The fourth volume of the uncut version or Dragon Ball Z has now been released, and it's still a lot of fun.  In this edition we get to see Gohan survive in the wild, Tien training for the day when he'll get a rematch against Goku, and Vegeta and Nappa show what they can do.
 
Background, or "Wasn't this arleady out on DVD?":

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.

Series Synopsis:

Goku is a Saiyan, some of the greatest fighters in the galaxy.  He's lived on Earth since he was a tot, and is peaceful and kind.  Unfortunately another Saiyan, his brother, came to Earth to destroy everyone living there.  Goku and his greatest enemy Piccolo team up against this common enemy They manage to destroy him but not before the Saiyan could signal two more of his race to Earth and at the cost of Goku's life.

The Saiyan's will arrive in one year, so Krillian, Yamcha, and the rest of the gang only have a short time to train and hone their powers to defend the Earth.  Piccolo decides to rain by himself but takes Goku's son Gohan in order to turn him into a fighter too.  For the first step of the training: leaving Gohan in the wilderness to fend for himself.  Meanwhile, the dead Goku is in the afterlife heading to King Kai's in order to get special training from the master before he is wished back to life with the Dragon Balls.
 
This volume:

Stuck in the wilderness, Gohan finds it tough to survive.  He has to fight dinosaurs and scrounge for food, but Piccolo's training is starting to work.  The young tyke is becoming self reliant, and learns that life isn't fair.

In a little aside, Vegeta and Nappa decide to stretch their legs for a bit while traveling to Earth, and stop at the planet Arlia.  Once there, they discover a race of insect like beings in charge.  They allow themselves to be captured in order to discover the planet's leaders and find enough warriors to give themselves a workout.  They easily escape from their cell and dispatch the guards, and then take out the dictator himself.  The oppressed citizens hail the pair as the planet's greatest heroes, but Vegeta doesn't care about such accolades.

All the while, Goku travels along Snake Way.  He has to run 10,000 miles to get to King Kai's home, and not a lot of time to do it.

This is another good disc.  My favorite part was Gohan and the T-Rex.  The dinosaur started chasing after the young half-Saiyan, but the roles are soon reversed when Gohan develops a taste for "tail steak."  The story doesn't progress that quickly, but with Dragon Ball Z, it's the journey that is the fun part, not necessarily the destination.

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:

The only bonus items on this disc are a DBZ trivia contest and a series of trailers.  After all of the extra features that the first disc had, I was a little disappointed.  I especially miss the nimbus cloud that identifies scenes that were originally cut.

Final Thoughts:

I'm a big Dragon Ball fan, and this first storyline is one that I've always enjoyed.  Though the plot doesn't zip along, there are some good stories told.  The 5.1 mix was nice, and the video looked good.  I just wish FUNimation had included more extras to make an upgrade worth while.  If you have the Pioneer version, there are a few new scenes in this, but not anything significant.  For people who haven't bought this saga yet, this is the version to get.  A high Recommendation.