April 26, 1989 (1989-04-26) – March 7, 1990 (1990-03-07)
Season chronology
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List of episodes
The first season of the Dragon Ball Z anime series contains the Raditz and Vegeta arcs, which comprises the Saiyan Saga, which adapts the 17th through the 21st volumes of the Dragon Ball manga series by Akira Toriyama. The series follows the adventures of Goku. The episodes deal with Goku as he learns about his Saiyan heritage and battles Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta, three other Saiyans who want Goku to join them and help them destroy life on Earth.
The season initially ran from April 1989 until March 1990 in Japan on Fuji Television. The season was then licensed for a heavily edited dubbed broadcast by Funimation Entertainment. Their adaptation first ran in September 1996 through September 1997, primarily on FOX,[1] UPN and WB affiliate stations in the United States. The 39 episodes were cut down to a mere 28. Their edited adaptation was syndicated to television by Saban Entertainment, and was released by Geneon Entertainment (then known as Pioneer) on VHS and DVD between 1997 and 1999. Eventually, Geneon Entertainment lost the distribution license to the first 67 episodes and Funimation began redubbing the series for an uncut broadcast. The unedited version was released on DVD in 2005, but later cancelled and Funimation eventually began releasing season box sets of Dragon Ball Z and they re-released their first season on February 6, 2007. In late 2013, the company released the first season box set on the Blu-ray Disc format. In June 2009, Funimation announced that they would be releasing Dragon Ball Z in a new seven volume set called the "Dragon Box". Based on the original series masters with frame-by-frame restoration, the first set was released November 10, 2009.[2]
Two pieces of theme music were used throughout the season. The opening theme, "Cha-La Head-Cha-La", is performed by Hironobu Kageyama and the ending theme, "Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Power!" (でてこいとびきりＺＥＮＫＡＩパワー！, Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Pawā!, "Come out, incredible full-force power!") is performed by Manna. The theme for the original 1996–1997 English dub is "Rock the Dragon", performed by Jeremy Sweet. The uncut English redub from 2005 uses "Dragon Ball Z theme" by Dave Moran. The remastered season one boxset uses "Dragon Ball Z movie theme" by Mark Menza.
^"Barter Syndication Agreement Between Saban and Fox for the 1996-97 broadcast season". Law Insider. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
^"Funimation Entertainment Announces First U.S. Release of Dragon Box" (Press release). Funimation. July 20, 2009. Archived from the original on September 15, 2009. Retrieved August 28, 2009.
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