Funimation's 30th anniversary collectible home video release

[Robo4900]

TBH, given the choice between the Spanish DB box and the current western DVDs of DB, the Spanish sets are an upgrade, video-wise.

I will say I am still a little sad about the 30th sets of DBZ, given what our expectations were when they announced a "for the fans" 4:3 box set, but in fairness, there's now a somewhat widely-available version of DBZ in 4:3 for the first time since like 2005. That's quite nice.

With it in mind that we're probably never getting a HD transfer+restoration of DB (at least, not anytime remotely soon), it would be neat if the Spanish upscale masters were re-released in English territories. If that happened, we Brits would finally have a fix for the authoring errors on our DB DVDs. (I forget which episode, but sometime during the Baba's Palace mini arc, if you're watching subbed, it skips from the midpoint of one episode, to the midpoint of the next one, and another episode in that saga uses dubtitles)
And hey, the Spanish box has NEPs, right? Maybe we'd finally get officially subbed DB NEPs!
I think GT's were subbed on the original DVD singles. I know for sure Z's were subbed on the Dragon Boxes in ~2009. So, this would complete the set, I think.

The Spanish box is not ideal. In fact, an untouched SD-BD release of the masters Selecta Vision were given pre-upscaling and pre-filtering would be better. But, honestly, this would be a perfectly serviceable release if it had English subs+dub on it. I'd definitely consider buying an English version of it.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

TBH, given the choice between the Spanish DB box and the current western DVDs of DB, the Spanish sets are an upgrade.

I will say I am still a little sour on the 30th sets of DBZ, given what our expectations were when they announced a "for the fans" 4:3 box set, but in fairness, there's now a somewhat widely-available version of DBZ in 4:3 for the first time since like 2005. That's not nothing!

With it in mind that we're probably never getting a proper HD transfer of DB (at least, not anytime remotely soon), it would be neat if the Spanish masters were re-released in English territories. Plus, we Brits would have a fix for the authoring errors on our DB DVDs. (I forget which episode, but sometime during the Baba's Palace mini arc, if you're watching subbed, it skips from the midpoint of one episode, to the midpoint of the next one, and another episode in that saga uses dubtitles)
And hey, the Spanish box has NEPs, right? Maybe we'll finally get officially subbed DB NEPs!
I think GT's were subbed on the original DVD singles. I know for sure Z's were subbed on the Dragon Boxes in ~2009. So, this would complete the set, I think.

The Spanish box is not ideal. In fact, an untouched SD-BD release of the masters Selecta Vision were given pre-upscaling and pre-filtering would be better. But, honestly, this would be a perfectly serviceable release if it had English subs+dub on it. I'd definitely consider buying it.

Yeah, if a set like Selecta Vision's were released here by FUNi minus the DNR/grain removal with the dub and Japanese tracks and next episode previews i would buy it. The Blue Bricks flawed though they may be have gotten me by for quite a while now but that said i surely wouldn't mind upgrading although i'm certainly not holding my breath on it actually happening in the near future.

Indeed, it definitely would be nice to have all three series available here with the NEP's given those aforementioned two releases actually contained them in full.

[Robo4900]

Yeah, if a set like Selecta Vision's were released here by FUNi minus the DNR/grain removal with the dub and Japanese tracks and next episode previews i would buy it.

For sure.
But honestly, even with the DNR, it's a higher-quality transfer than the tapes that formed the basis of the original DVD singles, and later the Blue Bricks. The DNR damages the picture, but the end result is still a little better than what's on the currently-available western DVDs, I think. Would be GREAT if we could get the un-DNR'd versions, but I guess beggars can't be choosers!

The Blue Bricks flawed though they may be have gotten me by for quite a while now but that said i surely wouldn't mind upgrading although i'm certainly not holding my breath on it actually happening in the near future.

Indeed.

I have issues with the Yellow Bricks we have here in the UK; the video is taken from the original DVD single masters, so it doesn't have the DNR of the Blue Bricks, but there's the authoring error in the Uranai Baba arc on the subbed track.

I don't know how likely it is, but I do hope we see the Spanish upscale BD released in English. Maybe it would draw some more eyes to OG DB in the west, too, if it had a Blu-ray set that looks good on the shelf.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Yeah, if a set like Selecta Vision's were released here by FUNi minus the DNR/grain removal with the dub and Japanese tracks and next episode previews i would buy it.

For sure.
But honestly, even with the DNR, it's a higher-quality transfer than the tapes that formed the basis of the original DVD singles, and later the Blue Bricks. The DNR damages the picture, but the end result is still a little better than what's on the currently-available western DVDs, I think. Would be GREAT if we could get the un-DNR'd versions, but I guess beggars can't be choosers!

