What if international versions of DBZ had gone the Kai route from the get go?

[TVfan721]

DBZ is loaded with filler as we all know but it was for an understandable reason. The anime couldn't go ahead of the manga so they needed to stall for time. We all have our varying opinions on the quality of the filler and it's all valid but we can't really argue the necessity of the filler in the first place. It simply needed to happen.

But when DBZ got picked up internationally, that specific need for that filler was no longer there and I wonder what could've been if international versions had gone the route of removing that filler, or at least the biggest parts like the full-blown filler arcs like fake Namek and Garlic Jr. There would be a lot to work out logistically but I wonder how the reception of the product would've changed in some places.

[jjgp1112]

Funi sort of did it with the Ocean dub in order to meet the 26-episode broadcast standard for seasons and cut out 15 episodes worth of content in the process, though they obviously retained a good deal of filler. But I think the average distribution company would know little of the manga and thus had no reason to know what constituted filler and what didn't. It was all just episode content to them. It would have to have been a directive from Toei themselves.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Something similar was done for the 20th remaster of the original Yu-Gi-Oh where they cut episodes, not content from episodes, although I think that stopped at Battle City.

As for Dragon Ball Z? People that didn't like the show might have enjoyed it more because it wasn't as slow and less material that bored them. The fans are where doing this would be a divisive move. I would have to assume Funimation wouldn't have continued what they did with the original 2 seasons because that would mean no bilingual home releases. If they just cut out episodes from the run and dubbed them exclusively for the home video market it could have made for a GT-esque "Lost Episodes" gimmick that might have helped sales of content like the Garlic Junior arc, they may have even developed a "cult classic" status.

It would have been an interesting experiment, I say as long Funimation kept as an uncut version of all 291 episodes available it could have worked.

[FPSSJ4_Goku]

What about this: what if the in-house English dub of Dragonball Z had voice acting that was on the same level as the English dub of Dragon Ball Kai? (They also pronounce Kaioken correctly)

[TVfan721]

No amount of strong VA work will make things like fake Namek, snake way filler, and Garlic Jr worth watching for me.

[FPSSJ4_Goku]

No amount of strong VA work will make things like fake Namek, snake way filler, and Garlic Jr worth watching for me.

At least the Serpentine Road filler had Goku something to do while he was dead instead of just fucking running for six months but I will admit they could've used that time better

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Granted it's not Dragon Ball Z, but there are rare cases of whole episodes being cut, but what's even weirder is that the episodes being cut were part of the main story. Most notably the German dub of GT (which is a filler series anyway but I digress) cut a number from the run, like episodes 29, 38, 46-47, 54-57, 59-63. I find it extremely odd as a huge number of major events like Baby Vegeta seemingly defeating Goku, Goku being restored by the Saiyan energy aura in his final battle against Baby Vegeta, fighting Super 17, Nuova Shenron and Eis Shenron, and encountering Yi Xing Long followed by the rest of that battle. That's some major material, and can't imagine how confusing it must have been for kids watching the show.

[MasenkoHA]

Funi sort of did it with the Ocean dub in order to meet the 26-episode broadcast standard for seasons and cut out 15 episodes worth of content in the process, though they obviously retained a good deal of filler. But I think the average distribution company would know little of the manga and thus had no reason to know what constituted filler and what didn't. It was all just episode content to them. It would have to have been a directive from Toei themselves.

I was gonna say basically the early Funimation dub was the closest thing to what the OP suggested. But even then it was more about Funimation getting decent stopping points with significantly smaller season orders than what Cartoon Network would give them, at a time they weren’t even certain they would dub the entire show. Obviously no one at Funimation was concerned about “filler” and “manga content” back in the 90s and the only episode plots there was actually “lost” was Gohan and the robot and Tenshinhan and Lunch’s reintroductions.

[TheGreatness25]

I'm very curious to know the behind-the-scenes story of how Funimation decided what to cut, etc. because I'd be surprised if they even knew a manga existed, let alone read it. And yet, they chopped off some filler. Maybe it was by coincidence.

[jjgp1112]

I'm very curious to know the behind-the-scenes story of how Funimation decided what to cut, etc. because I'd be surprised if they even knew a manga existed, let alone read it. And yet, they chopped off some filler. Maybe it was by coincidence.

They probably just decided on their own what was essential and what wasnt, and since most of the filler was largely pointless it was easy to figure out what they could cut.

Even with the filler they kept and cut, it's like, for example - we already have one episode where Gohan makes a friend but then they die, why have two? And hey Jurassic Park is popular so let's drop the robot one and just do the dinosaur one.

[MasenkoHA]

They also did occasionally remove crucial stuff like Popo and Kami discussing Piccolo’s change from Daimao and what his intentions with Gohan might be. Which ends up hurting them when we don’t establish Piccolo and Kami are linked until they’re both dying.
They probably just had an eye for removing anything they felt was too slow moving for their ADHD ridden target audience.

[90sDBZ]

They also did occasionally remove crucial stuff like Popo and Kami discussing Piccolo’s change from Daimao and what his intentions with Gohan might be. Which ends up hurting them when we don’t establish Piccolo and Kami are linked until they’re both dying.
They probably just had an eye for removing anything they felt was too slow moving for their ADHD ridden target audience.

I always assumed they removed that scene because it concerned death, which they generally avoided.

As far as them choosing what to remove, I assume they just wanted to get to the action quicker. Filler like Princess Snake, HFIL, and Arlia still featured some action, so was likely left in for that reason.

The Robot episode had barely any action, and basically told the same story as the Dinosaur episode. The Dinosaur episode at least had Gohan fighting to protect the dinosaur, which is probably why it was the one left in.

[TheGreatness25]

They also did occasionally remove crucial stuff like Popo and Kami discussing Piccolo’s change from Daimao and what his intentions with Gohan might be. Which ends up hurting them when we don’t establish Piccolo and Kami are linked until they’re both dying.
They probably just had an eye for removing anything they felt was too slow moving for their ADHD ridden target audience.

I always assumed they removed that scene because it concerned death, which they generally avoided.

As far as them choosing what to remove, I assume they just wanted to get to the action quicker. Filler like Princess Snake, HFIL, and Arlia still featured some action, so was likely left in for that reason.

The Robot episode had barely any action, and basically told the same story as the Dinosaur episode. The Dinosaur episode at least had Gohan fighting to protect the dinosaur, which is probably why it was the one left in.

I just imagine them sitting there, reading the translatiom for that Piccolo/Kami dialog and going, "What!? This just be some backstory from the previous 100+ episodes that nobody, mostly us, saw! Cut it out!" Then it gets to Piccolo dying and they're just kind of left sitting on their hands.

Is it so terrible that I find early Funimation to be that incompetent?