Dragon Ball Z Being Re-edited and Re-dubbed for HDTV

[Xell]

I'm pretty excited for this; I'm just really scared FUNi isn't going to license it. I mean, as far as the general American public is concerned, they already did this with the season sets. FUNi's buildup on their own "HD" crap has severely damaged the chances of this being licensed, especially if nothing is technically being reanimated.

It's Dragonball Z! Of course it will be licensed. Funimation will probably bust out "THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE SEEN! SERIOUSLY THIS TIME, GUYS. WE MEAN IT THIS TIME" advertisements.

[Kingdom Heartless]

I think they will license it, but I worry they might only release it on Blu-Ray, which would be a little much for me.

Worst part is, I would have to get a HD set-up if it was the only way to see this.

[Chrono Trigger]

I'm pretty excited for this; I'm just really scared FUNi isn't going to license it. I mean, as far as the general American public is concerned, they already did this with the season sets. FUNi's buildup on their own "HD" crap has severely damaged the chances of this being licensed, especially if nothing is technically being reanimated.

I hope FUNi can get it too. I bet the dub cast is gonna be really "excited" when they hear they have to dub Dragon Ball Z all over again...for like the 24th time...

[MagicBox]

I bet the dub cast is gonna be really "excited" when they hear they have to dub Dragon Ball Z all over again...for like the 24th time...

Hey, at least if this IS licensed, we'll actually get a full redub from present day FUNimation. That's what we've all benn curious to see since the dubbed GT songs, so maybe we'll actually get a good script for DBZ.

Funimation will probably bust out "THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE SEEN! SERIOUSLY THIS TIME, GUYS. WE MEAN IT THIS TIME" advertisements.

And that's exactly why I was skeptical. It's just going to come off as a gimmick to the general public who apparently already owns it the way it was meant to be seen. I mean, yeah, this is nothing but a gimmick to the Japanese too, but they didn't have "these are already in HD and look SUPAR COOL" shoved down their throats already.

I suppose FUNi will probably get this, but I just imagine reception to be bad, resulting in low sales...

Or am I just assuming the general public is smarter than they really are?

[Olivier Hague]

For the record (and because I just checked out of curiosity):

Saiyans arc = 3.3 Kanzenban volumes
Freeza arc = 5.7 Kanzenban volumes
Androids arc = 1.9 Kazenban volume
Cell arc = 4.1 Kanzenban volumes
High school arc = 0.6 Kanzenban volume
25th Tenkaichi Budôkai arc = 0.9 Kanzenban volume
Majin Boo arc = 4.5 Kanzenban volumes

Total = 21 Kanzenban volumes

(I counted the volumes rather than the episodes, as the latter got quite a bit shorter toward the end)

So if you're going to make 100 episodes out of that...

Saiyans arc = 16 episodes
Freeza arc = 27 episodes
Androids arc = 9 episodes
Cell arc = 20 episodes
High school arc = 3 episodes
25th Tenkaichi Budôkai arc = 4 episodes
Majin Boo arc = 21 episodes

... and I guess I could see it...

But just by re-editing the existing series though...?

[Stridex]

For the record (and because I just checked out of curiosity):

Saiyans arc = 3.3 Kanzenban volumes
Freeza arc = 5.7 Kanzenban volumes
Androids arc = 1.9 Kazenban volume
Cell arc = 4.1 Kanzenban volumes
High school arc = 0.6 Kanzenban volume
25th Tenkaichi Budôkai arc = 0.9 Kanzenban volume
Majin Boo arc = 4.5 Kanzenban volumes

Total = 21 Kanzenban volumes

(I counted the volumes rather than the episodes, as the latter got quite a bit shorter toward the end)

So if you're going to make 100 episodes out of that...

Saiyans arc = 16 episodes
Freeza arc = 27 episodes
Androids arc = 9 episodes
Cell arc = 20 episodes
High school arc = 3 episodes
25th Tenkaichi Budôkai arc = 4 episodes
Majin Boo arc = 21 episodes

... and I guess I could see it...

