Doesn't Funi care about releasing DBZ in its original AR?

[LuckyCat]

FUNimation isn't adapting the footage for a 1989 audience though. It's adapting it for a 201X audience where HDTVs have been standardized since 2009.

CBS was also releasing for a 201X audience when they went back and completely re-edited Star Trek: The Next Generation from scratch for the BD-releases... But you know what? They kept it in 4:3. They also kept all the shoddy outdated special effects that look extremely awkward in the 21st century. Despite the fact that they went straight back to the original, unedited source film and recomposited everything (with the exception of like 4 minutes over the course of the entire show, where they were unable to locate the source footage and had to upscale the DVD-material instead), they went to great lengths to not do anything that would harm the integrity of the show that fans knew and loved. Which is why, even though the BDs are technically a "new version" of the show, TNG fans for the most part welcomed it with open arms. It was still very much the show they knew and loved... only no longer looking like a 1990s VHS-recording.
Disney has also kept the original aspect ratio for their older movies that were done back before widescreen was the standard anywhere, and judging from the fact that they haven't since gone and re-released Pinocchio in a Super Special Widescreen Edition, I'm going to assume that these 4:3 releases of their old classics still sold just fine for them.

That's fine, but TNG was released in the U.S. much earlier than DBZ and to an older audience. I don't think the release demographic is comparable. Also, let me emphasize that none of us knows exactly why FUNimation won't release 4:3, but it likely has something to do with their current production standards. I'm not sure you can even compare live action to animation in this type of production, but perhaps someone has that answer.

On a final note, I'm a TNG fan and I would love to see a 16:9 release with updated special effects a la Star Wars. CBS may yet release that some day and make even more money. Who knows?

[Danfun64]

I'm a TNG fan and I would love to see a 16:9 release with updated special effects a la Star Wars. CBS may yet release that some day and make even more money. Who knows?

...why? Why do you want CBS to pull a George Lucas?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I can't say for certainty because I don't know much about Funimation's other non-Dragon Ball releases in the past few years, but if production standards has anything to do with it, it'd have to be something that happened within the last 4 years because they had no problem releasing 4:3 Kai on Blu-Ray in 2012 (or 2013 if repackages count).

[LuckyCat]

I'm a TNG fan and I would love to see a 16:9 release with updated special effects a la Star Wars. CBS may yet release that some day and make even more money. Who knows?

...why? Why do you want CBS to pull a George Lucas?

Not exactly like Lucas, of course, but I think you get that I prefer a widescreen release and that simply adjusting my TV's settings isn't going to do the program justice.

[ABED]

I'm a TNG fan and I would love to see a 16:9 release with updated special effects a la Star Wars. CBS may yet release that some day and make even more money. Who knows?

...why? Why do you want CBS to pull a George Lucas?

Not exactly like Lucas, of course, but I think you get that I prefer a widescreen release and that simply adjusting my TV's settings isn't going to do the program justice.

Why do you prefer it? The image will probably be cropped so something is going to get lost. The only value I see in updating the graphics for old shows is if it's optional.

[Bardo117]

They're just not placing any value on what's cropped... They're probably thinking 'oh hey look, we cropped the top of Goku's hair! It's not like it's anything important'

[Pokewhiz7]

I believe sales of the orange bricks and season blu-rays boils down to two things, convenience and the Faulconer score. Both releases came at a reasonable price with a high number of episodes per set and they gave the American fans the score they wanted for nostalgia.

In 2007, i don't think anyone (outside of hardcore Toonami fans) would have even cared about what music was or wasn't included on the OBs. FUNimation could have added a soundtrack consisting of fart noises, and the Orange Bricks still would have sold well. Obviously now it's different, since people have become so attached to BF's score due to all the rereleases and popular Youtube videos with it.

I think even today the number of people that have fond memories of Faulconer's score is minimal. Certainly there are some people on YouTube that like it, but their voice just seems loud because nobody that watched Dragon Ball Z as a kid on Toonami is going to claim that the soundtrack to the show they watched was not memorable, because there is no value in saying that. No, probably 99% of the people who have picked up the cheap orange bricks, whether in 2007 or 2016, probably just hit "play all" and never noticed a thing.

[Duo]

The Faulconer score has some solid tracks here and there. It's not appropriate for the show, but I've enjoyed a few of the remixes on Youtube.

I had totally forgotten about the OAR issue and it brings me a renewed frustration. FUNImation has done so well on so many things in the last ten years, and then there's this absolutely massive elephant in the room. Too bad.