Another live action thread (yes, I know)

[Cold Skin]

If they went the One Piece route, meaning around 100 manga chapters done in 8 episodes...
Then episode 1 and 2 for the Pilaf arc, episode 3 and 4 for the full Tenkaichi Budokai, episode 5, 6, 7 and 8 to cover the Red Ribbon arc. End of the season.
The second season, with also 8 episodes, would continue and conclude Goku's youth with Baba's tournament, another Tenkaichi Budokai, Goku defeating Demon King Piccolo as a kid, the defeat of Piccolo when Goku has grown up and the wedding with Chichi, also covering around 100 chapters in just 8 episodes.

Big problem though for the appeal: Goku is a kid for a long time. The general audience tends to consider either most child actors as annoying and untalented or series/movies with a child hero as meant for kids only (not even the whole family, just kids). Luffy is taller and older from the get-go and can be played by a 20-years-old guy and be appealing in live-action for the audience compared to little kid Goku who looks like a seven-eight years old kid in the original material.

I say, even with the success of One Piece, don't count on any Dragon Ball live-action adaptation any time soon.
I'd be happy to be proven wrong though if it was as appealing as the One Piece series.

[JulieYBM]

Changes are inevitable. They could probably get away with making Gokuu sixteen and having him played by an adult actor at first, then just age him up over the course of the story. It wouldn't be some 1:1 translation of the comic to live action, but there's frankly no point in doing that. A live action television series is the work of hundreds of people. You can't expect everyone to create art in such a drone-esque fashion. Actors especially will require room to interpret and adapt the text through their performances—that is simply how acting in live action filmmaking works.

I'm not quite sure I see the point in trying to do multiple arcs in a single season like that. I think re-editing arcs into a singular eight hour arc would make more sense, if the season in question were to be handled as eight one-hour episodes. It's certainly possible, but at that point I'd question why not just do the Pilaf arc as a singularly 120 premier episode, rather than two single episodes. Something that stuck out to me about the 2023 One Piece adaption that is being cited in this thread is that the first two episodes feel a lot more like a singular episode split in half, due to how it splits up the flashbacks.

But yeah, for a Dragon Ball adaption I think it would make more sense to introduce the characters in the first episode by having them hunted by Colonel Silver. It hits a lot of birds with a singular stone: introducing Gokuu (wants to see the world and grow stronger, but also has to learn to live among other people and value the human bonds he hasn't really ever known outside of his grandfather) and Blooma (selfish, but has to learn to value things other than her own whims), the Hunt for the Dragon Balls, the character dynamic between the two lead characters, and the antagonistic force competing with them to acquire the Dragon Balls. By working together Gokuu and Blooma can escape Silver and make it to a safer place to begin recruiting other allies. It could be a swiftly-paced episode that nails an entertainment and character factor. The other seven episodes would then build up to the two lead characters' arc culminations.

[MasenkoHA]

Big problem though for the appeal: Goku is a kid for a long time. The general audience tends to consider either most child actors as annoying and untalented or series/movies with a child hero as meant for kids only (not even the whole family, just kids).

Stranger Things made preteen characters more palatable to general audiences. There's no reason you can't have Goku as a kid played by a actor around 11-15 and then do a time skip to an adult Goku (if they want to cover more ground beyond the Daimao arc) and maybe recast the kid as Gohan.

The whole "kid protagonists only appeal to kids" is a pretty outdated model now.

[miguelnuva1]

If you hire a 12 year old actor for Goku using the model I thought up he would be 16/17 going into the King Piccolo arc and you wouldn't have to recast.

[ABED]

One Piece, which literally lasts an hour, not just 45 minutes separated by ads. And that was what was being discussed and this is why 8 episodes are enough. But if the episodes were shorter I agree with having 13 or 26 episodes.

I did know that.

Even with 8 episodes, drastic changes had to be made to fit how much material into a far shorter season regardless if it's 45 minutes or 60.

Then to that I have to say Are you for real? You seriously are expecting the crew to work and do material that is like 13 or 26 hours long!? Do you seriously not see how messed up that is?

You've lost me. I honestly have no idea what your point is and what you think my point is. I'd rather we not talk past each other.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I did know that.

Even with 8 episodes, drastic changes had to be made to fit how much material into a far shorter season regardless if it's 45 minutes or 60.

Then to that I have to say Are you for real? You seriously are expecting the crew to work and do material that is like 13 or 26 hours long!? Do you seriously not see how messed up that is?

You've lost me. I honestly have no idea what your point is and what you think my point is. I'd rather we not talk past each other.

