What show covered the most ground in its first 100 episodes? DB, DBZ or Super?

[ABED]

Is the pacing of that cut any good?

[ShaneisMC]

In my opinion yes it is. I feel like he really did do a good job. If you have a Mega account I can easily share stuff with anyone. Just PM and I'll hook whoever up with things.

[KBABZ]

That would be Dragon Ball Recut by IAmTheMilkman! He did a great job and it's a fantastic example to follow. With my version, The First Chapters, I'm going for an English-only edit that takes advantage of FUNi's surround sound mix to make even more edits, as well as a little rebranding to make it look more like the 2009 Kai (whilst still making it look old). There's also things like cutting out lines that contradict the story in Z Kai and putting the insert songs back in.

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On the pacing, that is true that fights are still storytelling, but it certainly feels more like we're doing things when we go from Jingle VIllage to West City and then out to the islands, and so on, compared to having the Frieza fight drag on for an extended number of episodes/chapters. The number of bullet point events feel much higher in Dragon Ball than in Z (and even Z Kai in some places). Not that Dragon Ball itself didn't suffer from the same kind of fight stalling; Muscle Tower takes too long, and the Tournament fights are also padded out to be an extra episode longer than they really should be, especially the final against Piccolo.

[ABED]

I'm reticent to watch because I've seen a version of an episode where the pacing is way too quick. It's close the manga without realizing the difference in the mediums and allowing the moments to breathe.

Well, that certainly means more plot points, but it says nothing of the actual quality. Stories are just what characters do or say, so a fight, even a long fight is all still story. I've seen long fights that were better than short ones and vice versa.

[KBABZ]

Fair enough, but to me story progression is when the fight itself moves and develops in a more overall sense, which is important for the longer fights. For example the one between Goku and Vegeta does this amazingly as each combatant gets increasingly more desperate; it feels like the fight goes somewhere and has an ebb and flow and new factors are introduced like the artificial moon and the surprise heroism of Yajirobe. I dunno, it's kinda hard to articulate really.

[MR.Mark]

there's a greater emphasis on storytelling than character fights.

Definitely sums up my cut of the Buu arc, though what I have kept for the fights is what I'd call less is more in terms of presentation.

[ABED]

Fair enough, but to me story progression is when the fight itself moves and develops in a more overall sense, which is important for the longer fights. For example the one between Goku and Vegeta does this amazingly as each combatant gets increasingly more desperate; it feels like the fight goes somewhere and has an ebb and flow and new factors are introduced like the artificial moon and the surprise heroism of Yajirobe. I dunno, it's kinda hard to articulate really.

I think I understand and I agree. The Freeza fight treads water quite a bit.

[KBABZ]

Fair enough, but to me story progression is when the fight itself moves and develops in a more overall sense, which is important for the longer fights. For example the one between Goku and Vegeta does this amazingly as each combatant gets increasingly more desperate; it feels like the fight goes somewhere and has an ebb and flow and new factors are introduced like the artificial moon and the surprise heroism of Yajirobe. I dunno, it's kinda hard to articulate really.

I think I understand and I agree. The Freeza fight treads water quite a bit.

Yeah it does, it has a lot of "I'm not using my full power" and "I'll toy with you for a bit" before things really get moving along (both before and after SSJ!). Most Dragon Ball fights also tended to be a lot shorter; the one against Mercenary Tao got to the point and showed Goku clearly outclassed and then had him lose in dramatic fashion, with the roles reversed for the rematch. Watching the Kai fight of Goku vs 19, it feels like it shouldn't take an entire episode to show Goku struggling and then having to concede that he's coming down with the virus; that could have been wrapped up by the time the eyecatches show up so that Vegeta can step in to show who's boss (which also took an entire episode).

And again it's not like Dragon Ball didn't do this either; the finals of a Tournament have a bad habit of stretching out a fight not just with "Wait you were toying with me?" but also "Lemme show you a new technique!" that doesn't really add anything to the context of the fight. That's fun against Jackie Chun because it accentuates just how much Goku isn't taking it seriously in a light-hearted stage of the story, but with Tien and Piccolo it feels like stalling between the more pivotal moments like Tien renouncing the Crane Hermit or Goku retrieving Kami from giant Piccolo.

That aside, the sense of travel and going to new locations and seeing new things greatly helps add to the sense of the plot moving forward. Again to counter-argue with a DB example, Muscle Tower is a huge drag because it's a bunch of fights in a single location, whereas going from Pirate Cave to Penguin Village to the Land of Korin feels like there's much more going on, even though technically all that happens is Blue making off with the Dragon Balls while Goku goes after him. The lack of scenery change is probably one of the reasons why the Namek stuff feels like it takes forever, because there's no change in the landscape to switch up the visuals and subtly change the course of action the characters make, and it destroys the sense of geography and where you are in relation to everything else. But I digress.

[ABED]

I like the length of those final fights. They work for me. I can see why some wouldn't like it, but I do. They're all fantastic and different. Sometimes it's okay to stall and take a breath.

Muscle Tower is a huge drag because it's a bunch of fights in a single location

A single location but with different levels. The location of the fight against Buyon looks very different from where Goku fights Murasaki. I do agree that Namek does feel like it takes forever because it all looks the same and it's the same time of day all the time. You can't tell how much time has past. However, I do like how Namek slowly breaks down during the fight between SSJ Goku and Freeza.

[KBABZ]

A single location but with different levels. The location of the fight against Buyon looks very different from where Goku fights Murasaki.

Well yeah but we're still treated to the same wide shots after every ad break and, if you're watching the anime, the same filler of Suno worrying about Goku.

I do agree that Namek does feel like it takes forever because it all looks the same and it's the same time of day all the time. You can't tell how much time has past. However, I do like how Namek slowly breaks down during the fight between SSJ Goku and Freeza.

I do too! It's creative to me that the fight initially ends not through Frieza clearly being beaten, but because Goku foresees that he can easily beat Frieza due to the dropping energy and doesn't see the point anymore. One of the reasons I really like RoF is because it hammers home the point that Frieza just did not learn from this fight, which is what separates him from Goku.

...or... wait, were you talking about the planet itself?

[ABED]

It seems like anything over 4 episodes in the same location or doing the same thing is too much for you. Yeah, Suno is worried, but it's actually the same filler. And you're judging the "sameness" based on establishing shots? I'm not denigrating you, but I do think it's odd.

I was talking about the planet itself, but I agree with you about the actual fight.

[Ripper 30]

Definitely Dragon Ball because we saw Gokū's Development as a Character, Kuririn's Friendship with Gokū, Gokū making Friends who were willing to help him and back him, 2 Tenkaichi Tournaments, Gokū meeting his Adoptive Grandpa,Gokū destroying RRA or I could say most of the gag Dragon Ball and what was coming after that was more Serious Dragon Ball with Demons and all that thing.
With Dragon Ball Z, we got to see most of the Saiyan Backstory of Gokū and Vegeta,Fight On Namek, Freeza Fight,Genkidama and Super Saiyan but still there was lot to come, the Artificial Humans, Cell, SSJ2,SSJ3,Great Saiyaman, Majin Boo, Fusion, etc. so I think Dragon Ball covered the most ground.
I can't speak for Super because I don't know when it's gonna end.