Talk:Omni Productions

2011-01-26T18:19:08Z

98.213.117.127: /* Dubbed by Omni Productions */

According to Madman's info on their upcoming Masterforce DVD, the languages are English and Japanese, so unless they screwed up the listing, they might have included the dub on there. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 22:09, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

==Examples==
This page BADLY needs some examples of the dub madness. Also, Spaceship Bruce.

In fact, it'd be terrific if each episode had its own "Misquotes" section with the best of the quotes from the dubs. -- [[User:Repowers|Repowers]] 10:26, 13 February 2008 (EST)
: Oh no no, no no no no no...I watched Transformers RTM dub on T.V. when I was a kid and it was cool. Now it makes ears bleed, and all the Transformers in the show sound like they were dubbed by one poor, unfortunate voice actor. Who sounded British. Sometimes. Almost. Maybe. -- akindofdrifter

== Ownership ==

I think it should be pointed out somewhere that Hasbro now legally owns the outside-of-Japan rights to the Japanese G1 episodes, seeing as they're part of the Sunbow catalogue that they bought from TV Loonland. --[[User:FFN|FFN]] 04:02, 11 April 2009 (EDT)

== Dubbed by Omni Productions ==

From a perusal of the ADR scripts of the Headmasters dubs as originally included with Metrodome's DVD release of the series, Omni Productions' name (and phone number) appears on some of the script headers. A quick check on Google reveals there is indeed an Omni Productions dubbing studio in Hong Kong with the very same phone number - so it looks like we've found the culprits actually responsible for these... ''experiences''. The company's also name-checked in a [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cqSOkywWeX4C&pg=RA1-PA153&lpg=RA1-PA153&dq=%22omni+productions%22+godzilla&source=bl&ots=h8oHHpJebO&sig=FrGGs2cG9lMHgV1tQpYf2N2isJA&hl=en&ei=z8ndSqDVD5GNjAfNyY1r&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22omni%20productions%22%20godzilla&f=false Godzilla profile book], which fits in with the same few voice actors being heard in some of the later Godzilla films (plus the detail on the actors mispronouncing simple words like ''Godzilla'' sounds familiar when one considers ''Roadimus'' Prime).

Omni probably merit a mention on the main page, but I'm not sure if the page itself should be retitled first since we've finally got the dubbing company name. We've got a statement that the "RTM 1 dub" is the most correct way of describing them, which might be a moot point now that we have Omni's name. Of course, I think most people still refer to them as the "Star TV dubs" anyway so I may be on the wrong track here! --[[User:Jon T|Jon T]] 10:47, 20 October 2009 (EDT)
:Holy biscuits! That's some nice detective work! Yeah, I think we could stand to rename the page to "Omni Productions dub" or something like that. Or maybe just "Omni Productions" and then rework it a bit to include information about both the company and the dub. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 11:04, 20 October 2009 (EDT)
::I'm veering toward just a plain "Omni Productions" article about the company since that's typically what we do with article about companies. We ''could'' split them. Keep the "RTM1 Dub" article as is and then make an article about Omni Productions the company.
::Oh, and we ''totally'' need a cast list. --[[User:DrSpengler|DrSpengler]] 12:12, 20 October 2009 (EDT)
:::I'll be goddamned. this is some of the biggest insignificant news we've had in a while! (I'm not kidding, that's awesome to know, but it's also way high on the Shit Nobody Cares About totem pole.) And yes, we need to give all four of the people who worked on the dub the credit (and mockery) they deserve. [[User:Hooper X|Hooper_X]] 14:24, 20 October 2009 (EDT)

:::I second splitting off the company info, and also also have a burning need to know who these people are. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 20:30, 20 October 2009 (EDT)

