Editorials "My Thoughts on DBZ for DVD... and Other Opinions" Written: December 16, 1999 Ahh, Dragonball Z on DVD... that makes alot of people happy. From what I understand, fans have been waiting for this for a LONG time. Almost all Dragonball Otaku are very happy about this and can't wait to purchase some of these for themselves legally. People have been bugging FUNimation about this for quite a while and have finally gotten their wish. So you say to yourself, "This is good." I don't think so. At least not that much. What's GOOD is FUNimation will be releasing not only subbed DBZ but the Dubbed DBZ along with it. By now, you're probably screaming for me to shut up, because you've probably been waiting for subbed DBZ on DVD too. Well, what do I not like about it? Many things... that's why I've written this editorial, to tell you how I feel about this and a few other things... Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they did this too. I would LOVE to go out and buy some legally-sold subtitled-DBZ Episodes too. The problem about these is they will only be in DVD format. Not on Video, DVD... DVD is nice, but it's very expensive. I myself don't have a DVD player and won't be able to get one for a long time, because of the fact they cost of 300 dollars which is money I don't have. The reason FUNimation is doing this is to shut up the thousands of screaming fans who want the original DBZ. They are releasing them on DVD because, to be perfectly honest, that really is the only way to do it. If they sold them on VHS, tape-copying would be at an all time high. People would be making fansubs off of these tapes more than ever, with near-perfect resolution (rather than the horrible resolutions and quality that today's fansubs are sold at). So why am I at all against DBZ for DVD? Because of the pricing. It's going to be utterly ridiculous! Think of it, each dubbed DBZ movie for DVD costs from $25-30 dollars! And that's for 50 MINUTES! This most definitely means that FUNimation is going to produce them at the rate of three episodes per DVD. That would cost enough to buy, but imagine with three dubbed episodes as well. These DVD's will most likely cost atleast 30 dollars. And, to make matters worse, they're starting at Season 3! I don't give a crap about Season 3, I want them to start at the beginning! Every person who's seen the dubbed Season 3 has seen it atleast near uncut. What they show on Cartoon Network is normally almost all uncut, with maybe a scene every now and then cut out. Back in the good 'ol days of Season 1 and 2 they cut out alot, upsetting people into writing FUNimation and Cartoon Network into making/airing uncut episodes. Why the good 'ol days? Because of the talented Voice Actors, but I'll get to that later. Well, fans got what they wanted... but with a bad side effect. FUNimation made uncut episodes, but sold them for around 20 dollars (you can buy them at some places for 18 dollars, but FUNimation ripped a bunch of people off by selling the videos for over 20 dollars), replaced EVERY voice actor with people with no previous VA jobs, and completely butchered the music into keyboard-played nonsense. Not to mention the rate at which they will sell subtitled DBZ on DVD! Imagine how long it would take to release 97 DVD's at the rate of two a month! Lately, FUNimation has had many chances to improve their butchering of Dragonball Z, but were too stupid to realize what they were doing wrong. I know I am now going off the subject, but I have alot of opinions that need to be shared with you guys. There was no way to send these in time to FUNimation; for I just realized what they were doing wrong when they were probably done with Season 3. Not to mention the fact it takes them months, and boy do I mean months to answer email. It took 5 months for me to receive a reply from them. By then, I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WROTE IN THE FIRST PLACE! I just received some crappy answers to questions I don't remember asking! So here's my belief on what they should've done. First of all, quit it with trying to appeal to kids! In my opinion, Pokemon will always be doing better than Dragonball Z. Not because Pokemon is better than DBZ. No, I didn't say that. In fact, as much as I love Dragonball Z, I'm okay with Pokemon. Almost all of my friends like it and I like it (I don't love it; or think about it except for when I'm watching it for that matter). Pokemon was super-kiddified when aired in the US. This caused it to become extremely popular amongst kids. For every year lower, there is more of a population of that age group in the US. Therefore, there are much, much more 7 year olds than 15 year olds. Plus, kids talk alot to their parents about what they watch... Pokemon for instance. Since they're kids, and since America has adopted the idea that every Cartoon is for kids, Pokemon becomes popular amongst adults as gifts for their kids. Lately, I have retched at how much popularity Pokemon has