Create Your Own Dragonball/Z Movie

[Kiyza]

Gee, what a perfect opportunity to plug the new fanfic I'm writing.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5685127/1/D ... e_of_Sorts

Sorry, couldn't resist. In short, it's very heavily based on the manga and starts in the Piccolo Daimao arc, with a lot of the plot elements of the original search for the dragon balls.

[Rocketman]

The problem with pretty much every fan idea for a movie is fans have no idea about moviemaking, especially not that all-important running length.

Titanic was three hours long. Its script was about 200 pages long. There's some joker on here who went all "I SHALL RITE A BETAR SKRIP" wound up with like six hundred pages, which is just bananas! Of course you can make a 'perfect' adaption if you don't bother to account for the inherent differences involved in ADAPTING something.

[SSJmole]

The problem with pretty much every fan idea for a movie is fans have no idea about moviemaking, especially not that all-important running length.

Titanic was three hours long. Its script was about 200 pages long. There's some joker on here who went all "I SHALL RITE A BETAR SKRIP" wound up with like six hundred pages, which is just bananas! Of course you can make a 'perfect' adaption if you don't bother to account for the inherent differences involved in ADAPTING something.

In terms of a running time, I say about 150 to 160 minutes. Harry Potter can have films that are around that length -- so can DBZ. It's enough time to cover the basic, most important parts of the story.

[Taku128]

The problem with pretty much every fan idea for a movie is fans have no idea about moviemaking, especially not that all-important running length.

Titanic was three hours long. Its script was about 200 pages long. There's some joker on here who went all "I SHALL RITE A BETAR SKRIP" wound up with like six hundred pages, which is just bananas! Of course you can make a 'perfect' adaption if you don't bother to account for the inherent differences involved in ADAPTING something.

In terms of a running time, I say about 150 to 160 minutes. Harry Potter can have films that are around that length -- so can DBZ. It's enough time to cover the basics and most important parts of the story.

Very few movies can get away with a two and a half hour run-time, and Dragon Ball Z certainly isn't one of them. People complained about the run-time for Spider-Man 3, I doubt anyone is going to put up with 150 minutes of monkey people from space punching each other.

[SSJmole]

Very few movies can get away with a two and a half hour run-time, and Dragon Ball Z certainly isn't one of them. People complained about the run-time for Spider-Man 3, I doubt anyone is going to put up with 150 minutes of monkey people from space punching each other.

People complained about Spider-Man 3's running time of 139 minutes. However it was 139 minutes of crap. Look at the Dark Knight. 152 minutes yet it was 152 minutes of great writing, acting and directing. X-men 2 136 minutes yet most say X2 was the best of the X-men films. Hell Spider-man 2 was 127 minutes only twelve minutes less than Spider-Man 3 yet Spider-man 2 is praised. Other running times to think about Star trek 127 minutes, Transformers 143 minutes.


If people can sit through 143 minutes of Robots fighting, Then I think 150 minutes of a deeper story, with better fighting,with twists and turns and of course explosions like only DBZ can do. Is something we could have. You seem to forget if the story is good enough and the film is great people will not care about the time.

I could have put it another way, Which would you rather have 85 minutes of a film like Dragonball Evolution. Or 150 to 160 minutes of this :

After Evolution I'd reboot it. But here is how :

Opening Credits = Music : Cha-La Head-Cha-La. Photo recap like Spider-man 2 However all new pictures and footage showing a kid goku to end of Dragonball.. This way we know it's different and new people seeing it are caught up (partly)

Cast : Recast everyone except James Marsters , He showed enthusiasm plus my understanding is he stopped it been worse by improving how they did Piccolo

Costumes : Like Goku's Evolution costume. It looked good but worked for film. That should be the basis of costumes. Saiyan armour should be done like the Batman begins armour/suit but dark white, dark blue ect.. yet not too dark.

Hair : I don't want exact hair but like Wolverine in X-men make it like their hair but more realistic. Bulma's hair = like this : http://www.flickr.com/photos/64293968@N00/3477230686/ It works as far as I'm concerned.