::::Wow, didn't expect the page name change so fast - although I should've known better considering this site's standards! I'd be interested in a cast list as well (not that it would be a ''long'' list, obviously!), but alas this information will likely be much harder to find, as no matter how many productions Omni obviously dubbed, they went uncredited on all of them. Wonder why that was? :)
::::All I can say is that this is definitely the same company that Toei also used on the select Dragonball production, and that Toho seemed to use them an awful lot for films they made and distributed, like the aforementioned 80s/90s Godzilla films, and also various 80s anime movies like the 1984 Macross movie, Technopolice, Locke the Superman, Leda, etc.
::::Another thing I noticed when looking at the Omni scripts on the Headmasters DVD were the downright bizarre names they had for some of the characters that were made a bit more sensible by the time they actually dubbed the episodes. MegaZarak is called Chandler and Scorponok (Lord Zarak) is called Sogi, for instance in the scripts. Out of curiosity, I plugged those names into Google and it looks like these same names were used on a Spanish dub of Headmasters, clearly implying they used the same translation. What more does this tell us about Omni? Very little, I suspect. But somehow the idea that the episodes were translated from Japanese to Spanish and then to English might just explain why the scripts are as ''basic'' as they are. In any case, I think that's exhausted everything I can say about all this for now! -- [[User:Jon T|Jon T]] 11:15, 21 October 2009 (EDT)
:::::I only gave those scripts the slightest of perusals (there one or two there, as I recall, that aren't Omni scripts... the first episode, I think, seemed to be the original script for the episode, translated... it had a scene where the Throttlebots brought Spike up to speed on the Decepticon attack, IIRC), but I recall some of those crazy names, too. Scourge was "Garth" and the Autobot and Decepticon Clones were the Nicks and Bens Brothers. :D - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 11:33, 21 October 2009 (EDT)
::::::Duuuuuuuuuuude. You KNEW about those awesomely awful script names for the characters ALL this time and never added them to the Wiki!? Keepin' em to yourself!? You greedy bastard. Angry face. >:( --[[User:DrSpengler|DrSpengler]] 12:52, 21 October 2009 (EDT)
To satisfy Abates' burning need: I worked for a number of dubbing companies in HK in the 80's and 90's, including Omni Productions (as it came to be known later). If you have any questions I'll try to get back with answers in my spare time. There are a lot of misconceptions about the dubbing of series such as these, which unfortunately disparage those who were involved.
Maybe this might need another topic (I don't know what your wiki rules are). Talk later.
[[User:Preparetodie|Preparetodie]] 04:31, 10 December 2010 (EST)
:We would be ecstatic to devour any information you have to offer. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 06:43, 10 December 2010 (EST)
::I think some of the basic information such as who actually commissioned the dubs and who the actors were wouldn't go amiss. Was it Takara, Hasbro or Toei themselves who bankrolled these dubs; when was this done and why? Hasbro Malaysia (known as Palmyra Enterprises) during the original airing of the dubs in Malaysia actually sponsored the series, so they were coordinating their marketing efforts with an early (the earliest?) known airing of the series in English, complete with most of the original three Japanese toylines freely available in that region a couple of years after they were released in Japan.
::Where did the weird names come from in the original dialogue scripts, that were almost all completely changed to their Hasbro (not Takara) equivalents where applicable? With regard the actors, it would be understandable if you don't want to ID any of them given the comments made about the dubs. In any case, from comparing the Transformers dubs to the anime movies mentioned above, it's clear the Transformers dubs were done in a far shorter space of time with accordingly fewer resources (actors). [[User:Jon T|Jon T]] 07:21, 12 December 2010 (EST)

Okay, the information I have may be a bit sketchy because I don't think I was working for them when they did Transformers, I only joined them in 86. However, I did contact my ex-boss who gave me the following info: "Interesting thing is, when we dubbed Transformers, over 30 years ago, we were not called Omni Productions. At that time we were called [***]. Also we were provided with a list of names by the client that we had to rigidly adhere to. Reason for this was they were producing toys, models of all the characters at the same time as we were dubbing". It's strange therefore that the dubs are referred to as the Omni Dubs.

I suspect the dubbing scripts were written from the En subtitle list or Jp/En translation provided by the prod company. This is the way it usually was done. As far as I remember, our clients were the companies that bought the rights to the series (whether Transformers or any other series or movies) in the export country, not the companies that produced them. For example, if a Chinese movie was bought for distribution in the Philippines, we'd dub an English language version for it. For the most part, the budgets were extremely low, which limited both the number of actors we could use and the time we had to write/dub it. TV series and cheap movies were mostly dubbed on video, although the better stuff was done on 35mm. Remember that the target markets were usually not native English-speaking, so the absolutely perfect American accent was not a deciding factor. We had Americans, Canadians, Australians, Brits, it was like the United Nations. You just had to be damn quick - dub 3 or 4 pages on the fly without stopping. Obviously, to a native English-speaker, the different accents stick out a mile.

Omni (as it later became known, and under its original owners) also did some very high quality stuff (award-winning TV series, documentaries)and some films by famous Chinese directors. Obviously, the budgets in these cases were not the same and time was less of a factor.

Important note: This information refers to the Transformers dubbing done some 30 years ago and, more generally, to the way things were done when I worked for them back in the 80's and 90's. I don't know about Headmasters or any more recent stuff. The company was sold on a few years back and I have no contact with the new owners.

For the list of dubbers, I'd have to ask the company's then owner if he remembers who did what and we'd probably have to get their permission. It might be complicated. I'll try to give you more info if required.
:I'm guessing your boss might be misremembering things here, because Transformers themselves aren't 30 years old, let alone the dubbed series, which were from 1987 to 1989. Since you joined them in 86, it would in a way suggest that you were indeed around while these series were being dubbed.
:Still, some interesting, if somewhat vague, stuff in here. Was Omni really originally called [***] or are you self-censoring? --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 14:43, 17 December 2010 (EST)

:We got the Omni Productions name from the ADR scripts as mentioned above. I guess the name could have been added to them when they were supplied to Metronome. --[[User:Abates|abates]] 19:12, 17 December 2010 (EST)

You may be right about the vagueness in dates. When I joined, the company mainly did feature films and TV series, and I don't remember anyone talking about Transformers at the time, although I was just a newbie, so I wasn't informed of everything that was going on.

