Like with the Bardock Special, this movie was shown for free to Japanese and Spanish audiences because of its powerful relevance to the plot of the anime series. Funimation, however, refused to allow this movie to be shown on tv for free so that fans would have to shell out cash to them to see it. It's kind of funny when you read the VHS and DVD covers of it--nowhere does it say "DBZ TV Special #2" anywhere. It's not even classified as a movie or episode, simply as "The History of Trunks." The artwork on the cover of this isn't very impressive--it pretty much looks like the artist copied a screen shot then drew Trunks and Gohan on top of it. It was also in poor taste for him to put a spoiler picture on the front (Gohan only has one arm) and for the back of the DVD to show the screen shot of Trunks in the rain right after he sees Gohan's deceased body. They should have just had whoever designs the DBZ t-shirts design the movie cover for this.
Another problem with the DVD box is that on the back it says "Not Rated--Contains Some Violence and Brief Nudity--Parental Discretion Advised." There's actually no nudity at all in this film unless you count the 3 animals. Either this was just a lazy mistake or Funimation seriously believes that birds and squirrels should be forced to wear diapers for the sake of young children. The DVD also says that this movie clocks in at precisely 48 minutes--the same thing the Bardock movie says on the back of it's VHS and DVD covers. So basically they just copied the bottom part of the back of the Bardock movie and stuck it on the Trunks Special. It's funny that they'd do that because Funi's always trying to make DBZ look kiddie-friendly and had they labeled this movie correctly then soccer moms wouldn't be reading "Contains Some...Brief Nudity" on the back of this DVD. Man, every time Funi messes up I always hear the theme song of "2 Stupid Dogs" in my head...which happens quite a lot. I sure do miss that show. Speaking of which, it'd probably make for a hilarious episode if they had the 2 dogs go by Funimation Studios, get hired as script writers and then proceed to get tons of praise and promotions. I could see it now...
Little dog- "This original script stinks. We need to make it cooler and more American. I know-- 'Mondo cool!'"
Big dog- "Look, I can see their parachutes. They're okay."
Little dog- "Here's a little going away present!"
Big dog- "Whatever turns you on, big boy."
Little dog- "Pow pow pow pow--ow ow ow ow!"
Big dog- "If I had special powers then I'd have hair on my head."
Gen Fukunaga- "Great job you two! You guys are geniuses! I am promoting you to Chris Sabat's job!"
Little dog- "Yippey!"
Big dog- "Foooooood."
Anyway, like the Bardock Special this one also contains a couple of Funi records itself. For starters it has more pseudo-swearing then any other Funi movie or episode in Funimation's entire history--7 darns and 9 goshes for a grand total of 16 pseudo-swear words (thanks for compiling this info again go out to Grant Mclellan). In addition to that they dance around the 3 mentions of hell in the subbed versions (2 by a reporter and 1 by No. 17) and the two usages of the word "crap." Yes, you heard me right. Apparently Funimation believes that the word "crap" is just too "naughty" for even an uncut version. The "script writer" (more like script butcher) Christopher Neel must really have something for pseudo-swear words because he added even more for the "uncut" version of this movie than he even put in the "uncut" version of the Bardock movie. It's pretty retarded when you think about it--the Androids kill Trunks's father Vegeta and half the world's population but yet, the only vocal bile he can muster for them is "darn darn darn darn darn darn darn you."
Now for what you see when you turn on the DVD--hmm... not any extras except for some commercials and the ol "World of Dragon Ball" that's already on tons of other Funi DVDs. I sure do miss the good ol' days of when Pioneer did the movies...scripts remained intact, the English versions had some cursing, they fully translated "Kami-sama can make it hard sometimes" to "God can make it hard sometimes," hearing-impaired captions plus fun extras like a little quiz, and some Japanese episodes cut out of the dub of Funi's first season. On the other hand, Funi's extras are all really sucky, they have never translated "Kami-sama" to "God" and there are no hearing-impaired captions. It's the last part that really gets to me.
Hearing-impaired people are, unfortunately, often a much-neglected part of society. Now they don't make up a huge customer base but Pioneer thought it'd be really nice to put in captions just for them on their DVDs and I'm sure that many deaf American, Canadian and other English-speaking people were delighted by them. Funimation, which tries to pass itself off as a corporation on the front of its DBZ home page, starts dubbing the movies and they then immediately put an end to that practice. What the hell? Like I said, they're not a huge customer base so I guess "we have more money than we know what to do with but I'm not going to even tell you how much since it's such an obscene amount" Funimation decided it just wasn't worth their oh-so-precious time to continue the practice of having hearing-imparied captions. If that pisses you off as much as it pisses me off (and I really hope it does) then please, take the time to write to Funicorp, this organization for deaf children, and to the American Association of People with Disabilities.