Filming : Film 1+2 back to back like LOTR so kid Gohan doesn't age too much and have it movie 1 = Saiyan saga Movie 2 = Freeza saga.

Freeza : More realistic looking but still same e.g form 2 = like Alien but white and a little less scary (after kids watching)

Voices : For any character like Freeza who would be a cgi type character I say use the dub voices and then in Japan dub entire film with their voices.

Story : It needs to be broken down and examined to work for film. E.g Cut anything that doesn't advance the story. Flesh out other stuff E.g Raditz telling Goku he's a saiyan and kidnaping Gohan make it feel more emotional and drawn out.

Fights = like Neo vs Agent Smith from Matrix Revolutions.

Use the original Japanese score.


The idea is to create the film that feels like DBZ yet feels like a movie. Not dark and gritty like Dark knight as that's not DBZ. But Speed racer crrossed with Spider-man. That anime feel but also a family film. Yes people would complain but people complain at any adaptation people make. As loog as it's a good movie and a good representation of the series then that is okay.


Advertisement :

Game : Not a big part of the film but Instead of rushing it for the movie make game a prequel that plays through Dragonball and ends at the film's start. Why? more time and effort can be put in it.


Manga : Get Akira Toriyama I don't care of how much but get him to draw a manga of the film's version of what happened with the film's look. Why? How many dragonball fans never watched Evolution because it was obvious they didn't care for fans? Now had they got Akira Toriyama to help with a tie-in Manga more would have given it a chance.


Posters : More like this one

Teaser trailer new Dragonball animated like Kai's opening Imagine:

[new animation of Goku out side of his house"
"Hi I'm here to tell you all about an all new action packed movie that will burst on to your screen! Who am I?" - Sean Schemmel's voice
[live action Goku in costume standing in same location]"I am Son Goku" - Actor playing goku says the line while looking at camera.
[SOON] in big letters black background.

[worldmonsters]

I agree that runtime is important. But 2 hours is almost a must. Also SSJMole... the Japanese score? Really? The music they used 25 years ago? I'm sorry... most of it is awesome and I know a lot of people appreciate it, but that is SO not going to work. Have you heard of ANY movie that used TV-series music? If you mean the same melodies but redone for the movie? Could work... but I think something new is probably better, especially if it's going to be an American movie.

In any case, I think it should be something like Dragon Ball, but abridged. I would start with the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, or last arc of Dragon Ball, like Evolution did. Seriously, that's not even a bad place to start really, but I think Raditz's arrival is probably best. You start off with him finding Piccolo and after that Goku, like the manga, but the talk they have on Roshi's island should be moved to the fight later on. Then Raditz kidnaps Gohan and they fly off. Piccolo reveals he heard everything and teams up with Goku. And they fight and beat him, but Goku dies. Raditz reveals the Saiyans are coming and Piccolo takes Gohan with him.
Now, this... could probably all be done in 20 minutes to half an hour, I think. Then I think half an hour to a 45 mins could be used for training, Goku's journey down snakeway, without filler and everyone training training training. I think it should include Gohan transforming and definitely the chasing of Bubbles (forget about Gregory) for comedic value.
Then you'd have about 45 mins to an hour of everyone fighting and finally Goku returning (with about 20 mins to go) and you have a good fight, not too drawn out, but including the best parts.

The point is... some things sort of need to be drawn out or at least put focus on, but others I think should be forgotten. For example, forget the Saibamen. It'd be cool as a kind of reference, but that's like 5-10 minutes of screentime fighting that probably won't be needed. I think it could definitely be done. For an actual Dragon Ball movie... I'd try to put everything from Dragon Ball in either one or two movies.

The first one should have the Red Ribbon Army searching for the Dragon Balls, forget Pilaf, but take in Tao Pai Pai. Then the second movie could be about the World Martial Arts tournament with Tenshinhan and Chaozu which ends in Piccolo killing Krillin so they must look for the Dragon Balls again and in the end beat Piccolo.

