DBZ TV Special #1 Japanese Release: "A Final, Solitary Battle: The Z Warrior Son Goku's Father Challenges Freeza" 10-17-90
English Release: "Bardock, Father of Goku" 1-30-00

Review by The Great Saiyaman

This story originally premiered as a TV special in Japan during the Freeza saga and it takes place before the events of Dragon Ball. It starts out right after the birth of Goku where he is given the Saiya-jin name of "Kakarotto." It then flashes to planet Kanassa where 5 Saiya-jin warriors who have just gone Oozaru are decimating that world's army. We then discover that the Saiya-jins are Bardock and his teammates. They conquered this planet for Freeza because Freeza believes that it can give people special psychic powers. Bardock quickly learns that those powers are all too real after a Kanassa-jin warrior intentionally gives him these abilities so that he might witness the horror of his planet's and people's end. Acquiring the powers quickly overwhelms Burdock as he collapses to the ground. After this we learn how Zarbon convinced Freeza to destroy Planet Vegeta and are given a glimpse of the strength and cruelty of Prince Vegeta, a child who shows fear of nobody, not even Freeza.

Days later Bardock wakes up in a recovery chamber after having some visions where he sees a handful of the events which occur with his son during the Dragon Ball series. Before he wakes up the doctors treating him note what an incredible fighter he is and how his power level is almost at 10,000. Bardock quickly learns that his teammates have left to conquer the nearby world of planet Meat and he eagerly departs. Before leaving he sees his youngest son Goku crying and briefly scans him on his power reader. Disappointed that his boy only has a low level of 2, he leaves disgusted and convinced that his youngest is nothing more than a weakling. Before he reaches Planet Meat we are given a glimpse of the last of his teammates being finished by Dodoria, who informs him that the Saiya-jins have "fallen out of favor with Freeza."

While on Meat, Bardock runs into his teammate and friend Toma, who informs him of how Freeza has betrayed the Saiya-jins and is plotting their extermination. After a fight with some of Freeza's men, then Dodoria, Bardock is barely able to return to planet Vegeta. When he does he fails to rally up some fellow Saiya-jins to fight Freeza. Bardock and then makes the decision to fight him alone. However, as he flies off to Freeza's ship he is soon assaulted by a large army of Freeza's men. Although vastly outnumbered, Bardock does not allow Freeza's army to stop his ambition.

As he makes it to the front of the ship while being held back by the strongest of Freeza's designated men, Freeza comes out. Bardock then smiles and promises to change the fate of he, planet Vegeta and his son's future. But his efforts are futile. Freeza's current strength in his first form is 50 times greater than Bardock's (500,000) and Freeza is able to destroy him and all of Planet Vegeta with just a single movement of his index finger. As Bardock is being incinerated in the blast, he witnesses one last vision--his son, now grown up, facing off against Freeza. He cries out the name "KAKARROTO" as he and his home perish in one glorious blast. Before the movie ends we see Son Gohan, aka Grandpa Gohan (who Goku's child was named after) meeting Kakarroto for the very first time. He is a compassionate old man who happily decides to adopt him as his grandson. Son Gohan then gives the mysterious child with a tail a new name--Son Goku. Thus begins Son Goku's long and amazing journey through life and beyond.
This is definitely Funi's best movie dub (it's really a TV special, but for simplicity's sake I'll be using both terms interchangeably. Besides, Funimation released this as a "movie" and the dub of this isn't a TV special at all since it's never even been shown on television) but sadly that's not saying a lot. There are some pretty good songs in here and they actually fit in with the atmosphere of what's happening (not taking into account that the atmosphere they try to portray is not the one that the creators of this movie were looking for). Granted that none of the songs are from the original Japanese version, this is very impressive for a Funi movie. I must say, after watching the dub of movie 4 it is really, really, really nice to watch a movie that isn't just all hard-core rock songs.

Also, Sonny Strait shows some great vocal chops with the voice he gives Bardock (the script, however, is not his fault) and more than makes up for his impersonation of the original Ocean Dub Krillin's horrible "I hold my nose when I talk because Krillin doesn't have a nose" voice. It's a shame that Funi went with soundalike voices for Season 3 instead of new ones and I'm pretty sure that fans of the dub would have adapted to them very quickly and happily.

