• Hello everybody! We have tons of new awards for the new year that can be requested through our Awards System thanks to Antifa Lockhart! Some are limited-time awards so go claim them before they are gone forever...

    CLICK HERE FOR AWARDS

Preferences: The Voice of DiZ



REGISTER TO REMOVE ADS
Status
Not open for further replies.

FangirlfromHell

New member
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
Messages
235
Awards
5
Age
33
Location
Radiant Garden Castle
I haven't seen an actual discussion over this yet, and since DiZ is first introduced here (as Ansem I mean) I wanted to make one about it.

Now, in Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II the voice of DiZ/Ansem the Wise was the magnificent Christopher Lee. Christopher Lee is known to all Lord of the Rings fans as Saruman the White, but he has also had many other roles including the father of Willy Wonka (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and even an incarnation of Dracula. Christopher Lee has a voice that stands out very firmly, no matter the role you can flat out tell who the voice belongs to.

Every game since Days and Birth by Sleep, DiZ has been voiced by Corey Burton. While the voice does suit the character, it just isn't that lordly presence that I look for with Ansem the Wise. Not many people seem to have noticed (or care enough about the character) that the actor was changed.

I myself prefer Christopher Lee, because I played KHII before I played the later games and the voice change pissed me off cause it wasn't announced like most changes in cast are. I really do not dislike Corey Burton, but he just isn't the same.

I want to know who you guys preferred and if anyone can tell me if they are planning to record over Christopher Lee with Corey Burton. I can't find information on that anywhere and it makes me frustrated. I care more about your views though. Please keep in mind this poll is about DiZ/Ansem the Wise primarily, other characters are not encouraged since most of them kept their same actors.
 

Antifa Lockhart

Moderator
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
3,845
Awards
82
I haven't seen an actual discussion over this yet, and since DiZ is first introduced here (as Ansem I mean) I wanted to make one about it.

Now, in Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II the voice of DiZ/Ansem the Wise was the magnificent Christopher Lee.
Nope. Chain of Memories didn't have cutscene voice acting, Christopher Lee didn't get to play the part until KHII. When Re:CoM came along Lee was replaced the first time by Corey Burton.


Every game since Days and Birth by Sleep, DiZ has been voiced by Corey Burton. While the voice does suit the character, it just isn't that lordly presence that I look for with Ansem the Wise. Not many people seem to have noticed (or care enough about the character) that the actor was changed.
Actually! Christopher Lee did return to voice DiZ in Days. For whatever reason.

I myself prefer Christopher Lee, because I played KHII before I played the later games and the voice change pissed me off cause it wasn't announced like most changes in cast are. I really do not dislike Corey Burton, but he just isn't the same.

I want to know who you guys preferred and if anyone can tell me if they are planning to record over Christopher Lee with Corey Burton. I can't find information on that anywhere and it makes me frustrated. I care more about your views though. Please keep in mind this poll is about DiZ/Ansem the Wise primarily, other characters are not encouraged since most of them kept their same actors.

I think that most, if not all, would prefer Christopher Lee. I know I do. It really can't be helped, though. He's in his 90's and doesn't live in LA. I feel as a result Corey Burton should just be assumed to be Ansem the Wise in upcoming projects unless otherwise shown.
 

FangirlfromHell

New member
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
Messages
235
Awards
5
Age
33
Location
Radiant Garden Castle
That is true. I forget he isn't an eternal wizard in real life sometimes. I guess I'll just have to learn to deal with Burton. Granted this means I can't give my friend my KH 2 copy now since it's the only game I will have with Lee's voice if he is recorded over in 2.5. Glad to know I'm not the only one who prefers Lee though. Thanks for sharing your views as well.
 

FudgemintGuardian

Moist with roistering
Joined
Jan 16, 2012
Messages
6,316
Awards
39
That is true. I forget he isn't an eternal wizard in real life sometimes. I guess I'll just have to learn to deal with Burton. Granted this means I can't give my friend my KH 2 copy now since it's the only game I will have with Lee's voice if he is recorded over in 2.5. Glad to know I'm not the only one who prefers Lee though. Thanks for sharing your views as well.
I don't think they'd bother re-dubbing his lines. And if there's any new scenes with him, they would probably have Corey Burton do just those.

Anyway, I'd say I prefer Christopher Lee, but I think Burton does a great job as his voice double.
 

Antifa Lockhart

Moderator
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
3,845
Awards
82
I don't think they'd bother re-dubbing his lines. And if there's any new scenes with him, they would probably have Corey Burton do just those.

Anyway, I'd say I prefer Christopher Lee, but I think Burton does a great job as his voice double.

No, they definitely would bother. They redubbed DiZ for the Days cinematic. HOWEVER they shouldn't have to do any of that for 2.5 because Christopher Lee did the DiZ final mix lines for the original Days.
 

FangirlfromHell

New member
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
Messages
235
Awards
5
Age
33
Location
Radiant Garden Castle
I don't think they'd bother re-dubbing his lines. And if there's any new scenes with him, they would probably have Corey Burton do just those.

Anyway, I'd say I prefer Christopher Lee, but I think Burton does a great job as his voice double.

No, they definitely would bother. They redubbed DiZ for the Days cinematic. HOWEVER they shouldn't have to do any of that for 2.5 because Christopher Lee did the DiZ final mix lines for the original Days.

FudgemintGuardaian, they likely will re-dub the lines like Tinny said seeing as they did in 1.5. I think what they are trying to do is create more continuity by redubbing voices to fit into the rest of the series. Sad, but likely true.

