Dragon Ball on Australia and New Zealand

[Cure Dragon 255]

Since I'm a major sucker for stories about Dragon Ball abroad, especially in places that are underrepresented like the UK, and Canada I thought it was a great time for a thread on Australia and New Zealand. I was inspired by seeing KBABZ talk in another thread of mine. Such a knowledgeable fan, from a place that I havent heard much!

I want to know so much and yet I dont even know where to start!

[KBABZ]

Such a knowledgeable fan, from a place that I havent heard much!

I'll be honest, most of my knowledge comes from what I've read here on the site; I just have a good memory for this kinda of thing in general.

My primary experience with Dragon Ball comes from way back in the early 2000s, where Cartoon Network aired the original seires for the first time. At that point, I already knew what DBZ was and had watched it from about Namek or so through to Buu. To demonstrate how impactful that was, I don't remember any of it outside of specific moments like Frieza's death or going through Buu's insides. My familiarity with Z is 100% Kai's take.

Anyway, I came into the original Dragon Ball on Saturday nights at around 8:00pm where they'd air the new episodes (not on the Toonami block!), with Cardcaptor Sakura being immediately after it. I have very fond memories of sitting down in the lounge with my sister to watch Dragon Ball first and then Cardcaptors, each of which would become very important to us. We watched pretty much from the start of the show, seeing Goku leave Mount Paoz, compete in the 21st Tournament, fight the Red Ribbon Army, and go up against Tien. There was a period where we got bored during the Muscle Tower arc and decided not to watch it for a while, but we came back a few weeks later to the DB Gang entering the Pirate Cave after switching on the lights.

For me this is where Nadolny's take on Kid Goku embedded itself for me. That is 100% Kid Goku to me, although I now have a huge respect for Nozawa as well, who IMO works as Kid Goku far better than Adult, but hey, tradition!

So we got up to the 22nd Tournament, and it ends on THAT episode. Goku wins, and Krillin leaves and is unambiguously killed; first time I encountered death face-on in a TV show. I was in tears, and desperately wanted to watch the next episode... only, it wasn't there the next week! Instead it shot back to episode 1 and I never got to see the conclusion. It wouldn't be until 2012 that I got some rips off of a friend at college that I'd actually be able to see what happened and learn about Piccolo Daimao, as well as the 23rd Tournament.


But that is why my primary interest is with the original Dragon Ball and Kid Goku, and why I still use the English terms like Roshi and Shenron and Tien Shinhan (turning it into a last name there). At the same time, this site is why I have an interest in the production of the original Japanese material, which is a bit DoubleThink-y there, right? It's also why I think it's a tad hypocritical of fans to blast Funimation for all their story changes when the anime arguably did much of the same in how they decided to expand Toriyama's manga version of the story (like Blue and Obotchaman).

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

I watched late night reruns of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network around 2005/2006. I specifically remember watching the Buu arc until the end for Z and I remember watching the Red Ribbon arc for Dragon Ball.

After the Buu arc wrapped up, the show started again all the way back to the Saiyan arc. It was so jarring for me because the art looked very different and it was in the Ocean dub, so I wasn't too fond of the Saiyan arc because of this. I was a kid back then, mind you. Anything that was different from what I was used to always threw me off. I put off the show for a while only to come back and watch it during the Freeza arc. It was the Goku vs Freeza fight and it was sooo long. I stopped watching again.

Cartoon Network used to show the DBZ movies. The one I remembered the most was the first Broly film. Back then I loved the movie, but now I don't see the appeal anymore. It wasn't until 2009 where I started to not see anything Dragon Ball related airing on Cartoon Network.

When I wasn't watching the show, I was playing the video games. Budokai 2 was the first Dragon Ball thing I ever experienced and got me into the series. After that, I picked up Tenkaichi 2 and that game had a huge story mode that covered most of Dragon Ball Z's plot. It got me up to speed with the story and introduced me to Dragon Ball GT.

