Robo4900 wrote:jjgp1112 wrote:Ultimately the problem with the movies is they're all written based on Toei's assumptions on the state of things after the current arc wraps up based on whatever was going on in the story at the time of production. That Movies 5, 9 and 13 fit at all is pure luck since they were made near or at the end of their concurrent story arcs and thus had way less margin for error.
I mean, there was never any intent to have them explicitly fit in-"Canon" or even something as vague as matching the current state of the anime or manga at the time, just a general effort to have them fit the general status quo of the time in terms of character lineup and techniques used. Z movies 5, 9, and 13 just so happened to not contain the glaring errors many of them do, and happen to also be free of the minor inconsistencies we see in a bunch of them that bother so many people obsessed with their precious Dragon Ball "Canon" making sense... (Which it never has. 8-month gap between first and second Dragon Ball wishes anyone? Yamucha, Tenshinhan, and Kuririn never even trying to learn Kaioken? Vegeta never growing his tail back, and Trunks, Goten, and Bra never having them in the first place, even when we see Bra's birth? All the irreconcilable inconsistencies Super has created with the original Z ending?)
Ultimately, unless it has some big, glaring inconsistency in it, I say go ahead and imagine it's part of the story. If it improves your experience with the series, then go nuts; what's the downside?
We...agree? That's what I'm saying. They didn't go out of their way to make them fit, they just fit it into the general status quo. But since many of the movies make reference to events of the series as if they've already passed, it can be inferred that Toei intended for them to take place after the current arc was wrapped up, and then the story just didn't go how Toei thought.
Movie 2 seems to operate under the assumption that they go to Namek, defeat Vegeta, wish everybody back, and return to Earth smoothly. No Super Saiyans, lizard tyrants, or anything. There's a brief flashback to Piccolo's sacrifice, after all.
Movies 3 and 4 both make references to Frieza, so they likely assume that they defeated Frieza, wished everyone back, and head back to Earth with no SSJ transformations, and presumably Vegeta is defeated as well.
Movie 5 was released right as Goku and Frieza are wrapping up their fight, so pretty much all Toei had to assume was that Goku won and returned to Earth. Not much of a hurdle there
Movies 6 and 7 both assume that they defeat the Androids and that's the end of that.
Movie 8 assumes that Goku defeats Cell in the Games with no causalities or Gohan awakenings. Close, but no cigar.
Movie 9 actually came out 3 weeks after Gohan defeated Cell so Toei had no fucking excuse not to get it right
Fuck Movies 10 and 11. Not even worthy of my conjecture.
Movie 12 assumes Gotenks, Gohan, or both beat Super Buu and Goku and Vegeta just stay dead.
And then Movie 13 just assumes Goku takes care of business and all is well. Again, by that point all they had to guess was "Goku wins."
