they could have given her a little coaching to clear that up. But I'm willing to cut her some slack, because she is otherwise great in the role and since she's Mari Iijima.

4) Who calls Roy "lame?"  Is that Claudia?  If Claudia calls him lame i'm okay with it... if it's Misa I think its... well, lame.

It is Claudia who calls him "lame."

5) PUDKNOCKER?  Now my Hong Kong subs may be admittedly bad but I'm pretty sure PUDKNOCKER was never supposed to be in the script.  Why not just "idiot?"  Hell, why not "Dumbass"  What the heck is PUDKNOCKER?

Someone being cute, I'd guess. Hopefully, they'll change that, they should have time if they haven't started authoring yet.

[Sundown]

Further analysis:

Hikaru's even more grating in some of these clips. Roy sounds fantastic when he's not overacting and trying to be some outrageous cartoon character. Exedol sounds good. Britai sounds like but is inferior to the RT version. Looks like the casting is all pretty much based on the original RT voices, with Misa being the notable exception. Global sounds way too hammy.

And yes, I have to say that the RT cast was better, or at least was better directed for the most part. Mari Ijima alone doesn't elevate the lesser performance of the new cast, especially when her accented delivery introduces problems of its own. Sure, we might cut her some slack because she's Mari Ijima, and we might justify why she sounds the way she does, but in the end it just doesn't work as well as a whole for me, at least from what I've heard so far. Maybe she sounds better in other scenes.

[yellowlightman]

I'm pretty sure puddknocker is a direct translation from Japanese, so don't worry about that.

[Mr March]

Nope. No good. Not working.

It's horribly melodramatic with far too much pretense in both inflection of the dialogue and even enunciation of individual words. This new dubbing of Macross is standard fare, displaying an inability by voice acting production staff to dub anime as something less outrageous. No attempt is being made to create a more subtle, unemphatic performance which would certainly suit a production like Macross. The new english cast for Macross insists upon "creating" inappropriately overstated voices for the characters, rather than simply using their own voice and acting the part.

Perhaps if Macross were produced as a live action stage play the grandiose, excessively articulated voice acting in this new dubbing would work well. As it stands, this dub is no better than the voice acting in a poorly translated console game or a sci-fi comedy anime like Martian Successor Nadesico.

This is very disappointing.

[Keith]

I still don't see how it's any worse than the robotech dub, it'a a dub! If people wanted to listen to good acting, they'd watch it subtitled.

[Hikuro]

*grits his teeth* I honestly think the cast I had for my fandub is much better than some of these...

Hikaru - not bad, I was very surprised they added Sempai to the dialouge, it seems ADV is getting lieniant towards that type of Japanese tradition. But a MP3 isn't everything, I'd have to add the video to this to see how the voice would sound with the animation, I think my voice was better.

Roy - Now I recognize this guy, he was Carrot in Sourcer Hunters, and Gai in Nadesico. : / when his voice squeeks during his over acting it really makes me loose cofidence in the choice for Roy.

So lemme ask you guys, from hearing my actor for Roy Fokker, and than this one, which would you think you'd get use too more?

Misa - Downright dissapointment in my opinion.....she sounded WAY to shocked after the distruction of alien cruisers......and nassely.

Not too mention I hate her pronounciation on certain things. I can't believe they're calling Macross Muhcross!

Minmay -......I need to listen to that again, I swear to god I thought I heard a pit of British there or something.

Overall, I think the name pronounciations over alot of stuff seems to be too whacked out....this really concerns me......I'm gonna rip a few of those scenes where these voice samples are involved and check this out myself......I'll let you guys know what I honestly think after full viewing later.

[Keith]

Hmm, maybe they should have re-united the SUPERDIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS aka Clash of the Bionoids dub cast!

"NOW WATCH JET JOCKEY!"

[Hikuro]

Okay so I ripped the scenes from AnimEgo and placed the MP3 bits thanks to Mechamaniac.

Hikaru's voice I could grow on, its not too much of the over done that I would have expected, its not bad.

Roy's....well, its not bad, I don't have a real complaint, but the guys voice squeeks to much when he's yelling and its annoying. It sounded cute in Nadesico, but no not here.....

Misa......I REALLY dislike it.......she's too nassely, and her pronounciation of Macross REALLY made me cringe, not sure about you guys, but my head could of popped.

Claudia, not bad, not bad at all, I could get use to it.

Shammy...well...I hear her VA everywhere....last time I heard her was Steal Angel Kurumi as Karinka....I don't think her voice matches shammy's cuteness in the least.

Global.......Accent, you've got to have either the italian or Russian accent, its a must. I always told my Global VA back when I first did the first half of Episode 1, he's got to keep the accent believable...and he did it nicely, I really liked his portrayal of Global, but this guy no. I don't like it.

Breetia and Exadore......ummm......you know........I don't know.....I don't like the vocal effect, its just an echo......there's no overlap....you know what I mean, when you slide 1 vocal set, than the exact one under it but start that second one just a half second ahead...using an echo it sounds nice...but just the echo and 1 vocal set sounds weird.

