Assuming all the classic movies and specials are canon with each other, how would the anime storyline be different so they can actually happen?
The end result is my Dragon Ball Classic Movie Timeline document, which aims to answer this question. The goal was simple: bend and rework the anime storyline to allow for all the movies and specials to transpire exactly as they do on the screen (with the goal to keep the anime as close to how it normally is as possible). This was super-fun to do and I'm really happy with how I made it all happen and the various solutions I came up with.
You can read the full 30-page document in the link above, but here's the more comprehensive breakdown of how it shaked out:
Spoiler:
- Because of their interconnected nature that retells events of the anime, Curse of the Blood Rubies, Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle and Mystical Adventure replace the Pilaf, 21st Tournament and Red Ribbon Army Arcs entirely.
- Between Curse of the Blood Rubies and Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle, Goku travels the world looking for the Four-Star Ball, as he said he would at the end of Blood Rubies. While he doesn't find it, during this time he does meet Chi-Chi and Ox-King at Fire Mountain, confusing wedding for a food. This has to happen since Chi-Chi and Ox-King appear in several of the movies, and this time is the easiest way for this encounter to happen.
- Since the Red Ribbon Army is part of the Mifan Empire, Dr. Gero hates Goku for defeating Crane and Tao Pai-Pai and causing Chiaotzu to disband the RRA.
- After the events of Mystical Adventure, Chiaotzu disbands the Red Ribbon Army and resigns as Emperor of the Mifan Empire, seeking the Dragon Balls with Tien so they can undo the actions of Crane and Tao Pai-Pai and redeem themselves. They accomplish this a year later, which revives General Blue and the Pilaf Gang. The latter is important because they're involved in the Daimao and Wedding Dress Arcs, as well as Dragon Ball GT, whose events are referenced in the Goku Jr. Special.
- The 22nd Tournament, Daimao and 23rd Tournament Arcs transpire as normal, with the sole change being Goku taking Nyoi-bo with him after ascending to Kami's Lookout, since it appears in the early Dragon Ball Z movies. As well, Kami doesn't have to restore the moon since Roshi never blew it up in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai.
- The Wedding Dress Tournament's sole change is that this is the first time Goku meets Baba, since their original meeting was replaced with Mystical Adventure. As noted earlier, the Pilaf Gang can still show up since Tien and Chiaotzu revived them.
- Dead Zone occurs at least a year before the Saiyan Arc, since Goku needs to be able to track the Four-Star Ball on Gohan's hat with the Dragon Radar to rescue him from Raditz. That can't happen if it's turned to stone!
- The Saiyan Arc has the most drastic differences of any arc, since it has to accommodate for World's Strongest:
- The reveal that Goku sired a son doesn't happen, since Bulma, Krillin and Roshi found that out in Dead Zone.
- Raditz never specifies that more than one Saiyan is coming to Earth to avenge him. This pivots with the change that Vegeta sends Nappa ahead of him: while Vegeta tends to business in the local area, Nappa goes to Earth alone, and the Dragon Team has no reason to expect Vegeta.
- Since Nappa doesn't have Vegeta to calm him down or defeat the Saibamen, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu are able to hold him off until Goku arrives and is forced to kill him. This allows Goku to be on Earth with the Kaio-ken and Genki-Dama with Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu still alive, which, combined with Vegeta taking a month to get to Earth in response to Nappa's death, allows World's Strongest to happen.
- World's Strongest happens in the month-long gap between Nappa's death and Vegeta's arrival.
- A month after Nappa's death, Vegeta arrives to the surprise of the Dragon Team, and is able to kill Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu before being defeated by Goku, Gohan, Krillin and Yajirobe as normal. This allows the Namek Arc to still happen as normal.
- To remain consistent with Lord Slug, on Namek Goku attains False Super Saiyan as a sort of "Super Saiyan Omen". Combined with a zenkai boost thanks to World's Strongest, this is enough to push Frieza in a corner and destroy Namek to try and win (thus allowing Return of Cooler to still happen on New Namek).
- Thanks to the adjustments that allow both Dead Zone and the Saiyan Arc to happen, the Garlic Jr. Arc can fit in nicely.
- When meeting with Trunks, Goku still uses False Super Saiyan. Trunks' use of the real thing motivates both Goku and Vegeta to attaining it themselves, which will happen in Cooler's Revenge.
- As you might expect, the Android / Cell Arcs also needed a lot of reworking to accommodate the movies:
- Tree of Might is placed in the timeskip leading up to the Androids, since Goku and Yamcha's gi reflect the events of the Namek Arc. Goku opts to use the Genki-Dama before Super Saiyan Omen because the latter is still wild and untested, and luckily it works.
