The First

Before Adult Swim ever existed, Cartoon Network ran something called the "Toonami: Midnight Run" at midnight - which was an extra, hour-long block of Toonami anime shows, on top of the main Toonami anime block which usually began at 4 or 5 PM and always went until 7 PM. Sometimes the reruns shown were the same episodes that were airing earlier in the day in the main Toonami block, but sometimes they were different and occasionally even got to be less censored. More than anything though, the Midnight Run was a way for people to see even more episodes of Dragon Ball Z, as it was a phenomenon back then. For most of the Midnight Run's existence, one or both shows were DBZ reruns - as was the case with this recording that I made back in 2001. And to give an appreciation of it, I'm showing the first 2 minutes and 30 seconds of what it was like when the clock struck midnight and a Midnight Run rendition of DBZ began. So you get to see the Toonami: Midnight Run intro, the Toonami DBZ intro (with special Midnight Run title font), a recap from the original Funimation English dub of an episode (with the old announcer), the original Funimation DBZ episode title card, and then a few seconds of the actual episode. (I'd show more but, you know... UA-cam.)
This video is a lossless conversion from a VHS tape and is at ~60fps, meaning it looks as faithful as possible to how it would look if you watched this on a TV that was de-interlacing a VHS tape. It's also been upscaled to 1440x960 in order to be viewable at ~60fps on UA-cam.

[@velodus]

RIP to the GOAT

[@pageyd]

Arigato Toriyama sensei

[@thewatcherofawesomecontent]

If time travel gets invented, I know when I'm going to and what I am watching. This will never be surpassed. RIP 😔

[@WickedFireBird69]

"I AM THE PRINCE OF ALL SAIYANS ONCE AGAIN!" Greatest. Intro. EVER.

[@blackNinjastarr1996]

RIP to the greatest to ever do it! We will all miss you Akira Toriyama. You affected and shaped so many of our lives and made our child hoods so fun too experience. Rest easy you are loved and missed💙🙏🏾🥷🏾

[@giftoflakes]

that pre-show bumper is burned into my memory. RIP

[@velodus]

same! I can still recite all the lines that they all say in those 30 seconds

[@MaceBeats]

And *THIS* is how I became a fan of one of the greatest franchises to ever exist

[@e69alpha]

Pure fucking intensity. they don't make like this anymore

[@spidermandryu03]

Memories unlocked

[@Valientlink]

Christmas of 1998, just got the N64 and Ocarina of Time for Christmas and am up watching DBZ at Midnight. Those were the days.

[@cameronl1859]

I used to watch the midnight episodes at my grandparents house because I would sleep on the pull out couch so I had the TV. They were cool because they didn't follow the same episode schedule as the primetime show. Peak childhood moments

[@velodus]

Yep, and that was a huge deal back when you weren't sure you'd ever see those episodes again, haha.

[@Made_In_Heaven88]

It's unfortunate that Toonami no longer airs original Z since the license ran out, now it's just Kai

[@Dewaynesite1]

I remember back on April 1st 2012 Toonami(before it's official return) they aired the original Funimation dub DBZ final episode of the Cell games.

[@thomas5076]

thanks, this was a nice way to honor him

[@Dazen101]

Ah, just like how I remembered it

[@goldinthefurnace]

Thank you Akira Toryama for the warm memories 😅❤❤❤

[@Quandiesel]

My childhood the good old days

[@clauzellblackshear2057]

god i miss that intro music 🎵 that 🎸

[@DesertGuy702]

AND IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!

[@michaeldeboer]

1:42 CLOTHES BEAM

[@BlackWingedSeraphX]

Remember the excitement of hurrying home from school!? To watch the new episode ofr Dragon Ball z! xD Those were the days!

[@JupiterJazzX]

Good Lord. Toonami was so cool.

[@jarvisholland7837]

Great great great

[@alanemocab3465]

Thank you Toriyama for our childhood.

[@4austinbrady]

Nostalgic memories 🙁

[@pandacaribbeantech3921]

Back when kids tv channels used to be a menace😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌😌

[@trerchry]

I grew up with this show, especially the Toonami days of it. Toriyama shaped my childhood through his work. I’m currently on the hunt for the DVDs of this original English dub. Of course, Toonami aired the Ocean Dub for the “Saiyan” and “Namek” sagas back in these days, and I almost have all of the Saiyan saga DVDs at the moment.

[@josephfreeman8516]

This was when the android saga was debuting if I'm correct?
(Dbz abridged fans) "All these squares make a circle"

[@wy0lkensb.902]

Awesome

[@husasizzle]

Full On!!!

[@shawnz12ss]

Please send full upload/others to internet archive

[@alanemocab3465]

You wouldn't happen to have full episodes of these with commercials do you? Because that would be awesome.

[@velodus]

Alas, the ones I recorded I almost always cut out the commercials to make more space on the vhs tapes

[@alanemocab3465]

@@velodus Darn, that's a shame. Would've been a good nostalgia drug.🙂

[@wy0lkensb.902]

Is this tape on the internet archive?

[@velodus]

It's not. I may get around to uploading some of them, although I'm pretty sure there are already cartoon network versions of dbz eps on there already - albeit not in this quality.

[@Sugar_SpiceDB7ZS]

I'm sorry, the Funimation english dub of Z was just cringe fr fr.

[@taterboob]

God, I forgot how bad that original Funi dub was.

[@DrMambo1]

Bad? 🤨

[@chrishill9197]

DBZ fans not complaining about the original Funimation dub challenge: *impossible*

[@jarvisholland7837]

Great great great

[@jarvisholland7837]

Great great great