Episode #0437 (18 March 2018)

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VegettoEX
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Episode #0437 (18 March 2018)

Post by VegettoEX » Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:33 pm

Episode #0437 (download MP3) (rss feed) (subscribe in iTunes) (YouTube version) (SoundCloud version)
72:15; 96 kbps, mono; 49.8 MB

Episode #0437! Mike, Meri, and Jeff continue onward in the "Dragon Ball GT Review of Awesomeness" to cover "Dragon Ball GT" episodes 23-27! Baby begins his assault on Earth, making his way through all of the remaining Saiyans before landing with Vegeta. Our space heroes have finished collecting the Dragon Balls, but will it make any difference?

SEGMENTS:
00:13 - Introduction
04:36 - Topic
67:40 - Wrapup

REFERENCED SITES: (I'm getting over something AGAIN so please excuse my awful nasally voice as much as you can possibly ignore and excuse something so terrible. Been dying to get this episode done and didn't want to wait any longer!)
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Re: Episode #0437 (18 March 2018)

Post by Psionic Dragon » Mon Mar 19, 2018 6:09 pm

So glad you mention everybody looking like Vegeta. When I watched GT for the first time it threw me off that Goku's sons look like Vegeta and Vegeta's own son doesn't even look like him. Why did they feel like giving everybody the same haircut in GT?

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Re: Episode #0437 (18 March 2018)

Post by KBABZ » Tue Mar 20, 2018 6:02 am

Okay! I have just finished listening to the podcast and will post my GT Dub of Awkwardness notes! For those who can't remember, this is where in addition to my own thoughts, I note down any changes I see between the subs and the dub, as that's the version I like watching (Nadolny ftw!).

Before we begin, I wanted to add a little to the topic on Baby taking over Vegeta being similar to Majin Vegeta. In my opinion the comparisons are face-value at best when you start looking deeper than "oh look Vegeta's evil again!". In particular, with Majin Vegeta it wasn't just a conscious choice, but Vegeta himself was still "there", having dialogue with characters he knows. With (MAH) Baby, it's actually Baby himself taking over Vegeta's body via assimilation, so really the villain we're fighting here is Baby, not Vegeta. It's an important difference!


General Thoughts
Both pairs of episodes here really feel like they could have been combined into a singular, more tightly-paced one; the plot moves along at JUST a slow enough pace to feel plodding and stalling for time when it really doesn’t need to, at least for me.

Despite that, I like how the gang initially thinks they’re getting back to the Dragon Ball quest when really they aren’t, and the moments in the hospital I think is good stuff overall. The fight between Goten and Gohan felt a bit more like classic Z, especially since the action has moved back to Earth. The Baby stuff here feels a lot more like it’s moving the plot along compared to the M2 stuff.

Speaking of Baby, holy CRAP is this guy creepy. Buu felt genocidal like a maniac, but Buu is the skin-crawling type of villain, and the way he drains and takes over people makes him more notable than I expected him to be. He also has a unique goal and method of doing it too compared to past foes. Back on Earth, I found it quite funny that the show went out of its way to make a big deal out of Vegeta shaving the moustache, like the show is aware of the backlash. That kind of metatextual pivoting and acknowledgement feels quite modern to me!

I think it’s also clear what the intent is when the story now focuses on Baby for these episodes rather than the Black Star Gang; we’ve officially moved away from the original Dragon Ball quest and shifted over to the Z-style plot, only showing the bare minimum of what the trio are up to to make it LOOK like it still matters, but really we’re setting up the situation the gang is going to arrive to.


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Re: Episode #0437 (18 March 2018)

Post by Cipher » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:32 am

This podcast installment actually made me want to go back and rewatch that string of GT episodes. Might have to do so in the near future.

It's nice to hear everyone enjoying themselves, and I agree that seeing everyone on Earth again is a massive breath of fresh air. For whatever reason though—I think largely coming down to aesthetics and the presentation of the fights, which are rather brief and samey here—I wind up enjoying this stretch just slightly less than M2. But everything with Goten and Vegeta is great.

I think the one-two punch of the space episodes this time around may tie the lead-in to the Luud Cult for my least favorite forty minutes of the series, but it's hard to say that firmly. Baby makes for anice horror-movie villain around this point—a distinction he shares singularly in the franchise with Cell (though I don't think to the point of feeling derivative). At the same time, I can see why his early appearances might be frustrating without having an inkling as to his backstory. I'd always imagined the mere mystery of his Saiyan fixation would provide enough of a hook, but I can understand Jeff's impatience here.

I like the note about the environments coming into play more in the fights with this string of episodes (though I also want to point to the Goku vs. Rilld fight for that), as that's something GT definitely does well. Baby appearing on a car that's been tossed into a building, causing it to rock downward slightly, Gohan slamming Vegeta into the turbines, etc.—all super memorable.

It was also interesting to hear someone (Mike?) comment on the increasing realism of the backgrounds. Uh ... keep an eye out for that, and how it may or may not dovetail with where the series ends up thematically.

Pan getting sexually assaulted by a deer sucks. I believe that's the last time we get anything like that, but let's all pause for a minute to reflect on the shameful string of scenes involving Pan that don't seem all that nefarious in isolation, but collectively speak to a weird fixation with the fact that she's the girl character, and as such, middle-school-age aside, we must be reminded of her gender and sexuality. Yikes, yikes, yikes. Like, people scripted, approved, storyboarded, and animated that.

On a last, brighter note, a series of episodes and a storyline climax that I think do a particularly good job of capturing Dragon Ball's sense of both memorable action and whimsy lie ahead. All this before a final third that's almost antithetical to Toriyama's style, but interesting nevertheless.

EDIT -- I also don't think I'd ever realized "Don't You See" spoils the climax of the arc, despite the fact that I must have noticed, on some level, those Goku and Baby-Vegeta designs appearing weeks before either debuts on the show.

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Re: Episode #0437 (18 March 2018)

Post by SHINOBI-03 » Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:42 am

It feels weird with the existence of Super, GT is now something like a time capsule.

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Re: Episode #0437 (18 March 2018)

Post by Twinbee_Mk_II » Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:54 pm

Good podcast all. As a pretty die hard GT fan who has staunchly defended it for 20 years, it does my heart good to see it being enjoyed by others, especially those who may not have seen any merit in it. Keep up the good work and look forward to the next. :clap:

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