The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

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Dragon Ball Ireland
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The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Tue Dec 14, 2021 8:44 am

Over the years there have been countless dubs of Dragon Ball in a wide variety of languages worldwide. While many have been made, and still are widely available through many means such as home video, streaming and broadcast there are still a number of missing dubs where no known copies legal or otherwise are in circulation.

I have noted all the known, or alleged dubs in their respective languages, but does anyone know any more?

These are all the lost dubs I've been made aware of, some through my own research and others from talking to other fans:

Albanian
  • OG Dragon Ball episodes 1-13 (not to be confused with the later, illegally produced Albanian dub, this dub aired on Kohavision in Kosovo sometime between 2000 and 2002, but has not been seen since)
Cantonese
  • OG Dragon Ball movies 2-4 (VCD only release)
Chinese
  • OG Dragon Ball (said to have been dubbed and aired on some local Chinese channels)
English
  • OG Dragon Ball movie 1 (rumoured 1987 Frontier Enterprises dub)
  • OG Dragon Ball (RPN9 dub)
  • OG Dragon Ball (Animax Asia dub)
  • Dragon Ball Kai (technically not lost, but Ocean Studios have an unaired dub that will hopefully see the light of day)
  • OG Dragon Ball movies 1-3 (possible alternate dub aired on Toonami Asia in 2016, but it may have been a dub we know, as no one has ever reported on these airings to my knowledge)
Korean
  • OG Dragon Ball (SBS dub)
  • Dragon Ball Z (SBS dub)
  • Dragon Ball Z first few episodes (VHS only possible English dub or Korean voiceover)
  • Dragon Ball Z movies 1 and 6 (VHS only)
  • Dragon Ball Z movies 2-13 (Daewon Broadcasting dub)
  • History of Trunks (Daewon Broadcasting dub)
Kurdish
  • Dragon Ball Z Movies 1-8 (Sima Studio dub, aired on 4Anime in Iraq)
Hmong
  • OG Dragon Ball movies 1-4 (possible Txhais Lus Production dub)
  • Dragon Ball Z movies 1-3, 5-13 (possible Txhais Lus Production dubs)
Indonesian
  • Dragon Ball GT (Indosiar and Global TV dub)
  • Dragon Ball Kai (distributed by Reka Citra Suara or Erfas Studio and aired on Indosiar)
  • OG Dragon Ball movie 2 (CN Asia dub)
  • OG Dragon Ball movie 4 (Vision Interprima dub)
  • OG Dragon Ball movie 4 (CN Asia dub)
  • Dragon Ball Z movies 2 and 4 (CN Asia dub)
  • Dragon Ball Z movie 4 (Vision Interprima dub)
  • Dragon Ball Z movies 14-15
  • Dragon Ball Super Broly
Italian
  • OG Dragon Ball (Junior TV dub)
Macedonian
  • Dragon Ball Z series (aired on A1)
Malay
  • OG Dragon Ball (TV2 dub)
  • OG Dragon Ball (Astro Ceria dub, may or may not be a separate dub)
  • Dragon Ball Z movies 8 & 13 (Speedy Video dub)
  • Dragon Ball Z (TV2 dub)
  • Dragon Ball GT (TV2 dub)
  • Dragon Ball Kai (CN Asia dub)
Mandarin
  • Dragon Ball Z (Movie 6 dub for mainland China)
  • Dragon Ball Super Broly (Taiwan dub)
  • Dragon Ball Super Broly (Mainland China dub)
Romanian
  • OG Dragon Ball episodes 1-139 (possibly a voiceover rather than a dub, aired on TVR1 and TVR2)
Tagalog
  • OG Dragon Ball (original dub aired on IBC-13)
  • OG Dragon Ball (redub aired on QTV Channel 11)
  • Dragon Ball Z (second dub of series, possibly aired on GMA Network)
  • Dragon Ball GT (second dub of series)
  • Dragon Ball Kai
  • OG Dragon Ball movies 1-4
  • Dragon Ball Z and GT TV specials (possible dubs)
  • Dragon Ball Z movies 1-13 and 15
  • Dragon Ball Super Broly
Telegu
  • Dragon Ball Z (Sound & Vision Studios dub with edited episode numbering 1-276)
Thai
  • OG Dragon Ball (Modernine TV dub)
Is there any I'm missing? Also feel free to comment on any of these dubs if anyone knows any more about them.
Do you have any info about international non-English broadcasts about the Dragon Ball anime or manga translations/editions? Please message me. Researching for a future book with Dragon Ball scholar Derek Padula :thumbup:

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Re: The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by Saiya6Cit » Tue Dec 14, 2021 10:13 am

Yes of course Sir, you are missing the LatinAmerican Spanish.

