What if Disney were the ones to remaster DB on Blu-ray?

[dbboxkaifan]

The Lion King, Pinocchio and many others look absolutely gorgeous remastered in 1080p HD with their proper aspect ratios and they certainly seem to care to provide quality content whereas the work of Toei/FUNi usually isn't very satisfiying to say the least.

Toei's Dragon Ball Kai remastering has never been very appealing to the eye, except when the Freeza arc looked visually spectacular (36mm film was it?) but the rest was just about okay, except the Majin Boo arc that's where things got greeney.

[Ajay]

Definitely not. They're just as inconsistent as FUNi.

Spoiler:

Even Cinderella wasn't done particularly great - http://www.dvdizzy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29946



There's more examples out there. It's a real shame.

They've gotten a little better recently.

[eledoremassis02]

The Lion King, Pinocchio and many others look absolutely gorgeous remastered in 1080p HD with their proper aspect ratios and they certainly seem to care to provide quality content whereas the work of Toei/FUNi usually isn't very satisfiying to say the least.

Toei's Dragon Ball Kai remastering has never been very appealing to the eye, except when the Freeza arc looked visually spectacular (36mm film was it?) but the rest was just about okay, except the Majin Boo arc that's where things got greeney.

Funny enough, they have their own Season Set type release...and it looks alarmingly like The Dragon Ball Z blurays. Cropping included.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByAINYDyFXs


Funi's Blurays for the movies are pretty good though

[Mr.Judge]

The Lion King, Pinocchio and many others look absolutely gorgeous remastered in 1080p HD with their proper aspect ratios and they certainly seem to care to provide quality content whereas the work of Toei/FUNi usually isn't very satisfiying to say the least.

Toei's Dragon Ball Kai remastering has never been very appealing to the eye, except when the Freeza arc looked visually spectacular (36mm film was it?) but the rest was just about okay, except the Majin Boo arc that's where things got greeney.

Toei would need to actually pay Disney for a IP they own the rights to and also trying to make the whole venture profitable, adding many complications about license transfers etc.

Toei remastering DB kai shows a lack of concern for that IP as they can get away with it considering how they tackled BOG which was a sub-par production(imo) ended up making more than $50 Million USD with a budget of $515K USD( cost for localisation not included) while they chose to spend resources on other products like Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary(est. $100 million USD). Hopefully Toei recover those cost otherwise they might have to cut costs for upcoming DB movie.

[Vegard Aune]

You know, I'd heard a lot about how Disney also keeps trying to "modernize" their old cel-animated movies... Yet when I bought the BluRay of The Little Mermaid recently, I was surprised to see that it actually seemed like that one had been remastered pretty faithfully... Well I mean, overlooking that major editing-derp where they got the order of two cuts at the end of Part of Your World wrong and the somewhat less major editing-derp where a transition that used to be a gradual fade had changed into just an abrupt change, but I heard they put out a replacement for that... though I have no idea how to go about getting that or if it's even possible to get a replacement for the Norwegian disc... Anyway, point being, as far as the video-quality went I was rather impressed. They'd actually kept the grain intact and the usual imperfections of cel-animation (aka the occasional shadow of the cel cast on the background) were left intact. For all the horror-stories I'd heard about how cel-animated Disney-films were treated, I was very impressed with that particular movie... and of course since I have apparently lived under a rock all my life and had never actually seen the movie before I bought the BluRay, the only reason I'm even aware of those two editing-derps is because I read about them online.

...Still that seems to be the exception to the rule, and their other BluRays seem to be rather less than true to the source. I mean, for their more recent digitally animated features it's generally fine, (aka everything from The Rescuers Down Under and on... The Little Mermaid was the last cel-animated movie they ever made) but those old cel-animated films... seem to have been handled pretty much the same way as FUNi handled DBZ.

[MagicBox]

Well I mean, overlooking that major editing-derp where they got the order of two cuts at the end of Part of Your World wrong and the somewhat less major editing-derp where a transition that used to be a gradual fade had changed into just an abrupt change, but I heard they put out a replacement for that... though I have no idea how to go about getting that or if it's even possible to get a replacement for the Norwegian disc...

I was going to post this link, but then you said "Norwegian." Hmmm, do they have a customer service line there that you can call and ask?

You know, I'd heard a lot about how Disney also keeps trying to "modernize" their old cel-animated movies... Yet when I bought the BluRay of The Little Mermaid recently, I was surprised to see that it actually seemed like that one had been remastered pretty faithfully...

Not all of the classics are treated equally at Disney. They go all-out for their top-selling films (The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc.) and most of the Walt-era classics, which receive very faithful restorations (though some would argue that they're cleaning them up a little too much, which I understand and partly agree with). The lesser-selling films (Oliver & Company, Robin Hood, nearly anything from the 70s-80s, etc.) just get DVNR jobs with varying care and quality. As Ajay posted above, the worst offender was The Sword In The Stone, which Disney scrubbed within an inch of its life.

