Lack of Other OP and ED's on FUNi's airings/releases of OG DB.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I've heard that the most likely reason why the second opening and first, third and fourth closing animations for the original Dragon Ball series are and have not been available here on TV or home video is because Toei apparently didn't provide FUNimation with said materials (at least not in a creditless form) at the time in the late '90s/early 2000's for them to put their dub credits on. Thus, they only have duplicate multi gen digibeta tape masters containing the first opening which became outdated starting with episode 100, given it shows Goku and everyone with the rounder more Dr. Slump-esque design style of Toriyama's and outfits of the Pilaf/21st Budokai arcs, and second closing for all 153 episodes. Funny thing is that Harmony Gold actually did receive the second opening in creditless form back in 1989/1990 for their dub, so i don't know what happened in that intervening time. It also stands as the one outlier of the franchise in terms of the anime adaptation that does not have all the opening and closing sequences available here, because Z, GT and all the more modern productions (Kai, Super.etc) actually have their respective openings and closings properly intact. I figure this is true, right? Apparently owing to FUNi lacking those materials, much like how OG DB's next episode previews are not available on any of it's releases here either for that matter.

Of course the only way to actually get those aforementioned things is through the Dragon Box versions, or other releases derived from them.

[MasenkoHA]

It would seem like Harmony Gold got different masters than what Funimation got. Their dub of Mystical Adventure also only played an instrumental of Dragon Ball Densetsu and had a textless ending. Funimation’s dub had Dragon Ball Densetsu intact and included the Japanese credits at the end.


The whole thing is weird to me. Like different countries getting different M&E tracks with different insert songs missing.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

It would seem like Harmony Gold got different masters than what Funimation got. Their dub of Mystical Adventure also only played an instrumental of Dragon Ball Densetsu and had a textless ending. Funimation’s dub had Dragon Ball Densetsu intact and included the Japanese credits at the end.


The whole thing is weird to me. Like different countries getting different M&E tracks with different insert songs missing.

Yeah, and so for some reason FUNi's digibeta tape masters don't have OP 2 or the other three closings. It's really odd to say the least considering both Z and GT have all their openings and closings intact.

[Robo4900]

It would seem like Harmony Gold got different masters than what Funimation got. Their dub of Mystical Adventure also only played an instrumental of Dragon Ball Densetsu and had a textless ending. Funimation’s dub had Dragon Ball Densetsu intact and included the Japanese credits at the end.

The whole thing is weird to me. Like different countries getting different M&E tracks with different insert songs missing.

Yeah, and so for some reason FUNi's digibeta tape masters don't have OP 2 or the other three closings. It's really odd to say the least considering both Z and GT have all their openings and closings intact.

Funimation didn't receive digibeta tapes from Toei, they received 16mm film prints, which Funimation then had transferred to tape. Those 16mm films themselves only used the first OP and ED.

As for why only the first OP/ED was included on the materials sent to Funi, my best guess is Toei didn't have the textless versions of the other OPs/EDs to hand anymore, so they just sent Funimation the only textless version they had, which was OP1/ED1. There are actually some collectors out there who have ex-Funimation 16mm film of an episode or two of late DB, and it has the textless OP1/ED1 attached.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

It would seem like Harmony Gold got different masters than what Funimation got. Their dub of Mystical Adventure also only played an instrumental of Dragon Ball Densetsu and had a textless ending. Funimation’s dub had Dragon Ball Densetsu intact and included the Japanese credits at the end.

The whole thing is weird to me. Like different countries getting different M&E tracks with different insert songs missing.

Yeah, and so for some reason FUNi's digibeta tape masters don't have OP 2 or the other three closings. It's really odd to say the least considering both Z and GT have all their openings and closings intact.

Funimation didn't receive digibeta tapes from Toei, they received 16mm film prints, which Funimation then had transferred to tape. Those 16mm films themselves only used the first OP and ED.

As for why only the first OP/ED was included on the materials sent to Funi, my best guess is Toei didn't have the textless versions of the other OPs/EDs to hand anymore, so they just sent Funimation the only textless version they had, which was OP1/ED1. There are actually some collectors out there who have ex-Funimation 16mm film of an episode or two of late DB, and it has the textless OP1/ED1 attached.