The Subtitled Version

Funimation's very first attempt at subtitling a movie...not a pretty sight. As usual, the only translator they acknowledge in their credits, head translator Mr. Simmons (who has a Masters in Japanese, has spent time in Japan and is one of the few Funimation employees I actually like) provides great translations. Unfortunately, due to orders from Funimation's fearless leader Gen Fukunaga, characters continue to be given "dub-friendly" names. Huh? Funi goes out of its way to steer dub-watchers away from ever watching the subtitled version so what's the point? Again, unlike Saiya-jin being able to be translated to Saiyan (America-jin = American person = American, Saiya-jin = Saiyan. Also, DBZ games even make this same English translation, not that I'm trying to justify them using "Saiyan" in their subtitled versions as well), Kakarroto does NOT translate to "Kakarot" and there is no excuse at all whatsoever for this change. Though they let some Japanese names slide through (like "Burdock"), Funi should let all the names stay the way they are in the original.

In addition to ordering the names to be "dub-friendly," Gen Fukunaga has stated in an interview that he does NOT want any of the original curse words to be left in (I got that from http://animeworld.com/reviews/dbztv.html, which contains a great history of how Funi has improved and still desperately needs to improve on its current, future and past subtitled versions). However, although Simmons has been given more leeway over time (but not full leeway--and Funi's not about to have him redo his already-censored subbed versions with cut material which are out in stores), I'm still pretty suspicious about this movie. Aside from "bastard", "dammit" and "damn" there's no cursing at all in this movie. But the cursing is much better than the Bardock dub which contains no swear words. All it has are lots of pseudo-swears including 3 hecks, 4 darns and 4 goshes (thanks for compiling this info goes out to Grant Mclellan).

Conclusion--Funi still refuses to release completely uncensored original Japanese versions of the anime in America. Or, at the very, very least they don't care enough to go back and resubtitle all the already-mistranslated episodes. These policies are really a sad waste of Mr. Simmons's art. Since that's the case, Funi doesn't really have any moral right to pursue people who sell fansubs or make them available for downloading, now do they? I imagine that if a legit fansubber (one who's not letting people d/l Funi episodes--why on earth would anyone do that anyway?) was involved in a lawsuit with Funi and was able to effectively convey this idea to a judge, then that person might have a good shot at beating Funi, since fansubbers are just providing to DBZ fans what Funi refuses to provide themselves.

Anyway, let's look at the sound and video quality. The dub is remastered in stereo while the sub is left in plain old mono--no surprise here. Also, the DVD quality is a bit grainy and it shakes around a bit. Little to no touching up whatsoever has been done to the subtitled version. But considering that Fukunaga's milked at least $50,000,000 off DBZ for his personal accounts and that Funimation has "more money than we know what to do with--I'd prefer not to discuss how much" you'd REALLY think that Funi could find something else to do with all that money besides counting it and bragging about it to reporters, such as improving their subtitled versions or putting more episodes on their DVD's and charging less money for their DVD's. After all, DVD's are usually vastly overpriced (they're much cheaper to produce than companies like to let on) and Pioneer is now selling its DB-Z DVD's at very low prices. In fact, I saw one for $15 at a store today. I guess Pioneer is trying to sell as much DB stuff as they possibly can while they still own the rights to the first 53 English episodes, the first 3 movies and first 13 DB episodes (the rights will expire in 2003). It's a 508 series, and 3-4 episodes (usually 3 episodes) per DVD priced at $20+ is a ripoff but, that's Funimation for ya.

Oh speaking of which, now would be a GREAT time to buy bilingual DVD's of the first 13 DB episodes on DVD, (just English and Spanish. I haven't seen this DVD but assuming that the Spanish version is unaltered it should contain LOTS of funny stuff that got cut out) the first 3 movies or even the VHS'es of these. Chances are that their prices will skyrocket once Funi gets the rights back to them and before then they'll probably get even more discounted during the holiday season. The first "53 episodes" (66 Japanese episodes sliced down for censoring and "boring stuff removal") are going to be redone by Funi in 2003 but I wouldn't expect to see them in stores till probably 2004. No point in waiting that long so if you really want to see them, you'd be best off just buying some fansubs or downloading the original Japanese versions of those episodes. Now then, on to the dubbed version summary.

