What if Dragon Ball Super was Only 49 Episodes?

[JulieYBM]

I've been messing around with this little project for how I would handle Dragon Ball Super if I had about 50% control over the storyline and execution. I've tried to stay within the general framing of the story arcs while also making as many little changes as I want. I didn't make all of the changes I wanted, though, I just focused on cutting the story down to a small length. I'm still not happy with how long my version of the Tournament of Power is but it will have to do since I put so much effort into the character writing. Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you lent me a critical eye so I could improve the story some more. Thank you.

What if Dragon Ball Super was 49 Episodes?

[sintzu]

I'd cut out the move retellings and the slice of life episodes which will bring things down to 90 episodes.

Champa's arc can be cut from 14 down to 10 episodes.

Black's arc can be cut from 21 down to 15 episodes.

That leaves 24 episodes for the tournament of power arc which should be enough if you cut out the recrutement and the majority of non-main fighter episodes.

[ConfusedPhantom]

I'm still working through it. But, I like how you actually gave Sorbet and Tagoma a character arc that actually went somewhere instead of turning them into just another pair of lackies that die.

[JulieYBM]

I'm still working through it. But, I like how you actually gave Sorbet and Tagoma a character arc that actually went somewhere instead of turning them into just another pair of lackies that die.

I've always found the end of Fukkatsu no F hilarious, so I wanted to combine that with my general intention to do events differently from the comic and cartoons. I wrote that ending like a year ago, though, and never ecpected Freeza to return...

Please let me know if you have more to say...

[JohnnyCashKami]

Could have worked. The first two seasons are just rehashes of Battle of God and Resurrection F, so the rest could have been done with lesser episodes.

[JulieYBM]

Could have worked. The first two seasons are just rehashes of Battle of God and Resurrection F, so the rest could have been done with lesser episodes.

My version changes and adds a few things, though.

I've done a preliminary version of how I would handle Broli Episodes #50-53. I plan on working out a few more points before posting it, though.

[emperior]

Could have worked. The first two seasons are just rehashes of Battle of God and Resurrection F, so the rest could have been done with lesser episodes.

My version changes and adds a few things, though.

I've done a preliminary version of how I would handle Broli Episodes #50-53. I plan on working out a few more points before posting it, though.

Wouldn’t 4 episodes of Broly be too few?

[JulieYBM]

Could have worked. The first two seasons are just rehashes of Battle of God and Resurrection F, so the rest could have been done with lesser episodes.

My version changes and adds a few things, though.

I've done a preliminary version of how I would handle Broli Episodes #50-53. I plan on working out a few more points before posting it, though.

Wouldn’t 4 episodes of Broly be too few?

It's based purely upon what we know about the script that Toriyama wrote so far. If an extended version ever happens then I would of course do some revisions. This is what I have written so far. I'm not pleased with it yet. I really want to remove Gogeta but I'll have to wait until I have a better idea of where Gokuu and Vegeta are going with their growth:

Spoiler:

Broli Arc:

Episode #49: “The Strongest Saiyan”
•On the scarcely inhabited Planet Vampa, a Saiyan named Broli kills a large animal and eats it.
•Opening: Son Gokuu and Vegeta—both using Migatte no Goku’i: Omen—continue their battle in the wasteland where they first fought. Finally, the two ki become locked in a beam struggle but their ki is so equal that they cancel out and blow both fighters back.
•Gokuu and Vegeta return to Capsule Corp. Most everyone has gone home except for Beers, Whis and Son Goten. Whis sighs upon sight of the two beat-up Saiyans and heals them and restores their clothing to normal. While the two Saiyans eat voraciously, Whis asks Son Gokuu (wearing his outfit from the cover of Dragon Ball Tankoubon Volume #26) why he wants to improve so much. Gokuu explains that after the Tournament of Power he realizes just how much he has to improve and wants to start right away! Meanwhile, Vegeta (wearing blue jeans and a flannel top) answers that with Freeza alive again he serves as too much an imminent threat. Gokuu counters that Freeza wouldn’t do anything too bad since they worked together at the Tournament of Power but Vegeta calls him naïve in response.
•Title Card:
•A Part: Lemo and Chirai arrive on Planet Vampa and become acquainted with Paragus and Broli. The two are invited back to their empire.
•B Part: Broli and Paragus meet Freeza. Hearing that Broli is supposedly powerful beyond imagine Freeza has Broli battle Tagoma and Shisami, whom he has kept locked up in a cell with the corpse of Sorbet. Both fighters are overwhelmed by Broli’s strength and Freeza is gleefully happy to see that Broli need not even transform into a Super Saiyan to crush them. After an attack from Tagoma angers Broli the Saiyan grows larger in size (transforming into his ‘Rage’ form) and kills both Tagoma and Shisami by literally crushing them against the wall or the floor.
•Ending: With Broli beginning to go on a rampage Paragus uses his mind control device to subdue Broli by activating his necklace that sends high-voltage charges throughout Broli’s body. Chirai is none-too-pleased by this treatment of Broli.
•Broli showers the blood away and then dons his new battle jacket.