1. http://www.funimationcentral.com/feedback/contact_us.cfm?property=dbz
2. http://www.deafchildren.org/asdc2k/home/home.shtml
3. http://www.aapd-dc.org/docs/feedback.html
Of all their screwed-up DVD problems this is definitely the one they desperately need to fix the most. Lousy rat bastards, discriminating against deaf people to save themselves a few pennies...
Anyway, the DVD's beginning menu shows spoiler scenes with lots of action from most parts of the movie and the Extras section shows off Gohan with just one arm. Plus the music for all parts of the menu sucks. The only really good thing they did was transfer the cover art from the DVD cover to the actual DVD itself very beautifully. And now for the actual dubbed version itself.
We start out with some really lousy "Dark Elf techno" even though the original Japanese version had silence instead of music. Not too much of note except for Vegeta saying "Kakarot...nooo." In the original he said "Kakaro" closed his mouth briefly then said "tto." Vegeta almost always keeps his emotions to himself so it was in really poor taste to have him say that extra "no." They should have just changed it to "K-Kakar....ot..." At the very least their line was kind of funny since it's the closest the Funi dub has ever come to calling Goku by his real Saiyajin name.
Not too many changes after this except for the narrator calling Goku's virus "radical" and saying that "even Krillin was destroyed by the ruthless duo" which makes it sound like he's the strongest of the group. Next changes come when the Androids launch their countdown.
(sub dialogue)
17- "10, 9, 6, 5, 3, 1, 0!"
18- "8, 7, 4, 2, 0!"
(dub dialogue)
17- "9, 7, 5, 3, 1!"
18- "10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1!"
It's also interesting to note that before this 18 refers to the humans running away as "another stampede." Since DBZ's dubbed down in Texas you'll occasionally notice this. In this case it was mild and actually kind of funny but at it's worst it comes out to stuff like, "All right, looks like I'm back in the saddle, what luck! This three-eyed cowboy is going for one last ride!"
In addition to this comes the only non-major character line in this movie that obviously was done by Chris Sabat--when a guy who sounds like Yamucha screams "Go, go, go, go, go, aggh!" (the English subtitles for this failed to capture the "aggh")
After this comes a really mind-numblingly stupid line--just as the Androids (Webster's dictionary defines the word android as "an automaton in human form." 17 and 18 are actually humans whose bodies were mechanically enhanced and strengthened by Dr. Gero. The sub version calls em Artificial Humans. I prefer that term and was calling em Androids so as not to confuse readers who are probably most familiar with em by that term but...since that's a factually incorrect term I'll stick with Artificial Humans from now on) start to blow up most of the city they have a guy tell his daughter, "it's just like watching fireworks, don't worry honey!" Seconds later him and his daughter are blown to smithereens by the "fireworks." Originally he said "Devils! They're Devils!"
Next they have the reporter evade 2 references to the word "hell" and even have him describe the area as "the recently restored art district" when it originally was never given a name. The next really important script change is later when they have Oolong tell Master Roshi, "You can't go off and die! We're just a pig, a cat, and a turtle...we need you!" A fan once wrote to Toriyama regarding what exactly Puar was. He asked whether he was a cat, like he thought, or a mouse, like his friend thought. Toriyama replied that Puar was neither and was actually kind of a combination of the two. Geez, Funimation should really hire people who actually know about DBZ rather then friends and family of their staff, especially if they want to have people make script re-writes without messing up the plot (which, unfortunately, is never a concern to them).
Next we see 18 in the clothing store. In the original she just smiles, and laughs and only says one thing to the store clerk. The dub has him complement her nonstop and beg her to spare his life. After he gets killed...
(sub dialogue)
18- "What, you did him in? This is no good, No. 17! Didn't I tell you to at least leave the clothes?"
17- "Oops. I forgot."
(dub dialogue)
18- "Oh no! You know 17, that made me look bad, like I was lying! That's not fair!"
17- Sorry. That was rude!"
The next part's pretty funny where they have 17 talk about getting "extra points" for running over people, but the script then has a reporter refer to Pepper City as "the largest target of the Androids' hostility" when originally we were never told what their "largest target" was.
After this some changes in the scene with Bulma and Trunks in the hover car. Bulma originally turned the radio off in disgust after hearing about the Artificial Humans' latest destruction but the dub has her switch to a "Bulma-ish" rock song. She fails to mention that Dr. Gero was their creator (which reveals to the audience that this was a widely known fact across the planet) and then says "I'm not going to lose my only son to those mechanical beings."