- The Driving Episode happens so that Goku can legally drive in the credits of Lord Slug.
- Lord Slug is also placed in the Android timeskip due to Goku's gi. Here he uses Super Saiyan Omen first because he has a better handle on it by this point.
- Cooler's Revenge (also in the Android timeskip) is now the first time Goku attains the genuine Super Saiyan form.
- While not a change as such, after discovering Cell's time machine, Bulma keeps and restores it, allowing Tapion to use it at the end of Wrath of the Dragon.
- Krillin and Trunks don't destroy Dr. Gero's basement lab, instead taking the Android schematics and killing the fetal Cell. This is so that Dr. Gero's computer can develop Androids 13, 14 and 15 in Gero's death and still allow for Super Android 13 to happen.
- Gohan not using Super Saiyan in Return of Cooler, Super Android 13 and Broly is explained by Goku saving their session in the Room of Spirit and Time until Cell announces the Cell Games.
- Further, Trunks exits the Room of Spirit and Time early as he's frustrated by Vegeta's coldness. After Vegeta finishes up, he appears in Return of Cooler, during which time Trunks finishes his session, explaining why he isn't in that movie AND why he has long hair in Super Android 13 (it also neatly explains how Trunks and Vegeta find Super Saiyan Grade 2 without noticing the other doing it too).
- Cell has a much longer delay in announcing the Cell Games than usual, allowing for the "normal life" scenes in Super Android 13 and Broly to still happen since Earth's populace aren't panicking. Still, Goku doesn't trust Cell to behave, so appoints Dende as the new God anyway, thus allowing Dende to fulfill this role in Return of Cooler.
- The Return of Cooler and Super Android 13 happen at this point in the wait for the Cell Games.
- Goku and Gohan enter the Room of Spirit and Time after Super Android 13, where they learn how to hold Super Saiyan as their natural state. However Goku isn't as strict on this after they leave, explaining why they aren't persistently Super Saiyan in Broly or Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans.
- Broly happens after Goku and Gohan train in the Room of Spirit and Time since Gohan is using a version of Piccolo's outfit in that movie. Further, Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans happens after Broly because Goku compares Hatchiyak directly to him.
- Bojack Unbound can still happen as it normally does, as can the Other World Tournament.
- The Boo Arc also needed some adjusts, of course!
- Since Goten is more familiar with Goku in Second Coming, Gohan and Chi-Chi are more open about him here.
- In the Great Saiyaman Arc, Goku doesn't ping in to say he'll be competing in the Tournament, nor does Vegeta challenge Gohan.
- Broly - Second Coming occurs in the month-long wait for the Boo Tournament.
- Goku, Vegeta, Yamu and Spopovich don't appear at the Boo Tournament. meaning the battle royale format is never used. Instead, 18 and Mr. Satan make it to the finals, where 18 blackmails him into 20,000,000 if she throws the fight for him (thus cleaning that up for Bio-Broly).
- Bio-Broly happens in the aftermath of the Boo Tournament.
- Goku now spends his day on Earth to celebrate the Boo Tournament, where he promises Vegeta to have a rematch before returning to Other World. During this celebration, Yamu and Spopovich turn up, kickstarting the Boo Arc.
- When Vegeta is corrupted by Babidi, Babidi now transports him and Goku to Capsule Corp., so that Bulma still witnesses her partner's atrocities on Earth's people.
- Goku is able to get to Capsule Corp to tell them about the Fusion plan before they summon Shenron. This means that Videl never sees the Dragon God, allowing for Fusion Reborn to still be her first time seeing him.
- Because of the above, Kibito isn't revived by Shenron. To accommodate for this change, Boo doesn't damage Kaioshin quite as badly, allowing him to take Gohan to the Realm of the Kais on his own rather than needing Kibito to do it. As a reminder, fusion with a dead person is still possible.
- Pure Boo is defeated by Gotenks and Gohan, meaning Goku and Vegeta don't get revived to fight him, so Fusion Reborn happens as normal. This solution was chosen because Fusion Reborn assumes Goku and Vegeta stayed dead, so I went with that assumption as well.
- When killing Pure Boo, Gohan honors his father's past actions with Majunior, Vegeta and Frieza and hopes he comes back as a good guy someday. Thus, Goku takes in Oob as his student in End of Z.
- Fusion Reborn happens very shortly after the Boo Arc; this is because Gohan and Videl are in school, and without Instant Transmission it still takes a while for them to find all the Dragon Balls and wish everyone to forget Boo. Thus, Boo is still in hiding during the events of the movie.
