Dragon Ballz
Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ, DoragonbōruZetto?, commonly abbreviated as DBZ) is a Japanese animated television series produced by Toei Doga (now Toei Animation). Dragon Ball Z is the sequel to the Dragon Ball anime, which covers the first 16 volumes of a 42 volume Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama, while Dragon Ball Z adapts the last 26 volumes of the original manga.
The Dragon Ball Z anime first aired in Japan from April 26, 1989, to January 31, 1996,[1] and was dubbed in several countries around the world, including Latin America and in the United States. The American themes and soundtracks were composed and produced in part by Bruce Faulconer.
The first run of the English Version of the show began airing in September 1996 on the WB, dubbed by voice actors of the Ocean Group and distributed by the FUNimation and Saban companies. Beginning with the Saiyan Saga, severe restrictions were put in place for a syndicated TV program, thus resulting in extensive editing of the series (cutting out the equivalent of 14 of the first 67 episodes-- almost 21%), including the complete removal of references to character death ("sent to another dimension"), blood, and language. To many fans of the series, these edits actually made the series worse as violence was always shown without consequence. Eventually it was canceled in May 1998, due to low ratings. In August 1998 however, the Ocean Group dub was brought to Cartoon Network's new action-animated block, Toonami and it found new life through a wider audience. The Ocean Group also used their now well-known taglines such as "You'll never know what hit you" and "The Good, the Bad, and the just plain Evil" during trailers.
The Ocean Group and FUNimation dubs are noted for featuring dialogue not found in the original script, dubbing that results in minor changes to the original story, the replacement of the entire original musical score written by Shunsuke Kikuchi, and renaming many characters, terminology, and locations (i.e. Son Goku to just Goku). FUNimation selected composer Bruce Faulconer to create this original music score for episodes #54 (68) through the end of the series (episode #291), and this music is commonly referred to as the American Soundtrack for the series, which aired on the Cartoon Network, having aired since 1999 to the present.
Until 2001, other English speaking countries including the UK, Canada, Australia and Republic of Ireland received FUNimation's English version of DBZ, both the Ocean Group and FUNimation dubs. This changed when Episode 108 aired in the UK (also in The Netherlands); the English Dub switched to a version produced by the Blue Water studios. This version regained the original voice actors from the Ocean Group instead of the FUNimation voice cast. This version began airing in Canada in the autumn 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 changes. 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 suffered from low production values and a rushed schedule. 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.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
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