Oh my God, I never expected you to reply! I love your videos, but this is the first time I've actually replied. But yeah, I think they could've worked that in without throwing a wrench in the "Kakarot defeats Freeza" bit. Sure, Bardock doesn't know about the Dragon Balls, but if it replaced the visions of the Kaio-Ken and Goku's fight with Vegeta (which in my opinion are the least relevant visions in the special), then Bardock's vision of Goku on Namek would have made him realize that Goku comes back somehow. I think it would have even been more powerful that way.
Its actually weird that his visions never shown Raditz confronting Goku in the first Z episode. You would think that would be significant. It would have been interesting to see say Raditz stepping on Goku's chest in his vision, which would have had to freak Bardock out.
Most fans don't realize how unique Solid State Scouter is because it ironically sounds a lot more like the American score than it does the Japanese score.
@The Fantom Convoy Considering the tone that they were going for in Dragon Ball, making it a fantasy martial arts series. It's not weird that they would keep the series with a similar soundtrack throughout.
It’s a YMO homage made by Yasunori Iwasaki, a guy with a solid 90’s OST discography (including titles like Getter Robo Armageddon OVA). Also, it beats the US scores at their own game and is thus far superior to them.
I'll never understand why Toriyama decided to make his own version of Bardock's story. He liked the Bardock special so much that he decided to incorporate the character into the manga, yet over 20 years later, he just suddenly decided ignore the backstory that fans unanimously love, in favor of 'Minus'?
Its even worse that Minus wasn't even a good retcon. I think he made a mistake by redoing Bardock in that scenario from the special and not just focusing it on Gine solo. Instead he created Gine a mary-sue to change Bardock against what everyone liked about the Toei special. Sadly Gine herself wasn't interesting herself either just being weak and making Bardock fall in love with her because she was weak. What?
I mean, to be fair, the story does address that Bardock and his crew are standouts among low-class warriors. They give you a reason for Bardock's unorthodox power level, so it personally doesn't bother me. That said, yeah, they probably should have kept him under Nappa, lol.
When has Goku gotten stronger as a result of being overtaken by his emotions beyond turning into a Super Saiyan? Regarding Vegeta's power up in Battle of Gods, that's what I was referring to. That scene doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Vegeta went ape-shit when Cell killed Trunks, and no power up was noted in that instance.
Yeah, they explain that the efficiency of Bardock's squad was what lead them to survive things that were above their level standard and the Zenkai boosts they got from it was what made their power levels grow so quickly as the average Sayian was under 2000, and Bardock was at 10k in his prime was a bit much but used to emphasize abnormal figures. The only thing I find weird is that Bardock was essentially stronger than Nappa for most of Nappa's entire life. Its weird that Nappa wasn't all that strong at all at 4000. If he was the general of the army he should have been at at least 7000 to 8000. Then Vegeta being double that would have still made sense.
+g1rider13 If you read Bardock After (doujinshi) that is what happened somewhat, where Bardock was already planning to betray Freeza and his motivation doing that made his power level go up a lot on the spot.
I have to say, the original designs for Bardock and his crew are pretty nice. I like the more wild version of Bardock's hair too, it makes him look less like a bulkier Goku with a scar.
There is a pattern to the Bardock family children (it's probably just a coincidence, but it is there). The second son looks just like the father, but not the first. Raditz doesn't look like Bardock, but Goku does. Gohan doesn't look like Goku, but Goten does. That probably wasn't on purpose, but I always thought it was interesting.
And interestingly, Gohan's Hair was shaping to be pretty similar to Raditz's hair before Chichi cut it and Freeza said he looks like Raditz, so it is a possibility that Gohan would have ended up looking Just like Raditz
Cue the Solid State Scouter! Hearing you talk about Battle Powers is the best thing ever. Probably because it's so unexpected. The Bardock Special is great because it's probably the most subtle and least gratuitous Toei has ever gotten with their original material. That and the Trunks special. And we know now he easy it was to make that mistake.
@@spartanq7781 I bet they decided to give him brown-red hair as a gag to their original colouring of his son (which, in my opinion, is far better than the standart one)
Thanks! I definitely put a lot of work into this script. But to my chagrin and my delight, the resulting discussions cropping up here in the comments section has made me consider even more things I wish I'd thought to put into the script!
A good point to make, one you even almost touched on at the start, is that Bardock is essentially just Tullece. That's something that, if it were expanded upon, would drive home the point of what makes OG Japanese Bardock work and tick if people (ESPECIALLY Toei) understood it better. Imagine this: Bardock and his crew come to Earth, 20+ years in the future. Bardock meets Goku and the senshi. If this happened in modern times, Bardock would be amazed to see what his son has become, and they'd spar, and he'd develop a respect for him and his friends and realize there's more to being a Saiyan than just destruction and murder, and tell his crew to learn from his son, who has surpassed the father, and they leave with a bunch of grins and thumbs up (and probably Selipa teasing Krillin to stir a catfight with 18 for some reason, because Toei) Even OG American Bardock would probably be similar, though I can imagine Goku wouldn't be as respectful to Bardock and vice versa; they'd simply respect each other's power but Goku would not want to acknowledge Bardock as his father. OG Japanese Bardock _is Tullece_ OG Japanese Bardock _is Bojack_ OG Japanese Bardock _is Slug_ OG Japanese Bardock _is a typical DBZ movie villain who just happens to be the protagonist_ Heck, even that kind of shows that there was something a bit "special" about him considering that the overall point of the special is that he technically shouldn't be any different than Daiz or Medamacha or Salza- just a mook, not the actual head honcho, but we can let that one slide. He comes to Earth because he discovers his son is there. But he also sees Earth is in pristine shape, so he tells his crew to prepare to clean it up, so they cause havoc and destruction, and then we inevitably get the scenes where the senshi come to fight (and to job) against Bardock's crew. Then Goku and Bardock meet, and Bardock reveals "No... I am your father!" And Goku and friends are shocked, but Goku rejects that revelation, especially when Bardock demands Goku join him on galactic conquest as a Saiyan warrior, and then the rest of the movie is just fighting that ends with Goku genki-dama-ing his father (or maybe this is a movie set "before" the fight with Nappa and Vegeta, so Goku defeats Bardock by "sacrificing himself" ala the Raditz fight, but through some magical means, survives) And that's the end of it. No redemption, no indication Bardock was secretly a good guy who regretted what he had done. To the bitter end, he was disgusted with his son, disowning him for being soft and selfless. THAT is who the original Bardock is, temperamentally. He's just a typical goon who, in any other context, would be the kind of bastard Goku and friends regularly punch out without second thought. Few people other than slice-of-lifers and what-ifers care to put much thought into the idea of "What if Lord Slug was a good guy?" or "What if Bojack befriended Goku?" but everyone does that for Bardock because of how so consistently everyone misunderstood this special (doubly so for the dub version that actively did rewrite him to feel remorse).
I think the differences in power levels may be explained like this: The soldiers who fought with Bardock before were some kind of Dodoria's elite group, yet if I remember correctly Bardock was slowed down a bit by his unpredictedly appearing visions. Of course in the end he was no match for Dodoria himself, but I think he could handle those soldiers with easy. So the second group, an army flying out of Frieza's ship was a bunch of "Raditzs" or even weaker guys. :D And yet again it's not as if Bardock could easily win against them. If not for Frieza's appearance on the top of the spaceship, they would propably manage to beat Bardock down (I mean at least on the lower part of the planet's atmosphere). Goku's father managed to get so high only by his determination and will power. Of course those things can't stand forever. They are limited.
