Will DB/Z/GT Ever Get a Proper Release?

[superfan2024]

We all know about the DBoxes; the audio isn't too good, and the the color is somewhat off. We all know about the Funimation releases and sets.... and.... yeah.... All these years, and we have yet to get a good actual release for these series'.

At this point in time, the only way for there to be good releases for these series' is to have the entire broadcast audio for each series, and to have each series be properly color corrected. Kai 1.0 was almost there, but it didn't hit the jackpot. DBGT seems to be in the better position out of all three (as networks play it today with good audio), with DB obviously fairing the lesser condition as only some of its broadcast audio has been found AFAIK.

I also have one question, is it even legal for Toei to use the broadcast audio if they're ever intending to make a new release?

[sangofe]

Why would it not be legal? They have the rights for the anime. I think the question should instead be if they bother doing that.

[JohnnyCashKami]

Aside the broadcast audio and colors, most Dragon Ball releases out there are "proper" it's just that FUNimation tried to be better than most and ended up ruining perfectly fine products as they originally were.

FUNimation's Blue Bricks and Green Bricks are good as it is, it's Dragon Ball Z that's the problem as it hasn't had a commercial release in fullscreen that has been available for everyone. FUNi only did it once with the Dragon Box Z set. The Singles are incomplete, UUE too and the Level Blu-rays were cancelled.

If you know Spanish, French or German then you can order DBZ "proper" via each respective Amazon country website.

[VDenter]

I'm sure we will see one eventually but that could be a decade off or longer even.

[MasenkoHA]

. The Singles are incomplete.

Could have sworn the singles were complete

[TheGreatness25]

. The Singles are incomplete.

Could have sworn the singles were complete

The Ultimate Uncut line was cut short, so a 4:3 version of post-Ocean (which was edited) DBZ is missing the Saiyan arc conclusion and all of the Namek arc.

[MasenkoHA]

. The Singles are incomplete.

Could have sworn the singles were complete

The Ultimate Uncut line was cut short, so a 4:3 version of post-Ocean (which was edited) DBZ is missing the Saiyan arc conclusion and all of the Namek arc.

But the singles, the ones that started with the syndicated dub with the ocean cast that Pioneer distributed and then segued into the in-house dub was complete no?

The Ultimate Uncut was their over the top name for their in-house redub of the first 67 episodes that got cancelled before they finished the Saiyan saga in favor of the Orange Bricks

[superfan2024]

Could have sworn the singles were complete

The Ultimate Uncut line was cut short, so a 4:3 version of post-Ocean (which was edited) DBZ is missing the Saiyan arc conclusion and all of the Namek arc.

But the singles, the ones that started with the syndicated dub with the ocean cast that Pioneer distributed and then segued into the in-house dub was complete no?

The Ultimate Uncut was their over the top name for their in-house redub of the first 67 episodes that got cancelled before they finished the Saiyan saga in favor of the Orange Bricks

Yes, they were complete, but they are heavily edited and do not feature a Japanese sub track/video option.

[TheGreatness25]

Could have sworn the singles were complete

The Ultimate Uncut line was cut short, so a 4:3 version of post-Ocean (which was edited) DBZ is missing the Saiyan arc conclusion and all of the Namek arc.

But the singles, the ones that started with the syndicated dub with the ocean cast that Pioneer distributed and then segued into the in-house dub was complete no?

The Ultimate Uncut was their over the top name for their in-house redub of the first 67 episodes that got cancelled before they finished the Saiyan saga in favor of the Orange Bricks

As superfan2024 said, while they were all released, there was a lot of footage cut out along with blood and nudity being censored. So in essence, there was never a real 4:3 release of that portion of the series. Hence why it was "Ultimate Uncut." The "uncut" promotion wasn't just because they used "damn" and "hell" because even their in-house dub hasn't done that before. It was marketed more along the lines of, "You never saw the whole version of this so here you are!"

[Robo4900]

Toei will likely be doing a HD remaster of DB, Z, and GT sometime soon, so video-wise, that'll probably be rather good. What little we've seen of their work on the Bardock special's HD master can attest to this.

