The Third Season
Voice Actors
This section is basically a review of the all - new voice cast for the Third Season of U.S. Dragon Ball Z. Here you can find my own personal reviews of all the major and minor character's new voices, and my own personal ratings of them.
Goku - I'd say they did a pretty good job on choosing someone who not only sounds a lot like Goku's old voice (more Ian Corlett than Peter Kelamis), but also chose someone who does a good job of delivering his lines. Also, Sean Schemmel doesn't sound like he's distorting his voice in order to resemble the old one, which is one of the major problems with many of the other voice actors. I see no problem with Goku's new voice, so he gets a perfect 10/10.
Vegeta - Vegeta's voice started out sounding pretty bad. It was painfully obvious that Christopher Sabat was trying to contort his voice to sound like Brian Drummond's raspy growl, making him sound very cartoonish. Fortunately, about five episodes in, he begins to let go of his "accent" and lets his true voice show through, which actually sounds really good! Christopher Sabat also does probably the best-performed death scene ever on U.S. DBZ, which earns him a respectful 9.5/10.
Piccolo - Piccolo's voice is okay, but not great. In his first new episode, Christopher Sabat sounds really gruff. Actually, the new Piccolo sounds exactly like the old Piccolo, Scott McNeil, when he was angry or excited. So basically Picollo's new voice sounds like he's angry all the time. Later on, just like Vegeta, Christopher Sabat lets go of the growl a bit and sounds less gruff and more realistic, so that's okay. Piccolo gets an 8/10.
Krillin - This is the voice that a lot of people dislike. I believe the most popular description is "horrible". Actually, I don't really think it's as bad as people make it out to be. He did sound really bad in the first few episodes of the third season, up to about the end of the Ginyu Saga, but after that he started to sound a little better, a little less scratchy and annoying. He still sounds not nearly as good as the old Krillin, but he's getting there. One thing I noticed about the new voice that strikes me as strange is that the longer Sean Schemmel plays the character, the more similar to Terry Klassen he sounds! I give Krillin's voice at it's current level a 7.5/10.
Gohan - Gohan's voice actually sounds pretty good! As a matter of fact, I'd say that the new voice sounds exactly like the old voice of Saffron Henderson. The only difference with the new voice actor is that she occasionally makes her voice sound a little horse, which is a rare and minor problem. Otherwise, she seems to be able to portray her character just fine. Gohan's voice gets a 9/10.
Frieza - Ah yes, the infamous voice of American Frieza. Frieza is still portrayed by a woman, which was no surprise to me (with the continuety issue and all) but for some reason a lot of people were completely caught off guard by it. Personally, I think the new voice sounds much better than the old one. Pauline Newstone sounded very strange, kind of like a creepy old lady with lung cancer. At least the new voice sounds half-way normal, and she definitely delivers her lines better. I don't think it should matter if Frieza is played by a male or female anyway. After all, Goku's Japanese voice was female and she played him extremely well throughout the entire series. If they deliver their lines well, and make you believe what they're saying and how they're feeling when they're saying it, then who cares? Anyway, this actress's voice goes through several augmentations throughout the transformations which make her sound pretty cool, so I will have to give the new voice a very controversal 9/10.