Help Guide for DBZ Funimation Singles DVDs (links + screens)

[Puto]

The movie 1-3 Dragon Box masters are in widescreen, you can't rebuild Rock the Dragon properly from that.

[Robo4900]

Yeah preferably FUNimation would have asked for the Dragon Box masters from Toei (plus those for Movies 1-3 for the Rock the Dragon opening) to make a more solidly-based DVD release, maybe applying a slight desaturation and black crush to better fit western expectations, and redoing all the title cards. Makes me wonder if, between the cost of doing the DVD Singles, Ultimate Uncut and then the Orange Bricks, if it would have been cheaper to get the Dragon Box masters and touch those up instead.

No, I disagree. They shouldn't have got the DBox masters at all. Their DigiBeta masters are utterly fine, and they should have just stuck with those. Only thing we really gained from the Funi DBoxes is a complete 4:3 release of Z, which we would have had if they'd done it as I explained, and unlike the DBoxes, it wouldn't be a stupid collectors' item.

[JohnnyCashKami]

Yeah preferably FUNimation would have asked for the Dragon Box masters from Toei (plus those for Movies 1-3 for the Rock the Dragon opening) to make a more solidly-based DVD release, maybe applying a slight desaturation and black crush to better fit western expectations, and redoing all the title cards. Makes me wonder if, between the cost of doing the DVD Singles, Ultimate Uncut and then the Orange Bricks, if it would have been cheaper to get the Dragon Box masters and touch those up instead.

No, I disagree. They shouldn't have got the DBox masters at all. Their DigiBeta masters are utterly fine, and they should have just stuck with those. Only thing we really gained from the Funi DBoxes is a complete 4:3 release of Z, which we would have had if they'd done it as I explained, and unlike the DBoxes, it wouldn't be a stupid collectors' item.

The FUNimation Singles and UUE look really damn good so if FUNi hadn't released their own Dragon Box Z, I'd be perfectly happy with the show in Singles/UUE quality.

Too friggin bad the Singles is missing the early Saiyan and Freeza arcs uncut in Japanese, and the UUE were cancelled before the Saiyan arc was even completed.

DBZ's Level release at least finished the Saiyan arc but didn't go past that.

[USSJ Roshi]

That you? There is like 68.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/68-x-Dragonb ... SwDktbJ97K

[JohnnyCashKami]

That you? There is like 68.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/68-x-Dragonb ... SwDktbJ97K

FUNimation never released Saiyan and Freeza arc uncut in Japanese in 4x3. They did so via the OBs on DVD and Blu-ray but that's 16x9 so not the same.

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

The Ultimate Uncuts will still go down in history as one of Fukunaga's biggest blunders with the Dragon Ball Z property. There was really no excuse for his company to had done the release the way it did when the writing was clearly on the wall in 2005 that the anime bubble had burst, the fans were no longer going to settle for singles purchases as the status quo, and cheaper and convenient boxsets akin to other western TV properties were all the rage to DVD collectors who frequented entertainment stores like FYE!

[KBABZ]

Yeah preferably FUNimation would have asked for the Dragon Box masters from Toei (plus those for Movies 1-3 for the Rock the Dragon opening) to make a more solidly-based DVD release, maybe applying a slight desaturation and black crush to better fit western expectations, and redoing all the title cards. Makes me wonder if, between the cost of doing the DVD Singles, Ultimate Uncut and then the Orange Bricks, if it would have been cheaper to get the Dragon Box masters and touch those up instead.

No, I disagree. They shouldn't have got the DBox masters at all. Their DigiBeta masters are utterly fine, and they should have just stuck with those. Only thing we really gained from the Funi DBoxes is a complete 4:3 release of Z, which we would have had if they'd done it as I explained, and unlike the DBoxes, it wouldn't be a stupid collectors' item.

I'm guessing the singles are the best representation of FUNi's DigiBeta footage?

[Robo4900]

Yeah preferably FUNimation would have asked for the Dragon Box masters from Toei (plus those for Movies 1-3 for the Rock the Dragon opening) to make a more solidly-based DVD release, maybe applying a slight desaturation and black crush to better fit western expectations, and redoing all the title cards. Makes me wonder if, between the cost of doing the DVD Singles, Ultimate Uncut and then the Orange Bricks, if it would have been cheaper to get the Dragon Box masters and touch those up instead.

No, I disagree. They shouldn't have got the DBox masters at all. Their DigiBeta masters are utterly fine, and they should have just stuck with those. Only thing we really gained from the Funi DBoxes is a complete 4:3 release of Z, which we would have had if they'd done it as I explained, and unlike the DBoxes, it wouldn't be a stupid collectors' item.

I'm guessing the singles are the best representation of FUNi's DigiBeta footage?

UUE was a much better-quality transfer of the DigiBeta footage than the other singles, so really UUE is the best representation.

[KBABZ]

I'm guessing the singles are the best representation of FUNi's DigiBeta footage?

UUE was a much better-quality transfer of the DigiBeta footage than the other singles, so really UUE is the best representation.

That's a shame, the UUEs (and the Level sets for that matter) are fantastic transfers. Makes it weirder for just how much the Bricks and Blu-Rays butchered that exact same footage. I mean noise correction makes some sense but that massive amount of over-exposure and screw-ery with the colours themselves?

[Robo4900]

I'm guessing the singles are the best representation of FUNi's DigiBeta footage?

UUE was a much better-quality transfer of the DigiBeta footage than the other singles, so really UUE is the best representation.