I mean shooting so much material is grueling and hard. Its not as easy as "Oh we just didnt want to do less!" there is a reason for it. I meant this is too much work.

[ABED]

Then to that I have to say Are you for real? You seriously are expecting the crew to work and do material that is like 13 or 26 hours long!? Do you seriously not see how messed up that is?

You've lost me. I honestly have no idea what your point is and what you think my point is. I'd rather we not talk past each other.

I mean shooting so much material is grueling and hard. Its not as easy as "Oh we just didnt want to do less!" there is a reason for it. I meant this is too much work.

I'm still confused about where you got that from anything I wrote.

The reason they do less episodes these days isn't about protecting crews or anything like that. And I find it odd that anyone would think 13 episode seasons is too taxing on any film crew. I'm aware it's hardwork but who said anything about 26 hour long episodes?

[Cure Dragon 255]

Okay I am sorry ABED you really didnt deserve that outburst. I had a really shitty day which sadly is a very common occurrence these days. Its no excuse. I really like you.

[mecha3000]

A lot of hypocrisy I'm seeing here now that Netflix One Piece came out and proved live-action DB can actually work. Some of you were saying it couldn't, but are now suddenly changing you tune. And let's be honest with ourselves, Dragon Ball is much easier to adapt to live-action than One Piece so there's no more excuses.

It always takes one success to change the conversation. Hopefully, Toei and Toriyama will allow another attempt at live-action DB now that One Piece has been successful both critically and commercially (BEATING FREAKIN STRANGER THINGS AND WEDNESDAY).

I've only been advocating for a live-action DB reboot project for years on this forum, only for the idea to get consistently shot down (even as far back as last year when Super Hero beat Idris Elba at the box office, which I made a thread about during it's release, only for my suggestions to be brushed off as impossible).

[Majin Buu]

Yeah....nah? As daunting as One PIece can be: that's part of its charm. A reason why it remains one of the best anime/manga of all time is because it rewards the audience for sticking through it. You read 400 chapters, and then OP reveals that a character that you knew since Ch 5, now actually has an important part of the grand narrative of OP, completely changing your perspective of that character.

I'm assuming the character you're referring to is

Spoiler:

Silvers Rayleigh.

It's a stretch to say that we "knew" him prior to discovering who he is: He's an unnamed background character that appears in one early flashback, has only one or two lines in said flashback, and large swaths of the story have passed before he becomes part of it, at which point we finally find out this guy is important.

As much as I love One Piece, 400 chapters wasn't necessary to accomplish this considering how irrelevant the character is for large swaths of the immediate story, the same effect could be achieved in half that.

I'd say if it were just Dragon Ball? Sure. Much like how OPLA is really just One Piece by way of Pirates of the Caribbean, I'd say that.a DB show could be done if it's framed as a Jackie Chan Martial arts epic. But Z? Yeah that's not going to happen.

Dragon Ball doesn't stop being a story about martial artists in the Z era so why wouldn't that same scenario cut it for the Z era when the Z era is conceptually just "Jackie Chan fights marauding aliens, killer robots, and an evil genie" (especially since we've already had "Jackie Chan fights an evil Demon King and his reincarnation")?

[MasenkoHA]

now that One Piece has been successful both critically and commercially (BEATING FREAKIN STRANGER THINGS AND WEDNESDAY).

Considering One Piece was a new show and the last new release for both Stranger Things and Wednesday was about a year ago this really isn't all that impressive.

[JulieYBM]

The scene where Mihawk cuts the galleon in half was so cool. It's definitely the coolest depiction of a character showing off ridiculous strength that I've seen in a Hollywood production for a long, long time. It's an example that more should follow.

A lot of hypocrisy I'm seeing here now that Netflix One Piece came out and proved live-action DB can actually work. Some of you were saying it couldn't, but are now suddenly changing you tune.

Okay...? So...? Are people supposed to be shriveling up into little corn cobs like a dril tweet or something? I don't get it.

[Hellspawn28]

If they start from the ground up with Pilaf, I won't mind if they do some changes to improve the pacing. The RR Army saga is super long seeing that you also have the Fortuneteller Baba stuff to work with.

[JulieYBM]

If they start from the ground up with Pilaf, I won't mind if they do some changes to improve the pacing. The RR Army saga is super long seeing that you also have the Fortuneteller Baba stuff to work with.

They could probably just cut Uranai Baba entirely, or at the very least just not do that little mini-challenge with her multiple fighters.