You did a Fantastic job on this. You were able to define what a Prequel really means and discuss this Dragon Ball Story as somewhat of a Greek Tragedy.
If this special were written today, I'm sure Toei would write Bardock as a righteous hero amidst a group of evil Saiyans. And he'd potentially fight toe-to-toe with Freeza (with Super Saiyan!). Basically Ooishi's Episode of Bardock but without the burden of having a preexisting story about the character. I think the special does a good job of representing the mentality of the industry back then, the 90s were a very bleak time for anime in general. I think the whole "visions of the future" plot point does not need to be in the special. It does nothing to help the plot besides making Bardock care slightly more about Goku and help him deduce what Freeza's real plan was, both of which could have happened with other means. It also brings unnecessary destiny themes into the series, which is something that constantly grinds my gears. Bardock seeing the battle between Goku and Freeza makes it seem like it was predetermined that Goku would get so far and, thus, his effort is negated.
I agree. Before shounen was what it is now especially and it shows from how Bardock is portrayed in newer media as opposed to the time piece this move is for the genre. Bardock was better received here by comprehensive fans because the grittier Bardock of the 90s was more mature and morally ambiguous thus leaving the scenario to judge him by his actions rather than him being a vehicle for the audience to side with as the "good guy". While definitely Bardock today however wouldn't be as mature or revered by poetic justice and tragedy he would be just like Cabbe and everything I hate about his archetype, where he is just some innocent weakling who only wants to save his friends and a whiny "hero of justice" type shounen character that "will not forgive" Freeza morally. The Saiyans have apparently become this since the inception of the Super Saiyan God backstory where there are all these goody-goody Saiyans being retconned in. Though the fan-manga Dragonball Zero does somewhat fix this issue with Bardock and your vision criticism as well, as the motive to what Bardock attacked Freeza was because in the comic, it was that most of Freeza's soldiers were ordered to kill all the Saiyans independently as did with his comrades, then when he finds out to his belief Raditz was killed, *then* he has conformation of what Tora said to him about Dadoria's claims. No visions needed. I can see your point on that the destiny themes did somewhat hinder the actual theme of the of the special, what at least saves it is that Goku does not beat Freeza directly because of Bardock let alone hates him for the same reasons. Goku met Freeza by chance and fought him in a different motivation when he realized he was a Saiyan. It was in his destiny to fight Freeza but at least it wasn't streamlined the way Naruto's with their "destiny" motifs. Goku was omitted from any real connection to his father at all but just coincidentally did it.
+Drizzy Yeah, that would be cringeworthy. I disagree on the visions. We have to remember this is a kid's story (technically)- it shouldn't be too complicated, and keeping the idea "Frieza is going to wipe out Planet Vegeta" front and center is easier, while also ensuring a link to a character they are guaranteed to care about. I see what you mean about seeing the scene where Goku is going to fight Frieza. But is the rest really so bad? It could easily be said that Frieza's decision was simply inevitable because that's the way Frieza is and because nobody, including Bardock, could stop him. Some things are inevitable once a certain point is reached and removing the inevitability would ruin the special entirely.
@@GeteMachine I can not stand that fan faction Super, where they spayed the Saiyan's whole persona and lore. Why take out everything that made them interesting in the first place? It undermines Goku and Vegeta's progression on Earth, it's just stupid.
The guy who's writing the Dragon Ball Super Manga made a fan manga a while ago, about what raditz was doing when all this happened, of course it isn't cannon, and it even includes Turles, but it's a pretty good short story
This is such a wonderful analysis. I really appreciate how you apply your formal knowledge and understanding of theater to Dragon Ball and, erhm.. dissect, exactly what makes it work and where it fails. So so eye opening. You make such a good point too that this Bardock Special is really in the same vein of a tragedy. I wish more things these days were written as real tragedies, but unfortunately everyone seems to want a happy Hollywood ending now.
Gotta hand it to TFS yet again, for implementing a mention of Raditz in a way that was believable and made sense. I love both that Nozawa gives such a great performance as Bardock, and that it makes Raditz the only male member of that family to have a completely different voice.
I'm glad you finally got to this special, I liked this movie but I had problems with it as well. I mean, the Saiyan that escapes the destruction of Planet Vegeta also has a father that got precognitive abilities the day of the destruction of Planet Vegeta? Talk about your coincidences. It's not like Bardock had anything to do Goku's escape either, that happened without Bardock. Shouldn't Bardock's precognitive abilities be the thing that sets everything into motion? A milder issue I have is the lost opportunity of Bardock's precognitive ability. It does not make sense that Bardock was able to beat all those henchmen near the end but what if Bardock had almost complete control over his newfound ability and he beats them that way? I think it would be great addition to show what a fight with a precog would look like. Be creative with the action! However like you said, the tragedy of this story is great. And maybe you're correct on this special not falling for the trap of so many prequels make, separating Bardock from Goku. *Thanks for the review!* You reveal things in Dragon Ball I never thought before.
Oh, I totally agree with you, and while I mention it, maybe I should have devoted more weight to such problems. As I say, the idea of Goku's father just happening to be the guy this is about is enough to turn me off to it in principle. It's such a stereotypically prequel idea that it really, REALLY shouldn't work. What I feel makes it a success is that it does manage to make it work in spite of those types of problems. That it does things to keep Bardock from being too special is what helps mitigates those problems. That it tells such a compelling story makes it easier to overlook those nagging concerns because the tale it tells is just so worth it. That's basically what I mean when I say it walks that tightrope. Some of its concepts cause it to start to slip and fall, but it always catches itself before it manages to take the tumble.
@@A107-v9e this is a misconception because of how much funi has become associated with dragon ball that now people think they make it, and frankly I hate that.
17:26 Hey, that looks like Vegeta's "Majin Buu Saga" garb! Could it have been this special that inspired Toriyama to start drawing Vegeta that way all those years later?
Literally my favorite channel on this entire site! Watching since the Red Ribbon army arc dissection and have loved you ever since. Every time one of your vids is in my feed, I instantly watch it. KEEP IT UP!
Ugh....the nature of Trunks being the one who killed Freeza just absolutely murders everything about the climax of that story arc. Yes, they have continued to bring Freeza back in Super and that ALSO completely undercuts his defeat(unless they somehow bring it all back full circle and allow either Goku or Vegeta to truly finish him off for good one of these days).... Goku avenging his father and his entire race by becoming a once-in-a-thousand years legendary Super Saiyan and defeating Freeza is such a dazzling finale to that story arc. The fact that Toriyama's next step in the story is to bring Freeza back, introduce his father, introduce ANOTHER Super Saiyan, who is shocker from the future and shocker the son of Vegeta and Bulma and warns them of a horrible future they could prevent only shocker they decide not to followed by SS being handed out to every major character and there being levels beyond SS. Gosh it just irks me how much the narrative breaks after the Freeza arc, it REALLY should have stopped right then and there.
You said it all. I’m not much of a fan of anything past the frieza arc era and the characters aren’t likable after this portion of the franchise throws itself away to the dogs 🤦♂️
@@bryanc7094 Absolutely. Plus, even though the stakes and scope changed...the Frieza Arc was the last time the show was really about the Dragon Balls in any meaningful way. They were the goal and purpose throughout the Frieza arc to bring back their friends. After that, they literally just become plot device elements of the series. There is a difference between a series being about a journey to make a wish with Dragon Balls that includes a LOT of epic battles...and a series being about a LOT of epic battles that includes wishes with Dragon Balls.