If you've seen the dub of everything after the Garlic Jr. saga up to the end of the Cell saga then you should be familiar with this enormous gaping plot hole. The Japanese script talks about how 17 and 18 were kidnapped by Gero and experimented on. They ultimately lost their memory and were strengthened greatly. The English script calls them a "mechanical duo" and talks about "pulling the plug" on 17 and turning 18 into "scrap metal." Later Krillin marries "18 the robot" and has a daughter with her named Marron. Despite this, Funimation's site calls the her and her brother "Dr. Gero's greatest creations" and even goes so far as to say that 18 "never stops being evil but she does eventually lighten up a bit." It kind of reminds me of when they had Vegeta call Recoome an "Android" when he really wasn't one. They did this because of the extremely violent fight with Recoome. Showing Vegeta beating up on an "Android" wasn't as big a deal to censors and this was back during the heyday of Funi's censoring and their "next dimension" crap. Maybe this time around Funi didn't want to see "a girl get hurt (18)" or were afraid of 17 and 18's real story. Whatever the reason Funimation still persists with the "17 and 18 are robots" myth.
Also, Funi adds more dialogue for Bulma when Trunks flies away from her. Originally she didn't say as much but instead they have her think to herself "You better come back alive, kid! That's all I can say." Not too many changes except that the dub has 18 say, "Come on! Let's get out of here." instead of, "Let's hurry up and wreck this city." After these lines they destroy the rest of the city.
After this we have yet another pointless plot change as the dub has Trunks beg Gohan to train him. Originally he asked him, "Will you train me even harder?" It doesn't make any sense at all to say he's "never trained before" since he's pretty damned buff at that point. To make it sound "Japanese" and "true to the original script" the script "writer" has Trunks call him his "Master" and has Gohan call Trunks his "pupil." Guess Neel's been doing "research" by watching the Karate Kid movies. Bulma then comes and interrupts the two. God, even when Bulma's a woman in her mid-40's her voice actress still makes her sound like a valley girl. In the original version she didn't know that Trunks was planning on teaming up with Gohan but in the dub she makes it blatantly, blatantly obvious that she knows.
Next there are some more plot holes as the dub has Bulma claim to Gohan that, "I hardly see you anymore" while talking about how "Namek was the best adventure ever." This last made-up line is completely preposterous. She spent almost all of her time complaining while traveling to Namek and when she got there she worried that she might get killed or trapped on Namek forever. She also temporarily switched bodies with an alien frog. To make matters worse it was a male alien frog. If anything Bulma would consider Namek to have been the worst and most frightening experience of her life.
Later when Bulma gives Trunks and Gohan some food they excitedly say, "I humbly accept!" and in the dub they say, "Chew attaaaack!" That was kinda funny, but in a really dumb way.
The training sequence after this has more plot holes. Though "nobody's taught Trunks" he already knows how to fly and power up his ki. To cover up this plot hole dubbed Gohan simply says to himself, "Hey, not bad. I didn't know he was this far along." The dub also makes it look like Gohan didn't help Trunks swim to safety. (It's never really said that Gohan didn't help him but it is strongly implied)
(sub dialogue)
Trunks- (gasps for air)
Gohan- "Here."
Trunks- "Gohan-san, what (the subtitles of this capitalized the W) kind of person was my dad? He died soon after I was born, and I never knew him. Mom doesn't talk about him much, either."
Gohan- "He was a hard man to please, but he was very strong, and proud of who he was."
Trunks- "Really. Mom says the same thing."
(dub dialogue)
Trunks- "First you stand and almost watch me drown and then you offer me a towel?"
Gohan- "Yup."
Trunks- "[Man, so much for the royal treatment.] Gohan--you knew my father pretty well, right?"
Gohan- "Mmhm."
Trunks- "Well, my Mom doesn't say much about him. I can't remember him when I was a baby. Do you think you could tell me a little about what he was like?"
Gohan- "He was rough, extremely powerful (pauses for a bit), arrogant, and very proud!
Trunks- "Oh, I see. That's about what mom says about him."
They next scene they change around is when you see Chi-Chi with her dad. In the sub of DBZ they talk with a little bit of country slang and Chi-Chi even sounds kind of like a gangster with the way she says "ain't." The only real big difference the dub does is have them sound like English teachers, which Funi also does in all the other episodes and movies.
The training sequence after this is done pretty dumbly. The dub has Gohan try to pump up Trunks into becoming a Super Saiyajin by saying something about "the children." It's not bad here but the dub reallys hams things up in the training sequence after this. I'm pretty much just including this to show how they danced around Trunks cursing.
(sub dialogue)
Gohan- "Get angry! You must become more angry! Anger will make you a Super Saiyajin!"
(Trunks tries to become a Super Saiyajin but fails and collapses.)
Trunks- "SHOOT!" (shoot? C'mon, "shit" would go better as a translation for "kuso" here. I guess that's probably what Simmons went with and Funi decided to censor it.)
Gohan- "[It's quite possible he might become an even greater warrior than I am. He could even win against the Artificial Humans!]"
(dub dialogue)
Gohan- "Trunks, remember the children, remember how you felt that day!"
(Trunks tries to become a Super Saiyajin but fails and collapses.)
Trunks- "Darn!"
