American releases
Two early attempts at releasing Dragon Ball to American audiences failed. The first attempt was in the late 1980s by Harmony Gold. It featured strange name changes for nearly all the characters, such as changing Son Goku to Zero and Karin to Whiskers the Wonder Cat. It is not well-known, and has been referred to as “The Lost Dub” by fans.
The second and more well known was in 1995, when FUNimation first attempted to launch the Dragon Ball franchise in the US. Hiring BLT Productions[1] to produce the dub, they had the first 13 aired in syndication in edited form. However due to disappointing ratings, FUNimation chose to abandon this dub, moving on to the newer and more action filled Dragon Ball Z. The home video rights for this version were acquired by Vidmark Entertainment for their
Kid Mark? label. As they and their current owner has continued to renew the license, FUNimation has been unable release their newer unedited dub of these episodes on DVD, and only the old version remains available (as the The Saga of Goku DVD set).
After Dragon Ball Z became immensely popular on Cartoon Network, the entire series was translated by FUNimation and released in the same scheduling block as its successor on the network. The complete series ran in the US between August 20, 2001, and late 2003. Unlike the theme songs for Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT, FUNimation made English versions of the original Japanese opening (OP) and ending (ED) themes for these episodes and left in the original BGM, which was met with delight by most fans. However, some insert (IN) songs were removed or have dialogue dubbed over them.
Dragon Ball is known as being a much less serious anime than its successor, Dragon Ball Z, though later sagas blur the lines a bit.
Censorship
The US version of Dragon Ball was aired on Cartoon Network (before that, it was aired in syndication) with excessive editing. Most of the edits were digital cosmetic changes, which were done to remove nudity and blood, and dialogue edits, such as when Pu'ar says why Oolong was expelled from shapeshifting school, instead of saying that he stole the teacher's panties, it was changed to him stealing the teacher's papers. Some scenes were deleted altogether, either to save time or remove strong violence. For example, when Son Goku dives into the water unclothed to catch a fish for dinner, a digital water splash was added on his groin; on other occasions when he is nude, he has some digital underwear added. Also, references to alcohol and drugs were removed, for example, when Jackie Chun (Muten Roshi) uses Drunken Fist Kung Fu in the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, FUNimation called it the “Mad Cow Attack.” Also, the famous “No Balls!” scene was deleted from episode 2, and when Bulma places panties on the fishing hook to get Oolong (in fish form), they digitally painted away the panties and replaced it with some money.
While implied throughout the General Blue Saga, Blue is finally revealed to be a homosexual during a scene in which he recoils at Bulma's seductive advances as she tries to distract him. Blue is further revealed to be a pedophile upon displaying sexual interest towards a young boy on Penguin Island who stops to repair Blue's damaged car. All references to General Blue's sexual orientation were eliminated in the American TV release, and the scene involving the boy was redubbed to suggest that Blue believes to have found his long-lost younger brother.
Many of the changes were ill-received by long-time fans of the series, who believed the cable networks' censorship destroyed or diminished the original humor. The DVDs do not contain these edits.
A note on inconsistency in censorship that a scene in Dragon Ball where young Goku charges completely through Piccolo Daimao, putting a hole in the behemoth's chest, was edited so that the hole wasn't shown for the American broadcast, but the same scene was shown uncensored on American TV, in a flashback in a Dragon Ball Z episode, with the hole in Piccolo Daimao's chest clearly visible.
Unofficial Chinese live-action movie
New Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenlong is a live-action version of the popular Japanese animated series. An evil king has been stealing the mystical “Dragon Pearls” in an attempt to possess them all. When all but one of the pearls has been stolen, the former guardians of the magic jewels decide to band together and take action. Led by a pig-headed wizard and a half-turtle martial arts master, the team takes on the king's army in a desperate bid to stop him from gaining control of the pearls.
Made in Taiwan and released in 1989, this feature has actually been released in the US as Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins (originally titled Xin Qi long zhu Shen long de chuan shuo, or New Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenlong). While this movie does not follow Toriyama's conception exactly, it is a lot closer to it than it is to any traditional Chinese legends.
Theme songs
OP
Makafushigi Adobenchā!; 摩訶不思議アドベンチャー！ («Mystical Adventure!»)
Lyrics: Yuriko Mori, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kōhei Tanaka, Performance: Hiroki Takahashi; he is not to be confused with the seiyu Hiroki Takahashi)
Version 1: episodes 1101
Version 2: episodes 102153 (not on FUNimation's DVDs)
ED
Romatikku Ageru Yo; ロマンティックあげるよ («I'll Give You Romance»)
Lyrics: Takemi Yoshida, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kōhei Tanaka, Performance: Ushio Hashimoto)
Version 1: episodes 121 (not on FUNimation's DVDs)
Version 2: episodes 22101
Version 3: episodes 102132 (not on FUNimation's DVDs)
Version 4: episodes 133153) (not on FUNimation's DVDs)
Sagas
Emperor Pilaf Saga
Tournament Saga
Red Ribbon Army Saga
General Blue Saga
Commander Red Saga
Fortuneteller Baba Saga
Tien Shinhan Saga
King Piccolo Saga
Piccolo Jr. Saga
Movies
Curse of the Blood Rubies
Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle
Mystical Adventure
The Path to Power (10th Anniversary Special)
to the naxt
dragonballz
