Happy 20th Anniversary of Dragon Ball Z in America.

[Michelle91]

20 years ago today on September 13th, DBZ first air in the US. Not sure how many people saw DBZ before it air on CN in 1998, but it would be cool to hear stories of people who first saw DBZ in 1996. I didn't know what Dragon Ball was until 1997, but I also remember seeing bits of DBZ before I saw a random episode on Toonami in 1998. DBZ did have a major impact on the anime industry in the US and did introduced many people to anime for the last 20 years. Personally I still enjoy the 1996-1998 dub with the Ocean voice actors. It makes me feel very nostalgic with the voice acting and music.

[DB1984]

Some clips:

A collection of Ocean Title Cards with really effective 90's CGI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyhP7F_Weno

Tenshinhan, the three-eyed-Cowboy, thinks he's Piccolo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebaO6aoCj2A

Think Tenshinhan's third eye helps him see better? Think again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl4ghsv04V0

Oh, so they're not really dead; they're just going on a trip to another dimension. Got it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BffZ0vjMH2I

What? Don't you mean the Helicopter?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Bbu7oGgcY

So Vegeta is religious after all?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fhN4DiHlU4

And let's end it with this undying legend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiMHTK15Pik

[Kakacarrottop]

I'm sure most people aren't even aware of this milestone, since the average fan these days considers that dub to be a Canadian production that just happened to air on American Toonami before FUNimation "took over" and got the license from Ocean/Saban/Pioneer/whoever you want to scapegoat. Overall i think it was a pretty solid dub in terms of acting and music, especially when you take into consideration how terrible some dubs from that early 90s era were. It came off as way more professional than FUNi's later in-house stuff that immediately followed it.

I also really wish there were more DBZ syndication recordings floating around online, like promos or tapings of episodes from 96-98. So far the only stuff i've seen online is this collection of bizarre bumpers by Saban.

[LordCrumb]

Some clips:

A collection of Ocean Title Cards with really effective 90's CGI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyhP7F_Weno

Tenshinhan, the three-eyed-Cowboy, thinks he's Piccolo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebaO6aoCj2A

Think Tenshinhan's third eye helps him see better? Think again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl4ghsv04V0

Oh, so they're not really dead; they're just going on a trip to another dimension. Got it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BffZ0vjMH2I

What? Don't you mean the Helicopter?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Bbu7oGgcY

So Vegeta is religious after all?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fhN4DiHlU4

And let's end it with this undying legend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiMHTK15Pik

So in other words, just your typical anti-funimation post that was completely unnecessary.



I don't remember the initial release date for New Zealand.. I vaguely recall of it being on 'Cartoon Network' through school chums at the time, but I didn't really start watching it until the very early 2000s. It was probably the only show I actually walked home faster to make sure I caught it, as it was on at some stupid time like 3:30pm (school finished at 3:00pm). I remember the original English voice actors (Ocean), and then the change over to the current cast.. it was very strange hearing a different actor for Goku. The change ended up being for the good though, and the current cast is fabulous.

I do remember waiting for Goku to go Super Saiyan.. which was a real tease here because before it happened, they went right back to the first episode and re-ran what they had already aired. Same thing happened before Trunks came onto the scene too. Was so bloody annoying.

DBZ mania hit pretty soon afterwards, and the voice actors for Vegeta and Goku would come over to NZ for the local pop culture convention. I got their autograph one time on a poster, but that has long since been lost.

[ABED]

I didn't see the first 13 episodes of DB when it first was released, but I did see DBZ when it was first broadcasted. Waiting every weekend for it to air was difficult for an 11 year old kid.

[DragonBallFoodie]

Yay!

[MCDaveG]

Some clips:

A collection of Ocean Title Cards with really effective 90's CGI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyhP7F_Weno

Tenshinhan, the three-eyed-Cowboy, thinks he's Piccolo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebaO6aoCj2A

Think Tenshinhan's third eye helps him see better? Think again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl4ghsv04V0

Oh, so they're not really dead; they're just going on a trip to another dimension. Got it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BffZ0vjMH2I

What? Don't you mean the Helicopter?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Bbu7oGgcY

So Vegeta is religious after all?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fhN4DiHlU4

And let's end it with this undying legend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiMHTK15Pik

Was it done in Word?

[VegettoEX]

20 years ago today on September 13th, DBZ first air in the US.

I'm not quite sure how this date propagated around so much. The 13th was a Friday in 1996; Dragon Ball Z aired on the weekends, and as such, the earliest date would have been that Saturday, the 14th. I don't know if some random affiliates aired it early on the 13th, but digging around some alt.fan.dragonball and rec.arts.misc.anime posts this last week, everyone's indeed looking to the 14th on their local networks as the earliest listed air date.

So in other words, just your typical anti-funimation post that was completely unnecessary.

Why do you get defensive and immediately jump to this conclusion? I pretty much adore this first pass of the dub, and I think it's important to recognize these quirks and can revel in their absurdity while simultaneously enjoying them. Simply noting something does not have to inherently mean "dissing it". In these 20 years of reflection going on, I would hope people can be adults and understand this.

Anyway, can't help but plug our latest podcast (basically an online radio show that we've been doing for 10+ years), where we review the first episode ("The Arrival of Raditz") and talk about all sorts of things from that time.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

The title cards were really awesome course some where more inventive than others like the Saibaman and Time one but yeah that's one thing I wish the Japanese did or FUNi carried over.

[Cipher]

So Vegeta is religious after all?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fhN4DiHlU4

"Too bad it's Sunday" is probably the most hysterical death cover-up line of the entire syndicated run. Vegeta is apparently intimately familiar with Earth's weekly calendar and its adoption of religious practices.

[ABED]

The title cards were really awesome course some where more inventive than others like the Saibaman and Time one but yeah that's one thing I wish the Japanese did or FUNi carried over.

There's one with a shot of Planet Namek and sparkly things coming off it. It looks like the Genki Dama energy going into space.

[VegettoEX]

In all these years, I never would have made the connection about Sunday being a day when people were at church, and therefore not in the buildings. I always just took it as "it's the weekend, so people aren't at the office." I guess both interpretations work just fine.

Piccolo citing David and Goliath is what always weirded me out.

[ABED]

In all these years, I never would have made the connection about Sunday being a day when people were at church, and therefore not in the buildings. I always just took it as "it's the weekend, so people aren't at the office." I guess both interpretations work just fine.

Piccolo citing David and Goliath is what always weirded me out.

Also, set aside every being in the universe knowing some common language, how did Vegeta know about the weekends?

[Jinzoningen MULE]

In all these years, I never would have made the connection about Sunday being a day when people were at church, and therefore not in the buildings. I always just took it as "it's the weekend, so people aren't at the office." I guess both interpretations work just fine.

Piccolo citing David and Goliath is what always weirded me out.

Really? I'm always assumed that was the implication, since we (in America, at least) were in a more verbally restrictive, openly Christian Culture at the time this aired.

At least that's how it was where I grew up, which doesn't say much, since I lived in the middle of nowhere.