What if the other DBS sagas were DBZ Movies?

Discussion specifically regarding the "Dragon Ball Super" TV series premiering July 2015 in Japan, including individual threads for each episode.

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Hellspawn28
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What if the other DBS sagas were DBZ Movies?

Post by Hellspawn28 » Fri Feb 24, 2023 10:28 pm

Instead of getting Super, we still got new DBZ movies once every two-three years. How do you think the Universe 6 VS Universe 7 Saga, Goku Black saga, and the Tournament of Power would work as films? Titles for these films could be like this:

Dragon Ball Z: Battle between Worlds (2017)
Dragon Ball Z: Evil from the Future or The Zero Mortal Plan (2019)
Dragon Ball Z: Tournament of Power (2021 or 2022)

I think you can make tournaments into films considering that we have plenty of martial arts films. The Goku Black stuff might be tricky to adapt into a 90-100 minutes film.
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Rafa Fast
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Re: What if the other DBS sagas were DBZ Movies?

Post by Rafa Fast » Fri Feb 24, 2023 11:26 pm

Haha what a surprise to see this XD I had the exactly same idea a few months ago, but I gave up on posting it, but I reused the concept for another thread.
I mean, the idea for a thread I got a few months ago, but It has been years that I thought about this concept
I do like Champa, Black and ToP working as sagas, but I always had the feeling that they could've worked very well as movies too
This probably is due to the fact of how short they are when you compare them to the 86 & Z sagas, those stories had a pacing that really could be told chapter by chapter
That's why so many people dislikes the Battle of Gods and Golden Freeza sagas adaptions, these two worked so well as movies, I like the sagas but damn, those two stories being told chapter by chapter just feels weird imo, the reason might be because I'm used to the movie versions, but still...
Now these three? Hmmm, The Black arc I disagree, there's more than 3 hours of content in the animated adaptation of this saga, if they had to summarize everything, I really think it would have the perfect usual lenght for modern DB movies.
ToP too specially, before the actual Tournament, you have the Zeno Expo and all the preparation, definitely could work as a movie.
Now the Champa arc, for me that's the issue, how could this work as a movie?
IMO the problem with this arc that makes me think that it would not work as a movie, is the fact that the arc just doesn't have exactly a "end"
This whole arc just feels way too "weekly series" for me, for example, where is the epic grand finale? Black and ToP have it, but this arc?
Imagine finishing your movie, with Goku literally giving up to let Monaka fucking do nothing, and the arc itself ends in such a abrupt way, out of nowhere, the arc ends with you not even remembering that a fight happened, the arc ends giving the focus to the super DBs and Beerus making his wish to Super Shenlong, and everyone goes home.
I'm really not sure, you really think this would've worked in a movie? It's pretty much a rule in every DB movie that the "after the fight" needs to be the ending sequence and boom, credits.
The Champa arc doesn't have a "after the fight" scenario, but a "after summoning Super Shenlong" scenario, and that's pretty much the climax of the arc, not a final fight, but the summoning of Super Shenlong.
Even the movies that end with Shenlong being summoned made this work very well, because they found a way to mix the Shenlong part with the ending sequence in a very organic way, with the Final Battle still really working as the climax, DB Movies 86 and 96.
And a better example? The ToP itself, it would've worked as a movie because the restoration of the universes is a great ending, it works, it's not a isolated sequence with its own plot separated from the whole purpose of the arc, the fights end and you get the conclusion with 17's wish.
Now the Super Shenlong part in Champa is a totally isolated sequence with its own plot and not a part of the ending sequence, and that's why I really don't think this arc could've worked as a movie, but a movie version of it doesn't exist for us to to watch and be sure about it, so I might be wrong, but the arc as we know just doesn't have a good pacing and conclusion for a movie imo, and sorry if what I wrote doesn't seems to make sense, I'm really not good in criticism or analysis XD
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Re: What if the other DBS sagas were DBZ Movies?

Post by SupremeKai25 » Sat Feb 25, 2023 5:17 am

It would be hard to turn the Future Trunks saga into a movie when one of the main plot points is that the protagonists get stomped and have to flee twice (Manga) or thrice (Anime). I can't really imagine how the back-and-forth trips between Present and Future would work in a movie time-length, and obviously you can't remove them; since it's part of Toriyama's bullet notes that Black and Zamasu are so powerful that they stomp and almost kill the protagonists repeatedly.

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