Dragon Ball GT Storyline breakdown

[DB1984]

Currently, MistareFusion is doing Dragon Ball Dissection on Dragon Ball GT. I wonder how he has broken down each storyline the show had. Because I didn't see him do one, unlike with the original Manga. So far, all I know is that the Baby Arc is the first 40 episodes.

And another thing: Is it me, or did #41 feel like a standalone story?

[Gaffer Tape]

Well, I haven't decided yet how I'll handle the rest. I initially assumed that Super #17 and Dragon Whatsamacalits would be two separate arcs. But I have had a few people say they're one story too. And since I already think the first 40 are one story, I don't want to dismiss that idea out of hand. I'll have to watch them again.

[TheGreatness25]

Well, I haven't decided yet how I'll handle the rest. I initially assumed that Super #17 and Dragon Whatsamacalits would be two separate arcs. But I have had a few people say they're one story too. And since I already think the first 40 are one story, I don't want to dismiss that idea out of hand. I'll have to watch them again.

Naw, Super 17 and the evil dragons are two separate arcs. They connect kind of like how the Freeza arc connect to the Vegeta arc, where the story continues, but that's the nature of episodic television.

[WittyUsername]

Well, I haven't decided yet how I'll handle the rest. I initially assumed that Super #17 and Dragon Whatsamacalits would be two separate arcs. But I have had a few people say they're one story too. And since I already think the first 40 are one story, I don't want to dismiss that idea out of hand. I'll have to watch them again.

As much as I agree with counting the first 40 episodes as a single arc, I can’t side with the notion that Super 17 and the Evil Dragons comprise a single story. I know that makes the Super 17 arc ridiculously short, but it clearly has a different focus from what comes after.

[ABED]

Well, I haven't decided yet how I'll handle the rest. I initially assumed that Super #17 and Dragon Whatsamacalits would be two separate arcs. But I have had a few people say they're one story too. And since I already think the first 40 are one story, I don't want to dismiss that idea out of hand. I'll have to watch them again.

Naw, Super 17 and the evil dragons are two separate arcs. They connect kind of like how the Freeza arc connect to the Vegeta arc, where the story continues, but that's the nature of episodic television.

I agree, but what you are referring to as episodic is actually serialized. Episodic is mostly stand alone episodes. Serialized stories continue stories from episode to episode if not outright run from the end of one to the beginning of the next.

[MisteryOne]

Completely agree on them being two separate arcs. The finale of Super 17's arc may lead directly into the next one, but so does the Frieza's arc one for example.

[sunsetshimmer]

Super 17 arc is a bridge between previous arcs and next arc, something that has never been done again in series. What i mean is that Super 17 didn't lead to Shadow Dragons. It was actually opposite kinda. Super 17 arc happened not only as a result of Baby arc, but also Shadow Dragons arc even though it happened after this arc. Shenron explained negative energy made it possible for all the villains from hell to escape. Despite that, it's a separate arc. If you count it as part of Shadow Dragons arc, you could as well count it as part of Black Star/Baby arcs, because Myuu was involved. Super 17 arc merely foreshadowed a bigger threat.

Also i disagree with seeing Black Star and Baby arcs as a single story as well. It's like calling Saiyan arc as a part of Frieza arc.

[Gaffer Tape]

Also i disagree with seeing Black Star and Baby arcs as a single story as well. It's like calling Saiyan arc as a part of Frieza arc.

I legitimately find it difficult to see how anybody could see it as anything but one arc. Where does the Black Star Dragon Ball Arc end? What is its conclusion? How are its threads wrapped up? The Saiyan Arc has a setup and conclusion: Saiyans are coming. They fight and repel said Saiyans. How does that apply to the Black Stars? Do you end it when Baby comes into the picture? Why? They have three Dragon Balls at that point. Do you end it when all seven Dragon Balls are collected? By that point Baby has already pulled the focus to him so much that the Dragon Ball hunt has literally become a B-story, with the three leads barely getting a few minutes of screen time. Do you end it after the Dragon Balls are used? By that point, the fight with Baby has already started. The concept of the Black Star Dragon Balls is not resolved in any meaningful way until *after* Baby is killed. I just don't see how you can separate the two.

To me, GT's first arc is structured not like The Saiyan and Freeza Arcs together, but like The Freeza Arc separately. The heroes go into space to look for the Dragon Balls. While they're there, they run into an enemy who wants the same thing. The Dragon Balls serve as a catalyst to get the plot moving rather than a story in and of themselves. While GT clearly changed its direction mid-stream (not unlike Artificial Humans to Cell, which I also argue is a singular arc) how is this *ultimately* any different? To me, splitting that up would be like saying Space Orphans and Fake Namek are its own arc, while The Freeza Arc doesn't start until they literally meet Freeza. It just doesn't work for me structurally.

[ABED]

Also i disagree with seeing Black Star and Baby arcs as a single story as well. It's like calling Saiyan arc as a part of Frieza arc.

