If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

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If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by DragonBallFoodie » Tue Dec 06, 2016 12:23 pm

I'm one of those people who'd love to see Dragon Ball turned into a live-action film series. But of course, it's such a long saga that you can't adapt everything, you have to pick which sagas can be adopted.

I would ideally adapt:
- the Saiyan saga (Raditz comes to Earth and reveals Goku's alien heritage, Goku dies and meets King Kai, Piccolo trains Gohan, Vegeta and Nappa come to Earth and Goku too)
- the Namek saga (Bulma and Gohan and Krillin go to Namek to revive Piccolo, encounter Frieza and his minions)
- the Frieza saga (Frieza fights, Vegeta dies, Krillin dies, Goku becomes a Super Saiyan)
- From hereon I don't know what could be next. :cry:

- the DB saga (young Goku meets Bulma, takes on the Red Army, and beats up Piccolo and Piccolo Jr)

What I listed above are the bare bones summation. I know there are some things that can't shouldn't be left out/compressed, but that's the nature of adaptations. Look at Peter Jackson adapting the JRRTolkien novels.


What sagas would you adapt into live-action?
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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by nickzambuto » Tue Dec 06, 2016 1:46 pm

The entire story of Dragon Ball itself is a running saga. You can divide certain sections of the story up into "arcs", but you really need the whole thing at once in order for it to come together IMO. Adapting a single arc into a movie wouldn't work, the arcs aren't standalone pieces. They run from one to the next, you can't just stop the story after the 21st tournament, for example. At best, everything from the beginning until Goku beats Piccolo and wins the tournament can work as standalone, with the Z portion being a sequel to that, but I don't think it's possible to cram three tournaments and two Dragon Ball hunts into a single film, let alone all the events of Z into a single film.

I guess they could release the films in parts, like the first movie would be "Dragon Ball Part I" and then the sequels would be "Dragon Ball Part II, Part III," etc like how they sometimes divide book adaptions. But I still don't see a way to do it without seriously diverging from the canon. The first arc alone can't hold up a whole movie, and the second arc is a completely separate story so you can't combine them. The only solution I see is combining the first arc together with the RRA arc, since they're both Dragon Ball hunts but the presence of the RRA would give the film a more substantial plot than the first arc alone could provide, and making that the first movie. Then I guess the second movie would be combining the 21st and 22nd tournaments? It's up to the writer whether the film should actually involve two separate tournaments with a timeskip in between, or whether the whole film should just be one tournament, but either way we'd need Tenshinhan in there so combining the two arcs is the only way. Then the third film would be Daimao, and the fourth Ma Jr. I guess that makes sense, structurally. From there it's straightforward, one film for all the Z arcs. That's Saiyans, Namek, Androids, and Majin Boo.

Starting the film franchise with the plot twist that the main character has been an alien the whole time makes no sense though. Raditz is a terrible starting point. I personally think of everything from Pilaf to Boo as one story, but if you want to divide them, Z only works as a SEQUEL to what came before. It is not a starting point. The battle against the saiyans presumes that the viewer already has an emotional attachment to the fighters who are dying left and right. The fact that the American audience didn't when the show first aired, so all we saw were these nameless weirdos getting humiliated and killed off one by one, probably contributed to the stereotype that all non-saiyans are weak fodder. It's supposed to be stressing and shocking, and you only get that if you have the context of what came before. Z IS NOT A STARTING POINT.

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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by DragonBallFoodie » Wed Dec 07, 2016 4:51 pm

The entire story of Dragon Ball itself is a running saga. You can divide certain sections of the story up into "arcs", but you really need the whole thing at once in order for it to come together IMO. Adapting a single arc into a movie wouldn't work, the arcs aren't standalone pieces. They run from one to the next, you can't just stop the story after the 21st tournament, for example. At best, everything from the beginning until Goku beats Piccolo and wins the tournament can work as standalone, with the Z portion being a sequel to that, but I don't think it's possible to cram three tournaments and two Dragon Ball hunts into a single film, let alone all the events of Z into a single film.

I guess they could release the films in parts, like the first movie would be "Dragon Ball Part I" and then the sequels would be "Dragon Ball Part II, Part III," etc like how they sometimes divide book adaptions. But I still don't see a way to do it without seriously diverging from the canon. The first arc alone can't hold up a whole movie, and the second arc is a completely separate story so you can't combine them. The only solution I see is combining the first arc together with the RRA arc, since they're both Dragon Ball hunts but the presence of the RRA would give the film a more substantial plot than the first arc alone could provide, and making that the first movie. Then I guess the second movie would be combining the 21st and 22nd tournaments? It's up to the writer whether the film should actually involve two separate tournaments with a timeskip in between, or whether the whole film should just be one tournament, but either way we'd need Tenshinhan in there so combining the two arcs is the only way. Then the third film would be Daimao, and the fourth Ma Jr. I guess that makes sense, structurally. From there it's straightforward, one film for all the Z arcs. That's Saiyans, Namek, Androids, and Majin Boo.
Okay, fair enough, DB itself would need to be at least three films I think.

