Produced by Toei Animation, Dragon Ball GT (ドラゴンボールGT(ジーティー) Doragon Bōru Jī Tī, G(rand) T(our)[5]) premiered on Fuji TV on February 2, 1996, and ran until November 19, 1997. Unlike the first two series, it was not based on the original Dragon Ball manga.[35] The series lasted 64 episodes.[5] In Dragon Ball GT, Goku is turned back into a child by the Black Star Dragon Balls and is forced to travel across the galaxy to retrieve them.
Following the success of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z in the U.S., Funimation Entertainment licensed Dragon Ball GT for an English language Region 1 DVD release and television broadcast. Funimation's dub of the series aired on Cartoon Network from November 14, 2003 to January 29, 2005. The television broadcast skipped the first 16 episodes of the series. Instead, Funimation created a composition episode entitled "A Grand Problem," which used scenes from the skipped episodes to summarize the story. The skipped episodes, advertised as "The Lost Episodes," were later aired after the remaining episodes of the series had been broadcast.
Funimation released their dub to bilingual Region 1 DVD in two season box sets, with the first set released on December 9, 2008 and the final set on February 10, 2009, which also featured the Dragon Ball GT TV special, A Hero's Legacy. In a similar fashion to their DVD releases for Dragon Ball Z, the DVD box sets have the option of hearing the English dub alongside the original Japanese music, and the rap song used for the TV airing of the show (nicknamed by fans "Step Into the Grand Tour") has been replaced by English-dubbed versions of the original Japanese opening and ending songs. Funimation later released a "Complete Series" box set of Dragon Ball GT (using the same discs as the two season sets, but with different packaging) on September 21, 2010.[36]