Some people asume Spanish from Spain and Spanish from Mexico and South America is the same, but it is not.

When dragon ball was first released in Mexico in 1994 they were dubbing the anime from the american Harmony Gold dub work.
Dubbed by "Video Doblajes SA. of CV". where the names of several characters were changed: Son Goku to "Zero", Krillin to "Cachito", Yamcha "Zedaki" etc. The first episodes were heavily censored and with the soundtrack changed; however, from episode 6 the cuts disappear and the Japanese masters were used. This version was not very successful, so it was replaced.
more info about in spanish here:https://doblaje.fandom.com/es/wiki/Zero ... %C3%A1gico

The second one was done in the year this time they were using the original japanese version as the source material from a company called Intertrack S.A. de C.V. México. The translation was carried out by Brenda Nava, who was in charge of the scripts for the rest of the series, most of Z, GT, and all the films and specials that make up the franchise. Some dialogue censorship continued, but the footage was no longer being cut.


more info about it in spanishhere: https://doblaje.fandom.com/es/wiki/Dragon_Ball

Dragon Ball Ireland
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Re: The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Tue Dec 14, 2021 12:45 pm

Thanks Saiya6Cit, I was aware of the Video Doblajes dub based on Harmony Gold's scripts for the first 60 episodes, but I didn't know it was lost. I thought there was a VHS release in Mexico, or at least the movie?

Kei17 might have the link, but I also recall him saying there was a very rare Cambodian dub or possible voiceover like the Polish version. It was apparently mentioned on a blog on a site for a humanitarian aid project, which said the dub had heavy censorship during the Freeza fight so they must have either recorded at least all of Z or all of OG Dragon Ball up to that point.

There have been other dubs lost for many years like the Big Green dubs of the GT special and OG Dragon Ball movies 1-3 aired exclusively on Toonami UK in 2005, which I can confirm have been found. I hope more of these lost and rare dubs will surface with time.
Do you have any info about international non-English broadcasts about the Dragon Ball anime or manga translations/editions? Please message me. Researching for a future book with Dragon Ball scholar Derek Padula :thumbup:

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Re: The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by kei17 » Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:34 pm

I don't really understand what can be classified as being "lost" here. Do you mean something obscure, not available on home video, or physically lost?

Italian
  • OG Dragon Ball (Junior TV dub)
Is this different from the old dub included in a DVD box release as an extra feature?

Dragon Ball Ireland wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 12:45 pm Kei17 might have the link, but I also recall him saying there was a very rare Cambodian dub or possible voiceover like the Polish version. It was apparently mentioned on a blog on a site for a humanitarian aid project, which said the dub had heavy censorship during the Freeza fight so they must have either recorded at least all of Z or all of OG Dragon Ball up to that point.
I tried to find this old blog again but I couldn't. From what I could find on Twitter, it seems that Dragon Ball is/was broadcast in Cambodia for sure at least.

https://twitter.com/pairbackpacker/stat ... 9643019264
カンボジアで、ドラゴンボールZ やってる!!!
ナメック星で、クリリンが長老に能力開花してもらったところ!!!
ベジータも出てる!

懐かしい・・・
何しゃべってるかわからないけどw
2012年4月14日
in English wrote:Dragon Ball Z is being broadcast in Cambodia!
Krillin has just gotten his latent power awakened by the Eldest! I see Vegeta too!

Brings back memories...
I don't understand what they speak though lol
April 14th 2012
https://twitter.com/sinpa_tundora/statu ... 3193933824
カンボジア毎日2話ドラゴンボールやってるんだが前来た時(5月末)はまだセルだったのに超になっとることに気づいた
2018年9月13日
in English wrote:They air two episodes of Dragon Ball per day in Cambodia, and I noticed it's already Super though it was still the Cell arc when I visited here last time in the end of May.
September 13th 2018
https://twitter.com/riskyksk2/status/373960252888080384
カンボジアでドラゴンボールなう(笑)
カンボジア語まったくわからず、英語字幕(笑)
2013年9月1日
Image
in English wrote:Dragon Ball in Cambodia now lol
I don't understand Cambodian so with English subs lol
September 1st 2013

The last one is a little obscure because it's not clear that this was a TV broadcast, but you can see a watermark in the upper right corner of the screen, which may imply it is on a TV channel. Maybe it's just a pirated encode shown on a TV screen, but the one who posted this seems to have been a college student backpacker enjoying exotic things in the country, so I think that's unlikely to be the case here. Probably just watching local TV at a hotel.

