First off, you do realize that Dragon Ball originated from Japan, right? Well, if you came to this page, you may or may not. Not that that is bad, I'm glad that you are seeking to know the truth about Dragon Ball. Hopefully by reading this, you will leave with a sense of fullness and an almost nirvana-like state of mind. If not, please check out the rest of this site.Akira Toriyama was mainly a gag manga maker, his latest manga was a gag manga titled" Dr. Slump." I know nothing about it it other than that. It was supposedly very good. His publisher Jump Comics was happy because they made a pretty penny (or in their case, pretty zeni). After that series was all done and happy, he decided to create a martial arts/comedic manga based on a Chinese legend. This comic was called "Dragon Ball."
Dragon Ball focused on a young boy with a tail who grew up in the wilderness. He meets up with a girl named Bulma who is searching for the 7 dragon balls. Gokou possesses the 4-star ball, and agrees to go with Bulma to find the rest of them. That begins their incredible adventure.
The mangas and episodes were produced simultaneously. The magas came out monthly and the episodes were aired weekly. Each manga is roughly equal to 4 episodes. However, the manga was usually several months ahead of the episodes.
After 153 episodes (I don't know how many mangas), Toriyama ended Dragon Ball and began Draogn Ball Z. This series was less comedic and more fighting based because that was what the fans liked to see. DBZ begins with Gokou's long lost brother Raditz who lands on Earth and reveals to the Z senshi (Z warriors, Z Team, whatever you want to call them) that Gokou is an alien, a Saiyajin. The Saiya were a warrior race, which partially explains why Gokou could get so strong so fast. Raditz kidnaps Gokou's son when Gokou denies the fact that he was sent to the Earth to destroy it and get it prepared for selling to thie highest bidder. When that happens, Gokou is forced to team up with an unlikley ally and thus begins the wild ride of DBZ.
After 291 episodes, 13 movies, and 2 television specials, Toriyama retired his favorite DB pen and pencils and did some stuff. The company that produced the insanely popular TV series DBZ didn't want to stop yet. They knew that there were
thousands of fans in Japan that they could make money off of. So they made Dragon Ball GT. Since Toriyama was done, they got some other guy to do the drawing and they made their own scripts and storyline.
After 64 episodes, DBGT was done murdering the good name that was Dragon Ball. It wasn't bad anime, it just wasn't as good as DBZ was, plus there were some weird occurances and the plot kinda got old and crusty that did not help the show. Somewhere down the line, DBGT was manga'ed.
Before DBZ finished airing in Japan, some company (Saban?) bought the rights to dub Dragon Ball in English and air it in America. This show bombed. Mainly because it was on at ungodly hours in the morning. But also because America just wasn't ready for anime just yet.
By the time DBZ was done and DBGT began, Saban bought the rights to play one of the most popular animes of all time in English in America: DBZ. They dubbed roughly about 50 episodes, which were aired on various local stations for several years and did okay. Thus began the oringal fan base of DBZ fans. Some of these fans had already seen uneditted, subtitled versions of DBZ and DB, and were unhappy with the treatment of American'ized DBZ. Thus began the original dub haters.
Saban ditched FUNimation (the branch of Saban that did DBZ) and FUNi moved to Texas to continue DBZ. They hired some new voice actors (*runs to the porcelan goddess and offers a sacrifice*) and continued the show. And they are still making new episodes today.
Today, however, is much different than when DB first aired in the US. Anime has swept through all of North America like a storm, addicting teens and young poke-crazed children everywhere. These fans are like the 4th generation anime fans, for those of you who are counting :P .
There are no plans to make a new DB series and there is a 99.99999% chance that there never will be. For more info about Dragon Ball, check out the rest of the site. Also, be sure to check out the DB questions in the FAQ for some more nifty info.