What are your memories from the original broadcast?

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Hi, I' am just curious to know everyone's memories of and any scenes you still vividly remember when DBZ first aired, wherever who were at the time (UK for me).
Saiyan Saga
Honestly, only thing that comes to mind his the first episode with Raditz and the old man lol

Namek/Frieza saga

This is the most I remeber from DBZ, the whole Ginyu force mini-saga I remember quite vividly, actually like I just watched it yesterday, the whole Ginyu and Goku switching bodies and Gohan being confused as f*uck lol ahh sweet memories right there.

I remember one time new episodes were going to air on Monday (where Goku comes back from that healing thing) and I was like 6 or 7 and that time, and my Mother bless her took me cloths shopping with her straight after school, DBZ used to air at 5pm in the UK and I remember one shop had the time and it was 5.15 and I was almost crying and I was making a fuss and almost got smacked haha.

Goku going super saiyan- I just rushed back from the toilet, too see Goku ready to transform with the epic music (I had missed Kuririn getting killed) and I was in awe when he did it lol still remember getting goosebumps and all.

Andriod/Cell

Honestly, only thing that sticks out is Goku's sacrifice (I cried and I remember my cousin making fun of me, she werent into DBZ so she didn't understand, that's what I said in my defence lol)


BUU

We had a problem with our cable company as they dis-banded and got tookover and thus I lost Cartoon Network for 3 months
and flicking channels one day I came across CNX! who were airing the fusion saga and that's when I caught up and I still remember the scene where Buu turned Vegetto into coffe candy lol


Well, those are my most vivid memories, obviously some scenes here and there I remember, but I am curious to here other people's anecdotes shall we call them lol

[Unicorn_Bazooka]

Dragon Ball didn't air much here, but if i happened to see it on TV, i only remember seeing Cell arc going on at the time. I can't even remember when that was, i think i was under 7 back then.

I remember seeing the scene of Goku and Gohan eating at the Lookout and later Goku's sacrifice against Cell. At that scene i honestly couldn't recognize Goku as Gohan's father, they looked so same sized for some reason.

[90sDBZ]

I also watched it on UK TV. I remember really enjoying both the Saiyan and Namek sagas in Saban Ocean dub when they aired on Cartoon Network and getting addicted to it when it switched to Funimation dub in the Ginyu/Frieza episodes which are still my favourite to this day. The Spirit Bomb episodes and Goku transforming were amazing and I loved the music that played in them scenes. For me it went downhill with the Android saga when it switched to Westwood Ocean dub. Both the Saban Ocean dub and Funi dub felt like DBZ to me and were epic. But when it went back to Ocean it just didn't feel like DBZ anymore. Mostly because the acting felt incredibly off and the music just felt out of place and soulless as well as really limited and repetitive. For this reason I didn't really enjoy this part of the series as much. I did still enjoy the Cell Games though as Goku vs Cell was a great fight and SS2 Gohan was badass. When it came to the Buu saga I remember enjoying Goku vs Majin Vegeta and thought that SS3 was really cool.

Then I believe we had a really long wait for the Fusion saga which ended up airing on CNX and to my delight it was in Funi dub again. I felt like the real DBZ had returned at long last and loved every single episode because of it. I thought that Super Buu was creepy as hell and that Gohan going Mystic was incredible as well as Goku's triumphant return as the hero. Unfortunately after a while CNX replaced the Funi dub Fusion saga with the Ocean version and after that I just couldn't enjoy them episodes anymore. I remember thinking that Ocean Super Buu couldn't scream nearly as well as Justin Cook and was a bad impersonation. And all the epic moments like Gohan going Mystic and Vegito being born had been ruined by having the same generic Ocean recycled music that had played in every damn scene since the Android saga playing for them instead of the awesome Faulconer music which had been tailored to suit each individual scene.

