The Subtitled Version
Well, where do I start? It's of course subbed by Steve Simmons, but there's a lot more to this sub than one otaku might want to know. I'll start with the plusses, the first of which being that (except for two toned-down kuso's) this sub is full force 100% accurate. But that's of course the truth when considering who subbed this special; Simmons, you're the man. Anyway, the kanji on Senior Goku's tomb is translated into a subtitle, which is a nice treat for those of us who can't read Japanese. Anyway, as English SSJ4 Goku would say, that's only the tip of the iceburg. Wanna know why? Oh it's only because...FUNI INCLUDED THE SPECIAL IN STEREO AND BOOTED OUT THAT RETARDED MONO QUALITY, HELL YEAH. Now that alone is something we fans have been waiting for eternity for and we finally get it. I was freaking ecstatic when I read in the language menu "Japanese Stereo," I think I was shedding a tear. We at last get to hear the original VA's in perhaps (next to 5.1) the best sound quality that FUNi could have offered.
Those were the positives, now for the unfortunate negatives. Well, as I mentioned before, two kuso's were toned down quite drastically (I mean they didn't even put another curse word there like damn, crap, or even darnit). Anyway, onto something else more pressing. It's de-ja-vu all over again. That's right folks, every single eyecatcher is cut in this special. FUNi even had the nerve to (once again) cut the opening T.V. special blip, and even the opening theme song was cut. I don't why the F*** this happened. I mean shouldn't the eyecatchers be there (since they were included in the actual GT episodes)? And why the hell would the theme song be cut? Shoot, it was shown for the "History of Trunks" DVD and (from what I've read up on) in the Bardock Special as well. As far as the opening blip goes, that really doesn't concern me as long as Cartoon Network can somehow sneak it into their airing like they did with the Bardock Special, but for cutting the opening theme song and all of the eyecatchers on an uncut duel-language DVD (especially for a GT product), there is just no friggin excuse on this green Earth. This above anything pissed me off because this is supposed to be a 100% uncut Japanese sub, but apparently ol' FUNi thinks that the eyecatchers and GT theme (which is available on every single other GT DVD) must be sexually offending or something, because there is no excuse for this, no excuse. Anyway, the ending kanji credits were of course not translated (not even in another angle) here so that's just one more thing FUNi decided not to carry through with for us fans.
Well, other than all of those very nasty negatives, I'd have to say that this sub is perfectly done, especially with the Stereo quality.
DVD Features
First off, I'll of course start with the packaging. For a product that never went to Japanese markets, this special has a damn well done cover with SSJ Goku Jr, Lord Yao, and Mamba. Turning the case over, we get three screen-caps, those being Senior Goku talking to Goku Jr, Lord Yao attacking Goku Jr, and Goku Jr. holding the 4-Star ball. All this is laid out on a backround newly animated image of Mamba (kind of sloppily drawn actually). We also get a PG rating, list of extras, told about it containing animated violence and brief nudity, and given small list of production companies etc. Anyway, opening the DVD we get a pamphlet insert done really well explaining almost all of FUNi's releases and with a list of release dates on the back. The disk looks all right with SSJ Goku Jr, the GT logo, and the special's title on it as well.
Now, when inserting the DVD we get the FBI warning, the stupid-sounding FUNi logo, and an unnecessary (but short and sweet) Yu Yu Hakusho intro commercial. Afterwards, the DVD goes on to the main menu which is of course a standard GT menu, with no animation and the GT dub music (courtesy of Chris Sabat) droning to the viewing of a still image of SSJ Goku Jr. The list of DVD features are as follows: Play All, Scene Selection, Language, and Extras. Well, the Play All option is self-explanatory whilst the Scene Selection gives you nine chapters along with the opening and closing. The Language menu gives you a choice between 5.1 English Surround Sound, English Stereo, Japanese Stereo, and also the option if you want subtitles or not.
Last but damn sure not least is the Extras menu and once again, FUNi gives us a surprise and includes real extras in this DVD. You get (in the Language menu) 5.1 Surround Sound English, (in the Extras menu) The Director's Choice 10 Craziest Fighting Techniques, Profiles, and Trailers. Let me start with perhaps the only good extra in this menu, the director's choice (Christopher Bevins) for the 10 craziest fighting techniques and how great is this, we get sneak peaks into the redub of the Saiyajin and Namek sagas from DBZ, a scene of the GT skipped episodes, and an all-too-cool sneak peak into DBZ movie 12. However it's all in English (from their own uncut versions though) with no subtitles. At number 10 we get the Saibaimen's head-splitting acid attack, at 9 is Guldo's timefreeze, at 8 is Kuririn's flashing of Bulma from the Baba saga when Yamucha defeated Seethru, at 7 is Super Buu's Human Extinction attack, at 6 is the Para Para Brothers's Para Para boogie, at 5 is Cell's absorption technique, at 4 is SS2 Gotenks's Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, at 3 is Dabura's spit stoned technique, at 2 is Bacterian's Smelly Finger, and finally at 1 is Janemba's Trans-Dimensinal Rift. This extra is reasonably long and sweet as hell and except for number 4, all of the clips are shown unedited from each's own uncut version. Next we get some pretty okay profiles (each with its own screen-cap of its character) on Pan, Goku Jr, Puck, (senior) Goku, Mamba, and Lord Yao. Finally we come to the good ol' Funi Trailers with those being Dragonball Z's Cell Games Saga DVD Starter Box Set, Yu-Gi-Oh's uncut DVD's (The Shadow Games and The Insector Combo), Tench Muyo GXP's The Great Oalumo, and Jakks Action Figures, which are WWE wrestling figures.