Gohan- "[He almost had it. Incredible. He's giving it everything he has.]"
The scene after this takes place at the last open amusement park on the world. A random girl comments that, "I bet this is the only amusement park still doing business these days." A boy then says, "Our city still has a military presence, so the Artificial Humans won't attack us." The dub doesn't mention that and instead calls the place "Wonder World" and adds in a girl on the intercom telling people about a special ride. They also replace the dialogue with a boy talking to his dad and they call the military presence the "town militia."
Hmm...more Texas slang as 18 says, "Take a steed, cowboy." Anyway, when Gohan arrives Funi again feels compelled to have the characters crack as many lame jokes as humanly possible.
(sub dialogue)
17- "What, you guys again?"
18- "And we were in such a good mood, too. No. 17, take care of them quickly."
17- "All right."
(dub dialogue)
18- "Oh look, it's blondie! Except his hair is black today!"
17- "Of course, he's copying me!"
Later, when Gohan makes 17 "the robot's" mouth bleed red blood with a right fist to his left cheek, the tide of combat starts to turn. Then 18 decides to intervene as she attacks him from the side.
(sub dialogue)
17- "Don't interfere, No. 18!"
18- "Don't cry sour grapes. You almost had it there. Let's take care of these guys so we can play!"
(dub dialogue)
17- "Man, where'd that come from?"
18- "He's dangerous today. Something got him fired up. Let's work together."
Argh, this just goes on and on. He wasn't "fired up" he was just stronger than 17 by himself was. Well, Trunks then calls 18, the person who killed his father, a "witch" and before 18 blasts the area she talks about how, "When we say we need to do something we should do it!" as if keeping her word's an extremely integral thing to her. After the Artificial Humans leave we see that Gohan has lost his left arm and then Funi cranks up some rap music for the 2nd time ever in DBZ history (the first time was when 18 was in the clothing store, but fortunately they only included the music and no lyrics). When Gohan sees that he only has one senzu left he says...
Gohan- "Kinda like my arm, only 1 left." (drags himself towards Trunks)
Gohan- "[Now Gohan, what would your father do?] Hey little bro, you did great. (All he did was knee 18 and annoy her.) Here, swallow it Trunks. You've got to live."
In the sub Gohan had great difficulty speaking and he said very little (there was also absolute silence except for the wind being heard in the background, as opposed to rap music). He gave Trunks the senzu because, "you're...our last hope." After this Funi adds some dialogue with Bulma talking about her time machine which was originally just silence. Even worse is the dialogue they add of Bulma doing something to Gohan which wasn't even there in the original.
Bulma- "Now Gohan, this is going to hurt. Hold still."
Gohan- "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!"
She even talks like an incompassionate bitch when she does that! Sheesh, do they really hate silence that much that they even have to make her pick on Gohan? Either that or they're trying to turn Gohan into a pirate. The scene after is also especially horribly done.
(dub dialogue)
Bulma- "Isn't it a straaange coincidence that you happen to return Gohan when he was on his way to fight the Androids at Suuper World?"
Trunks- "Life's funny that way sometimes." [Just earlier he told her, "to be blunt...we got beat up!"]
Bulma- "I know what you're up to! I wasn't born yesterday you know! Why is it that children think that their parents are soooo ssstupid?"
Gohan- "Ugh..."
Bulma- "Huh? The doctor said he'd be out for a week!"
Gohan- "Where are those...darn...Androids?!"
(sub dialogue)
Man- "It's alright, he's no longer in any mortal danger."
Bulma- "Your mom knew all about what you were doing. About how you and Gohan-kun were fighting together."
Trunks- "I'm sorry Mom."
Bulma- "If only Son-kun were alive...Pretty soon, the time machine will be finished. Once it's done, you'll be able to get inside it, and it will be able to take you back to when Son-kun was still alive..."
(Gohan growls in agony)
Gohan- "Damn...you...Artificial Humans!"
The scene after this is the hammed-up "pump you up" training session I talked about earlier.
(dub dialogue)
Gohan- "Let go! You're not what you think! The Androids, they're killers Trunks! They'll destroy me, your mother, YOU! Everything you hold sacred is no more than a pile of trash to them! Don't be ashamed of your anger! Killing innocent children is WRONG! It's okay to hurt-- it's okay to feel the rage! Harness it! Use it as a tool! You're doing it, don't be afraid! LET IT GO, LET IT ALLLL GOOO!"
Trunks- "Man! I can't believe myself! What a joke."
Gohan- "Hey, relax! Let's forget about becoming a Super Saiyan for a while."
Trunks- "What am I doing? You're my Master, Gohan. You can tell me!! Why can't I do it?"
Gohan- "You can!"
Trunks- "Huh?"