The Blue Bricks flawed though they may be have gotten me by for quite a while now but that said i surely wouldn't mind upgrading although i'm certainly not holding my breath on it actually happening in the near future.

Indeed.

I have issues with the Yellow Bricks we have here in the UK; the video is taken from the original DVD single masters, so it doesn't have the DNR of the Blue Bricks, but there's the authoring error in the Uranai Baba arc on the subbed track.

I don't know how likely it is, but I do hope we see the Spanish upscale BD released in English. Maybe it would draw some more eyes to OG DB in the west, too, if it had a Blu-ray set that looks good on the shelf.

Indeed, i definitely get that although it does indeed look better when they don't do it. At least on DB's season sets the DNR/degraining isn't nearly as bad to the extent of the first few Z Orange Bricks but that was more due to them getting a better handle on the process and not going quite as intensely with it as before. Of course, one of the more notable things about the Blue Bricks is that they were the very first time the Pilaf arc episodes had ever been available uncut and bilingual here in the States due to the sublicense they'd been held up under for so long with Kidmark/Trimark/Lionsgate for the old edited dub only versions of them from back in 1995, although i'd surely be all for an HD release here as an upgrade if it's the complete package with both openings, all four closing animations and the NEP's.

The Manga UK sets are more or less repackages of the single versions that Madman released in Australia, so it has those same identical two flaws and they were the only place the uncut version in Japanese and English of the Pilaf episodes was available until 2009 when FUNi finally got the rights back to release them here and eventually movie one soon after.

[Matches Malone]

I don't know how likely it is, but I do hope we see the Spanish upscale BD released in English. Maybe it would draw some more eyes to OG DB in the west, too, if it had a Blu-ray set that looks good on the shelf.

If I remember correctly, Select Vision said they'd be the first to release OG DB on Blu-Ray, which could mean others will follow once they've released the whole show.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I don't know how likely it is, but I do hope we see the Spanish upscale BD released in English. Maybe it would draw some more eyes to OG DB in the west, too, if it had a Blu-ray set that looks good on the shelf.

If I remember correctly, Select Vision said they'd be the first to release OG DB on Blu-Ray, which could mean others will follow once they've released the whole show.

Yeah, i would like if FUNi were to actually get proper film masters from Toei and put them on Blu-ray with just some minor clean up (I.e. no widescreen cropping or DNR smear fest garbage) though upscaled versions of the Dragon Box masters as with SV's release would be more likely to happen if you ask me.

[Robo4900]

Yeah, i would like if FUNi were to actually get proper film masters from Toei and put them on Blu-ray with just some minor clean up (I.e. no widescreen cropping or DNR smear fest garbage) though upscaled versions of the Dragon Box masters as with SV's release would be more likely to happen if you ask me.

I don't think Funimation think OG DB would be worth the investment, and if they did, they would do their typical DNR process that we tend to not like.

If I remember correctly, Select Vision said they'd be the first to release OG DB on Blu-Ray, which could mean others will follow once they've released the whole show.

It's marketing speak; "We're the first place to ever do a Blu-ray release of OG DB" is a nice little banner to put on yourself, but it doesn't actually mean anything other than "No one else has done it before us."
Relevant xkcd.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Yeah, i would like if FUNi were to actually get proper film masters from Toei and put them on Blu-ray with just some minor clean up (I.e. no widescreen cropping or DNR smear fest garbage) though upscaled versions of the Dragon Box masters as with SV's release would be more likely to happen if you ask me.

I don't think Funimation think OG DB would be worth the investment, and if they did, they would do their typical DNR process that we tend to not like.

If I remember correctly, Select Vision said they'd be the first to release OG DB on Blu-Ray, which could mean others will follow once they've released the whole show.

It's marketing speak; "We're the first place to ever do a Blu-ray release of OG DB" is a nice little banner to put on yourself, but it doesn't actually mean anything other than "No one else has done it before us."
Relevant xkcd.

I know right, and due to that unfortunately they've placed the original series as lower priority for a long while compared to Z which is why it's gotten just two DVD releases in total here in nearly 17-18 years between the Saga sets and Blue Bricks. And yes, i'm sure they'd likely still do the DNR'ing because they just can't seem to go without doing that.

[Matches Malone]

It's marketing speak; "We're the first place to ever do a Blu-ray release of OG DB" is a nice little banner to put on yourself, but it doesn't actually mean anything other than "No one else has done it before us."

