What version did you start off with?

[DB_Fan1991]

It was 2008 and I started with the remastered season set FUNi dub with Kikuchi's score until I got to the point where the last season set at the time was (it was Episode 165). After I initially watched the Saiyan arc I went and watched Dragon Ball all the way through with the FUNi dub then rewatched the Saiyan arc and moved from there. Once I got to Episode 166 I had to watch the old dub with the Faulconer score. It was a jarring change moreso than Schemmel's Goku between episodes 67 & 68. Once I completed Z I then tried to watch GT, but the Menza music put me to sleep. I watched all the movies at the time and the Z TV Specials. It wasn't until the green bricks came out that i finally watched GT as I got to watch it with Tokunaga's score. I watched all of Kai 1.0 as it aired on Nicktoons. In 2013 I saw the light and started watching the whole series again, this time in Japanese and now I strongly prefer the Japanese version. I did see the dubs of Battle of Gods & Resurrection F in theaters though and thankfully they fell in line with Kai's dub rather than Z's.

[Kakacarrottop]

I consider my childhood version to be FUNi's original in-house dub of Z, since i saw the entirety of it on TV/home video growing up as it was first being released in the early 2000s, although i'm sure the first ever version i technically saw was the prior Saban dub. I didn't really watch much of it growing up, but i can vividly remember seeing a few Saban-ified Namek Saga episodes and Goku vs. Oozaru Vegeta around 2000-2001.

[gregoryluis09]

I started with the first Brazilian dub of the two TV Specials made by Parisi Vídeo, the Studio Gábia version of movie 3 and a weird combined version of movies 9 and 12, i had then on DVD, and now after so many years i see how bad were those releases.

[theoriginalbilis]

I managed to catch scattered episodes of the 1996 FUNi/Ocean/Saban dub via syndication, right before they moved to Cartoon Network's Toonami and thus, I was able to watch it some kind of order.

Around 1998-1999, I discovered and was subsequently able to purchase the Pioneer uncut releases of DBZ Movies 1-3 and the fansubs for the rest of DBZ and GT (ironically, at the same anime retailer). The rest is history...

[nite_jay]

I watched bits and pieces of the Dragonball and Z FUNi dub as kid but I was too young to remember most of it. I rediscovered the series with Nicktoons Kai, then Toonami Kai, and the the DB(Z) JPN dub and manga.

[thejeremymenace]

I started out catching bits of the Saiyan arc in the mid-nineties (on Kids! WB when that was still a thing). Didn't pay much attention to it for a while but watched the Android/Cell arc when it first aired almost religiously. And of course watched those first 3 movies multiple times when they aired.

I actually wrote off DBZ as stupid for a long time; 10 year old me tried to take it way too seriously. Then sometime in high school, a friend brought his Broly VHS tape over, and it was my first exposure to it in years. My curiosity was piqued, so I picked up a couple of the Double Features, and eventually started watching DB from the beginning (dubbed, hadn't seen the light yet). Not long after that, Kai started airing and I was exposed to the Japanese voices for the first time. Around that time, I discovered Daizenshuu EX, and the rest is history.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

The 2008 JSAT special is what got me into DB. I loved the Kikuchi score so much that I decided I need to watch this just for the music. Then I started from the beginning thanks to my brother or else I would've also skipped the first half of the series like many fans do. Within 2-3 eps I fell in love with Son Gokuu's character and rest is history. Everything in JPN(original) version not to mention.

- Travis

[Xeztin]

I'm really surprised that so many of you gained interest in the serious during the late 2000's and with Kai, very great news to hear! I started watching Funi's Dragon Ball Z on Toonami in the early 2000's. I believe my first exposure to the series was Raditz's death during a rerun of the Saiyan arc. At that time I wasn't 100 percent into the series but found it very intriguing. My cousin ended up getting the first Budokai a little while after that and I fell in-love and became obsessed with it as a kid so much so that I upgraded from my PS1 and Atari to a PS2 for the sole purpose of that game. I remember asking my mother to buy it and she got it from Sam Goody's, (Which went Bankrupt from my understanding) the game was such a trill. I got all my Dragon Ball games up to Budokai 3 from Sam Goody's now that I think about it, and then came along the local GameStop. I still have a un-onpened Kingdom Hearts chain of memories which was my last purchase from Sams. I'll stop here before I go more off-topic or overdose with Nostalgia.

P.S: I remember Mike having classifications for fans that entered the fan-base at a certain point in time but I get them mixed up. I think I may be a 3rd generation fan? If I could get a recap that'd be swell

[Hellspawn28]

The 1995 dub of Dragon Ball on VHS back in 1997. I'm the rare group of people who saw DB before DBZ before Toonami existed. It was this VHS tape I got back in 1997 for my birthday. My dad was like "The guy at Sam Goody told me that this is a popular cartoon from Japan and kids love it over there. I thought you may like it".

[Vorige Waffe]

Started with the Ocean Group dub right in the middle of the Namek arc back in 1998 on Toonami. Of course, me and my friends were stuck watching those first 50 episodes in perpetuity until September 1999 when the Funimation dub continued into the Freeza arc which we devoured like a fresh shipment of heroin, back voice acting and all.