Gohan- "Sure, Trunks! You just need to find the right motivation, that's all. Yeah, for me it's simple! All I have to do is think of how the Androids killed Piccolo and Krillin. Then, I feel a horrible hurt and then, the pain from that turns into rage. It's maddening! I don't ever want it to happen again. And then, suddenly, the dam breaks!"
(sub dialogue)
Gohan- "Get angry! You've got to get angrier!"
Trunks- "[Damn! While we're here doing this, who knows what they're up to?]"
(Trunks collapses)
Trunks- "Crap! Why can't I become a Super Saiyajin?!"
Gohan- "Just a little further, Trunks. It was awfully hard for me, too. Becoming a Super Saiyajin is a matter of anger. I thought about how Piccolo-san and Kuririn-san and everyone else were killed by the Artificial Humans and as I dwelt on that, it finally happened, and I became a Super Saiyajin! You've got Vegeta-san's blood flowing through you. You'll be a Super Saiyajin before long. That's for sure!"
Just before the big fight with Gohan and the two Artificial Humans the dub adds some more plot changes. Originally the dub has 18 complaining that there are hardly any humans left while 17 talks about wanting to carefully exterminate all of them. Just before Gohan first attacks, 18 tries to talk him into blowing up the whole city and 17 comments that "that might be fun too..." The dub has 18 talk about how all the humans there are dead and complains about 17 "just shooting buildings." Also, yet another major plot change. They change the real reason why 17 and 18 wanted to kill Gohan.
(sub dialogue)
18- "No. 17, you look hilarious!"
17- "I like these clothes...When they get ragged, it annoys me. They're not as sturdy as our bodies you understand. I've only got 4 more sets like this. But never mind that, Son Gohan. You really are still alive.
18- "We won't let you go this time. We're going to fight you at full power and kill you."
Gohan- "I am not going to die! Even if this body is destroyed...there will be another who will arise and carry out my last wish..."
18- "Hmph! Heh."
Gohan- "And he will defeat you Artificial Humans!"
(the rest of the battle is silence.)
(dub dialogue)
17- "You trashed my favorite shirt!...You can be our tie-breaker."
18- "1st one to kill him wins, it's sudden death, no ties, go."
Gohan- "You know you can't win. You can't destroy what I really am. Even if you managed to destroy this body someone even stronger would surface to take my place."
Yes. If you strike down Gohan now then he will become more powerful then you could ever imagine.
Gohan- "ARRRRRRRRRGH! NEVER HERE!"
Gohan- "ENERGY SHIELD! Ugh! Ugh!"
17- "This thunderstorm is a perfect backdrop for your demise."
Gohan- "There is no end for me. No end!"
There's not much difference in the dub for when Trunks finds Gohan's corpse, just that they have him immediately realize and accept that he's dead rather still holding on to a sliver of hope briefly. After this, 3 years later, a couple more changes. For starters, the dub has Trunks make fun of Bulma making him act like he doesn't believe it's possible for her to make a time machine. It also doesn't mention that it took Bulma almost 8 months to charge up the time machine enough for it to travel 20 years into the past or that her lab had been destroyed. Also, the original just has Trunks tell Bulma that he doesn't need to travel back in time and that he can defeat the Artificial Humans by himself. In addition to this the dub doesn't mention that Bridgetown is 900 meters (2700 feet, about half a mile) south of Metro West but it does still mention that the area is very close to where Bulma and Trunks are.
The next fight after has more dumb "beefing up the comedy" dialogue and the dub even turns Trunks and both of the Artificial Humans into ventriloquists, which seems to be Funimation's favorite pretend-ability to give characters. It also has more "17 and 18 are actually robots, not humans who were ever kidnapped" dialogue despite 17 wiping more red blood off his face.
18- "You wouldn't hit a lady...would you? This isn't fair. I'm unarmed you know."
(when Trunks slices off a bit of her hair...)
18- "Ugh, my HAIR! It doesn't grow back you PUNK!"
Trunks- "Allow me to get it out."
18- "17, look out!"
The last line was especially bad, not just because it was added to where there was supposed to be silence but also because 17 dodged Trunks' sword with the greatest of ease. Not much else of note after this, just some added dialogue of 17 and 18 talking about "cemetaries" in spooky voices during the part where Trunks was scared after losing sight of them. Also, Funi tries to make the Artificial Humans' "theme" into a rap song. Maybe they thought number 18 had some mad phat ghetto flavah or that 17's scarf made him look like a Blood? Another stupid wisecrack (17- "Look, he's not a natural blonde!") and that's about it for the fight. Also, when the Artificial Humans describe their reasons for destruction that's the closest the English dub "script" comes to sounding like the real script.
Later while he's recovering, dubbed Bulma then tells Trunks "you don't even know if you have any arms or legs left under that blanket" as if he's lost all sense of feeling below his neck.
As for the rest of the movie....
(sub dialogue)
Bulma- "Here. This is the cure for the heart disease. Be sure you give it right to Son-kun, okay? Don't get in over your head."
