The Harmony Gold Dub & Broadcast Audio Discussion Thread

[superrayman3]

If you're talking about DB#2 I do remember watching that subbed on VHS, the vhs seemed legit as it had the fbi logo that was all common on VHS tapes but that was a rental though and not something I owned. The Subs were decent but because I watched it years before Funimation's subs came out I can't say how good or bad they were. The Names were all correct, no Zero funny business going on.

When I say DB movie 2 I mean Sleeping Princess in Devils Castle and if what you say is true and there was a Strreamline sub only release of DB Movie 2 (if there's an FBI logo then it's more likely to be legit) then the movie 1&3 rumor might have been a misinterpertaion of the original rumor.

[SaiyanHamster]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT9jHabbIyM

Pretty sure that this is it, though correct me if I'm wrong. This is only the opening, though he obviously had the VHS digitized. The guy said this VHS has the "first three episodes" of Dragon Ball.

[DB1984]

Wait a minute, so it was Family Home Entertainment who released them on VHS? I thought it was Streamline.

[SaiyanHamster]

Wait a minute, so it was Family Home Entertainment who released them on VHS? I thought it was Streamline.

I have no idea. He just said he's going to provide a download link in the future. I'll keep an eye on it. I don't think this guy's a faker either.

[DB1984]

Well, anyways, I cannot wait for the download link.

[superrayman3]

Wait a minute, so it was Family Home Entertainment who released them on VHS? I thought it was Streamline.

That's what everyone else thought as well, but if what this guy says about that tape is true, then we've all been following the wrong path all along, i'll check the video out when i get home tonight and post my observations (if FHE were the ones to release HG's dub of DB and not Streamline then we may have finally solved the big mystery as to who did the VHS releases and can possibly use this new info to try and track down any other DB tapes FHE did if they did in fact release DB on VHS prior to FUNi getting the rights)

[DB1984]

FHE also put out Robotech on VHS, another property of Harmony Gold.

[superrayman3]

FHE also put out Robotech on VHS, another property of Harmony Gold.

Robotech made sense though since Streamline Pictures didn't exist until '88 and FHE's robotech releases were produced before then, that being said i looked up "dragon ball the journey begins" and thus far haven't turned up any real info aside from what we already know from the video description (the only other thing i could find was a thread on gamefaqs about the video but otherwise info about this tape is virtually non-existant) which is strange considering FHE was a big name distributor back then and a decent amount of their notable releases have been documented.

[SaiyanHamster]

FHE also put out Robotech on VHS, another property of Harmony Gold.

Robotech made sense though since Streamline Pictures didn't exist until '88 and FHE's robotech releases were produced before then, that being said i looked up "dragon ball the journey begins" and thus far haven't turned up any real info aside from what we already know from the video description (the only other thing i could find was a thread on gamefaqs about the video but otherwise info about this tape is virtually non-existant) which is strange considering FHE was a big name distributor back then and a decent amount of their notable releases have been documented.

I was going to say, I tried looking it up too, but still no dice. I saw the GameFAQ thread as well. I guess we'll just have to wait; maybe more people will come out of the woodwork claiming they have this tape. Seems kind of weird that a newbie like me would care, but I've read this thread a million times over... It just fascinates me that after 25 years or so, we still know little to nothing about this dub. We barely even know the definite amount of episodes that were made...

[DB1984]

Allegedly, at least every episode, from the beginning, to JUST before Goku found himself in the Land of Karin, and Tao Pai Pai was introduced, were dubbed by Harmony Gold. But only the first five episodes, and their combined edit of movie 1 and movie 3, were all that aired.

[superrayman3]

Allegedly, at least every episode, from the beginning, to JUST before Goku found himself in the Land of Karin, and Tao Pai Pai was introduced, were dubbed by Harmony Gold. But only the first five episodes, and their combined edit of movie 1 and movie 3, were all that aired.

