Favorite Filler

[ekrolo2]

Been seeing lots of negativity on the forum lately, a lot of which I contributed to so I decided to talk about something positive for a change and discuss mine (and your) favorite examples of filler from either DB or DBZ.

Just to kick things off I'll start out with "Trouble on Arlia" a fairly early episode in the original Z anime's run but a pretty cool one nonetheless. I mostly like it for how much of a subversion it is to a pretty standard formula. We've seen it all before, evil space tyrant forces his people into horrible slavery, some outsider shows up, becomes space Jesus and defeats the emperor, saving the alien world like a proper hero! Well, not this time.

What I like is that Vegeta & Nappa go there both to just f*ck about for a bit and see if the planets worth something. They don't care about the Arlian's plight or the poor state of the planet on any morally righteous level, they're just a smidge annoyed they can't sell it for any money. It serves as a good way of showing just what kind of threat the Z fighters are dealing with, especially with the ending.

They do the expected story thing: confront of the tyrant, beat up his men and defeat him once and for all. The one Arlian who wasn't hostile to them proclaims them heroes and legends and that they'll always be welcome to Arlia. What do Nappa and Vegeta think about this whole development? They blow Arlia the f*ck up of course! It does a great job of showing their overwhelming power, lack of any morality and gives you just a tantalizing little nugget of what the upcoming battle will be like.

What were some of your favorite fillers?

[Kamiccolo9]

INB4 everyone else says "The Driving Episode."

I'm going with....The Driving Episode , Turtle's Birthday, all of the filler after going into Buu's body throughout the rest of the show, both filler arcs, and most of Gohan's filler in the Saiyan Arc.

The first is comedy gold, the second is one of the best Krillin-based episodes in the franchise, I love Goku and Vegeta's interactions in Buu's body, the whole fight with Pure Buu is amazing, Garlic Junior is a fun arc that lets the other characters shine for a while, the Otherworld Tournament has so many weird characters that I never get tired of it, and I love how the anime takes more time to build on the Gohan/Piccolo relationship.

[Kakacarrottop]

I know this thread has been done many times, but mine are:

Trouble on Arlia /Terror on Arlia: This one made you root for Vegeta and Nappa (the blatantly evil guys) since the Arlian King was portrayed as such a jerk@ss. The fight with the Arlian mutant at the end was also really neat.

Home for Infinite Losers/Goz and Mez: I felt the Saiyan Saga needed a lighthearted episode like this, since it was very doom and gloom most of the time.

Princess Snake's Hospitality/Princess Snake: Good character development episode for Goku. The Piccolo vs Piccolo training scenes were also enjoyable.

Showdown in the Past/Pendulum Room Terror: This episode had a sort of 'horror movie' feel to it which i really like.

Overall i think the Saiyan Saga had the most interesting filler.

[ekrolo2]

INB4 everyone else says "The Driving Episode."

I'm going with....The Driving Episode , Turtle's Birthday, all of the filler after going into Buu's body throughout the rest of the show, both filler arcs, and most of Gohan's filler in the Saiyan Arc.

The first is comedy gold, the second is one of the best Krillin-based episodes in the franchise, I love Goku and Vegeta's interactions in Buu's body, the whole fight with Pure Buu is amazing, Garlic Junior is a fun arc that lets the other characters shine for a while, the Otherworld Tournament has so many weird characters that I never get tired of it, and I love how the anime takes more time to build on the Gohan/Piccolo relationship.

I definitely agree on the last point, Piccolo's sacrifice doesn't feel entirely earned in the manga or Kai. Z giving those two extra material to work with made his sacrifice a lot better there.

[ABED]

Goku drinking the water that makes him strong enough to defeat Piccolo. In the manga, Karin just brings him the water. In the anime, Goku has to search for it and then there's a great scene where the Darkness tries to tempt him. When Goku refuses to just stay in the cave with illusions of his friends, the Darkness begins trying to kill him and ends with Goku hanging by one hand off a cliff holding on to Yajirobe with his other, refusing to drop him even though he won't be able to save him with one hand, and if he lets go, he can save himself. Goku refuses to let go and is rewarded by being allowed to drink the water. It's far better drama than in the original story.

