Ask John: Will Saber Rider Get an Uncut American DVD Release?

Question:
I think it’s absolutely great that Saber Rider finally will get a DVD release. The only thing that is a letdown is that it’s the edited version. That is really disappointing that there is no news yet for a DVD release of Saber Rider in it’s original, uncut version. Many other titles that was edited for American TV are now released uncut on DVD such as Dragonball Z, Macross, Voltron. Do you think that Saber Rider has a chance of being released as a uncut version as well on DVD?

Answer:
Even in Japan the Seijushi Bismarck television series is now rather forgotten, outside of a small audience of hardcore devotees of 80s robot anime. Even the series’ American television broadcast in 1987 is now older than, I estimate, a large majority of America’s anime fan community. Certain anime series that have been “Americanized” and broadcast on US television in the past have received uncut DVD releases while others haven’t, or haven’t received an American DVD release at all.

The 1978 American television broadcast of Battle of the Planets, as well as the uncut Japanese Gatchaman television series are available on American DVD. Starblazers, originally broadcast on American television in 1979, is available on domestic DVD, and the unedited Japanese language Space Battleship Yamato motion pictures are available on domestic DVD, but an uncensored version of the TV series has never officially reached American home video.

Popular mid 80s anime series Belle and Sebastian & The Mysterious Cities of Gold are not available on American DVD in either English or Japanese. Despite the popularity of character designer Akira Toriyama here in America, the Dragon Quest television series broadcast on American TV in 1990 has never been released on domestic DVD. Despite still having a small but devoted fan following, the Samurai Pizza Cats (Cat Ninden Tyande) series has never received an American DVD release. And even anime broadcasts from the 2000s, including Moncolle Knight, Shinzo (Mushrambo), Fighting Foodons (Kakutou Ryouri Densetsu Bistro Recipe), and Daigunder have no official American home video releases.

For its fans, and for curious viewers, the forthcoming American DVD release of Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs should be welcome. From one perspective, an official domestic DVD release, even an edited release, is still preferable to no release at all. Precedent confirms that the release of the American version of Bismarck doesn’t ensure that the original Japanese version will also eventually reach American DVD, but the chances of an uncut, original language release may be significantly increased if the American version DVD sales meet or exceed its distributor’s expectations. Furthermore, contacting the domestic distributor, World Events Productions, to inform them of interest in an unaltered release, or creating or participating in a noticable online movement to express demand for an uncut release may help generate results.