Anyway the Kid Buu saga also aired in Ocean dub and I still enjoyed Goku vs Kid Buu and the Spirit Bomb episodes. I also noticed that Ocean had started including reference to death at this point and made more effort with their music so it was an improvement at least. On the whole I still wish we'd got to stick with Funi dub after the Trunks saga in the UK as I found myself rewatching the Android-Kid Buu sagas less because of it.

[Big Green]

First thing I saw of Dragon Ball was GT. I hated it.

So, I stopped watching Toonami. Yeah, that bad. XDDD

Eventually, I saw the original Dragon Ball. Had impressions of GT in my mind. Didn't watch, but now. I LOVE THEM ALL. The only thing I remember from when I DID see GT, was the scene where Rildo turned Trunks into stone, to transport him.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

Well let's see I was 4 at the time, my most vivid memory would have been Gohan Vs Boo and the Fusions.

[MCDaveG]

I'm sorry, because I will be little off-topic, but this ties strongly into the original broadcast I was familiar with. I don't remember if it was on Polish on German (probably the german one), but between episodes, there ran this commercial on really awesome Dragon Ball toys. And god, I can't find them anywhere!!! These were not AB Toys, nor Jaks or Bandai.
They were kinda huge, so I think around 7-9'' and I remember, that the kid held Goku and swapped his black hair for the SSJ yellow one, simply by putting off and on different hair pieces. And after this, he moved his hand in pose like doing blast from the palm and then I remember Super Buu figure of the same size, that has been movable trough waist....

This commercial was so cool and aired for some time. I never got to find these toys anywhere since nowadays and they were pretty well sculpted. Not looking retarded like those from Jaks.
And I searched trough forums like DB Toys or other foreign websites and nothing....
It was around 2001-2002.

[Hellspawn28]

I think the first time I saw DBZ was back in 1998 on Toonami waiting for Beast Wars and I saw parts of Goku getting wish back. I had no idea what I was watching then I change the channel to watch Angry Beavers. I didn't what DBZ was until 1999 when everyone in the third grade was talking about it and I saw a episode of Piccolo fighting Freeza. At the time, I was like "So if Dragon Ball Z is related to Dragon Ball? Where's Dragon Ball A - Dragon Ball Y?". I saw Dragon Ball first back in 1997, so I was confused at the time as a kid.

[Ringworm128]

I have VERY faint memories of Rock The Dragon, SSJ Goku fighting Freeza with lava everywhere and I'm pretty sure I remember seeing the arena for the other world tournament. Also I have a beyond faint memory of what I believe was Tien fighting Nappa but it's that faint I'm not sure.

[Ajay]

Grew up in the UK so had Ocean/Westwood for the majority of my upbringing. I have fond memories of coming home from school, getting all my homework done just in time for 5pm when it would start on Cartoon Network.
Singing along to Rock the Dragon and the other 'Dragon, Dragon Ball...DRAGON BALL Z!' song never once got old in all the years I watched it.

The show was pretty much my entire life as a kid. I was obsessed and would watch entire marathon runs that they used to do from about 6am til midnight occasionally. It was intense but nothing beats being young and getting excited as Goku makes his way down, Snake Way (as they call it) whilst the other Z fighters were preparing for Vegeta and Nappa's arrival on the lookout.

I know that the dub was flawed and I know that once it brought in Megaman music and lost its budget, it was pretty much awful but I have a sickening nostalgia for it and I have no problems visiting it when I'm wanting a change from the Japanese show.

It's one of the main reasons I really want an Ocean dub of Kai since I truly believe that, despite its flaws, Ocean had some of the more suitable voice actors for the characters (Drummond as Vegeta, McNeil as Piccolo). I'd just love to see how they'd do this many years down the line with accurate scripts and Kikuchi's music.

[DBZ Mick]

Well, here in Australia in 2000- grade six.

I was still more into Pokemon at the time and people teased me because of it. So I didn't watch DBZ that much that year. I remember seeing the beginning of the fight with Vegeta and Freeza- 1st form. A little of the Garlic Jr. arc- but that's about it.