Z only works as a SEQUEL to what came before. It is not a starting point. The battle against the saiyans presumes that the viewer already has an emotional attachment to the fighters who are dying left and right. The fact that the American audience didn't when the show first aired, so all we saw were these nameless weirdos getting humiliated and killed off one by one, probably contributed to the stereotype that all non-saiyans are weak fodder. It's supposed to be stressing and shocking, and you only get that if you have the context of what came before. Z IS NOT A STARTING POINT.
I was one of those who started off with Z, but I can see your point. The warriors Yamcha and Tien serve as a major bridging point between the gag adventure of DB and the hardcore shonen of DBZ.

So I guess you have to start with DB, then move to DBZ and beyond.
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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by ChronoTwigger » Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:06 pm

DragonBallFoodie wrote: I was one of those who started off with Z, but I can see your point. The warriors Yamcha and Tien serve as a major bridging point between the gag adventure of DB and the hardcore shonen of DBZ.
well, that's not the point...
Who is that guy Goku and why he's so strong?
Who's that Piccolo "creature" and why it's seems to be some angst?
What's that tail thing?
WHO ARE all these chara?

The idea of a trilogy seems appropriate.
Kid Goku movie 1 defeating Piccolo.
Movie 2 defeating of Frieza and all Sayan stuff.
Movie 3 the Buu arc (Android arc if not by showing us Future Trunks and grown up characters COULD be avoided). You already introduced all the relevant characters.

OF COURSE a lotta retelling must be done to have thing move properly. You have to think to a larger audience, even those who doesn't care now of DB.
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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by kinisking » Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:11 pm

The Great Saiyaman saga. It has the most potential for a live action to be honest. It could be a fun super hero tv show imo.
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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by floofychan333 » Wed Dec 07, 2016 10:01 pm

kinisking wrote:The Great Saiyaman saga. It has the most potential for a live action to be honest. It could be a fun super hero tv show imo.
Actually, that would be a cool spinoff. Maybe it could be its own anime
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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by kinisking » Wed Dec 07, 2016 10:02 pm

floofychan333 wrote:
kinisking wrote:The Great Saiyaman saga. It has the most potential for a live action to be honest. It could be a fun super hero tv show imo.
Actually, that would be a cool spinoff. Maybe it could be its own anime
It would be pretty grounded too. There wouldn't be a need for Ki blasts, and you could use Gohan's ROF design when he's not in the costume. That way the hair wouldn't be hard to do.
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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by Super Sonic » Wed Dec 07, 2016 11:05 pm

Know it's not original, but could picture the Saiyan Saga with it ending as the anime did, but with a stinger previewing Frieza a la Thanos.

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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by SSJ YUSUKE » Thu Dec 08, 2016 3:39 am

Dragonball works much better as a CW style TV series than a movie.
I would start off with the Saiyan saga but I'd add flashbacks to dragonball , like they do with Oliver Queen in the Arrow. First season would cover the whole of the Saiyan saga and the Dragonball stuff can all be covered in flashbacks and would focus on GOKU.
Season 2 would be the Frieza saga but for the flash back sequences I do a story about Vegeta, starting from the Saiyan alliance with Frieza and covering Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz going on Missions for Frieza and you could even add Bardocks story.
Season 3 would naturally be the Cell saga with the flashbacks being Trunks timeline.
Season 4 would be the Buy saga.
The series itself would have a lot of changes, for example each season I would have "monster of the week" episodes that introduce the movie villians , obviously their stories would be completely different.
More prominent female characters like Bulma playing a bigger role as a sort of tech support like team Flash, or having Chi Chi as a fighter, give Launch a sort of Mai role as a badass normal but have her personality split be a major character issue.
Give Humans minions to fight and other TV stuff like that

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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by Nejishiki » Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:51 am

I don't think I would directly adapt any of the original story arcs. Rather, I would re-purpose elements from the series to create an original plot. The seemingly obvious initial script would revolve around the collection of the Dragon Balls. You use Bluma to introduce the idea of Shen Long, Goku as the audience surrogate, and the antagonistic force of your choice to seek Dragon Balls for their own motives. That would be ideal, if not a bit too straightforward. I rather allow room for twists and turns since that sounds like a standard action-adventure drama by itself. Film doesn't often allow the luxury of satisfactorily utilizing a large cast. That's a problem if you want additional flair. Assuming Dragon Ball is well-known enough to grant skipping an origin story, a script that deals with the consequences of a wish would be preferred. It doesn't particularly matter what it will be, but the early Dragon Ball Z movies did well with that premise. It allows us to focus on the characters and ongoing conflict. The world can build itself as time runs.

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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by The Time Traveller » Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:18 am

I've had the entirety of a 7 movie franchise planned in my goddamn head for years.

Movie 1: Boyhood/Red Ribbon Arc
Movie 2: Piccolo Daimao Arc
Movie 3: Saiyan Arc
Movie 4: Freeza Arc Part 1
Movie 5: Freeza Arc Part 2/Start of Cell Arc
Movie 6: Cell Arc
Movie 7: Boo Arc

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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by Robo4900 » Thu Dec 08, 2016 10:55 am

The Time Traveller wrote:I've had the entirety of a 7 movie franchise planned in my goddamn head for years.

