Lets answer the DUBBED question once and for all...

[SamuraiEchidna]

Of all the tokusatsu and toku-related stuff that has gotten a release in America and English-speaking places in the word, which isn't very much, even fewer of it has been dubbed. I've always wanted to see Super Sentai and Kamen Rider get an official release in the states, possibly with a dub. Not only would we get the intended translation the shows were meant to have, but we'd have a legal source to see them.

But along with my desire to see Tokusatsu get a legal western release with English over dub, I have a fear...
My fear is that any English dub of Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, or anything else would be no different than the stale dialogue we've seen in shows like Power Rangers.
[HIDE]And, after reading a translation of a toy catalog for the upcoming Gobusters, lets just say my fear is beginning to feel a little justified...[/HIDE]

So what do you think? Would Super Sentai or any other toku sound the same as Power Rangers if it were dubbed? From what I hear, people in Japan treat it the same way as people treat Power Rangers in America, so there is all ready that social similarity. Would it matter to you one way or the other how it gets dubbed? I guess if you are still a strong fan of Power Rangers, you''ll probably embrace it with open arms. Or would you?

I think I really would give up if Morph/Morphing actually became the official translation for Henshin...

 

[KouAidou]

If anything I think it would be worse. While I know it's standard practice in other countries, dubbing live action is looked on with great disdain in the US. Instead of associating it with Power Rangers, people would just associate it with awful chop-socky flicks. They'd have to make it an intentional comedy like the Night Flight Dynaman dub.

 

[Kamen Rider Cero-G]

Go watch the dub of the LA "Death Note" movies and you'll have my answer.
[HIDE]It's yes, they can dub it AND be good[/HIDE]

 

[Forever Knight]

Watch the Bioman dub, shave ur neck hair, and take a zantac.

 

[ReD-X]

I dont mind dubbed or subbed, I prefer my anime dubbed tho toku im still not sure about, I mean we have bioman and kabuto now *shrugs* and kabuto seems fine ... havnt attempted bioman yet

 

[Scissors]

If they ever decided to dub KR and SS, they would have to find some voice actors that were REALLY into it.
In Anime, you already see the problem when the characters are being over-excited or being insanely pissed.
The Japanese are known for a much louder and bombastic way of expressing their feelings sometimes, and it takes it to the max in both Anime and Toku.
Many western actors (and Chinese for that matter) are not used to act this way, and you can often tell that they are holding back.

Take the Cantonese dubs of Den-O as an example. I never heard the Taros sound so calm before. :laugh:
You could tell that the Hong Kong actors were TRYING to do their best, but they never took the important step up to the Japanese level.
When someone yelled or screamed in the Japanese version, they would TALK loudly in the Cantonese version.

They do a slightly better job with the dubbing in America.
Especially Funimation has some amazing actors, but it still sounds... a little fake.

Its no different than when you see western actors in Japanese television, who tries to act and sound Japanese. It looks and sounds wrong.
Super Sentai had a few of those.

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

If anything I think it would be worse. While I know it's standard practice in other countries, dubbing live action is looked on with great disdain in the US. Instead of associating it with Power Rangers, people would just associate it with awful chop-socky flicks. They'd have to make it an intentional comedy like the Night Flight Dynaman dub.

This makes me wonder when this mindset became the general one. Supposedly older dubs of shows like Giant Robo and Ultrman were pretty popular in the states way back when.

 

[Nnnkingston]

I'd personally prefer official subbed DVD/Bluray releases.

 

[KouAidou]

This makes me wonder when this mindset became the general one. Supposedly older dubs of shows like Giant Robo and Ultrman were pretty popular in the states way back when.

It's gotta be the chop-socky thing. That stuff dominated the 70s and 80s, and IIRC most of the successful live-action dubs you mentioned would've predated that era. (Godzilla as well.) I grew up in the US in the 80s and it's just impossible for me to conceive of English-dubbed Asian actors without immediately thinking of that stuff and the myriad parodies there have been of it.

So nowadays we can't just import a foreign LA property and dub it... we either subtitle it (which sits well with the art crowd), or we just make our own version, which is easy because we have such a massive media-making industry anyway. Which of course leads us to Power Rangers.

Its no different than when you see western actors in Japanese television, who tries to act and sound Japanese. It looks and sounds wrong.

It's the same when you hear Japanese being spoken in American movies (even by native Japanese speakers). They're clearly being asked to produce the "cadence" of English acting, which relies a lot more on stress than tonal rise-and-fall, so that it won't sound "weird" around the English acting. I always have to laugh a little.

 

[ryuuseipro]

If anything I think it would be worse. While I know it's standard practice in other countries, dubbing live action is looked on with great disdain in the US. Instead of associating it with Power Rangers, people would just associate it with awful chop-socky flicks. They'd have to make it an intentional comedy like the Night Flight Dynaman dub.

You make it sound like it's a bad thing. If people think the cheesy dubbing is funny, let 'em! Even Sweden's Pippi Longstocking is no stranger to this.

This makes me wonder when this mindset became the general one. Supposedly older dubs of shows like Giant Robo and Ultrman were pretty popular in the states way back when.

Both were dubbed by the NYC-based Titra (pronounced "TEE-trah")/Titan Productions, which is considered by many to be the absolute best dubbing team for Japanese sci-fi. Veterans included Peter Fernandez, Corrine Orr, Hal Linden (yes, the Barney Miller star!), Jack Curtis, Jack Grimes, Gil Mack, Ray Owens and many others.

The classic HK dubs were done by Corporate Communications, Ltd., founded by British entrepreneur/former BBC announcer Ted Thomas (who has a Cary Grant-style voice; you may remember him, for example, as the dubbing voice of Kubota in Godzilla Vs. Gigan!). The voice actors are mostly British expats living in HK. They also dubbed Japanese, films, too, including later Godzilla films. One of CCL's veteran voice actors, Rik Thomas (no relation to Ted) started another HK dubbing company, Omni Productions, which has done everything since the early 80s.