Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 1 - DB Episodes 1-5

[ABED]

What is T1C?

[KBABZ]

What is T1C?

T1C is my The First Chapters project that Kai-ifies the original anime by removing filler (as well as removing any dub errors). I use T1C because TFC is already in use for The Final Chapters.

[MasenkoHA]

What is T1C?

T1C is my The First Chapters project that Kai-ifies the original anime by removing filler (as well as removing any dub errors). I use T1C because TFC is already in use for The Final Chapters.

Interesting. How do you deal with dialog errors like Chi Chi asking Goku to make her his bride being changed to asking if he’ll think about her?

[KBABZ]

What is T1C?

T1C is my The First Chapters project that Kai-ifies the original anime by removing filler (as well as removing any dub errors). I use T1C because TFC is already in use for The Final Chapters.

Interesting. How do you deal with dialog errors like Chi Chi asking Goku to make her his bride being changed to asking if he’ll think about her?

Can't do much about that! But I've considered pilfering the audio clips from the filler episode where they re-do the confusion aspect. Think that'd work?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

So I started the rewatch, and it is my pleasure to share my thoughts on revisiting these first 5 episodes.

Episode 1 - Bulma and Son Goku

Wonderful introduction. Sets up all the characters nicely. We see Goku's nievety, Bulma's smarts and the comic relief of other characters in this world. Very straightforward episode but it does it's job giving us a feel for this world, where it all begins

Episode 2 - Ararara–! No Balls!

Another great introductory episode. We see more of what the hoi poi capsules can do. Funny seeing the differences in Goku and Bulma's reactions to things the other person is unfamiliar with. Great wacky sense of humour from Pilaf gang. I like how we only saw them in the first episode, but now see a bit of their antics and at the end we're introduced to Turtle and his struggle to find the sea. You get the sense this is a world that is gradually being built up and your slowly getting to know all the characters.

Episode 3 - Kame-Sen’nin’s Kinto-Un

Great episode. First bit of real action in the series. We start to see connective tissue from one character and their story to the next as Turtle introduces Goku and Bulma to Roshi. With Roshi we see Toriyama's subversion with the joke this supposedly wise old master is a pervert.

Episode 4 - The Kidnapping Demon, Oolong

Pretty good. I love how we get to see more of the world, seeing a village expands the Dragon World beyond the rural landscapes. Interesting we see once again that some people know about the Dragon Balls and others don't

Episode 5 - The Strong Villain of the Desert, Yamcha

Another solid episode, has fantastic banter between Goku, Bulma and Oolong. The Diablo Desert further expands the Dragon World and the different kinds of environments Toriyama's characters live in and funnily enough how it affects them, for example Yamcha being so alienated from girls he's scared of approaching them.

This is going to be a lot of fun. Can't wait to start Week 2 with all of you.

[ABED]

Something I don't think has been pointed out yet, the name of the capsules. We all just call them capsules, but they are introduced as hoi poi capsules. Okay, the first post did mention their full name, but didn't draw attention to their name. In the dub, they're called Dynocaps. Where did they get that name?

In the Ocean dub of the first 13 episodes, when Bulma uses her panties as a fishing lure against Oolong, they are painted over as dollars, to which Goku says something about a "fishful of dollars". It's also odd that the dub called it the piggy call, not the pee pee call when Bulma gives Oolong the laxative.

[MasenkoHA]

the first post did mention their full name, but didn't draw attention to their name. In the dub, they're called Dynocaps. Where did they get that name?

I figured dyna like dynamite because they explode?

In the Ocean dub of the first 13 episodes, when Bulma uses her panties as a fishing lure against Oolong, they are painted over as dollars

I want to say this also happened in the Toonami broadcast edit of the in-house redub

, to which Goku says something about a "fishful of dollars"

Who knew Goku was into 60s westerns?!?

. It's also odd that the dub called it the piggy call, not the pee pee call when Bulma gives Oolong the laxative.

The dub seemed a bit shy of toilet humor. They kept Oolong getting the shits but only because it was pretty unavoidable.


In that one filler episode where a kid gives Goku a laxative iirc the dub changed it to Goku talking about a stomachache despite plainly holding his ass.

[ABED]

I think I'm going to contribute to the rewatch, but from what I can recall. I don't think I have a rewatch in me for quite some time. Still, it's fun to relive specifics with fellow fans.

[KBABZ]

In the dub, they're called Dynocaps. Where did they get that name?

I'm guessing it's meant to be spelt as DynoCaps, as in, Dynamic Capsules that can hold anything.

Which reminds me, why are they called Hoi Poi Capsules originally?

[ABED]

In the dub, they're called Dynocaps. Where did they get that name?

I'm guessing it's meant to be spelt as DynoCaps, as in, Dynamic Capsules that can hold anything.

Which reminds me, why are they called Hoi Poi Capsules originally?

Hoi Poi is an onomatopoeia. According to Curtis Hoffmann, "Hoi is the sound you make when you throw something, and poi
is the sound things make when you throw them."

[KBABZ]

Hoi Poi is an onomatopoeia. According to Curtis Hoffmann, "Hoi is the sound you make when you throw something, and poi
is the sound things make when you throw them."

That's stretching more than Luffy IMO!

[ABED]

Hoi Poi is an onomatopoeia. According to Curtis Hoffmann, "Hoi is the sound you make when you throw something, and poi
is the sound things make when you throw them."

That's stretching more than Luffy IMO!

Look into how Hirudegarn got his name.

[Robo4900]

In the dub, they're called Dynocaps. Where did they get that name?

I'm guessing it's meant to be spelt as DynoCaps, as in, Dynamic Capsules that can hold anything.

Which reminds me, why are they called Hoi Poi Capsules originally?

Hoi Poi is an onomatopoeia. According to Curtis Hoffmann, "Hoi is the sound you make when you throw something, and poi
is the sound things make when you throw them."

I have heard that too.
I'm guessing that this is also true:

the first post did mention their full name, but didn't draw attention to their name. In the dub, they're called Dynocaps. Where did they get that name?

I figured dyna like dynamite because they explode?

Do remember, of course, that the guys who wrote the dub scripts for the 1995 dub actually had access to good translations, and there's at least one story Ian Corlett tells of calling up someone from Toei to clarify some unclear things about the visuals (Ian Corlett worked on scripting for 1995 DB). So, clearly they had some line to figure out non-obvious things like "Hoi-poi", so presumably they decided that an English adaptation (though not a direct one) was to call them Dynacaps for the above reason. They could have gone for something more like "Huff-puff capsules" or something, but natural dialogue was favoured well above accuracy, so they elected to go with something that sounded a little catchier in English.

The 1995 dub was generally pretty accurate, interestingly; there are a few really weird deviations, it definitely has a bit of "punching-up" of the scripts, and there's censorship, but in general, it's a pretty surprisingly good presentation of it for 1995 American kids' TV. The thing that always bothered me is how Funimation handled re-adapting those scripts for their 2001 uncut dub; they generally favoured censoring things, keeping censorship from the 1995 dub intact where it didn't rely on edited visuals (even Bulma's conversation with Roshi in episode 8 was kept censored; in the Japanese version, he's asking for something perverse -- I can't remember precisely what -- while in Funi's dub and the BLT dub, he asks for... I think a walk around his island?... But Funi's is still uncut, so Oolong still gives him a puff-puff... Except they censor it still, so all Oolong does is flash Roshi, essentially. It's all a bit awkward and weird), but they put another layer of punching-up of the dialogue on top. There are a couple of individual scenes one can point out where they took out an adaptation or piece of censorship and made it more accurate, but in general, they clearly were more interested in making a version of the show that fits in with their usual style, than actually making an uncut, uncensored, accurate dub.
And as a further interesting note on top of this, the 2003 Blue Water dub based its scripts off Funimation's, but seems to have had access to direct translations too, in some cases entirely tossing out Funi's scripts in favour of these, but in general, they tended to correct and adjust Funi's scripts to flow better, and often to err closer to the original Japanese. Even names of things were more accurate; Goku introduces himself to Bulma as Son Goku, he calls the magic stick the Nyoibo, the Crane Hermit was not called Master Shen, and thus later on, the character Shen was not renamed to Hero... Though they did keep a few changes (Master Roshi, Flying Nimbus). And the first ~20 episodes tended to mess up a lot of things (I suspect they were produced in a hurry, so the scripts were produced more hastily).

--

I haven't had the chance to watch episodes 4 and 5 yet. Might see #4 tonight, #5 (or both) tomorrow, then I'm caught up for when the new thread opens on Wednesday.
If people would like, I can speed this along and open it tomorrow, though. I've probably overthought the placement of the start of these weeks far too much to make any kind of sane call on it, though, so I'm thinking I'm just gonna leave it alone.

[ABED]

For years I thought it was Dino Caps.

[Robo4900]

For years I thought it was Dino Caps.

Hm. I just checked the Trimark DVD, which has dubtitles, and lo and behold...



I guess Dynocaps is like... Dynamic capsules?... I dunno.
I don't imagine Ian Corlett or any of the other writers from the time remember why this name was chosen, so this may be a mystery whose answer has been lost to time.
It could still refer to dynamite, but be obtusely spelled.

[KBABZ]

I guess Dynocaps is like... Dynamic capsules?... I dunno

That's what I just said! They'd probably be called that because they can story anything, from water containers to motorbikes to ENTIRE HOUSES WITH WORKING ELECTRICS AND PLUMBING.

[MasenkoHA]

Do remember, of course, that the guys who wrote the dub scripts for the 1995 dub actually had access to good translations, and there's at least one story Ian Corlett tells of calling up someone from Toei to clarify some unclear things about the visuals (Ian Corlett worked on scripting for 1995 DB).

They also had Barry Watson and Chris Neel who couldn’t be assed to care about accuracy.

Funimation handled re-adapting those scripts for their 2001 uncut dub; they generally favoured censoring things, keeping censorship from the 1995 dub intact where it didn't rely on edited visuals

It didn’t seem like they actually wanted to put in the work of rewriting scripts they already had put together 6 years prior and only revised to fix a few minor things and to allow it to make sense for the uncut release.

Funimation’s bizarro censorship carried well past the BLT days so it was probably a cost cutting measure so they didn’t have to record too much alternate dialog between the Toonami airing and uncut release.

(even Bulma's conversation with Roshi in episode 8 was kept censored; in the Japanese version, he's asking for something perverse -- I can't remember precisely what -- while in Funi's dub and the BLT dub, he asks for... I think a walk around his island?... But Funi's is still uncut, so Oolong still gives him a puff-puff... Except they censor it still, so all Oolong does is flash Roshi, essentially. It's all a bit awkward and weird), but they put another layer of punching-up of the dialogue on top.

In the Japanese version Roshi wants to poke Bulma’s tits. Oolong!Bulma gives him a puff puff

In the 1995 dub Roshi wants Bulma to set him up on a date with an older lady and Oolong!Bulma suggest he dates her and Roshi says she’s too young for him.


In the 2001 dub Roshi wants to take Bulma on a walk on the beach and Oolong!Bulma talks about how he makes her heart beat like a drum and then flashes him. The Toonami version cuts out the obvious part. It’s another case of censorship in the uncut dub to give Funimation the least amount of work between producing two versions.

There are a couple of individual scenes one can point out where they took out an adaptation or piece of censorship and made it more accurate, but in general, they clearly were more interested in making a version of the show that fits in with their usual style, than actually making an uncut, uncensored, accurate dub.
And as a further interesting note on top of this, the 2003 Blue Water dub based its scripts off Funimation's, but seems to have had access to direct translations too, in some cases entirely tossing out Funi's scripts in favour of these, but in general, they tended to correct and adjust Funi's scripts to flow better, and often to err closer to the original Japanese. Even names of things were more accurate; Goku introduces himself to Bulma as Son Goku, he calls the magic stick the Nyoibo, the Crane Hermit was not called Master Shen, and thus later on, the character Shen was not renamed to Hero... Though they did keep a few changes (Master Roshi, Flying Nimbus). And the first ~20 episodes tended to mess up a lot of things (I suspect they were produced in a hurry, so the scripts were produced more hastily).

I’m pretty sure Funimation had access to accurate translations (I seem to remember most of the Roshi arc episodes being very accurate) they just didn’t care.
--

[MyVisionity]

There were also those licensing issues with Trimark back in 2001 that delayed the home video release of the first arc for a few years in the US. Of course the episodes were still redubbed and aired on Toonami, but I think maybe Funimation was putting most of its efforts into eps 14 onwards to begin with. I imagine that may have had an effect on the quality of eps 1 - 13.

[MasenkoHA]

I think it was just a matter of laziness on Funimation’s part. “We already wrote those episodes back in 1995”

When they back to redub the first 67 episodes uncut it was the same thing. They stuck to the 1996 scripts as much as humanly possible only fixing really big errors and crossing out Saban’s bs&p memos.

Even Kai wasn’t immune to defaulting to what they already wrote. Piccolo’s dialog to Gohan after giving him a gi like Goku but with his crest is like verbatim the same across all 3 versions for example.

[Robo4900]

Okay, I decided to watch episode 4.

OH YES!! The theme that plays right after the OP in this one is my FAVOURITE Dragon Ball theme. It's like the... Goku flying on the Kinto Un theme or something. SO GOOD. Loads of nostalgia for that theme. It's just pure joy.

Goku can sense people in the village, eh? I seem to recall there being an episode where Karin allegedly teaches "sensing" to him, but here, he just can sense it.
Maybe it's just his survival instincts/strong sense of smell/whatever else.

Oh right, Goku patting peoples' crotches. I remember finding that immensely funny as a kid. I'm glad it doesn't last long outside this arc, I think it could've got tiring very quickly. In any case, Bulma's responses to this are hilarious.

"Old Lady Paozu"
Huh. Is she named after the mountain? (Or was Mt. Paozu a dub invention? I get the sense it came from a Daizenshuu)

Oh hey, that guy in the feathered hat sounds like Joji Yanami.


Oh, she must be watching the Funi version.

Man, the writing of this episode is seriously really funny. I forgot just how funny it is, it's been so long. This isn't one particular moment, just in general it's very funny. Little things like Goku patting crotches happening twice early on, then finally being paid off, after Oolong realises the ruse, and Goku says "How did you tell I wasn't a girl without patting my crotch?"
And like the PSA presentation in regards to Oolong transforming... It's basically just an exposition dump, but the presentation of it is really funny with a little title card and a jingle... Real good stuff.
And Oolong's great plan for defeating Goku when he comes back is turning into a giant robot with an axe head... So he can dunk Goku in a bowl of hot soup. So goofy, I love it.

I guess Dynocaps is like... Dynamic capsules?... I dunno

That's what I just said! They'd probably be called that because they can story anything, from water containers to motorbikes to ENTIRE HOUSES WITH WORKING ELECTRICS AND PLUMBING.

I did always wonder how the electrics and plumbing worked.
I like to think that Dr Brief had other tech miniaturisation in place that allowed pipes and electronics to fit inside the thin walls.