A few US DVD release questions....

[RPGKing4]

I have been a fan of DBZ since the Freeza saga first started airing, but for the last couple of years, I stopped following the series. For the about the past 6 months I have been trying to getting back into the DBZ scene and now that I feel educated enough, I have a few questions that I haven't found any answers to yet.

1) I know that Funi can't release DB ep. 1-13 (I think it was) until the other company's license runs out. Nearly every DBZ site mentions this, but I have yet to see what the date is when this happens.... Does anyone know when Funi can release this set?

2) I know how much hatered there is for the 'remastered' boxes, but for how cheap they are, I don't mind as much as most of you hardcore fans. In my opinion, I just want consistancy throughout the entire series that I collect, so my question is: do you think that they will release all the movies in some simular fashon to match the series?

3) Continuing question 2, do you think they will go back and also release DB and GT to match this look too?

Thanks for your help and opinions!

[aegoku]

1) From the discussions I've read on this site, everyone (including myself) has this question but no one has ever been able to figure out when the license switches to Funimation. I know that's not very helpful but if there's an answer to this I've never seen it.

2) I think, and I don't think that I'm alone in this, that there will be a remastered box set of the movies. Funimation has been phasing out their single disc releases, including the movies. For example, Amazon used to have all the single discs but now they only have some. I'm trying to get a Cell Games saga DVD but they don't carry it anymore.

I also think that DB and DBGT will eventually get remastered box set releases, as Funimation seems to be phasing out their single disc releases too.

[Tsukento]

1) Absolutely no one knows when this is. That's the REALLY frustrating part about that. What's worse is that FUNi's DB DVDs seem to be out of print as well, so the likelyhood of that DVD coming out at this point in that format are very slim.

2) The movies were originally shown in Japan in widescreen at theaters, and are widescreen on VHS and the Dragon Box DVDs. The upcoming Brolly Double Feature on Blu-Ray is apparently going to be in "remastered" quality and is going to be widescreen. As for if they intend to do this with future releases, we don't really know.

3) Dragon Ball? Maybe. FUNi has given Dragon Ball a sort of cold shoulder. GT? It's up in the air. While one would argue they're just finishing releasing their entire series in boxset releases, another case would be to point out how they've stopped production with the Ultimate Uncut Edition DBZ DVDs in favor of the remasters. So there's really not much we can say. I'd say Dragon Ball is likely dead last to ever see a "remastered" release.

[Conan the SSJ]

1) I know that Funi can't release DB ep. 1-13 (I think it was) until the other company's license runs out. Nearly every DBZ site mentions this, but I have yet to see what the date is when this happens.... Does anyone know when Funi can release this set?

Lion's Gate, whom bought out Kidmark, have an indefinite license. That means that outside of direct successful negotiations for a release between FUNi and Lion's Gate, a release will never happen. I know that Rachel emailed an employee a few years back and learned they apparently plan to keep it for as long as they can, which is FUNi's fault in the first place.

2) I know how much hatered there is for the 'remastered' boxes, but for how cheap they are, I don't mind as much as most of you hardcore fans. In my opinion, I just want consistancy throughout the entire series that I collect, so my question is: do you think that they will release all the movies in some simular fashon to match the series?

Well, outside of original DB movie 1 only being available in an edit-dub format everywhere except the Dragonbox, FUNi has released easy-to-find DVDs of the movies. The only real reason they'd have to re-releases once more, possibly with their dub w/t JP BGM and "remastered wide-screen" hyping, is just for the simple pleasure in further milking the franchise. Personally, I rather just prefer getting the original releases of theirs, as any future remastering of them would screw up the visual quality's detail and probably result in worse sounding Japanese version audio and more film-master glitches. Box-sets are out for almost all of them, I don't see why not just get those (DB Movie Box for original DB movies 2-4, First Strike for redub movies 1-3, DBZ set for movies 4-6, and Broly Triple Threat for movies 8/10-11) and the remaining movies 7, 9, 12, and 13. Especially with RightStuf's recent sell, now is the best time.

3) Continuing question 2, do you think they will go back and also release DB and GT to match this look too?

Not really. Disregarding its dub, GT has an excellent treatment in its releases that can now all be found in affordable box-sets. Video quality's decent/good, the episodes are 100% uncut (proper OPs/EDs, next-episode previews, etc.), and of course got Simmons' awesome subs in nicely encoded discs. As for DB, it's actually very pointless; for one they've already had affordable (though hard to find now) releases that have the dub maintaining the Japanese music...what more could be hyped of it? Cropping it and blurring out the grain to the point where important detail will be lost certainly isn't a big selling point anymore with the better option of the previous releases. The only reason I'd buy one is if they nailed the first 13 episodes for it.

[Kula]

1) I know that Funi can't release DB ep. 1-13 (I think it was) until the other company's license runs out. Nearly every DBZ site mentions this, but I have yet to see what the date is when this happens.... Does anyone know when Funi can release this set?

If you have a region free DVD player and a PAL compatible TV/player, then you can import the Australian/R4 release of 'The Saga Of Goku'. Everything's uncut apart from movie 1.