gained that Dragonball Z should've obtained a long time ago. I have heard about them on the news, fast-food restaurants are all over Pokemon like flies on horse crap, and my uncle and dad like it too! When teens try to talk of Dragonball Z to adults, adults think they're being childish for watching "cartoons" in the first place. Some teens refuse to watch DBZ for its name (of all things) and because it's a "cartoon". Another reason Pokemon is doing better than DBZ is because of its music and voice actors. They actually keep around most, if not all, of their Voice Actors and their music is alright (better than our crappy dub music anyday). Anyway, enough about that, you get my point. Now to explain about how FUNimation screwed up big time. They should air one episode a week. I know by now some of you dubbies are ripping your hair out, but read on and you'll understand. First of all, FUNimation could make lots of money doing this, if you think about it. They'd be able to sell episodes *gasp* before they aired on TV! Do you have any idea how many people bought the first two tapes!?! Why did so many people buy the first few tapes? Because they couldn't wait! If FUNimation would sell tapes LONG before they aired, they'd make alot of money. They could use this money for the good of DBZ and the US/Canadian/etc. fans everywhere. They'd be able to get REAL VOICE ACTORS (heck get all the old ones back! PLEASE!) From what I understand, VA's don't get paid that much (read the interviews between Peter Kelamis, Ian Corlett, and Chris Psaros on DBZ Uncensored if you haven't already). I say move back to Canada, or to Montana or something so the old VA's can come back again. FUNimation would make lots of money by selling videos long before the episodes aired on television. Another thing that FUNimation claims is they made plenty of money on the first sales of uncut tapes. Imagine if EVERY video earned as much as the first two did. With the excess of money they could buy the Japanese musc, or atleast the old American music (which I didn't think was all that bad). This way, just about everybody would get what they wanted. FUNimation gets money, fans get good VA's, decent music, and uncut episodes. Now, about that one episode a week matter... Japan aired one a week. I'm sure everyone couldn't wait until the next episode aired. They pretty much showed one a week from the beginning until the end of DBZ. If FUNimation aired one a week on Cartoon Network, they'd also be able to show one a week until it ends. Season 3 contains 50 episodes. That would've been almost a year. It took them a matter of months for these 50 episodes. So the ratio shouldn't stress out FUNimation at all. Well, that basically sums up my thoughts on FUNimation's mistakes. Now to get back to the DBZ on DVD matter. To sum up, FUNimation screwed up and can still get their act together. Also, yes I feel they should sell DBZ for DVD. They are in a tight lock that they can't escape from. If they were to sell the subbed episodes on video, results would be horrendous and fansubbers would be in a state of total glee. I just think people should calm down about Dragonball Z for DVD. Not that many people own a DVD player, me being one of them. Now, about the pricing... If each DVD consisted of 3 Japanese Episodes and sold for $29.98 plus 6% sales tax, it would cost over $3,000 to buy every subtitled Japanese DBZ Episode for DVD (there are 291 DBZ Episodes; divide by 3 and it equals out to exactly 97 DVD's). And that's not including the 13 Movies and 2 specials! "What about Playstation 2?" you ask? Well, it will be able to play DVD's. I've heard it can only Play DVD's. I hope this is not true. If it can only play DVD's that means: no menu, no skipping tracks, and so forth. This couldn't be true.... it would be too horrible. There's also that sad fact that Playstation 2's will start at around $400 and won't be coming out until atleast the Fall of 2000. There, my feelings are finally out. If you can excuse me, I must go now... My eyes hurt from staring at the screen so long so I had better take a break! Keep in mind these are just opinions! I don't want flame email and nasty remarks because of my opinions. You can't make me change how I feel, so keep your insults to yourselves! A little critiscm every now and then is fine, but insulting me "that I'm wrong," with no proof to back you up is just a waste of your time and my time. I've never written a long editorial before and write in my own style of grammar. I don't misspell words often, but if I do misspell something, forgive me please! Thanks for understanding and reading! I hope I don't get any negative feedback. All of my editorials are my opinions! -Sir Viktor- Back to Editorials Site design and content ©1999-2007 by James Walker (Sir Viktor) The Next Dimension is a non-profit fansite. Any copyright violations are completely unintentional. I highly recommend viewing this website with Microsoft Internet Explorer and Javascript enabled.