I really hope this isn't the case as OG DB has been overshadowed for years by other parts of the franchise. With nothing new being released on home video, it'd have the spotlight all to itself, and hopefully result in more people getting into it and seeing the story how it was meant to be seen.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

It's marketing speak; "We're the first place to ever do a Blu-ray release of OG DB" is a nice little banner to put on yourself, but it doesn't actually mean anything other than "No one else has done it before us."

I really hope this isn't the case as OG DB has been overshadowed for years by other parts of the franchise. With nothing new being released on home video, it'd have the spotlight all to itself, and hopefully result in more people getting into it and seeing the story how it was meant to be seen.

I know right, and actually hype it up to where it's not just sitting off to the side along with GT in Z's shadow. They've released the latter so much that the other two are only given occasional time in the sun at best as we've seen over the last decade plus.

[Matches Malone]

I know right, and actually hype it up to where it's not just sitting off to the side along with GT in Z's shadow. They've released the latter so much that the other two are only given occasional time in the sun at best as we've seen over the last decade plus.

At least GT has a strong presence in games and merchandise, DB at this point is non-existent, which just kills me inside. How can such a great story be left in the back like that ? I understand the first arc isn't the most action backed, but everything after is just as good as Z, and leagues ahead of what's currently being released.

[ArmenianPepsi]

I know right, and actually hype it up to where it's not just sitting off to the side along with GT in Z's shadow. They've released the latter so much that the other two are only given occasional time in the sun at best as we've seen over the last decade plus.

At least GT has a strong presence in games and merchandise, DB at this point is non-existent, which just kills me inside. How can such a great story be left in the back like that ? I understand the first arc isn't the most action backed, but everything after is just as good as Z, and leagues ahead of what's currently being released.

I know right? It's an anomaly. Does Funi live under the belief that "Since Dragon Ball didn't do too well back in 1996, therefore it would never do well in the States at any time" ?

[Matches Malone]

Does Funi live under the belief that "Since Dragon Ball didn't do too well back in 1996, therefore it would never do well in the States at any time" ?

I think it has to do with today's audience. Unlike Z and modern anime, DB takes its time to get going, as it doesn't get into what we recognize DB to be until around the 60th episode. People today unfortunately don't want to give shows time to develop and find their stride, they expect them to start at the top immediately.

[KBABZ]

Honestly at this point I'm more in love with the box art than the actual video footage since I already have the original Dragon Box, but that's very specific to me. That box art is so PERFECT for OG-DB it's nuts. The funny little cards are nice but entirely inconsequential: as a video game fan I actually appreciate a premium presentation of the product itself much more than "feelies" which often turn out to be incredibly superflous, especially when they unnecessarily jack up the price like the 30th set does.

At a certain point I WAS actually tempted to buy it until I remembered the price. I questioned why, and then remembered the dumb re-used Goku statue and sighed in annoyance. If it was just the slick box with the discs inside I would have been much more tempted.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I have issues with the Yellow Bricks we have here in the UK; the video is taken from the original DVD single masters, so it doesn't have the DNR of the Blue Bricks, but there's the authoring error in the Uranai Baba arc on the subbed track.

I don't know how likely it is, but I do hope we see the Spanish upscale BD released in English. Maybe it would draw some more eyes to OG DB in the west, too, if it had a Blu-ray set that looks good on the shelf.

I do too. I might contact Madman again to see if they have any interest in authoring a Blu-Ray set of the Selecta Vision master with subtitles and a dub track. There may be a better chance of them releasing OG DB again than Funimation.

I wasn't happy Manga UK never fixed the error but I bought their season sets anyway because I felt grateful for OG DB to get any love and I wanted to support a release of it in the British Isles, and I'd do it all over again.

But yeah, hopefully one day the first 153 episodes of this series will be appreciated. A fan can dream.

[Robo4900]

Does Funi live under the belief that "Since Dragon Ball didn't do too well back in 1996, therefore it would never do well in the States at any time" ?

I think it has to do with today's audience. Unlike Z and modern anime, DB takes its time to get going, as it doesn't get into what we recognize DB to be until around the 60th episode. People today unfortunately don't want to give shows time to develop and find their stride, they expect them to start at the top immediately.

That wouldn't explain why Funi never took an interest in it before, or why they jumped ship on it after 13 episodes initially.
No, I think it's pretty clear Funi never wanted OG DB... Gen Fukunaga has said as much himself, in the past; the show he saw on Japanese TV which he thought would work well in America was Z, and that's what he wanted Toei to give them. They only begrudgingly accepted OG DB in 1994.

