Heheh, I think that Piccolo thing was one of the biggest things I feel I missed out on the first time around.
From the perspective of US fans who watched from the beginning, Piccolo was basically a hero with a chip on his shoulder. We are told it wasn't always so, but we don't see any of this. Frankly I'm surprised the anime doesn't cut to a Ma Junior Saga flashback after the two team up
And the whoooole thing was alien combat. Watching DB first that's a representation of Sun Wukong teamed up with the former Great Demon King (with a nifty retcon thrown in). Starting at Z it's just alien A and alien B.
Also, I don't know if this is the character in general or part of that altered perception, but Piccolo was one of the key reasons I'm not too big on Vegeta. The whole "strange bedfellows" thing worked so much better with him. He decided he needed to work with the good guys to further his agenda and he actually follows through. He basically becomes a surrogate Goku in our heroe's absences. Vegeta's idea of a partnership with the heroes is "I'll fight the guy you're fighting but don't get in my way." Which is why we end up with Perfect Cell. When Piccolo learned of Cell's plan for completion his response was "well, guess I better kill you first then." It's funny that even before he starts fusing with good Namek-seijin, Piccolo, the revenge-driven spawn of pure evil who works alone and lives soley for Goku's death, is better able to play with others than little Vegeta-chan.
Oh, and of course, the voice change at Vegeta's crucial time didn't help. Or Piccolo for fusion, for that matter. We lost Scott McNeil and Brian Drummond for Christopher Sabbat x 2.
To show my appreciation, I'll only beat them half to death.
Somewhere between the TV and the theatre they learned how to aim - the first half hour of that movie was like 'Saving Private Ryan'. 