Then the kids magazine K-Zone kept doing stories on Trunks and the Artificial Humans which got me intrigued late 2000. Come 2001, I remember being a little disappointed when I actually saw the arc but then the whole mystery towards Cell and his first form got me excited again and I enjoyed it up until the Cell Game. Cell was my favourite character. There were also these little collectable caps that came out during this time which everyone collected, some even bought chips just for the caps. There was 'Dragonball Z' chips which were like Cheetos, haha. My sister also got really into it during this time.

Then while my sister and mother were doing wine tours I got the Beckett DBZ Magazine with the gold SSJ Goku cover on it. I just spent hours reading the character guide which made me really excited to see how large the whole Dragonball universe was.

By the Boo arc in 2002 I was pretty obsessed. It was a fun time with friends inbetween the series being on TV and the games coming out. I even collected all of GT from 2003-2005 which was my first really collection of sorts. My mother got me Budokai 3 for doing well in a speech competition in 2004...
Being really excited by the LOG trilogy.

Lots of good memories.


I do swear I saw bits of Dragonball before Z took off in 2000 here in Australia for some reason though.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I actually don't have many memories of the original broadcast, because I was very young then. I remember watching the Boo saga and GT when they were initially broadcast, but not much. I remember collecting the pogs, which were to be found in specially marked packets of potato chips (I think the booklets in both the US and Australian versions of the first box set talk about them -- they were pretty big here), but stopped after it went out of fashion to do so. But I did have enough memories to remember the series and get back into it with Tenkaichi 2 on the PS2 (which is my favourite game for sentimental reasons).


I couldn't wait to get Tenkaichi 3, and then I bought a few more of the earlier games, so I guess I got back into the series through the games. They were also how I found out about some of the plot of the series. The first time I heard about DBZ Movie 3 was through Tenkaichi 2's story mode. I actually bought some of the movies first and watched them first because the box sets were expensive, but I eventually got them and watch them. So most of the nostalgia I have comes from getting back into the series six or so years ago, not the original broadcast. To some of you, it may not seem possible to have any nostalgia for stuff that happened only six years ago, but that's how it is with me.

[Zephyr]

My most prominent ones:

Watching the beginnings of the fight with Nappa. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.

Watching the SSj Goku vs Freeza fight for the second time, this time with some friends, insisting every single episode "I'm sure this is where Freeza gets beaten, guys!"

Visiting some family, and catching the Super Vegeta vs 2nd form Cell fight on TV. I was embarrassed because my older cousins were there in the room with me.

[dprez]

Well, the later Boo saga comes to mind.

After Vegeta sacrificed himself, Toonami DBZ went on a long break. I recall Ssj3 Goku being promoted for the new set of episodes, I believe were in the fall of 2002.

Anyway, yea. I remember being more stoked for the new episodes than ever before at this time.

[The Time Traveller]

Remember watching the Saga marathons with these weird ass promos?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulyagUynP_8

I remember when it first aired they had a kung fu or karate expert talking about how awesome the show was, and a disclaimer about how violent it was.

When I saw the first promo on Cartoon Network there was something about it that made me think I had seen it before, or maybe it would be my favourite thing ever, and it was.

[Blade]

Here in the UK my first memory of Dragonball Z was the Garlic Jr saga being on Cartoon Network at my friend's house. I'd heard all about Dragonball Z, but it seemed uncool and therefore I wasn't really interested. But I remember it being on in the background whilst we were playing Final Fantasy 7, and I remember passively watching the fight between Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin and Garlic Jr's henchmen thinking "Wow, this looks awful".

A couple of months later all of my friends were only ever playing Dragonball Z in the school yard, so I gave it another try and tuned in to the re-runs of the Freeza fight. That was all it took to get me hooked - but I remember that the UK had almost near endless re-runs of the Saiyan through to Trunks saga for what seemed like forever untill we got the Westwood Dub, after which I watched every other episode of Z, Dragonball and GT upon first UK airing - and I remember pretty much all of it as it was back then!