Movie 1: Boyhood/Red Ribbon Arc
Movie 2: Piccolo Daimao Arc
Movie 3: Saiyan Arc
Movie 4: Freeza Arc Part 1
Movie 5: Freeza Arc Part 2/Start of Cell Arc
Movie 6: Cell Arc
Movie 7: Boo Arc
I think an MCU/Harry Potter-type live action DB movie series would work pretty well, and if it was done, this is pretty close to how I'd like to see it.
Although honestly, I'd condense Freeza into one film(IMO, if it was directed and cut really well, it could make a really kickass single movie). If possible, I'd like the same done for Cell/Androids, but given the magnitude of the story, I can see it not fitting in one film.
Also, maybe it's just me, but I think a GT duology with slightly rewritten storylines could be really cool too; you could do the Black-Star/Baby arc, then the Evil Dragons. With the Black-Star arc being condensed down to fit into a film with Baby, I think it would come off a lot better. One cool thing they could do is to have multiple teams of fighters going out to defeat the Evil Dragons, which could make for some really cool intercut fights. It would take some really clever writing and some rather exceptional choreography to stop the fighting from getting old, but if handled well, I think it could do a better job than the series did. Although living up to GT's ending could be very difficult.
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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by Bianju » Thu Dec 08, 2016 12:00 pm

I've thought about how to do a film which covers the series up to the 23rd Budokai (sort of). Perhaps now is the time to indulge this little thought experiment...

I think in order to add God to the story (which I think he should be in order to both provide an explanation for Piccolo and merge this with the ending of the 23rd Budokai) , Piccolo's new goal would be to re-fuse with God, something which he would attempt in the opening scene. Instead of his children (at this point, anyway), he would be aided by Tsurusennin (made a tad more evil for cinematic purposes, but whatever) and his pupils, Tenshinhan and Chaozu. Though they destroy the lookout, they can't compete with God's power. God sends Piccolo off of the lookout, believing he's killed him. Though he survives, he knows he stands no chance against God. Tsurusennin suggests the plan to use the dragonballs to regain his youth. Piccolo latches onto it with pride, and creates Tambourine, Drum, and Piano at once to do his bidding.

Their first target is Gyumao, who tries to fight off his attackers but to no avail. Fearing the worst (and remembering a few of her dad's stories), his daughter Chi-Chi flees Mount Frypan with their dragonball. While running off towards her target, she runs into a small boy named Kulilin. She pressures, rather bullies him into giving her protection once she finds out they are both heading to the same place: Muten Roshi.

Gokou and Bulma would get involved similarly to in Legend of Shenlong, however instead of Bongo and Pasta stealing the ball from Gokou's house, it could be Tambourine, who they give chase to. From there, their plot would be similar to Legend of Shenlong (with bits of chapter 2 of the manga thrown in as well), until the Oolong/Yamcha fight. Without Pansy, instead Gokou finds Oolong after being driven out by the villagers (likely for the same reasons as the original story), and they would end up in Yamcha's domain like in Legend of Shenlong. Similar hijinks ensue.

Meanwhile, Kulilin and Chi-Chi meet a woman in running from the police and get wrapped up in the chase themselves. She's identified by the police as Lunch, under arrest for an unspecified robbery. The trio manage to escape, Lunch only asking if Roshi is rich. Chi-Chi fibs that he is wealthy and will pay her handsomely if they're delivered safely.

Both teams reach Kame House around the same time, and the leaders of each party are clamoring for Roshi's attention. Kulilin wishes for his training (offering a magazine in exchange for it), Lunch wants her money, Bulma wants the dragonball (which showed up on her radar), and Chi-Chi (after loudly shutting everyone up) tells Roshi about Piccolo and asks for him to try and face him. When Roshi is reluctant, she confronts him about his previous experience with Piccolo along with his master Mutaito. Roshi agrees, also suggesting he train with Gokou and Kulilin since he believes he can't do it on his own. Bulma, her interests now changed, offers to go and try to collect the dragonballs herself to try and slow down Piccolo and his minions. The only person unsatisfied is Lunch; she tries to rob Roshi at gunpoint before sand is kicked in her face and causes her to sneeze into her good form. The confused girl elects to keep hanging around "the nice old man and sweet little boys."

(TBC)

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Re: If you could adapt DB to live-action which sagas would you choose?

Post by Wizard Sesame » Thu Dec 08, 2016 1:13 pm

I think I'd combine a few arcs into one story, picking and choosing from those arcs in order to make a cogent, complete movie.

Movie 1: BoZ, but instead of Pilaf being the villain, I'd go with the Red Ribbon Army.
Movie 2: Training with Roshi, 22nd tournament, and the fight against Piccolo.
Movie 3: Saiyan invasion, with the button scene being Freeza telling Zarbon to plot a course for Namek.

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