Bardock or Trunks?

[Shiyonasan]

Which TV special do you prefer?

As much as I like the Trunks TV special, I'm going to have to go with the Bardock TV special on this one. I like the overall atmosphere of the special, the characters, and the story of this special. From start to finish, a great feature and one of my favorite animations in the series.

[GotenDaisuki]

I like the Bardock special much more. The main reason for this is the dramatic story. You don't see that a lot in Dragon Ball, and the Man himself said he could never write such a story.

[BrodieK41]

I always learn more towards the Bardock special although I do love the Trunks special. I think what makes it better for me is even though the Trunks special had its share of differences compared to the manga chapter, it was mostly the same story whereas the Bardock special was an original story. The Bardock special also has some of the best music from the series especially Solid State Scouter and the piece that plays when Freeza destroys Planet Vegeta.

[OzzyApu]

The Bardock special was a little neat, although it could have done some more to answer questions regarding Saiyans and Goku's family. For what they could pack in under an hour, it isn't bad. Vegeta's inclusion is nice, and the dark plot is great. Would have been a little better if it was released slightly later to include different visions of the future, but for what it includes is fine. One major plus is the awesome music as Bardock takes on Dodoria's gang (can be heard during the climax, as well). Does anyone know the name of this song?

Edit: Found it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm77VCkf_do

I saw the Trunks special first and I still consider it pretty damn good. One of the better works outside of the main episode series. It could use some tweaking, like all works, but for what it is it works pretty well. Doesn't make a ton of sense how after 13 years everything still seems rather put together. When 17 and 18 first appear there's an entire city still intact. Again, after 13 years an intact city remains. Doesn't exactly make much sense, and the DB world isn't exactly as populated / big as real earth (I have no evidence to back up this claim at this time, but c'mon).

Other than that, I did enjoy it a lot, even if it deviates from the original plot a little. I like the special so much that if I ever want to watch the android / cell sagas from start to finish, then I put on the special first as the intro to the driving plot for those sagas. Future Trunks is my favorite character, anyway, so more of him is always a plus to me.

[samuraix123]

I do love both but if I had to choose one. I'd probably go with the Bardock special.

[Jackal puFF]

I think I like the Trunks special better. Probably just cause Trunks is awesome. I really like Future Gohan and his one arm. Also back in the day, my copy of Bardock was a vhs while my Trunks one was a dvd. It was quite a hassle having to rewind over and over again haha.

[Hellspawn28]

Both are good but I do like the Trunks special a bit more since the scene of Gohan's death was pretty sad to see and I like the tone that the special had.

[SylentEcho]

It's a very tough choice, but I think I enjoyed the Trunks special a bit more because it had familiar characters in a different setting. The ending was very satisfying.

[Piccolo Daimao]

The Bardock special, because of the awesomeness of Bardock himself, the plot, and the atmosphere.

[Bardock the Mexican]

The Bardock special, because of the awesomeness of Bardock himself, the plot, and the atmosphere.

This post made my day.


I liked the special just because it seemed good to me back then. Don't remember why now though. Kind of feels bad man.

[Tekkaman-James]

Man, this is a terrible thing to make someone choose between!

If I really had to pick one, it would have to be the Bardock special. Bardock is a character that, were it not for this special, we wouldn't know anything about. Trunks himself tells us what went down in his future, so his special just illustrates it for us. The Bardock special introduces us to a host of new characters, including a female Saiya-jin (Celipa) and both Goku and Vegeta's fathers. It gives us a look at how Freeza's organization worked, and what the Saiya-jin's place in it was, long before the Namek Saga would come to pass. It showed us how imposing Dodoria actually was, a fact that is certainly diminished in the TV series. Let's not forget that this special was so awesome that Toriyama made it canon! What other special or movie can say that? And, to top it all off, it showed us the fateful scene of Grandpa Gohan finding baby Goku. Sure, it was inconsistant with the fact that baby Goku was supposed to be a wild child, but it was just so dang adorable!

[OzzyApu]

The Bardock special introduces us to a host of new characters, including ... Vegeta's fathers.

I must have blanked out for each of the five times I've seen the special. Where was Vegeta's father in it?

[Tekkaman-James]

I must have blanked out for each of the five times I've seen the special. Where was Vegeta's father in it?

You are quite right, sir. King Vegeta is NOT in the Bardock special. Touché.

Allow me to replace that as a reason for why the Bardock special is better with this instead:

Nappa with hair!

[Piccolo Daimao]

And kid Vegeta, and a scene of him killing Saibaimen...like a boss.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I personally preferred the Bardock Special, because that's probably our most complete glimpse into what Saiyan life was like. Sure, we got some flashbacks from Nappa and Vegeta, but they only showed us fragments, whereas the Special gave us a complete picture.

[dbboxkaifan]

Burdock's TV-Special for the optimum BGMs and his own fantastic theme song, plus the story, of course.

[Godo]

Nappa with hair!

And it looks almost as awful as Recoome's hair!

I'd have to choose the Bardock special too, especially since I am pretty much fed up with Super Saiya-jins, and I like to see the Saiya-jin "underdogs" a bit more.
I feel that the series became much more repetitive after the "invention" of the Super Saiya-jin (especially with so many others achieving it).
That goes for many other manga with transformations.
Throw in a super transformation and everything will become all about that: Waiting to see for the new, awesome transformation rather than the fights themselves.
I'd say that Goku vs. Freeza beat any other given fight that came afterwards.

[dprez]

Future Gohan makes the Trunks special, and also makes it my favorite.

[Kid Buu]

The Trunks special is my favourite DBZ film, I wish it could have been longer and more in-depth though.