That's a shame, the UUEs (and the Level sets for that matter) are fantastic transfers. Makes it weirder for just how much the Bricks and Blu-Rays butchered that exact same footage. I mean noise correction makes some sense but that massive amount of over-exposure and screw-ery with the colours themselves?

The UUEs are different footage to the Bricks and BDs. The Levels were a high-def film transfer done by Funimation, which was later butchered for the BDs. OBs were a similar kind of film transfer, which was kind of ruined from the get-go. UUEs used the untouched DigiBeta footage.

[KBABZ]

UUE was a much better-quality transfer of the DigiBeta footage than the other singles, so really UUE is the best representation.

That's a shame, the UUEs (and the Level sets for that matter) are fantastic transfers. Makes it weirder for just how much the Bricks and Blu-Rays butchered that exact same footage. I mean noise correction makes some sense but that massive amount of over-exposure and screw-ery with the colours themselves?

The UUEs are different footage to the Bricks and BDs. The Levels were a high-def film transfer done by Funimation, which was later butchered for the BDs. OBs were a similar kind of film transfer, which was kind of ruined from the get-go. UUEs used the untouched DigiBeta footage.

Huh, interesting. Didn't realize there was that kind of history regarding FUNi's DBZ masters.

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

For the record, Volumes 10 and 11 of the UUE's were supposedly completed with only Volume 12 being the only volume that was not put into production. Case art of Volumes 10 and 11 can be seen online.

[Robo4900]

For the record, Volumes 10 and 11 of the UUE's were supposedly completed with only Volume 12 being the only volume that was not put into production. Case art of Volumes 10 and 11 can be seen online.

I would guess that all of the remaining Vegeta saga that wasn't ready for production was in various different stages of mastering and authoring, probably not far from being production-ready. The footage is all basically just the DigiBeta footage with the then-new dub put onto it, and the Latin American dub synced up, both of which were probably already basically complete tasks, given Funi's tapes were from Latin America. I imagine the only obstacles, if any, were syncing Japanese, having Simmons do the subtitles, designing menus, possibly assembling some bonus features, and maybe some slight tweaking on the video to make it look a little nicer, to their tastes.

[JohnnyCashKami]

For the record, Volumes 10 and 11 of the UUE's were supposedly completed with only Volume 12 being the only volume that was not put into production. Case art of Volumes 10 and 11 can be seen online.

I would guess that all of the remaining Vegeta saga that wasn't ready for production was in various different stages of mastering and authoring, probably not far from being production-ready. The footage is all basically just the DigiBeta footage with the then-new dub put onto it, and the Latin American dub synced up, both of which were probably already basically complete tasks, given Funi's tapes were from Latin America. I imagine the only obstacles, if any, were syncing Japanese, having Simmons do the subtitles, designing menus, possibly assembling some bonus features, and maybe some slight tweaking on the video to make it look a little nicer, to their tastes.

It was strange FUNi was including the Mexican dub somewhat randomly when they were under no obligation to. US is an English speaking country so the second language that would need to be featured would have been Japanese.

On the plus side, fans of the Mexican dub could've gotten a fantastic DBZ series release if it hadn't been tanked.

Movie 6 Single (or whatever it was) also came with the Mexican dub but not the rest.. yeah, random.

Btw, Brazilian-Portuguese is also a Latin language but it has become the norm that Spanish of the Americas is the "Latin American" language/dub.

[Robo4900]

On the plus side, fans of the Mexican dub could've gotten a fantastic DBZ series release if it hadn't been tanked.

If it hadn't been canned, then as I understand it, UUE would be the first(And only?) time the full, uncut Latin American dub saw a release.

As I understand it, all other releases of the Latin American dub redubbed several short pieces using the same actors, but dubbed in about 2008-ish, using scripts translated from Funimation's dub scripts. The official reasoning for this is that they lost the uncut masters...

Btw, Brazilian-Portuguese is also a Latin language but it has become the norm that Spanish of the Americas is the "Latin American" language/dub.

I've always seen the Latin American Spanish dub referred to as "The Latin American dub", so that's how I refer to it, since there's also a European Spanish dub, and saying "Latin American Spanish dub" is quite a mouthful. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[uzuni]

Could anyone provide links for the Dragon Ball Saga sets, as well as the Madman release of the Saga of Goku?

[JohnnyCashKami]

Could anyone provide links for the Dragon Ball Saga sets, as well as the Madman release of the Saga of Goku?

Saga Sets vs Blue Bricks

If you're a fan of the FUNimation dub, it's available in 5.1 on the Blue Bricks but the rest is practically all better on the Saga Sets. The Saga Sets were released in their original picture format without zooming the fuck in.

This is a comparison of the Blue Bricks vs Dragon Box.



Saga Sets' colors are the same as BB's, iirc.

[uzuni]

Is there any release that contains recaps with Dale Kelly’s narration for episodes 68-74?

[BluezaBladeNZ]

Is there any release that contains recaps with Dale Kelly’s narration for episodes 68-74?

There's no release that has it complete, not even sure an uncut version of 68-70/71 recap exists with Dale Kelly as the edited episodes ends and starts in different areas earlier than uncut. So the Madman single is the most there is for it sadly.

[uzuni]

Is there any release that contains recaps with Dale Kelly’s narration for episodes 68-74?

There's no release that has it complete, not even sure an uncut version of 68-70/71 recap exists with Dale Kelly as the edited episodes ends and starts in different areas earlier than uncut. So the Madman single is the most there is for it sadly.

Would you know where this video came from then?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMNX4tOeREo