Trunks- "Right. You be careful too, Mom."
Bulma- "So then... I'm counting on you!"
Trunks- "I'll be back."
(Trunks leaves in the time machine.)
Narrator- "And so, Trunks boards the time machine, bound for today's era. Waiting for him there was a whole new battle."
(dub dialogue)
Bulma- "Gosh, you don't know how proud I am of you doing this. You look so handsome, Trunks Brief. I am going to miss you, son."
Trunks- "I guess this is the antidote for Goku?"
Bulma- "Yeah, do me a favor and don't drop it."
Trunks- "Right. Stay out of trouble while I'm gone, ok?"
Bulma- "Sure. You know me."
Trunks- "Yeah, that's what I'm about."
Bulma- "Trunks, I want you back!"
Trunks- "I love you!"
Bulma- "I love you too Trunks! (Trunks leaves in the time machine.) If you only knew how much. Oh, dear--he's in your hands now Goku."
And that is that. You'd think Funi would be done screwing up--but wait, they're not done yet. Think they'd be willing to let Trunks's theme song remain in their dub? Think again!
(original song) Blue Wind of Hope-
"Heads up! Some dangerous guys are closing in to confront us.
Everyone on our side is, that's right, acting recklessly.
I don't believe in this history so make your decision clear. Make yourself look your best for a 1-2 punch.
The Azure Wind brings its hope, and as the legend begins to run forward, be there to inscribe its tale yourself.
The Azure Wind brings its hope, and it shines its lights upon the unseen days ahead. You are (you are) our Hope."
It might sound kind of funny to just read in English but the music for sung lyrics for it are actually pretty good. Here are the two songs that Funi decided to go with instead.
(dub song) Through Her Eyes-
"Just beyond the church arch gates, where the grass is overgrown, I saw the writing on her stone.
I felt like I would suffocate. In loving memory of a child, so innocent eyes opened wide, I felt so empty as I cried, like part of me had died."
(dub song) Havoc-
"... It's all over now! ("Right now?") It's all over now. ("Oh!") I know you hate it but it's ALLLLLLL--OVERRRRR--NOOOOOOOOOOOW ("Ugh!") Now, all over now.
I know you hate it but it's all over right now! ("Ugh ugh!") It's all over now! ("Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh!") I know you hate it but it's all over now, now! World domination! Galactic Incineration! ("Hellooooo!") Hate it when no habitation. It's about to you participation."
Both- "It's all over now!"
"I know bad habit to society, society, violence, violence, violence, violence. Why you even tryin ta, tryin ta, tryin ta, tryin ta. Des like d's and c's, squared all da time so throw yo heads, got black leath, don't even ask, bloody red! Situations across the nation, world domination. Yo--make it happen..."
Ugghh.... I did not just hear that, I did not just--good Guardian of the Earth, what on Earth were they smoking when they decided to put that in there?
---
"La da da da, da da da da, da da da da...da da da da da da. I was gonna gonna dub DBZ right--until I got high. I wasn't gonna make Gohan 11 years old--until I got high. Tha DBZ dub sucks--an I know why. (Why man, why?) Cause I got high--cause I got high--cause I got high. La da da da da da!"
Sonny Strait- "Ah man guys! This bubonic platatonic harmonic chronic is just soooooo totallyyyyyyy MOOOOONDOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
Chris Sabat- "(Yeah. Th-th-that's right--Sonnyeee--mooooondo c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-cew.)"
Sonny Strait- "I'm tellin ya guys, I feels like I'm half-baked right now!"
Chris Sabat- "Noooooo. You--feel--like you're...FULLY BAKED!"
Everyone- "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Fukunaga- "Yes, hahahaha! Now then--tell me--how goes the...uh...progress, yeah, the progress with the movie with...Trunks?"
Christopher Neel- "Oh shoot, speaking of which I gotta rewrite the script, mannn! I'm on a deadline and I've only got 3 hours left!" (Neel staggers out to go work on the script.)
Brian Faulconer- "Anyhows, you know dude...I understand that rap music is quite po-poo-po-puuuulerrrr wit da kiddies deze days, man. Japanese music sucks, let's put in some rap music, yeah, rap music!"
Everyone- "YEAH!"
Fukunaga- "6-89 year old male children like kr--er, rap music! That is the 'in thing' amongst little bitty kittens these days! Umm...we'll put in some rappy rap rap rap rappin rap music in the next...D...BZ movie to appease them, and profits shall rise! AND WE CAN BUY MORE MARIJUANA TO SMOKE!"
Everyone- "YEAAAAAAH!"
Lynda Chambers- "Woah. What a buzz. Oh yes, now I'm stoked!"
---
Well, I guess that answers that question. And you're not going to believe what they did next... they cut something out of the Trunks English dub!