And Funi not really caring about OG DB is reflected in what they did after Toei relented and let them skip to Z; they immediately sought a stronger syndication partner for Z, the producer Barry Watson was put into a more hands-on role in the scripting and voice recording, they were far more conscious of censoring the show to be fit for TV, they stuck by the show despite its not-any-better-than-DB-was-in-'95 ratings in the first ~13 episodes of season 1...
Then eventually, when it came time for Funi to dub OG DB in-house, they didn't bother replacing the score (which is weird given their strongly positive attitudes towards replacement scores at the time, an attitude Sabat still somewhat stands by to this day), the advertising of it wasn't great, it was aired DURING Z's run, right during a rather climactic point in the story (late Cell/early Boo)... In general, they just never pushed it that hard, and it came off as something of a "flashback sequence" interrupting the "real story" or something. Even GT, they pushed way harder when it began, as "THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THE DRAGON BALL ZEE SAGA!!!", misguided as many of us now believe their handling of GT to have been... DB, it seems, they just didn't bother putting in the effort.

I don't know why Funi never cared about OG DB, really. But, to me, it's clear they just aren't interested, and as a result of their lack of interest, it never really grabbed any kind of American audience. In the past, I've said this could've been deliberate, but I think that was an immature observation for me to have made -- I think they just didn't have much faith in OG DB, and then when Toei let them do Z, they tried way harder, then only kinda did DB later out of obligation to do all three (at the time) shows.

Honestly at this point I'm more in love with the box art than the actual video footage since I already have the original Dragon Box, but that's very specific to me. That box art is so PERFECT for OG-DB it's nuts. The funny little cards are nice but entirely inconsequential: as a video game fan I actually appreciate a premium presentation of the product itself much more than "feelies" which often turn out to be incredibly superflous, especially when they unnecessarily jack up the price like the 30th set does.

At a certain point I WAS actually tempted to buy it until I remembered the price. I questioned why, and then remembered the dumb re-used Goku statue and sighed in annoyance. If it was just the slick box with the discs inside I would have been much more tempted.

lol. Well, the Dragon Boxes have no subs, in fairness, so it's not like this set would be pointless.
Maybe we'll see an English version released, and you can get the nice feelies and such, and have a subbed version of OG DB based on the Dragon Box masters.
... Then again, I guess there's stuff like the Dragon Radar project.
Maybe someone out there will want to buy the discs but would give you the boxes and such.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Spoiler:

Does Funi live under the belief that "Since Dragon Ball didn't do too well back in 1996, therefore it would never do well in the States at any time" ?

I think it has to do with today's audience. Unlike Z and modern anime, DB takes its time to get going, as it doesn't get into what we recognize DB to be until around the 60th episode. People today unfortunately don't want to give shows time to develop and find their stride, they expect them to start at the top immediately.

That wouldn't explain why Funi never took an interest in it before, or why they jumped ship on it after 13 episodes initially.
No, I think it's pretty clear Funi never wanted OG DB... Gen Fukunaga has said as much himself, in the past; the show he saw on Japanese TV which he thought would work well in America was Z, and that's what he wanted Toei to give them. They only begrudgingly accepted OG DB in 1994.

And Funi not really caring about OG DB is reflected in what they did after Toei relented and let them skip to Z; they immediately sought a stronger syndication partner for Z, the producer Barry Watson was put into a more hands-on role in the scripting and voice recording, they were far more conscious of censoring the show to be fit for TV... Then eventually, when it came time for Funi to dub OG DB in-house, they didn't bother replacing the score (which is weird given their strongly positive attitudes towards replacement scores at the time), the advertising of it wasn't great, it was aired DURING Z's run, right during a rather climactic point in the story (late Cell/early Boo)... In general, they just never pushed it that hard. Even GT, they pushed way harder when it began, as "THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THE DRAGON BALL ZEE SAGA!!!", misguided as many of us now believe their handling of GT to have been... DB, it seems, they just didn't bother putting in the effort.

I don't know why Funi never cared about OG DB, really. But, to me, it's clear they just aren't interested, and as a result of their lack of interest, it never really grabbed any kind of American audience.

Honestly at this point I'm more in love with the box art than the actual video footage since I already have the original Dragon Box, but that's very specific to me. That box art is so PERFECT for OG-DB it's nuts. The funny little cards are nice but entirely inconsequential: as a video game fan I actually appreciate a premium presentation of the product itself much more than "feelies" which often turn out to be incredibly superflous, especially when they unnecessarily jack up the price like the 30th set does.