The Dubbed Version

Unlike the movies which rarely had any bearing on the DBZ anime episodes (except for Movie 1 resulting in the Garlic Jr. Saga and movie 12 resulting in some references in a few Majin Buu episodes to the possibility of Vegeta and Goku fusing without any Potara) the TV specials both did. And since they were such integral parts to the plot they did not premier in movie theatres or on VHS/DVD where fans would have had to pay money to see them. Instead, they were shown on TV for FREE. When Funimation had to decide between giving the fans what they rightly deserve or lining up their pockets which already have "more money than they know what to do with," guess what mattered most to them? To make matters even worse they didn't even bother to advertise about the movie on CN at all, before or after the Freeza saga. Too bad they dubbed this and own the rights to milk money off of it, or it probably would have been shown on CN ages ago like the first 3 movies owned by Pioneer have already been.

Anyway, let's move on. Rather oddly and very dishonestly Funimation actually did cut something from this on their "uncut version"--the special Dragon Ball Z title shown just a few seconds before the Head Cha La opening (it is retained in the subtitled version). This must be a new record for Funimation, they cut out something before the intro sequence even began! As we all know, Funi always cuts the introduction and ending sequences on episodes to put in more commercial time. But cutting out a few seconds worth of a special DBZ title?

If they left it in the subtitled version then why did they cut it out of the "uncut" English version? Were they just being lazy as usual or they did really want to save 10's of dollars worth of minute space on their VHS'es and DVD's? At least their intro song wasn't the tiresome old "screaming guitars bit." It was an okay song but it was no "Head Cha La", not to mention that the song they use sets up the wrong atmosphere and mood for this movie.

Once the movie really begins the script changes just start pouring in. "Come here Melakka," "I wouldn't stake my repuation on that prediction, Planthor." In the original, that is, the real script, they weren't given names. Unless their names were given in the Japanese credits--but I can't really tell since Funi still nevers bothers to translate the Japanese credits. Also, "Planthor" is not evenly remotely confident that Bardock's son will grow up to be powerful, as Funi would have viewers believes. However, I will give the script writer points for the clever name pun he did--"Melakka" is actually Greek for "jack off."

Now for the fight sequence on Planet Kanassa. As you know we Americans are easily bored and we despise silence. Silence just means boring crap, we want lots of action and blowing up stuff, rargh! So what does Funi do? They have one of the Kanassa-jins talk, even though none of them originally said anything during the battle. "Oh look, a full moon, blah blah blah blah, it is our duty to do this, etc." Also, the sound effects got messed up here. While they do sound very accurate to the ones given in the Japanese version, their volume is reduced greatly so that Funi can crank up the rock music. What's the point of going to the trouble of getting good sound effects if they're played at such a low volume?

After this the "script" writer (Christopher Neel) names one of the fighters after the first 5 books of the Bible ("Torah") and makes up false information about Oozaru. "Oh, I didn't remember anything when I went ape, yeah Fhasa, it's kinda like waking up from a dream, I thought only elephants didn't forget, Bardock remembers everything!" Also, he makes it look like Bardock didn't know his son had been born that day and they then have the Saiya-jins say nasty things about Freeza when they actually were talking about how grateful they should be to Freeza for putting them to work so much. And to top it off they have the tall Saiya-jin talk when originally he only grunted, made one scream and made chewing sounds when eating. In addition to this the voice for him is very unoriginal and is completely uninspired. In fact, it's the exact same one used for Master Roshi's turtle (although he did change his voice a great deal for the one scream he did--didn't sound like the turtle at all).

Next Funimation sets a new record for giving characters imaginary abilities. After the "head Kanassa-jin (looks like I was wrong about him in my movie 4 review. But, that's what I get for believing I could trust anything that appears in a Funimation script)" appears he then says "I wish you baboons could read minds so you could have heard the thoughts of my troops as you slaughtered them!" Not only did he originally not say anything, thus meaning that he got turned into a ventriloquist, but he's NOT a general and he and other Kannasa-jin can NOT read minds but only see the future. Two made-up abilities plus 2 gaping plot holes all in one single line of dialogue--not bad Funi! Also, the Kanassa-jin fighter did not talk about "transmuting" Toma's energy "into a more tolerable form." Even more strange than these changes is the fact that they cut out the dialogue of Bardock's fellow fighters desperately talking to him after he collapsed in an effort to wake him up. So Funi actually has SOME appreciation for silence. Too bad they had to sacrifice real dialogue to make room for that silence.

