Product Details

• Actors: Shigeru Chiba, Justin Cook, Cynthia Cranz, Toshio Furukawa, Kyle Hebert
• Directors: Daisuke Nishio
• Format: Widescreen, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Japanese (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Funimation
• DVD Release Date: September 13, 1996
• Run Time: 925 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (200 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000KWZ1TI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,419 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #22 in Movies & TV > DVD > Anime & Manga
• For more information about "Dragon Ball Z: Season One (Vegeta Saga)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

One of the most popular franchises in anime history, Dragon Ball began in 1984 as a manga by Akira Toriyama in Shonen Jump. Dragon Ball Z (1989), the second TV adaptation, is the most beloved: it ran for 291 episodes--more than Dragon Ball (1986) and Dragon Ball GT (1996) combined. Over the years, the program has introduced countless boys to the world of Japanese animation. The first season re-introduces the main characters and sets up a new threat. Goku learns he's not an Earthling, but a Saiyan from the planet Vegeta. Only three other Saiyans survive, all of them extremely powerful and destructive. Goku destroys Raditz with the help of Piccolo, but dies in the process. He spends much of the season training in the Other World with King Kai. Piccolo takes over training Goku's son Gohan, anticipating he will have to face the remaining Saiyans, Nappa and Vegeta. These episodes set the pattern for the combination of martial arts training, fantasy-battles and slapstick comedy that make the series so popular. The storyline rambles, with lots of digressions, repeats, and false endings--none of which bother the fans. Although Dragon Ball Z has been released previously in the US, Funimation pulled out all the stops for this edition. The entire series has been remastered from the original prints, and the Japanese language track is included for the first time. (Goku and Krillin have higher-pitched, younger voices than they do in the American dub.) For Dragon Ball Z fans, this version clearly supercedes all previous ones. (Rated TV PG. suitable for ages 8 and older: violence; minor incidents of risqué and toilet humor, ethnic stereotyping and alcohol use) --Charles Solomon

Product Description

The Saiyans are coming! The last survivors of a cruel, warrior race, these ruthless villains have carved a path of destruction across the galaxy, and now they have set their sights on Earth. They will stop at nothing until they have the wish-granting powers of the seven magic Dragon Balls for their very own.

With the fate of his family, friends and the entire human race hanging in the balance, Goku, the Earth's greatest hero, must rise to meet the approaching threat. As he prepares for the fight of his life, Goku embarks on an epic journey that will take him to other worlds, pit him against new and old enemies alike, and force him to confront the dark secrets of his own past. At the end of his path, the most powerful opponent he has ever faced awaits - the evil Saiyan Prince Vegeta!

This Dragon Ball Season Set is the definitive collection!

Digitally re-mastered in High Definition

Transferred from the original Japanese film

The complete season one - contains 39 episodes on 5 discs

Over 900 minutes of action

Revised English dialogue and original Japanese music

Extra features include:

24-page booklet filled with episode summaries, character descriptions and a Dragon Ball Z timeline

Footage on the re-mastering

The ultimate Dragon Ball Z - Collect them all!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Satisfied long time adult fan of DBZ, August 27, 2007

By 

Dan Zapix (Connecticut, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dragon Ball Z: Season One (Vegeta Saga) (DVD)

Quick Facts: I'm 27, been a fan of Dragon Ball Z since 1999, and a fan of anime since 1992. I'm very picky about uncut anime, and I always prefer the original aspect ratio. I dislike English dubs as most any anime fan does. This is my first review of a DVD.

Video: FUNimations claims this is a widescreen transfer from the original video. Dragonball Z fans are screaming the original video was cropped to make it widescreen. I've spent the last 2 days with WinDVD and Photoshop to confirm or disprove this. Anyone who does image editing knows that cropping a 4:3 image to 16:9 can be really dramatic. After watching 67 episodes of this new release from FUNimation, I wasn't completely convinced about the transfer being cropped from it's original 4:3 aspect ratio. Dragonball Z fans are correct to say the widescreen transfer is cropped, but they also would need to admit to that the 4:3 broadcast we fans know and love was also cropped! The widescreen transfer has extended video on the left and right that was cropped for the original 4:3 TV broadcast some 18 years ago. A time when 4:3 televisions were standard. In recent times, 16:9 televisions have taken over, and we're much more widescreen oriented. The original animation aspect ration I got when I was done sizing and layering the images over each other from the 4:3 and 16:9 gave me a 16:11 aspect ratio. This my Dragon Ball Z fans... Seems to be the ORIGINAL size. 16:11 though won't look all that great on any TV set. Also makes sense though since animators make the original larger so when transferring the animation to video, there's room to play with so you don't have random spots missing on the sides, top and bottom. So if you have to ask yourself if this is a legitmate 16:9 transfer or some 4:3 cropped (cut/edited) video, the real answer is... It's a legimate 16:9 transfer. Both the 4:3 and the 16:9 are cropped from the original... In the end, it depends on personal preference.