The scripts might have been made for that far in the series but I don't think that many episodes were recorded (at least in the HG english dub), this is evidenced by the mexican spanish version Zero Y El dragon Magico (which was based off of the HG dub) which had to overdub the audio when the characters spoke for the first few episodes (we do know that this had to be done on at least the first 3 episodes as well as the movie 1&3 special that aired in '89, however they switched to ME audio for dubbing sometime before episode 8 although we don't know the exact episode ZYEDM switched to the ME audio yet but once we do it should give us an idea as to exactly how far HG went into the series before the stopped), so from this info we can gather that HG did record english dialogue for some of the first few episodes but what episode they stopped recording at is the big question.

Edit: Just checked out the video everything looks pretty legit to me (although they use the first opening animation with some slight edits and the credits are a slightly different shape and font although it still looks somewhat Robotech based)

[DerekPadula]

I contacted Christopher Sabat a couple days ago. Today he agreed to accept the original Japanese broadcast audio!

I sent Sabat's delivery address to Kei17. The ball is in his court now, because he has to send the tapes.

There's no guarantee that FUNimation will ever use the audio, but Chris will try and sway them to do so. Maybe some day we'll get a re-release with the original audio. If nothing else, the tapes will be stored in an archival vault for proper storage.

I think I started this project almost 4 years ago. It's one of those endeavors that required patient, step-by-step progress, and this is a big step in the right direction.

Thanks to everyone for helping out. Congrats!

[TheBlackPaladin]

Thanks to everyone for helping out. Congrats!

Thank you for sticking with it!

I know there are a multitude of legal issues that may block the tapes from being used, but one can hope, right?

[DB1984]

DerekPadula, did you catch the YouTube link in this page? Apparently, the Harmony Gold WAS officially released on VHS. Not surprisingly, almost nobody bought it, hence why it has never turned up on eBay. I couldn't believe it when I first saw it weeks ago.

As for the original broadcast audio, I hope by now, Toei and FUNi are aware of the original order of the ending (NEP, followed by ending credits). There's gotta be a way to get them to reinstate it.

[DerekPadula]

Yeah, I have a high-quality capture of the original tapes and episodes that are better than the YouTube video. This is something only a few people have. Someone here sent them to me.

Harmony Gold has a tape that says "DRAGON BALL" on it, but they have no idea what's on the tape. And it's in an old format that they'd have to bake and crack open, and that could cost a few hundred dollars. They won't pay for it themselves, and I can't afford to do that on my own. Thus it sits in their vault.

But it's been such a long time since I've thought about the Harmony Gold Dub project that it's just a big mess in my mind. I'd have to spend a few hours going through it and refreshing myself on where I left off. Basically, I don't intend to release anything or write a comprehensive article on it until there's a breakthrough, because I don't want a half-finished story.

It's going to be a long time until anything happens with that because I don't have the time or money to invest in it.

[clutchins]

You've done God's work, Derek.

[theoriginalbilis]

I contacted Christopher Sabat a couple days ago. Today he agreed to accept the original Japanese broadcast audio!

I sent Sabat's delivery address to Kei17. The ball is in his court now, because he has to send the tapes.

There's no guarantee that FUNimation will ever use the audio, but Chris will try and sway them to do so. Maybe some day we'll get a re-release with the original audio. If nothing else, the tapes will be stored in an archival vault for proper storage.

I think I started this project almost 4 years ago. It's one of those endeavors that required patient, step-by-step progress, and this is a big step in the right direction.

Thanks to everyone for helping out. Congrats!

You're the man, Derek. Thanks for all the hard work and effort you put forward for the franchise and its fans.

[AnimeMaakuo]

It would be better to send me the tapes instead as planned so that I could give him my HDD full of Kei's original broadcast audio and everything else including the folder I put together showing comparisons of different audio sources that took so long to make.

I'll be traveling to Dallas soon, so it would make sense. I would make sure he receives it and maybe have him give a message to us all.

[coola]

You guys are amazing, thank you for your hard work

[AnimeMaakuo]

Also, not all of the Fuji TV tapes work, so Sabat would need the Ishikawa recordings or even the other recordings to fill in. Sabat doesn't have any knowledge except from what I've told him which is why I want to personally give him another flash drive with my special folder that emphasizes the differences as well as the audio files.