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This Week in Anime - A Trip Down Memory Lane with Dragon Ball Z

Yes, although it was initially another hack job with a royalty-focused replacement soundtrack and they didn't find good time slots.

Frankly, I really don't think DBZ's success in the US mainstream was worth any of the things you mentioned, what it had to go through or any of the ridiculous nonsense that happened after with the home releases and other things. I now strongly believe that FUNimation using nepotism to get the license when they had no other qualification to have the series was a mistake, they've considerably poisoned the well (and Toei which initially refused them has only made matters worse in one way or the other). Then again it didn't have much luck in JP either considering that Toei got rid of the broadcast audio and won't do a proper remaster & release of the series (like Bandai/Sunrise and others are doing for theirs), along with other things like continuing to stick with the massive plagiarist Yamamoto for so long until he got exposed.

But I would not call anything that happened to it on the Western side a "necessary evil".

And thanks to that, they didn't have any hack jobs or replacement soundtracks that survived into the present day, unlike DBZ, Sailor Moon, among others. Nothing has distorted their image, and they have fans in other countries around the world (Europe and LatAm) that know what they are and didn't get distorted versions in their own mainstream. Being niche really isn't a bad thing (especially when it comes to the US), those who are drawn to it would find them anyway.

Kikuichi’s DBZ score is nice, but IMO, isn’t as essential. Personally, I got sick of it when I viewed almost 70 episodes of the dub with it, but that’s just me.

I think that DBZ, Pokémon, and Yugioh are the only times that the dub BGM and soundtracks are better than the original Japanese version soundtracks.

I do like his score a whole lot more in the OG DB. It’s more varied and IMO, fits the tone and style of that show a bit better. It does start to get repetitive by the end though.

I think every show’s situation is different. Gundam Wing was a more recent show aimed at an older audience from a completely different company (though still the same original dubbing studio as DBZ), and yes it was a massive success on Toonami as well (Endless Waltz was once the highest rated program ever on Cartoon Network). I do think DBZ would’ve been fine with its original score, but clearly FUNimation disagreed. At least they didn’t give it some bland forgettable score like 4Kids’ replacement music. I’ve never seen the 80s Transformers show (long before my time), so I can’t compare.

People are not going to rewatch 4kids dub anymore, because 4kids had gave them nothing and no proof to shown that they respect the audience as intelligent. Funimation DBZ dub gave the audience and the franchise respect and care.

Also, as it came out in 1995 (when DBZ ended), it actually wasn't too drastically different in certain departments (like BGM) from late 80's productions (particularly OVA's but also a few TV series).

We do have the first three movies dubbed and produced by Pioneer which kept the soundtrack in the dub though (which is about the only example we have of what happens when a proper professional company can call the shots on the licensing, what could have been...), along with having generally accurate scripts. FUNimation certainly learned nothing from that. I also wouldn't give them too much credit for the way things turned out, aside from obvious safe choices. They made some of the worst ones (first appearance of Future Trunks, Gohan turning SSJ2, Vegeta's sacrifice, etc) even though the people working on the show had better ideas.

I think that for that particular score by Faulconer Productions, the way it turned out had a lot to do with the three ghostwriters who worked under the company and had a wealth of material to emulate, along with sharing ideas and re-arranging each other's works here & there. If it had only been the man in question, it would probably be the same result as those other ones. The later ones who replaced them just weren't as good.

That's true for their infamous One Piece dub that destroyed their reputation, but people still have fond memories of the their dubs of Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sonic X, Shaman King (enough for most of their cast to reprise their roles for the reboot), and to a lesser extent, Ultimate Muscle, Kirby, and Fighting Foodons. There's also the 2003 TMNT.

That's true for their infamous One Piece dub that destroyed their reputation, but people still have fond memories of the their dubs of Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sonic X, Shaman King (enough for most of their cast to reprise their roles for the reboot), and to a lesser extent, Ultimate Muscle, Kirby, and Fighting Foodons. There's also the 2003 TMNT.