Was it really too much for them not to lie about the English version of this movie being "uncut?" Couldn't Funimation have just gone through the cast names in the credits faster and left that in there translated for the dub version or put in "The End" in computerized letters? I'll let you the viewer (and also a potential customer of any future Funimation products) decide that for yourself.
The Cartoon Network Airing
Ah Cartoon Network... you know, I really wish they'd just show these movies at night on Adult or something. They really DON'T have to censor as much as they do (even during regular hours!) and it's pretty lame that they do. Then again, that's just Cartoon Network trying to play it "safe" and make sure that no parents call them and complain, which is pretty much what they always do when it comes to censoring.
As for the dub, I actually thought it was pretty good. (Well, now at least. I've changed my mind since then) Great voice acting... nice scripts. Truth be told, I'm pretty sure Neel Bligh was given a mistranslated "Toei Engrish" script to work with, and that's why there's so much difference between it and the original script. Usually I have a problem with him, but he did good here and with the other special with the material he was given to work with. (but oh how that man did sink into the epitome of baaaad writing when he was thrust a perfectly translated script of Movie 4 to work with) As for the music- it was surprisingly good. In fact, it was almost superior to the original soundtrack. The "almost" was -only- because of those mood-hurting rap songs that pretty much ruined many key moments during the movie. Unfortunately, FUNimation cut out almost EVERY good song in the movie, and replaced it with generic Faulconer tracks, which really killed off the mood. As usual, FUNimation has no problem replacing all of the original score with a "new" version and then insisting upon charging royalties for "every second" it's heard to the Cartoon Network. (Perhaps that's why they hate silence in their dub so much?)
But actually... PAY ROYALTIES to show dubbed music (good dubbed music, mind you) that replaced the original music? No, no, no, that'd actually cost them money and FUNimation didn't get where they are today by not being cheap bastards. So basically, most of the tv specials music is replacement music OF replacement music. I only saw the 2nd half, but what I heard was REALLY bad, and comparing Faulconer's stuff to the original dubbed track it's easy to see how much better the tv special's music was than his usual stuff. I only saw the 2nd half, but I did notice that the ONLY original song retained was that "You all going down now!" one (and they didn't even put in the right place). They also created some "new" songs, of particular note a punk-rock song (probably by a band in Dallas/Ft. Worth, as is usually the case) with a guy who sounded like Mush Mouth from Fat Albert. And man, did it kill the mood.
Well, at least they kept in "Through her eyes" which was a really good and very fitting song I had hoped they'd play the full version during the credits, but (rather strangely) they didn't. Instead, despite using that rap song earlier, they cut out where it was heard during the credits. (shrugs.) I'm not complaining, I really didn't care for that song, but having nothing but silence during the credits was almost as bad as that rap music. The dead silence for half a minute halfway in the middle of a ballad about loss just- well, it was pretty weird and it didn't help the mood at all. Looks like they can't even handle showing the edited version of their dubbed movies right, ugh. Anyway, Vekou's also one who reviewed the CN airing of the Trunks special. (which premiered 9/12/2003) Don't mind me, just wanted to say my two cents beforehand.
Review by Vekou
Another one of the most powerful, emotional, dramatic and brilliantly designed parts of the Dragonball Saga is the second TV special, known to most people as the "Trunks special". In my humble opinion, the Bardock special is more enjoyable and more insightful (most of the Trunks special is explained throughout the course of the series) but both are excellent.
Unfortunately, both have quite terrible dubs, and I'm not talking about the voice acting (which is stellar in both). The issue of mediocre, incredibly out of place American rock/rap music plaguing the dub is present in this special as well.
Fortunately, FUNimation and Cartoon Network have take it upon themselves to NOT secure the rights to have these songs aired on television (some of them, anyways) and have replaced them with generic Faulconer tunes (only some of which fit the scene... but it's definitely an improvement). So, without any further adieu, here's the edit list for "The History of Trunks".
UNIVERSAL EDIT : Any time you hear Faulconer music playing in this special, you can guarantee that there was a different song (probably a vocal song). It would be very difficult to track down every time music is replaced in this special, so take not of it here. Also, some music by the group "Tendril," also used in the dub of Movie 8, is swapped in here in place of some songs that couldn't be cleared to air on CN.
1. Japanese "Special" card removed, even though it was present in the Bardock special.
2. Android 17's "Allright! I get ten points for every human I hit!" as he is driving the car cut.
3. Android 17 screaming "Oh yeah! We're talkin' major points here!" as he chases and runs people over with his car cut.
4. Shot of Android 17 spinning the steering wheel and running over massive amounts of pedestrians, saying "You speedy little devils!" cut.
5. Trunks's "Everybody's dead..." changed to "Everybody's gone..."
6. Theme park worker screaming "We've had an attack at Super World! We need help! Come at once, please!" as the camera pans across a battlefield with dead bodies and damaged tanks and equipment of the Royal Military cut.
