Did Dragon Ball air in the UK in the 90s?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

This is a rumour that rears its head from time to time, but since we have a good few users from the UK here I thought it deserved its own dedicated topic.

6 March 2000 was the date Dragon Ball Z first aired on Cartoon Network UK. This is widely known as the series was a huge hit for them, and later sister channels CNX and Toonami. I was there watching it on this very day, having already seen the series months prior when I briefly lived in America I was very excited, and 21 years on I'm as big a fan as ever, perhaps even moreso since I have learned exponentially more over the years.

There has been some speculation that it may have aired earlier than this though. Usual suspects are ITV and The British Comedy Network. The former was alluded to by Jerome Mazandarani (previous CEO of Manga UK) who said on the Kanzenshuu podcast "I think it was on ITV too" (though he may of been confusing it with Pokemon and Digimon, which did air on said channel) and the latter seems to be an incorrect entry on one of the wikis that was made in error. There's also been other vague recollections of potential airings on unnamed networks, but thus far no one has remembered anything solid.

I live in Ireland, which has almost all the same channels as the UK, but I've never heard anything about the show airing before Cartoon Network brought it here.

In conclusion, I'm inclined to believe the answer is no, the series never aired in the UK or Ireland until March 2000, but has anyone heard anything that may prove otherwise?

[Kid Buu]

I hate to be that guy, but it was actually 6th March 2000.

Don't recall anything before that though. I think some Urusei Yatsura episodes might have aired on BBC. Digimon was on ITV yeah and Fox Kids, as well as Pokemon on Sky One. However I don't recall Dragon Ball Z on anything other than Cartoon Network and CNX.

[90sDBZ]

All things considered I think it's very very unlikely it aired here prior to Cartoon Network in 2000. The thing about the British Comedy Network just sounds really bizarre and unlikely, as Z isn't really a comedy, and as far as I'm aware they didn't air any kids shows or anime.

I'm 100% sure Jerome was just misremembering about ITV, perhaps assuming it aired there because Pokemon and Digimon did. In the late 90s every kid knew about the Pokemon and Digimon animes from watching them on ITV. Pikachu was a household name. Prior to DBZ airing on Cartoon Network I had never heard of it, and neither had any other kids I knew.

Although there was a rumour around late 2005 after DB/Z/GT got taken off Toonami that CITV might pick up Z, but nothing ever came of it, and it might not have been true to begin with.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I hate to be that guy, but it was actually 6th March 2000.

No worries man, corrected my error just there

All things considered I think it's very very unlikely it aired here prior to Cartoon Network in 2000. The thing about the British Comedy Network just sounds really bizarre and unlikely, as Z isn't really a comedy, and as far as I'm aware they didn't air any kids shows or anime.

I must admit I'm not familiar with the British Comedy Network. I always think it would have been neat if, like the US original Dragon Ball aired first, as we never got the BLT dub, but if said channel aired no kids shows or other anime I agree it would be very unusual for them to air a one-off like Dragon Ball.

Pikachu was a household name. Prior to DBZ airing on Cartoon Network I had never heard of it, and neither had any other kids I knew.

That's a good point. Dragon Ball may have not been quite as big as Pokemon here, but back in the early 2000s it probably would have been close. It would be extremely unlikely for Dragon Ball to air on the same channel as Pokemon, likely sharing a similar time slot only to go completely under the radar.

Although there was a rumour around late 2005 after DB/Z/GT got taken off Toonami that CITV might pick up Z, but nothing ever came of it, and it might not have been true to begin with.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the series had continued to air in 2005/6. Presumably at that time the Ocean Group's distribution deal with AB was still in place, and they would have tried to dub Z episodes 1-67 uncut to compete with Funimation, and may have dubbed the episodes not covered by the Westwood dub if they had an interested network like CITV. This was only 1-2 years shy of Death Note's dub (which was recorded in Vancouver) so it's not outlandish to think the project would have went to Ocean and not Blue Water. Hell, if the series stuck around on TV for a few more years maybe Ocean Kai would have aired.

Who knows, we may have even got more DVDs if AB had seen the series' fanbase wasn't going away, or another distributor like Manga UK (who I believe had rebooted their London operations around that time) could have got the rights much earlier than they did.

Alas it's all water under the bridge now and for better or for worse what happened happened. I'm just glad despite all this the series is still going strong.

[NitroEX]

I remember reading that too but couldn't find any info about it. I was personally too young at the time and didn't watch that channel so I couldn't verify.

All I know is that Sci-Fi and Channel 4 would occasionally air anime but it was typically the more adult stuff. Funimation's Z dub was treated as a kids programme so it wouldn't really fit.

[Xell]

As a kid who was desperate to watch Dragonball Z back in the year 2000 before having satellite, I can confirm it definitely did not air on terrestrial TV. The only anime I can recall around this time were Pokémon, Digimon and Monster Rancher.