In fairness, in the original timeline, Goku actually does kill frieza when Frieza comes to Earth. So from Bardocks "time" perspective that future is the one that will happen. It isn't until Trunks spilts the timeline when that isn't the case.
Goku is not a murderer, in fact him sparing Freeza drives home the point that Goku is NOT pro-revenge. When Goku was a child, he sought vengeance against piccolo but as he grew older, he matured, realized the importance of sparing his enemies. And people say that Goku has no character ARc, he literally went from being murder happy to a guy who shows mercy to the dude who kills his best friend.
Bringing back Freeza like that felt so lame, it felt even more lame with Freeza dad just dying without even touching Trunks, like why bring back a incredible villain and a new villain that is his freaking dad just to kill both like that?
I always thought the reason why Bardock was able to plow through all of Frieza's men, was because he was fighting out of desperation, and thus not holding anything back. Not a great explanation, but an explaination none the less. Nice video by the way.
I think the race to Freeza's ship has some thematicness to it in that you think it's going for the action hero ending only to give us a cruel reminder. But yeah, it's pretty out there.
In the case of Saiyan classes, It's most probable that Saiyan class system is based mostly on a mixture of born natural battle power, but mostly who you're born to, and become. Napp became worthy of being an elite member of the military due to his track record most likely. While Bardock is basically just the guy who does the dirty work that no one else wants to do, because he knows how his Saiyan genes work. Get beat up, get stronger. It has very little to do with current battle power. But more so possible potential seen from early birth scannings, and heritage. And also, most of Frieza's soldiers are so weak they can't even handle Namekians of a power level of 3000. Stated IIRC in the Namek saga. So most of Frieza's soldiers aren't elite class like the ones Bardock killed. Just mooks.
Completely agreed, it is a really well told story but the powers both undercut Goku's underdog status and just don't make sense. I enjoy watching Bardock plow through soldiers but it makes no sense.
i dont have a problem with bardock having a power level of 10,000. we already established in the series that goku WASNT special, but he gained that power because he was constantly fighting tougher opponents and training. vegeta, nappa, and raditz barely ever did this at first. when they fought people they thought would give them trouble, they just added to their numbers and for the tough fights, just assume vegeta did everything. king vegeta was about 10,000 but he never even did anything. bardock's group? they CONSTANTLY went on suicide missions and frieza DID take notice because their unit was rapidly growing in power. that's why he sent a team to eliminate them instead of just letting them get killed alongside everyone else.
Narratively though, he is special. he came from nothing and beat the odds to defeat vegeta. Bardock on the other hand is supposed to be a nobody who dies to freeza and that's it. but he is the only low class saiyan we see get to 10,000 battle power until broly. it would have been more sensical just to show multiple saiyans getting this power boost along with bardock.
So great to get this series back, mate. It's been torturously long, but you deserved your break. I wish that I could pay you just to do this. Hey, I finally saw your name in this. Lance Rumo-I forgot already lol. Keep up the good work 👍
MistareFusion I am a horrible human being. You make fantastic Dragon Ball content and I don't even give you the save courtesy as Marvel. I am not worthy 😞
I can't wait to watch this when I get home; you always catch the little things I miss Lance! I'm sure that you have some amazing insight into Bardock, so Im really excited XD
Oh boy. I just look at the length of the 3 videos and I am wondering how the one with the shortest Bardock story will get the longest video and vice versa. Well, gotta find out I guess.
I'm glad you take your time with your videos and produce them so well. The wait for the next video is well worth it. You deserve way more subscribers than you have, but i guess just a small amount of people are interested in this kind of thing.
I've heard the point behind Solid State Scouter is it's actually supposed to be referencing Bardock's power going up over the course of the special before ending with Frieza's power which overtakes him. I guess Bardock's Zenkai is just WAY BETTER than everyone else's.
Sayians can keep battling even when they are beaten to a pulp. It doesnt make alot of sense but it has been done in z and in super with goku black and the tournament of power. Nice video tho man keep em commin
I actually didn't mind that Bardock just blast through the solders at the end I mean it really does show why Freezer fears the potential of the Saiyajins and given that Dodoria was on Planet meat I guess he took some of the stronger duds with him for the job. I would actually have liked it to see a scene like this in the Namek arc to show that while gohan and Krillin are no match for Freezer and his higher ups but that there also no pushovers like there where in the Saiyajing arc because the the earthling have to suppress there power and need to stay undetected or get there asses kicked mentality of the Namek arc bored he really fast. And for Power levels while I don't have an issue with Bardock for the sack of good fights is in the higher part of the low class warriors do I find it really stupid that he is stronger than Nappa and as strong as King Vegata.
Well, I don't have a problem with Bardock being able to take on some of Freeza's elite ranks because he really wasn't going to beat them. The only advantage Bardock had was that he was clearly smarter and a quicker thinker than the non-saiyan elites because they were arrogant. He also took them off guard as well or as the series would later define, he was pushed by his rage and adrenaline. As for the power levels, I think Bardock being at 10k as fair. Because its the only real number that would be significant enough to actually stand out from anything. Brackets lower than that wouldn't have made any sense for him to be able to do jobs his elites wouldn't themselves. I honestly think he was set fine. It king Vegeta and In my retcon Nappa should have been stronger. Nappa should have at least been 7000 to 7500 (Then Goku from 8k + Kaioken would put him at 18k against Nappa and match Vegeta until Kaioken x 3) and King Vegeta should have been put at 20k for it all to have made sense. Because honestly, King Vegeta at a measly 10k and Nappa at 4k is pretty weak for their supposed rank. I mean Cui on the Namek was stronger than them all -let alone King Vegeta easily which is silly.
The TV Specials were so much better than the movies that it's almost comical. They really focused on the more tragic aspects of the Dragon Ball world the rest of the series usually glossed over. As for Bardock being so strong, I just assumed it was similar to what Vegeta said to Cui on Namek. Being on the front lines for so long gave Vegeta multiple opportunities to get stronger than Freeza's elite, so Bardock might very well have been powering up under the Saiyans' noses. It also does make it more believable that he's Goku's father, being born a lower class warrior who surpasses the elite through hard work.
I’d rather watch a celebration of dragon ball with high budget 90s Toei at its best than a constant series of tragedies honestly , however the TV specials definitely hit different.
Even though battle levels aren't supposed to make that much since I think I could explain why Bardock's battle level was so high. It could be that some Frieza scientist could have found a more accurate way of converting power to numbers or something that would make power numbers have the same meaning but lower number. Or we could just say Frieza got tired of saying really big numbers for unimportant people so he just said "Okay now all battle levels will be decided by 10 because I don't feel like space squalls with a battle level of 10."
Funny thing is Tolkien actually retconned some bits of The Hobbit to fit into the Lord of Rings story as he was writing it, so he did kind of turn it into a prequel when subsequent editions had the reworked bits.
I like Bardock's original hair. Raditz was probably sent as a baby to some random planet, due to his low battle power, that's why he survived the destruction of planet Vegeta.