I legitimately find it difficult to see how anybody could see it as anything but one arc. Where does the Black Star Dragon Ball Arc end? What is its conclusion? How are its threads wrapped up? The Saiyan Arc has a setup and conclusion: Saiyans are coming. They fight and repel said Saiyans. How does that apply to the Black Stars? Do you end it when Baby comes into the picture? Why? They have three Dragon Balls at that point. Do you end it when all seven Dragon Balls are collected? By that point Baby has already pulled the focus to him so much that the Dragon Ball hunt has literally become a B-story, with the three leads barely getting a few minutes of screen time. Do you end it after the Dragon Balls are used? By that point, the fight with Baby has already started. The concept of the Black Star Dragon Balls is not resolved in any meaningful way until *after* Baby is killed. I just don't see how you can separate the two.

To me, GT's first arc is structured not like The Saiyan and Freeza Arcs together, but like The Freeza Arc separately. The heroes go into space to look for the Dragon Balls. While they're there, they run into an enemy who wants the same thing. The Dragon Balls serve as a catalyst to get the plot moving rather than a story in and of themselves. While GT clearly changed its direction mid-stream (not unlike Artificial Humans to Cell, which I also argue is a singular arc) how is this *ultimately* any different? To me, splitting that up would be like saying Space Orphans and Fake Namek are its own arc, while The Freeza Arc doesn't start until they literally meet Freeza. It just doesn't work for me structurally.

I agree wholeheartedly with one caveat - the Fake Namek arc while not an arc completely unto itself, it is a full arc. It has a beginning, middle, and end.

[sunsetshimmer]

Also i disagree with seeing Black Star and Baby arcs as a single story as well. It's like calling Saiyan arc as a part of Frieza arc.

I legitimately find it difficult to see how anybody could see it as anything but one arc. Where does the Black Star Dragon Ball Arc end? What is its conclusion? How are its threads wrapped up? The Saiyan Arc has a setup and conclusion: Saiyans are coming (...)

Well, it officially ends with Baby's debut. Yes, they still collect dragon balls, but you can clearly see it's not a main focus in story anymore. They either collect them offscreen or we see a minute or two of them getting another one between scenes with Baby.

It's not THAT much different from Saiyan/Frieza arcs, because even though Saiyan arc focused on defending Earth from their invasion, we find out Vegeta wasn't the main enemy here, kina like it was with Rildo and Myuu. And Frieza arc is a continuation of Saiyan arc. They go to Namek to revive Piccolo and Vegeta goes there too. You may say Saiyan saga ended because Goku won, but Vegeta was planning to come back and he would if he didn't learn about Frieza going to Namek. His fight with Goku wasn't finished. It was just postponed. But entire "beating Vegeta so he won't kill earthlings" story was still there. If we consider Saiyan arc an invasion of Vegeta, it didn't really end completely until the end of Frieza arc.

[ABED]

Also i disagree with seeing Black Star and Baby arcs as a single story as well. It's like calling Saiyan arc as a part of Frieza arc.

I legitimately find it difficult to see how anybody could see it as anything but one arc. Where does the Black Star Dragon Ball Arc end? What is its conclusion? How are its threads wrapped up? The Saiyan Arc has a setup and conclusion: Saiyans are coming (...)

Well, it officially ends with Baby's debut. Yes, they still collect dragon balls, but you can clearly see it's not a main focus in story anymore. They either collect them offscreen or we see a minute or two of them getting another one between scenes with Baby.

It's not THAT much different from Saiyan/Frieza arcs, because even though Saiyan arc focused on defending Earth from their invasion, we find out Vegeta wasn't the main enemy here, kina like it was with Rildo and Myuu. And Frieza arc is a continuation of Saiyan arc. They go to Namek to revive Piccolo and Vegeta goes there too. You may say Saiyan saga ended because Goku won, but Vegeta was planning to come back and he would if he didn't learn about Frieza going to Namek. His fight with Goku wasn't finished. It was just postponed. But entire "beating Vegeta so he won't kill earthlings" story was still there. If we consider Saiyan arc an invasion of Vegeta, it didn't really end completely until the end of Frieza arc.

But there's no end. It's not an arc because there's no resolution until the Baby arc.

The Vegeta arc is a complete arc because there's a resolution to the plot. Vegeta isn't working for Freeza anymore and even if he was, it would still count as its own storyarc. The Saiyan invasion ended when Vegeta was defeated. If he had made good on his threat, that would've been its own story arc. The fight with Goku was over. If they had a rematch, it would've been a second fight in the same way Goku vs. Piccolo Jr. was as rematch to their first fight.

Story arc is a story that has a beginning, middle, and resolution.

[solid.state.scouter.]

I'm definitely of the opinion that the final 24 episodes and the TV Special of DBGT are all one story arc, just with 2 unrelated villains. The plot about the dragonballs is even foreshadowed during the fight with Super 17 once or twice by cutting away to a random dragonball in the wilderness cracking.