I figure that's what it was, the masters with those credit less copies of OP 2 and ED 1, 3 and 4 were likely junked or something at some point along the way and they only had the versions on film with just those two sequences as the others only had the Japanese credits.

[bkev]

Funimation didn't receive digibeta tapes from Toei, they received 16mm film prints, which Funimation then had transferred to tape. Those 16mm films themselves only used the first OP and ED.

Do you have a source on this? We know they got film stock for the movies due to their HD masters, but I've long been under the impression they only received tapes for the series itself, possibly explaining why they haven't done any modern transfers.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Funimation didn't receive digibeta tapes from Toei, they received 16mm film prints, which Funimation then had transferred to tape. Those 16mm films themselves only used the first OP and ED.

Do you have a source on this? We know they got film stock for the movies due to their HD masters, but I've long been under the impression they only received tapes for the series itself, possibly explaining why they haven't done any modern transfers.

I mean, considering the last release of OG DB domestically was in 2009-2010 with the Blue Bricks and there hasn't been any since then i'm also under the impression that's the reason why.

[Robo4900]

Funimation didn't receive digibeta tapes from Toei, they received 16mm film prints, which Funimation then had transferred to tape. Those 16mm films themselves only used the first OP and ED.

Do you have a source on this? We know they got film stock for the movies due to their HD masters, but I've long been under the impression they only received tapes for the series itself, possibly explaining why they haven't done any modern transfers.

I'll have to dig around for it, but there's a YouTube upload somewhere out there of a behind-the-scenes thing where Funimation's employees (Barry Watson and his brother Byron, as I recall) back in '96 or '97 discuss the process. I believe JulieYBM shared it here a while back.

In addition, Toei always gave out their masters in this format back then, so it generally just makes sense anyway, and you can see this situation for yourself as well in that the original edited Saban/Ocean version of DBZ episode 1 does generally look like the same sort of print as Funimation eventually transferred in HD on the Levels.

In the behind the scenes video I refer to, Barry or Byron discuss Toei sending film over from Japan, where it's transferred to tape in Dallas. There are other details he discusses, but I can't remember what else was said. There was stuff about standards & practices, etc. I think.

EDIT: Found a post I made a couple of years ago outlining the whole film masters situation: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=45381
The video I was talking about is here.

[MasenkoHA]

Out of curiosity did the Latin American dub also only get the one op and ed? I know that dub got the same M&E track as Funimation i.e the only insert songs intact are the same 4 Funimation got to keep

[90sDBZ]

It's a shame they weren't included, as the 2nd Opening for DB is awesome and highlights the Piccolo arc. Having Opening 1 for the whole series gets tiresome, so I mostly skip it.

[M16U3L2015]

Out of curiosity did the Latin American dub also only get the one op and ed? I know that dub got the same M&E track as Funimation i.e the only insert songs intact are the same 4 Funimation got to keep

Yes, they only provided them with the first Opening and Ending.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

It's a shame they weren't included, as the 2nd Opening for DB is awesome and highlights the Piccolo arc. Having Opening 1 for the whole series gets tiresome, so I mostly skip it.

I especially like ED 4 the most, as it's really cool getting to see the characters grown as they are in the 23rd Budokai arc. I think it's such a darn shame that FUNi didn't get the others OP/EDs to use. Also agreed about OP 2, i have a copy and just put it on before watching episode 100+ because the first is outdated from the Piccolo Daimao arc onward. Seeing only the latter for all 153 eps just doesn't feel right, so i watch the copies of the individual opening and closings with the episodes they correspond to.

[MasenkoHA]

It's a shame they weren't included, as the 2nd Opening for DB is awesome and highlights the Piccolo arc. Having Opening 1 for the whole series gets tiresome, so I mostly skip it.

Honestly the 2nd OP is so cool if we had to only have one OP for all 153 episodes I’d rather it be the second.
Wouldn’t have been the first time Toei only gave the final version of the OP for a company to use.