Now that I think about it, I recall watching an episode of Dragon Ball GT back in 2003/2004. It was an episode with one of the Shadow Dragons. GT never had reruns on Cartoon Network probably because of how unpopular it was with fans.

Dragon Ball Z Kai aired on Australian television in 2012 I believe? I don't think I had Foxtel around this time so I couldn't watch it. I didn't completely watch Kai until 2013, when I was preparing to watch Battle of Gods.

Dragon Ball Z Kai TFC and Dragon Ball Super are not airing on Australian television as far as I'm concerned. Super streams on Madman's anime streaming service, AnimeLab. Kai TFC released on DVD and Blu-ray last year through Madman.

Dragon Ball was and still is popular in Australia. I remember a lot of my family and friends talking about the show and wearing clothes related to the show back in the early 2000s. I didn't realise Dragon Ball's modern relevance here until Resurrection 'F' hit theatres. It performed really well! The movie was only supposed to be in theatres for 2 weeks but got extended to a month due to popular demand.

I honestly can't wait to see how the upcoming Dragon Ball Super movie will do here. Resurrection 'F' barely had any marketing here besides some Facebook posts from Madman, and that movie managed to perform better than expected. This Super movie could knock it out of the park.

[KBABZ]

Now that I think about it, I recall watching an episode of Dragon Ball GT back in 2003/2004. It was an episode with one of the Shadow Dragons. GT never had reruns on Cartoon Network probably because of how unpopular it was with fans.

Oh yeah that's right! I remember bumping into a few episodes of GT where it was Goku fighting Golden Great Ape Baby alongside Uub/Majuub/Jubilee whatever and it didn't interest me. I'm guessing they were on Planet Baby because of the pink sky, so that's the colour I associate GT with: pink. Particularly since the colour grade on those episodes was also ever so slightly pink if you looked at the eyes for white balance.

I haven't made an effort to look back into GT until now, as I'm following along the GT Review of Awesomeness. One thing I do like about GT so far is the return of Kid Goku and Nadolny, but as you can guess, I'm heavily biased when it comes to that. Nowadays I think it was a missed opportunity for GT to not explore the galaxy as a whole and how it's dealt with the vacuum of Frieza being defeated and his company not being there anymore.

I also remember a few of the ads for Dragon Ball, such as a clip of Krillin going "Don't you know that all serious martial artists shave their head?!" and the Narrator going "Nice one, Oolong" after the panties falls on his head after shouting "The world's most comfortable pair of underwear!!!". The narrator was rather Z in tone, but it didn't shy away from what Dragon Ball was.

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

Now that I think about it, I recall watching an episode of Dragon Ball GT back in 2003/2004. It was an episode with one of the Shadow Dragons. GT never had reruns on Cartoon Network probably because of how unpopular it was with fans.

Oh yeah that's right! I remember bumping into a few episodes of GT where it was Goku fighting Golden Great Ape Baby alongside Uub/Majuub/Jubilee whatever and it didn't interest me. I'm guessing they were on Planet Baby because of the pink sky, so that's the colour I associate GT with: pink. Particularly since the colour grade on those episodes was also ever so slightly pink if you looked at the eyes for white balance.

I haven't made an effort to look back into GT until now, as I'm following along the GT Review of Awesomeness. One thing I do like about GT so far is the return of Kid Goku and Nadolny, but as you can guess, I'm heavily biased when it comes to that. Nowadays I think it was a missed opportunity for GT to not explore the galaxy as a whole and how it's dealt with the vacuum of Frieza being defeated and his company not being there anymore.

I also remember a few of the ads for Dragon Ball, such as a clip of Krillin going "Don't you know that all serious martial artists shave their head?!" and the Narrator going "Nice one, Oolong" after the panties falls on his head after shouting "The world's most comfortable pair of underwear!!!". The narrator was rather Z in tone, but it didn't shy away from what Dragon Ball was.

