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Dragon Ball Z Abridged

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KarlGrouchoMarx Since: Oct, 2014
#8026: Oct 15th 2014 at 7:59:17 PM

Her fighting people with her bitch fu, then?

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#8027: Oct 15th 2014 at 8:26:53 PM

[up]

It's a powerful style.

Anyway, the three smartest people on earth, in order:

1) created capsules that can hold entire houses if necessary and became rich based off that idea, then reversed engineered an advanced alien spaceship and made an earth based one, though his was much larger, whether due to Earth tech not being as advanced to compress it (which I kinda doubt considering he, once again, made entire fucking career out of compressing things into tiny capsules), or simply to accommodate the extra shit Goku needed for the trip), and then helped repair an incredibly advanced android made by another genius.

2) reprogrammed an alien device that read the energy of fighters to work in english, and then built a fucking time machine 20 years into the future, and also helped repair the previously mentioned advanced android

3) created some incredibly advanced sentient machines (including the one that the first and second on the list repaired) created cybernetic implants that made ordinary people almost or more powerful than the strongest fighters on Earth (and the universe at that point), and even transplanted his own brain into one of those bodies, and then created an genetic hodge podge that was stronger than all of those dudes combined.

If Gero had lived, the three of them together could have given Earth Tech a serious boost. In fact, I have to wonder why, with the data they must have gathered from studying Saiyan tech, and some of Gero's stuff, why Bulma and her dad haven't been churning out some advanced shit for the military.

One Strip! One Strip!
KarlGrouchoMarx Since: Oct, 2014
#8028: Oct 15th 2014 at 8:30:43 PM

Because Dragonball Z is poorly written

KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#8029: Oct 15th 2014 at 8:33:31 PM

Because they're too busy making camper vans you can fit in your pocket.

GethKnight Since: Apr, 2010
#8030: Oct 15th 2014 at 8:45:37 PM

Because there would be no story?

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#8031: Oct 15th 2014 at 11:24:30 PM

because Dr.Briefs would use it to fulfill his RACISM!

Saiga Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: Getting away with murder
#8032: Oct 16th 2014 at 12:35:21 AM

[up]x5 Because the military was obsolete at that point and they were already rich?

Simply having Goku et al exist does more for Earth's protection than what they could provide for the military.

edited 16th Oct '14 12:36:06 AM by Saiga

FOFD Since: Apr, 2013
#8033: Oct 16th 2014 at 12:35:35 AM

[up](x7)

There's a fan fic out there about an alternate universe where Bulma is a mad scientist, and she takes Gero's path and builds herself fighters/exoskeletons as powerful as Main Timeline 17 and 18, and beyond. Unfortunately, it was more "rationalist fanfic" than "mad scientist!Bulma antics".

uselessNINJA Since: Sep, 2012
#8034: Oct 16th 2014 at 5:03:55 AM

Why is the there a need for a military when, according to the Dragonball wiki, King Furry rules the entire earth?

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#8035: Oct 16th 2014 at 5:06:15 AM

in case of non ki powered aliens?

Saiga Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: Getting away with murder
#8036: Oct 16th 2014 at 5:06:56 AM

[up][up] The Red Ribbon Army was a threat up until Goku destroyed it.

wanderlustwarrior Role Model from Where Gods Belong Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Role Model
#8037: Oct 16th 2014 at 5:22:18 AM

Heh, Bulma could've been considered one of the most powerful humans on Earth.

GethKnight Since: Apr, 2010
#8038: Oct 16th 2014 at 5:45:39 AM

And Yamcha would still be the joke of the group.

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#8039: Oct 16th 2014 at 8:09:01 AM

[up]

He will always be the joke of the group, cause people will never forget it.

Because the military was obsolete at that point and they were already rich?

Good point. Though considering how often the Military gets stomped, you'd think they would considering lending some of the stuff they'd discovered to them. Like I said, Gero created an infinite energy generator, and chi absorbing equipment. He made machines that could fight at a similar level to the Z Warriors. Bulma learned about the scouters that Frieza's men use, which measure power levels (and it seems that only Earth warriors and Namekians can hide power levels).

I mean, that's the key to nifty Powered Armour right there, and while Goku et al do a good job, I'd think someone would say "well, having a back up plan wouldn't be so bad, and maybe we'd loss less soldiers as well". But then again, the point of the Earth Military is to provide The Worf Barrage so I guess that won't ever happen.

edited 16th Oct '14 10:59:54 AM by Handsomerob

One Strip! One Strip!
Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#8040: Oct 16th 2014 at 10:49:56 AM

Iron Bulma needs to be a thing.

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
FOFD Since: Apr, 2013
#8041: Oct 16th 2014 at 11:30:49 AM

Its usefulness might be zilch unless Bulma could study Frieza/Cold/a Super Saiyan the way that Gero did, but still, if they ever want to reboot Dragonball, giving Bulma a mecha or powered armor wouldn't be far-fetched.