I always thought that bardock was at like 3000 but gained the 8000 through a zenkai boost after dodoria wrecked him or after the alien gave him the future viewing power or both But I could be misremembering when the 8000 power lvl part took place Edit: apparently I'm not the only one who thought this cause its addressed immediately in the next video xD
In regards to Nappa and Vegeta's power levels, my interpretation is that those levels were Elite Class compared to the remaining Saiyans. I imagine Freiza would have ensured that Vegeta and the other saiyans under him would be able to get strong but not too strong that they could surpass him, meaning that they while they would be the strongest of their generation of Saiyans, that doesn't mean they'd rank the same in the previous generations.
Yeah, the battle power thing bothered me too and is further reason that we shouldn't cling to those numbers. It never made sense to me that Nappa was at 4,000 and Piccolo was at 3,500 during the end of the Saiyan arc, yet Piccolo couldn't do a thing against Nappa.
15:16 it’s cause Bardock farmed zenkai boosts. That’s how get got so strong 15:41 this sequence was so based and why Bardock is one of most popular characters though 😫 he was getting that “Saiyans improve during battle” rage boost and was fighting for his life, people and the freedom of the galaxy
I feel like that would be better if Bardock was the reason why planet vegeta get destroyed. Think about it, Frieza was coincidentally was going to visit planet Vegeta to talk with King Vegeta or something along those lines and suddenly Bardock confronts him and because of his confrontation with Bardock Frieza takes action...
Raditz is sort of mentioned in the special. In the beginning when asked when his son was born Bardock said "no but it was too long ago." Supposed to me Goku but that clearly means Raditz. Don't argue too much on it. Just go with it so Raditz can be "in" the special.
Your point is fair but I still have to disagree with Nozawa Bardock. Mind you, she's great. That's not the issue. I just don't think Bardock the character deserved to have "the voice" shared between a "pure bloodline". He absolutely should have been alien to us because the story's premise is alien already. That said, I get the business side of things. They could have at least used Chiba or somebody, subtly adding Raditz without including the character. I'm always so late in watching these but I don't want distractions so better late than never!
@@mitchfletcher2386 Right, check out The Korean voice of Goku, it fits him better. Nosawa portrays him perfectly, but her "voice" doesn't fit his adult appearance. They needed to get a male voice actor to imitate her portrayal.
I can understand the irritation of Bardock somehow plowing through dozens of Frieza soldiers. Logically, he should’ve collapsed long before he even entered the stratosphere. But narratively, I can forgive it. It’s a hope spot, a resolved last ditch effort, dying trying. Signs that his attempt to make a difference might be possible… Until Frieza without even wasting words on this lowlife makes fireworks out of him and his planet. Perhaps it could be seen as a reflection of Goku proving to Vegeta his society-chosen status meant squat. Like son like father, an implacable will to strive for victory no matter what. The one trait evil father and kindhearted son share. Except Bardock’s will to win just wasn’t strong enough, so it must be his son to take Frieza down.
As much as I don't like Nozawa as Goku, at least she nails his naive personality and childlike innocence. Bardock, however, doesn't lend himself to her trademark high pitched voice. His looks and personality lends itself more towards a deeper voice with a serious tone. If anything he should have been voiced by someone like Shigeru Chiba.
Yea they exist to die minuets into the special. Hell they could easily be taken out with no meaningful difference. I mean really Bardock doesn't care about his infant Sayian but does care for some random guys?
This and the Trunk's special desperately need a new English dub. It doesn't do this justice nor does Dragon Ball Minus. Though that's a rant for another time.
Wait are you saying if you see your son in the future takening down every problem in his way even when his power level was low, and he is able to defeat Frieza that you wouldn't try to adopt Goku's merciful nature? Bardock is literally able to see everything he loves die, but you don't think he'd follow the way of the guy who made friends with everyone and became free from the Galactic Emperor? He achieved all his goals, and got freedom from all his oppressors. That the kind of guy you want to be super sayain or not.
Always thought it was funny that Bardock's visions of the future conveniently skipped over that one time both of his sons died together.
That... is an amazingly awesome point I never thought of!
Oh my God, I never expected you to reply! I love your videos, but this is the first time I've actually replied.
But yeah, I think they could've worked that in without throwing a wrench in the "Kakarot defeats Freeza" bit. Sure, Bardock doesn't know about the Dragon Balls, but if it replaced the visions of the Kaio-Ken and Goku's fight with Vegeta (which in my opinion are the least relevant visions in the special), then Bardock's vision of Goku on Namek would have made him realize that Goku comes back somehow. I think it would have even been more powerful that way.
*first time I've commented, not replied. Bleh.
Its actually weird that his visions never shown Raditz confronting Goku in the first Z episode. You would think that would be significant. It would have been interesting to see say Raditz stepping on Goku's chest in his vision, which would have had to freak Bardock out.
Damn I never thought of that. Imagine Bardock seeing them both die.
Bardock? Ah yes, the Brilliant Scientist
Whoever wrote that script should never be a writer again.
We need a bardock: the brilliant scientist manga
Ah him! Yeah he was an average fighter but he was a brilliant scientist. I wonder how he's doing in the next dimension?
Torture scientist.
He left the Freeza Force to study the various time-bending phenomena that keep happening to him
Most fans don't realize how unique Solid State Scouter is because it ironically sounds a lot more like the American score than it does the Japanese score.
@The Fantom Convoy Considering the tone that they were going for in Dragon Ball, making it a fantasy martial arts series. It's not weird that they would keep the series with a similar soundtrack throughout.
It’s a YMO homage made by Yasunori Iwasaki, a guy with a solid 90’s OST discography (including titles like Getter Robo Armageddon OVA).
Also, it beats the US scores at their own game and is thus far superior to them.
I'll never understand why Toriyama decided to make his own version of Bardock's story. He liked the Bardock special so much that he decided to incorporate the character into the manga, yet over 20 years later, he just suddenly decided ignore the backstory that fans unanimously love, in favor of 'Minus'?
Its even worse that Minus wasn't even a good retcon. I think he made a mistake by redoing Bardock in that scenario from the special and not just focusing it on Gine solo. Instead he created Gine a mary-sue to change Bardock against what everyone liked about the Toei special. Sadly Gine herself wasn't interesting herself either just being weak and making Bardock fall in love with her because she was weak. What?
Honestly, does anybody actually consider Minus as canon? Like... at all? I mean, c'mon guys.
Toriyama does.
Makes sense to me, Toriyama is a fan of Bardock. An author never should be a fan of their own work. That's the reason fan-fiction is so awful.
But then said author won't write good content without a level of passion on a similar level to fans.
I mean, to be fair, the story does address that Bardock and his crew are standouts among low-class warriors. They give you a reason for Bardock's unorthodox power level, so it personally doesn't bother me. That said, yeah, they probably should have kept him under Nappa, lol.
Well, that's more of a Gohan thing. Only in Super has this been attributed to the Saiyans in general, which kinda irritates me TBH.
When has Goku gotten stronger as a result of being overtaken by his emotions beyond turning into a Super Saiyan? Regarding Vegeta's power up in Battle of Gods, that's what I was referring to. That scene doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Vegeta went ape-shit when Cell killed Trunks, and no power up was noted in that instance.
And with the two zenkais he had in the special pushed him over a mid tier Elite Class.
Yeah, they explain that the efficiency of Bardock's squad was what lead them to survive things that were above their level standard and the Zenkai boosts they got from it was what made their power levels grow so quickly as the average Sayian was under 2000, and Bardock was at 10k in his prime was a bit much but used to emphasize abnormal figures. The only thing I find weird is that Bardock was essentially stronger than Nappa for most of Nappa's entire life. Its weird that Nappa wasn't all that strong at all at 4000. If he was the general of the army he should have been at at least 7000 to 8000. Then Vegeta being double that would have still made sense.