After that it was mostly Funimation's dub from then on out. In 2002, I finally became acquainted with the Japanese version thanks to DVDs of Movie 1, 7, and a disc from the Cell arc (it had the episode of Vegeta debuting the Final Flash against Cell), and it's been my preferred version ever since, though I have a soft spot for some of Faulconer's music and I almost exclusively watch the first 3 movies with the Ocean cast. Original Dragon Ball has always been in Funimation's dub for me, as I never saw the initial dub until a decade later (which was about when I saw it in Japanese). I still like Funimation's flawed dub of DB, probably because the rewrites aren't as heinous as in DBZ.

GT and Kai I never cared for. GT I first saw in Japanese thanks to some Real Media Video files that contained select moments of the show, and Kai was in Japanese when it first premiered and when peole were using *ahem* legally murky avenues to see it.

[ゴクウブラック]

I have yet to watch GT in it's entirety, I've heard it's pretty bad but I'm willing to give it a shot nonetheless

[Hellspawn28]

Crap, I thought this thread was for which version of the series, not just DBZ. I first saw the episode of Goku being wish back back in 1998 on Toonami. It was with the Ocean voice cast. I rather confused on what was going on since there was Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. I thought there was a Dragon Ball A-Y and I thought I missed most of the series.

[Duo]

Same as some of the oldies here, but the point is best demonstrated with a clip:

https://youtu.be/6eHBQ8Mto5Y

Despite my nostalgia, this has gotten to be pretty hard to watch. The vocal performances are great but the dialogue makes me want to shoot myself in the face with a nail-gun.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

[quote="Hellspawn28"I thought there was a Dragon Ball A-Y and I thought I missed most of the series.[/quote] lol

...Anyhow, I grew up without cable in the early 2k's, so I only caught bits & pieces of the Americanized home-basement dub of DBZ. I saw some of the "adapted" GT in 2004, when, for awhile, our family had Dish Network. & several of my friends had the DBZ Budokai & Sagas games.
* I also caught some of Colors channel airing the DB adaptation.

...Beyond that, I only started with Kai (FUNimation dub, as gravitypriest said "I hadnt seen the light), in early 2014, through piracy, & later DVD's.

* & while I have little nostalgia for the widespread adaptation...for some strange reason, I'm not watching Super until FUNimation dubs it.

I still vastly prefer the Japanese, although the dub is (somewhat) respectable nowadays.

* There are still business reasons for why I dislike the dub, even today, & that is their status as a merchandising company rather than a TV network who is interested in the show. Their treatment of their actors also needs serious looking into.

[TheGreatness25]

The Ocean dub on a local WB affiliate before it was on Toonami. Back then, I thought there'd never be a dub past season 2. lol

This right here (I live in NY, so I don't know if it would be WB elsewhere too). This was in the mid 90's and my brother was flipping through the channels one morning (probably on a Saturday) and it happened to be the first episode. This was the old Ocean cast version.

[Hellspawn28]

I started out catching bits of the Saiyan arc in the mid-nineties (on Kids! WB when that was still a thing).

I thought DBZ aired on the short live Toonami block on Kids! WB sometime after 1999? I remember watching the Fake Namek episode around that time.

[Adrian Malacoda]

Like many others in the US, I started out with the original US DBZ dub (the "Ocean dub") on Toonami in the late 90's. I still fondly remember the reruns of Goku defeating Recoom before season 3 started.

[Cipher]

Crap, I thought this thread was for which version of the series, not just DBZ. I first saw the episode of Goku being wish back back in 1998 on Toonami. It was with the Ocean voice cast. I rather confused on what was going on since there was Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. I thought there was a Dragon Ball A-Y and I thought I missed most of the series.

Dragon Ball Y was a series in Japan for a while. It was written by Akira Toriyama and had Super Saiyan Orange. I know because my friend's dad worked in Japan for a while.

You can't get it in the U.S. though. There's a comic shop by me that sells some tapes, but you have to know the right guy to ask.

There's lots of blood and swearing and it's awesome.

[Lord Beerus]

Crap, I thought this thread was for which version of the series, not just DBZ. I first saw the episode of Goku being wish back back in 1998 on Toonami. It was with the Ocean voice cast. I rather confused on what was going on since there was Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. I thought there was a Dragon Ball A-Y and I thought I missed most of the series.

Dragon Ball Y was a series in Japan for a while. It was written by Akira Toriyama and had Super Saiyan Orange. I know because my friend's dad worked in Japan for a while.

You can't get it in the U.S. though. There's a comic shop by me that sells some tapes, but you have to know the right guy to ask.

There's lots of blood and swearing and it's awesome.

Hahahaha! I'm so damn tempted to sig this.

[Boo Machine]

I started with the Toonami Dub from 1996 and haven't stopped watching different versions of each series since. I'm an addict.

Can I just say how awesome I think it is that there are people here that got into it through the Nicktoons Kai dub?

Just kind of love that the series is still pulling in new fans even years after the original run ended.