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Re: The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by Tian » Tue Dec 14, 2021 7:38 pm

kei17 wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:34 pm The last one is a little obscure because it's not clear that this was a TV broadcast, but you can see a watermark in the upper right corner of the screen, which may imply it is on a TV channel. Maybe it's just a pirated encode shown on a TV screen, but the one who posted this seems to have been a college student backpacker enjoying exotic things in the country, so I think that's unlikely to be the case here. Probably just watching local TV at a hotel.
Hmm... from what I see, the logo on the screenshot is oval shaped, is somewhat blueish and seems to have a number.

The only Cambodian TV station I found with a logo that has those features is CTV9:
Image

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Re: The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by kei17 » Wed Dec 15, 2021 5:34 am

Tian wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 7:38 pmHmm... from what I see, the logo on the screenshot is oval shaped, is somewhat blueish and seems to have a number.

The only Cambodian TV station I found with a logo that has those features is CTV9:
Image
I couldn't find anything concrete or official, but that channel is mentioned as the broadcaster of DBZ on Facebook.

Image

Image

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Re: The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Wed Dec 15, 2021 6:44 am

kei17 wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:34 pm I don't really understand what can be classified as being "lost" here. Do you mean something obscure, not available on home video, or physically lost?
Generally I refer to lost media as content that is not known to be available legally or otherwise. For example Dragon Ball dubs that have no known home release, the Creative Corp dub of the movies was thought to be lost until they were discovered on a very obscure VHS, there is also currently no known way of accessing the alleged Frontier Enterprises dub, but I've also speculated there may be privately sold cassettes somewhere as airlines apparently did this. Physically lost would count too if the studio destroyed the masters, but luckily most cases I know of like this (such as TOEI ordering Cloverway to return their masters or destroy them in 2005) has not led to dubs becoming lost, as they have either continued to be aired (as is the case with Latin America) or a home release exists.
kei17 wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:34 pm
Italian
  • OG Dragon Ball (Junior TV dub)
Is this different from the old dub included in a DVD box release as an extra feature?
I'm not sure. I believe that Play World Studio initially recorded a dub of the first 54 episodes, which aired on Junior TV and Italia 7 sometime between 1989 and 1996. From 1996 Mediaset redubbed those episodes and they aired on Italia 1 as well as the rest of the series. As for home releases I know there is a 21-disc box set, but I'm not sure which dub it contains, I'd imagine DeAgostini would probably have preferred to use a complete dub. There may be older releases with the original 54 epsode dub, but I can't find any information on it.
kei17 wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:34 pm I tried to find this old blog again but I couldn't. From what I could find on Twitter, it seems that Dragon Ball is/was broadcast in Cambodia for sure at least.

https://twitter.com/pairbackpacker/stat ... 9643019264
カンボジアで、ドラゴンボールZ やってる!!!
ナメック星で、クリリンが長老に能力開花してもらったところ!!!
ベジータも出てる!

懐かしい・・・
何しゃべってるかわからないけどw
2012年4月14日
in English wrote:Dragon Ball Z is being broadcast in Cambodia!
Krillin has just gotten his latent power awakened by the Eldest! I see Vegeta too!

Brings back memories...
I don't understand what they speak though lol
April 14th 2012
https://twitter.com/sinpa_tundora/statu ... 3193933824
カンボジア毎日2話ドラゴンボールやってるんだが前来た時(5月末)はまだセルだったのに超になっとることに気づいた
2018年9月13日
in English wrote:They air two episodes of Dragon Ball per day in Cambodia, and I noticed it's already Super though it was still the Cell arc when I visited here last time in the end of May.
September 13th 2018
https://twitter.com/riskyksk2/status/373960252888080384
カンボジアでドラゴンボールなう(笑)
カンボジア語まったくわからず、英語字幕(笑)
2013年9月1日
Image
in English wrote:Dragon Ball in Cambodia now lol
I don't understand Cambodian so with English subs lol
September 1st 2013

