How would you have done filler?

[SSJ YUSUKE]

If you were working at Toei how would you have done filler in the series?
I know most people on here hate filler but for me I would'nt mind if there was more.
I would have preffered watching long filler arcs in between major sagas to having to watch Goku and Freeza grunt and stare at each other, at the same time by creating long filler arcs we would not have to have the main story interrupted by interludes to kame house or Bulma's misadventures.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

It's not that I hate filler, I just dislike BAD filler. I didn't mind what we got back in the Dragon Ball portion of the series. A lot of it back then was more like creative padding. You had little things added to the story that stretched the plot out, but still felt like it was making progress towards the main end goal because they were relatively well placed. The few stories that were completely new just seemed like fun little distractions that only took an episode or two to tell, and the content within them was decent.

Some of what we got wasn't too bad, like Goku meeting the Snake Princess, falling off the Serpent Road, the Anoyoichi Budokai, half the Saiyaman Arc weren't that bad, but Gohan and the robot, Gohan and the orphans, the trio and the space orphans. fake Namek, Bluma and the crab, half of Goku and Freeza's fight, half of the Garlic Junior Arc...? Most of them need to be rewritten or scrapped all together. So in the end I guess, I'd just try to find some way to replicate that DB filler feeling in the Z portion of the series and have it feel like like it's not keeping you away from story progression.

[sintzu]

I wouldn't stretch the manga material insted i would add filler arcs in between the main arcs and have toriyama make a new villian and story for each arc

[DBZAOTA482]

No pointless cutaways to secondary or less characters doing stupid shit no one really cares about.

I can deal with padding (most of the time) but the pointless cutaways are the kind of filler in the series I hate the most alongside the mini-arcs that is so blatantly added into the series to let the manga get ahead (Garlic Jr. Saga is a mixed bag though).

[DBZ Mick]

Gohan and the robot, Gohan and the orphans, the trio and the space orphans

I liked those. Helped develop Gohan's character and the latter with setting up more about Freeza and his empire.

I guess filler wise I'd just do more to focus on the character development. That's why I liked a lot of the filler peace time material. Also more on the background of the plots.

[Fizzer]

I like the filler that expands upon stories or adds new stories, like the Husky episodes, solo training, wedding dress, Princess Snake, etc. Even if some filler stories like fake Namek are bad, this type of filler is better in general than the stretching out of fights with stare-downs, bitching, extended sequences of bland punching and over-use of cutaways to Kame House skits. Fight filler that adds something, like Goku's hallucinations against Freeza and Cell using other people's attacks is good, because it does expand upon things. I'd go slightly over-board with extra stories and little twists and turns that last a couple of episodes to avoid the awful fight filler. I'd have more peace-time filler like that during Goku and Kuririn's training, the wedding dress arc, bits of the garlic jr arc, the beginning of the Cell arc, the Great Saiyaman stuff and the last few episodes. This would include at least one whole episode based around Goku's wedding, more general stuff of the gang just hanging around being friends and maybe an exploration of Kuririn and 18's relationship and how Vegeta and Bulma got "back together".

[baneofdemon22]

I love the filler. I wish the main story wasn't padded so much. I wish the fights were much tighter. The Frieza fight even dragged in Kai. Every time I watch it, I want to stop watching the show, and question why I like this series. Although once Super Saiyan comes into play I forget about it! The Goku/ Cell fight in Kai was a great example of how to pace and choreograph a fight. Majin Vegeta fighting Boo was another great example.

[Gaffer Tape]

I love filler stories. I don't even care if it's good or bad or even contradicts something that happens later. But it's fun to see things expanded upon, especially given the times where the manga's characterization seems kinda sparse. I mean, when Goku dies, he is warned not to fall into hell. That's practically begging to have something done with it. It's a Chekhov's Gun! But, nope, no problems at all. Goku runs and reaches the end. There has to be an episode where Goku falls to hell, or there's no point in mentioning it! Good job, Toei, for picking up on that!

While I enjoyed actual filler stories in Z, they did feel a bit more expendable in general. As in, you could just easily pluck them out and not realize you missed them. In the first series, Toei took quite a bit more liberties with the original story, integrating their filler into it much more tightly. And I really like what I've seen of that so far.

When filler bothers me is when it's just source material stretched out to ridiculous lengths. Sure. By all means cut away to Chichi and the others failing at making a spaceship. It's certainly more interesting than Goku and Freeza staring at each other again!

But the absolute worst method was when Toei just freakin' gave up and started stretching out the recaps to absolutely unbearable lengths. "Let's not even bother making as much episode anymore. Let's just repeat what we used last week, which was already shorter because of *its* recap. This crap is so popular now we don't even need to put forth any effort!" It becomes even more infuriating when you look at early DB episodes and realize that not all of them even had recaps, at least not the reused footage type. I found it really cool when there was some new animation as a teaser, with the narrator very briefly setting up the scene. And the funny thing is, FUNimation actually benefited from their repetitive, droning music for the recap because it became harder to tell how long it had been going on. The original DBZ recap music was melodic and easy to follow along with, so you knew EXACTLY how much it was being looped when the recaps got long.

