The new old new new old DBZ dubs
So I've really gotten back into DBZ with the new release from FUNimation and Cartoon Network. They've put in the appropriate "damn"s and "hell"s. They've put in scenes that were deleted for reasons I can't quite understand. They've put back in the blood. They've put in the full dialogue, even though it's the latest set of VAs.
And now, I feel like it makes sense.
I'd realized from the last few episodes I'd caught just how much had been missing; when I first got hooked years ago, when I was thirteen or so, I knew there was this great story behind it. I soon got the notion that there was censorship, but it didn't bother me so much. I honestly didn't know what I was missing. And now that I do, I can SEE the gaps in plot. I notice things changed and left out, whether for censorship or time or whatever. These new dubs clarified a whole lot about...well, everything. The characters, the universe, the situations. The villains got more villainous - Freeza was a truly effective intersteller warlord, Vegeta was a bitter, jaded soldier of noble blood, Zarbon was a loyal (if cowed by his lord) warrior with a penchant for sadism. The relationship between Piccolo Daimao and Kami was more fully explained to be just as much spiritual as moral. Heroes died, and they died martyrs protecting their world. The only thing that really did keep the two stories stable were the Dragon balls, and they were far more mystical in this redub. The Dragon balls were more than a load/save point, where our heroes could restart from. They were a last resort, the only hope of performing miracles that no one else could duplicate. And because of that actual measure of power, they could really, really be abused.
Context.
It's the whole story this time, and in context, it makes sense
And now, I feel like it makes sense.
I'd realized from the last few episodes I'd caught just how much had been missing; when I first got hooked years ago, when I was thirteen or so, I knew there was this great story behind it. I soon got the notion that there was censorship, but it didn't bother me so much. I honestly didn't know what I was missing. And now that I do, I can SEE the gaps in plot. I notice things changed and left out, whether for censorship or time or whatever. These new dubs clarified a whole lot about...well, everything. The characters, the universe, the situations. The villains got more villainous - Freeza was a truly effective intersteller warlord, Vegeta was a bitter, jaded soldier of noble blood, Zarbon was a loyal (if cowed by his lord) warrior with a penchant for sadism. The relationship between Piccolo Daimao and Kami was more fully explained to be just as much spiritual as moral. Heroes died, and they died martyrs protecting their world. The only thing that really did keep the two stories stable were the Dragon balls, and they were far more mystical in this redub. The Dragon balls were more than a load/save point, where our heroes could restart from. They were a last resort, the only hope of performing miracles that no one else could duplicate. And because of that actual measure of power, they could really, really be abused.
Context.
It's the whole story this time, and in context, it makes sense