I haven't fully watched GT since 2009. I've been meaning to watch the show again but I just do not have the time and motivation to do so. I just did not enjoy the show at all.

I can't remember any Dragon Ball ads besides the ones for the video games. I remember seeing one for Raging Blast a lot.

Would love to see Dragon Ball to return to Australian television someday, but I don't see that happening since anime doesn't get aired much on television here with the exception of Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Sailor Moon.

[KBABZ]

Would love to see Dragon Ball to return to Australian television someday, but I don't see that happening since anime doesn't get aired much on television here with the exception of Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Sailor Moon.

I haven't tuned into any of the cartoon-hosting channels in over a decade, so it makes no difference to me!

[AnzuMazaki]

If DBZ did not air in New Zealand in 2000, I would not have gotten more into anime, let alone the franchise.
Dragon Ball Z and GT have both aired in TV3 and I watched both of them, but DB only aired on Cartoon Network, my first DB episode was episode 94, which prompted me to rent out the Muscle Tower and General Blue portions of the Red Ribbon Army arc from the local video game shop.

At the time (2005), I was heavily into Yu-Gi-Oh! at the time, and the original DB series was what brought me back to the fandom, as well as making me love the earthling characters even more, especially Yamcha.
DB no longer airs on TV anywhere, but I am sure TV3 or TV2 can get the license to Super one day.

[KBABZ]

If DBZ did not air in New Zealand in 2000, I would not have gotten more into anime, let alone the franchise.
Dragon Ball Z and GT have both aired in TV3 and I watched both of them, but DB only aired on Cartoon Network, my first DB episode was episode 94, which prompted me to rent out the Muscle Tower and General Blue portions of the Red Ribbon Army arc from the local video game shop.

At the time (2005), I was heavily into Yu-Gi-Oh! at the time, and the original DB series was what brought me back to the fandom, as well as making me love the earthling characters even more, especially Yamcha.
DB no longer airs on TV anywhere, but I am sure TV3 or TV2 can get the license to Super one day.

Coming back to school and having an anime block of DBZ, Shinzo, Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh! Ahh good times.

[Kakacarrottop]

I've been watching the show since it began airing on Network Ten in 2000. I was only 3 years old then and by the time GT ended around 2005 I had moved on since no one else I knew liked it anymore. I had also begun lumping it and other Japanese stuff like Power Rangers, Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh in with toddler shows I had watched as a child. Then for a few years I had periods where I was in and out of stuff like Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon, until the 2010s began and I really started reconnecting with most of these franchises.

Would love to see Dragon Ball to return to Australian television someday, but I don't see that happening since anime doesn't get aired much on television here with the exception of Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Sailor Moon.

I remember It returned on Ten around the time the World Cup in South Africa was happening which is fairly recent, using the Ocean dub since that's already pre-edited for television. If it returned today, it would probably be on Eleven/Go or something since news has replaced morning kids shows on all the old networks.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Hey! There's this Children's channel called ABC3 I think! Could it air there? Because they aired many other more adult anime like Madoka Magica, Vampire Knight and Sailor Moon Crystal. Could we see Dragon Ball there

[gohan2k]

I first saw DBZ when it aired on TV3 4.30pm weekdays in NZ. They played it heavily censored (and when I say heavily I mean heavily - they would literally cut away whenever someone was about to get hit).

I've actually done some research, and for those interested, TV3 in New Zealand first aired Dragon Ball Z on April 17th 2000

My younger brother was the first to get into it and I remember the first thing I saw was Gohan's wilderness training in the Saiyan arc. Specifically the first thing I saw was the beginning of "The Trouble On Arlia" episode where Gohan chops off the dinosaurs tail with his sword and eats it.

The cool thing actually is that cause I know when DBZ first started airing I can work out what the date was when I first saw DBZ - April 25th 2000. That's pretty cool.

