Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F is due out in cinemas this week in many Western countries. AttackoftheFanboy had a chance to interview English dub voice actors Sean Schemmel (Goku) and Christopher Sabat (Vegeta) on their experience working on the new movie, Dragon Ball Super and more.
AOTF: How long did it take to English dub the whole Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F movie?
Schemmel: It just took me two days.
Sabat: To get everyone, it took over the course of a month. As for Sean, yes it just took two days for him to record his lines.
AOTF: Were you surprised that Frieza was brought back in Resurrection F?
Schemmel: Yeah I was very surprised.
Sabat: I always did like Frieza. I also think that his new oufit looks really cool.
AOTF: Were you expecting the creators would create a new bad guy instead of using Frieza again?
Schemmel: I did.
Sabat: Me too.
AOTF: What do you think of the mouthful that is a “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan”?
Schemmel: I’d like to call it a Super Saiyan Sundae Sandwich Surprise.
Sabat: I’d just like to call it Soupy Saiyan instead.
AOTF: Do you have to always stick to the original Japanese script, or can you adlib your own lines sometimes?
Schemmel: We generally stick to the original Japanese script.
Sabat: It’s generally the Japanese translation that we base our lines off of, and it’s the writers that turn it into a beautiful and wonderful script.
AOTF: How do you vary the voices between Vegeta and Piccolo without making the characters sound the same?
Sabat: One of them (Vegeta Voice) “is up here”. While (Piccolo voice) “is down here”. Also, I make Vegeta sound really pitchy while Piccolo is just really low.
AOTF: Sean Schemmel, are there any other characters that you voice in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F?
Schemmel: Not in the new movie, but in the wider Dragon Ball universe I do voice King Kai. However in this movie, King Kai sadly does not make an appearance. In the last movie (Battle of Gods) I had a very long scene between King Kai and Goku. I was very pleased with how it turned out. For this movie, there is no King Kai.
AOTF: How have you been able to voice the characters for so long? Has it been easy to retain the same type of voices for the characters as you grow older?
Schemmel: I find it is. The screaming gets a little harder as I get older and it takes me a little longer to recover. But in terms of the character, I feel I’ve made the voice sound better over the years. This is because I feel more relaxed and I understand the character a bit better.
Sabat: We’ve been doing these for so long now, it’s one of those things we just keep doing over and over again. After a while, you just remember that voice that it’s imprinted in your brain.
AOTF: Is it easier to retain the screaming all these years?
Schemmel: It’s a lot more challenging sure, but I can still do it.
Sabat: I prefer mine to go (roar). (everyone laughs)
AOTF: Why do you think the Dragon Ball franchise is so popular worldwide?
Schemmel: Because it’s awesome. It’s hard to describe…
Sabat: If we knew the answer to that, we’d make our own show and we’d be millionaires.
AOTF: Do you get sick of fans asking you to say “it’s over 9000 again”?
Schemmel: They never ask me, they only ask Chris.
Sabat: They’ve asked me that before. It’s that scene where Vegeta gets angry and crushes his own scouter. No, I don’t find it annoying I think it’s always fun. I always wanted to do that.
AOTF: Do you guys know if you will be involved in the English dub for Dragon Ball Super?
Schemmel: We do not know.
Sabat: Not yet, anyway.
AOTF: Have you been able to watch the first few episodes of Dragon Ball Super in Japanese?
Schemmel: I’ve watched a little bit of it yes. I think it’s beautiful looking.
Sabat: I’ve seen a couple episodes too and I’m such a huge fan.
AOTF: Who are your favorite Dragon Ball characters apart from the ones you already voice?
Schemmel: Bubbles. Bubbles is probably my favorite Dragon Ball character ever. Chris voices Bubbles.
Sabat: That is true, I do voice bubbles. It sounds like this (monkey noises)- (everyone laughs again).
AOTF: Describe why fans should go out and watch Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F
Schemmel: It’s a spectacular film and I wouldn’t hype that up. Dragon Ball Z fans would watch anything that is Dragon Ball related even if it sucks which is evident by fan-made videos that still manage to get millions of hits. The reason fans watch the fan-made videos is evident that they are dying to see more official new Dragon Ball material. The good news is, the lack of Dragon Ball content is reason enough to check out Resurrection F. However, the best reason is that it is a great movie. They also had to follow Battle of Gods which itself is a great movie. I’m happy to be a part of it.
Sabat: Here’s the deal, Sean is basically going to lie to you (laughs). You can’t trust him, but you can trust me and I say this is a really good movie. That’s why people should go see it. It is an incredible movie. Whoever doesn’t go see it I will personally punch them on the nose.
Schemmel: I thought you would have punched them in the “d*ck”
Sabat: No, I wouldn’t do that (laughs). That’s unsanitary.