And I guess you COULD throw flashbacks into the same boat, but they don't bother me quite as much. Obviously the principle is the same: stretch out an episode by not making as much of an episode by reusing old footage. But at least it's stuff the audience hasn't seen in a while. Hell, for me, a U.S. fan who didn't get to see the original series until much later, it was really cool to see this older footage, and I imagine it was similar for a fan back when it originally aired who hadn't seen these in years.

[superkakarrot2]

By expanding on the actual plot and adding new storylines; like how the Garlic Junior arc was added into the plot in a way it fit into the timeline. No 10 episode long 5 minutes.

[Duo]

I would prefer if they had found a way to say "screw Japanese TV standards" and just aired the show in seasons each year like is done in the states. Maybe a couple filler stories here and there such as the driving episode would be fun.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I would have done a lot more 'character' pieces. Nothing quite as full on as, say, the Trunks special (though I'd love to have seen more character-driven specials too), but episodes more like Kuririn's 101st proposal. Instead of showing us more fighting, or cutaways, or flashbacks (though each of these could be done well sometimes, they just weren't always is the problem) why not use the space to show us something that the original manga just couldn't due to Toriyama's inclinations as a writer? Show us what some of the characters are doing during the downtime between arcs or something, go for some really great comedy and maybe some heartfelt stuff every once in a while!

[Scarz]

Every filler episode by me: "We have to stop this evil villain and keep the story moving... but first, let's stop and relax at this hot spring planet!" Fanservice ensues.

[SuperSaiyanOzaru]

I'm disappointed that there were never any episodes where Goku met up with Grandpa Gohan in the Other World in DBZ. Especially when Goku decides to stay in Other World after the Cell Saga. I also wished we had seen Nappa and/or Raditz in Hell, but I guess they weren't as memorable as Freeza, the Ginyu Tokusentai, and Cell. Plus it would raise the question of where all of the other Saiyans are.

[andrewtuell1991]

I would prefer if they had found a way to say "screw Japanese TV standards" and just aired the show in seasons each year like is done in the states.

^THIS! If I had the ability to go back in time and do the Dragon Ball anime my way I would wait another year or two to start making the anime, either '87 or '88. Then instead forcing it to crank episodes out year-round I would've limited each yearly season to around 13-15 episodes, covering roughly 50 or so chapters of manga per year. I think 3-5 chapters per episode would make for a more reasonable pace than what Z or Kai offered.

I honestly can't think of a single scene of filler from Dragon Ball, or any anime, that genuinely adds something of actual significance to the story. If an episode fell slightly under the required minimum running time, I'd simply pad the staring and explosions out a bit. IMO, that is the better alternative to cutting away to some misadventure about a secondary/tertiary character who probably lost any real importance to the series many arcs back.

I suppose if you absolutely had to have nonsense about car-driving or the Anoyoichi Budokai, limit it to omakes and OVAs so it doesn't interfere with the progression of the main anime. Personally, I think the Anoyoichi Budokai arc would've made a much better Z movie than Broly making a 2nd and 3rd appearance.

[Kakarot88]

I'd have done a bunch of filler episodes of people's pasts or then recounting encountering each without realizing it.
Like Goku in the past with Mutaito.

My examples:
show how Tenshinhan and Chaouzu began training with Surusennin
why Kuririn has those dots
Kuririn's, Chaozu, Tenshinhan's. etc.'s parents
Katat shooting his child off to Earth (and I'd do it all blatant rip on superman style)
Lunch living with Tenshinhan (not just the waterfall and other brief stuff I mean straight up substantive material)
The first wish made on the dragon balls
Goku defeating Freeza in the original timeline
How Pikuhan and the other badasses in Other World died
That's all I got right off the top of my head

[Hearts]

After Namek saga, I would change fillers to story arcs about Future Trunks

[Duo]

I suppose if you absolutely had to have nonsense about car-driving or the Anoyoichi Budokai, limit it to omakes and OVAs so it doesn't interfere with the progression of the main anime. Personally, I think the Anoyoichi Budokai arc would've made a much better Z movie than Broly making a 2nd and 3rd appearance.

My god yes. The afterlife Budokai is a good basis for a story, it just wasn't executed quite as thoughtfully as I would have liked. Paikuhan is a pretty sweet character.

Inspired by your feedback, my definitive vision for "filler" now would be having the main story released as seasons like we both said, then having monthly or bi-monthly OVA's released on broadcast television between seasons to maintain interest. Extra time and care would be taken to keep these features sufficiently awesome. I've never wanted a time machine more than I do right now.