Doing Kai for the original Dragon Ball

[Kiyza]

So I was thinking, what if they went back and did exactly what Kai does to Z to the original Dragon Ball? I used to watch Kai before I got the first domestic Dragon Box, but now it just seems a little pointless. I'd probably be more apt to watch it if it was the original Dragon Ball, partly because I've neglected to buy the blue bricks and also because I just prefer a lot of the earlier stuff to the Freeza fight. So do you think they'd do it? And would you watch it?

[Dr. Casey]

Nah, Dragon Ball is very unlikely to receive its own version of Kai because very few people complain about the original's pacing. Granted, people do tend to forget that the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai is where many traits of the anime's slow pace originates (Slow pans across the shocked expressions of audience members, for example), but for the most part Dragon Ball moves at a much brisker pace that's more typical of your regular anime. Just about the only thing you could cut out would be the filler episodes, and that's kind of a waste because neither Dragon Ball nor Z have ever had bad fillers. I'm not that crazy about the Red Ribbon episodes immediately following the 21st Budokai (Though I do still like them), but the rest of them range from enjoyable to almost indispensable. That one about Thief Hasky at the carnival was a very colorful episode full of 80s charm, and I liked that it focused on the original group of Goku, Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar. It gives the impression that their status as the original group of main characters hadn't yet been forgotten at this point, that Dragon Ball fans might have thought the rest of the group had been dragged from the spotlight for a couple of arcs, but would return to prominence soon enough (And they would be wrong, of course, since that grouping of five was never given focus in the manga past Pilaf, and Oolong was never prominent again period; Puar at least had a startlingly important role in the Uranai Baba arc). The Thief Hasky episode in that regard is sort of a reflection on the state of the Dragon Ball fandom at that time, and a reminder of how early in the series it truly was.

There's also the training for the 22nd Budokai, which serves as a buffer arc and makes the transition between Uranai Baba and the second Budokai that much more natural and gradual (And they're a great bunch of episodes in their own right, but I'm too lazy to write an essay about them). And then there's the 23rd Budokai training, which is almost tied with the training for the Saiyans for best filler arc in the series. Goku being completely inadequately prepared for Mr. Popo's training makes for some great drama and atmosphere (And some much needed drama, at that - Piccolo makes an entertaining villain, but I've never thought him particularly threatening, maybe in part because everyone that goes against him manages a decent fight), a sense of darkness and hopelessness that's matched only by the Saiyan Saga or Trunks' warning regarding the future. It also makes Mr. Popo a more coherent part of the story having almost a mini-saga of his own, and... come on, they're just some fucking awesome episodes all-around. Late Dragon Ball's a good era.

Basically, most people don't have a problem with Dragon Ball period, something that doesn't hold true for Z (Though I'm mostly fine with it) and is the reason the sequel series got a revision. Dragon Ball Kai would mostly be the same as the original, just with a new musical score and the exclusion of perfectly decent anime originals that oftentimes strengthen the storyline.

[B]

Dr. Casey just nails it. I can't think of too much a Kai version of the first TV series would improve on.

[SSJmole]

neither Dragon Ball nor Z have ever had bad fillers

Garlic Jr. was horrible

[JulieYBM]

neither Dragon Ball nor Z have ever had bad fillers

Garlic Jr. was horrible

You hardly need a Dragon Ball Kai to ignore it, though.

[SSJmole]

neither Dragon Ball nor Z have ever had bad fillers

Garlic Jr. was horrible

You hardly need a Dragon Ball Kai to ignore it, though.

I agree I was just saying there was bad filler in Z and that was it.

[DemonRin]

There'd be no reason to Make a Kai DB for the pacing, Casey's already covered that beautifully, the only good reason to make a Kai version of DB would be to remaster it for release on Blu-ray, in which case I'd love it, but only if they hurried the hell up in making it.
Daisuke Gouri's passing was kindof a shocker and it opened my eyes to the fact that; These people are getting old, but even if the younger ones at only 57 could die, really anyone in the cast could go at any minute.
They'd need to hurry the hell up and make it before they'd have to replace everyone!