But I guess this officially means I have to stop doing my Fandub of Macross it was alot of fun, but now I'll tackle down the others like Zero or DYRL. Those I've been planning for almost 2 years.

[Agent ONE]

Hmm, maybe they should have re-united the SUPERDIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS aka Clash of the Bionoids dub cast!

"NOW WATCH JET JOCKEY!"

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It sounded better. I can't tell if you are kidding.

[Pat Payne]

I may have to rethink my position on "pudknocker," given this definition from the Urban Dictionary:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/[/url]] 1. pudknocker link send redefine 9 up, 1 down

A person (usually male) who is pretentious and arrogant, but lacks any real skill or ability. Most often used by military pilots. Around here, we got two kinds of pilots: the hotdogs who get all the hot planes, and then you got your pudknockers who dream of flying the hot planes. So, what are you two pudknockers gonna have?

Source: eyeheartboobs, May 15, 2004

Apparently, the word means "cockup artist, but who thinks he's the cock of the walk." George Lucas circa Episode One would qualify as a pudknocker in that definition.

Edited December 15, 2005 by Pat Payne

[Apollo Leader]

Mari Iijima Interview Part 2!

This time they used EIGHT of my questions! Though this was done online and not in person, I am glad to have had this oppertunity.

Edited December 15, 2005 by Apollo Leader

[pfunk]

whats the price going to be on a set this big,,,,,,how much were the Animego's during release

[Hikuro]

well, AnimEgo you can get for under 15 bucks a pop......the first volume with the collectors box will run you under 30 dollars........

[yellowlightman]

I grew up watching Dave Stewart pitch for the Oakland A's.

352544[/snapback]

You sure you're not thinking of Dennis Eckersley?

[Wesker99]

Mari Iijima Interview Part 2!

This time they used EIGHT of my questions!   Though this was done online and not in person, I am glad to have had this oppertunity.

352642[/snapback]

Yeah, I like the first part, but I really don't care about a star's personal life.. I guess some of it was interesting, but the questions about her favorite food and stuff was pretty much a waste in my opinion.

Apollo Leader got lucky too.

I know this is kind of a strange-ish question, but I remember reading that Mari Iijima was going to go to a Macross World Convention or something. Did she end up going? If she did, did she tell anyone how she felt about harmony gold and robotech? That's really the only thing I want to know..

Now for the samples.

The only voice I really like and think fits is Focker's, that's not to say I like the way the actor uses it. I dunno, I'm way too used to hearing the original voice actors. I can pretty much accept it though, they're not great, but what dub is truely great?

The only thing that really bothered me is that there were no effects used in the background when Exsedol and Breetai were talking. I mean, I thought that really went well with the Zentran voices, and they just left it out completely. Maybe they'll put it in durring post-production?

[Mr March]

I still don't see how it's any worse than the robotech dub, it'a a dub! If people wanted to listen to good acting, they'd watch it subtitled.

352542[/snapback]

I've watched my more than my share of anime with lousy japanese voices to know that's no guarantee of quality. Besides, if my memory serves me, your opinion on the matter is analgous to a debate of quality chocolate ice cream vs. poor chocolate ice cream: you hate ALL chocolate ice cream. So, you're better off not eating it and we're better off without asking you

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Yeah I really hope they put that echo in the zentradi ships. I liked that.

What was the explanation for it anyway? Hearing yourself talking after each word must be pretty annoying, alien or not I would think. That sometimes happens when you talk to people in a long distance phonecall.

I think Britai needs a really deep voice (like james earl jones or something) and so does the bald guy in command for me to accept them though. Robotech has made me bias.

Edited December 16, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Okay so I ripped the scenes from AnimEgo and placed the MP3 bits thanks to Mechamaniac.

352555[/snapback]

Any way you could post a few of them? It might be interesting to check out.

[Hikuro]

Hmmmm I'll see if I can, it'll be low quality though, I use a friends webspace to send out my fanworks.

What I'd really like to do is get my cast together and do a full comparison, for each scene that's done by ADV, I'll do with my cast, see which ppl would find more toleratable.

I had a few friends watch two scenes, the Bridge Bunny scene, and the Airshow, each person who viewed it gritted their teeth at one specific thing, "Muhcross".

[Keith]

I love chocolate icecream, I just hate that people are foolish enough to require english dubs.

[Hikuro]

Because there are those type of people who perfer not to listen to the japanese language nor wish to read subtitles while missing what's going on the screen.

I've met alot of people who can'st stand watching subtitles causeyou can miss so much of what's going on in the background or somehow the dialouge gets lost cause your focusing to much on reading it.

Sometimes, I'm litterally reading the subtitles off something cause there's alot being said and I just miss so much. The timing could be so fast that you miss important dialouge and have no clue what's being said. But in english you can absorb it.

Not too mention, its a job, this country needs to fill more of 'em so ppl have a living.