Dragon Ball Z first came to the US in its cartoon form in 1996.  The only problem was that these shows were sanitized for American audiences with any hint of blood cut or swearing cut out.  That made the shows run a little short, so episodes were spliced together to make sure that they'd run the proper length.

Then in early 1999, Pioneer started releasing this series on DVD.  The only problem was that the weren't putting the original Japanese episodes out, they were releasing the edited US TV versions.  I suppose they thought that the only people who would watch them were kids.  The entire first two story arcs were released in that format.  FUNimation took over after that and continued the series, and their releases were uncensored happily, but that still left the first dozen and a half DVDs in cut form only.

Now FUNimation has decided to go back and re-release the early Pioneer discs in their uncut form.  If you've been holding off getting these discs, wait no longer.

As this volume opens, things aren't going too well for Kirillin.  His best friend, Goku, is dead.  Goku's son, Gohan, has been taken by the villain Piccolo for training, and poor Krillian has to break all of this news to Chi Chi.

Piccolo has taken Gohan because he know that the Earth will need every fighter that it can get.  Before Raditz died in the last volume, he sent a message to his two allies, Saiyans who are even stronger and more vicious than he was.  They are on their way to Earth so they can make a wish with the Dragon Balls, but it will take the evil pair a year to arrive.

Gohan faces his first day of training with Piccolo, and it's a difficult day.  The Namek wants Gohan to become self sufficient so he sets him in the middle of the desert and says that he'll be back in six months.  The first day he gets eaten by a dinosaur and trapped on the top of a tall peak.  The next day, things get worse.

Goku meanwhile has gained permission to train with the King Kai in the afterworld.  Kai is a legendary fighter who should give Goku the edge he needs against the other Saiyans.  All he has to do is follow Snake Way to the end, and he'll arrive at Kai's planet.  The only catch is that Snake Way is 10,000 miles long.

The previous fast pace slows a bit with this volume.  There really isn't much action, and I find Goku's trip running down Snake Way a little monotonous.  There is a good amount of humor though, especially the scenes were everyone is afraid to tell Chi Chi what happened to Goku and Gohan.

The most interesting part of this disc was the third episode.  Most of it was new material that was cut out fo the US version.  This excised story line involves Gohan finding an old robot when he falls into a cavern.  It's a nice story that helps explain some of the changes that Gohan undergoes while in the desert.

This disc contains the next three episodes of Dragon Ball Z in its uncut format.  The disc comes in a standard keepcase.  One interesting item of note is that viewers have the option of having English or Spanish menus.

Audio:

This DVD has four audio options: the original Japanese in stereo, English and Spanish stereo dubs, or an English 5.1 soundtrack.  I preferred the original soundtrack over the English dubs, though the English actors did a good job.  The English track has music added to the background, and though it fits in well with the show, I liked the more Spartan sounding original track.  The sound is very good for a show of this age, there isn't any noticeable hum or distortion, and the range is fine.  There was a problem with the 5.1 English dub though; the music was mixed too high in relation to the dialog.  At normal listening levels the music sounded fine, but the voices were very soft.  If you turned the volume up so that the voices were at a good level, the music was blaring.

Video:

This show is pretty old, being first broadcast in Japan in the late 1980's, but the image looks good for the most part.  The colors are bright and the lines are tight.  There is some mosquito noise in all of the shows, but it wasn't as bad as the first episodes on the previous two discs.  Those had more noise for some reason and FUNimation seems to have solved the problem.  There was a minor amount of print damage, just an occasional white speck, but this was fairly rare.  Overall a nice looking disc.

Extras:

After all of the bonus features that were on the first volume, I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more offered on this disc.  There is a half hour Goku vs. Vegetta featurette, but this is the exact same feature that was included on the first disc.  This has voice actors Sean Schemmal (Goku) and Chris Sabat (Vegetta) discussing which Saiyan is better.  Their comments are interspersed by clips form the show and comments from fans.

The only unique bonus items on this disc are a DBZ trivia contest and a series of trailers too.  I especially miss the nimbus cloud that identifies scenes that were originally cut.

Final Thoughts:

While the pace of the story slows a little bit in this volume, it is still a good entry into the series.  Gohan's training effects both him and his instructor Piccolo, and there are some key moments in their relationship that occur.  I was very happy to see a lot of new material I hadn't seen before in the third episode.  That alone should make this disc worth an upgrade.  A solid entry in a great series.  A high Recommendation.