Episode #50: “Friends”
•An irate Beers finds himself babysitting Bra while Blooma and the others fly via aircraft through the arctic. Beers mumbles to himself about “why do I have to watch the kid just because I don’t care about retrieving those damned stolen Balls?”
•Opening:
•Gokuu and Vegeta discuss their new winter coats.
•Title Card:
•A Part: Broli, Chirai and Lemo bond over lunch at the commissary. Broli explains that the green fur he's wearing comes from his very first friend. Planet Vampa displays two types of creatures: the spider-crabs and some gigantic green fur long necked dog-like creatures that live within the craters found on the surface of the planet. As a kid, Broli trained by continuously dodging the attacks of one of these green furred creatures, and by repeatedly doing so they became friends. One day though, Paragus attacked this creature, severing one of its ears. After that incident, the creature stopped interacting with Broli, and a saddened Broli decided to wear the fur of that severed ear around him so that they'd always be together. After hearing this story, Lemo says that Broli is a really pure being, to which Chirai adds that she thinks Broli doesn't really want to fight, but instead is being used as a tool by his pathetic father in order to exact some vengeful agenda. The duo feels adamant that Broli should abandon Paragus’ side, but the savage Saiyan declines to disobey his father. Suddenly, the three get a message from Paragus on their scouters: they’re ready to depart for Earth.
•B Part: Freeza’s ship lands on Earth. Chirai and Lemo set about looking for the last Dragon Ball and come across Blooma doing the same. Meanwhile, Freeza introduces Paragus and Broli. Upon sight of Vegeta Broli attacks him in a fit of rage. Vegeta, having acquired Super Saiyan Blue-level power in his normal form, effortlessly dispatches with Broli by kicking him through several snowy mountains. Vegeta shit-talks Paragus who can only grip his fists in anger before going into a flashback sequence. Paragus recalls the day he learned that Broli was being sent to Planet Vampa for having a battle power higher than Vegeta’s reading. Pleading with the Saiyan King is useless and Paragus must watch as his son is sent off to almost certain death.
•Ending:
•Paragus and Beets crash land on Planet Vampa and find Broli amongst a massive graveyard of beasts, eating them dead or alive.

Episode #51: “The Strongest Saiyan VERSUS the Strongest Combination”
•The episode opens on a shot of the massive, collapsed mountain. Suddenly, lava bursts from below and out comes Broli in his Rage form.
•Opening:
•Gokuu and Vegeta are shocked. “What the hell is that?!” Paragus wears a shit-eating grin, “Broli can harness the power of the Giant Monkey form in his human form!”
•Title Card:
•A Part: Vegeta readies to battle Rage Broli but Gokuu shouts that it’s his turn. Vegeta relents so that he can study Broli’s new form and gain a rudimentary understanding of it first. Gokuu starts slow, allowing Broli to show off his power, but once Broli turns a mountain into a large pile of sand with a single ki blast from his mouth Gokuu decides to raise his normal form’s ki to its uppermost limit and he completely overwhelms Broli. Fearing that his plan will go to ruin, Freeza recalls how killing Kuririn on Planet Namek awoke the Super Saiyan transformation within Son Gokuu. Picking up a shard of mountain debris Freeza throws the shard of mountain through Broli’s heart with telekinesis.
•B Part: Paragus stumbles forward, unable to speak but still trying to reach for his son. Finally, Broli sees his father collapse and die. Freeza explains that the debris that pierced Paragus came from the damage done to the environment by Son Gokuu’s attacks. [Insert Music: “Swan Lake (Ballet Suite), Op. 20: I. Scene (Swan Theme)” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky] Shocked, Broli transforms into a Super Saiyan. Both Gokuu and Vegeta team up to battle Broli but every one of their combination plays does no harm to Broli. [Insert Music Ends] Unable to enter the Migatte no Goku’i state willingly, Gokuu and Vegeta find themselves in the most dangerous of pickles. Amidst their dodging of Broli’s attacks Gokuu screams at Broli, telling him that if he doesn’t calm down his ki will explode and destroy his body. Chirai overhears this and begs Broli to calm down but falls on deaf ears. Chirai considers using the device that she stole from Paragus to calm Broli but is reminded of how disgusted she was at Paragus when he did it before. Staring at Paragus’ corpse, Chirai grows disgusted and curses him. Broli’s unchecked ki begins causing a distortion that even Freeza realizes will destroy the universe if it gets out of hand. Vegeta tells Kakarrot that they’ll need to use fusion to stop Broli since they can’t achieve Migatte no Goku’i. Gokuu is reluctant but eventually agrees. Unfortunately, Broli’s rampaging makes it difficult for the duo to get the time to perform the dance. Gokuu gets an idea and tells Freeza that if he wants to live he needs to buy him and Vegeta some time. Freeza reluctantly agrees—thinking to himself about how he technically is responsible for this situation—and begins to battle Broli.
•Ending:
•Freeza transforms into Golden Freeza.