After this we're introduced to Prince Vegeta (interesting note--the English subtitled identifies the building he's in as the "Elite Training Center" when originally it's not identified at all). First off, except for when the last Saibaiman hits the ground and you hear rock and gravel, the sound effects are good (and the music, for once, doesn't drown out the effects). They also cut out the Saibaiman's screeching. And a couple of plot holes--in the dub the Saibaimen fail to be identified as being strength-enhanced, Vegeta didn't act so bratty, and the control desk guy did not say "Holy rings of Korbeesha, did you see that!" "Open up you fool, yes sir" was originally just Vegeta asking him to open the door (not to mention that Funi has the 2nd guy at the control desk speak when he originally said nothing. This guy sounds a lot like Yamcha, who is another one of the characters voice director and auditioner Chris Sabat voices. Wow, Sabat must be very talented if he keeps deciding to cast himself ^_^).

Also, Vegeta originally did not identify Nappa by name. Speaking of which, it's blatantly obvious that Chris Sabat is also voicing Nappa (this has also been admitted to by Funi). The voice he gives Nappa is NOTHING like the Ocean dub voice whose voices Funi actors pride themselves on being able to impersonate well. In fact, the voice is little more than a high-pitched version of Chris Sabat's Piccolo voice. I just hope this movie is the last place where we ever get to hear "high-pitched Piccolo" Nappa because it'd be a damn shame if this voice made it to the Saiya-jin saga of the first 66 Japanese episodes that Funi is going to try to redo.

The next scene is where Prince Vegeta talks about wanting an assignment. Originally he complained that he couldn't get stronger just by staying on Planet Vegeta, but in the dub they have him complain about being bored and they also have him fuss about Freeza (in the sub, only Bardock and Toma ever say anything bad about Freeza during this movie). He originally wanted to ask Freeza for another one of his planets slated for conquering.

(sub dialogue)

Nappa- "Again?"
Vegeta- "You'd rather I didn't?"
Nappa- "Of course not!"

(dub dialogue)

Vegeta- "Man, Freeza! The day will soon be here we won't take anymore orders from him! You watch!
Nappa- "Huh? You think so?"
Vegeta- "I know so!
Nappa- "Huh, huh, I'd love that!" (Note--the English subtitles failed to capture the..."Huh, huh." Good Kami, can't Funi at least subtitle their beloved dubbed version right?)

Another scene, another plot change. Only this one is an extremely important one--this is the scene where we discover why Freeza decided to destroy Planet Vegeta and conduct genocide against almost all of the Saiya-jins. I'd expect Funimation not to toss out the real script on this on and make-up "cooler stuff". However, the dub talks about Bardock and some low-level soldiers going ape on a full-moon and about how tough it is to beat Saiyans in small groups when they fight under the full-moon. It also talks about how the Saiyans are "quickly becoming" their "best fighters" (even better than their "elites"--Freeza's men are never identified as "elites" and besides that the Ginyu Force are supposed to be his elites--the word "elites" isn't even in the original script) and has Zarbon warn of the danger of Bardock and Prince Vegeta teaming up. The real version talks about how some unnamed low-level SJ's took over Kanassa. Freeza and Zarbon talk about how strong Prince Vegeta is and how effective the Saiya-jins are in small groups. Freeza agrees with Zarbon that the Saiya-jins could eventually become a problem. Prince Vegeta then marches in and announces that he's going to pay his respects to Freeza before clearing his assigned planet. The dub has Prince Vegeta fuss and say "this is lame, I need an assignment" and then has Freeza decide to have Zarbon give him "the toughest assignment."

The next scene is where "Planthor" and "Jack Off" ("Come here, Jack Off"--haha, you missed one this time Fukunaga!) discuss Bardock's injuries. In the original they talk about how amazing it is that he recovered in just a few days and how his power level is very close to 10,000. The dub has them talk about how his power level is "close to King Vegeta's." Sigh, yet another major plot change. King Vegeta's not even mentioned in this movie. If I'd hazard a guess I'd say that when Vegeta arrives on Earth with Nappa his power level is slightly above what King Vegeta's was, but this is just my opinion.