+g1rider13 If you read Bardock After (doujinshi) that is what happened somewhat, where Bardock was already planning to betray Freeza and his motivation doing that made his power level go up a lot on the spot.
I have to say, the original designs for Bardock and his crew are pretty nice. I like the more wild version of Bardock's hair too, it makes him look less like a bulkier Goku with a scar.
Give that versions pants and then it could have been as cool as the one we got.
"Dad's not in a gang, the z fighters aren't a gang mom"-Teen Gohan, that line cracks me up every time
Was that in the Japanese version??
The reason that 10000 was low class but 20+ years later was considered impressive was because the Freeza Force switched to metric.
To be fair, Goku did kill Freeza. Eventually.
After two series, a couple of movies, and a few levels of god ki.
CheesyGranola 10 movies (and two TV specials) is not “a couple”. :P
In the prime timeline, Goku did kill Freeza. The one where Trunks killed him was an alternate timeline he created by time traveling.
Adrian Malacoda Bardock still had the same vision in both timelines
Adrian Malacoda But the special isn't canon anyways
Too bad, he is alive again
There is a pattern to the Bardock family children (it's probably just a coincidence, but it is there). The second son looks just like the father, but not the first. Raditz doesn't look like Bardock, but Goku does. Gohan doesn't look like Goku, but Goten does. That probably wasn't on purpose, but I always thought it was interesting.
And interestingly, Gohan's Hair was shaping to be pretty similar to Raditz's hair before Chichi cut it and Freeza said he looks like Raditz, so it is a possibility that Gohan would have ended up looking Just like Raditz
@@kirbyfazendoummoonwalk9214If you notice, raditz has gine's hair and bardock's eyes.
Cue the Solid State Scouter!
Hearing you talk about Battle Powers is the best thing ever. Probably because it's so unexpected.
The Bardock Special is great because it's probably the most subtle and least gratuitous Toei has ever gotten with their original material. That and the Trunks special. And we know now he easy it was to make that mistake.
All saiyans have black hair
the next clip shows King Vegeta with brown hair.
You can thank Toei for that.
@@TylerCharlesFisher That and coloring Vegeta's hair red at first.
@@spartanq7781
I bet they decided to give him brown-red hair as a gag to their original colouring of his son (which, in my opinion, is far better than the standart one)
@@TylerCharlesFisher Toriyama was cool with them changing their hair color different.
Maybe saiyan monarchs dye their hair red-ish to denote status.
My god such an amazing video. I seriously can't praise you enough. 8 years since I first watched you and you've only gotten better. Major props!
ForneverWorld agred
ForneverWorld Word
ForneverWorld watch super sentai
ForneverWorld GIVE HIM SOME SHOUTOUTS
ADULT DRAGON BALL :u
def my fav video youve done so far
Thanks! I definitely put a lot of work into this script. But to my chagrin and my delight, the resulting discussions cropping up here in the comments section has made me consider even more things I wish I'd thought to put into the script!
It feels like the entire 80s were just building up to this movie.
*special
A good point to make, one you even almost touched on at the start, is that Bardock is essentially just Tullece.
That's something that, if it were expanded upon, would drive home the point of what makes OG Japanese Bardock work and tick if people (ESPECIALLY Toei) understood it better.
Imagine this: Bardock and his crew come to Earth, 20+ years in the future. Bardock meets Goku and the senshi.
If this happened in modern times, Bardock would be amazed to see what his son has become, and they'd spar, and he'd develop a respect for him and his friends and realize there's more to being a Saiyan than just destruction and murder, and tell his crew to learn from his son, who has surpassed the father, and they leave with a bunch of grins and thumbs up (and probably Selipa teasing Krillin to stir a catfight with 18 for some reason, because Toei)
Even OG American Bardock would probably be similar, though I can imagine Goku wouldn't be as respectful to Bardock and vice versa; they'd simply respect each other's power but Goku would not want to acknowledge Bardock as his father.
OG Japanese Bardock _is Tullece_
OG Japanese Bardock _is Bojack_
OG Japanese Bardock _is Slug_
OG Japanese Bardock _is a typical DBZ movie villain who just happens to be the protagonist_
Heck, even that kind of shows that there was something a bit "special" about him considering that the overall point of the special is that he technically shouldn't be any different than Daiz or Medamacha or Salza- just a mook, not the actual head honcho, but we can let that one slide.
He comes to Earth because he discovers his son is there. But he also sees Earth is in pristine shape, so he tells his crew to prepare to clean it up, so they cause havoc and destruction, and then we inevitably get the scenes where the senshi come to fight (and to job) against Bardock's crew. Then Goku and Bardock meet, and Bardock reveals "No... I am your father!" And Goku and friends are shocked, but Goku rejects that revelation, especially when Bardock demands Goku join him on galactic conquest as a Saiyan warrior, and then the rest of the movie is just fighting that ends with Goku genki-dama-ing his father (or maybe this is a movie set "before" the fight with Nappa and Vegeta, so Goku defeats Bardock by "sacrificing himself" ala the Raditz fight, but through some magical means, survives)
And that's the end of it. No redemption, no indication Bardock was secretly a good guy who regretted what he had done. To the bitter end, he was disgusted with his son, disowning him for being soft and selfless.
THAT is who the original Bardock is, temperamentally. He's just a typical goon who, in any other context, would be the kind of bastard Goku and friends regularly punch out without second thought. Few people other than slice-of-lifers and what-ifers care to put much thought into the idea of "What if Lord Slug was a good guy?" or "What if Bojack befriended Goku?" but everyone does that for Bardock because of how so consistently everyone misunderstood this special (doubly so for the dub version that actively did rewrite him to feel remorse).
I think the differences in power levels may be explained like this: The soldiers who fought with Bardock before were some kind of Dodoria's elite group, yet if I remember correctly Bardock was slowed down a bit by his unpredictedly appearing visions. Of course in the end he was no match for Dodoria himself, but I think he could handle those soldiers with easy. So the second group, an army flying out of Frieza's ship was a bunch of "Raditzs" or even weaker guys. :D And yet again it's not as if Bardock could easily win against them. If not for Frieza's appearance on the top of the spaceship, they would propably manage to beat Bardock down (I mean at least on the lower part of the planet's atmosphere). Goku's father managed to get so high only by his determination and will power. Of course those things can't stand forever. They are limited.
Yeah, those guys were pretty much sent out to overwhelm Bardock with their numbers and less so their individual strength.
Exactly. The rage fueled him and increased his power level, but it was still no match for Frieza.
Also zenkai boost I think
I absolutely love your usage of sarcasm in DBD, it always hits the mark perfectly :D
You did a Fantastic job on this. You were able to define what a Prequel really means and discuss this Dragon Ball Story as somewhat of a Greek Tragedy.
im looking at your orange shirt right now
Geekdom101 it's a sexy orange shirt
If this special were written today, I'm sure Toei would write Bardock as a righteous hero amidst a group of evil Saiyans. And he'd potentially fight toe-to-toe with Freeza (with Super Saiyan!). Basically Ooishi's Episode of Bardock but without the burden of having a preexisting story about the character. I think the special does a good job of representing the mentality of the industry back then, the 90s were a very bleak time for anime in general.
