Nah, just after Pilaf's first appearance. That was the first intended ending. Next was Freeza, then Cell, then Buu.With all these rumors, it sounded like Toriyama wanted it to end after drawing the first panel.
I don't have or remember where the interview was located, but I do remember it. He didn't say "I had intended to stop the story with Freeza and Goku dying on Namek" or anything, though. It was more of a "I was out of ideas after Freeza but was asked to continue so I had to come up with something fast" kind of thing. I think in refrence to someone asking about the designs of 19 and 20, but I'm not sure on that point, I just remember the gist of the response.I'm close to 100% sure he never did, though. Everyone always says they remember reading it in some interview somewhere, but nobody every has anything more specific than that.
While it's nothing definitive it does at least seem to imply he had nothing planned for after Freeza and only continued upon request.
Personally, I think the shift from ending it to continuing it was made with the wishes. Namely the one that revived Guru. I mean, that is the single biggest cop-out of the entire series and just screams "I need the heroes back so I can continue the story!" to me. Otherwise Shenron would have likely moved everyone still on Namek to Earth himself, I think.You act as if Toriyama changed his mind at the very last second. I mean, we find out that Goku didn't actually die, what, two chapters later?
As for the 'deaths' of Goku and Freeza and their sudden returns, I figure he either A) used his original ending of that battle just for damatic effect B) hadn't decided he would be bringing them both back until he started on the next chpater or C) did it just for the "OMG THEY SURVIVED!" factor.