- When the Dragon Balls are gathered, the first wish is to restore everyone killed by Boo and Cell. Thanks to Dende upgrading the Dragon Balls, this allows both Vegeta and Goku to be revived.
- When Hoi discovers Minoshia's music box in Wrath of the Dragon's backstory, he takes Minoshia's sword (identical to Tapion's), hoping to use it to break open Tapion's music box. When this doesn't work, he discards Minoshia's sword. This event can also take place in Future Trunks' timeline, thus explaining how he has a sword identical to Tapion's.
- Because Shenron revived a LOT of people alongside a second wish, Wrath of the Dragon occurs a year after the Boo Arc, since that movie features a Dragon Ball hunt.
- Dragon Ball GT can still occur as normal, thanks to Tien and Chiaotzu wishing the Pilaf Gang back to life a year after Mystical Adventure. This is important because a photo of Pan with Trunks, Kid Goku and Gill is showcased in the Goku Jr. Special.
- The wish that created the Six-Star Dragon is now the wish for Pansy to restore her homeland from King Gourmet at the end of Curse of the Blood Rubies, since the Pilaf Arc didn't happen where Oolong interrupted him with the panties wish.
- The Goku Jr. Special and End of GT still transpire as they normally do.
Oh, and if that weren't enough, I ALSO figured out how Movies 6-13 DON'T happen in Future Trunks' Movieverse timeline!
Spoiler:
- Since Goku dying of the Heart Virus is the first major change, DB Movies 1-3 and DBZ Movies 1-5 still transpire as normal.
- Because killing Goku was Gero's primary motivation, Goku's death to the Heart Virus cripples his motivation, and he doesn't make critical breakthroughs. As such, 13, 14, 15, 17 and 18 aren't as powerful than in the "Familiar" timeline, he doesn't create Androids 16, 19 and 20, and he doesn't sort out 17 and 18's psychopathy.
- When Gero debuts the Androids, 17 and 18 quickly betray and kill him, initiating Trunks' bad future as we know it with Gohan as the only surviving Z Fighter. In particular, Piccolo is killed, killing Kami and turning the Earth Dragon Balls and the Dark Dragon Balls to stone.
- Return of Cooler still happens a few days after the Androids appear (equivalent to the Cell Games wait). Since Dende isn't God, nobody is there to prevent Metal Cooler taking over New Namek. He kills Moori, turning the Namekian Dragon Balls to stone, and so it becomes impossible to wish the bad future away.
- Since Dr. Gero was killed by 17 and 18, Super Android 13 takes place, but as detailed earlier, they aren't nearly as strong. They have a run-in with 17 and 18 and are killed, with the surviving Dragon Team none the wiser.
- By the time Paragus wants to invite Vegeta to New Vegeta for Broly, only Gohan and infant Trunks remain as the only surviving Saiyans (and half-bloods at that), thus he has no reason to visit Earth. New Vegeta's populace are enslaved in any case.
- Because only Gohan and infant Trunks are the surviving Saiyans (and half-bloods at that), Dr. Raichi enacts the Tsufruian revenge on Paragus and Broly, as they ARE full-blooded Saiyans. Since Broly and Hatchiyak are evenly matched, they wind up killing each other in a draw. This means that Second Coming and Bio-Broly never happen.
- Bojack Unbound never happens because he was released from Kaio's world when Goku warps Cell there before he blew himself up. That never happens in Future Trunks' time, so Bojack remains bound in Kaio's world.
- Bio-Broly is missing its titular villain, and the generic Bio-Warriors are easily killed by 17 and 18 when they stumble upon Baron Jaga-Baba's island.
- The Boo Arc never happens because the strongest beings on the planet are 17 and 18, who can't have their ki extracted. They kill Babidi and his minions and then blow up his spaceship, inadvertently killing Boo before he can be awakened.
- The events of Fusion Reborn can actually still happen as it's both initiated and solved entirely in Other World. While the villains from DBZ Movies 1-4 and 8 (plus Hitler) do appear on Earth, because almost the entire Dragon Team are dead and continued training in Other World, they can help Goku, Paikuhan and Vegeta defeat Janema more quickly.
- The "Hoi Solution" can still happen in Future Trunks' time, where Hoi takes Minoshia's sword to Earth and then discards it when it can't open Tapion's music box. Sometime between Gohan's death and Trunks fighting 17 and 18 again, Trunks finds Minoshia's sword, thus explaining how he was one identical to Tapion's.
- Because the Namekian, Earth and Dark Dragon Balls are all inert, Hoi has no method of opening Tapion's music box and leaves Earth, so Wrath of the Dragon never happens.
Let me know what you guys think!!