That's pretty much how I'd do the first three movies.
1. Red Ribbon
2. Piccolo
3. Saiyans

And from there on it's simple... 4. Frieza, 5. Androids/Cell and 6. Majin Buu

The final two are probably going to be hard as hell to condense, but I think it can be done

[Rocketman]

The first one should have the Red Ribbon Army

It bombs as not enough people in the US care about the original Dragonball.

Seriously, you're betting on a six-movie series? Spider-Man couldn't get that far, and he's an American icon.

[worldmonsters]

The first one should have the Red Ribbon Army

It bombs as not enough people in the US care about the original Dragonball.

Seriously, you're betting on a six-movie series? Spider-Man couldn't get that far, and he's an American icon.

Hmm yeah. You're right. I'm not betting on anything tho. I think those two movies might work as prequel films. But at least the Saiyans one (movie 3) is one that I think has the most promise.

I was also talking best case scenario :p

[Scarz]

Title: This Ain't Dragonball (The XXX Parody)
Type: Live Action
Characters: Goku, Bulma, Chichi, Master Roshi, Yamcha, Mai, Random Females dressed up in RR army attire, special guest Mr. Popo!
Cast: Anyone who looks the part, has a nick name like "Candy Suxx" or "Long Johnathan Silver," and any chick that is willing to where a blue wig will do just fine.
Directed by: From the guys who gave us "This Ain't Scrubs (The XXX parody) and Micheal Bay
Written by: Anyone who briefly read the first three volumes of Dragonball

Synopsis: Believe me, you don't want me to go into any further detail.

[UristtheGreat]

Directed by: From the guys who gave us "This Ain't Scrubs (The XXX parody) and Micheal Bay

Micheal Bay? You want sex scenes with the Dragonball cast infront of large, unimpressive CGI backgrounds with explosions in the background? Sounds badass.

[Big Momma]

Directed by: From the guys who gave us "This Ain't Scrubs (The XXX parody) and Micheal Bay

Micheal Bay? You want sex scenes with the Dragonball cast infront of large, unimpressive CGI backgrounds with explosions in the background? Sounds badass.

I was thinking more James Cameron...where they have sex in front of neon rave-party plantlife.

[Xyex]

I'd do it one of three ways.

1) The Path to Power in live action, with a few minor changes. Goku would be 13 or 14 in this so that they could find a good child actor for him. First change: Krillin. They'd meet him along with Roshi on the beach. Second change: Tao. Tao would be the one to knock Goku senseless on the beach, instead of the missile. Obviously, Roshi and Oolong's antics would be toned down some, the 'soft place to sleep/no balls' thing would need to be cut, as would Bulma flashing Roshi for his DB (sadly, as I love those scenes, they're hilarious, but they wouldn't fly here).

2) Something starting with King Piccolo, like DBE did, but differently, and mixing in the RRA. The opening credits would play over the RRA unearthing a stone sarcophagus (let's face it, a rice cooker, while an original means of trapping evil, is kinda out there) bearing the Demon seal from the bottom of the ocean. They'd bring it open and open it and all we'd see of what happened would be flashes of green light and screams before the screen fades to black and the movie starts in earnest as we cut to:

Bulma (16-18) driving down a mountain road, looking at her Dragon Radar. The radio is on with a news story playing talking about the recent rise in 'evil activities' of the 'notorious organization known as the Red Ribbon Army'. Bulma muses that she's close to the next Dragonball, looks up, and then cries out and twists the steering wheel. The view changes and we see her careening out of control right toward a young man (16-18 years old) who's got a lion draped over his neck and is staring at the car in shock.

Car hits him, lion goes flying, he goes flying, he comes crashing back down on his head and doesn't move. Bulma, trying to undo her seat belt, starts panicking that she may have killed him. She gets it off and manages to climb half out of the car just in time to see the boy jump to his feet apparently totally unharmed. He then proceeds to go on about a 'monster attack', and then pulls out a staff which suddenly grows longer and hits her car, flipping it over and knocking her out.

