Did we ever learn WHY Netflix' version has screwy music?

[AdamMalkovitch]

Obviously Fly Me to the Moon is just copyright shenanigans and Netflix being too cheap to properly license the best animated series of all time, what I'm referring to is the incorrect score placement. The most obvious example is in ep1, when Shinji says he'll pilot and we get a montage of Unit 01's startup sequence. What's supposed to happen is EVA-01 plays during this, but it's completely absent, replaced with silence. I thought this might just be a screw up with the new English dub [N Dub], but checking the Japanese audio, it's the same there, EVA-01 is just gone. I can't force myself to sit through that butchering of art any further than that first episode to see if the track is ever used at all. It can't have been a mistake, the Japanese audio is altered too, so that means editors had to go in and manually remove the OST.
And on the topic, why is End of Evangelion's score perfectly intact while the series got fucked?

[BusterMachine4]

Uh, what are you talking about? The Netflix version had that piece too. Maybe it was just a mistake on your end?

And I've gotten to Episode 10 of the Netflix version, and I haven't heard any OST differences there. If there were, I imagine people would have noticed already.

[FelipeFritschF]

It's possible VSI (the company that did the dub proper) really rushed it. Another indication is that they for some reason didn't use the finalized Kanemitsu script.

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[Diego]

To me, it's not even FMTM in the ending but the missing, crucial pieces embedded in the episodes themselves, especially:

Ep. 15 when Misato confesses to Kaji. Without those dramatic strings it's just not the same.
Ep. 21 at the end when Misato learns of kajis demise, not the same without "the sorrow of losing the object of one's dependence".

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

The most obvious example is in ep1, when Shinji says he'll pilot and we get a montage of Unit 01's startup sequence. What's supposed to happen is EVA-01 plays during this, but it's completely absent, replaced with silence.

The 2.0 Stereo mix of Episode 1 actually has different music queuing than the 5.1 Surround Sound version. (It always did. I think it the 5.1 mixed the music differently for the Renewal release, but kept the 2.0 Stereo the same.) One of those differences is the music playing during the Unit 01 launch sequence. The early ADV tapes and the pre-release promo version of the episode also had that particular music scoring in the stereo mixing.

As for FMTTM, I don't think we've ever gotten a solid answer for that. Funimation released some special features in their first press release of Evangelion 1.11 that included Eva 2.0 teaser trailers featuring FMTTM, and Funi had to remove the trailers in subsequent pressings of the discs in order to avoid licensing issues. It seems like whatever is going on is stemming from the rights holders for FMTTM, since that song's troubled absence is a particular commonality across two different releases of two different series (NGE and "Rebuild") involving two different licensors (Funimation and Netflix).

EDIT: I'm hoping the reason it took so long for GKids to announce their North American Blu-ray release of NGE was so they could iron out all of this FMTTM legal crap.

[AdamMalkovitch]

The most obvious example is in ep1, when Shinji says he'll pilot and we get a montage of Unit 01's startup sequence. What's supposed to happen is EVA-01 plays during this, but it's completely absent, replaced with silence.

The 2.0 Stereo mix of Episode 1 actually has different music queuing than the 5.1 Surround Sound version. (It always did. I think it the 5.1 mixed the music differently for the Renewal release, but kept the 2.0 Stereo the same.) One of those differences is the music playing during the Unit 01 launch sequence. The early ADV tapes and the pre-release promo version of the episode also had that particular music scoring in the stereo mixing.

EDIT: I'm hoping the reason it took so long for GKids to announce their North American Blu-ray release of NGE was so they could iron out all of this FMTTM legal crap.

Oh weird, I'm used to hearing EVA-01 during the startup sequence and then A Step Forward into Terror during the launch, so it's almost uncanny hearing it just silent other than SFX and voices. The track adds to the tone IMO, mysterious & hopeful.
Also hoW THE FUCK AM I ONLY JUST NOW HEARING ABOUT GKIDS' US NGE BLU RAYS HOLY FUCK GKIDS ALWAYS DOES AMAZING TOO I AM NUTTING MY JORTS

[BusterMachine4]

Oh weird, I'm used to hearing EVA-01 during the startup sequence and then A Step Forward into Terror during the launch, so it's almost uncanny hearing it just silent other than SFX and voices. The track adds to the tone IMO, mysterious & hopeful.

Those two pieces are still in the stereo mix, though. It's just that EVA-01 begins much later, when the doors to the Eva cage open. The launch music is still the same. I agree that the version in the 5.1 remix sounds better, though.

And I'm also pumped for the GKids Blu-Ray release of Eva. They've always done good in the past, and I'm excited to see how they bring the original show back onto American home video. I really hope they include Fly Me to the Moon, that song was a key part of setting the mood for the show. If they can include the ADV dub, that would also be good, but I wouldn't be surprised if they just decided to forget that outdated inaccurate dub was ever created.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

To be fair to ADV, they did re-record the dub for the Renewal editions of NGE nd fixed a lot of the translation issues. (I think they released them as the Platinum and the Perfect:Platinum editions.)

[BusterMachine4]

To be fair to ADV, they did re-record the dub for the Renewal editions of NGE nd fixed a lot of the translation issues. (I think they released them as the Platinum and the Perfect:Platinum editions.)