But just by re-editing the existing series though...?

Yes. Easily.

Again:

100 episodes could very easily contain all of the series canon. For kicks I played around with re-editing the Cell era into a managable canon format, removing all filler-- any line, extended fighting, etc. that didn't have a strong basis in the manga. From everyone gathering because they felt Freeza's ki to Goku going down from his heart problems, I was at just over an hour of footage. And that hour made perfect sense with the removals as well... and was a lot more fun to watch.

Totally doable, with what's there. Did it, and it plays beautifully.

[Olivier Hague]

Yeah, I saw that, but I'm still concerned about the pacing, the structure, the dramatic tension...
It's one thing to compile some story into one big chunk of one, two or thirty hours. It's another to do that into 100 episodes.

[Kingdom Heartless]

Stridex, how do you feel your thing would play in 20 minute episodes?

I'm not trying to insult your comments, I just would like to know.

[SweetCosmicPope]

So has anyone considered the idea that these could be in a one hour block, instead of a half-hour block?

I know that's bigger in American culture, but it seems like a good way to condense the number of episodes without having to cut out as much.

[Xyex]

I'd hope they'd bring back the Ocean Group, just to throw fans of the original dub a bone. Not likely to happen though.

God no. No, no, no, no. Ocean was ok for the first two seasons but I never want to be forced to hear Ocean 17, 18, 16, kid Trunks, or Dinobura, among others. >__<

[Stridex]

Stridex, how do you feel your thing would play in 20 minute episodes?

I'm not trying to insult your comments, I just would like to know.

Well, the thing about Dragonball is that it doesn't REALLY work as episodes in the first place. The story meanders a lot.

I mean... using what I'm most familiar with from this editing standpoint about a year ago-- you can get from Trunks showing up to him killing both Freeza and King Cold speedily.

Then say... Trunks explaining what's up and three years later, and "holy shit, they're the wrong robots, and that one just stuck it's hand through Yamcha".

Then say "Let's fight these dudes, what's wrong with Goku, nevermind, Vegeta's totally got it".

There's not a great "beginning, middle, end", but you can have segments each week that are packed with BUSINESS. The thing is that Toriyama had 15 pages each week, and he jammed them with "whoa". All an episode does is gives us (depending on the story content) two to four of those segments in a week, whereas DBZO (TM) gave us one of those 15 page segments over 20 minutes. You'll end up naturally coming to a close in the same place Toriyama did with a chapter, and it will be amazing.

[Kendamu]

If FUNi licenses this, they won't have to be like "THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE SEEN... FOR REAL... WE PROMISE!!!"

Instead, they could just as easily go, "Brand new and straight from Japan, we bring you Dragonball Z Abridg--I mean... Uhhh, Dragonball Z [some corny subtitle]! Dragonball Z has been condensed down to a format that's non-stop fast paced action all the time!!!... in freakin' HD!!!! No filler! No downtime! All action! All Dragonball Z!!!! Coming soon to Blu-Ray and (maybe) DVD from FUNimation!!!"

Just imagine the above with Chris Sabat's voice and that song they use for the Orange Brick trailers. Sounds reasonable enough to me.

[Kingdom Heartless]

So has anyone considered the idea that these could be in a one hour block, instead of a half-hour block?

I know that's bigger in American culture, but it seems like a good way to condense the number of episodes without having to cut out as much.

Hadn't thought of that...

But it seems like the kind of thing they would mention in the article, especially if they gave an aproximate of how many episodes there would be.

[Kingdom Heartless]

If FUNi licenses this, they won't have to be like "THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE SEEN... FOR REAL... WE PROMISE!!!"