Cue conversation about having been 'eaten' by the monster, explanation of cars, capsules.... girls, etc, and we find out that the boy is named Goku. Bulma is injured so Goku takes her back to his place so that his Grandpa can fix her and thus we meet Grandpa Gohan, and get our Oozaru hint. While her injuries are being tended Bulma spies the 4 Star Dragonball and we get the DB explanation. Before Gohan can decide to turn the DB over to her or not there's a sudden crash and some RRA soldiers break into the house and start demanding the Dragonball. Goku and Gohan fight them of ok at first, but then Goku get's knocked out and Gohan is killed by someone in a green hooded cloak.

Goku wakes up, learns from Bulma that Gohan's gone and the DB has been stolen (and the one she already had, too), and thus sets out with her in her trek to find the DBs so he can get revenge (cause if they were after one then they probably want the rest). Skip ahead a day or two, to another location, and we meet the orphan and desert bandit Yamcha (16-18) when he tries to steal their stuff, but freezes and becomes a stuttering idiot when he sees Bulma. Oolong is cut due to a little too much absurdity for the 'average audience' and a somewhat more 'realistic' feel to the story being aimed for.

Proceed onward with Yamcha tailing them (no Puar for the same reason as Oolong) and everyone meeting up with Roshi (old, beard, sunglasses), who just happens to have a student along with him named Krillin (bald, 16-18). The two of them are currently fighting it out with RRA soldiers and Goku spots the green cloaked man in the group so he charges in to fight, too. During the scuffle Mr. Green Cloak loses his hood and we get our first look at Cymbal. Roshi sees him, calls him Demon, tells everyone to stand back, and then unleashes a powerful Kamehameha that wipes out the soldiers and Cymbal.

Cue explanation of King Piccolo, Goku learning the Kamehameha, Krillin and Roshi joining the group, Yamcha being discovered and joining the main group, etc. Next stop, RRA base near-by that Roshi knows about, and seems to be where three DBs are located. Cue muscle tower, storming the tower with everyone but Bulma (who's got a nice big gun to protect herself with but stays out of the fray just the same). Cue lots of RRA fodder and then the appearance of General Blue. Big fight with Blue, recover the two DBs stolen from Goku and Bulma, plus on more, and then they leave. Cut back to Blue recovering from being knocked senseless just in time for a Green Cloak to arrive and (be implied to) kill him.

Back Yamcha, Bulma, and Krillin saying fighting the RRA and this "Demon King" guy is suicide, Goku saying he can beat him and wants revenge, Roshi saying there's no choice, etc. Car gets attacked. It's a Green Cloak, and he recognizes Goku. It's the one who actually attacked him and Gohan, but it's not a Demon. It's Tao. Fight ensues, Goku displays that he's already stronger than Roshi, Tao is defeated.

The group then discusses what to do next but before a decision can be made a large RRA flying fortress appears on the horizon, drawing closer. Then a booming voice can be heard declaring that they have interfered in his plans long enough and he will deal with them himself. King Piccolo then descends from the fortress. Another battle ensues, the heroes are overwhelmed, Krillin and Roshi are killed, Goku and Yamcha knocked unconscious. Bulma is overlooked in her place of hiding. Piccolo departs.

Bulma wakes Goku and Yamcha, tells them that before Roshi died he mentioned something about training and a tower, gave her directions to take them there. They travel to Karin Tower, Goku and Yamcha begin the climb, Bulma stays on the ground listening to the radio and more RRA attacks, which plays over the two of them climbing and helps give us the feeling that several days pass. Goku and Yamcha reach the top of the tower and as they gaze out over the world below from inside dark clouds suddenly form. A voice from behind them informs them that the worst has happened, Piccolo has all of the Dragonballs and, with them, will make himself young again, which will make him even stronger.

We meet Karin (like a man instead of a cat for the same reason Oolong and Puar were cut, perhaps native American in nature, like Bora) and the two of them begin their training with him. Training montage of sorts with more radio news over it. King Piccolo has taken over Capital City, makes his announcement about wiping out the Earth's various sectors, etc. Bulma wonders what's taking Goku and Yamcha so long, it's been two weeks already. Suddenly, she hears yells from above, looks up, and sees them falling toward her. Both land, just fine, beside the car. They set out for Capital City.