You mean, they just rerecorded every single dub episode? I find that unlikely, from what I remember it was just a few voices in the Director's Cut episodes. I know that they redid the sub script to make it more accurate, but from what I understand the dub script with all its inaccuracies was left intact.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I remember Misato's line about "brain damage" from Episode 2 was changed to "brain contamination," or something along those lines. Honestly, with the equipment changes ADV went through between 1996 and 2003, they probably needed to rerecord everything just so the audio quality sounded consistent from one episode to the next. (Remember, they also provided an English dub in 5.1 Surround Sound. I'm not sure how usable the older recordings would have been for that kind of mixing project.)

[BusterMachine4]

I remember Misato's line about "brain damage" from Episode 2 was changed to "brain contamination," or something along those lines. Honestly, with the equipment changes ADV went through between 1996 and 2003, they probably needed to rerecord everything just so the audio quality sounded consistent from one episode to the next. (Remember, they also provided an English dub in 5.1 Surround Sound. I'm not sure how usable the older recordings would have been for that kind of mixing project.)

I don't really know if they did. I don't have a copy of the pre-Platinum original DVD release, but from what I've seen the dub there sounds exactly like the dub on Platinum (with the exception of the Directors' Cut recasts). You might have just misremembered that line change. And about the audio from 2003 clashing horribly with the audio from 1998, it actually does. Especially in Episode 24, where it's obvious that Shinji's dialogue and Kaworu's dialogue were recorded at completely different times using completely different equipment.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I do have the pre-platinum VHS release of the series, and Misato is translated as saying "brain damage" in that version. The Platinum version changes that to "contamination." The Platinum dub (regardless of what you think the quality of the acting is like) is accurate to the original Japanese text. Now, I don't know if they re-dubbed the entire show, or just spot-checked the dub and changed little parts here and there for the sake of correcting inaccuracies (I don't frequent the English dubs myself), but it is noteworthy that ADV has provided a whole special feature in their Platinum DVD set detailing their ability to provide a 5.1 Surround Sound mix comparable to the Japanese Renewal version because of their upgraded sound equipment. (I think Matt Greenfield and Spike Spencer go into further detail on that in their audio commentary for Episode 2. It's been a while since I've watched that, though.)

Also, getting the main cast back for a redub isn't that difficult. Funimation pulled off the majority of that back in 2010 with their English dub of the "Rebuild" films, getting back ADV's choice for Misato, and all of the main pilots except Rei. Doing that to a greater extent back in 2004 would have been even easier than that. (Though it is noteworthy how often ADV's cast changed for the supporting characters, with Toji's English voice talent changing 3 different times despite not prominently being featured in any of the re-dubbed Director's Cuts.)

EDIT: There is that one exception in Episode 22 (I think?), where Asuka angrily sits down in a chair at school. For whatever reason, all ADV versions of that dub add in Shinji saying "Ow, my eye!" when you hear Asuka being rough with the chair that she's angrily sitting in. Why they made this change is beyond me.

Also, Manga Ent.'s EoE release has its own issues with its English dub.

[AdamMalkovitch]

Also, Manga Ent.'s EoE release has its own issues with its English dub.

I was hoping you had said this today so that I could say "damn boy we're only one day into 2021 and you've already made the understatement of the year"
I truly, MASSIVELY hope GKids at least re-dubs Rebirth and End of Evangelion, a dub of a series or movie in another language is a compromise enough without it creating enough confusion to completely demolish the message of the story to a vast majority of people who watch said dub. I do all I can to forget that Amanda Winn-lee somehow referred to EVA as "just a cartoon" despite playing mf Rei Ayanami in every single episode and the movie.

[BusterMachine4]

Well, I'd say that the Netflix redub is satisfactory in that department. Not only does it actually take the movie seriously, there were no copyright issues that led to music being removed. I'd be completely fine if GKids just kept the Netflix dubs in general, possibly with ADV and Manga for preservation's sake.

[AdamMalkovitch]

Well, I'd say that the Netflix redub is satisfactory in that department. Not only does it actually take the movie seriously, there were no copyright issues that led to music being removed. I'd be completely fine if GKids just kept the Netflix dubs in general, possibly with ADV and Manga for preservation's sake.

That would be sick. I haven't seen Netflix' End of Evangelion dub, does it adhere to the actual script as well as the rest of their new translation?

[UrsusArctos]

Folks, please be sensible with quoting others' posts. There's no need to quote the whole post directly above yours. It's an obvious assumption that you're responding to the last post in the thread; use quotes for context only if you're responding to a specific point in a post or to a post further up.

[BusterMachine4]

That would be sick. I haven't seen Netflix' End of Evangelion dub, does it adhere to the actual script as well as the rest of their new translation?

Yep, it adheres almost perfectly, with the exception of the inevitable changes to maintain lip-sync. It even fixes an error that was left unfixed in the Netflix subs, concerning the relationship between Adam and Lilith. However, the Netflix translator said that sub issue will be fixed in the Blu-ray release, so we don't need to worry about that.

I'd really recommend giving the Netflix dub a try. If you want an English version that adheres to the original Japanese, it's great in that regard.

[FelipeFritschF]

However, the Netflix translator said that sub issue will be fixed in the Blu-ray release, so we don't need to worry about that.

Yo, I can't find Dan saying they'll fix it in the Bluray release. Source please?