[MasenkoHA]

If they start from the ground up with Pilaf, I won't mind if they do some changes to improve the pacing. The RR Army saga is super long seeing that you also have the Fortuneteller Baba stuff to work with.

They could probably just cut Uranai Baba entirely, or at the very least just not do that little mini-challenge with her multiple fighters.

I would second just cutting out Baba entirely. Goku storming the base and taking the RRA out works better as a season climax

Baba is mostly a superfluous character anyways and you can work around the times she's relevant to the narrative. Have Kami be the messenger that Goku needs a year to train with Kaio before being revived and let King Yama be the who gives Goku a day pass in the Buu saga

[miguelnuva1]

If they start from the ground up with Pilaf, I won't mind if they do some changes to improve the pacing. The RR Army saga is super long seeing that you also have the Fortuneteller Baba stuff to work with.

They could probably just cut Uranai Baba entirely, or at the very least just not do that little mini-challenge with her multiple fighters.

I would second just cutting out Baba entirely. Goku storming the base and taking the RRA out works better as a season climax

Baba is mostly a superfluous character anyways and you can work around the times she's relevant to the narrative. Have Kami be the messenger that Goku needs a year to train with Kaio before being revived and let King Yama be the who gives Goku a day pass in the Buu saga

Baba doesn't need to be cut. RRA would end one season and Baba could start the next season l.

[JulieYBM]

They could probably just cut Uranai Baba entirely, or at the very least just not do that little mini-challenge with her multiple fighters.

I would second just cutting out Baba entirely. Goku storming the base and taking the RRA out works better as a season climax

Baba is mostly a superfluous character anyways and you can work around the times she's relevant to the narrative. Have Kami be the messenger that Goku needs a year to train with Kaio before being revived and let King Yama be the who gives Goku a day pass in the Buu saga

Baba doesn't need to be cut. RRA would end one season and Baba could start the next season l.

That doesn't really make sense unless the context radically changes.

[MasenkoHA]

They could probably just cut Uranai Baba entirely, or at the very least just not do that little mini-challenge with her multiple fighters.

I would second just cutting out Baba entirely. Goku storming the base and taking the RRA out works better as a season climax

Baba is mostly a superfluous character anyways and you can work around the times she's relevant to the narrative. Have Kami be the messenger that Goku needs a year to train with Kaio before being revived and let King Yama be the who gives Goku a day pass in the Buu saga

Baba doesn't need to be cut. RRA would end one season and Baba could start the next season l.

If you're going to include Baba it wouldn't make sense to put Red Ribbon and Baba in separate seasons, since they were part of the same overarching storyline

[JulieYBM]

I would second just cutting out Baba entirely. Goku storming the base and taking the RRA out works better as a season climax

Baba is mostly a superfluous character anyways and you can work around the times she's relevant to the narrative. Have Kami be the messenger that Goku needs a year to train with Kaio before being revived and let King Yama be the who gives Goku a day pass in the Buu saga

Baba doesn't need to be cut. RRA would end one season and Baba could start the next season l.

If you're going to include Baba it wouldn't make sense to put Red Ribbon and Baba in separate seasons, since they were part of the same overarching storyline

Hmmm...if RRA is Season 1 (ala the Tenth Anniversary film), and the season ended on the cliffhanger of Piccolo Daimaou being freed (perhaps Supreme Commander Red had him as a last resort?), then perhaps the Uranai Baba could be used in the Season 2 premier episode to discover where an item to seal the Daimaou again is?

Random idea, just for the sake of trying to work her in. Personally, that just seems like a waste of money and shooting schedule to include her.

[miguelnuva1]

I would second just cutting out Baba entirely. Goku storming the base and taking the RRA out works better as a season climax

Baba is mostly a superfluous character anyways and you can work around the times she's relevant to the narrative. Have Kami be the messenger that Goku needs a year to train with Kaio before being revived and let King Yama be the who gives Goku a day pass in the Buu saga

Baba doesn't need to be cut. RRA would end one season and Baba could start the next season l.

If you're going to include Baba it wouldn't make sense to put Red Ribbon and Baba in separate seasons, since they were part of the same overarching storyline

The RRA can end without Goku getting the last Dragonball and reviving Bora and find the Las DB would be the cliffhanger.

S1 Pilaf
S2 trainning with Roshi and 21st budokai
S3 RRA
S4 Boba, Goku's trainning and 22nd Budokai
S5 King Piccolo
S6 23rd Budokai, wedding, birth of Gohan, saiyan cliffhanger

Something like this.