Hey guys, help me figure it out.

[Gaffer Tape]

I think it all depends on what you choose from the menu. But if you start on the English track and then switch over to Japanese mid-viewing, the dubtitles will still be there. Likewise, you can switch from Japanese to English and still keep the subtitles. It's what a lot of people (myself included) used to do to compare the dub scripts to the actual translation.

[Goku100xKamehameha]

Just buy DragonBall Z Kai, because you don't have a lot of free time that's why DBZ Kai,it's faster than DBZ only 100+ episodes that way you can watch the whole DBZ without fillers and only the Manga stuff (most of them).

[ShiningMoon]

But if you start on the English track and then switch over to Japanese mid-viewing, the dubtitles will still be there. Likewise, you can switch from Japanese to English and still keep the subtitles.

Ooh, thanks. I'll have to take another look at the discs; it's been a couple of years since I last popped 'em in and honestly my belief that there weren't real subs on the discs was a contributing factor to that.
Of course, now that I've got those eps on the Box...
Sorry for diverting from the topic momentarily.

[Sicario]

Hey DB fans, I really appreciate the feedback from everyone, thank you so much. Sorry I didn't go to the review forum before, but all this English release stuff gets nasty confusing, and I just want the best product, and I figured to ask the people that love this franchise as much and more than myself.

So far, with the information I have gathered, these will be my purchases.

Dragonball- Blue bricks season 1-5, as they are 4:3 Bi-Lingual and Uncut.

Dragonball Z- I'm going to grab the Dragon Box first, as that was how DBZ was meant to be seen, but I'm also gonna grab the Orange bricks, because the nostalgia Bruce brings to me of being 12 years old in the 90's(Vegeta's Final Flash against Perfect Cell still makes my hair stand on end with the crazy synth piano playing in the background). That way I can have uncut DBZ, bi-lingual in 4:3 with all scores.

Dragonball GT- Going to grab the yellow bricks, 4:3 uncut bi-lingual

If anyone has any comments or criticisms, or to add anything to my budding collection, please feel free to add any input as I love Dragonball as a whole, and I don't come back from Afghanistan for a year, so I need something to keep me sane

Thanks again!

[Metalwario64]

I'm also gonna grab the Orange bricks, because the nostalgia Bruce brings to me

He didn't compose the music for the episodes of the first 2 sets (well, the last couple of episodes of Season Two have his music, but I don't think the whole set is worth 2 or 3 episodes) so I would at least pass on the first set if I were you, and think about the second one.

[Cipher]

Solid choices. Unless price isn't an issue for you, I'd give that first Dragon Box a run through before you go ahead and purchase the Orange Bricks alongside it. You may decide you don't need the other score. If you do still want them, they'll still be floating around for cheap.

Oh yeah, and listen to Metalwario if you end up wanting the Faulconer tracks. They don't kick in until the last few episodes of "Season 2." I don't mind Faulconer, at least his stuff is recognizable, but the American soundtrack used for the first two sets is extremely generic and boring.

[Innagadadavida]

If you want the score you remember, then you might be better of skippinng the orange bricks for the first couple seasons. The remastering is at its worst in the beginning and the score wasn't even arranged by Bruce Falconor's crew.

I don't see how bringing up legitimate criticisms is MetalWario64's way of "fighting tooth and nail to prove they're complete shit."

Don't get me wrong. They are legitimate criticisms. It's just that those same points had already been brought up twice in the thread before. When somebody said something positive about the bricks, metalwario thought it was necessary to refute it when it really wasn't.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I'm with you, Innagadadavida. Some people just don't have enough money to buy the more expensive Dragon Box sets, or import them from America (like me).

[Metalwario64]

It's just that those same points had already been brought up twice in the thread before..

Oh? I guess I missed them. Didn't mean to restate it in that case.

[Captain Awesome]

I'm with you, Innagadadavida. Some people just don't have enough money to buy the more expensive Dragon Box sets, or import them from America (like me).

Just so you know I've been importing the Dboxes through Amazon.com and have always paid less (including shipping) then Madman are asking for the season sets, which is a ridiculous $60 AUD.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Just so you know I've been importing the Dboxes through Amazon.com and have always paid less (including shipping) then Madman are asking for the season sets, which is a ridiculous $60 AUD.

Do you live in Melbourne? Because over here I can buy the season sets at the local mall for $40 AUD each.

[DemonRin]

Dragonball Z- I'm going to grab the Dragon Box first, as that was how DBZ was meant to be seen, but I'm also gonna grab the Orange bricks, because the nostalgia Bruce brings to me of being 12 years old in the 90's(Vegeta's Final Flash against Perfect Cell still makes my hair stand on end with the crazy synth piano playing in the background). That way I can have uncut DBZ, bi-lingual in 4:3 with all scores.

Good choices, but if Bruce Faulconer is what you truly want, you may want to be weary of the first few Orange bricks.