I think the whole "visions of the future" plot point does not need to be in the special. It does nothing to help the plot besides making Bardock care slightly more about Goku and help him deduce what Freeza's real plan was, both of which could have happened with other means. It also brings unnecessary destiny themes into the series, which is something that constantly grinds my gears. Bardock seeing the battle between Goku and Freeza makes it seem like it was predetermined that Goku would get so far and, thus, his effort is negated.
he kinda has done that first part
I agree. Before shounen was what it is now especially and it shows from how Bardock is portrayed in newer media as opposed to the time piece this move is for the genre. Bardock was better received here by comprehensive fans because the grittier Bardock of the 90s was more mature and morally ambiguous thus leaving the scenario to judge him by his actions rather than him being a vehicle for the audience to side with as the "good guy". While definitely Bardock today however wouldn't be as mature or revered by poetic justice and tragedy he would be just like Cabbe and everything I hate about his archetype, where he is just some innocent weakling who only wants to save his friends and a whiny "hero of justice" type shounen character that "will not forgive" Freeza morally. The Saiyans have apparently become this since the inception of the Super Saiyan God backstory where there are all these goody-goody Saiyans being retconned in.
Though the fan-manga Dragonball Zero does somewhat fix this issue with Bardock and your vision criticism as well, as the motive to what Bardock attacked Freeza was because in the comic, it was that most of Freeza's soldiers were ordered to kill all the Saiyans independently as did with his comrades, then when he finds out to his belief Raditz was killed, *then* he has conformation of what Tora said to him about Dadoria's claims. No visions needed.
I can see your point on that the destiny themes did somewhat hinder the actual theme of the of the special, what at least saves it is that Goku does not beat Freeza directly because of Bardock let alone hates him for the same reasons. Goku met Freeza by chance and fought him in a different motivation when he realized he was a Saiyan. It was in his destiny to fight Freeza but at least it wasn't streamlined the way Naruto's with their "destiny" motifs. Goku was omitted from any real connection to his father at all but just coincidentally did it.
+Drizzy Yeah, that would be cringeworthy.
I disagree on the visions. We have to remember this is a kid's story (technically)- it shouldn't be too complicated, and keeping the idea "Frieza is going to wipe out Planet Vegeta" front and center is easier, while also ensuring a link to a character they are guaranteed to care about.
I see what you mean about seeing the scene where Goku is going to fight Frieza. But is the rest really so bad? It could easily be said that Frieza's decision was simply inevitable because that's the way Frieza is and because nobody, including Bardock, could stop him. Some things are inevitable once a certain point is reached and removing the inevitability would ruin the special entirely.
@@GeteMachine I can not stand that fan faction Super, where they spayed the Saiyan's whole persona and lore. Why take out everything that made them interesting in the first place? It undermines Goku and Vegeta's progression on Earth, it's just stupid.
They pretty much did when they turned Bardock into the first Super Saiyen.
The guy who's writing the Dragon Ball Super Manga made a fan manga a while ago, about what raditz was doing when all this happened, of course it isn't cannon, and it even includes Turles, but it's a pretty good short story
Yeah. Dragonball Zero. I liked it because it was one of the rare fan-manga that actually made sense with the official canon.
God the line delivery this video opens on is so perfect
Masako Nozawa knows her stuff
I loved this and the trunks special as a kid. They were just so different and it felt like it expanded the universe.
Toriyama: “All Saiyans have black hair.”
Trunks & Bulla: “Hahahahahahaha.”
They are half earthlings as well
This is such a wonderful analysis. I really appreciate how you apply your formal knowledge and understanding of theater to Dragon Ball and, erhm.. dissect, exactly what makes it work and where it fails. So so eye opening. You make such a good point too that this Bardock Special is really in the same vein of a tragedy. I wish more things these days were written as real tragedies, but unfortunately everyone seems to want a happy Hollywood ending now.
No it ain't.
Gotta hand it to TFS yet again, for implementing a mention of Raditz in a way that was believable and made sense.
I love both that Nozawa gives such a great performance as Bardock, and that it makes Raditz the only male member of that family to have a completely different voice.
I'm glad you finally got to this special, I liked this movie but I had problems with it as well. I mean, the Saiyan that escapes the destruction of Planet Vegeta also has a father that got precognitive abilities the day of the destruction of Planet Vegeta? Talk about your coincidences. It's not like Bardock had anything to do Goku's escape either, that happened without Bardock. Shouldn't Bardock's precognitive abilities be the thing that sets everything into motion?
A milder issue I have is the lost opportunity of Bardock's precognitive ability. It does not make sense that Bardock was able to beat all those henchmen near the end but what if Bardock had almost complete control over his newfound ability and he beats them that way? I think it would be great addition to show what a fight with a precog would look like. Be creative with the action!
However like you said, the tragedy of this story is great. And maybe you're correct on this special not falling for the trap of so many prequels make, separating Bardock from Goku. *Thanks for the review!* You reveal things in Dragon Ball I never thought before.
Oh, I totally agree with you, and while I mention it, maybe I should have devoted more weight to such problems. As I say, the idea of Goku's father just happening to be the guy this is about is enough to turn me off to it in principle. It's such a stereotypically prequel idea that it really, REALLY shouldn't work. What I feel makes it a success is that it does manage to make it work in spite of those types of problems. That it does things to keep Bardock from being too special is what helps mitigates those problems. That it tells such a compelling story makes it easier to overlook those nagging concerns because the tale it tells is just so worth it. That's basically what I mean when I say it walks that tightrope. Some of its concepts cause it to start to slip and fall, but it always catches itself before it manages to take the tumble.
Dude u literally have the best vids on TH-cam !!
Thank you! That means a lot to me!
i can only imagine the level of snark we'll have when he goes through episode of Bardock.
Lance. Dude. Funi needs to hire you as their official Dragon Ball Historian. Awesome video as usual man.
Funi has nothing to do with the writing process. They just dub the anime.
@@A107-v9e this is a misconception because of how much funi has become associated with dragon ball that now people think they make it, and frankly I hate that.
17:26
Hey, that looks like Vegeta's "Majin Buu Saga" garb! Could it have been this special that inspired Toriyama to start drawing Vegeta that way all those years later?
Literally my favorite channel on this entire site! Watching since the Red Ribbon army arc dissection and have loved you ever since. Every time one of your vids is in my feed, I instantly watch it. KEEP IT UP!
Ugh....the nature of Trunks being the one who killed Freeza just absolutely murders everything about the climax of that story arc. Yes, they have continued to bring Freeza back in Super and that ALSO completely undercuts his defeat(unless they somehow bring it all back full circle and allow either Goku or Vegeta to truly finish him off for good one of these days)....
Goku avenging his father and his entire race by becoming a once-in-a-thousand years legendary Super Saiyan and defeating Freeza is such a dazzling finale to that story arc.
The fact that Toriyama's next step in the story is to bring Freeza back, introduce his father, introduce ANOTHER Super Saiyan, who is shocker from the future and shocker the son of Vegeta and Bulma and warns them of a horrible future they could prevent only shocker they decide not to followed by SS being handed out to every major character and there being levels beyond SS.
Gosh it just irks me how much the narrative breaks after the Freeza arc, it REALLY should have stopped right then and there.
You said it all. I’m not much of a fan of anything past the frieza arc era and the characters aren’t likable after this portion of the franchise throws itself away to the dogs 🤦♂️
@@bryanc7094 Absolutely. Plus, even though the stakes and scope changed...the Frieza Arc was the last time the show was really about the Dragon Balls in any meaningful way. They were the goal and purpose throughout the Frieza arc to bring back their friends. After that, they literally just become plot device elements of the series.
