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Contents 1 History 1.1 Censorship issues 1.2 Creative changes 1.3 Uncut version 1.4 International English version

[edit] History

After Dragon Ball Z, the story of Goku and his friends continues in the anime-only series Dragon Ball GT. This series is not based on a manga by Akira Toriyama.

Toriyama's humor/self-parody manga Neko Majin Z features several concepts introduced in Dragon Ball Z (several Dragon Ball Z characters even make various appearances), but that manga is designed as a parody and not a true continuation of the series.

[edit] Censorship issues

Dragon Ball Z was marketed to appeal to a wide range of viewers from all ages, and contains crude humor and occasional excesses of violence (which includes cartoon blood), which are commonly seen as inappropriate for younger audiences by American standards. When it was marketed in the US, the distribution company FUNimation alongside with Saban decided to initially focus exclusively on the young children's market, because the anime market was still small compared to the much larger children's cartoon market.

The show started in the US in 1997 on Cartoon Network's Toonami block. Beginning with the Saiyan Saga, severe restrictions were put in place for a cable program. From the Ginyu Saga onwards, FUNimation dubbed the show themselves with their own in-house voice actors and also cut some of their previous restrictions, such as the inclusion of blood. Altogether, the show was given a TV-Y7 rating for fantasy violence.

[edit] Creative changes

To an equal extent, people have taken issue with changes in the English edition that are not seen as necessary, such as extraneous dialogue not found in the original, dubbing that sways the English version in its own creative direction, the replacement of the entire original musical score written by Shunsuke Kikuchi, and renaming of many characters, terminology, and locations. This has led fans of the original Japanese version of the series to dislike FUNimation's English dub, while those who have seen the FUNimation dub first prefer the creative changes and believe it to be the definitive version of the series.

[edit] Uncut version

In 2003, FUNimation began to redub the first two sagas (Saiyan and Namek) to remove the problems that were caused from their previous partnership with Saban. They also redubbed the first three Pioneer-distributed movies that were dubbed by the Ocean Group voice actors. The distribution of the redubs on DVD, under the Ultimate Uncut Edition title, began in April 2005.

In the summer of 2005, Cartoon Network started showing the uncut version of the first two seasons of Dragon Ball Z. This version used the original Japanese footage, with the exception of the Japanese opening and closing themes, and has an entirely new score of music. The uncut version also featured many scenes with large amounts of blood, mild profanity and language, as well as mild sexual humor and slapstick male nudity. Generally, while some lines were maintained from the original dub, several mistranslations were also corrected. The uncut episodes were given a TV-PG rating unlike the original dub's episodes which were given a TV-Y7 rating. Although only the first two uncut seasons have been released, more are expected soon.

[edit] International English version

Until 2001, other English speaking countries including the UK, Canada, Australia and Republic of Ireland received FUNimation's English version of Dragon Ball Z, both the Saban and In-house incarnations. This changed when Episode 108 aired in the UK (also in The Netherlands); the English Dub switched to a version produced in Canada, which appeared to have been licensed out by FUNimation to produce a version of the show (It is thought it was recorded at either Airwaves or Westwood Studios in Vancouver). This version regained the original voice cast by the Ocean Group instead of the FUNimation actors. This version began airing in Canada in the fall of 2001 from Episode 168, and ran through to the end of the series. It used FUNimation's own videotracks and its scripts, albeit with some notable changes to fit the actors better. This version used music recycled from the Mega Man and Monster Rancher cartoons, as well as a few original pieces for the series by Jon Mitchell, Tom Keenlyside and David Iris. This version, albeit with the original actors lacks due to its low production values, and in the speed it was produced - for example many voices did not stay consistent through the series, and by the end few remained from the original 1996 cast. See Below for a complete cast listing.