I liked the Cell Saga - up until the Cell games it was very... different, from what you would usually get from the show. Cell was something of a unique antagonist, especially Imperfect Cell - and across all forms he's my favorite villain - but even the 18/17 segments mixed "our heroes are insanely strong" with "our heroes need to make a plan instead of just beating things up" pretty well. The ending was a nice way to have Gohan's character ascend to the role of protector (at least before the Majin Buu saga), and had nice conclusions for Vegeta, Krillin and the others as well. Playing with who the big bad - especially with Dr. Gero - was a nice touch.
On the other hand, a real gripe I had is how 17 & 18 were pretty blatantly made inconsequential once Cell showed up, even before they actually met each other. I liked how much of Anti Villains they were, but we knew they weren't the Big Bads, the show knew that we knew they weren't the Big Bads, and it made little attempt to pretend that they were the main threat (arguably, that they were even a real threat) any more.
edited 9th Mar '14 5:45:15 PM by KnownUnknown
Well, I'm glad that you guys don't utterly hate the Cell Saga.
As for teaming up, well, we saw how well that worked against 17, 18, Semi, and Super Perfect Cell.
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I saw that the animation error they 'fixed' in Episode 39 as well, during the scene where 18 was standing on the truck and her leggings were missing.
edited 9th Mar '14 8:39:59 PM by Soble
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!17 actually implies teaming up would have worked if it had just been 18, so that doesn't do a lot to explain it. As I've said, any time they don't try teaming up, the difference in power it quite big. The Cell Games didn't really give the impression that the difference in power was big enough for them to not even consider it. Especially considering that Goku after his fight was exhausted enough to be weaker than Vegeta/Trunks/Piccolo, and Cell was pretty exhausted himself.
Cell saga was a mixed bag for me.
Started weak, with Gero and 19 being weak antagonists who are so clearly out of their elements (Heck, saved pretty much by Goku's heart virus, and in the original show he doesn't even have much of an excuse for not taking the medicine IIRC).
18 and 17 were clearly uninterested at being Big Bads, but not interesting either. At least the Abridged series gives them a bit of charm. The original show... they are just bland as hell.
Cell's first appearance is awesome. I love his design and that he starts weaker than the heroes. It's rare, especially for DBZ, to introduce a villain who is a clear menace despite being at a disadvantage. And Cell bridges the gap by being clever, using the heroes own tricks against them, and cutting a huge swath of destruction.
Tension builds up as he becomes semi-perfect (Though I disliked his crossing of the Bishonen line. So much better when he was a monster and not some dude wearing armor...), but then it fell flat to me when the Cell games started. I was like "Really, at the end of all this... We get another tournament? And heck, Cell's not even trying to be subtle about it, he's outright stretching things out and giving the heroes a chance! Laaaaaaame!" And when the Cell games ended I left DBZ, feeling pretty unsatisfied. Only caught the Buu saga later. It was disappointing to see a character who had acted so cleverly fall back on the Freeza "I purposely hinder myself coz I am bored and need a challenge" trope.
edited 9th Mar '14 9:51:30 PM by Ghilz
Well of course Shriveled Old Man wouldn't kill itself.
What about Purple Radio Host?
Guys. These characters are from over 20 years ago. Can you believe that? I remember the first time I saw a commercial for an old SNES DBZ game, that had Frieza and Cell in it. I'm constantly reminded of how old this series is.

I enjoyed the Cell Saga, stuff actually got done and the heroes actually tried to be heroes. Except Vegeta, he just caused more problems then he solved and watching him get thrown around like a rag doll was hilarious.