As some others above me have said, the music is different for them. To elaborate, when FUNimation went back and redubbed the Saiyan and Namek Arcs they didn't bring Bruce back, instead they got a man named Mark Menza to do the scores for those volumes.

Now, I've seen some of the most hardcore Faulconer loving dub fans on this forum actually say they couldn't stand Menza to the point where they watched the "English dub with Japanese Music" track for those arcs.
It would really be a shame if you spent the money on those sets for the English Music track alone to find you dislike Menza's score.

With that in Mind, I recommend you start with the Dragon Boxes before buying the Orange Bricks at all, since your plan is currently to double-dip on them anyway. Check out the dub track on those and see if you like the Japanese music. Who knows, even if you don't at first, it may grow on you to the point where you like it better! Then you'll save yourself a lot of money by not having to buy the Orange Bricks!

And like most, I'd definitely recommend checking out the Japanese track with subs at some point, if you have the time. I'm a firm believer in the notion that you can't truly dislike something unless you've given it a good fair shot.

Hope everything works for you!

[jjgp1112]

I don't recall there ever being an edited DVD dub-only release for anything besides movies 4-10 (after Movie 10 they ditched edited releases altogether).

Oh, and DemonRin: It was Nathan Johnson who did the score for the first 67 episodes. Mark Menza only did movies 6-11 for Z.

[MajinVejitaXV]

Well, what most people here won't tell you is that, objectively, the orange bricks aren't that bad. Yes, they are a money grubbing lie put out to appeal to the less informed, but there are some pros in addition to that long list of cons. They have some vibrant colors, nice progressive encodes, absolutely awesome price-points (I think you can buy bundles of two at Wal-Mart for $40), and the original American broadcast audio track. Many members here will fight you tooth and nail to tell you that they're absolute shit and should not be considered for a second, but they are a nice alternative to the superior-in-every-way, but expensive and incomplete Dragon Box release.

Objectively, my girlfriend at the time said they looked like shit. And she isn't a videophile like I am, wasn't a fan of DragonBall and had never seen the series prior to that, nor did she understand half the technical shit I do. However, she pointed out stuff (sometimes that I didn't even see at first) like missing lines, ripped frames and just the overall washed out appearance of the first three sets. And that's not even getting into the "Wow, that's a dynamic shot of Ten's nose" issues that cropping introduced.

As far as prices are concerned, if you can wait for a bit when the sets come out, you can find really good deals. Amazon has put the DragonBoxes as Lightning Deals, at ~$25. So...price isn't even a factor in my opinion.

The only reason you wouldn't go for the DragonBoxes is because you must have Faulconer's score. In terms of presentation, audio and video quality, value, etc...there's no comparison.

[Innagadadavida]

Haha! I saw that MajinVejitaXV posted on this thread and I just knew that it was a response to my post.

[Captain Awesome]

Just so you know I've been importing the Dboxes through Amazon.com and have always paid less (including shipping) then Madman are asking for the season sets, which is a ridiculous $60 AUD.

Do you live in Melbourne? Because over here I can buy the season sets at the local mall for $40 AUD each.

I just checked Madman's website, I didn't look at any on a store shelf . Anyway if that's the case for an extra ten dollars or so (or less depending on which box it is) you can pick up a Dragonbox, so the pricing isn't really that much of a factor.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I just checked Madman's website, I didn't look at any on a store shelf . Anyway if that's the case for an extra ten dollars or so (or less depending on which box it is) you can pick up a Dragonbox, so the pricing isn't really that much of a factor.

Well it is, 10x7=70.


So that's an extra 70 dollars I'll have to spend on the DBoxes.

Oh, and DemonRin: It was Nathan Johnson who did the score for the first 67 episodes. Mark Menza only did movies 6-11 for Z.

Minus movie 8 which had the rock band music

[jjgp1112]

Oh, and DemonRin: It was Nathan Johnson who did the score for the first 67 episodes. Mark Menza only did movies 6-11 for Z.

Minus movie 8 which had the rock band music

Actually, both Mark Menza and Bruce Faulconer contributed a couple of songs to the Movie 8 dub.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Oh, and DemonRin: It was Nathan Johnson who did the score for the first 67 episodes. Mark Menza only did movies 6-11 for Z.

Minus movie 8 which had the rock band music

Actually, both Mark Menza and Bruce Faulconer contributed a couple of songs to the Movie 8 dub.

Really? Because all I could hear was the "rahhhh rock music hardcore yeah" in that movie.

[Big Momma]

Objectively, my girlfriend at the time said they looked like shit. And she isn't a videophile like I am, wasn't a fan of DragonBall and had never seen the series prior to that, nor did she understand half the technical shit I do. However, she pointed out stuff (sometimes that I didn't even see at first) like missing lines, ripped frames and just the overall washed out appearance of the first three sets.

For the record, once you get into the Android/Cell-Buu arcs...I hear the quality of the sets goes up a bit.