I’ve been looking into this for months now and form the information I’ve gathered, FUNimation does plan to release Dragonball fully uncut (this includes the first 13 episodes in movie which are only been seen in heavy edited versions in the US) to DVD starting in September 2009.
Now before you jump up and go YEA! Let me explain that this in not confirmed and should be seen as simply a rumor. After going to the FUNimation web site, to the wiki for Dragoball, I could only find the info on a fan run Wiki page at http://dragonball.wikia.com. They state that the first season of Dragonall will be released on DVD in September 2009. However, most people will say that you can not trust a wikia site because anyone can edit such information. I have in the past trusted Wikia sites because most of them out source to real pages on the net to where the information came form. Such as a press release.
Now my research as told me that the reason FUNimation has yet to release those first 13 episodes of Dragonball and the first movie, is because they don’t have the rights to them. If you ever notice that back when they ran Dragonball on Toonami finally showing the whole thing, there was no redub of the first 13 episodes. Why is this? Simple they don’t have the rights, Liongate does. Form what I have read and most people will agree with this that Liongates rights to hold them ends in 2010. So if FUNimation wont get the rights to be able to redub and show uncut the first 13 episodes until after 2010 (I don’t know what month they end I could not find it) so how can season 1 fully uncut come out in September 2009?
Truth is that it’s likely bull shit as the only place I found this information on did not have any source to where this information comes form and is likely as I said BS. So for those of you hoping to have Dragonball in those FUNimation remastered DVD season sets, you may have to wait a bit longer and don’t be fooled into thinking its coming out in September 2009. The only way that could happen is that Liongate has sold the rights to FUNimation and they are currently in process of remastering those episodes as well as bring the voice cast back to do those redubs. Which I’m not sure is happening yet or not. So it might be some time in 2010 before we even see a Dragonball Release on DVD again.