[Kakarot88]

For me original broadcast was Toonami, and when I think on it I remember as a child freaking out as the clock neared 5:30 and I was not home...after missing one episode I promptly learned how to work a VCR oh the days before DVR.

[eledoremassis02]

When it was on WB I missed the few first episodes (my sister introduced me to DBZ) So I came in around Gohan's training. Then When they began reruns, I thought Raditz was Vegetas Brother cause I kept missing that first episode lol. Then I finally learned that he was Goku's brother and I was like "WHAA He's got vegetas hairline!"

Then I remember when they moved to Toonami and was exited. Spent the rest of middle school running home to catch it. Then there was that looooong gap of rebroadcasts..then FUNi's inhouse came and I was like lol I watched it every day till around the cell games. I started getting uninterested, though I like the games now.

[RiaJay21]

Well, it was around the year 2000 that I started watching - Toonami, UK broadcast. I was 8, and I just remember that I was ill one night, so I got up so my mom could sit with me on the sofa, and my dad was still up, watching TV. It seems insane, now, that he was watching DBZ. Maybe he just quickly changed the channel to Cartoon Network because I got up, I don't know. That said, my dad had always been into Martial Arts films, and was a black belt himself, so makes sense that he was interested. So I sat there with my mom and dad, watching DBZ - still remember the episode as well. 'Or Hero Awakens'. Kind of became a ritual to watch it at 5:30 every evening after that.

Some of the most vivid DBZ memories I have are of the times that CN aired each saga over a day or weekend. I had my dad record all of them on VHS for me. We couldn't watch anything else but DBZ all day, because I HAD to have them on tape!

Oh, but then ... I watched and re-watched those tapes until they ran out. Especially the Freeza saga for some reason - and especially the early Freeza saga. I used to sit in my parents bedroom with a sandwich and some juice, get under the covers (because it was winter), and watch DBZ. I also remember taking a week of school when I was 9 (there were other reasons, like the bullying, but it ended up being a week because of DBZ) just so I could watch DBZ and draw DBZ characters. Really.

I would have it playing in my room, constantly. At the same time, I'd write 'fan-fiction' (or as close as a 9-year-old can get to it), draw, make up DBZ quizzes for my friends ... I was obsessed. I remember spending a week on a fold-down bed in the middle of my room, don't know why I had a fold-down bed when I had a bunk bed with both bunks to myself! Same again, though. Fan-art. Fan-fiction. Well ... I enjoyed it, at least. Something that sticks out in my mind is the memory of being tucked up in bed, having DBZ on the TV, and it was around the time Vegeta faces off against Freeza. I know, I know a lot of people criticize Bruce Faulconer's soundtrack, but I was hearing 'Hell's Bells' as I was slowly drifting off to sleep, and I just felt so happy and comfortable at that point.

At one point, I had a dream that we'd been asked to write an essay about DBZ. Yesp. Really. I was 12 by this point, though. I'm sure I still have the essay somewhere. Actually, I had this little notebook and a Parker pen that I carried everywhere with me, and it just contained all my DBZ 'fan-fiction' and such.

Thing is ... and I may sound a little odd for this, but something happened to my family when I was 7 that really changed my childhood. My parent's effectively became my grandmother's carers, and things at home were stressful. I started getting badly bullied in school when I was 8. But I knew that I could come home and watch DBZ, and it was okay when I was doing that. I had something to look forward to, which is why I became so obsessed, really. DBZ pretty much became the reason I was happy. It shaped my bond with my dad, who I didn't much get to see. My childhood was mostly about DBZ. I was lucky enough to have some friends who shared in my interest, albeit not to the same degree. I don't regret it, though. If I could be happy 25% of the time, that was enough for me.