[LostTimeLord]

The former was alluded to by Jerome Mazandarani (previous CEO of Manga UK) who said on the Kanzenshuu podcast "I think it was on ITV too" (though he may of been confusing it with Pokemon and Digimon, which did air on said channel)

There was a similar mistake on the Manga UK podcast. One of the regulars talked about the One Piece movies airing on Sky Movies and later corrected themselves that they meant the Bleach movies. I guess that, as ITV was still regional in the 90s, it's possible that DB aired in just one area, but it's probably just a misconception from CITV and GMTV airing other kids anime.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

So I asked around for a source about the British Comedy Network claim and thankfully someone was able to provide me with one. Interestingly enough it is an article from The Independent the day before Dragon Ball Z premiered on Cartoon Network in March 2000 written By Rupert Howe:

Spoiler:

Made in Japan: Chasing the Dragon ; Pokemon Was Nicknamed 'Kiddie Crack'. but a New Wave of Japanese Monsters Threatens to Be Even More Addictive.


Tai and Koromon are pulled through the rift and find themselves back on Earth. Tai goes home and visits his little sister who seems to be aware of the DigiWorld. Koromon digivolves to Agumon in order to battle the dreaded Ogremon. Confused? Well, you should be. Unless you're 12 years old. Or an executive at an American television network. Because this is the weird and wonderful world of Digimon, the latest Japanese animation to be hailed as the global future of children's entertainment. The Japanese are coming, it seems. And Pokemon was just the beginning.

Of course, we've been here before, whether with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. But this year's Japanese phenomenon has proved to be both enduring - Pokemon for Nintendo's Game Boy was still the biggest selling video game in the US last summer - and infectious. Prompted by the success of the pocket-sized monsters, TV networks in the US have now lined up a whole new range of Japanese animated adventures, including Digimon, Monster Rancher and Cardcaptor, which is due to reach American screens later this year. Even old favourites such as Dragon Ball Z, which has been on the Comedy Network since autumn 1998, have been given a new lease of life. Dragon Ball has nearly doubled its American audience in the past 12 months.

Most of these shows are aimed at a well-defined six- to 12-year- old age group - young enough still to take an interest in toys but old enough to know exactly which evolution of Digimonster will excite most jealousy in the playground. So far the strategy has worked beyond the wildest dreams of the show's producers. Digimon is now the highest rated show on the Fox Kids network in the US, despite the fact it premiered within the past six months. According to the network, children who were already watching Pokemon on Warner Bros are now switching over immediately afterwards to catch Digimon on Fox.

Yet until recently, these Japanese imports were a relative rarity in America - even though, as Benoit Runel of Fox Kids Europe points out, other Japanese animations such as Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z had previously been a big success in France and Germany. The sheer volume of animation produced in Japan - where cartoon culture crosses all age groups and genres, from stylised pornography to fairytale swords-and-sorcery epics - meant that US buyers tended to take a cautious approach. The Japanese may not mind their kids growing up in a fantasy world inhabited by bloodthirsty samurai and priapic demons, but parents in Middle America might need some convincing.

But Pokemon was different. Pokemon monsters, famously, do not die; they simply suffer a cute fainting fit. And it's this emphasis on non-violent problem-solving and group action which also informs the new shows. Digimon, which debuts on British screens in April via Fox Kids and CITV, is clearly intended to operate on a similarly holistic level. The storyline concerns a group of seven schoolkids who are transported to a digital fantasy land called DigiWorld. There they are befriended by a species of tiny digital monsters (the Digimons of the title) who assist them in defeating the forces of evil by "digivolving" into larger, more powerful beasts.

According to Maureen Smith at Fox Kids in the US, the show "is about teamwork - the characters don't digivolve until the kids need help" and, unusually, has proved popular among girls as well as boys. This is all good news for the toy and games manufacturers. As any parent knows, kids' programmes now have a significance way beyond a half-hour TV episode, and Digimon, like Pokemon, has a huge range of characters - from blob- like ghosts to bearded unicorns and unfeasibly spiky reptiles - ideally suited to a lengthy and widespread marketing campaign.

Its still quite sketchy, as the article refers to the channel, rather vaguely, as "the Comedy Network" and because the surrounding paragraph talks about the US market its not clear that the author is referring to the UK, although in the US Dragon Ball Z did begin airing on Cartoon Network that autumn. So because this was an article intended for the UK market it seems there may have been a conflation caused by people piecing together details that weren't clearly specified.

I also can't seem to find anything on a channel called "British Comedy Network" or find any evidence they aired Dragon Ball Z. Comedy Central pops up in Google searches but again they didn't air it, so I'll remain skeptical about this claim until proven otherwise.