[aegoku]

To further answer your second question, I just found a thread over in the podcast section of the site with some interesting news, in particular Brakus' post about half way down the page.

http://db.schuby.org/daizex/viewtopic.p ... c&start=20

I'm not sure exactly what this re-release of the TV specials means. Either Funimation has decided to release the movies in remastered format, and because of this decided to re-release the TV specials separately, or they're just semi-arbitrarily re-releasing whatever they feel like.

[Conan the SSJ]

To further answer your second question, I just found a thread over in the podcast section of the site with some interesting news, in particular Brakus' post about half way down the page.

http://db.schuby.org/daizex/viewtopic.p ... c&start=20

I'm not sure exactly what this re-release of the TV specials means. Either Funimation has decided to release the movies in remastered format, and because of this decided to re-release the TV specials separately, or they're just semi-arbitrarily re-releasing whatever they feel like.

Well, hopefully...hopefully their remastering treatment won't touch these specials. I'm looking forward to simply getting both of them on this nicely encoded dual-layer disc with an option for the dub w/t Japanese music. Add in Mr. Simmons' terrific subs and I'm game for this release. FUNi, for the love of God or something other you worship, don't crop and blurrify this release, please. >_>

[omegacwa]

Honestly, I wouldn't be opposed to a re-release of Dragon Ball, simply because the first 13 episodes uncut are only available in PAL format, and from what I understand, do to a factory error, the last couple episodes were often hard to get as well, because the Second Piccolo Jr box set was often screwed up.

Now, I don't want them to re-master it or anything, just a limited time re-release of the series, so I can buy up the box sets I am missing, and get a proper Piccolo Jr set, without risking spending 150 - 250 bucks on amazon just to have it have the factory error.

[TheGreatness25]

Well I am a collector of DBZ DVDs and I have practically the entire DBZ series (missing 2 Trunks DVDs, 3 movies, and the 2 TV specials, but getting there) and I have all of Dragon Ball GT on DVD, but I don't have any Dragon Ball. I went on Z Store's website and they actually took off every DBZ and DB DVD. The explanation for the DBZ DVDs being taken off was simply that they are in the process of "Remastering" them. I asked about Dragon Ball and they actually said that those will be "Remastered" as well, but no release date was given. If this is true, I'm fairly sure that the first 13 episodes will make it in there because they wouldn't release episode 14-44 (circa) there, that would just be absolutely goofy. Then again, 20% of their heads and feet will be cut off, in addition to smudging the picture in their "clean up" attempt. But if that doesn't bother you, by all means. I actually tried to compare. I popped in an Ultimate Uncut DVD in my HDTV, Zoomed in, made the colors cold (warm, standard, cold, you know?) and turned the sharpness all the way down and guess what...ta-daaaa it's the Remastered DBZ. It's almost insulting.

[Jerseymilk]

If this is true, I'm fairly sure that the first 13 episodes will make it in there because they wouldn't release episode 14-44 (circa) there, that would just be absolutely goofy.

Unfortunately, that most likely will be the scenario since Lion's Gate Films, the company that now owns the North American rights to the first 13 episodes of DB, has stated that they plan to hold onto the license as long as they can. That means Funimation won't be acquiring it anytime soon.

[TheGreatness25]

Yeah they can have the license, giving them the credit and whatnot. I mean they can have the license and still have others put it out there, Lion Gate would get money for that. Besides, FUNimation did redub the first 13 episodes. I don't understand what the problem is. Lion Gate acquired the license but doesn't want to put it out in any way? That's just stupid.

[Jerseymilk]

Yeah they can have the license, giving them the credit and whatnot. I mean they can have the license and still have others put it out there, Lion Gate would get money for that. Besides, FUNimation did redub the first 13 episodes. I don't understand what the problem is. Lion Gate acquired the license but doesn't want to put it out in any way? That's just stupid.

Funimation dubbed it when it was still owned by KidMark. Since then, Lion's Gate bought TriMark out, and KidMark was a subsidiary of that. So now they own the episodes. No it doesn't make sense that they're sitting on them to us, but from a business standpoint, they probably think they have something that they can get a lot of money for.

[Raki]

Honestly, I wouldn't be opposed to a re-release of Dragon Ball, simply because the first 13 episodes uncut are only available in PAL format, and from what I understand, do to a factory error, the last couple episodes were often hard to get as well, because the Second Piccolo Jr box set was often screwed up.

Now, I don't want them to re-master it or anything, just a limited time re-release of the series, so I can buy up the box sets I am missing, and get a proper Piccolo Jr set, without risking spending 150 - 250 bucks on amazon just to have it have the factory error.

I'm in the same position. I know where i can buy the Tien,King Piccolo,and part 1 of Piccolo Jr. Its just the Tournament,RR,and Jr Part 2 sets that i'm having trouble getting for a reasonable price.

[TheGreatness25]

Trust me, you won't get a reasonable price. However, with the released sets (Remastered), if they will contain as many episodes as DBZ ones do, then it should be done in like 5 sets, so that's not bad.