Could Dragonball/Z work as a serious show?

[Ringworm128]

You would get Dragonball Absalon.

[Saiyatonian]

You would get Dragonball Absalon.

Dragonball Absalon's basically just Naruto with DBZ characters.

[TheMightyOzaru]

I'd like it if it was a serious show, I still prefer it having a comedic side though.

[dario03]

I think this might of worked if the story had ran with the original timeline instead of having Trunks come back and only showing us the Trunks special. So basically have the show run similar to how Trunks explained everything, Goku comes back and kills Freeza and his father, Goku dies of the heart virus, Androids show up lets say it is 19 and 20, Looks like everybody is doomed (Piccolo is much weaker due to not training with Goku), Vegeta shows up and saves the day, 17 and 18 show up, everything goes really bad really quick. Then you either have things go like in the special with everything resetting with Trunks going back in time, or maybe change the whole Cell saga so that it happens in the original timeline and then Trunks resets everything by going back in time.

With Trunks going back in time the story could go back to its more care free style which probably would be a little odd but there have been some other shows that did stuff like that. Basically kind of target a younger group and then have the show kind of mature with them and then go back to a younger target without resetting the whole show. Ben10 comes to mind since I think they did that with the 4 shows which are all a continuation and the first 3 grew in seriousness and the 4th jumped back but kept all the history of the first 3. But they might not even need to worry about that since what I'm describing wouldn't need a lot of episodes.

[Saiga]

As a few mentioned before, it already has. And I think I might prefer it that way, some of the humour I appreciate, but there's a lot of it that I just can't stand.

[Selcier]

I don't think that a show being 'dark' means that it has to loose it's comedic parts. They just exemplify a different type of comedy. But not one the Toriyama would have written. The example that comes to mind is from

However, some of the premises of the series are already pretty dark. I mean, really, Vegeta was committing genocide. He wasn't giving an order - he was doing it himself. I don't know what can get much more dark. And none of those people were wished back by the dragon balls.

And cell literally eating people. That's disturbing on a nightmarish level.

All of these things were played down in the series. But they still happened.

So yes, I think the series could have very easily been darker. Although, it would have lost a lot of its universal appeal.

[The Time Traveller]

While I appreciate the drama and action, I really like the humour and some of the cheesy parts of the series, it wouldn't work.

Characters would have to be redesigned too I think. Like how Batman and Superman don't wear trunks any more, and Batman isn't in blue and grey pyjamas.

[soulnova]

Cell absorbing people.
Trunks: The Story.
Bardock: The Father of Goku.
Buu killing everyone on Earth/blowing up the planet.

Yeah, pretty much that. It doesn't get darker than that I guess.

[Kendamu]

If Dragonball removed all the comedy and just focused on a more subtle, serious, dark storyline, would you appreciate it as much?

No way. A big part of Dragonball is the optimistic outlook of being able to overcome any adversity with the help of a strong spirit and your best friends at your side cheering you on. That's not a very easy thing to make dark.

[Saitou Hajime]

Saiyan saga was pretty dark.The entire Raditz arc was basically a series of bleak wham episodes that wouldn't be out of place in more edgier shonen shows.

[KiddoCabbusses]

I think a lot of people in this thread are putting up examples of "dark" moments in Dragon Ball as showing it could "world" without thinking about the actual question - if you could LITERALLY do the whole series like that, and remove any trace of comedy.

Also, in pretty much all of the non-TV special examples of "dark", all those supposedly "dark" elements get a big fat reset button pushed on them at the climax or end of an arc (With maybe one or two very few exceptions). For this reason it's pretty difficult to take anything "dark" in Dragon Ball very seriously. Compare and contrast with the likes of Hokuto no Ken or Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (The latter of which, in particular, can be as insane or silly as Dragon Ball at times, but is MUCH darker simply because CHARACTERS STAY DEAD).

[Marco Polo]

I think a lot of people in this thread are putting up examples of "dark" moments in Dragon Ball as showing it could "world" without thinking about the actual question - if you could LITERALLY do the whole series like that, and remove any trace of comedy.

Many fans have never even watched or read pre-Saiyan Saga Dragon Ball and don't like the Buu Saga.

[90sDBZ]

I'd say the King Piccolo saga was one of the few parts of the series that was totally serious and had little comedy. Although even that had stuff with Yajirobe and Pilaf and co. I wouldn't have minded seeing more stuff like that saga but when you think about it it would have been difficult to pull off once it was established that Kami could just reconstruct Shenron. The Saiyan saga had a similar dilemma but it was soon established that there were more Dragonballs on Namek.