Episode #52: “The Strongest Fusion”
•Cold-daiou arrives on Planet Vegeta with his son and introduces him as the new emperor. King Vegeta bows before him, fearful of Freeza’s immense power.
•Opening:
•Freeza drinks wine while peering down on Planet Vegeta from his spaceship.
•Title Card:
•A Part: Paranoid with the Saiyans’ increasing strength and even rumors of a Saiyan child with incredibly high combat potential Freeza destroys Planet Vegeta. Back in the present, Freeza continues to battle Broli. Freeza attempts to use his techniques against Broli but his overwhelming power repels them effortlessly. Even a ‘Renzoku Death Ball’ with one hundred planet-destroying ki blasts slammed into Broli leaves the rampaging Saiyan unperturbed. Brutally beaten within an inch of his life, Freeza is saved…by Gogeta?
•B Part: Gokuu and Vegeta (who has seen Trunks and Goten perform the fusion dance many times before and has memorized it) perform the fusion dance and become ‘Gogeta’. With Freeza nearly dead the fused warrior stops Broli by grabbing his wrist before he can swing at Freeza. Broli drops Freeza and begins his battle with Gogeta. Broli quickly finds himself at a disadvantage but doesn’t give up. Broli’s overwhelming and constantly increasing power transforms him into a green-haired transformation that Gogeta notes is “Just like Kale!” after he takes a nose-breaking swipe to the face that sends him flying back into the lava pooling beneath. Gogeta powers up while beneath the lava and wraps a twister of lava in his ki to direct toward Broli. With a kiai Broli is able to dispel the lava twister and open a tear in time and space that engulfs both he, Gogeta and Freeza. As the environment around them cracks like a mirror their histories play around them. Whis appears and tells Gogeta that if Broli is not stopped soon all of the Seventh Universe will be engulfed by this phenomenon and individual will and consciousness will cease to exist. Gogeta nods and prepares to face Broli once last time. Just then, Gogeta catches sight of a shard that shows Bardock and Gine and is mesmerized.
•Ending:
•Forty-one years ago, Gine prepares dinner.

Episode #53: “Kakarotto”
•Bardock returns him from his mission and greets his wife, Gine and their incubation chamber son, Kakarrotto.
•Opening:
•Gine asks Bardock what he’s doing home so soon and Bardock reveals that all missions were canceled on the King’s authority, but he imagines the he was really forced into it by Freeza. Bardock and Gine decide to send Kakarrotto on his mission to Earth early for fear of Freeza’s plans. As Kakarrotto’s Attack Ball flies into the blackness of space the camera pulls out and reveals Gogeta’s eyes, saddened.
•Title Card:
•A Part: Gokuu—within the mind of Gogeta—has just watched the day Planet Vegeta was destroyed. Meanwhile, Broli has likewise spent his time watching a crack playing through Paragus’ failed conversation with Paragus about keeping Broli on Planet Vegeta, followed by King Vegeta coveting his own son and ambition for him. Broli loses a single tear at the memories, turns to Gogeta and attacks him in a fury. Gogeta takes a nasty pummeling that he otherwise wouldn’t normally take as he processes the memories he’s witnessed. Memories of Gokuu’s life on Earth play in cracks that catch Gogeta’s eye and he finally gains the wherewithal to hit Broli back. Whis checks a hyper-detailed pocket watch before whispering “Sixty-six seconds left.” Finally, Gogeta uppercuts Broli backward through the dimensional tear and back onto Earth. Gogeta prepares to finish Broli off with a Big Bang Kamehame-Ha before Chirai’s voice interrupts his concentration, “Please return Broli to Planet Vampa!” Shen Long agrees and Broli disappears in a flash. Gogeta’s expression slowly changes from confusion to a smile and finally the fused warrior laughs.
•B Part: Sometime later on Planet Vampa Broli, Chirai and Lemo eat. Chirai and Lemo are disgusted by the spider animal that they finally agreed to eat and Broli laughs at their reactions. Suddenly, Gokuu appears and hands over a capsule case, telling Broli that he’s happy that he found some peace and that someday he’d like to fight him again when he’s strong enough to fight without fusion. As Gokuu turns to teleport back to Earth Broli shouts back, “KAKAROTTO!” Gokuu turns back to a now smiling Broli who continues, “Me, too.” Gokuu grins and teleports home.
•Ending:
•Freeza licks his wounds while Bluberry chastises him. Freeza tells her to not worry, though, for he has found a new option.