The next part is fuzzy, but I know by the time the Saiyans landed on Earth and the Goku vs. Vegeta fight I was a huge fan (even though I though Goku's Kaioken technique was an energy technique called the "Kayo Cannon" )

Eighteen years later I still think the show is much, much better than it's often given credit for by the general public and it's really amazing how the show continues to appeals to different generations of fans across the world.

[Danfun64]

I first saw DBZ when it aired on TV3 4.30pm weekdays in NZ. They played it heavily censored (and when I say heavily I mean heavily - they would literally cut away whenever someone was about to get hit).

More censored than the Saban Ocean dub was from the start? If only you recorded examples of this phenomenon. How was the increase in blood from the edited Funi dub handled?

[gohan2k]

Well technically I did record lots of episodes off TV onto videotape but even if those are still around somewhere, and still work, I have nothing to play them on.

As an example though if someone got punched in the face it would go from someone about to punch and then cut to that person flying backwards from the punch. It was almost a kind of terrible game trying to work out what actually happened. The edits were in no way

Oddly I don't recall the blood being censored in any way - it's just the violence apparently being a big no no.

In retrospect I'm pretty sure this all came from trying to escape the controversy that plagued Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in NZ. Basically kids started copying the fights, and getting hurt, so they actually banned the show in 1995 (in an ironic twist the show would later be filmed in NZ, and feature many NZ actors, but still never actually aired here due to the ban!).

Needless to say it wasn't long before we started renting the tapes of the episodes to see the "proper" version.

[LordCrumb]

TV3 aired what they were given, so it was just the same edited episodes that Ocean/Funimation did, no extra censorship. I know because I remember contacting them asking why are they playing the edited episodes, and they pretty much said "it's what we have".

I remember the hellish annoyance when TV3 would air episodes up to a certain point, then just roll back to the start again because they didn't have anything new.

[KBABZ]

I remember the hellish annoyance when TV3 would air episodes up to a certain point, then just roll back to the start again because they didn't have anything new.

I HAD THAT WITH OG DRAGON BALL. Cartoon Network whipped back to the very first episode ON THE EPISODE KRILLIN DIED. That was horrible!

[Captain-Sora]

TV3 aired what they were given, so it was just the same edited episodes that Ocean/Funimation did, no extra censorship.

There was additional censorship. As Gohan2k described, the TV3 airings would actually have the contact from a lot of the punches and kicks edited out. I can't recall how consistent it was, but battles like the Goku and Vegeta fight were completely mangled because of this.

A lot of what we see here was changed so contact wasn't even being shown. We saw the wind up of attacks, but the actual hits were whittled down a good deal. The most egregious edit I can vividly recall was when they cut out Vegeta headbutting Goku and knocking him down in the air. The TV3 airing had it so Goku was reacting in shock at his speed (even though they didn't even show Vegeta flying at him, making it look like Goku was flipping out over Vegeta intimidating him), and then it suddenly cuts to him falling. Apparently, even those little censorship star effects FUNi/Saban was editing in weren't enough to retain those shots.

I'm not sure how long they did this for, as I left New Zealand not long after season 2 finished airing on the channel and they rolled back to the beginning, but those earlier episodes with the Ocean voice cast definitely fell victim to this. It doesn't necessarily mean those at TV3 were responsible for making the cuts before they aired the episodes, but they were altered further. I recall seeing these kinds of cuts in some family movies shown early at night too.

Oddly I don't recall the blood being censored in any way - it's just the violence apparently being a big no no.

When we see this form of censorship made on foreign channels, there usually isn't anything too extravagant. They don't have a whole team on the job ready to do the kind of visual edits we'd see in the likes of a 4Kids dub and such. When TV stations (or wherever the source of these edits is from) are made to show series and movies with these kinds of alterations, it's just quickly chopping out the offending footage and not really doing anything more than that. In recent years, some Australian channels would show M-rated movies (the ones that'd be PG-13 in America anyway) with these kinds of small cuts for more severe imagery when they were aired at an earlier time.