No, the company wasn't called ****. I just didn't think it necessary to include it. It wasn't my company, so just being polite. It's of no consequence I assure you.

I'd be interested to see a screenshot of the titles (or a short avi) with "Omni Productions" mentioned. It might yield some info that would be useful... just a guess.

FWIW, a lot of the dubbers worked as bit actors in HK films of that era. Just type in Godfrey Ho on Youtube. Godfrey was the king![[User:Preparetodie|Preparetodie]] 14:33, 18 January 2011 (EST)
:Do you happen to know the names of any voice actors, and if possible, characters they voiced? --[[User:NCZ|NCZ]] 14:36, 18 January 2011 (EST)
::Oh my god. Oh my god. The Headmasters dub team was the same team who did all the Godfrey Ho movies? That is two of my biggest nerd interests in pure joyous conjunction. Oh my god. [[User:Hooper X|-hx]] 15:30, 18 January 2011 (EST)

Just looking back through the thread and I noticed someone mentions a phone number. What was that number? It would help me identify if we're talking about the actual Omni or the previous one. Also, is there a (c) and date reference?

Just an extra note on the Transformers / Godfrey Ho link: In HK at the time, there were 2 or 3 dubbing "teams" that co-existed. Some members used to dub with more than one team, so there was a lot of crossing over. Omni (old version) did most of the high quality stuff, along with Annie M. There was another "team" that did a lot of TV stuff for TVB and ATV. For Godfrey and other "B" quality dubbing, teams were usually pulled together on an ad-hoc basis and supervised either by the local director (Godfrey or others) or by the dubber who got the contract. (I remember dubbing a whole war film in 5 hours flat with just four dubbers in the studio!) Later, Omni's policy was to require exclusivity with its dubbers, in great part due to the fact that Omni was the only company that would actually train dubbers (fair's fair...).

So, if the dub you're talking about was done during those years up to about the early 2000's, then some of the voices on the dub will probably be found in some of Godfrey's films (mainy from an earlier era). I'd really need to hear the sound to identify any voices. However, you afficionados may be able to identify some voices by looking at the clips on Youtube. If I manage to find any of my co-dubbers, I'll ask them the question though.
[[User:Preparetodie|Preparetodie]] 09:22, 20 January 2011 (EST)

::: You can listen to some of the voices here if it helps any [http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/tv-shows/Transformers-Headmasters/]

[[Special:Contributions/98.213.117.127|98.213.117.127]] 13:19, 26 January 2011 (EST)

:I don't know if we've ever pinned down exactly when the dubs were made, but the last Victory episode screened in Japan in December '89, and [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.anime/msg/a24d89d277860593?hl=en this Aug '92 rec.arts.anime post] says the Omni Victory dub had already aired by that point, so it looks like they were done in the very early 90s. Can someone with the ADR scripts check for dates? --[[User:Abates|abates]] 14:44, 20 January 2011 (EST)

::The ADR scripts mostly have Omni's details blanked out of any pages where they would have appeared, but a couple slipped the net, most notably on page 16 of episode 16's script, which clearly states on the page header "OMNI PRODUCTIONS LTD TEL No. 852 792 9674 Mar 28.92", so this, along with the usenet post cited above, and indeed a [[End_of_the_Road!_(UK)#cite_note-0|letter]] that appeared in the UK comic definitively pins down the dubs as existing by the early 1990s. Given that dubbed Masterforce was already on TV in 1990, it's possible that the Headmasters dub might have been initiated while Victory was still airing in Japan, rather than waiting until all three series had aired. At the earliest it looks like they were either dubbed between late 1989-1990, or at the latest 1990-1991, so that's the sort of timeframe we're looking at. - [[User:Jon T|Jon T]] 18:31, 20 January 2011 (EST)

== Screen/source ==

I think we should mention that the source of Omni Productions is possibly direct from the on-air version in Japan instead of video released in Japan. Since in several episode (especially in ''Masterforce'' section), lots of [[wikipedia:telop|message]] (in Japanese) is visible on screen saying "There will be ''blah blah blah'' next week" and something like that. --04:48, 21 October 2009 (EDT)

== Characteristics ==

The section almost exclusively deals with name changes. There should definitely also be a paragraph, however brief, about the general way in which characters talk, including the "translation" of Japanese curses and swear words with ''offensive'' English equivalents such as "You are an evil man!"--[[User:Nevermore|Nevermore]] 09:51, 20 October 2010 (EDT)

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Talk:Omni Productions