Yamcha faces off against Tambourine while Goku deals with Piccolo in the final epic battle of the movie. Yamcha barely wins his fight as night falls, but Goku's getting his ass kicked. Goku sees the moon, goes Oozaru, kills Piccolo, starts to rampage, Yamcha manages to cut off Goku's tail. Tambourine and Piccolo are dead, Piccolo managed to spit an egg into the distance, Goku suggests using the DBs to revive Roshi, Krillin, and his grandpa. Popo appears, says he's a 'messenger sent by Kami' and invites Goku and Yamcha to train with Kami because Piccolo will still return later. Cue ending credits. Half way through credits cue scene with Tien and Chaotzu being hired by someone in the RRA to eliminate Goku, then cut to baby Piccolo hatching, go back to credits. Credits end, cue scene with Shenron being summoned, Krillin and Roshi being revived, but Gohan can't be (not killed by Piccolo).

The End.

3) Start with Z, do a montage of DB events with Gohan narrating explaining about his father's adventures and the DBs and everything, then saying that the DBs were at the center of his first adventure as a kid. And then we do the Saiya-jin/Namek/Freeza stuff for the first movie, and Androids/Cell for the second. Then the third would be Buu and at the end we learn that the narration was Gohan telling the story of his adventures either to Videl (right after Buu's beaten) or to a young Pan several years down the line.

[caejones]

The problem with pretty much every fan idea for a movie is fans have no idea about moviemaking, especially not that all-important running length.

Titanic was three hours long. Its script was about 200 pages long. There's some joker on here who went all "I SHALL RITE A BETAR SKRIP" wound up with like six hundred pages, which is just bananas! Of course you can make a 'perfect' adaption if you don't bother to account for the inherent differences involved in ADAPTING something.

This is one of the major problems I keep running into when I try to put something together for this, the other being that I just want to do too much at once.

Xyex: ... I'm going to remember the greencloaks most out of that, you know.

[Xyex]

Xyex: ... I'm going to remember the greencloaks most out of that, you know.

Haha. I wanted some way to hide from the audience who these people were (partly to hide Tao's involvement in Gohan's death until later), but still hint to the Namekian-ness of (some) of them (thus the green coloration).

And now that I've just re-read my second option idea it is time to continue from there into movie 2! Movie one title would have been "Dragonball - Rise of the Demon King" and movie two is "Dragonball - Invasion"

The opening credits start playing and we get a montage of the first movie's events with a narrated explanation of what's being seen. We also see Goku and Yamcha meet Kami and receive our explanation of the origins of King Piccolo. The narrator explains that a year after their deaths, once the Dragonballs had returned to power, Goku and Yamcha gathered them to revive Roshi and Krillin (the latter of whom came to train with them). We're also told that during the search Goku met one of Roshi's former pupils, the Ox King, and his daughter, Chi-Chi, and he is now married to her and has a son of his own. We're told it has been five years since the battle with King Piccolo and that a martial arts tournament is about to begin.

Cut to the Budokai and the stands filling up with people. Chi-Chi is in the crowd along with a young Gohan. Goku (who is now tailless), Krillin, and Yamcha are standing around with the other fighters. The narration continues over these views stating that Piccolo has entered the tournament to face Goku to get revenge for his father's death. Both have made it through the prelims and their fight is not long off now. The narration ends with "And yet... I sense a greater threat than Piccolo on the horizon."

The credits end and we get a short encounter between Goku and Piccolo showing Piccolo's animosity toward Goku. The announcer enters the area and calls forward the eight finalists to draw their numbers for the tournament. We find that Tien and Chaotzu are here, as well. Following the drawing we find that the first round of fights is as follows: Shen(Kami) Vs. Piccolo, Krillin Vs. Chaotzu, Tien Vs. Yamcha, and Yajirobe Vs. Goku. Piccolo fights with Kami much like in the series after which we see the fight with Krillin and Chaotzu showcasing Chaotzu's powers. We also get a few hints here that Choatzu's not here to be friends. In the end, though, Krillin wins. Our Tien Vs. Yamcha match plays out nearly the same as the 22nd Budokai fight, just without the broken leg, and we also learn that Tien's not here to make friends either. Yajirobe Vs. Goku goes abut the same as Krillin and Chaotzu.