[gohan2k]

TV3 aired what they were given, so it was just the same edited episodes that Ocean/Funimation did, no extra censorship. I know because I remember contacting them asking why are they playing the edited episodes, and they pretty much said "it's what we have".

Yeah I'd contacted them too and that's what they told me - they got them like that. I like to believe that's the case, and they weren't lying, but there's no doubt at all they were edited further down.

I'm not sure how long they did this for, as I left New Zealand not long after season 2 finished airing on the channel and they rolled back to the beginning, but those earlier episodes with the Ocean voice cast definitely fell victim to this.

I watched them on TV up till the end of the Cell Games before permanently switching to watching the videos/DVDs from the Buu arc on, and they were at least edited up till then - though I seriously doubt they would have done anything differently during the Buu arc.

On another note I'm certainly glad I abandoned watching them on TV3, especially when they accidentally skipped the sixteen episodes after Vegeta's final atonement (including Goku going SSJ3 for the first time!)

I remember the hellish annoyance when TV3 would air episodes up to a certain point, then just roll back to the start again because they didn't have anything new.

I know right! It felt like they played the first 53 episodes for ages and ages before finally moving on - but we were far luckier than the US who had to literally wait years for new episodes.

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

Did anyone manage to catch Dragon Ball Z Kai while it was airing on Cartoon Network AUS? If so, was it a new episode every weekday or was it weekly? Also, was it the censored version like on Nicktoons or was it the uncut version? I completely missed Kai when it aired here. I remember seeing a page dedicated to the show on Cartoon Network's official website and thinking "...When the hell did they start showing this??"

It's so weird that they're not airing Super or Kai TFC after the insane amount of reruns DBZ and DB got. Maybe sometime in the future? Cartoon Network's focus is on comedy cartoons and there are little to no action cartoons on the channel, so maybe they've just dropped that genre altogether? I dunno.

[BluezaBladeNZ]

The series was definitely edited even more on TV3 than what the TV version already had, no idea for GT but I only have the final 5 episodes for that. I got a lot of TV3 recordings of DBZ from Trademe a few years back so I got to revisit how the broadcast was, had around 150 episodes at least starting from 28 to the end of the series. It's interesting how this is the only broadcast I know of that had the eyecatches for the Ginyu/Freeza episodes, hadn't seen any from CN or anything else uploaded and they were a different version to what the home release had.

The first 20 or so Ginyu/Freeza episodes had one where it was silent with Dale Kelly saying "We'll be right back with more of DBZ." "And now back to DBZ" and for some reason episode 59 and 61 both had their own versions. It switched to the one with the jingle playing and there was another variant on episode 80 that had the jingle but had Dale Kelly talking over it again.
Eyecatch variant 1 (#54-7x)
Eyecatch variant 2 (#59)
Eyecatch variant 3 (#61)
Eyecatch variant 4 (#80)

The missing gap from after Vegeta blowing himself up to Buu, I don't understand, but it went to the start of the Fusion Saga then from what I remember. The tapes I got had that too and showed this during the NEP:

[KBABZ]

The series was definitely edited even more on TV3 than what the TV version already had, no idea for GT but I only have the final 5 episodes for that. I got a lot of TV3 recordings of DBZ from Trademe a few years back so I got to revisit how the broadcast was, had around 150 episodes at least starting from 28 to the end of the series. It's interesting how this is the only broadcast I know of that had the eyecatches for the Ginyu/Freeza episodes, hadn't seen any from CN or anything else uploaded and they were a different version to what the home release had.

I do remember watching DBZ on TV3 with a sort of anime block that had a grab-bag of DBZ, Pokémon, Digimon and for a while Shinzo. I also recall the Kid Gohan eyecatches and particularly recall the use of it even when Gohan didn't look like that anymore and finding it odd.