Anyway, after this "Torah" (who is really Toma--his name was originally a vegetable name pun, like all SJ names, but Funi opted for a "Bible pun name" instead probably to placate the soccer moms' hatred for all things Dragon Ball) leaves planet Vegeta for Planet Meat (misspelled as "Planet Meet" throughout the English subtitles, despite being spelled correctly in the scene selection menu).

Now we go back to Bardock who is having visions of his son growing up and planet Vegeta exploding. Not much here, just more added "silence bad, talking good" Funi dialogue.

Bardock- "Oh no, what is this--a planet exploding? Is it Vegeta? No, haha, it is not. Wait, no, my son hears it to, that must be why he's crying? Bible man, what do you have to do with my son? What..... no.... no..... ARRRRRRRRRGH!"

"Jack off"- "Planthor! Get him out of there! Something serious is going on!" Not too many more dumb changes except for, "No I'm not very smart, I think you are, how could you take on the assignments you do and survive, I know how to fight that's all."

Next we see Bardock encountering his son Kakarroto. In the dub Bardock again says "you see it too" as if baby Goku actually has gotten psychic powers as well or is aware that Planet Vegeta is about to explode. Also, they add yet more music where there was none (or replace the original with louder music) and they don't bother to include the sound effects for the nursery room that Goku's in. To top it off, dubbed Bardock calls Goku's power level "only an average power level" when the real power level is actually given as 2 and is supposed to be an extremely low power level.

Now we go to Dodoria speaking to Toma. Dubbed Dodoria tells him "you Saiyans are be getting too strong. Freeza's getting scared of you." The real Dodoria simply told him that the Saiya-jins had fallen out of favor with Freeza. Another made-up line as Bardock says "I guess I taught those guys something after all" (the sub doesn't say who taught the rest of his team to fight or how they learned to fight). Then they mess up "Torah's" ending speech as he tells Bardock that "Freeza's afraid of us, he's scared because we're becoming too strong, he's afraid of you Bardock, you're becoming too powerful." They also make it so that his final line of dialogue is left incomplete.

(dub dialogue)
"Torah"- "Good luck, old friend. I'm sorry... that I can't..."

(subbed dialogue)
Toma- "Let him know... how strong... the Saiya-jins... really... are..."

Anyway, the fight after this is really well done. The rock/techno beat for this fight actually fits in pretty well (which most songs in the dub of this do not), the sound effects are good and there aren't any really bad lines except for the enemies there being "Freeza's elites." However, the music again takes precedence over the sound effects and it plays too loud for the viewer to really hear and appreciate them like they should be able to. Next comes the face-off between Dodoria and Bardock. Not much here except for Dodoria turning into a "ventriloquist" and also cracking an okay joke. It should also be noted that Dodoria and none of the villains in the original version of this movie refer to any of the Saiya-jins by name, except for Prince Vegeta.

After Dodoria leaves we see him on Freeza's ship. In the dub, after learning that he did not finish Bardock, he cowers in fear of Freeza and begs him for his forgiveness. Freeza then becomes outraged and screams at him. In the original version Dodoria says that what he did was unnacceptable of him and he was then politely interrupted by Freeza who tells him it's okay since that Saiya-jin is apparently also traveling to Planet Vegeta.

Not too much later when we see Goku about to shipped to Earth, just a crack about "E-Arf?" that I thought was kinda funny (though they should have mentioned that it was in sector FX-50). However, they continue to perpuate the "I can read people's minds with my power" myth as they have Bardock temporarily go "inside Freeza's mind."