The last one is a little obscure because it's not clear that this was a TV broadcast, but you can see a watermark in the upper right corner of the screen, which may imply it is on a TV channel. Maybe it's just a pirated encode shown on a TV screen, but the one who posted this seems to have been a college student backpacker enjoying exotic things in the country, so I think that's unlikely to be the case here. Probably just watching local TV at a hotel.
Thanks for those links. I'm going to guess that Cambodia dubbed either most or all of Z, possibly the original series and have at least dubbed some of Super.
Tian wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 7:38 pmThe only Cambodian TV station I found with a logo that has those features is CTV9:
Image
I've just reached out to them, hopefully they can confirm if they have aired any Dragon Ball.
Do you have any info about international non-English broadcasts about the Dragon Ball anime or manga translations/editions? Please message me. Researching for a future book with Dragon Ball scholar Derek Padula :thumbup:

kei17
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Re: The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by kei17 » Wed Dec 15, 2021 7:18 am

Dragon Ball Ireland wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 6:44 am there is also currently no known way of accessing the alleged Frontier Enterprises dub, but I've also speculated there may be privately sold cassettes somewhere as airlines apparently did this.
As I pointed out in another thread, their possible Dragon Ball dub is not in the complete list of their dubs for airlines, so I doubt that it was actually released and copies of it will pop up in the future.

I'm not sure. I believe that Play World Studio initially recorded a dub of the first 54 episodes, which aired on Junior TV and Italia 7 sometime between 1989 and 1996. From 1996 Mediaset redubbed those episodes and they aired on Italia 1 as well as the rest of the series. As for home releases I know there is a 21-disc box set, but I'm not sure which dub it contains, I'd imagine DeAgostini would probably have preferred to use a complete dub. There may be older releases with the original 54 epsode dub, but I can't find any information on it.
I have a different 21-disc box set from Italy and it does contain another dub only on the first 54 episodes as a bonus audio track.

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Re: The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Wed Dec 15, 2021 8:02 am

kei17 wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 7:18 amAs I pointed out in another thread[/url], their possible Dragon Ball dub is not in the complete list of their dubs for airlines, so I doubt that it was actually released and copies of it will pop up in the future.
Fair enough, I guess in light of this we can probably assume the Frontier dub either never existed, or it was recorded but the company for some reason decided not to release it.
kei17 wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 7:18 amI have a different 21-disc box set from Italy and it does contain another dub only on the first 54 episodes as a bonus audio track.
Very nice, I'm going to guess the 54 episodes used as a bonus audio track is the original Italian dub by Play World Studio, unless there was another redub by a different company, but that would be unlikely. Looks like this dub wasn't lost after all.

I wonder if some episodes of the Bang Zoom dub of Super are lost. I must say I've only ever seen clips from episodes 14-26 but never watched them in full.
Do you have any info about international non-English broadcasts about the Dragon Ball anime or manga translations/editions? Please message me. Researching for a future book with Dragon Ball scholar Derek Padula :thumbup:

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Re: The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by Gilby1385 » Wed Dec 15, 2021 1:27 pm

Supposedly, Speedy Video released a VCD of The History of Trunks under the name "The History of Trunk", which, assuming that Speedy's Dragon Ball VCD releases came out around 1999 (at least according to TV Tropes's page for The Tree of Might), would have contained an in-house dub like their other releases do (with the exception of "The Legend of Shenron" which contains the 1995 FUNimation dub of Curse of the Blood Rubies). FUNimation would produce their own dub of that special the following year.

And don't forget the "Vendar" dub of Dead Zone!
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Re: The many lost dubs of Dragon Ball

Post by Brilliant_Gear_258 » Mon May 16, 2022 1:17 pm

There is only one lost and rare dub of DBGT which dated back to around 1997 in France. That dub from 1997 is the lost and rare edited French dub of GT. It had a TV-size edited version of the French intro, censorship and some script changes. TF1 was gonna broadcast it on their kids block but due to that block ending, TF1 decided that Mangas should broadcast the 1997 French dub of GT. It is sometimes known that some DB fans watching the French dubs of the series back then, recognize that dub from somewhere else. Probably from French-speaking parts of Europe where the 1997 French dub aired, I guess. That is the reason why GT got a redub back in 1999 (two years after the 1997 French dub debuted only on Mangas except TF1). There is actual proof that this dub from 1997 is real:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-JrTScQ2w0&t=220s

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