Another forgotten TV block that aired Dragon Ball Z - Kids Central in Singapore

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

This is one I've only seen vague references to here and there, even the Wayback Machine (from what I've found) doesn't seem to have anything, but evidently there are Singaporean anime and cartoon fans out there with nostalgia for it.

Kids Central was a block on the free Singapore channel Central launched January 30, 2003 (with great ratings) replacing STV 12. Central was owned by MediaCorp, although in 2008 the channel rebranded to Okto (originally a standalone channel but in 2019 became a block on Channel 5 as well as a content brand on MediaCorp's VOD platform Toggle, now known as MeWatch). Based on this article Kids Central was shown weekdays at 9am-11am as well as 3pm-7pm, on weekends it was 8am-1pm. The block's inclusion increased Central's total kid's programming time from 19 to 40 hours per week, and they did indeed broadcast in English.

Found a promo on YouTube, sadly it doesn't show Dragon Ball Z but it confirms some other popular series at the time the block aired like Yu-Gi-Oh! (Odex dub), Xiaolin Showdown, Duel Masters and Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.

Here's some recollections from fans on Reddit:

Anonymous fan wrote:

I loved my weekends

9.00: Dragonball Z 9.30: Digimon 10.00 : powerpuff girls 10.30: pokemon

Anonymous fan wrote:

Saturday Digimon Trainers and Powerpuff girls. Let’s play with the Dragon Ball Z, bring the fun out of me. Super yoyo, we all know, the Pokemon Gang. And the Cows and the Crayons. Then X-men Evolution.

Sunday Crush-Gear Turbo and we are R.E.M. With the Bey-blade, and cool moves by Jackie Chan! Mary-kate and Ashley and Justice-League friends.. The fun will never end in June, bring the weekend just for you… KIDS CENTRAL!! yay~

Anonymous fan wrote:

I thought Powerpuff Girls was showing at 10 AM? Maybe I was wrong but I remembered watching Dragonball Z at 9 AM, Digimon at 9.30 AM. Those were the good old days!

As noted by a fan in a random forum Kids Central possibly aired the Dragon Ball Z movies at some point:

DBZ movies were shown on weekend afternoons

DBZ tv series, i don't remember watching Chinese dub, only English on kids central

Oddly enough the only article I could find referencing the Kids Central broadcasts was one reporting the death of Brice Armstrong of all things, although if I were a betting man I would have said they aired the Funimation dub anyway:

The Must Share News Team wrote:

Most Singaporeans in their 20s will fondly recall watching the English-dubbed version of Dragon Ball Z on Kid’s Central.

Moreover here's a few more comments from fans I asked on Facebook:

Anonymous fan wrote:

They somehow always stop airing after the cell arc, feels like they air dbz whenever there's nothing else to show. It's always on weekdays afternoon and 5pm

I wouldn't look too much into the present tense in this comment, it was likely a mistake but its interesting nonetheless as it suggests Kids Central may have reran Dragon Ball Z a few times but like Kanaal 2 in Belgium never got to the Buu saga.

The only comment I've seen regarding what English dub was aired is this one:

Anonymous fan wrote:

dragon ball z aired on kids central back in 2003/2004, the 4kids dub

Of course we know there's no 4Kids dub of Dragon Ball Z, but the Saban dub of seasons 1-2 is basically what a 4Kids dub would have looked like, so its safe to assume that it is what this individual is referring to, and like most other territories that aired the series in English outside Europe from season 3 on it was a switch to the inhouse dub for the remainder of the run.

So is there any Dragon Ball fans from Singapore who watched the show on Kids Central? Would be great to hear any more memories you may have of these airings.