Next thing they mess up are the sound effects for when Bardock falls down the flight of stairs. Their effects for Bardock falling down the flight of stairs aren't as good, but no biggey. However, the people who did the dubbed version got lazy and didn't bother to include Bardock's "blood dripping" sound effects which were pretty cool. And we also have yet another sequence where they make dubbed Bardock speak when he doesn't even say anything. In fact, this time they even have Bardock have a conversation with the long-dead Kanassa-jin who originally gave him that special power. After this we go to the scene where Bardock enters the Saiya-jin pub and tries to rally up some fighters to help him take down Freeza. Some made-up dialogue between the guy Saiya-jin putting the mack-on on a girl Saiya-jin ("So whattaya say?" "Hah, you dog!"--she sounds a lot like Fhasa) but not too many complaints here, it's just that one of the Saiya-jins speaking sounds a lot like Yamcha who, as you know, is also voiced by Chris Sabat. Also, it's interesting to note that this is the first time you ever hear "Hercule's" voice or at least one really similar to it. No complaints about that at all though, this came out long before the Cell Games plus it's only one line of dialogue anyway.

After this, however, comes the worst script of all in the movie. It occurs during a vision Bardock has of him being on Planet Namek.

Goku- "Bardock!"
Bardock- "Who is it? Show yourself! Come out! I know you're there!"
Goku- "Bardock!"
Bardock- "Huh?"

(silence.)

Goku- "You know who I am? Don't you Bardock?" (subtitlers messed up on this line and put a ? after the "you")
Bardock- "Yes! You're my son!"

(Bardock reaches out for Goku.)

Goku- "It's not too late Father. To be different...than him."

(closeup of Freeza who then laughs malevolently.)

There was no dialogue originally here except for Bardock calling out his son's name but that's not my real complaint. At first this seems like a touching scene but, well...you'll see in a bit.

Now for the final battle of the movie...surprisingly, ALL the sound effects were well-captured. However, their volume was greatly reduced along with the volume of all the voices to...make room so that Funi could crank up the rock/techno music. In fact, I only noticed how good the sound effects were because I went out of my way to pay attention to em. Funi also has more script changes. In the original when Freeza asks Zarbon to open up the ship for him Zarbon mentions that their men are out there. After realizing how furious Freeza is he quickly opens up the hatch. Zarbon here is obviously familiar with what Freeza's about to do and is expressing concern about them. But in the dub...

Zarbon- "Hmm? You want to leave the ship?"
Freeza- "Are you questioning MY ORDERS?!"
Zarbon- "No Lord Freeza, right away sire!"
(Freeza grunts a great deal)

And it goes on. In the original Bardock talks about changing the future of his home planet, his son and his own future before attacking Freeza. But in the dub...

Bardock- "No way! You've lived long enough! Actually, it's been too long for my taste! Freeza, listen up...we quit! All of us! Got it! We don't work for you! We're free! You can find someone else to do your dirty work! Oh, yes! There is one last thing! This is for all the people that we killed in your name! I wish we were never foolish enough to obey you! Here... HAVE IT!"

(later...)

"Kakarot! My son! Thank you for helping me! You were right! It wasn't too late! I only wish I would have held you in my arms when I had the chance! Goodbye, my Son!"

Oh well, at least Goku "kind of" got a little tribute for his family name (from the people who subtitled this--"son was spelled with a capital S) that Funi has never bothered to include in any dubs. For that last paragraph the real line was...

"Kakarroto, carry out my will! You will avenge the Saiya-jins, and our planet Vegeta!"

Now do you see what the problem is with all of Funi's added dialogue for Bardock? It gives off the false impression that Bardock "changed" and became a good guy during the last few minutes of his life. The real Bardock had no sympathy for anyone he murdered and he lived as a villain and died as one. He never made it to Heaven but was instead undoubtedly sent to Hell by King Yema. Why oh why, Funimation, must you insist on changing the script all the time? Doing this didn't even "Americanize" it or make it remotely "cooler." All it did was ruin the story and give out lies to anyone who watched only the dubbed version of this. I myself was one of those who had seen the dubbed version of this first. Once again, thanks for nothing, jerks.

Ah, but they're not done yet. Only only last really important change they made--the guy calling Prince Vegeta was originally Nappa. In the dub it's a random soldier of Freeza who also sends out "sympathies" from Freeza (and the subtitles of this version fail to capture the first sentence that he says to Freeza). Then again, maybe they just didn't want to have to reuse "high-pitched Piccolo" Nappa's voice. After this we see grandfather Gohan and baby Goku meet. There's a pretty good song here but the sound effects for baby Goku kicking grandfather Gohan fail to be captured. Also, no reference to the curtain rising for the grand story that is Dragon Ball, probably because at that time Funi had no plans on going back to Dragon Ball. The credits then come on (the song here is also pretty good--it does make the ending seem more optimistic than it was supposed to be, but it goes well with the action) and Funi finds time to make one last cut from their so-called "uncut" English version. In the subbed version, this shot takes up a quarter of the screen and then expands to take up the full screen. But in the dub they never let it expand to take up the full screen and they simply skip ahead to the rest of the credits.

