Subject: Sorry guys! Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2000 09:35:09 -0800 From: Chris Psaros Organization: Dis Newsgroups: alt.fan.dragonball Heh. Well, I can't say I'm all that surprised. They may have started over, and made us sad and all, but you've got to admit, it's genius from a marketing standpoint. Think about it... people have been coming to DBZ in DROVES over the last few months, the show has shot up to unheard of levels of popularity. A lot of these people, therefore, have seen nothing but the third season and will want to watch the first episodes. So CN will show them, and by the time they finally make their way back to the elusive "The Heavens Tremble," again, it will be... Friday, May 12 by my calculation. Just in time for the ratings sweeps, and they'll probably have an "ALL NEW EPISODES!" campaign firmly in place by then. It's all very smart, and to be honest, exactly what I would have done if I was calling the shots. Run 40 new episodes, make everybody happy because of the weeks upon weeks of new stuff, plus the fact that the new ones end at a sort of cliffhangerish, but still fairly resolved, point in the story, Go back and show the 40 again just in case any of the longtime viewers (like me) missed any (which I did), Then go back and start the series over so that all the newbies could see how things got to where they are, Then, just like clockwork, the ten final episodes of the season, right smack dab in the middle of ratings-crucial May and the release of the DVD's/Movie number 4 (which would be absolute genius to air along with the new episodes, by the way, and maybe they'll do just that). Also, this will make it much more tempting for people to go out and buy the videos of the Garlic Jr. saga, since by the time they air, they all will have been released on video. FUNimation will doubtlessly make a few extra bucks for this tactic, which will work on the "AAAGH! I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!" people. It certainly makes a whole lot more sense than what they did in Season 2, where the "two episodes a week, but only 29 new ones for the year" caused people to just gave up on the show because of the sheer amount of reruns. Anybody remember that? There were periods during Season 2 where there'd be like 2 weeks worth of new episodes (only 4), and they'd just go back and start Season 2 over, without even taking all the extra down time to rerun Season 1. Completely stupid. And plus, they ended the season at an absolutely RETARDED point in the story, in the middle of nowhere. It was neither a good cliffhanger, or point of resolution. But Cartoon Network and FUNimation (or whoever is deciding the air schedule) knows EXACTLY what they're doing this time around. Well, it's gonna be a long winter for the dubbies. Happy waiting! - Chris