In defense of Dragon Ball GT

Dragon Ball Z, the greatest show ever, ended with Goku going off to train with Uub, the reincarnation of his last nemesis, Majin Buu. For those who do not know what that was about, MajinBuu waDNs an eater of gods, the series had been pushed to the absolute limit of what anybody should expect, and Akira Toriyama decided it was time to simply bow out. Yet, the fans still demanded more, so Toei Animation, who had the rights to make the animated series, and the filler and the movies which made for good eye candy despite being non-canon and irrelevant, decided they could keep making the series without Akira Toriyama. Somehow, the fans of Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan, were rather disappointed in Dragon Ball GT, the result of Toei's efforts, and yet it still happened because we DB fans are cheap whores that will take any crap that features Son Goku even when we hate it, we love it. Except the live action movie, apparently, we draw the line at live action, though I imagine I could match up the audio from Dragon Ball Evolution with actual footage of similar events from the anime and it would do well. In fact, it would probably get far more hits on YouTube than the actual movie. But this post isn't about that movie, it's about DBGT.

DBGT begins about where DBZ leaves off, with Goku and Uub training. Then Emperor Pilaf, Mai and Shuu, who have been absent since releasing Piccolo before DBZ started, show up and they have gotten old and pathetic and are no match for Goku. Pilaf is looking for the dark star dragon balls, which are just like regular dragon balls, except that they were made by Demon King Piccolo who added in an extar bit of evil; the dragon balls will scatter around the universe and if not returned to the planet the last wish was made on within the year the planet will be destroyed. Emperor Pilaf is willing to take the risk to finally wish to rule the world, but screws up and says to Goku "I wish you were a little kid so I could beat you up!" and Dark Shenron grants the wish. This is actually brilliant because it returns the seies to it's roots by making Goku a kid again and looking for the dragon balls, while it also keeps the growing scope of the Dragon Ball series universe. It is wierd that one of his companions is his granddaughter Pan who still calls him grandpa, even though they now appear to be the same age. Anyway, the series runs pretty aimlessly like it did way back when, but it's good for what it was meant to be, bringing back Goku. Then the Baby Saga starts. Baby is an android that possesses other people...blah, blah, blah...the only thing worthwhile that ets our attention back is the introduction of Super Saiyan 4, which Goku has to ascend to in order to defeat Baby when he possesses Vegeta. SS4 is awesome for a nmber of reasons, the most immediate being that Goku becomes an adult temporarily. Also, he turns into a monkey, sort of. I would argue this is the form Super Saiyan should have been all along, it's like mini-oozaru.

So they collect the dragon balls, defeat Baby, and save the world twice at once, what's next? Android 17 comes back! Okay, I didn't actually watch this part, some scheduling issues, I am meaning to watch it eventually, it seems like a good idea. The thing is, all of Goku's enemies either became his ally or he killed them, all except Android 17, he is the last loose thread hanging from the previous series. So he comes back for one last battle. Another good thing, this makes the Red Ribbon Army the most persistent enemy as they appear in all three series. I can't say much more since I didn't actually see it, I'm just saying don't hate on it.

Finally the series ends with the Shadow Dragon Saga, which I would argue is the greatest of Dragon Ball ever. The gang goes to the Dragon Balls to wish away all the damge that's been done so far, but the overused dragon balls go dark and instead manifest as the seven shadow dragons. Yes, Dragon Ball has become about fighting against the dragons that are born of the dragon balls, for once the title actually makes sense! The absolute best part is when Goku fights Nuova Shenron, the four-star dragon. The whole story started when Goku was protective of this very dragon ball, and now he gets to fight the ultimate battle for this particular dragon ball. In my opinion this beats Broly out of the water. I do have a different idea of how the series should have ended though. I d like the fight with Omega Shenron, the ultimate combination shadow dragon, but I would have gone in a different direction when Nuova came back after Goku ate the four star dragon ball to keep it from Omega. Nuova should have brought Potara earrings from Supreme Kai on the other side after his brief demise, and then he could have fused with Goku to become Nuova Goku, and Omega could have used the seven-star's power of absorption to absorb Vegeta and become Omega Vegeta, and then there could have been an epic battle of Dragon Saiyans. Maybe that would be a good way to go with the rumored reboot...