There is a difference between a series being about a journey to make a wish with Dragon Balls that includes a LOT of epic battles...and a series being about a LOT of epic battles that includes wishes with Dragon Balls.
In fairness, in the original timeline, Goku actually does kill frieza when Frieza comes to Earth. So from Bardocks "time" perspective that future is the one that will happen. It isn't until Trunks spilts the timeline when that isn't the case.
Goku is not a murderer, in fact him sparing Freeza drives home the point that Goku is NOT pro-revenge. When Goku was a child, he sought vengeance against piccolo but as he grew older, he matured, realized the importance of sparing his enemies. And people say that Goku has no character ARc, he literally went from being murder happy to a guy who shows mercy to the dude who kills his best friend.
Bringing back Freeza like that felt so lame, it felt even more lame with Freeza dad just dying without even touching Trunks, like why bring back a incredible villain and a new villain that is his freaking dad just to kill both like that?
I always thought the reason why Bardock was able to plow through all of Frieza's men, was because he was fighting out of desperation, and thus not holding anything back. Not a great explanation, but an explaination none the less. Nice video by the way.
To me, this is by far the best thing produced by the Dragon Bll franchise.
Words can't describe how much I love this analysis! Please keep it up!!
I think this might be my favorite video of yours, great work Lance
Solid State Survivor is a masterpiece, what a great homage.
I think the race to Freeza's ship has some thematicness to it in that you think it's going for the action hero ending only to give us a cruel reminder. But yeah, it's pretty out there.
Solid analysis man, keep em' coming.
I cant wait to watch this later!
In the case of Saiyan classes, It's most probable that Saiyan class system is based mostly on a mixture of born natural battle power, but mostly who you're born to, and become. Napp became worthy of being an elite member of the military due to his track record most likely. While Bardock is basically just the guy who does the dirty work that no one else wants to do, because he knows how his Saiyan genes work. Get beat up, get stronger.
It has very little to do with current battle power. But more so possible potential seen from early birth scannings, and heritage.
And also, most of Frieza's soldiers are so weak they can't even handle Namekians of a power level of 3000. Stated IIRC in the Namek saga. So most of Frieza's soldiers aren't elite class like the ones Bardock killed. Just mooks.
In hindsight, Rogue One gives me Bardock Special vibes.
Maybe the team took anime inspiration? Dragon ball has referenced star wars before. It seems appropriate.
@The Fantom Convoy I know?
Completely agreed, it is a really well told story but the powers both undercut Goku's underdog status and just don't make sense. I enjoy watching Bardock plow through soldiers but it makes no sense.
my love for bardock knows no bounds. ive been waiting for this video for so long!
The best dissections around,keep up the great job Lance
Barodock is one of my personal favorite characters in fiction series
i dont have a problem with bardock having a power level of 10,000. we already established in the series that goku WASNT special, but he gained that power because he was constantly fighting tougher opponents and training. vegeta, nappa, and raditz barely ever did this at first. when they fought people they thought would give them trouble, they just added to their numbers and for the tough fights, just assume vegeta did everything. king vegeta was about 10,000 but he never even did anything. bardock's group? they CONSTANTLY went on suicide missions and frieza DID take notice because their unit was rapidly growing in power. that's why he sent a team to eliminate them instead of just letting them get killed alongside everyone else.
Narratively though, he is special. he came from nothing and beat the odds to defeat vegeta. Bardock on the other hand is supposed to be a nobody who dies to freeza and that's it. but he is the only low class saiyan we see get to 10,000 battle power until broly. it would have been more sensical just to show multiple saiyans getting this power boost along with bardock.
excellent video. I squeal with glee Everytime you upload. couldn't agree with you more on this special... love it to bits.
So great to get this series back, mate. It's been torturously long, but you deserved your break. I wish that I could pay you just to do this. Hey, I finally saw your name in this. Lance Rumo-I forgot already lol. Keep up the good work 👍
Finally? I always put my name in the credits of my videos. It's not a big secret. =P
MistareFusion I am a horrible human being. You make fantastic Dragon Ball content and I don't even give you the save courtesy as Marvel. I am not worthy 😞
Oh, shush. You're a fantastic human being. ^_^
Me: Uh Im so bored at school
*Sees video Notification*
Me: Well time to fake listen to the teacher
I can't wait to watch this when I get home; you always catch the little things I miss Lance! I'm sure that you have some amazing insight into Bardock, so Im really excited XD
Oh boy. I just look at the length of the 3 videos and I am wondering how the one with the shortest Bardock story will get the longest video and vice versa. Well, gotta find out I guess.
Minus has a lot of shit to burn.
Good Job Lance. Very tasty video.
Blackenfist your here
I could see the future!!!!!!!!!
Your video just made my day:)
I'm glad you take your time with your videos and produce them so well. The wait for the next video is well worth it. You deserve way more subscribers than you have, but i guess just a small amount of people are interested in this kind of thing.
I've heard the point behind Solid State Scouter is it's actually supposed to be referencing Bardock's power going up over the course of the special before ending with Frieza's power which overtakes him. I guess Bardock's Zenkai is just WAY BETTER than everyone else's.
Bardock plowing through all of Friezas henchmen is my favorite moment of the movie. Gets my jimmies going
I LOVE nozowas performance in this special it's just a grittiness that suits bardock and a really nice contrast to gokuu I think
Cassandra… Canassans
yessssss i literally just binged watched all the other dbd's last night and i wake up to THIS!!!
You make a very great point about prequels.
IMO Bardock and Yakuza Zero are some of the only truly great prequels.
I will say the fact that bardock was holding frieza s soldiers so well might have been a quickie ass zenkai boost and his courage kickin in
Sayians can keep battling even when they are beaten to a pulp. It doesnt make alot of sense but it has been done in z and in super with goku black and the tournament of power. Nice video tho man keep em commin
I actually didn't mind that Bardock just blast through the solders at the end I mean it really does show why Freezer fears the potential of the Saiyajins and given that Dodoria was on Planet meat I guess he took some of the stronger duds with him for the job.
I would actually have liked it to see a scene like this in the Namek arc to show that while gohan and Krillin are no match for Freezer and his higher ups but that there also no pushovers like there where in the Saiyajing arc because the the earthling have to suppress there power and need to stay undetected or get there asses kicked mentality of the Namek arc bored he really fast.
And for Power levels while I don't have an issue with Bardock for the sack of good fights is in the higher part of the low class warriors do I find it really stupid that he is stronger than Nappa and as strong as King Vegata.
Well, I don't have a problem with Bardock being able to take on some of Freeza's elite ranks because he really wasn't going to beat them. The only advantage Bardock had was that he was clearly smarter and a quicker thinker than the non-saiyan elites because they were arrogant. He also took them off guard as well or as the series would later define, he was pushed by his rage and adrenaline. As for the power levels, I think Bardock being at 10k as fair. Because its the only real number that would be significant enough to actually stand out from anything. Brackets lower than that wouldn't have made any sense for him to be able to do jobs his elites wouldn't themselves. I honestly think he was set fine. It king Vegeta and In my retcon Nappa should have been stronger. Nappa should have at least been 7000 to 7500 (Then Goku from 8k + Kaioken would put him at 18k against Nappa and match Vegeta until Kaioken x 3) and King Vegeta should have been put at 20k for it all to have made sense. Because honestly, King Vegeta at a measly 10k and Nappa at 4k is pretty weak for their supposed rank. I mean Cui on the Namek was stronger than them all -let alone King Vegeta easily which is silly.
