The Joke Lives On: VegettoEX is Appule

Many of you predicted it. With the release of Episode 17 of DBZ Abridged, the cat is completely out of the bag:

I voiced Appule.

I don’t even remember when it was that KaiserNeko and I first started talking about it — it was that long ago. It was something I was looking forward to for the longest time, and I got such an amazing kick out of doing it.

Despite my incessant commentary on the voice acting of various languages, I have very little personal experience (hey, few film critics have ever made a film!). I recorded a couple quick lines for This is Otakudom back in 2001, and stepped up to play a somewhat major character (“Chow Down Fast”) for S.T.E.A.M. in 2005. Both were directed by Scott Melzer, and everything was in-person at his house. It was very similar to how professional voice acting seems to be done in the US, with a director and single actor doing their lines at a time (though we typically had at least one other person in the room). We would do multiple takes, occasionally play the scene in real time while acting it out, etc. I did another couple quick lines for Scott’s next parody, but I will not be involved with it in any other way.

It was a bit different for Abridged. As we have discussed via interviews with TeamFourStar over on the Daizenshuu EX podcast, most (if not all) of their acting sessions these days are done live over Skype (with the actor locally recording their lines). This is exactly how I went about recording with my lovely director, KaiserNeko. I received the script ahead of time and picked out one line to do several different test “voices” with. I recorded the same line over a few times in these different voices, sent them off for review, and came back together again to finalize the tone of the character with a complete script. It was difficult to get a read on the man in terms of my performances — I couldn’t really tell if he was simply accepting mediocre work just to get it done, or if I actually pulled what he wanted out of my rear-end. That’s why he’s the “pro”, though… he just goes with it and keeps on truckin’ until he gets what he wants!

Interesting tidbit, though: I had to re-record two lines because of a wrong name in the script. In the TeamFourStar dub of the Bardock TV special, the Appule-esque minion killed by Bardock is named “Eachpe” (a play on “Peach”). Written in the script for my episode was “Pierre” (another minion from the Bardock TV special, a play on “Pear”). It was not until the final mixing stage that the error was realized! During the retakes, we kept going on and on trying to get an appropriate performance out of me for Appule’s final line, “Here I come, Eachpe…” For whatever reason, I simply could not hit that range with the character’s voice. KaiserNeko ended up taking a different approach with advice on other lines and attitudes to take to reach the point of emotion where Appule might end up saying that line — we ended up with some pretty ridiculous stuff spouting out of my mouth, but I ended out muttering out the take that was used in the final episode, so it was very much worth it!

I thought I did a pretty decent job. In particular, I think my delivery on Appule’s response to Zarbon asking why Vegeta was not nude in the tank was pretty dead-on. Overall, though? It’s up to you to decide. Hopefully it was a fun little cameo that you enjoyed. If you didn’t like it, though, don’t tell me. My poor ego couldn’t deal with it. Just go post about it anonymously on some other message board, preferably with a link back to Daizenshuu EX so I will end up finding it and ultimately drown my sorrow in alcohol.

By the way, one of my favorite gags in the episode is this:

Ooooooooh yeah!


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9 responses to “The Joke Lives On: VegettoEX is Appule”

  1. Gozar Avatar

    Wow. I didn’t even realize it was you. You did a great job Mike. *Thumbs up*

  2. Kendamu Avatar

    I forgot that you were gonna be in it until Applule was killed. Then, once I remembered, I went back and watched it again. I didn’t recognize it as you right away and it didn’t stand out as any better or worse than any of the other voices. It fit right in with everyone else. Considering that I like everyone else, that means you did well!

  3. Dougurasu Avatar
    Dougurasu

    Awesomeeeee. Even though I suspected you might do the voice, when I heard it I couldn’t tell it was you right away. I guess because it was unexpectantly REALLY good 😮 I like your modesty, but really, it was good. I think I just didn’t expect a character voice, but rather your regular voice.

    Best episode ever :p

  4. Jacob Avatar

    I spent months, nay years, waiting for this episode. Damn, it was fine.

    The copy of their Bardock special I have has Pierre…so I think you DID get it right the first time. :sweat:

  5. Jacob Avatar

    Bah, double post.

    The credits say ‘Eachpe’ but the character is called Pierre by his comrade. >_<

  6. Jacob Avatar

    Well, damn. I made a boo-boo, applying the name to the wrong character. Eachpe was his name, after all. ><

    Now that I've a complete fool of myself, I think I'll stay quiet…

  7. DesireCampbell Avatar

    Wow, I remember watching it the first time and thinking it was a missed opportunity that you weren’t Appule’s voice. I had no idea it was you, I honestly expected a poor performance (because you don’t have that much experience). But, hot damn you did a good job. 🙂

  8. TriforceCaptre Avatar
    TriforceCaptre

    While lurking around the DaizEX forums after the episode went up my eye caught a glimpse of someone commenting on how you played Appule. I hadn’t seen the episode yet so to avoid any other spoilers I quickly hit up youtube so I could watch it (and yes, I am considering finding out it was you playing Appule before having actually seen it a spoiler. Being so familiar with DaizEX for a number of years now and of course the inside joke I was actually kinda bummed that I couldn’t stumble on it myself, but, anywho).
    Now, I don’t know if having known it was you before hearing it made a difference, but, I could definitly tell it was you. Most likely from having listened to your podcast so much I guess I was able to pick up on certain…I dunno, vocal quirks? I’m not sure how to put it really but despite you doing a voice I can very much tell that it’s you. Not that your doing that out there of a voice, it still (to me at least) sounds like you.

    I guess that’s my drawn out way of saying “Hey, I recognised your voice, potentially from having heard it way too often!”, lol.
    Not that that’s a bad thing, I quite enjoy your podcasts *cough*more VGConvos*cough* and I think you did a good job with your big acting (apparently not quite, but, almost) debut!

  9. Gordon Avatar

    I love dragonball z abridged. It’s great people are making the series come back alive with videos like these.

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