History of Dragon Ball in Greece and Cyprus

[TheRed259]

Inspired by Dragon Ball Ireland's threads here is another one about Dragon Ball in Greece and Cyprus. Most of these info are confirmed and it's a good opportunity to have them all in one place here. So here is the history regarding the anime and the movies as of 2024.

DRAGON BALL

1995-1998: Dragon Ball arrives in Greece on ANT1 on September 16, 1995 and ends on February 14, 1998. It was dubbed by Cine TV Video Productions and SPK Video Film Television. Shortly after the premiere, the episodes started playing in Cyprus. All 153 episodes were aired. This dub was based on the Japanese version.
1996-1999: Re-runs on ANT1. All 153 episodes were re-aired.
2011-2012: DVD release by DeAgostini starts on June 8, 2011. All 153 episodes were released. A scene from episode 33 and the whole episode 77 are getting re-dubbed by AZ Sound Studios for the DVD release. The Greek version of Makafushigi Adventure was used as an Insert Song in a scene with Master Roshi in episode 33 so they re-dubbed the scene by using the Japanese version of Makafushigi Adventure. Maybe DeAgostini didn't want to use the Greek song for consistency or payment reasons since the DVD release never used the Greek Opening theme. In both cases though, they were wrong because the song that should have played there was Dragon Ball Densetsu. Episode 77 was re-dubbed for unknown reasons.
2019-2024: Re-runs in Cyprus from Smile TV. Various episodes have been aired.

DRAGON BALL Z

1998-2003: Dragon Ball Z arrives in Greece on ANT1 February 15, 1998 and ends on March 30, 2003. It was dubbed by SPK Video Film Television, Studio Lysis and Studio Triton. Shortly after the premiere, the episodes started playing in Cyprus. All 291 episodes were aired in Greece. Cyprus viewers did get to see Super Saiyan 3 Goku but we don't know if ANT1 Cyprus showed all 291 episodes. This dub was based on the Japanese version for episodes 1-99, 101-110, 114-117, 119, 123-125, 127, the Latin American dub for episodes 100, 111-113, 118, 120-122, 126, 128-187 and the French dub for episodes 188-291.
2002-2003: VHS release by DeAgostini starts on March 6, 2002. Episodes 1-100 were released.
1999-2003 & 2005: Re-runs on ANT1. All 291 episodes were re-aired (certainly in Greece).
2007-2010: DVD release by DeAgostini starts on December 27, 2007. Shortly before the December release there was also a trial one which lasted for 4 DVDs (16 episodes). All 291 episodes were released. In 2009, episode 197 gets re-dubbed for the DVD release by Power Music Productions for unknown reasons. The new dub of this episode was aired later in the re-runs of the series on Smile TV.
2017-2020 & 2023-2024: Re-runs on Smile TV Greece. Episodes 1-201 have been aired.
2017-2024: Re-runs on Smile TV Cyprus. Episodes 1-201 have been aired.

DRAGON BALL GT

2008-2010: DVD release by DeAgostini starts on December 9, 2008. The series was dubbed by AZ Sound Studios. All 64 episodes were released. This dub was based on the Italian dub.

DRAGON BALL SUPER

2018-2019: Dragon Ball Super arrives in Greece and Cyprus on December 26, 2018 on Nickelodeon. It was dubbed by City Studios Athens. Episodes 1-27 have been aired. The first airing of eps. 1-2 has a different narrator than the re-broadcasts of eps. 1-2 & eps. 3-27. Also, the series was available in Greece on Crunchyroll since May 28, 2017 with English subs. This dub was based on the Japanese version.
2019-2020: Re-runs on Nickelodeon. Episodes 1-18 & 20-27 were re-aired.

DRAGON BALL MOVIES

1997: Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies gets a Greek dub from Cine TV Video Productions but with a different cast. It is unknown if this has ever aired on television. It was found in a VHS produced by Cine TV Video Productions.
2009: Dragon Ball: Evolution gets a theatrical (July 9, 2009) and a DVD/Blu-Ray release (September 2009) by Odeon. The movie was never dubbed into Greek.
2010-2011: DVD release for DB Movies 1-4, DBZ Movies 1-13, DBZ TVSP 1-2 & DBGT TV Special starts on August 31, 2010 by DeAgostini. They were all dubbed by AZ Sound Studios. These dubs were based on the Italian dub.
2022-2023: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero gets a theatrical release with Greek subs in Greece (December 8, 2022) and Cyprus (December 29, 2022) by Feelgood Entertainment.
2024: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero gets a DVD release on May 17, 2024 by Digital Soul Entertainment. The Greek dub was
recorded at Sierra Post. This dub was based on the Japanese version.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Nice one, I do love me some history threads about this franchise in whatever country and having all the info for fans from those regions and of those dubs in one place.