Superb video, man! Can't wait for the next one.
Btw, homage is pronounced "hommidge", not "oumaaje".
Actually, both are correct.
The TV Specials were so much better than the movies that it's almost comical. They really focused on the more tragic aspects of the Dragon Ball world the rest of the series usually glossed over.
As for Bardock being so strong, I just assumed it was similar to what Vegeta said to Cui on Namek. Being on the front lines for so long gave Vegeta multiple opportunities to get stronger than Freeza's elite, so Bardock might very well have been powering up under the Saiyans' noses. It also does make it more believable that he's Goku's father, being born a lower class warrior who surpasses the elite through hard work.
I’d rather watch a celebration of dragon ball with high budget 90s Toei at its best than a constant series of tragedies honestly , however the TV specials definitely hit different.
Bardock special is so good
Watching this with the knowledge of what’s happened in the DBS manga is wild
glad to see someone finally address the yellow magic orchestra connection.
Even though battle levels aren't supposed to make that much since I think I could explain why Bardock's battle level was so high. It could be that some Frieza scientist could have found a more accurate way of converting power to numbers or something that would make power numbers have the same meaning but lower number. Or we could just say Frieza got tired of saying really big numbers for unimportant people so he just said "Okay now all battle levels will be decided by 10 because I don't feel like space squalls with a battle level of 10."
Funny thing is Tolkien actually retconned some bits of The Hobbit to fit into the Lord of Rings story as he was writing it, so he did kind of turn it into a prequel when subsequent editions had the reworked bits.
I like Bardock's original hair.
Raditz was probably sent as a baby to some random planet, due to his low battle power, that's why he survived the destruction of planet Vegeta.
I'm also guessing Bardock never found him worth mentioning due to being a disappointment in power like with Goku.
I got American Physcho vibes when he started calmly describing the music towards the end
I always thought that bardock was at like 3000 but gained the 8000 through a zenkai boost after dodoria wrecked him or after the alien gave him the future viewing power or both
But I could be misremembering when the 8000 power lvl part took place
Edit: apparently I'm not the only one who thought this cause its addressed immediately in the next video xD
Great video as always.
In regards to Nappa and Vegeta's power levels, my interpretation is that those levels were Elite Class compared to the remaining Saiyans. I imagine Freiza would have ensured that Vegeta and the other saiyans under him would be able to get strong but not too strong that they could surpass him, meaning that they while they would be the strongest of their generation of Saiyans, that doesn't mean they'd rank the same in the previous generations.
Yeah I mean Nappa is the Saiyan general of their rank and Bardock is twice as strong as he was in Z 20 years later.
Again, Nappa is never said to have been a general. That's something the English dub made up.
Bardock is the RAMBO of Dragonball
Bardock the father of goku is more canon than dbs broly.
Yeah, the battle power thing bothered me too and is further reason that we shouldn't cling to those numbers. It never made sense to me that Nappa was at 4,000 and Piccolo was at 3,500 during the end of the Saiyan arc, yet Piccolo couldn't do a thing against Nappa.
15:16 it’s cause Bardock farmed zenkai boosts. That’s how get got so strong
15:41 this sequence was so based and why Bardock is one of most popular characters though 😫 he was getting that “Saiyans improve during battle” rage boost and was fighting for his life, people and the freedom of the galaxy
Great video like always! Although I am slightly curious. What's your opinion on the ending song, Hikari no ? It's personally one of my favorites.
Oh, I love that song, although the extended MIDI instrumental at the beginning of the full version is rather cheesy.
Blasphemy. The cheap and overly drawn out synthesization is integral to the hypersonic experience.
MistareFusion That’s why I’ve always liked the acoustic strings/piano interpretation from the ’96 remix album better.
Great content.. and the know-it-all made me laugh at the office. :)
I feel like that would be better if Bardock was the reason why planet vegeta get destroyed. Think about it, Frieza was coincidentally was going to visit planet Vegeta to talk with King Vegeta or something along those lines and suddenly Bardock confronts him and because of his confrontation with Bardock Frieza takes action...
That feels like it kinda makes Bardock a bit too important.
Raditz is sort of mentioned in the special. In the beginning when asked when his son was born Bardock said "no but it was too long ago." Supposed to me Goku but that clearly means Raditz.
Don't argue too much on it. Just go with it so Raditz can be "in" the special.
That off-hand mentioning of Raditz only happened in the Funimation dub of the "Bardock Special."
Your point is fair but I still have to disagree with Nozawa Bardock. Mind you, she's great. That's not the issue. I just don't think Bardock the character deserved to have "the voice" shared between a "pure bloodline". He absolutely should have been alien to us because the story's premise is alien already. That said, I get the business side of things. They could have at least used Chiba or somebody, subtly adding Raditz without including the character.
I'm always so late in watching these but I don't want distractions so better late than never!
She portrays him completely different than Goku. Like a more rough and serious version.
@@iknoweverything4959 Yeah, but somehow it just feels unfitting. Hearing a voice like THAT, coming out of this grown-ass man.
@@mitchfletcher2386 Right, check out The Korean voice of Goku, it fits him better. Nosawa portrays him perfectly, but her "voice" doesn't fit his adult appearance. They needed to get a male voice actor to imitate her portrayal.
I always assumed that Bardock taking on a hole army was the result of a zenkai boost.
Awesome! this just made my day.
Mmm...Dragon Ball Dissection goodness.
His last vision was true Goku did kill Freeza albeit not on Namek.
Bitches call me "The Prequel" cause I always be coming before them.
I can understand the irritation of Bardock somehow plowing through dozens of Frieza soldiers. Logically, he should’ve collapsed long before he even entered the stratosphere. But narratively, I can forgive it. It’s a hope spot, a resolved last ditch effort, dying trying. Signs that his attempt to make a difference might be possible… Until Frieza without even wasting words on this lowlife makes fireworks out of him and his planet.
Perhaps it could be seen as a reflection of Goku proving to Vegeta his society-chosen status meant squat. Like son like father, an implacable will to strive for victory no matter what. The one trait evil father and kindhearted son share. Except Bardock’s will to win just wasn’t strong enough, so it must be his son to take Frieza down.
As much as I don't like Nozawa as Goku, at least she nails his naive personality and childlike innocence. Bardock, however, doesn't lend himself to her trademark high pitched voice. His looks and personality lends itself more towards a deeper voice with a serious tone. If anything he should have been voiced by someone like Shigeru Chiba.
I just wish this special gave more time to bardocks crew
Yea they exist to die minuets into the special. Hell they could easily be taken out with no meaningful difference. I mean really Bardock doesn't care about his infant Sayian but does care for some random guys?
Me last night: "Man, I could go for some new Dragon Ball Dissection. Hope Lance comes out with a new one some time soon..."
Me today: :D
Bardock is Guts of Dragonball
This and the Trunk's special desperately need a new English dub. It doesn't do this justice nor does Dragon Ball Minus. Though that's a rant for another time.
Wait are you saying if you see your son in the future takening down every problem in his way even when his power level was low, and he is able to defeat Frieza that you wouldn't try to adopt Goku's merciful nature? Bardock is literally able to see everything he loves die, but you don't think he'd follow the way of the guy who made friends with everyone and became free from the Galactic Emperor? He achieved all his goals, and got freedom from all his oppressors. That the kind of guy you want to be super sayain or not.