Also, not all of the Japanese cast who did this movie are credited and the 2nd most important of them all, director Daisuke Nishio, is the last person they acknowledge. You'd think Fukunaga would be grateful enough to include the the names of the all the Japanese in the dubbed credits, or at least tolerate Mr. Simmons (and any of the unnamed translators working for Funi) giving props to all the guys that really made this giant cash-cow for him but...I guess not.

The Cartoon Network Airing

 Well, well well.... long time no see. Anyway, the edited version of it (or rather, an EXTRA-edited version of it: FUNimation was too cheap to pay "royalties" to play certain songs on the air, sheesh, talk about being hypocritical) aired on 9/05/2003. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see it (my tape acted screwy) but a guy named Vekou did and he's reviewed it. So anyway, hope you like Vekou's review!


Review by Vekou

Before I begin... I just would like to mention how much I love this TV special. It is my favorite part of the Dragonball Z series. The emotion and the impact of this special is unmatched in any other part of the franchise. Not only does this set up the Freeza saga, it sets up the entire Dragonball story in general. I can never get tired watching this, and the ending causes me to cry every time (in Japanese).

Herein lies the problem: The English dub of this special is unforgivably bad. The voice acting is fine, but the script was garbled and the music choice killed all emotion in some of the scenes. I'm not saying the music was bad... some of it was quite good (Saliva, Sum 41, American Hi-Fi, etc.) but it was terribly out of place. Replacing Kageyama Hironobu and Kuko's beautiful, tear-jerking "Hikari no Tabi" with some upbeat punk music is absolutely ridiculous. As long as I remain a fan of anime, I can never forgive what FUNimation did to this special, as far as music goes.

I could write pages on this subject, but that's not what I'm here to do. So without any further adieu, here is my edit list for the first Dragonball Z TV Special. Enjoy.


Not An Edit: Japanese title card ("Dragon Ball Z Special"), OP left in.

1. Slow pan up baby Goku's nude body replaced with shot of him crying.

2. Pan of Kanassa-jin's corpses cut.

3. Kanass soldiers' "Take heart, faithful Kanass! This is our duty! We have to see it through to the end!" cut.

4. Blood pouring out of Shugesh's scar after he gets shot by a Kanass painted over.

5. Shugesh roaring, then stepping on the Kanass cut.

6. Another shot of Kanass corpses cut.

7. Torah's "That was a heck of a party, wasn't it?" cut.

8. Fasha's "if you say so... I don't remember any of it" cut.

9. Torah's "You're a typical ape, Fasha" cut.

10. Quick shot of Shugesh rubbing his scar with his middle finger cut.

11. Pan through the Saiyan nursery slowed so that it never shows Goku.

12. Pan up Goku's body replaced with still of his face.

13. In Bardock's dream, shot of Torah caked in blood replaced with shot of his face being wiped off (funny, because they cut that actual scene later on).

14. Another pan up Goku's body replaced with a shot of him crying.

15. Blood removed from Borgos's face after he dies.

16. Majority of blood removed from Torah's face throughout the rest of the special (in the Japanese version, he is literally dripping in blood).

17. Bardock surveying the planet Meet, looking at Meet-jin corpses as he steps out of his spacepod cut.

18. Bardock's "Looks like they plowed right through this one... I guess I taught those knuckleheads something about fighting after all" cut.

19. Bardock's "Shugesh! Fasha! Borgos! What happened?!" as he surveys the battlefield cut.

20. Bardock's "Oh my gosh!" cut.

21. Two shots of Torah's blood-soaked face replaced with clean shots of him facing the opposite direction.

22. Bardock looking at his hand and then taking the bandana off Torah's arm cut.

23. Bardock wiping Torah's face clean cut (this was a very emotional scene...).

24. Shot of Bardock clenching the bandana in his hand as it slowly turns blood-red cut.

25. Shot of Shugesh's face cut.

26. Bardock's soliloquy: "So this is what it's come to... This is how we're rewarded for our hard work? We tried so hard to please Freeza... So they thought we were getting too strong?! Shugesh... I promise I'll get them for this, Shugesh... They've taken our loyalty... and paid us back in our own blood!" cut.

