Saban Funi "Battle Stars" Censorship

[Cure Dragon 255]

Can someone share those ugly and distracting stars that covered blows to the face on Dragon Ball Z's Saban Funi dub? On a video?

[SHINOBI-03]

You mean this thing?
https://sendvid.com/wznacam5

[Dbzfan94]

You mean this thing?
https://sendvid.com/wznacam5

God that looks awful

[eledoremassis02]

You mean this thing?
https://sendvid.com/wznacam5

Poor piccolo was just minding his own business

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

You mean this thing?
https://sendvid.com/wznacam5

God that looks awful

Wow, even the quick flash screens in the Nicktoons tv edit of Kai looked better that that.

[MasenkoHA]

You mean this thing?
https://sendvid.com/wznacam5

Holy shit

Last time I watched the syndicated dub was an upload that had the audio layed over Dragon Box footage so everything was visually uncensored so I had no idea the impact stars looked that cheap and bad

They could have done a white flash screen to denote impact if Saban was going to be up in their grill about no showing hits to the face but of course Funimation went with the lulzier option for censorship.

[SHINOBI-03]

You mean this thing?
https://sendvid.com/wznacam5

Holy shit

Last time I watched the syndicated dub was an upload that had the audio layed over Dragon Box footage so everything was visually uncensored so I had no idea the impact stars looked that cheap and bad

They could have done a white flash screen to denote impact if Saban was going to be up in their grill about no showing hits to the face but of course Funimation went with the lulzier option for censorship.

They did use the white flash scene for other fights, but maybe because Tenshinhan's fist lasted on screen instead of cutting to Piccolo's face like in other fights made it harder to edit out so they instead chose to cover it with that impact star.

[Robo4900]

On a somewhat related note, the Westwood/Ocean dub was a lot more careful/subtle about its edits. Frankly, I've always been quite impressed with how the Westwood/Ocean edits were done in general; they made time cuts in the form of removing coverage shots and such, and both that and their censorship cuts were pretty seamless. You'd never notice the difference without an A/B comparison, really. Quite interesting.

Anyway, the point is, they did do some censorship edits. Such as removing footage of Vegeta's fist actually hitting Trunks. No battle stars here though; carefully placed frames of black and white combined with the way it's cut, etc. tells you all you need to know without actually seeing the physical violence.
Westwood
Uncut

(Yes, the uncut video here is the Westwood/Ocean dub uncut with the Kikuchi score. It was all I had handy to show the uncut footage. As for why it exists: I found some voice isolation software and decided to test it out... Results were not good, honestly, but it was fun to put together.)

[ABED]

Still boggles my mind that they still let that vicious gut punch Vegeta gave Gohan in the Namek arc get by. No hits to the face EVER, but a grown man beating a child? That's okay.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Still boggles my mind that they still let that vicious gut punch Vegeta gave Gohan in the Namek arc get by. No hits to the face EVER, but a grown man beating a child? That's okay.

Sort of, he actually slams Gohan with his knee but it's about the same as a gut punch. I'm honestly surprised that was allowed to remain rather than being censored out.

[ABED]

Still boggles my mind that they still let that vicious gut punch Vegeta gave Gohan in the Namek arc get by. No hits to the face EVER, but a grown man beating a child? That's okay.

Sort of, he actually slams Gohan with his knee but it's about the same as a gut punch. I'm honestly surprised that was allowed to remain rather than being censored out.

Thanks, I forgot what it was exactly but point still stands that it's a very vicious moment and yet whoever was in charge let it air. I wonder what the thought process was there.

[MasenkoHA]

Still boggles my mind that they still let that vicious gut punch Vegeta gave Gohan in the Namek arc get by. No hits to the face EVER, but a grown man beating a child? That's okay.

Sort of, he actually slams Gohan with his knee but it's about the same as a gut punch. I'm honestly surprised that was allowed to remain rather than being censored out.

Thanks, I forgot what it was exactly but point still stands that it's a very vicious moment and yet whoever was in charge let it air. I wonder what the thought process was there.

I’m not justifying it but presumably Saban is more concerned about kids punching or kicking each other in the head over punching or kneeing in each other in the gut.

It’s all pointless of course. Overly protective helicopter parents probably didn’t let their kids watch Dragon Ball Z even heavily censored. It would still be considered violent programming even if nobody died and blood didn’t exist, and punches to the face were awkwardly censored but still obvious in their intent.

[Kunzait_83]

Thanks, I forgot what it was exactly but point still stands that it's a very vicious moment and yet whoever was in charge let it air. I wonder what the thought process was there.

