The timeline issues in DBZ/GT films
good morning/evening/noon/night depending the time you may be reading this. i just made the Broly post earlier so i was thinking: "why i don`t make one to make people see the canon veracity in the dragon ball z movies?" and now here i am. this post is exclusively done to complete the objetive of explaining the canon or non canon issues with all DBZ, dragon ball and the GT special episode. . the order will be done based on release date and not on the chronology done by the fans or Akira Toriyama.
Overview
this essay will explain certain facts that will help/disapprove the movie as a con, non canon or semi canon.or if you go by the manga then all movies are non canon due to the lack of time in the series or just a plain inconsistence. the arguments exposed here are of my thought and i am completely free to write my thoughts, in no way i am the owner of dragon ball, dragon ball z or dragon ball GT neither am i taking material or ideas from another site and coincidence is just that, No cheating from my part. without something else to say let`s begin!
Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies
the movie is basically an alternate route to gain the dragon balls, the film starts as always, Goku encounters Bulma, then Yamcha, then OOlong, seek the dragon balls and defeat the bad guy. basically this is completely non canon sicne it didn`t appeared in the manga and it`s just that an alternate route of the story to start the journey. my veredict NON CANON.
Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle
first of all this movie is just an alternate route where Goku gets Lunch(the girl) to master Roshi in exchange of training. this is just another spin-off that shows no relevance to the plot. my verdict NON CANON.
Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure
basically this is just like in the curse of the blood rubies and takes place as an alternate route to the first adventure of Goku in seeking the dragon balls, despite showing many secondary and main characters and the movie (even the pervert part when Goku touches Bulma`s "we.know") and many mayor references to the original story i t is still not a material of canon timeline. the fact it○6s an alternate route self explains the fact it can`t be considered canon because it`s just that a movie to please and no t to remake. my verdeict: NON CANON.
Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone
honestly this is the most canon disputed film of them all. the fact that Garlic JR appeared later on the anime just counts him as canon, still Garlic Jr doesn`t exists in the manga and is considered pretty much (including myself) to be a filler (and a boring one), the dispute on the veracity uis very hotly debated. first of all the manga has higher authority than the anime so if you go by the manga he is simply non canon, however, if you choose the anime as an authority he is semi canon, you wonder why? easy, first of all Deadzone acts as a prelude to the DBZ anime so it is completely illogical that Gohan already knows Krillin in the movie when they are introduced in the first chapter of the anime. with this little fact you cancrush the veracity of the canon material. stilll he got his own saga and pretty much counts on that way. my verdecit here: if you go by the manga then it`s NON CANON if you go by the anime then you may count him as CANON or SEMI-CANON in some timeline issues.
Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest
the first inconsistence here is that Gohan already knows Piccolo and Goku is alive which turns into the flowing problems:
1) if Goku and Piccolo are alive you can only put them in a pre-saiyan saga which is illogical considering Gohan met him after the battle with Raditz in which at the point Piccolo and Goku were still rivals or in a time in the 3 year training period after the Frieza saga (which obviously isn`t the time since no SS for Goku). so it is an inconsistence
2) the dragon balls in this time are active so : either they are in the pre-saiyan saga period or in the frieza saga period which is illogical.
3) Goku`s power level just like Piccolo`s is crappy.
with that said i can only say: NON CANON.
Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might
just like the world`s strongest this movie has some inconsistencies and a consistence:
1) Piccolo and Goku are alive. so it`s either pre saiyan saga or in the 3 year training period after Frieza saga. again the whole deal with this is that they are allies at this point and know about the saiyans.
2) they know about the saiyan despite the movie cannot be in the pre-saiyan saga time. much less after Fieza saga.
3) Piccolo and Gohan know each other and Gohnan has the power of the saiyan saga.
4) King Kai appears despite Goku is alive. this means either he is in the 3 year training period or king Kai went to the past XD, no seriously this is a big inconsistence here. King Kai shoudn`t appear here, this creates a weird timeline.
5)Turles never explains how he survived the saiyan genocide neither he mentions it.
6) a consistence si the introduction of Gohan`s pet dragon into the series.
7)again Goku`s power level seems to be the saiyan saga one.
with all this said: NON CANON.
Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug
OK people for those of you who think this can be canon i have some counter arguments against it which makes this one of the most non.canon films of the saga which are:
1) the main cast(Piccolo,Goku,Krilllin,Gohan) know about saiyans and Frieza which indicate they know him. this creates a contradiction in the timeline:
A) if Goku is around the place this means he is training with Gohan and Piccolo in the know 3 year period which is completely absurd with their crappy power levels.
B)Goku can`t go Super saiyan neither Piccolo has the level when he fused with Nail.
2) King Kai says Lord Slug is stronger than Frieza (which in my personal opinion is completely absurd) considering Goku was beating the crap out of him with a pseudo-super saiyan.
3) Lord Slug is considered a super namekian, so it could be quite plausible he could try to overtake Frieza and his family for the control of the universe(of course he ain`t tryed).
4) a canonic issue is that Gohan`s dragon is around....
with this said and the bunch of inconsistences found this is NON-CANON.
Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge
i really like this movie and i consider this one of my favorite movies of DBZ of all time. again on topic, this movie can quite fit in the canonical timeline except for some details which are:
1)Frieza never states he has a brother like the way he did a reference to his parents.
2) considering Goku is around the place, this movie can perfectly fit in the 3- year period prior to the android saga which completely is in order with the power of the characters at the time.
3) as mentioned above the power levels are in a good order at the time.
4) Cooler appears in a cameo in GT when everyone was getting out of hell.
5) his existence is never refuted in the manga or anime, neither it is affirmed.
6)despite Cooler is way stronger than Frieza he is defeated much easier than his younger sibling(this can be explained with the fact that Goku was a lot stronger due to his intense training.)
7) he is nowhere to be seen in the movie of Bardock: father of Goku.
considering the previous arguments this movie can be considered CANON if you only go by the anime and count GT as canon, if you go by the manga he is NON-CANON.
Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler
as much as i dislike to say this unlike the original Cooler film this one is simply incompatible with the timeline due to this:
1) considering that Vegeta has his super saiyan then he is we can put this film either at the Cell saga or the Android saga, time at which the Z-warriors coudn`t allow themselves to go around another planet instead of fighting the androids, again since Goku is healthy this movie is more precisely in the Cell saga which make this movie even more unfitable.
2) Cooler was nearly dead with Goku`s kamehameha and somehow he crossed half of the galaxy and found the big gete chip and by miracle he landed on new Namek.
3) never Dende in the manga or anime state that new Namek is ever in danger.
4) this movie relies on the first one to be canon and if the first one barely fits this barely is semi canon.
5)power levels seem to be OK except for Gohan`s mediocre power level.
with that said this is considered due to timeline NON-CANON in all ways.
Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!
this movie is in the top-tier of the least canonical movies in every sense or in the low tier of of congruence in the franchise by this:
1) Dr.Gero never affirms he created more androids neither he denies it.
2) Trunks is here and Vegeta has super saiyan which means that this is in the android saga, more precisely since Goku is healthy and is not suffering due to the viral heart disease this movie can be placed in the Cell saga, time in which again time is a luxury they can`t afford.
3) androids 18 and 17 are stated to be Gero`s strongest androids below 16 and Cell and somehow the androids 13,14 and 15 seem to be comparable to them.
4) they are not in Gero`s lab at the time of their awakening.
5) 17,18 and Cell are no t present here, which means that either they were slacking or they were beaten.
with that said this film is completely NON-CANON by all means.
Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan
this is my favorite movie of the saga! however that doesn`t save it from a fair trial. this movie has some issues which turn this into a simple spin-off due to some inconsistencies which are:
1) the movie can only fit into the Cell game saga due to the fact that Trunks has his ascended super saiyan, Gohan for the first time in the films has his super saiyan,Goku is healthy, Vegeta has his super saiyan. by this stated it is quite plausible that is was taken during Cell game which unluckily was a bad time to be wasting with Broly to our our buddy Cell.
2)power levels seem to be OK in my opinion except for Broly`s exaggerated and broken power level.
3) if Broly was born at the same time as Goku he is nowhere to be seen in Bardock: father of Goku.
4) we get more confused with the legend of the Legendary super saiyan.
5) our dear Cell is not present neither the androids.
Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming
if the first one has high difficulty entering the canonical order this one doesn`t get better. there are certain circumstances that make this film rather weird in the timeline and are:
1) Goten and Trunks know the fusion dance, with that as a premise we assume that Goku taught them the technique, this places the movie in the Buu saga which is completely illogical considering that if they are not in the time chamber they are in Buu`s body which isn`t the case.
2)Goku is dead and posibly Vegeta to reafirmate that this movie can be placed in the Buu saga.
3)Gohan has no Mystic form considering that at Buu`s saga he achieved it.
4)Gohan should either be training with supreme fag Kai or beating the crap out of Buu.
5)Videl around is kind of weird considering Buu took out basically everyone in the planet....
6) how the F(/& Broly got a ship in new planet Vegeta after the comet impact?
with that said thi is nowhere near canon so NON-CANON bros and sisters.
Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly
first of all i want to clear out i don`t like the movie for the fact that that thing they call Bio-Broly is not even Broly`s shadow in any aspect, neither i do like the plot or anything alike in this movie. well of that the movie can actually fit well in the time line IF we count the earlier movies as canon which as we see is quite improbable. just to make sure i am not a troller i will put some arguments:
1) Goku and Vegeta are not around so they are dead. this makes an opening for the Buu saga or post-Buu saga time in which some things aren`t quite good in consideration of the Buu saga.
2) the series follow the events of Mr Satan not paying 18 so this is a canon fact.
3) in Broly second coming did we ever saw blood in Broly` ship? just asking...
4) how does the Bio-faker Broly has Broly`s memories?
5) when did Trunks learned the Kamehameha?
my judgment is that ironically this movie has less inconsistencies than the earlier two so it could be considered canon IF the earlier ones could fit OK but sadly that doesn`t occur. my decision NON-CANON.
Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn
i will begin saying i did liked the film but, i consider this one the top dawg in terms of inconsistencies and incongruences with the timeline, still Janemba was pretty badass.
1) Goku and Vegeta are dead, this makes the film land in the field of the Buu saga, time in which Buu was screwing everyone around making it unlikely that the vents could occur so freely.
2) impure souls go straight to hell in DBZ and are not sent into a vacuum machine.
3) Gohan is around considering that in the Buu saga he is either training with Supreme fag Kai or beating the crap out of Super Buu, still he is like at the beginning of the Buu saga.
4)Buu is mentioned by Goku Super saiyan 3 but is nowhere to be seen here.
5) how did Frieza got out of hell with his body? kind of a mystery...
6) why didn`t Cell went to earth with his buddy?
7) why the souls that escaped hell went to planet earth?
8) Goten and Trunks know the fusion dance and are out of the fusion chamber. this is not possible considering that at this time they should be inside Buu or out of the Buu saga.
9) Gohan has no Mystic form...
my veredict is ABSOLUTELY INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE TIMELINE!
Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon
actually this one can fit perfectly in the main timeline since there is no problem or conflict with another saga in any way, just the fact that Mystic Gohan is weaker in this film than Goku SS3 the same goes to Gotenks SS3 which is ironically weaker than Goku here. this movie actually explains the origin of Trunk`s sword except for a little fact:
1) alternate timeline Trunks uses a sword not the main timeline version.
Dragon Ball: The Path to Power
again another spin-off of the origin of Goku`s epic journey. this movie isn`t definitely canon but still fun. again to justify my argument here are some points:
1) Goku`s uniform isn`t the one he started with it`s the GT version of his uniform.
2) again is just an alternate version of how things began resumed in a film.
TV SPECIALS
basically this things are pure canon material in any way possible. there are no inconsistencies and to begin with they are TV specials made to be a complement of the original films so they are 100% canon material. still to make the post prettier i will ad here the films.
Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku
basically this thing goes canon because:
1) Bardock is a complete badass
2)Bardock is mentioned and appeared in the anime(Frieza`s memories in the Goku vs Frieza episode)
3) the genocide of the saiyans and planet Vegeta is not a possibility it`s a freaking fact.
nothing else can be said except that this is 100 % canon.
Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks
Again another complement for a character, in this case Trunks. this movie is all-around logical in any sense, it just adds More touch to the character of Trunks and is supported as a canon source in may ways:
1) Trunks comments about his ugly future.
2) the androids 17 and 18 in this timeline appeared in the anime/manga.
3) time machine Bulma made.
more than canon in my opinion.
Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy
