Would you pay Funimation via Kickstarter for a redub of the full Dragon Ball media

[MasenkoHA]

No. Not only could Funimation afford it, they'd get so many new people and so much money that would pay back this investment multiple times going into the new decade.

If this were true, why wouldn't they do it?

Because Funimation has never cared about the pre-Z media, and as a result has never done the market research to find this out.

Even if Funimation did a redub of the 2001 dub it would just be the exact same dub with the Kai era cast and maybe a few of their well known errors like Goku’s marriage promise to Chi Chi being fixed. They probably wouldn’t bother having brand new scripts for all 153 episodes written.

But shoot if they can’t even be bothered to redub movie 2 and 3 for quality control/some semblance of consistency…

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

If this were true, why wouldn't they do it?

Because Funimation has never cared about the pre-Z media, and as a result has never done the market research to find this out.

Even if Funimation did a redub of the 2001 dub it would just be the exact same dub with the Kai era cast and maybe a few of their well known errors like Goku’s marriage promise to Chi Chi being fixed. They probably wouldn’t bother having brand new scripts for all 153 episodes written.

But shoot if they can’t even be bothered to redub movie 2 and 3 for quality control/some semblance of consistency…

That would basically be par for the course with the redubs they have done previously, as the UUE dub and the Orange Brick partial redub were largely more or less the same dialogue/script wise as the old dubs of those episodes and only the most blatantly wrong or inconsistent things corrected but everything else remaining as is. A potential OG DB redub would likely be no different in that regard.

[ABED]

No. Not only could Funimation afford it, they'd get so many new people and so much money that would pay back this investment multiple times going into the new decade.

If this were true, why wouldn't they do it?

Because Funimation has never cared about the pre-Z media, and as a result has never done the market research to find this out.

Or they don't care about it as much because it doesn't sell as well. Certainly not so well that it would make a return on investment many times over.

Please, if you are going to make a statement like this (e.g. that companies care more to stubbornly hold onto things they believe to be true than make money) have some basis for it.

[dragonmagico]

If this were true, why wouldn't they do it?

Because Funimation has never cared about the pre-Z media, and as a result has never done the market research to find this out.

Or they don't care about it as much because it doesn't sell as well. Certainly not so well that it would make a return on investment many times over.

Please, if you are going to make a statement like this (e.g. that companies care more to stubbornly hold onto things they believe to be true than make money) have some basis for it.

Honestly, i can't imagine ther will would actually be many people who buy(or stream) a redub of any of the db series from funi. And I dont just mean because the anime community is divided into sub and dub and most people dont watch a new dub of a show theyve seen dubbed already beyond a few episodes for mere curiosity. But the funi-ball dubs in particular have a strong fanbase of nostalgic millennials that like them for the memories not the quality(well lack thereof), and if not them do sub all the way. or the few like me who do both. There may be a few outliers that would buy/stream a new dub(and a few people who would stream an ep or 2 to check it out) but the db fanbase is already cemented. even a lot of gen z i see is "naturally" flowing into these two camps after watching super. I just dont see much money in a full redub at this point. ship sailed

[MasenkoHA]

If this were true, why wouldn't they do it?

Because Funimation has never cared about the pre-Z media, and as a result has never done the market research to find this out.

Or they don't care about it as much because it doesn't sell as well. Certainly not so well that it would make a return on investment many times over.

Conversely, if Dragon Ball was a top seller there would be even less reason to redub the series because it already sold great why fix something that isn’t broken? That’s basically the principle with the Z dub. No matter how bad it actually is, not just as a translation but as it’s own product, it still sells extremely well.

Granted, when an anime gets redubbed it’s usually because A. The old dub was unfinished B. It’s been so long since the old dub was around it’s kind of lost to the sands of time. Neither really applies to anything Funimation has done with Dragon Ball since 1999. The two most significant redubs were the redub of the first arc of the original series and the redub of the original 67 episodes of Z. In the former case it was a little bit of those episodes hadn’t really aired for 6 years and a little
bit of having a complete uncut release the old BLT dub had effectively been cancelled. In the latter case it was just about having a complete uncut release and pushing out the old cast in favor of the Texas cast.

I don’t think a new complete redub of the original Dragon Ball would be as bold and controversial as trying to redub Z and it would be nice to have a semblance of continuity between Dragon Ball>Kai>Super in terms of how Funimation approaches the dub. But at the end of the day what would be the point? Funimation knows those who are dissatisfied with the dub will always have the Japanese sub.

[OmegaRockman]

If this were true, why wouldn't they do it?

Because Funimation has never cared about the pre-Z media, and as a result has never done the market research to find this out.

Or they don't care about it as much because it doesn't sell as well. Certainly not so well that it would make a return on investment many times over.

Please, if you are going to make a statement like this (e.g. that companies care more to stubbornly hold onto things they believe to be true than make money) have some basis for it.

I do think that the popularity of DB as a franchise would allow it to at least break even and likely make a modest profit. It would probably help if they marketed it as a collector's edition set that had both the old and new dubs on it, appealing to both the nostalgia and current era dub crowds. It would probably also help if they released it on BD because unlike Z, DB hasn't gotten that yet. I admit that this release would probably sell well enough without this theoretical redub (being on BD would probably be the big selling point), but from an artistic perspective it would be a great opportunity to get a better dub out there. I don't think the redub would make the release that much less profitable, so it would be worth it IMO. But yeah, I know that the head honchos making the decisions at Funi wouldn't see it that way, which is why a redub can't happen. This is why I kinda want a Kai recut of the original DB, because then they'd have no choice but to do a new dub.

[Robo4900]

If this were true, why wouldn't they do it?

Because Funimation has never cared about the pre-Z media, and as a result has never done the market research to find this out.

Or they don't care about it as much because it doesn't sell as well. Certainly not so well that it would make a return on investment many times over.

Please, if you are going to make a statement like this (e.g. that companies care more to stubbornly hold onto things they believe to be true than make money) have some basis for it.

There's a clear basis for this in that Gen Fukunaga directed Funimation in a way to skip the original series from the very beginning, only begrudgingly taking the series and doing their best to get Toei to let them skip it even once the lukewarm-but-decent-for-the-timeslot ratings for the series were pouring in. After this, when Funimation eventually got around to doing the full series dub, it was half-assed, barely-advertised, and consistently before, during, and after, Funimation has made every effort to downplay the original series. It aired while the Z series was at its most exciting, climactic portion, it was marketed really badly, the dubbing style was flat and boring (the dull performances, poorly-paced dialogue, and the lack of overly-active music to compensate for this hurt it a lot), and in general it always played second-fiddle to DBZ, basically it was played as a "DBZ Babies" spinoff that aired alongside the later run of Z, rather than being a full-on entry in the franchise, which is how Z, GT, Kai, and Super were treated.

It's very clear that Funimation has never, at any point, cared about the pre-Z media as anything more than an obscure curiosity like some of the lesser movies, to be dubbed and released for people who really want it, but not to be taken seriously or have much put into it. Its perception in America of being basically a skippable "DBZ Babies" spinoff show is entirely a result of Funimation's apathy for it.

Yes, it's true that the original series doesn't sell well, just like how it's true that historically Funimation's horrible, butchered, over-filtered releasese of DBZ have sold really well; this isn't a situation that came about naturally, it's because of how Funimation treated it in 1995-2002, and their refusal to re-evaluate this approach at any point in the nearly 20 years since then.

[MasenkoHA]

. After this, when Funimation eventually got around to doing the full series dub, it was half-assed, barely-advertised, and consistently before, during, and after, Funimation has made every effort to downplay the original series

To be fair, it being half assed was more reflective of Funimation’s capabilities at the time than general apathy. The writing, acting, and directing had about the same level of effort as Z and Yuyu Hakusho.

I wouldn’t say it was barely advertised. Toonami promotions for it were fairly common. It’s just those promotions sucked making it sound like a Muppet Babies esque spin off. They also pretty much stayed the same while Z’s promos seemed to change every 5 seconds. Coincidentally they did a bit better with the Piccolo saga in making Dragon Ball seem exciting and not Lol! Goku is widdle and called Roshi stinky!!!

https://youtu.be/By8s_HytLA8

Probably because at that point Z finished airing the prior Spring and GT hadn’t started yet.


Though that’s more on Toonami than FUNimation.

. It aired while the Z series was at its most exciting, climactic portion

It aired concurrent to the Buu saga.Not exactly sure if that’s the most exciting climatic portion.

If anything the real damage is having already aired the first 2/3rds of Z before Dragon Ball. That basically murdered two potential audiences

1. Those who didn’t like Z but might have liked the original Dragon Ball. If someone thought Z was stupid why even bother watching Dragon Ball?

2. Those who would have preferred Z regardless but might have enjoyed Dragon Ball on its own terms. No Super Saiyans. No Vegeta. No Trunks. No Gohan. Probably a deal breaker for a number of Toonami Ball Z fans, an issue that would have been avoided if Funimation ran on all of Dragon Ball first. Can’t be upset Vegeta isn’t in this one if you’re not aware he exist.

the dubbing style was flat and boring (the dull performances, poorly-paced dialogue, and the lack of overly-active music to compensate for this hurt it a lot),

Of it’s many things I wouldn’t call the dubbing style flat and boring. Hokey and obnoxious and well bad but not boring. The dialog and acting really isn’t any different than Z.

And keeping the original music did not hurt Dragon Ball’s dub. That’s as silly as implying Z would have failed without Faulconer or Wasserman. It’s telling that the hate for Kikuchi’s score from American fans is only
applied to Z. Most of them will at least say something dumb to the effect of “The music fit Dragon Ball but
not Z! Z was serious sci fi!!!!!”

and in general it always played second-fiddle to DBZ, basically it was played as a "DBZ Babies" spinoff that aired alongside the later run of Z, rather than being a full-on entry in the franchise, which is how Z, GT, Kai, and Super were treated.

That is fair. Pretty much only the King Piccolo saga got to run without another Dragon Ball series already airing.

[jjgp1112]

I mean, even Japan and other parts of the world treat pre-Z as an afterthought, and they actually started from the beginning. Why else would Z get the first Dragon Box release as well as a spiffy new refreshed edition where all the preceding events were dumped in an episode 1 summary recap? Why else would the vast majority of Dragon Ball games be under the Z banner and only cover a smattering of original series content, if that. Even Shueisha has been treating Dragon Ball like a prequel series for the last 20 years.

[Robo4900]

It aired while the Z series was at its most exciting, climactic portion

It aired concurrent to the Buu saga.Not exactly sure if that’s the most exciting climatic portion.

I thought it began airing during the Cell saga.

Still, if it did begin airing in the Boo saga, that's still basically airing the first three seasons of a show for the first time at the same time as you're airing the final two seasons. Any idiot with half a braincell should have been able to see this was a bad idea, and yet...

If anything the real damage is having already aired the first 2/3rds of Z before Dragon Ball. That basically murdered two potential audiences

1. Those who didn’t like Z but might have liked the original Dragon Ball. If someone thought Z was stupid why even bother watching Dragon Ball?

2. Those who would have preferred Z regardless but might have enjoyed Dragon Ball on its own terms. No Super Saiyans. No Vegeta. No Trunks. No Gohan. Probably a deal breaker for a number of Toonami Ball Z fans, an issue that would have been avoided if Funimation ran on all of Dragon Ball first. Can’t be upset Vegeta isn’t in this one if you’re not aware he exist.

I'd agree, however I'd also argue they could have somewhat mitigated this by airing DB after GT. GT didn't go down great with American audiences but Americans never lost their appetite for more Dragon Ball, so introducing them to the original series as the new primary iteration of Dragon Ball after GT would have been smart.

Toonami UK and YTV had this as a result of picking up the Westwood dubs, and it worked to great effect; DB's ratings were quite strong, from what I recall.

the dubbing style was flat and boring (the dull performances, poorly-paced dialogue, and the lack of overly-active music to compensate for this hurt it a lot),

Of it’s many things I wouldn’t call the dubbing style flat and boring. Hokey and obnoxious and well bad but not boring. The dialog and acting really isn’t any different than Z.

And keeping the original music did not hurt Dragon Ball’s dub. That’s as silly as implying Z would have failed without Faulconer or Wasserman. It’s telling that the hate for Kikuchi’s score from American fans is only
applied to Z. Most of them will at least say something dumb to the effect of “The music fit Dragon Ball but
not Z! Z was serious sci fi!!!!!”

You misunderstand.

The pace of the dialogue was really bad in the DB dub, loads of dead air in the middle of conversations, and the main star, Stephanie Nadolny, had very, very flat, dull delivery.

The original music was good, but the problem is, it's not completely blowing out the sound like the American score for Z and GT tended to. Those scores are not good, but they achieve the goal of compensating for the dull performances of many of the cast. DB doesn't have this, the music leaves loads of room for the actors to perform, and they do nothing with that room (granted, a lot of this is probably down to bad direction, since it's everyone in the cast). DB has it worse because Nadolny was especially bad.

Basically, what I'm saying is that while it is a positive change that they switched to the original score, the original score exposes how poor the performances of Funimation's cast tended to be to a greater extent than if you watch with the overactive US score (as can be found to be the case on the "Remastered" Z dub).
Meanwhile, when you hear the Funi cast's work on Kai, or the Ocean cast's work on the Pioneer dub, the actors' performances are given room to breathe by the less intrusive original score, and they come off way better than they did with replacement scores.

So, IMO there's a sort of paradoxical situation that the original score is better and improves the show, but it also makes the OG Funi dub's flaws even more stark and intolerable, especially in DB which for some reason has several really weird moments of dead air during conversations, as if the scriptwriters couldn't quite fill out the conversation, so they just have an awkward pause now and then in many episodes.
Silence is often a good thing, but in the middle of a conversation, in a scene that was so full of dialogue before and after, it's odd.

Just my two cents on the OG Funi dub of DB.

and in general it always played second-fiddle to DBZ, basically it was played as a "DBZ Babies" spinoff that aired alongside the later run of Z, rather than being a full-on entry in the franchise, which is how Z, GT, Kai, and Super were treated.

That is fair. Pretty much only the King Piccolo saga got to run without another Dragon Ball series already airing.

Yeah. IMO, this is the main reason DB failed in the USA when it finally aired in full. It was playing second fiddle.

[MasenkoHA]

It aired while the Z series was at its most exciting, climactic portion

It aired concurrent to the Buu saga.Not exactly sure if that’s the most exciting climatic portion.

I thought it began airing during the Cell saga.

Still, if it did begin airing in the Boo saga, that's still basically airing the first three seasons of a show for the first time at the same time as you're airing the final two seasons. Any idiot with half a braincell should have been able to see this was a bad idea, and yet...

Nope it premiered like a month before the Afterlife Tournament arc started. The Cell saga finished December 29,2000. Dragon Ball started Aug 20 2001. So a good 8 month gap between the two.

I agree airing what amounts to airing the beginning of the series alongside the end of the series was stupid.

I'd agree, however I'd also argue they could have somewhat mitigated this by airing DB after GT. GT didn't go down great with American audiences but Americans never lost their appetite for more Dragon Ball, so introducing them to the original series as the new primary iteration of Dragon Ball after GT would have been smart.

Toonami UK and YTV had this as a result of picking up the Westwood dubs, and it worked to great effect; DB's ratings were quite strong, from what I recall.

Yeah, that probably would have best. Waiting until after GT before running Dragon Ball. Even shittier is Funimation couldn’t even finish Dragon Ball before working on and releasing GT. Where as they actually had the decency to finish GT before going back and rereleasing their in-house redub of the first 67 episodes of Z.

You misunderstand.

The pace of the dialogue was really bad in the DB dub, loads of dead air in the middle of conversations, and the main star, Stephanie Nadolny, had very, very flat, dull delivery.

The original music was good, but the problem is, it's not completely blowing out the sound like the American score for Z and GT tended to. Those scores are not good, but they achieve the goal of compensating for the dull performances of many of the cast. DB doesn't have this, the music leaves loads of room for the actors to perform, and they do nothing with that room (granted, a lot of this is probably down to bad direction, since it's everyone in the cast). DB has it worse because Nadolny was especially bad.

Basically, what I'm saying is that while it is a positive change that they switched to the original score, the original score exposes how poor the performances of Funimation's cast tended to be to a greater extent than if you watch with the overactive US score (as can be found to be the case on the "Remastered" Z dub).
Meanwhile, when you hear the Funi cast's work on Kai, or the Ocean cast's work on the Pioneer dub, the actors' performances are given room to breathe by the less intrusive original score, and they come off way better than they did with replacement scores.

So, IMO there's a sort of paradoxical situation that the original score is better and improves the show, but it also makes the OG Funi dub's flaws even more stark and intolerable, especially in DB which for some reason has several really weird moments of dead air during conversations, as if the scriptwriters couldn't quite fill out the conversation, so they just have an awkward pause now and then in many episodes.
Silence is often a good thing, but in the middle of a conversation, in a scene that was so full of dialogue before and after, it's odd.

Just my two cents on the OG Funi dub of DB.

My mistake. I see you’re point, but I’m still going to respectfully disagree. In my opinion the Faulconer and Menza scores are so unlistenable and obnoxious that they only add to the badness of the dubs not hide the imperfections of the cast. Kikuchi and Tokunaga’s music can’t change the bad acting but they can make the overall experience more tolerable and their music actually fits the show even with Funimation’s lame punch up humor and awkward acting.

It’s like the end of GT where Goku falls asleep on Shenlong and the dragon balls disappear into Goku’s body. The Menza score plays this inexplicably awful “Something evil and dangerous is about to happen” music which makes absolutely no fucking sense with what’s actually happening on screen or what the mood is suppose to be. The more sentimental instrumental arrangement of Dan Dan is clearly how the scene was meant to be seen and Nadolny’s performance may be laughably stilted and nasally compared to Nozawa’s but it doesn’t ruin the feeling of melancholic peace the Tokunaga score brings





I do agree the original music works better with acting that is more in line with how the series is suppose to be ala the Pioneer/Ocean movie dubs. It’s a shame Pioneer and Ocean didn’t take full control of the dub after the movies with Funimation acting as silent business partners. Amazing how much better the dub turns out when Barry isn’t around and Gen is just there to….make sure Pioneer is using the Funimation chosen names for consistency I guess? There’s an alternate universe where the Saban era is the lowest point of the dub’s history in America and not one of its mid to high points.

[WittyUsername]

I’m just going to say it: I don’t see how there would be much commercial appeal in redubbing a 35 year old anime. The full series is already available in subbed form and I can’t imagine that the prospect of a modern English dub would generate enough interest to justify the costs that would go into it. Yes, FUNimation can probably afford to do something like that, but unless there’s proof that it would be a worthwhile investment, why would they bother?

[Robo4900]

My mistake. I see you’re point, but I’m still going to respectfully disagree. In my opinion the Faulconer and Menza scores are so unlistenable and obnoxious that they only add to the badness of the dubs not hide the imperfections of the cast. Kikuchi and Tokunaga’s music can’t change the bad acting but they can make the overall experience more tolerable and their music actually fits the show even with Funimation’s lame punch up humor and awkward acting.

It’s like the end of GT where Goku falls asleep on Shenlong and the dragon balls disappear into Goku’s body. The Menza score plays this inexplicably awful “Something evil and dangerous is about to happen” music which makes absolutely no fucking sense with what’s actually happening on screen or what the mood is suppose to be. The more sentimental instrumental arrangement of Dan Dan is clearly how the scene was meant to be seen and Nadolny’s performance may be laughably stilted and nasally compared to Nozawa’s but it doesn’t ruin the feeling of melancholic peace the Tokunaga score brings

Sure, but if you're an American child watching the show for the first time, and you're used to (and maybe even a fan of) the Faulconer/Menza scores, then the original score will suddenly make the show seem a lot more dead because it no longer is so overbearing that it disguises the subpar voice acting.

I do agree the original music works better with acting that is more in line with how the series is suppose to be ala the Pioneer/Ocean movie dubs. It’s a shame Pioneer and Ocean didn’t take full control of the dub after the movies with Funimation acting as silent business partners. Amazing how much better the dub turns out when Barry isn’t around and Gen is just there to….make sure Pioneer is using the Funimation chosen names for consistency I guess? There’s an alternate universe where the Saban era is the lowest point of the dub’s history in America and not one of its mid to high points.

Yeah.

I’m just going to say it: I don’t see how there would be much commercial appeal in redubbing a 35 year old anime. The full series is already available in subbed form and I can’t imagine that the prospect of a modern English dub would generate enough interest to justify the costs that would go into it. Yes, FUNimation can probably afford to do something like that, but unless there’s proof that it would be a worthwhile investment, why would they bother?

I think if Funi made a big deal about redubbing the entire original 508-episode run, made a point of acknowledging and pointing out the problems with the original, maybe outright released a trailer showing a particularly shitty scene from the original vs the new redub, it would appeal.

But I don't think Funimation would see any point in bothering with this. They're happy with their original work. Some of the cast, or at least Chris Sabat, aren't proud of the old dub, but the actors don't really have a say in whether or not Funimation dub/redub a particular property or not.

If Funimation was open to doing something along this line, more likely they would just say "Well, if we think people will buy the entire franchise, let's just re-release all our old shit again, spend no money on producing the new masters, and charge a fucking bomb for it, and we'll be swimming in cash."

In other words, it'd be another 30th anniversary fiasco; they could have done something great with it, but instead they just re-released the same old shit, overcharged for it, and took great joy in people buying it anyway because it's the new least-worst version available.

[jjgp1112]

You really think the average kid is going to notice mediocre voice acting? I sure as hell didn't, which was what made the early Z dub jarring years later. Even now, the average nostalgic viewer doesn't even bat an eye at the voice acting and in many cases bizarelly prefer it because it had "more passion" or some nonsense like that.

You single out Stephanie Nadolny, yet she's rabidly preferred by most of the dub audience; Clinkenbeard has been the most derided recasting by a good margin from the dub fanbase.

[WittyUsername]

I think if Funi made a big deal about redubbing the entire original 508-episode run, made a point of acknowledging and pointing out the problems with the original, maybe outright released a trailer showing a particularly shitty scene from the original vs the new redub, it would appeal.

But I don't think Funimation would see any point in bothering with this. They're happy with their original work. Some of the cast, or at least Chris Sabat, aren't proud of the old dub, but the actors don't really have a say in whether or not Funimation dub/redub a particular property or not.

If Funimation was open to doing something along this line, more likely they would just say "Well, if we think people will buy the entire franchise, let's just re-release all our old shit again, spend no money on producing the new masters, and charge a fucking bomb for it, and we'll be swimming in cash."

In other words, it'd be another 30th anniversary fiasco; they could have done something great with it, but instead they just re-released the same old shit, overcharged for it, and took great joy in people buying it anyway because it's the new least-worst version available.

I don’t think it’s a matter of being “proud” of their old work. Redubbing the entire original run would not only be a costly endeavor, it would also be way too time consuming. FUNimation has a ridiculous number of anime that they dub these days, so why bother expending so much time and resources into redubbing three separate anime that they’ve already dubbed in the past? That’s just not a sound business decision. Redubbing DBZ in particular would be especially silly and redundant, because Kai already exists.

[ABED]

FUNi's treatment of DB may not have helped matters but there's quotes from Gen Fukunaga you can look up that point to why they skipped ahead to DBZ after the first 13 episodes of DB.

[MasenkoHA]

You single out Stephanie Nadolny, yet she's rabidly preferred by most of the dub audience; Clinkenbeard has been the most derided recasting by a good margin from the dub fanbase.

Their argument is always that Clinkenbeard sounds too much like a girl…which have they ever met a little boy in the 4-9 age range like….ever? Their voices are usually on the higher range.

FUNi's treatment of DB may not have helped matters but there's quotes from Gen Fukunaga you can look up that point to why they skipped ahead to DBZ after the first 13 episodes of DB.

Sure, but they also got shitty timeslots from Seagull Entertainment. It wasn’t just that kids didn’t want to warch Dragon Ball and Z was where it was at for American kids. Saban was able to pull better timeslots. That helped more than anything. Than and when it moved to Cartoon Network and got choice after school timeslots. There was an interview with Fukunaga where he even pointed out first run syndication was kind of dying out. Had Dragon Ball been picked up by like Fox Kids or something it probably would have done a lot better.

[ABED]

You single out Stephanie Nadolny, yet she's rabidly preferred by most of the dub audience; Clinkenbeard has been the most derided recasting by a good margin from the dub fanbase.

Their argument is always that Clinkenbeard sounds too much like a girl…which have they ever met a little boy in the 4-9 age range like….ever? Their voices are usually on the higher range.

FUNi's treatment of DB may not have helped matters but there's quotes from Gen Fukunaga you can look up that point to why they skipped ahead to DBZ after the first 13 episodes of DB.

Sure, but they also got shitty timeslots from Seagull Entertainment. It wasn’t just that kids didn’t want to warch Dragon Ball and Z was where it was at for American kids. Saban was able to pull better timeslots. That helped more than anything. Than and when it moved to Cartoon Network and got choice after school timeslots. There was an interview with Fukunaga where he even pointed out first run syndication was kind of dying out. Had Dragon Ball been picked up by like Fox Kids or something it probably would have done a lot better.

The reason they got CN was because DBZ made a splash in syndication. DB has always been less popular than DBZ. They were a very small company then and they needed a hit. DB wasn't going to get them there. It wasn't only an issue of getting a better timeslot.

[Robo4900]

FUNi's treatment of DB may not have helped matters but there's quotes from Gen Fukunaga you can look up that point to why they skipped ahead to DBZ after the first 13 episodes of DB.

Sure, but they also got shitty timeslots from Seagull Entertainment. It wasn’t just that kids didn’t want to warch Dragon Ball and Z was where it was at for American kids. Saban was able to pull better timeslots. That helped more than anything. Than and when it moved to Cartoon Network and got choice after school timeslots. There was an interview with Fukunaga where he even pointed out first run syndication was kind of dying out. Had Dragon Ball been picked up by like Fox Kids or something it probably would have done a lot better.

Seagull's timeslots were no where near the death knell people claim, and the ratings were okay, same as the first run of Z's first 13 episodes pretty much (and those ratings were promising enough by the end of season 1 to warrant Saban double-billing season 2, which ended up as a smash-hit). They just used the subpar ratings of a new niche show in a not-great timeslot to leverage Gen Fukunaga's desire to skip straight to Z.

[DBZAOTA482]

FUNi's treatment of DB may not have helped matters but there's quotes from Gen Fukunaga you can look up that point to why they skipped ahead to DBZ after the first 13 episodes of DB.

Considering DBZ didn't truly become a hit till Toonami (the ratings during syndication were good but not enough to stop Saban from pulling the plug), Seagull's horrible timeslots (and the questionable Blue Water dub) definitely held Dragon Ball back. FUNimation just didn't wanna wait on the franchise to become a success.