"Dragon Ball" (1986/I) TV series

User Rating:

8.9/10   

Director:

Daisuke Nishio

Writers:

Rob Gerein (writer)
Takao Koyama (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

25 June 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Thriller

Tagline:

The big showdown with Piccolo!

Plot:

Follows the adventures of an extraordinarily strong young boy named Goku as he searches for the seven dragon balls...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Manga | Anime

Cast

Brice Armstrong	...	Narrator (152 episodes, 2001-2003)
Masako Nozawa	...	Son Goku (152 episodes, 2001-2003)
Jôji Yanami	...	Narrator / ... (152 episodes, 2001-2003)
Stephanie Nadolny	...	Goku / ... (131 episodes, 2001-2003)
Christopher Sabat	...	Yamcha / ... (126 episodes, 2001-2003)
Hiromi Tsuru	...	Bulma / ... (120 episodes, 2001-2003)
Tiffany Vollmer	...	Bulma (119 episodes, 2001-2003)
Mike McFarland	...	Master Roshi / ... (112 episodes, 2001-2003)
Naoko Watanabe	...	Puar / ... (110 episodes, 2001-2003)
Tôru Furuya	...	Yamcha (107 episodes, 2001-2003)
Monika Antonelli	...	Puar / ... (105 episodes, 2001-2003)
Mayumi Tanaka	...	Kuririn / ... (103 episodes, 2001-2003)
Naoki Tatsuta	...	Oolong / ... (100 episodes, 2001-2003)
Bradford Jackson	...	Oolong / ... (97 episodes, 2001-2003)
Kôhei Miyauchi	...	Kamesennin Muten Roshi (94 episodes, 2001-2003)
Mami Koyama	...	Lunch / ... (86 episodes, 2001-2003)
Meredith McCoy	...	Launch / ... (85 episodes, 2001-2003)
Lori Steele	...	Krillin (84 episodes, 2001-2003)
Kenji Utsumi	...	World Tournament Announcer / ... (73 episodes, 2001-2003)
Hirotaka Suzuoki	...	Tenshinhan (67 episodes, 2002-2003)
John Burgmeier	...	Tien (65 episodes, 2002-2003)

Runtime:

Japan:25 min (153 episodes) | USA:30 min (including commercials) (153 episodes)

Country:

USA | Japan | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:TV-14 (uncut DVD version) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG

Company:

Blue Water Studios

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the original English dub for the episode The Kamehameha wave, Kamehameha is misspelled as Kamehameah on the title screen.

Quotes:

Commander Silver: What have you got in here?
Goku: None of your business.
Commander Silver: Okay then I'll give you one last chance give me that dragon ball.
Goku: No. I need those dragon balls.

Movie Connections:

Followed by "Dragon Ball Z" (1989/I)

So Much Better than Z, & Yet No Love

There are no fights with people staring at each other for an entire episode, & 10 minutes turns into half of a saga as in the last half of the Frieza series. nor are there any ridiculous power levels.. No huge inaccuracies in the plot-lines, & lame filler that has you scratching your head.

Since when was Mercenary Tao a General? Since when did Dr. Gero lead the red ribbon army? He didn't.. It was Commander Red. Goku never met Dr.Gero, because he never existed.

I think the whole power level thing is great for video games, but makes for a "yaaawn" of a series.

Dragonball is actually believable, but fantastical all at once. You are never sitting & waiting & waiting for what you know is going to happen, because you simply don't know.

Always new characters, adventures, & twists in the stories that actually make for a fun series. Awesome humor, & magical places. Tests of strength & purity of character, & friendships built on realistic type events.

You see how Goku wins over the most evil of hearts & minds, From Yamacha, to Tien to Piccolo. All the characters are involved & help to solve the crisis at hand.

Do yourself a big favor if you're a fan of Goku & the crew, & make sure you watch this series from the very beginning. Don't just pick it up in the middle from seeing one episode & say yuck!!!

I did exactly that. Then when i saw how god-awful GT was, I decided to start here instead. Was well worth it. It really is so much better than Z hands down..