AB Groupe

AB Group logo

The AB Group (also spelled AB Groupe) is a French broadcasting group, and the distributor of the Dragon Ball franchise for European and Canadian markets. The AB Group is also known for collaborating on the Westwood Dub with Ocean Productions for Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT.

Overview

History and work on the anime series

The company was founded in 1977 by Jean-Luc Azoulay and Claude Berda as a music production company. In 1987, it went into the world of television. They are responsible for creating many of the European dubs of the franchise (notably the French). They created the Engish dubs of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT, as well as the second half of Dragon Ball Z (123-291) for their markets in association with Westwood Media, Ocean Studios, and Chinook Animation. Their other major anime property is Sailor Moon, however they mostly had a hand in its French release. Also, AB Group notably sends copyright takedown notices to TeamFourStar for their Dragon Ball Z: Abridged series.

The "Big Green" dub

They also produced English dubs for most of the features and specials for UK distribution in collaboration with other production companies. These productions are notorious among fans for the script (which was based off the French script), the changing of character's names (for example Piccolo is called "Big Green"), as well as poor voice acting. Little information is available on the production surrounding these dubs as the names of the voice actors used have never been disclosed. It is presumed these dubs were recorded in either the Netherlands or France sometime in the early 2000s, although the precise location and dates remain a mystery.

Despite being aired on Toonami UK, only the movies Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest, and Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug were distributed on DVD there due to poor sales. However, Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle and Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure, the first nine Dragon Ball Z movies, and the two TV specials were also dubbed by this company. All of their dubs of the Dragon Ball Z movies/specials have been released on VHS and DVD in the Netherlands and other select European countries. Some of the names of the films were changed, but most resembled the Japanese film titles. These dubs are known by fans as the "Big Green dub".

AB Film Titles

Dragon Ball

• DB Movie 1 - The Legend of Shenron
• DB Movie 2 - Sleeping Beauty in Devil Castle
• DB Movie 3 - Mystical Adventure

Dragon Ball Z

Their dubs of the Dragon Ball Z films were released out of order on DVD, and were titled as followed:

• DBZ Movie 1 - Super Battle in the World (The Tree of Might)
• DBZ Movie 2 - The Strongest Guy in the World (The World's Strongest)
• DBZ Movie 3 - Super Saiyan, Goku (Lord Slug)
• DBZ Movie 4 - Super Rivals (Cooler's Revenge)
• DBZ Movie 5 - Fight! 10 Billion Power Warriors (The Return of Cooler)
• DBZ Movie 6 - Super Battle of the Three Super Saiyans (Super Android 13!)
• DBZ Movie 7 - The Burning Battles (Broly The Legendary Super Saiyan)
• DBZ Movie 8 - Super Guy in the Galaxy (Bojack Unbound)
• DBZ Movie 9 (Special 1) - The Father of Goku (Bardock The Father Of Goku)
• DBZ Movie 10 (Special 2) - Gohan and Trunks (The History of Trunks)
• DBZ Movie 11 - In Pursuit of Garlic (Dead Zone)

Unconfirmed/Unreleased

AB Group dubs of the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Dragon Ball Z movies and the GT movie A Hero's Legacy are rumored to exist, although they have not surfaced on DVD or online.

See also

• Westwood Dub