[EVA] English dubbing for Rebuild 1.0

[R_J_N]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Codename V" <v at evageeks.org>
To: "The english-language evangelion mailing list." 
<evangelion at eva.onegeek.org>
Sent: Friday, November 28, 2008 5:04 AM
Subject: Re: [EVA] English dubbing for Rebuild 1.0


> Nonethelesss, English dubs are a "gateway" to get utter newbies into the
> fold, who will then either watch the subtitles version or at least read on
> a fansite what the english dub did wrong.
>
Like most I started off on dubs. And started hating dubs before I'd heard a 
single Japanese word on anime.  Too much swearing & obscenity. Never heard 
vulgar dialogue with animation before, & I was put off.

Then I saw Gunbuster that was sub-only & an excellent emotional story.  That 
was my Gainax gateway. I bought both Eva sub & dub VHS, but after seeingf 
the show through twice, stuck with the subs. I did like Misato, Ritsuko, 
Gendou, Kaji & Fuyutuski dubbed. But not the children.

Winn-Lee was OK for Rei. Shinji & Asuka were, & IMO still are awful.  It is 
those 2 who need new fresh VAs. Tiffany Grant may have been fine then, but 
there are better VAs now.  Shinji should be voiced by a woman.

And poor Maya, needs to get an intelligent but sheltered young woman's 
voice, not the butch atrocity she had in both TV & movies.

>  <snip> the topic at hand is Rebuild's dub, of which there are
> three (3) possibilities:
> 1-they get the original English dub VA cast back (obviously not all will
> return, but the primary trio of Tiffany Grant, Spike Spencer, and Amanda
> Winn-Lee have all said they'd like to return)
> 2-they use different North American English voice actors
> 3-taking a page from recent Miyazaki films, they use A-list Hollywood
> voices, utterly breaking the mood of the film as they should have used
> unknowns.

Hollywood all-star *voice* casting, in no particular order;
Famke Janssen as Ritsuko
Angeline Jolie as Misato
Brad Pitt as Ryogi Kagi
Calista Lockhart as Asuka
Jonathon Frakes as Gendou
Michelle Pfeiffer as Shinji
Lisa Kudrow as Rei & Yui


>
> Are the dubs of "equal" value to the subs?  to clarify, they are not:
> obviously the Japanese version has more oversight from the original
> creators, etc.  Nonetheless, the English dub is what a lot of people watch
> as a "gateway drug" on TV and so forth, and eventually, they then watch
> the subtitled version.  Thus the dub is actually of pretty big importance
> in "getting the word out"
>
> Unless the goal is to keep Evangelion small niche thing that "the common
> man" isn't meant to enjoy; I think everyone who is moved by the story has
> a claim on "fanship" as it were....

Is it only me, or does 1.01 seem confusing when looking at it from a 
novice's POV.  I compare it to Macross:Do You Remember Love. A great 
cinematic tribute to the original TV series SDF Macross, but less straight 
forward without the background of seeing the TV first. Abridged, upped, 
brighter & louder - but more style than narrative substance.

Rebuild so far is niche, & because it has less running time & wants to 
gratify existing fans on a big screen, it will be hailed for technological 
artistic brilliance, but stay art house.
RJN