27. Saliva's "Superstar" replaced with Faulconer music.

28. Shot of green Freeza's elite vomiting blood after red Freeza's elite punches through his back cut.

30. Saiyan assistant's "Oh my gosh! Take a look at this, would you? They really messed him up good this time!" cut.

31. Shot of the inside of Bardock's capsule covered in blood cut.

32. Infamous shot of baby Goku in the tub from the first episode of DBZ cut.

33. Shot of blood dripping off of Bardock's face and onto his fist.

34. Bardock's "NO!!" as blood drips off his face onto the ground cut.

35. Saiyan's "He got his butt kicked, that's what!" changed to "He got messed up, that's what!"

36. Caviar's "The Good Times Are Over" replaced with Faulconer's "Android 16 theme" (YES! This fits the scene so much better).

37. Shot of Vegeta surrounded by corpses replaced with still of his face.

38. Officer's "Would you like to send a reply, sir?" cut.

39. Vegeta's "No, no reply" cut.

40. Officer's "Very well, sir. Over and out" cut.

41. Shot of nude Goku crying on the ground cut.

42. Gohan's dialogue moved around to accommodate the above cut. However, none of his lines are removed.

43. Sum 41's "Makes no Difference" and American Hi-Fi's "A Bigger Mood" replaced with Faulconer music.

44. Shot of Nappa covered in blood during the credits replaced with another, less bloody shot of him.


Well, that's it. Before I close this, I'd like to give my two cents on edit #43. The music used in the edited version fits the scene SO much better than the punk-rock mis-mash used in the uncut version. From now on, when I watch the English version of this special, I will watch my edited CN tape for this reason only. This Faulconer music ends the special on a sad, somewhat melancholy note, which is what was intended in the Japanese version. Obviously, it's no "Hikari no Tabi," but it's a hell of a lot more fitting than Sum 41.

I hope you enjoyed this special. Come back next week when I take on "The History of Trunks". (end of Vekou's review)



Special notes--

  • In the dub of episode 24 (Japanese episode 32) Vegeta tells Goku that "your father was only an average warrior but he was a great scientist! He invented this next technique I used!" or whatever. And in English episode 77 (Japanese episode 92) during a flashback you see Bardock saying, "C'mon men, we don't need to be afraid of him! If we stick together we can beat him!" Funi then has the "scientist" Bardock shoot Freeza with a large white ball which (if you had never seen the movie of this before, which most everyone who saw this episode had not) makes it look like he tossed out a "moon ball" to "make his men go ape" and that Freeza saved himself by destroying the "moon ball." There are some other changes too.
    http://dbzuncensored.dbzoa.net/series/ep092.html

  • Uncut? Hah! The DVD and VHS covers both lie. If you have the VHS or even the DVD of this (you might wanna keep the DVD since it has the original Japanese version on it), plus a receipt then you should go back to whatever store you got this from and demand an immediate refund due to false advertising. If they refuse then you should protest by calling/mailing/e-mailing the company that owns the store (if it's part of a wider store chain) or the actual store itself. Also, if someone actually sued Funi over this (and got an intelligent judge to judge the case) then that someone might be able to get the court to give Funi an injuncture ordering them to stop spreading false lies on their products (or at least this one product). Even if someone lost this case then they could try appealing to as many higher courts as allowable. But I don't think they'd lose, the case against Funi for false advertising on their Bardock VHS and DVD products is simply far too strong.

    If you'd like to let Funimation and their distributors know about this deception and what you think about it then here a couple of places you can e-mail.

    1. http://www.funimationcentral.com/feedback/property_faq.cfm?abbreviation=dbz&full_name=Dragonball%20Z (note--Funi doesn't usually look at their "bad" e-mail since they're always being bombarded with so much so you might wanna go with a different topic name)

    2. http://www.bestbuy.com/infoCenter/ContactUs/index.asp?b=0 (Just one of the many stores and chains that is unknowingly selling falsely advertised merchandise.)