I thought it would be nice to create a thread like this for GT, as we have seen a few for Dragon Ball Z, and GT has an interesting history with the UK.
First of all the series premiered and aired in the UK and Ireland in full before it was shown in the US on November 7, 2003, as well as the home country of the dub - Canada.
GT first premiered in the UK and Ireland's CNX channel on March 3, 2003, replacing Dragon Ball Z's 5pm timeslot. The first two episodes of GT were aired the day it premiered, but as the run continued there was one new episode per weekday. Unlike Dragon Ball Z, and later original Dragon Ball there were no promos for new episodes of GT, and there was only one break with new episodes dropping on June 4, 2003 starting from episode 45.
The English dub marked the UK's second cast switch, which was again a cost-saving measure. The dub was originally going to be recorded by Vancouver's Ocean Studios cast with the same largely accurate scripts and Tokunaga score, but because Ken Morrison was trying to bypass the British Columbian Animation Agreement (which allowed for more breaks between sessions, better pay for actors, etc) production was moved to the new Blue Water Studios in Calgary at the last minute, despite some cast members like Michael Dobson being cast in 4 roles and having no clue why their castings were terminated. There is some debate over whether Blue Water is a union or non-union dubbing company as sources vary, although as I understand it, it is union but uses a cheaper union than Vancouver.
Also, as if Dragon Ball English dubbing isn't confusing enough an installment of GT also featured in the UK's third dub switch on TV, that being the switch from all three North American casts to the French-based English dubs (known by fans as the "Big Green dub") as an alternate dub of A Hero's Legacy (known as "Four-Star Dragonball is the Proof of Courage") aired exclusively on Toonami UK on August 19, 2005. This has been the only broadcast of this dub I'm aware of, and it was never seen anywhere else on other mediums like home video.
GT was taken off the air sometime before original Dragon Ball concluded in November 2004, but was brought back for one last run around spring 2005.
To this day GT has never been rerun in the UK or Ireland, but Manga UK repackaged Madman Entertainment's version of the two season DVDs, which hit store shelves on January 20, 2014 and March 17, 2014 respectively, the Complete Series followed on December 3, 2018.
I didn't see much of GT on CNX, but caught pretty much the whole series in reruns on Toonami. Never hated it as much as many fans did back in the day, and I kind of have a soft spot for the Blue Water dub.
It's overall an enjoyable, experimental series. Things like Goku being turned into a kid arguably overstayed its welcome, but the introduction of an antagonist with genuine beef against the saiyans like Baby, our heroes ultimate crutch becoming their ultimate enemy with the Evil Dragons, GT had a lot of wonderful ideas I still respect it for to this day, even if the execution left something to be desired.
Any memories of watching GT, please feel free to share them here.