[Adamant]

The 22nd Budokai's annoying case of "let's pretend this tournament lasts a week so we can toss a bunch of shitty filler between every single damn match" was pretty painful, too. At least with the 23rd Budokai, stuff happened, albeit not as quickly as some might prefer. The 22nd Budokai episodes were largely one half manga adaptation and one half of killing time until the episode is over (or until the eyecatcher, if the adaptation was in the second half of the episode).

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

After seeing how bad some of the redrawn scenes are in Dragon Ball Kai, I'd rather they not do the same to Dragon Ball because it is a classic and would be unnecessary if they did.

[LilKokuLink]

In no way would I change the original Dragon Ball! I mean it's so cute and perfect to be messed with! Dragon Ball Z is much more well known than Dragon Ball was worldwide, some people to this date probably never knew there was a whole series before DBZ. I just don't think a KAI for DB will get the ratings KAI for DBZ has achieved, (even though it will probably be fairly high). Most of the DB content is very much perfect, as for DBZ I cannot say otherwise. However, I myself like DBZ as it is, but a good majority of the fans do not like some parts of the series so I respect that and I welcome KAI. After all... it's not new footage... but it's an alternative to re-experience the joys of the first time you watched the series, just quicker. As it is an anniversary celebration I think it's great that this is happening, maybe in the future there will be different types of anniversary celebrations!
Maybe KAI was truly what the series was supposed to be like, no filler, just related directly to the manga. On that note... that makes me fucking happy

[DemonRin]

You guys seem to think that the shortening of the plot was the whole point of Kai.
In reality, the initial discussion about doing Kai at Toei probably went something like this:

Guy 1: So, Blu-ray is coming out now... We gonna do something Blu-ray for Dragon Ball?
Guy 2: Oh, it'd be so cool if we could remaster it in HD for a Blu release!
Guy 1: Are you Kidding?! That series is like, 445 episodes!
Guy 3: 445? What about GT?
*Guy 1 and 2 smack Guy 3 and go back to talking*
Guy 2: Well... Why don't we only do one of them, like Z, it's the most popular after all
Guy 1: That's the worse of the two, it's 291 episodes!
Guy 2:... Well, we did add a whole lot of filler to it...
Guy 1: ... What are you getting at?...
Guy 2: Why don't we cut OUT the filler! Then we could cut down the number of episodes to something more like 100!
Guy 1:.... BRILLIANT!

The idea was most likely NOT to cut down the series to a faster version, it was just to do an HD Remaster. The idea of cutting down the episodes was probably just to remove the amount of work that needs to be done.

In that case, a Kai version of DB is very possible, if only for the HD-ness of it all.

[Kiyza]

You guys seem to think that the shortening of the plot was the whole point of Kai.
In reality, the initial discussion about doing Kai at Toei probably went something like this:

Guy 1: So, Blu-ray is coming out now... We gonna do something Blu-ray for Dragon Ball?
Guy 2: Oh, it'd be so cool if we could remaster it in HD for a Blu release!
Guy 1: Are you Kidding?! That series is like, 445 episodes!
Guy 3: 445? What about GT?
*Guy 1 and 2 smack Guy 3 and go back to talking*
Guy 2: Well... Why don't we only do one of them, like Z, it's the most popular after all
Guy 1: That's the worse of the two, it's 291 episodes!
Guy 2:... Well, we did add a whole lot of filler to it...
Guy 1: ... What are you getting at?...
Guy 2: Why don't we cut OUT the filler! Then we could cut down the number of episodes to something more like 100!
Guy 1:.... BRILLIANT!

The idea was most likely NOT to cut down the series to a faster version, it was just to do an HD Remaster. The idea of cutting down the episodes was probably just to remove the amount of work that needs to be done.

In that case, a Kai version of DB is very possible, if only for the HD-ness of it all.

Oh man, that conversation is hillarious.

That's kind of what I was thinking, that they might go back and HD-ify it partly for the sake of consistancy.

[Big Momma]

neither Dragon Ball nor Z have ever had bad fillers

Garlic Jr. was horrible

When you watch some of the filler that's around nowadays (And of course...Naruto comes to mind) those kinds of fillers don't seem too bad.

[MCDaveG]

Original series Kai must have Makafushigi Adventure Nao Remix as opening