SFU - DB Series Info: Words From the Soul Brother

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Deja Vu & Dragon Warrior (Pg.1)

Enlightenment (Pg.2)

DB & Me: Present Day (Pg.3)

Deja Vu & Dragon Warrior

I was introduced to the world of Dragon Ball by accident, or by relation, depending on the way you look at it. Oddly enough, it was through the NES game, "Dragon Warrior" (called "Dragon Quest" in Japan). Recieved it free in January 1990 when I subscribed to popular game magazine of the time, "Nintendo Power". To side track myself for a moment, my question is why don't they give out free games more often with mag subs? You'd probably see subscriptions skyrocket if this was done on the regular - as long as it was a game worth signing on for (a free RPG was hard to pass up, especially since they weren't the norm back then). I know there are demo discs packed with certian mags, but demos are a dime a dozen; nothing compares to a full game or even a greatest hits compilation! ^_^ Back to the story. Months later, American syndication was blessed when Saban (back when they were cool, in the pre-"Power Rangers" era) brought over the Dragon Warrior anime series. It was animated by Nippon Animation (the same cats that animate a little show called "Pokemon"), and was a broadcast dub (translated and edited for public airing), spanning only 13 episodes (the Japanese series ended at Ep. 43), aired mainly on weekends (once a week), and showed at an ungodly time in most areas (any time between 5am and 7am).

Either by fate or just by chance, I happened to wake up one Saturday morning in September 1990 around 6:30 am. Back then, I was still insane enough to wake up and watch the "morning line-up" from start to finish, but this morning I was up way too early. Not tired, I decided to head downstairs anyway, at least to have some breakfast. Before racing into the kitchen, I turned on the "tube", having no clue what was on that time in the morning. That's when I saw her. There sat Tiala, in her American-indianesque clothing, putting the finishing touches on her new invention. The first thing that hit me was the it was Japanese Animation ("Anime"). The next thing I recognized were the Pink and Blue slimes that were with her. Finally the music was the clincher. My mind went into sensory overload...

"Dragon Warrior!" Although I had missed the opening intro, the credits had said nothing of show's name - but I was still convinced it was Dragon Warrior. I watched the first episode in sheer delight, even though was slightly disappointed I didn't get to tape it on my Dad's Betamax video recorder (hey, it's all we had!). I was completely caught off-guard by the show's debut and by the time I could get the tape to the right spot to record, I would have already have missed half the show. But I knew, that I'd be prepared next weekend; episode 2, would not escape me. I taped the series all throughout it's first run, and finally "caught" ep. 1 when it re-aired. I couldn't be happier...except for one thing...

Saban had only translated 13 episodes for air in the U.S., which was very saddening because the show was really getting good. My guess is because the show's ratings were lackluster (probably 'cause it wasn't advertised, the most I saw was a mention of it in a game magazine), most syndication markets chose not to renew for more episodes, causing Saban not to spend any more money translating episodes. Sigh...at least I have my episodes...and memories...

Now you ask, "What the hell does this have to do with Dragon Ball?!!" The answer is: A lot!

* Characters from both series are designed my Akira Toriyama. * The Hero of DW, Abel, looks exactly like Goku (from DBZ), save for a few differences. * Abel wasn't the only one who resembled someone from DBZ. Almost every one of the main characters will remind you of people from "Dragon Ball Z", if not a combination of characters from DBZ.

Confusing or curious about Dragon Warrior? I've found a really good website called "Dragon Quest: Abel Yuusha" (http://www4.ncsu.edu:8030/~pahairr/dq/), named after the Japanese title of the series, which explains the whole series in detail, even the 30 episodes the U.S. didn't get! Also another good site to check out is "Barbie Kitten's DW/DQ Anime Page" (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/1712/), where I found the pics I used to decorate this page.

Up next, "Enlightenment"