The video was supposedly cleaned up, and the colors remastered. Personally, For the most part, I see an increased brightness on the video, which actually does look better. They did clean up the video and removed grain and video noise. All in all, the remastered picture looks better compared to the original DVDs that FUNimation released.

Audio: I can't say much about the sound quality since I'm using my computer for the time being. Just moved, and have yet to hook up my home theater again. FUNimation is releasing this with 3 settings. The original Japanese language and music. Nothing seems to have changed between the original DVDs and this release. For those who watch DBZ subbed only, I see no change at all. The second option is the English dub with the Japanese music. This is actually quite interesting, and I give credit for this addition! In this rare instance, I have always like the dubs for Dragon Ball Z, so having the option to watch it with the original music is great. If that isn't enough though, this new way to watch the series is in Dolby Digital 5.1. Then there's the third option which is the English dub with the US music done by Bruce Faulconer in stereo. I guess doing this in 5.1 would have taken too much time.

The dub was also redone for whatever reason. After comparing the original DVDs vs the new ones, the older ones sometimes seem a bit more consistent with what was originally being said. One quick example would be this...

Japanese Audio: Vegeta "I suppose"
Original English Dub: Vegeta "I guess so"
New English Dub: Vegeta "Shut up!"

Why FUNimation went out of the way to do a whole new dub, I have no idea... This seems to be wasteful of production time, or maybe they can't use the original dub anymore. Why FUNimation does anything at times is beyond my understanding. They have time to redub the series, but they can't make the English dub with the US music in 5.1...


The menus on these discs are light years ahead of the original DVDs FUNimation released, with much more chapter points, and the MARATHON option which allows you to watch all the episodes on a disc straight through without the opening/closing between the episodes. More like watching a movie than episode after episode, having to skip after each one.

The packaging of the discs in the case is rather nice. Seems upon collection the series, you can line them up for a large "DRAGONBALL Z" title! Each season comes with a small booklet with character information, episode information, etc.


Also want to note that according to FUNimation, this video was remastered on HD 1080/24p. This doesn't mean the discs are HD and can optimize the new HDMI 1.3, but it does show that 1080/24p mastering is being done, and we're probably not far off from seeing this much more commonly done and seeing HDDVDs with actual 1080/24p video as TVs are now coming out with HDMI 1.3.

I hope this information helps people looking to possibly buy this series or in the case I'm in, buy it again for the remastered video and widescreen version. Also much more compact compared to dozens of standard DVD cases!

Giving this 4 stars. Why not 5? Because there is still room for improvement. The new dub doesn't always seem to fit, and in comparison to the actual translation of what was being said, it's like comparing black and white. FUNimation was always lousy about the dub translation, and there's little excuse for rebubbing the series and making it just as poor as the first time around. Making the English Dub with Japanese music 5.1, but the US music in 2.0 is another point away from me. While this doesn't change anything for me, if they had the time to redub and upscale to 5.1 for the Japanese music, it seems to me they should have taken the time to upscale the US music track too. Lazy? Additionally, they should have some slight explanation of the widescreen transfer included. The extras on the discs are meaningless.

For the price these new box sets go for... It's an unbeatable deal for the series and Dragon Ball Z fans.

89 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Most Controversial Anime Gets A Controversial DVD, February 2, 2007

By 

Kevin T. Rodriguez "The Movie Wizard.com Revi... (Citrus Heights, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dragon Ball Z: Season One (Vegeta Saga) (DVD)

"Dragon Ball Z" is the most controversial anime ever made. Not for reasons because of questionable content in the vein of "Evangelion," "Cowboy Bebop," and "Koi Kaze" (though the show is very violent), but just in various different arguments. Some people feel that "Dragon Ball Z" represents the best anime has to offer, while other people believe that "Dragon Ball Z" represents the worst anime has to offer. Add into the fact that "Dragon Ball Z" has had one of the most questionable dubs of all time, and (along with "Sailor Moon") helped make anime popular in the USA (before "Pokemon" and "Yu-Gi-Oh!" painted anime as thirty minute toy commercials). With a reputation like that, "Dragon Ball Z" is certainly one of the most important animes ever made, but the show has been a hassle to buy if you were a fan of the show. Released in overpriced DVD's that retailed for $25 each and contained three episodes a piece, one had to buy at least SEVENTY DVD's before they could get all of "Dragon Ball Z" on DVD!