[Mystic Tien]

Well, to be fair I loved all the filler. What I enjoyed the most were fillers about Gohan's training, which greatly developed him, and Otherworld tournament, which introduced to us a lot of strong fighters, similarly to what original Dragon Ball did. Gohan's life in high school in the beginning of Buu arc was also quite interesting. I also loved the return of Tao Pai Pai, as well as driving episode. Aforementioned Arlia and Garlick Jr. arc were also quite good to me. I greatly enjoyed all flashbacks of Kami. In original Dragon Ball I loved pretty much everything about young Roshi, and fillers about demons. The flashback of Piccolo Jr. was a nice touch. And the last arc with participation of Pilaf was also really fine.

[Kamiccolo9]

Forgot about the Tao episodes. Both of those were great, too.

[VintageSaiyan]

Vegeta in space. That should have been made into a movie tbh.

[Avery]

The driving episode, obviously. One of the best fillers in Anime history.
Goku and Vegeta's adventures inside Boo.

I know you wanted to talk about positive things but, do we have a topic for worst fillers? If there isn't then there should be...

[FoolsGil]

Krillin vs Cell when I was younger. Because your first run of the Cell Saga is kind of depressing to watch. Krillin made things better.

I suppose now, Goku and Piccolo learning how to drive.

[ABED]

I'll be that guy, but I'm not overly fond of the driving episode. Thankfully it was only 1 episode.

[MajinMan]

The most "meaningful" filler to me is the filler they put in the Goku vs Majin Vegeta fight. The anime made that fight way better than the manga version for sure. As for filler episodes, I've always liked Gohan and the Robot a lot. The driving episode is hilarious as well.

[ABED]

I like the Pendulum Room episode. The war torn city is how I imagine Planet Vegeta to be much more than the seeming technologically advanced society that's shown in the Bardock TV special. I also liked seeing the B-Team (I say that with affection) given something to do.

[FortuneSSJ]

Of course, the driving episode!
I even made an AMV about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrHIcT_ZCHE

[Lord Beerus]

- The Driving Episode: That filler episode is timeless. I always get a major laugh out of it.
- Everything about involving the Great Saiyaman: The slice of life/superhero parody antics were always such a riot. Gohan's social awkwardness is such unappreciated comedy gold.
- The Otherworld Tournament: Such an awesome throwback to the tournaments during the old school days of Dragon Ball but with a few cool twists.
- Gohan's training and survival prior to the Saiyan's arrival: This is arguably my favorite filler in all of Dragon Ball. The way that Gohan's character was developed and evolved was fantastic. You really saw how the trials and tribulations transformed Gohan from a scared little boy into a child solider. I became a fan of the character because of those filler episodes. They were that well done.

[voltlunok]

Driving episode. Fun times all around! Nuff said!

Gohan's training leading up to the saiyan's arrival. It's nice to see the starting point for the bond between Gohan and Piccolo grow.

Otherworld Tournament. Paikuhan.

_{Also small shout out to the fight against the Ginyu Force on King Kai's planet! YAMCHA BEAT RECOOME!}

[Cipher]

The Haski story line in the Red Ribbon arc, Mr. Robot, the driving arc and the entire Great Saiyaman arc, which was largely anime-original. I love what the anime did with the early Boo arc.

Oh, also Goku having to retrieve a Dragon Ball from Tao Pai Pai before the Cell Games.

Turtle's Birthday

Oh shit, Turtle's birthday! I love how Kame Sennin calls everyone on the phone telling them it's an emergency. Great stuff.

Also, what's that episode where Goku's tossing fish up from the water at Kame House and he finds Turtle's long-lost son? I think it's near the beginning of the General Blue material. Sooooo good. One of my hardest laughs in the series.

[Kamiccolo9]

The Haski story line in the Red Ribbon arc, Mr. Robot, the driving arc and the entire Great Saiyaman arc, which was largely anime-original. I love what the anime did with the early Boo arc.

Oh, also Goku having to retrieve a Dragon Ball from Tao Pai Pai before the Cell Games.

I'm not sure whether I prefer the Robot episode or the Dinosaur one. Both are excellent episodes, in my opinion, which is especially impressive considering they're filler.

[ekrolo2]

No one mentioning the episode where Gohan nearly gets home but chooses to go back into the wasteland to train with Piccolo? I am disappoint.

[Kamiccolo9]

No one mentioning the episode where Gohan nearly gets home but chooses to go back into the wasteland to train with Piccolo? I am disappoint.

The orphan episode? It was good too. Just not as good as the Dinosaur/Robot episodes.

I did say "all the Gohan filler in the Saiyan Arc."