Audio-wise... There's no reason for Toei to not use the audio, but all the representatives who can be contacted decline attempts to send it along. I imagine Funimation may use this audio for a future release of theirs, but unfortunately for my fellow OG DB fans, current efforst have only got about 20-ish episodes of the original series' audio into Funi's hands, so until Z, it would mostly still be optical only.
Maybe more audio will turn up, but I think at this point we're just stuck with what we've got. Unless someone on here has some original tapes they're willing to rip and send copies of to Funi(Or just sending the physical tapes, or getting a friend or something to rip them), this situation is unlikely to change massively. A few odd episodes have turned up recently, but they're pretty scattered. Massively grateful to have them, of course, but I wouldn't expect more to turn up.

On the plus side, the entirety of Z and GT is in Funi's hands(Yes, even those couple of episodes that were previously incomplete in circulated audio. A couple of new sources came to light for those episodes recently. I haven't double-checked that they've been sent along, but if not, the audio will be on its way soon), and I think they should have good copies of the audio for the movies by now, so they should be able to use good audio for the majority of the run.

As I recall, Derek Padula quoted Chris Sabat as saying he'll do everything in his power to get the broadcast audio used on an official release. So with that, and with the new Toei masters of the series coming soon... Well, if Funi puts out a release and it doesn't use this audio, I will be rather surprised and very disappointed.

[superfan2024]

Toei will likely be doing a HD remaster of DB, Z, and GT sometime soon, so video-wise, that'll probably be rather good. What little we've seen of their work on the Bardock special's HD master can attest to this.

Audio-wise... There's no reason for Toei to not use the audio, but all the representatives who can be contacted decline attempts to send it along. I imagine Funimation may use this audio for a future release of theirs, but unfortunately for my fellow OG DB fans, current efforst have only got about 20-ish episodes of the original series' audio into Funi's hands, so until Z, it would mostly still be optical only.
Maybe more audio will turn up, but I think at this point we're just stuck with what we've got. Unless someone on here has some original tapes they're willing to rip and send copies of to Funi(Or just sending the physical tapes, or getting a friend or something to rip them), this situation is unlikely to change massively. A few odd episodes have turned up recently, but they're pretty scattered. Massively grateful to have them, of course, but I wouldn't expect more to turn up.

On the plus side, the entirety of Z and GT is in Funi's hands(Yes, even those couple of episodes that were previously incomplete in circulated audio. A couple of new sources came to light for those episodes recently. I haven't double-checked that they've been sent along, but if not, the audio will be on its way soon), and I think they should have good copies of the audio for the movies by now, so they should be able to use good audio for the majority of the run.

As I recall, Derek Padula quoted Chris Sabat as saying he'll do everything in his power to get the broadcast audio used on an official release. So with that, and with the new Toei masters of the series coming soon... Well, if Funi puts out a release and it doesn't use this audio, I will be rather surprised and very disappointed.

Makes sense. I would also wish that the series' could also be redubbed (especially Z), but unfortunately that will never happen.

[ZodaEX]

Toei will likely be doing a HD remaster of DB, Z, and GT sometime soon, so video-wise, that'll probably be rather good. What little we've seen of their work on the Bardock special's HD master can attest to this.

Audio-wise... There's no reason for Toei to not use the audio, but all the representatives who can be contacted decline attempts to send it along. I imagine Funimation may use this audio for a future release of theirs, but unfortunately for my fellow OG DB fans, current efforst have only got about 20-ish episodes of the original series' audio into Funi's hands, so until Z, it would mostly still be optical only.
Maybe more audio will turn up, but I think at this point we're just stuck with what we've got. Unless someone on here has some original tapes they're willing to rip and send copies of to Funi(Or just sending the physical tapes, or getting a friend or something to rip them), this situation is unlikely to change massively. A few odd episodes have turned up recently, but they're pretty scattered. Massively grateful to have them, of course, but I wouldn't expect more to turn up.

On the plus side, the entirety of Z and GT is in Funi's hands(Yes, even those couple of episodes that were previously incomplete in circulated audio. A couple of new sources came to light for those episodes recently. I haven't double-checked that they've been sent along, but if not, the audio will be on its way soon), and I think they should have good copies of the audio for the movies by now, so they should be able to use good audio for the majority of the run.