This reminds me of a documentary called "This Film is Not Yet Rated" that delves pretty deeply into the censors at the MPAA. For those who don't know, the people who decide on ratings for Hollywood films make their decisions based on a censorship-heavy mindset (often offering suggestions of what content to edit out in order for a film to lower its rating down from their initial decision) and are, to an individual, VERY secretive about their identities and who they are. And when you look into the thought-process behind a lot of their decisions, you start to see why that is.

A great example to this point: the MPAA's stance on onscreen orgasms in a film. A male character shown having an orgasm onscreen will net a film an R rating from these folks (and they generally won't ask that the scene be edited out), but a female character having an orgasm onscreen will earn it an NC-17 or X rating (whereupon they'll almost ALWAYS suggest that the scene should be cut).

Why the hell is this the case? Because they genuinely, as individuals, strongly feel that female orgasms are inherently more "obscene" than a male orgasm. And there are a good number of actual WOMEN on these ratings/censorship boards too who make that call.

And that's just ONE example of COUNTLESS more that the documentary delves deeply into, almost ALL of which are just as nonsensical and bizarre.

My point in bringing all this up here?

I wonder what the thought process was there.

There is no coherent or logical "thought process" to be had with most folks like this who do film and TV censorship standards. Zero. These sorts of people generally tend to be absolute and utter fucking morons, often with puritanical and knuckle-dragging views straight out of the dark ages regarding what's "appropriate" for whom and what isn't, and the rationales offered for many of these decisions tend to make almost NO sane or reasonable amount of sense whatsoever.

As bad as the MPAA are in their decision-making on censorship standards that I just described above, the people who do network television standards - and particularly more so CHILDREN'S television standards - here in North America are without a doubt far, far, FAR infinitely worse in almost every conceivable regard.

Trying to puzzle out why and how they arrive at some of their utterly insane and non-sequitur conclusions regarding "appropriate" content is about as utterly futile a fool's errant as they come: there's nothing to understand. They're just complete and utter fucking imbeciles who think that EVERYONE ELSE are as dumb and vapid as they are: and children triply more so.

[SHINOBI-03]

Here's another example I found from episode "Escape From Dodoria". When Gohan kicks Dodoria in the face it flashes and shows a frame of a battle star that blurs quickly with the footage.

[ABED]

I haven't seen that documentary, but I have listened to plenty of interviews about the MPAA's decision making process and how arbitrary it all is. Kevin Smith's talks on this subject were eye opening to say the least.

[MasenkoHA]

I haven't seen that documentary, but I have listened to plenty of interviews about the MPAA's decision making process and how arbitrary it all is. Kevin Smith's talks on this subject were eye opening to say the least.

You should definitely check out the documentary.

[JulieYBM]

I keep misreading this title as being a Saban and FUNimation joint bastardization of some other cartoon. >_<

Censorship is the dumbest thing ever.

[MyVisionity]

No hits to the face EVER, but a grown man beating a child? That's okay.

I don't really think that the characters' age difference should apply when it comes to censorship. Especially in a fantasy cartoon. The violence itself is something a child would pick up on first more than likely, while anything else might require more thought than the censors or viewers would bother with.

[ABED]

No hits to the face EVER, but a grown man beating a child? That's okay.

I don't really think that the characters' age difference should apply when it comes to censorship. Especially in a fantasy cartoon. The violence itself is something a child would pick up on first more than likely, while anything else might require more thought than the censors or viewers would bother with.

Yeah it does. He's beating A CHILD! Beating a grown man is one thing, but kids are inherently different, even in a fantasy cartoon.

You honestly don't think there's anything even on a visceral level between an adult giving another adult a beating vs. an adult giving a child a beating?

[MyVisionity]

Yeah it does. He's beating A CHILD! Beating a grown man is one thing, but kids are inherently different, even in a fantasy cartoon.

You honestly don't think there's anything even on a visceral level between an adult giving another adult a beating vs. an adult giving a child a beating?

It's DB kids though, with over the top superpowers. They can clearly take care of themselves. Real life is one thing, cartoon fantasy is another. I mean I know that on *some* level there's a difference between adults vs adults and adults versus kids, just not enough to factor into a censorship decision.

I never particularly felt anything too off about Gohan's various beatdowns in the series. I mean if anything it was even more exciting seeing the kids getting beat up by the adults. It's part of the series' charm. I find the scene where Vegeta knees Gohan both hilarious and awesome. It was never "oh poor little Gohan" or "Vegeta is so out of line" in my mind.