Instead, they could just as easily go, "Brand new and straight from Japan, we bring you Dragonball Z Abridg--I mean... Uhhh, Dragonball Z [some corny subtitle]! Dragonball Z has been condensed down to a format that's non-stop fast paced action all the time!!!... in freakin' HD!!!! No filler! No downtime! All action! All Dragonball Z!!!! Coming soon to Blu-Ray and (maybe) DVD from FUNimation!!!"

Just imagine the above with Chris Sabat's voice and that song they use for the Orange Brick trailers. Sounds reasonable enough to me.

When they say "All action!," the word action would have to echo. It's the way the ad is meant to be heard.

[Xell]

If FUNi licenses this, they won't have to be like "THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE SEEN... FOR REAL... WE PROMISE!!!"

Instead, they could just as easily go, "Brand new and straight from Japan, we bring you Dragonball Z Abridg--I mean... Uhhh, Dragonball Z [some corny subtitle]! Dragonball Z has been condensed down to a format that's non-stop fast paced action all the time!!!... in freakin' HD!!!! No filler! No downtime! All action! All Dragonball Z!!!! Coming soon to Blu-Ray and (maybe) DVD from FUNimation!!!"

Just imagine the above with Chris Sabat's voice and that song they use for the Orange Brick trailers. Sounds reasonable enough to me.

Hey, that could work. They could make it clear that it's going to be a lot more straight to the point.

Something like: "REMEMBER THOSE LONG TRANSFORMATION SCENES YOU USED TO HATE? THEY'RE GONE! 10 MINUTES OF SCREAMING IS NOW CONDENSED INTO 5 SECONDS. OH, AND NAMEK ACTUALLY BLOWS UP IN 5 MINUTES NOW."

[Olivier Hague]

There's not a great "beginning, middle, end", but you can have segments each week that are packed with BUSINESS. The thing is that Toriyama had 15 pages each week, and he jammed them with "whoa". All an episode does is gives us (depending on the story content) two to four of those segments in a week, whereas DBZO (TM) gave us one of those 15 page segments over 20 minutes.

Well, I guess two cliffhangers by episode wouldn't be a problem, for example (there's the CM break)...
I just don't think it would be that easy in the long run. Especially if you only have material from the original series to work with.

it seems like the kind of thing they would mention in the article, especially if they gave an aproximate of how many episodes there would be.

The article didn't say anything about the number of episodes. That's from the 2ch post.
(but yeah, you'd think that's something the 2ch poster would mention...)

[Saiyan-Professor]

So has anyone considered the idea that these could be in a one hour block, instead of a half-hour block?...

That occurs on Naruto Shippuden quite often so that is a possibility.

[Olivier Hague]

That occurs on Naruto Shippuden quite often so that is a possibility.

One-hour episodes? Really?

[Kendamu]

If FUNi licenses this, they won't have to be like "THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE SEEN... FOR REAL... WE PROMISE!!!"

Instead, they could just as easily go, "Brand new and straight from Japan, we bring you Dragonball Z Abridg--I mean... Uhhh, Dragonball Z [some corny subtitle]! Dragonball Z has been condensed down to a format that's non-stop fast paced action all the time!!!... in freakin' HD!!!! No filler! No downtime! All action! All Dragonball Z!!!! Coming soon to Blu-Ray and (maybe) DVD from FUNimation!!!"

Just imagine the above with Chris Sabat's voice and that song they use for the Orange Brick trailers. Sounds reasonable enough to me.

When they say "All action!," the word action would have to echo. It's the way the ad is meant to be heard.

Yeah. You understand exactly what I mean!

Maybe we should work for FUNimation's DBZ department...

I'd probably get fired for trying to get MasakoX to replace Sean Schemmel.

[Saiyan-Professor]

That occurs on Naruto Shippuden quite often so that is a possibility.

One-hour episodes? Really?

They call it double episode specials it plays like one long episode with a small break in the middle with something silly or a conversation between certain main characters in the episode explaining something that occurred in a comedic fashion.