I hope one day the Slovenian voiceover is found, even just to see how much influence the Greek dub may have had, as I find it interesting after the POP TV airings in the late 90s all these dubs further south in the Balkans like the Macedonian, Serbian, Kosovar Albanian and Croatian sub started popping up despite so many European dubs being based on the edited French dub.

Thinking because the Greek dub predates all of them it could be a sort of catalyst for more European dubs using the Japanese version ad their source. I know the 1989 Junior TV Italian dub was based off the Japanese too but that only lasted 54 episodes.

[TheRed259]

on the edited French dub.

AB Groupe edited not only the French dub but the original Japanese version as well. They offered Greece an edited version of the original Japanese version that has the same cut scenes as the dubs that used the French dub as basis for all episodes like the European Portuguese one for example. That was quite obvious during the Frieza Saga. They basically created an censored version for both the original Japanese and French version.

Spoiler:

By the way, here are some proof that the Greek dub was using the Japanese version as basis in the beginning. In a few rare instances you could hear the Japanese voices if you were wearing headphones: Tōru Furuya saying "Nanda Goku?" and Masako Nozawa yelling "Vegeta!". Tōru Furuya was also heard in episode 92 of Dragon Ball Z saying "Nanda..." while Yamcha was watching the Ginyu Force members on King Kai's planet but I can't find a clip right now.

[Tian]

I hope one day the Slovenian voiceover is found, even just to see how much influence the Greek dub may have had, as I find it interesting after the POP TV airings in the late 90s all these dubs further south in the Balkans like the Macedonian, Serbian, Kosovar Albanian and Croatian sub started popping up despite so many European dubs being based on the edited French dub.

The Slovene broadcast was actually a subbed version, not a voice over.

Ironically, Dragon Ball could've gotten a Slovene dub... only if it was aired during POP TV's Ringa Raja block, because that block dubbed all their content.

A Slovene redditor confirmed to me that while Dragon Ball was indeed aired on POP TV, they said that it wasn't aired on the Ringa Raja block. In fact, Dragon Ball was the show that was aired before Ringa Raja on the schedule (DB was aired at 7:00am and Ringa Raja at 7:30am)

Had Dragon Ball been aired 30 minutes later, the story would've been really different. Not only because of a Slovene dub, but also a VHS release since as I mentioned on one of our PMs, Ringa Raja had this deal with a publisher to release episodes from the series aired on the block on VHS.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Had Dragon Ball been aired 30 minutes later, the story would've been really different. Not only because of a Slovene dub, but also a VHS release since as I mentioned on one of our PMs, Ringa Raja had this deal with a publisher to release episodes from the series aired on the block on VHS.

Funny you mention that as I've been collecting clippings of newspaper schedules for Cartoon Network UK back in 2000. The A.K.A block [url=viewtopic.php?t=48830]I mentioned[/list], which aired weekdays from 7-9pm has largely been overshadowed by Toonami. The frustrating thing is all the schedules I found from early in Dragon Ball Z's run show it at 5pm and 9pm, which is after A.K.A ended, so part of me I'd starting to wonder is it a mandela effect. I don't think so as I remember wanting A.K.A to get more love and for a time I was watching to support it and part of ny excitement was Dragon Ball. but hopefully at some point I'll find anything that can corroborate my memories of seeing those Raditz episodes rerun at 7:30pm. If Ringa Raja had a deal in place for VHS though I guess that rules out a hone release.

[Tian]

If Ringa Raja had a deal in place for VHS though I guess that rules out a hone release.

It's a pity that Slovenes were just 30 minutes away from getting Dragon Ball fully dubbed (including opening and ending) and with a VHS release from Video Art.

But well, I guess POP TV had their reasons to not include DB on Ringa Raja.