7. Blood spray as #17 knocks Gohan into a building painted over.
8. Blood vomit as Gohan punches 17 in the face painted over.
9. #18's "That would suck..." changed to "Oh, shut up!"
10. #18's "All the humans are dead, the fun part's over" changed to just "The fun part's over."
11. Wondering what those moving rocks behind #18 were? In the unedited version, it is revealed to be a survivor of the attacks. As he climbs out of the rocks, #18 says "Hey, we missed one...", fires a ki blast at him and kills him.
12. #17's "Ten more points? Ah, now we're tied!" cut.
13. Shots of Trunks desperately shaking Gohan's corpse, screening "Gohan! GOHAN!" cut (note that this throws off the timing of the music in this scene, which was actually quite good in the uncut version, and effectively ruins the transformation).
14. Blood streaming from Trunks's hand as he is screaming painted over.
15. Scene of the exhausted Trunks punching #17 and #18's faces over and over again but to no effect removed.
16. Scene of #17 and #18 brutally smashing Trunks through some buildings removed.
17. A few more violent shots of Trunks being smacked around removed.
18. Scene of #17 stepping on Trunks's head (which is streaming blood) saying "Here, say no more Let's take care of this problem once and for all! How dare you!" removed.
19. Credits redone with new font, new copyright dates and credit given to the Tendril songs that were added into the broadcast version of this special.
Not an edit: In the credits, shot of Freeza falling apart into two halves shown unedited, though this shot was cut in the series.
Not an edit: Trunks blasting Freeza's remnants left intact, though it was speeded up in the series to remove the shot of Freeza in pieces.
Not an edit: Bulma holding a can with a visible "BE" shown unedited, though in the tv Trunks episode it was lifted from the "BE" was painted over with white to match the rest of the can. The "BE" was originally painted over because (as you probably already guessed) it spelled out "BEER."
Well, that's all I caught. It's a shame that a good deal of the final battle was cut, because it shows how cold-hearted Android 17 and 18 really are. However, it is understandable that these scenes were cut due to their intense violence. In addition, some of the emotion was buried in the edited version, notably when Trunks finds Gohan's corpse and when he is being ruthlessly beaten by 17 and 18. The scene when he is punching the unflinching 17 and 18 in the face to no avail is really a powerful scene, displaying just how powerful the Jinzouningen really are. Too bad this had to be cut.
Come back next week for the fifth Dragonball Z movie, also known as "Cooler's Revenge". See ya! (end of Vekou's review)
Special notes--
- Ever wonder why the cover art for the two tv specials has been the best DBZ movie/special cover art yet? That's because artist Rick Lebo basically just copied the original Japanese art and made just a few slight adjustments to it. I'm still debating whether or not it's a good thing or a bad thing that he stopped doing this when he drew the cover for Movie 4. So I guess that means that Akira Toriyama is the guy who "copied a screen shot and drew Trunks and Gohan on top of it." As for the "no arm thing," this special was originally based on a DBZ manga issue that had the Trunks story in it, which was read by most Japanese fans prior to their watching this tv special. Thus, for Japanese audiences the cover didn't spoil anything.
- You're not going to believe this but Funi...accurately captured...ALL of the sound effects! I was surprised myself and kept looking back but nope, they didn't miss any. They even improved on the sound effects for Trunks becoming a Super Saiyajin. (Then again, that may be only because the dub was remastered to stereo whereas the original wasn't) However--over 90% of their sound effects are significantly reduced in volume to make way for the dub music so they still have a ways to go if they ever want to fix their sound effects problems. As for the music... aside from the techno/rock (and especially the rap) the music for this wasn't that bad but it still wasn't as good as the original music.
- In a net chat interview Kyle Hebert stated that the plots were already written "10 years ago." So why the hell do Funi's script butchers have to ruin every script they get their grubby hands on? They should, and if they were a respectable dubbing company, they would, leave all the dialogue intact (including the cursing) and not give us any of their "wah, wah, wah, it's so hard to get my voice to match their mouth flaps" excuses. If they can have voice actors chat when there isn't any dialogue then why do they bitch about having it there when you see the characters' mouths move? What the hell do they think they're getting paid for? The only dialogue they should change are "Japanese lingual jokes" (stuff like "Do you like martial arts?" "Yeah, it tastes good" that don't retain their original humor when translated and only make sense if you understand Japanese) and cursing for the dubbed cut Cartoon Network Version.
Anything else is a deviation from the real plot, a deception to the viewers, and a big fat arrogant slap in the faces of Akira Toriyama and the rest of DB's script writers (who Funimation continues to refuse to acknowledge in any of their credits and have only been given props in Pioneer's 3 movies) who spent many years of their lives developing the story when converting the DB manga to anime form. To think, the guy who had a helping hand in Tien seeing their parachutes wrote this "masterpiece" all by himself and they pay him more respect then they do the real script writers...
