Dragon Ball Z: Rock the Dragon Edition is a 2013 collector's DVD box set that features the entire 1996-1998 Ocean Studios dub of Dragon Ball Z, which originally aired in the U.S. on first-run syndication and later on Toonami, prior to the Funimation in-house dub. Each box set comes with a 48-page hardbound book featuring character profiles, the history of the series, and trivia. It is named after the American "Rock the Dragon" opening theme song by Shuki Levy and Ron Wasserman. This box set features the edited 53 episodes of the Saiyan and Namek sagas, and the three DBZ movies dubbed by the Ocean cast; Dead Zone, The World's Strongest and The Tree of Might. This set also marks the first home video release of the 1997 edited TV dub of The Tree of Might.
Cover art
The cover depicts Goku and Vegeta in their deadly scuffle on Earth. Goku is seen blocking Vegeta's fierce kick as the Saiyan elite maintains a fighting posture with ferocious and relentless determination. The cover also uses the 'classic' Dragon Ball Z yellow-orange gradient logo, commonly associated with the original Funimation/Saban/Pioneer-related works of the series.
Episode count
- Saiyan Saga
- 1. The Arrival of Raditz
- 2. The World's Strongest Team
- 3. Gohan's Hidden Powers
- 4. Goku's Unusual Journey
- 5. Gohan's Metamorphosis
- 6. Gohan Makes a Friend
- 7. Trouble on Arlia
- 8. Home for Infinite Losers
- 9. Princess Snake's Hospitality
- 10. Escape from Piccolo
- 11. Showdown in the Past
- 12. The End of Snake Way
- 13. A Fight Against Gravity... Catch Bubbles!
- 14. The Legend of the Saiyans
- 15. A Black Day for Planet Earth
- 16. The Battle Begins...Goku Where Are You?
- 17. The Saibamen Strike
- 18. Nappa...the Invincible?
- 19. Tien Goes All Out!!
- 20. Time's Up!!
- 21. The Return of Goku
- 22. Goku Strikes Back
- 23. Goku vs. Vegeta...A Saiyan Duel
- 24. Vegeta...Saiyan Style!
- 25. Stop Vegeta Now!!
- 26. The Battle Ends
- Namek Saga
- 27. A New Goal... Namek
- 28. Journey to Namek
- 29. Friends or Foes?
- 30. Hunt for a Dragonball
- 31. Who's Who?
- 32. Touchdown on Namek
- 33. Face Off on Namek
- 34. The Ruthless Frieza
- 35. The Nameks Versus Frieza
- 36. Escape from Dodoria
- 37. Secrets Revealed
- 38. A Collision Course
- 39. Stay Away from Frieza
- 40. Zarbon Transformed
- 41. The Eldest Namek
- 42. Get Vegeta!
- 43. Vegeta Revived
- 44. A Heavy Burden
- 45. Immortality Denied
- 46. Big Trouble for Bulma
- 47. Scramble for the Dragon Balls!
- 48. Arrival of the Ginyu Force
- 49. Elite Fighters of the Universe... The Ginyu Force
- 50. Time Tricks and Body Binds
- 51. No Refuge from Recoome
- 52. Enter Goku
- 53. Goku... Super Saiyan?
- Movies
Trivia
Comparison of color grading between Rock the Dragon edition and the original Pioneer release.
- Excluded from this set is the Ocean dub of the Android and Majin Buu sagas of DBZ that aired only in Canada and Europe in the early 2000s (which has never received a home video release), as the rights for that dub are owned by French company AB Groupe (who also owns the Blue Water dubs of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT).
- Also not included on this set is Pioneer's uncut 1998 dub of The Tree of Might, which was released to VHS and DVD but never aired on Toonami.
- This release is not "remastered" per se, but the color grading appears slightly washed out compared to the Pioneer DVDs.
- All recaps, previews and bumpers are included. Many of the recaps and previews from this dub were previously only available on the Australian Madman Entertainment DVDs.
- However, both episodes 9 ("Princess Snake's Hospitality") and 10 ("Escape from Piccolo") share the same next episode preview since episode 10 was skipped in the 1996-1998 syndication run.
- The edited Tree of Might dub originally aired in syndication as a three-part TV episode in 1997. On this set, it is presented as a stand-alone movie (as it was later aired on Toonami). The set also features the slightly edited versions of Dead Zone and The World's Strongest that aired on Toonami.
- This set includes the uncensored versions of episodes 1-4, which contained multiple references to death (compared to all subsequent edited episodes that covered-up death references with phrases like "sent to the next dimension").