Thus begins round two with Piccolo Vs. Krillin and Krillin does better than Piccolo thought he would, though still loses of course. Goku Vs. Tien is a mix of the 22nd Budokai fight and their 23rd Buokai fight. We also learn now that Tien and Chaotzu were hired by the RRA to kill Goku and that is why they are there. In the end, however, Goku wins the match and thus we are set at last for the finals. Goku and Piccolo square off in the ring and start their match. They fight hard for a while, both being noticeably winded, but then suddenly stop and gaze skyward, both of them looking rather shocked about something. The camera pans up, we see a spark of light, and then a streak comes surging down and slams into the ground just outside the stadium.

The streak was a space pod and after it opens up out emerges Raditz. He checks his scouter, confirms that he landed where intended (the area were all the highest powers on the planet are gathered) and then enters the stadium. He recognizes Goku at once, of course, approaches him, and we get our whole confrontation and alien revelation situation with Goku (and occasional butt-ins from the others, especially Piccolo). In the end Piccolo calls a 'temporary truce' with Goku so that the two of them can take on Raditz and get him out of the way to resume their fight. Everyone pitches in in the fight, even Tien and Chaotzu. At some point Raditz notes a big power spike from the stands and spots Gohan, but dismisses it once the reading fades. Anyway, even altogether they're not doing so hot against him (though Tien states that if they weren't all exhausted from fighting they could have won without too much trouble by fighting together like this).

Goku is in bad shape, Chi-Chi covers her eyes unable to watch, thus letting go of her hold on Gohan, and Gohan bolts down to the arena area yelling at Raditz to stop hurting his dad. Goku tells Gohan to get away, Raditz notices Gohan's tail and states he'll take the kid to replace Goku with. Goku attacks him again to stop him from getting Gohan but gets hit hard, Gohan yells, powers-up, charges, and head-butts Raditz who stumbles back in pain. Goku manages to gab on to Raditz and Piccolo, at his request, blasts both of them, etc, etc, etc. Piccolo explains to the dying Raditz about the DBs, Raditz says that two more Saiya-jins will come in a year, etc. Goku vanishes, Piccolo kidnaps Gohan, the others head off to train more with Kami, Tien and Chaotzu going along so they can help ("And besides," he notes. "Goku's dead, so the assignment is over. We were only hired to kill him once.")

Cut to Goku in Otherworld. No Snakeway trip for him to get to King Kai's with. Just meets Yemma, gets passed through, and goes through some sort of 'warp gate' thing to get there (to save time). King Kai will be more human in appearance so as to avoid any cheesy CGI effects or what have you. The training starts, we cut out to space to Nappa and Vegeta, they depart for Earth for the DBs, we go back to Earth and get some training montages and so on. Time passes and the Saiya-jins arrive but... we find out that Bulma and Roshi, who have been looking for the DBs, still have one more to find yet. So no revival for Goku right away. The others have to hold their own for now.

So we get everyone together, Nappa and Vegeta catch up to them, we get Piccolo's Namekian origins, and then our fight begins. No Saibamen, again to save time and avoid cheezy CGI. Yamcha gets toasted by Nappa instead. Chaotzu goes boom, Tien expends himself, Roshi finds the last DB and they summon Shenron. Kami telepathically informs them of the deaths of the others, so the wish is quickly adjusted to revive "Everyone on Earth killed by the Saiya-jin invaders" thus bringing them back, as well as Goku. They all appear at the base of the Dragon and quickly fly off to the fight.

At the fight Piccolo and Krillin sense Goku and then Vegeta's scouter picks up nearing powers. Nappa goes to blast Gohan, Piccolo jumps in the way and dies just seconds before Goku arrives. Goku stomps Nappa, fights Vegeta, shows off Kaioken and Spirit Bomb, Yamcha and Tien and Chaotzu pitch in against Oozaru Vegeta, Yajirobe slices off his tail, Vegeta flees, Gohan is sad about Piccolo being killed, Krillin mentions Namek and Vegeta's thought that there could be DBs there, everyone decides they should head to Namek once they recover so that they can revive Piccolo (well, Goku and Gohan decide they should, the others just want Kami back), we get out post battle wind down and story wrap-ups, and then it's credits time.

