Long time lurker here, this discussion has sparked my interest.
On DBGT being a part of the franchise:
Personally, I think it's completely ignorant to deny Dragonball GT as a part of the franchise. All arguments stem from two points: Low quality and/or canon factor; both points, mind you, can be very same argued for the entire Dragonball animated series as a whole.
There is one thing to preserve the dignity and have respect for the original work by saying that Dragonball GT has no connection to it, which is understandable as the author of said work had barely any involvement in the process of creating Dragonball GT. Then there is another thing to be willingful ignorant about Dragonball GT's place in the series just because you're a staunch purist.
Here's some facts about Dragonball GT you have to take in consideration:
- Dragonball GT is NOT a failure of a series, in sales. It just never did as well as the original series both financially and critically. This isn't bad.
- TOEI still makes loads of money off Dragonball GT, especially in the Western market.
- Despite cries of non-canon, TOEI most likely considers Dragonball GT to be canon in the marketing sense. Why? Because continually in every form of Dragonball product that TOEI has some hand in, Dragonball GT is pretty much always recognized and represented somehow or another. This includes video games, merchandise, DVD releases, and everything. TOEI also probably considers the movies to be canon, especially Broly which is pretty much slapped into every Dragonball related merchandise ever.
- Most fans do not think Dragonball GT sucks. Matter of fact, most fans of the series think that Dragonball is a "crazy cartoon from Japan" and nothing more. Most fans, at large, view the entire trilogy of anime to be definitive Dragonball, whether we like it or not the sales of DVDs do not lie. Since all three series were shown together at large in the Western market, this is understandable.
- TOEI does not care about your opinion on the series and won't delete Dragonball GT from existence. What they care about is money, especially the money they get from the above fans I described and little kids.
The release of Battle of Gods, Dragonball Online, whatever is NOT going to erase Dragonball GT from existence, it's only going to solidify a more solid idea of what Akira Toriyama's intentions are for the history of the franchise. However, keep in mind to suggest there is a Dragonball canon is suggesting that Akira Toriyama and TOEI care enough to give Dragonball a canon, and I doubt either of them really do in the long run. Canon is synonymous with an official established guidelines and rules to what is legit and what isn't, basically, and AT/TOEI has yet to establish this with Dragonball as far as we're concerned.
On Battle of Gods:
Movie looks good, it's long running hour is pretty surprising though.
Don't care about SSJGod, and hopefully will look nothing like the garbage fanfiction SSJ forms.