The Lion King and many others look absolutely gorgeous remastered in 1080p HD

The Lion King doesn't need restoration, nor do any of the Walt Disney Feature Animation films from 1990 onward. The invention of the CAPS system eliminated any need for them to use cels, and everything after The Little Mermaid was just painted on computers. Unless the transfer to disc is poorly done, there is no reason for anything after The Little Mermaid to *not* look flawless on home video.

Bottom line: You don't want Dragon Ball at Disney. Trust me. All those record-breaking sales that FUNi was bragging about with the orange bricks? Sales like that wouldn't even be a blip on Disney's radar. Their relatively new tentpole strategy ensures that anything that doesn't absolutely shatter home video and box office records is considered a "flop." A DB release would have been canceled after a couple of sets. And if you think they would've given a show like Dragon Ball anything other than a DVNR rush-job (or even an uncut, bilingual release), you'd be mistaken. The series is safer at Toei and FUNimation where it's actually successful. Why do you think so many people were so frightened by the idea of FOX getting exclusive rights to "Battle Of Gods?"

[Hellspawn28]

Yeah I won't trust DB under the hands of Disney. Disney never give Power Rangers, Doug and Digimon good home video releases until many years later when Disney lost the rights to those franchises.

[MarcFBR]

BOG which was a sub-par production(imo) ended up making more than $50 Million USD with a budget of $515K USD( cost for localisation not included) while they chose to spend resources on other products like Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary(est. $100 million USD). Hopefully Toei recover those cost otherwise they might have to cut costs for upcoming DB movie.

Your numbers are horribly misinformed.

Toei got 50 million yen (roughly 500k USD) from a government agency to add to their budget (this seems to be passed along mistaken by people as the entire budget.)

Harlock and Sanctuary combined likely didn't even cost $75 million. The $100 million number for Saint Seiya was taken from a random wiki entry and then passed around and posted site to site. We know Harlock was $30 million, and references Toei has made are that Saint Seiya cost more, but not much more (most sites have taken this to mean $35 or $40 million which is reasonable enough.)

[Mr.Judge]

BOG which was a sub-par production(imo) ended up making more than $50 Million USD with a budget of $515K USD( cost for localisation not included) while they chose to spend resources on other products like Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary(est. $100 million USD). Hopefully Toei recover those cost otherwise they might have to cut costs for upcoming DB movie.

Your numbers are horribly misinformed.

Toei got 50 million yen (roughly 500k USD) from a government agency to add to their budget (this seems to be passed along mistaken by people as the entire budget.)

Harlock and Sanctuary combined likely didn't even cost $75 million. The $100 million number for Saint Seiya was taken from a random wiki entry and then passed around and posted site to site. We know Harlock was $30 million, and references Toei has made are that Saint Seiya cost more, but not much more (most sites have taken this to mean $35 or $40 million which is reasonable enough.)

Thanks.I stand corrected.
But still it is quite a huge amount compared to BoG budget. Hopefully Saint Seiya ends up being a success for Toei's sake.

[MarcFBR]

Thanks.I stand corrected.
But still it is quite a huge amount compared to BoG budget. Hopefully Saint Seiya ends up being a success for Toei's sake.

It's in the midst of tanking. 800k (USD) in it's opening weekend in Japan and more recent weeks haven't been overly positive either. It probably won't finish in Japan with even 2.5 million.

It's pretty popular elsewhere in the world, but I doubt they expected it to open a little bit less than half of what Harlock did in Japan.

[Kid Buu]

Saint Seiya is the soccer of anime, popular everywhere except America and mostly in Latin America.

EDIT: See below post.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Saint Seiya is the soccer of anime, popular everywhere except America and mostly in Brazil.

I would amend that ever-so-slightly to replace "Brazil" with "Latin America," (after all, Saint Seiya Omega got a TV deal in at least some Latin American countries, whereas it's going straight to DVD in Brazil), but otherwise, that's an excellent analogy, and one I'll have to use from now on.

[Gotham22]

That wouldn't happen because Disney doesn't release TV series they buy or if/when they just give them crappy volume sets.

[Super Sonic]

And the tv series they have they tend to only release one or two dvds then not release the rest of the series. And you guys who complain about DBZ's lack of extras, most of the Disney cartoons have none, aside from Gargoyles.

[kenisu3000]

Disney would come within 25 episodes of completing the series' release on DVD.

And then hold those last 25 episodes hostage in their vaults just for the hell of it.

Shoot, while we're at it, as unimpressed as I am with Columbia's track record for releasing BGM on CD, if Disney Records were also in charge of DragonBall music, we'd never see a damn note of it released.

[MarcFBR]

And then hold those last 25 episodes hostage in their vaults[/url] just for the hell of it.

If by 'for the hell of it' you mean 'low sales' then yes, they did it for the hell of it.

[MagicBox]

Disney would come within 25 episodes of completing the series' release on DVD. And then hold those last 25 episodes hostage in their vaults just for the hell of it.

I feel your pain, but if it helps, they seem to be pushing forward with those again. It'll be inconsistent packaging, sure, but I hope it's just a matter of time before they revisit the other shows.

Uh... not entirely unlike my hopes of FUNimation revisiting the original Dragon Ball show with FUNiBoxes. [/relevant]