I remember posting about this on MistareFusion's Patreon page for part 6 of the Baby arc, so might as well just repost my full thoughts here:

"The "shadow dragons" arc is started first by the tournament episode (ep. 41) as well as the 100-year-flash-forward story in the TV special (which aired the following week), and then ended with the tournament 100 years later at the very end of the last episode. Despite "Super 17" and the "shadow dragons" being ostensibly* unrelated villains, it only makes sense that everything would be one long story, because no resolution is provided when you divide up the arc by the two groups of villains. The 100 years later/tournament stuff bookends eveything.

So, I guess by that logic you could almost consider the middle stuff with 17 and the dragons in the present to be a flashback. I suppose it just depends on how you look at it.

*The dialogue will occasionally waffle on whether it was the buildup of the minus energy in the dragon balls or Hell Fighter 17 and all the prior villains escaping hell that caused the shadow dragons to appear, but regardless of the cause or how we transition from one villain to the next, it's still one, singular story arc to me."

[ABED]

It's a prelude and the arc flows into the next but the Super 17 arc has a full arc.

There's overlap, but super 17 isn't the cause of the Evil Dragons. The Dragon Balls are cracked and about ready to burst, thus weakening the walls between the living world and the afterlife.

The TV special is just that - a special. It's not part of the final story arc.

[Cipher]

I think it's fairly cut and dry. The story has three clear beginnings, three spots of rising action, and three climaxes.

1-40, 42-47 (with 41 being in there as a little in-between), and 48-64.

The Super 17 arc may provide a catalyst for/tie into the following one, but it's no different from the Saiyan arc and Namek arcs, or even the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai and the two Piccolo arcs. Even the Freeza arc transitions into the Androids/Cell arc in the same chapter in the manga. You still have actual, distinct story arcs, marked by the own narrative structures and climaxes.

I think as a separate breakdown, you can generally divide GT into two halves (Baby, and then Super 17/Dragons), but those are the three story arcs.

I do not see breaking up the Baby arc. There aren't two arcs with their own structures there, and there's no climax and resolution to what everyone claims the "Dragon Ball" arc is, even trying to divide it at Episode 22. There's no end to that conflict nor structural climax to the story until the end of the fight with Baby on Planet Plant. It's one storyline that gradually shifts tone and focus, just like a number of Dragon Ball arcs before it. It isn't like the Saiyan and Namek arcs--it's like the Saiyaman material and fights with Boo.

[TheGreatness25]

The second #17 appears after Baby is dead. Super 17 is killed before the evil dragons appear.

I really don't see the argument here.

[Zephyr]

The Dragon Balls cracking is because of the excess minus energy, right? So it's less that the Super 17 arc caused the Evil Dragons arc, and more that both arcs share the same cause.

Looking at the back half of GT as the "Cracked Dragon Balls" arc, or something, a case could be made for lumping them together, I guess. The cracks in the Dragon Balls aren't resolved until GT's last episode, after all!

[NeoKING]

Super 17 arc is a bridge between previous arcs and next arc, something that has never been done again in series. What i mean is that Super 17 didn't lead to Shadow Dragons. It was actually opposite kinda.

Funny you say this. As a kid, before I knew about canon or anything, I always thought this about the Garlic Jr. & Android Sagas. I thought the Garlic Jr. arc was to connect and emphasize the strength Gohan, Krillin, & Piccolo gained from fighting Freeza going into the Android arc. Specifically setting up the plot that Gohan is the next strongest fighter beyond Goku, which eventually culminates by the Cell fight.

[NeoKING]

Super 17 arc is a bridge between previous arcs and next arc, something that has never been done again in series. What i mean is that Super 17 didn't lead to Shadow Dragons. It was actually opposite kinda.

Funny you say this. As a kid, before I knew about canon or anything, I always thought this about the Garlic Jr. & Android Sagas. I thought the Garlic Jr. arc was to connect and emphasize the strength Gohan, Krillin, & Piccolo gained from fighting Freeza going into the Android arc. Specifically setting up the plot that Gohan is the next strongest fighter beyond Goku, which eventually culminates by the Cell fight.

[WittyUsername]

The end of the 22nd Budokai leads directly into the Piccolo Daimao arc, the Piccolo Daimao arc sets up the events of the 23rd Budokai, the Freeza arc deals with the fallout of the Saiyans, and in terms of the original manga, the final chapter of the Freeza arc sets up the Cell arc. Super 17 and the Evil Dragons are no different in that regard.

As for Baby, I was always under the impression that people’s tendency to view the first 40 episodes as two distinct arcs was mainly because FUNimation did that whole “Lost Episode” gimmick back in the day.

[sunsetshimmer]

As for Baby, I was always under the impression that people’s tendency to view the first 40 episodes as two distinct arcs was mainly because FUNimation did that whole “Lost Episode” gimmick back in the day.

The thing is official japanese site says these are two separate arcs. Also FUNimation changed Baby arc start. In original version it starts with episode 23 which is first episode after his debut where they leave planet M2, which served as a climax to first arc. In US version they made it start with episode 16 which had negative impact on first arc reputation as M2 episodes should be part of it but people used to US version rate first arc based on first 15 episodes only.