Half way through the credits they cut out and we get a silhouetted Freeza barking out orders to leave for Namek at once. We go back to the credits until they end, then we cut to Vegeta landing on Planet Freeza #whatever and being placed into a Regen Tank while monologing his thoughts about Namek and his revenge on Goku.

The End.

[caejones]

I can't come up with a better way to do a "After Piccolo" movie than something extremely similar to that.
A lot of the tournament fights would have to be cut, I'd imagine ( ), and I'm not a fan of opening narration (unless it's world-building-ish, like with Starwars, but even those are handled well enough in the script that the crawl can be left out for the most part).

I haven't managed to come up with anything quite so detailed as my big list of "stuff I want" for the second, but it'd probably be similar to Xyex's, other than things that would have to differ because of the continuity I'd establish in the first one (XD).
I also recall someone (Snail?) posting an idea in the past involving an interesting means of cramming the saiyan and parts of the Freeza stuff into one film (I don't think it was finished). A specific element of that I liked was Vegeta being captured for research after his defeat at the hands of Goku&co, and Bulma getting him out once the Ginyu Force trashes everyone else.
Another concept I liked was Kaboom's, I think, with Freeza ultimately conquering the Earth at the end of the second movie, and the third being the quest for Namek, which was somehow protected mystically (with Earth's conquest having something to do with gaining access to it).
So... umm... yeah, I kinda think a synthesis of all of these could be awesome if handled well enough.
Blah, now I want to go take more notes on the Z movie. -_-
(Hmm. You know, I kinda think the stuff I posted on the first page could work fine without the Crane-school characters. . I don't really like the training break, though...)

[Kendamu]

To keep things short and give a rough idea of where I'd go with three 120-minute movies:

Dragonball -- Introduce the characters and events leading up to the training for the 23rd Budoukai but mainly focus on Goku, Piccolo, and the Dragonballs. During the training, compare and contrast Goku and Piccolo's training and growing up. Then, bring it all together with the 23rd Budoukai. Somehow fit the Dragonballs into the plot so that the title makes sense. End with an epilogue of them celebrating a reunion five years later and have Raditz come out of nowhere, crash the party, and announce that he's Goku's brother. Roll credits.

Dragonball 2 -- Quickly set up the movie with a recap of the first in the opening credits, a slightly more in-depth reunion with Radtiz crashing the party, and the Raditz battle itself done quickly, but faithfully showing the key points. Spend a lot of the movie focusing on Gohan's training under Piccolo while occasionally checking in on the others and leaving Goku's fate a mystery. The Saiyans arrive and it's a big disaster like in the series, just at a faster pace. Goku then shows up when all hope is lost, beats Nappa, and explains his training and being brought back from the dead. Finish out the movie with a faster version of the Vegeta battle, but making sure to keep it faithful and adapt key points in the battle. Finish it with a seemingly sad ending, but right before the credits someone exclaims that they have an idea on how to bring everyone back.

Dragonball 3 -- This one would probably be the most abridged adaption of them all because it's so long. All the key points of the story would be there, but the pace would be a bit more quick as everyone is racing for the Dragonballs and they keep changing hands. It would be a nearly non-stop thrill-ride with tiny breathers here and there to check up on Goku's training as he travels to Namek. The only part I'd be unsure of is how to make the Ginyu battle lead smoothly into the Freeza battle in a two-hour movie. All I could really hope for is that the first two are popular enough to warrant a three-hour movie for the finale. In the end, I would attempt to be very faithful and leave it with everyone finding that Goku's alive and wandering through space training in new skills as he makes his way back home.

After that, there are the Cell and Boo arcs, of course, but I wouldn't push my luck with more than three unless I really thought people wanted to see Gohan realize his potential in a fourth and if people wanted to see Goku and vegeta duke it out again in a fifth.

