Still listening to it as I type this. It's weird; I think the Bardock special really stands out as an interesting story with significant events, but I really couldn't get into it. Maybe it was because I spent the whole time feeling like it was a countdown to Bardock being killed. It wasn't that it was depressing, it was that the whole thing, to me, felt horribly predetermined and more like an incredibly long flashback than a story in its own right, set in the past. I hope that makes sense - it's like a character in a film set in the modern day having a flashback to the 60s as opposed to a film entirely set in the 60s. Funnily enough, that's actually how it ended up being used in Kai, pretty much.
It has a lot of things I liked seeing:
- The young Vegeta (and young(er) Nappa)
Vegeta's dad
Frieza lording it up rather than just prowling around looking for Dragon Balls or getting pissed off (as you mainly see him on Namek)
A female Saiyajin
The Saiyajins doing missions (like a less silly version of the filler of Nappa and Vegeta on the insect planet)
It establishes how long Frieza and his henchman have been together (they're not just random goons)
Pretty much the closest DB has got to political manoeuvring or intrigue
And more, probably... But it just didn't gel for me. I think one thing is that it just felt silly having Bardock look exactly the same as Goku, even with the same VA. Maybe if I'd seen all the DB stuff in order it wouldn't have been so bad, but since I saw it all mashed up, I'd seen Kid Goku, Goku, Gohan, Goten, Bardock and Goku-made-young in GT - oh, and Turles - all who look the same (Gohan aside) and all who have the same voice. A rehash of a rehash of a rehash of a rehash... At the very least, Goku would have influenced Gohan but he wasn't there for Goten (and besides, Goku was only that "silly" due to hitting his head - what's Goten's excuse?) and there's no reason Turles would look the same or sound the same. Radditz, Goku's own brother, looks and sounds nothing like any of the Masako-voiced people... It's all over the place and since I saw the Bardock special after pretty much everything else, it just really fell flat in that regard.
It would have worked better if it lasted longer (as was said in the podcast) because then they could build up the Saiyajins more, particularly Bardock's team, so it would feel more potent when they die and when Bardock turns on Frieza. Instead we have a Goku clone and a few Redcoats. I agree with what Jeff seemed to be saying, that Vegeta really stands out in it and it's actually him that makes it interesting. It would have greatly benefited f it had focused more on Vegeta, had Bardock be an original character design, actually mentioned Radditz, developed the Saiyajins more and, come to think of it, distanced itself from the Namek saga more - it felt too much like a retreading but with the twist that Goku-Bardock dies rather than goes SSJ.
. I think we covered everything we wanted to when we re-recorded it, though.
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