The Dubbed Version
Well, here we go to the dubbed version. First off, it obviously doesn't have the opening T.V. special blip, the theme song is of course cut, and all the eyecatchers suffer the same fate. But surprising, the dub is actually quite well dubbed and its script was shockingly written by (brace yourself) Christopher Neel. Even if the writer for this special is quite possibly the worst script writer in the Dragonball Trilogy's history, he does quite a damn good job on this script. At the start, the Narrator's comments weren't exactly the same, but all this is made up for in the special. I truly came close to shedding tears when watching this dub and most definitely because of Stephanie Nadolny's Goku Jr, the character voice, dialogue, and emotions are very much like that of Masako's herself and that's no joke. Steph also put in that funny humorous scared voice when little Goku gets himself stuck in a tree and in other situations. Other voices that were very good were Adrian Cook's Puck, Amber Cotton's Mamba, Elise Baughman's Grandma Pan, and of course (even if it is a short appearance) Sean Schemmel's Adult/Senior Goku. I don't know why but this paticular time when hearing him speak to Goku Jr, it just felt natural when he was speaking. He wasn't trying to overact or be too super-heroish, he just gave a very good feel to the character that is Son Goku. I think one of the reasons I like the voices in this special is because of how good the script is. There are in fact some direct translations quite often, while some other parts of dialogue are modified to fit the character's mouth flapping (which is understandable). At one point of the special, I thought I went crazy but I indeed heard it, a line and word I don't think has ever been used in FUNi's dub of the Dragonball Trilogy (except once by Dende in the Freeza Saga). It was Puck's blond henchboy referring to Goku Jr. "Oh no look out, I think you pissed him off." Damn was I surprised to hear that, something that will most definitely be cut when the special comes to CN.
By the way, the dub also included a very special guest VA, wanna guess who it is? That's right, straight from "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" comes the voice of the famous Chewbacca, Peter Mayhew. When I first found out about this, I just knew I had to get this special. I mean look how far FUNi has come in the past 10 years. They actually got someone from possibly the best sci-fi series in American history and his voice was excellent, strangely similar to the Japanese VA in fact. This was a very nice treat from FUNi to the fans.
I think it's time we move on to something everybody without this special might want to know about, the music. Well, surprisingly, except for the opening recap music, it's not too bad and this is a GT product. It most definitely isn't in the same league as the beautiful Japanese score (especially with the original in Stereo), but I must say that it ranks up there as being kind of good. One very very bad downside though, FUNi (or rather Marky Menza) put that excruciating and terribly bad song, "Step into the Grand Tour" in for the ending credits while the original ending is shrunken to the side. Worse than that, the damn music was in its entirety instead of the normal 1-minute version from the episodes. I literally thought I was going to die. Credit-wise though, they at least kept the original ending video with all of its kanji intact, but disrespectfully enough, the only credits relevant to the Japanese version were as follows:
Original Japanese
"Dragon Ball GT"
Based on the original story by
Akira Toriyama
Produced by
Toei Animation CO., LTD. Japan
I just can't believe the utter total lack of respect for the people that brought this wonderfully great special together. Oh and the closest thing in the DVD credits to the Japanese version was it again stating that Steve Simmons was involved in the Japanese translations. This really sucks because with no translated credits in the Japanese version, a person who can't read Japanese is kind of dependant on the English credits. But what do we get? A mention that GT has an original Japanese version (duh), a mention of Akira Toriyama (who of course started the insanely wonderful Trilogy but had absolutely nothing to do with this special, I don't even think he lent a hand in character designs, but I may be wrong about that), and a mention of Toei being in charge of Dragonball GT. That just really bites. However one small thing I forgot to mention, you do get angle selection to view either the English title "A Hero's Legacy" and its English credits, or you can watch either version with the Japanese title and original credits not shrunken.
Dialogue and Plot Changes:
Puck knows of Lord Yao in the dub, but not in the original. Also the fact that they changed the parent bear's gender from female to male must be FUNi trying to tone down the emotions of a mother bear getting beaten nearly to death. This is evident in Goku's thinking. The original has him say "I'm sorry Bear-san" whilst the dub put in "He's giving me the chance to save his cub," but then that may have been an inside joke since, like his ancestor, Goku Jr. may not be able to tell the gender of certain animals.
Goku Jr.'s dialogue is changed a little at first when talking to the Dragonball. Basically instead of "Kami-sama hear my wish, please spare my Grandma Pan who I love so, so much! P-Please spare Puck, who fell into the gorge while trying to save me," it's him trying to talk to Shenron (he actually says his name more times than in the original; the original only had him say the Dragon's name once and it was when he got pissed that he couldn't summon the Dragon) and right away asking for both his Grandma and Puck to be spared, instead of just Pan at first.
Some dialogue changed for Goku is the following: "Well anyhow, you're Son Goku after all" is changed to "Well never mind that, you're my Grandson that's for sure." Also changed was an addition to one of Goku's farewell speeches, that being "Hang in there Son Goku" changed to "Hang in there Grandson, stay pure, that's your armor." Don't know why, but I actually like that addition.
At the end after Goku Jr. and Senior Goku are finished talking, the Narrator's final monologue is replaced with some extra talking by the Gokus through telepathy. It wasn't the same, but Goku's final comments were nearly similar to that of the Narrator's.
Overall Thoughts
Overall, captions weren't included although the English version does get a subtitles option, we get some quite good extras (the sneak peaks of the redub, skipped episodes, and Movie 12) and a guest-starring role from the famous Peter Mayhew. The subbed and dubbed versions are both very good. I do however suggest to everyone planning to buy this special to watch the sub first; that way you can give the dub a fair judgment.
Well, this has certainly been fun but I must now bid farewell. Until we meet again guys.
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