[JulieYBM]

Continuing from my first post:

Movie Two: A Demonic Terror Reborn! Piccolo Daimaô Rises!!

Leading off from where last time ended, Son Gokû crashes into the base of Karin-tô, startling the natives in the area. Bora and Upa's tribe nurse Gokû back to health and after earning the tribe's respect in competition learns of a wise sen'byô who lives atop the Karin-tô. Bora hands Son the Dragon Ball he found after learning his people and the land would be much safer if Gokû took on its burden. Seeking the special training of the senbyô Son spends days climbing to the summit. Karin-sama's training goes as it does in the series and after three days Son's strength and speed have increased even more so. Karin expresses amusement and amazement at how Son's strength has grown but notes he still has much to learn before he is ready for battle with Taopaipai.

Returning to the base of Karin-tô, Son Gokû is shocked to find the entire tribe slaughtered. Finding Upa--who had hidden--Gokû swears he will make the man who did this pay. Upa confirms it was Taopaipai, filling Gokû with even more determination.

Meanwhile, Yamcha and the gang return to Capsule Corp. to devise their next move. With Gokû likely dead and the Dragon Balls in the hands of the Red Ribbon Army there isn't much they can do. Bulma, however, notices a lone Dragon Ball heading for the Red Ribbon Army headquaters, and fears they now have all seven. Yamcha and Kuririn (who...I might've forgotten to mention was Bulma's hired bodyguard in the first film), fed up with his uselessness, decides he'll make a final attempt at the Dragon Balls to protect the world. Without Rôshi, however, Kuririn doesn't think they can do it.

Gokû returns to the RRA HQ only to learn that Taopaipai has yet to return. Beating up Red's guards, Gokû acquires the other six Balls and makes a run for the tribal grounds again, however on his flight back (via Kinto'un) Son is again attacked by Taopaipai, and a mid-air exchange sees the Dragon Balls splattered across the forest below.

Meanwhile, Adjutant Black and Red are speaking about the RRA's plans. Red finally reveals his wish is to grow taller, and this annoys Black. Black notes that the monkey-brat's strength seemed to have increased but Red reveals he isn't worried. Within Red's armoury and antique collection is an eletric rice cooker with a demon sealed away within it. If Taopaipai fails, Red will unseal this demon and have him retireve the Dragon Balls. Black asks if that won't see their own demise if the demon is not thankful, but Red doesn't seem the type to think that far ahead.

Throughout the forest Taopaipai and collecting the Dragon Balls while fighting each other. Each with their own set of Balls (Gokû four, Taopaipai three) they must now defeat the other for their Balls. In a climatic showdown, Gokû's KameHame-Ha overcomes Taopaipai's Dodon-Pa and sends him flying. With all seven Balls, Gokû prepares to make his wish...before realizing he isn't sure what to do. Suddenly, Bulma and company arrive and as they decide on what to do Bulma suggests they wait until the war is over so all those good people who died can be restored to life. Bulma, Pu'erh, and Oolong agree to return to Capsule Corp. to safekeep the Dragon Balls while Son, Kuririn, and Yamcha storm the RRA HQ one last time.

Red is shocked to learn that Taopaipai was defeated. While Black fights the gang with his mecha suit Red unseals the rice cooker. Out from the rice cooker comes the old Piccolo Daimaô. Learning he's been sealed away for quite a long time, Piccolo kills Red--finding no need for him--after Red spills the beans about the magical Dragon Balls. Wishing to wish for his youth to be restored, the old Piccolo spits up an egg, which hatches into Piano, a demon he deems his assistant. The two take a flying warship from the hanger and set course for the location of the Dragon Balls on its monitor: West City.

Meanwhile, Gokû finally delivers the final blow to Black's mecha, killing the adjutant. Exhausted, Gokû and friends fly (via hovercraft) back to West City.

At West City, while looking over the coma-ridden Rôshi, Bulma is startled when the old man suddenly awakens. Rôshi senses the approaching evil that is Piccolo Daimaô and begs that the city be evacuated while still possible.


End Movie Two!