Add in the fact that the episodes were released out of order, and you'll see that buying "Dragon Ball Z" on DVD has certainly been one frustrating experience for many people (myself included). Now FUNimation is re-releasing "Dragon Ball Z" one more time in season box sets. These sets are supposed to be the ultimate release of the show, and the release hardcore fans have been waiting for. In some ways they are correct in this statement, and in some ways they are dead wrong. Like everything "Dragon Ball Z" related, the release of "Dragon Ball Z: Season One" is such a mixed blessing/curse that there is no way to be straightforward about the release. These DVD's are supposed to represent "Dragon Ball Z" as restored from a master print, with three sound options (Japanese mono, English surround, and English with original Japanese score), and remastered in high definition widescreen.

I'll talk about the widescreen remastering first since this aspect of the DVD is the most controversial (and with good reason). In case you didn't know, "Dragon Ball Z" was first aired in 1984. The show was animated in full screen, as widescreen TV shows didn't really exist back then. To achieve the widescreen scope this DVD presents, the image has been cropped at the top and the bottom, therefore losing about 20% of the image. This has caused the biggest problem with the release as a good portion of the show either looks cropped, poorly photographed, and sometimes silly and/or odd. The show almost never obtains the "cinematic look" FUNimation claims it's supposed to look with the new widescreen transfer, and even the most casual fan will find several shots in the show that look at the very least strange. Granted, it's not like you always feel like your missing something, but enough of the image is lost where you defiantly notice something is off.

The sound is fine. If you're watching the show in English FUNimation has given the show a brand new 5.1 surround sound mix, which sounds excellent on a surround sound system. If you're like me though, and prefer to watch the show in it's original Japanese language track, you'll find the same mono track that was presented on all the other single disk releases of the show. With (what surely sounds like) a fatal flaw when it comes to the viewing of the show, many of you may be wondering why you'd want to bother with the show at all. Well, two things: Picture and price. Yes, the display of the show may be the biggest problem for this show, but the restoration is also one of the brightest things about the DVD. While not perfect, "Dragon Ball Z" has never looked this good before on DVD. The colors are mostly perfect, and the tone is very consistent, with only some grain to be found in certain spots. Regardless what you think of the widescreen presentation, the look of the picture is excellent.

Then there's the fact that this DVD set retails for $50 and contains the first 39 episodes. I remember spending $20 on a "Dragon Ball Z" DVD with three episodes on it. If you bought the single disk releases on sale for $16 each (and this is being generous, as most single disk "Dragon Ball Z" DVD's will cost you $20 easily), then you'd spend around $250 by the time you got up to episode 39. Considering you can get "Dragon Ball Z: Season One" on sale for $30-$35 at most places, this is the cheapest "Dragon Ball Z" has ever been on DVD. At this rate, $250 will get you the whole show. All 291 episodes for what you would originally pay for the privilege to own 39 episodes. Despite the issues with the widescreen, it's hard to argue when the savings are that huge. Whether or not the widescreen issue is enough to scare you away from this DVD is entirely up to you.

Re-watching the show again after I hadn't seen it for several years has made me see it in an entirely different light. It no longer seems to be the greatest action show I remember it to be. Some of the fights are rather silly looking, there are stretches of time that contain way too much filler, and several episodes early on in the show seem to wasting time while they are waiting for the story to come around. That said, when the show is good it's very good. Character development in these early episodes is excellent, there are many heartbreaking moments, and to actually go back to when Goku wasn't a Super Saiyan is a revelation as it shows me that it was more interesting to see these characters grow stronger then it was to watch them...well, BE stronger! It's not a perfect show, but a good portion of the episodes on this set do hold up quite well, and there's a reason we'll still be watching "Dragon Ball Z" several years from now. Maybe in ten years the show will be revisited in a much better HD-DVD or Blu-Ray set. For now though, I think I can live with these sets. On that note though, why is Vegeta on the cover for Season One while Goku gets banished to being on the cover of Season Two?

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing if you have an HDTV , still good without!, April 5, 2008

By 

D. Payton "Psupayton" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dragon Ball Z: Season One (Vegeta Saga) (DVD)

Well first, I would like to say that I own the COMPLETE original Dragonball Z DVD's that Funimation originally released. If you are wondering which to buy, then I will try to be of some help.

This particular season, was re-released by Funimation, the voices were re-done to be that of the Frieza Saga and beyond (all of you may know that Vegeta and Goku's voices sounded kind of wimpy when Pioneer did them). There are episodes that were NOT released to DVD originally by Pioneer, and these are all un-cut. Now lots of people are saying that this is "cropped", I have yet to notice them, yes, you did lose some screen on the top and bottom, but have you ever tried watching the 4:3 format of DBZ on a HDTV? It looks awful, it is very pixel lated, and blurry and whenever they do a Energy blast, you can see freckles around it. If you have a Wide-screen TV and want these again, buy these, you will NOT be disappointed. The colors are amazing to say the least, and you cannot even tell that it is being cropped if you are watching it on a widescreen TV as I said before. Now if you still own a 4:3 TV and want DBZ, and HATE the black bars on the top and bottom of your TV, these may not be for you.