Heck, she shot Goku in the head in her first appearance, and TFS made a joke about her fighting giant, alien crabs. I'd forgotten about that episode.

Kayeka (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#8042: Oct 16th 2014 at 11:52:44 AM

There's a lot of things one might want to change in a hypothetical reboot:

  • The not-so-gradual marginalisation of any non-Saiyans.
  • Give the female characters a more worthy role.
  • Never mention the word "power level".
  • Not making Super Saiyan transformations such an obvious plot device.
  • Not introducing villains that are so stupidly overpowered that they can only be beaten by stupidly overpowered heroes with obvious plot device power-ups.
  • A bunch of other stuff I can't think off right now, but I might get to if we pursue this line of conversation.

Dragonball is pretty good. It has few terrible plot holes, a great setting, a large cast of likeable and interesting characters and pretty darn good villains. My main gripe with it is that the series never seemed to fully utilise any of those strengths, which annoys me a lot more than an obviously bad series would.

FOFD Since: Apr, 2013
#8043: Oct 16th 2014 at 12:01:59 PM

I'm sensing a strange case of deja vu...

...anyway, with the exceptions of a few comic books, Battlestar Galactica, and possibly Doctor Who, I don't think reboots ever work. And in this case, not because we can't throw great ideas into it, but because Dragon Ball is an old franchise, not Golden Age of Comic Books-old, but old nonetheless.

To recreate everything from scratch just wouldn't be thesible or interesting nowadays. Even the corniest parts of Dragon Ball are so ingrained its identity, to remove them would be offensive. Goku's KAMEHAMEHA, the Super Saiyan transformation, the iconic villains, the long charge-ups, the irritating plot devices, the idiocy of the main cast - you take those out, and you don't have the series that everyone fell in love with anymore.

The Dragon Balls would be the first thing to go - and that's literally the series' namesake. Without them, you'd have... Goku and his Amazing Pals, or some seinen manga called Saiyan or something.

KarlGrouchoMarx Since: Oct, 2014
#8044: Oct 16th 2014 at 12:26:26 PM

There is a reason nothing associated with Dragonball, Z or GT has ever won an award.

GethKnight Since: Apr, 2010
#8045: Oct 16th 2014 at 1:30:26 PM

[up][up] Why would the dragon balls have to be cut out of a hypothetical reboot of Dragon Ball? Or the Kamehameha?

wanderlustwarrior Role Model from Where Gods Belong Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Role Model
#8046: Oct 16th 2014 at 1:34:17 PM

Super Saiyan was okay. Arbitrary Zenkai was the bigger problem.

GethKnight Since: Apr, 2010
#8047: Oct 16th 2014 at 1:45:41 PM

When your plan amounts to "Nearly kill me so that the Green One can heal me so that I'll be stronger" things have gone a little crazy.

edited 16th Oct '14 1:46:04 PM by GethKnight

FOFD Since: Apr, 2013
#8048: Oct 16th 2014 at 1:53:00 PM

[up][up][up]

Those are elements that typically get criticized. TFS lampshades this, pointing out that the existence of the Dragon balls robs death of all meaning. As plot devices, some feel they weaken the show.

The Kamehameha, meanwhile, is the main character's signature attack - which takes an incredible amount of time to say. In fact, I was surprised when Goku launched it in Battle of Gods as a surprise attack. The only times I remember him doing that were against Raditz and Frieza. (Yes, Instant Kamehameha against Cell, but Cell still had time to scream right before Goku launched it - another scene I can't wait to see TFS's rendition of)

FOFD Since: Apr, 2013
#8049: Oct 16th 2014 at 1:58:19 PM

[up]

Rather, it would be better to say that, with a modern-day mindset, things like the Kamehameha Wave and the Dragonballs would probably be written out, or lessened significantly. In a reboot by someone who prides themselves on Dragonball knowledge, there would be a question of "why Goku and co don't fix most of their problems by using their wishes more creatively" and "why does anyone ever get hit by the Kamehameha".

It wouldn't have to go, but the kind of reboot where "everything is rationalized" would probably make it priority.

It's far less troublesome to just poke fun at all of the little inconsistencies in Dragon Ball, or to re-animate scenes and re-dub lines, then to go through it with a red pen and cross out all the nonsense, then craft an entirely new story sans such nonsense.

Kayeka (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#8050: Oct 16th 2014 at 2:11:07 PM

[up]I dunno. A few basic restrictions on the power of the Dragon(Can't kill people, can't make someone fall in love, can't raise the dead as a start, perhaps?), kamehameha only being the name of the technique and not a necessary chant that has to be shouted out loud, a more carefully plotted death toll...

Some scenes would have to be rewritten, for sure, but I do feel that, hypothetically speaking, the bulk of reasons for people to tune in would remain intact.

edited 16th Oct '14 2:12:52 PM by Kayeka


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