Tinny, thank you for adding some more information on that. I actually forgot that he did the final mix lines. I think what we should take from their voicing decisions is that at least they are trying to keep voices of similar types when they are casting, no?
 

Antifa Lockhart

Moderator
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
3,845
Awards
82
FudgemintGuardaian, they likely will re-dub the lines like Tinny said seeing as they did in 1.5. I think what they are trying to do is create more continuity by redubbing voices to fit into the rest of the series. Sad, but likely true.
Mhm. This has always been their MO. If a new voice actor is doing lines for a part previously played by someone else in the series, and if the character has archived lines that appear in flashbacks or whatever the new voice actor has ALWAYS redubbed the archived lines. They'll probably do this with Namine in the HD version of II.

Tinny, thank you for adding some more information on that. I actually forgot that he did the final mix lines. I think what we should take from their voicing decisions is that at least they are trying to keep voices of similar types when they are casting, no?

Definitely. Though they also try to get a similar voice to the Japanese voice actor too. In Ansem Seeker or Darkness's case they looked back at the Japanese voice actor's body of work and saw that he'd been in Ghost in the Shell so they hired the man that did the same role in the english dub, for example. Corey Burton is pretty much Christopher Lee's soundalike in all projects, so it makes sense.
 

Launchpad

i remember the OLD khinsider
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
4,047
Awards
21
Age
27
Location
xigbar's apartment
Only reason they didn't re-dub Ansem's voice in I.5 is because the backlash would've been unholy. (And because Billy Zane really did set the tone for that game in a fantastic way)
 

Elysium

Be Wiser Than the Serpent
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
3,772
Awards
37
To be honest, I still consider Billy Zane and Christopher Lee the voices of those characters. The replacements are just that, in the same way that some Disney characters are voiced by other people because the original voice actors aren't available, too expensive, or they're dead. I hope they don't re-dub DiZ's few lines in KH2, that would be a travesty. Lee was one of the few good things about that game.
 

Launchpad

i remember the OLD khinsider
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
4,047
Awards
21
Age
27
Location
xigbar's apartment
Quite agreed. Christopher Lee set up an atmosphere in the prologue that was actually mysterious and intriguing, which I find impressive, given that it was in one of the dullest parts of one of the dullest games.
 

Antifa Lockhart

Moderator
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
3,845
Awards
82
They also didn't redub Ansem SOD's lines because there was no need to. Ansem didn't have any additional dialogue in Final Mix. It's game-to-game not collection-to-collection. If that makes sense.
 

JechtShotMK9

New member
Joined
Aug 1, 2014
Messages
10
Awards
2
Age
33
Definitely Lee. I mean, it's Christopher Lee. The man is a legend.

Not that Burton is bad or anything; he's an exceptional voice actor. But Lee has one of those voices that no one could ever replace, like James Earl Jones, or Keith David.
 

FangirlfromHell

New member
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
Messages
235
Awards
5
Age
33
Location
Radiant Garden Castle
I just learned something. Corey Burton played Captain Hook in Kingdom Hearts 1. Basically he actually has been in the series dub since the beginning . Wow, the more you know.
 

Antifa Lockhart

Moderator
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
3,845
Awards
82
I just learned something. Corey Burton played Captain Hook in Kingdom Hearts 1. Basically he actually has been in the series dub since the beginning . Wow, the more you know.

Corey Burton is one of Disney's golden actors, he plays a LOT of Disney characters. He's been in every Kingdom Hearts game and usually plays a handful of roles. He didn't just play Hook in KH1 but also the White Rabbit, the Door Knob, Flotsam and Jetsam and since then he's been Dale, Yen Sid, Captain Sark, the MCP, Shan Yu, the Magic Mirror, it goes on and on and on.
 
Joined
Jul 16, 2008
Messages
2,131
Awards
4
Age
33
Location
Tucson, AZ
I think everyone prefers Christopher Lee. Corey Burton is an amazing voice actor, but I don't like him as Ansem. He sounds exactly like Yen Sid and he also sounded exactly the same with Frollo. I just wish Disney would hire a new voice actor for Ansem, because I doubt Christopher Lee will return.
 

Lnds500

Bronze Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2007
Messages
1,507
Awards
4
Age
31
Location
Athens, Greece
Yeah, sometimes Burton jsut...sounds the same. Whether that's Yen Sid, Ansem the Wise or Dr. Strange, you still know it's him. And no matter what he does, his voice just pales in comparison to Lee's.

Also, the Blank Points' narration was aggravating.
 

FangirlfromHell

New member
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
Messages
235
Awards
5
Age
33
Location
Radiant Garden Castle
I think everyone prefers Christopher Lee. Corey Burton is an amazing voice actor, but I don't like him as Ansem. He sounds exactly like Yen Sid and he also sounded exactly the same with Frollo. I just wish Disney would hire a new voice actor for Ansem, because I doubt Christopher Lee will return.

I think we do have to give him this, none of the above sound like Captain Hook. Dream Drop Distance Ansem is actually growing on me after a third play through. I would rather keep Burton than have to get used to another new actor for Ansem. While Christopher Lee is always going to be DiZ, Ansem the Wise as he is played boy Corey Burton really isn't too terribly bad with headphones on.

I'm really tired of the English dub having to get new actors all the time. I think in the end they should keep Burton, so that he can keep improving upon the characters. Another note is I don't hear Yen Sid when I hear Frollo. I actually heard Frollo, but Yen Sid does indeed sound similar to Ansem.

Wow, I think you have gotten my longest reply in this thread yet. Thank you for giving me something to do.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top