As I recall, Derek Padula quoted Chris Sabat as saying he'll do everything in his power to get the broadcast audio used on an official release. So with that, and with the new Toei masters of the series coming soon... Well, if Funi puts out a release and it doesn't use this audio, I will be rather surprised and very disappointed.

Makes sense. I would also wish that the series' could also be redubbed (especially Z), but unfortunately that will never happen.

Z has been redubbed in the past.

[SuperSaiyanPan]

AFAIK the GT FUNimation singles are the best release. I really wish Z got a proper 4:3 Uncut release with US Dialogue/Music tracks. Dragon Ball is perfect honestly with their Singles and Blue Bricks.

[JohnnyCashKami]

AFAIK the GT FUNimation singles are the best release. I really wish Z got a proper 4:3 Uncut release with US Dialogue/Music tracks. Dragon Ball is perfect honestly with their Singles and Blue Bricks.

In terms of FUNimation releases for Dragon Ball GT, yeah.

For Dragon Ball I'd recommend the Saga Sets and for Dragon Ball Z the Dragon Boxes Z. Now, the movies? I'm very bias in preferring them all in 4x3 AR so I own the old FUNi DB-Z Movie Singles and really like 'em, too bad the picture quality was undoubtedly compressed (with space still left in for a DVD5).

[Robo4900]

AFAIK the GT FUNimation singles are the best release. I really wish Z got a proper 4:3 Uncut release with US Dialogue/Music tracks. Dragon Ball is perfect honestly with their Singles and Blue Bricks.

The Blue Bricks are a bit crappy tbh. Very blurry, smeary, etc.

[JohnnyCashKami]

The Blue Bricks are a bit crappy tbh. Very blurry, smeary, etc.

The Blue Bricks are alright but it definitely could have been much better. BB release is the only one so far where FUNi fans can get the FUNi dub with 5.1 audio because the Saga Sets are in 2.0 audio.

Wish the Blue Water dubs of DB and GT had gotten official DVD releases too.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Wish the Blue Water dubs of DB and GT had gotten official DVD releases too.

I wish Funimation or Netflix UK would acquire the Canadian dubs for streaming. At this point it would be the only way of justifying the licencing costs without printing a few thousand DVD sets that won't sell enough. Conversely being available on a streaming service could be a selling point for a RTD-style limited home release of the Blue Water dubs as it could bring in new fans and give people who haven't seen them in years a chance to rewatch. Sadly it probably won't happen because we all know how much Funimation doesn't want to promote other dubs.

[Robo4900]

The Blue Bricks are a bit crappy tbh. Very blurry, smeary, etc.

The Blue Bricks are alright but it definitely could have been much better. BB release is the only one so far where FUNi fans can get the FUNi dub with 5.1 audio because the Saga Sets are in 2.0 audio.

The DB dub was only ever mixed in mono. The "surround" mixe just puts the music in all the channels, and put surround reverb on the voices and FX. Stereo is almost certainly just mono with slight stereo reverb.

So, the 5.1 and stereo mixes are just glorified mono. Not worth fussing about.

[SuperSaiyanPan]

AFAIK the GT FUNimation singles are the best release. I really wish Z got a proper 4:3 Uncut release with US Dialogue/Music tracks. Dragon Ball is perfect honestly with their Singles and Blue Bricks.

The Blue Bricks are a bit crappy tbh. Very blurry, smeary, etc.

I've never seen comparisons between the bricks and single volumes by FUNimation so I have nothing to compare. Looks good to me.

[Robo4900]

AFAIK the GT FUNimation singles are the best release. I really wish Z got a proper 4:3 Uncut release with US Dialogue/Music tracks. Dragon Ball is perfect honestly with their Singles and Blue Bricks.

The Blue Bricks are a bit crappy tbh. Very blurry, smeary, etc.

I've never seen comparisons between the bricks and single volumes by FUNimation so I have nothing to compare. Looks good to me.

The bricks are literally just the single master with a heavy blurring&smearing filter to erase the grain, and a slight crop to get rid of the couple of lines of black at the far left and right.