At a certain point I WAS actually tempted to buy it until I remembered the price. I questioned why, and then remembered the dumb re-used Goku statue and sighed in annoyance. If it was just the slick box with the discs inside I would have been much more tempted.

lol. Well, the Dragon Boxes have no subs, in fairness, so it's not like this set would be pointless.
Maybe we'll see an English version released, and you can get the nice feelies and such, and have a subbed version of OG DB based on the Dragon Box masters.
... Then again, I guess there's stuff like the Dragon Radar project.
Maybe someone out there will want to buy the discs but would give you the boxes and such.

It's made me wonder for so long why they've had this type of attitude toward the original series, because after the initial syndicated run got cut short in '95 and skipping ahead to DBZ the next year they didn't really touch the series itself again until mid 2001 while at the same time heading into the Majin Buu arc of their in house Z dub. Since then the series has received a grand total of two DVD releases and only a handful of video games that are either entirely or only partially related to the show. It's gotten the bare minimum of treatment from FUNi at best, and that really makes me sad because the way they marketed it in ads and such really made people less inclined to invest in it.

Still, it's a darn shame they've relegated OG Dragon Ball to the "lesser prequel" status and only do related things every so often and to a lesser degree GT as well but not to the same extent.

[KBABZ]

lol. Well, the Dragon Boxes have no subs, in fairness, so it's not like this set would be pointless.
Maybe we'll see an English version released, and you can get the nice feelies and such, and have a subbed version of OG DB based on the Dragon Box masters.
... Then again, I guess there's stuff like the Dragon Radar project.
Maybe someone out there will want to buy the discs but would give you the boxes and such.

That the Selecta Blu-Rays probably have a totally different disc count, so that wouldn't work?

It's made me wonder for so long why they've had this type of attitude toward the original series

We know the answer to this actually, it's Gen Fukunaga. He wanted to adapt DBZ after seeing it in Japan, but he had to try and dub OG-DB first. At the first sign of disappointment, he jumped to DBZ. That attitude has continued where the Funi DB dub was produced less as "completing the story" and more "this is riding the coat-tails of Z". Since Z isn't a new product anymore, there's "no reason" to even look at OG-DB except as a way to draw more eyes to Z/Super.

In retrospect, considering how ATROCIOUS the initial dubs are (especially of movie 2), I wonder if he didn't do a half-assed job on purpose to sabotage DB and skip to Z.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

lol. Well, the Dragon Boxes have no subs, in fairness, so it's not like this set would be pointless.
Maybe we'll see an English version released, and you can get the nice feelies and such, and have a subbed version of OG DB based on the Dragon Box masters.
... Then again, I guess there's stuff like the Dragon Radar project.
Maybe someone out there will want to buy the discs but would give you the boxes and such.

That the Selecta Blu-Rays probably have a totally different disc count, so that wouldn't work?

It's made me wonder for so long why they've had this type of attitude toward the original series

We know the answer to this actually, it's Gen Fukunaga. He wanted to adapt DBZ after seeing it in Japan, but he had to try and dub OG-DB first. At the first sign of disappointment, he jumped to DBZ. That attitude has continued where the Funi DB dub was produced less as "completing the story" and more "this is riding the coat-tails of Z". Since Z isn't a new product anymore, there's "no reason" to even look at OG-DB except as a way to draw more eyes to Z/Super.

In retrospect, considering how ATROCIOUS the initial dubs are (especially of movie 2), I wonder if he didn't do a half-assed job on purpose to sabotage DB and skip to Z.

You know considering how poorly the OG DB dub has aged it honestly wouldn't surprise me. It isn't nearly as unlistenable, laughably bad and amateurish as DBZ Season 3 but still quite a ways off from the original version as pretty much most of their pre Kai dubs (barring some exceptions here and there that were decent like the first Broly movie) were in the early 2000's.

[KBABZ]

You know considering how poorly the OG DB dub has aged it honestly wouldn't surprise me. It isn't nearly as unlistenable, laughably bad and amateurish as DBZ Season 3 but still quite a ways off from the original version as pretty much most of their pre Kai dubs (barring some exceptions here and there that were decent like the first Broly movie) were in the early 2000's.

I think its better than most people give it credit for: Launch, Tien and Daimao work quite well (I think Sabat's more guttural voice REALLY works for Daimao, but doesn't for Jr), while Krillin and Roshi are the standout best roles. Goku of course is very hit or miss and it really hinges on if you feel it works due to Goku's upbringing, or feel it's because Nadolny can't act with that voice. And considering how pivotal Goku is to these early stories in particular (back when he wasn't written out every 50 episodes), that makes or breaks the entire anime.