Dragonball Z: Abridged Episode 1 Review
But first, a little about this project. I love DragonBall Z: Abridged, and I also love film criticism, so naturally, I would want to use my skills as a film critic on this wondeful series in order to take a deeper look at it and analyze just what makes it so great. And thatās exactly what this project is; Iām going to watch, consider, and write a full review for each and every episode of Dragonball Z: Abridged (DBZA), and Iām going to be doing this at a pace of one episode every day for the next eleven days, after which each review will come out once a week (and yes, Iāll be doing the films too). Ā So, without further adieu, letās begin!
The most noteworthy thing about the first episode of DBZA is that itās really not that noteworthy. Like any pilot episode, itās main purpose is to establish, but itās weighed down by the years of backstory it very clearly is leaving out. We meet Goku at Kame House and see that he already has a very firmly established relationship with Krillin, Bulma, and Master Roshi, but we donāt get to see the relationship established firmly. Instead weāre dropped right into the middle of this group with only hints and passing references at who they are.
This is best illustrated by one of the best potential jokes of the episode falling completely flat. When we meet Krillin, the first thing we learn about him is that heās sexually and romantically desperate, since his first line is to call Bulma āboobsā rather than her name (which is sexist and unfunny, but thankfully Team Four Star has the sense to not make jokes like this a trend). So naturally weāre meant to believe that heās a little bit of a loser, but we still only have this idea as an implication, and so when Goku says that he feels a power level bigger than Kirllinās losing streak, the joke falls flat because we donāt yet have any knowledge of what Krillinās losing streak might possibly be (which also has the side effect of making the exposition useless).
The opening scene is overall stronger than the introduction to our protafonists (though the humor misses about as often). Starting the show off by interrupting Griegās āPeer Gent - Morning Moodā with a loud crash and the concerned exclamations of a marijauna farmer sets the tone and establishes Team Four Starās sense of humor nicely (that the farmer ācorrectsā himself when no one else is around costs the joke some of its humor, but itās still solid). Then Raditz shows up, and introduces himself nicely, killing off the farmer and establishing the relative weakness of most ordinary humans before flying away to look for āKakarot.ā
He stumbles onto Piccolo instead, however, who is established very clearly as a loner with no real friends in a clever (but extremely dated) MySpace joke. Naturally, Raditz and Piccolo donāt get along very well, and they both get ready to fight each other. Then, in a fairly inspired gag, two of the voice actors stop the footage, arguing over who will get to voice Raditz after the initial voice actor tries to call his attack by itās actual name (a very foolish move). The new voice actor steps in, and renames the attack the āKeep Your Eye On The Birdā attack before getting distracted by someone more powerful than Piccolo (Piccolo continually being underestimated by everyone becomes a bit of a running gag, and then is later developed into a major theme of his character arc, but weāll get to that later).
The episode closes with Piccolo joining forces with Goku to save Gohan (Gokuās son) from Raditz, who has kidnapped him, nabbing one of the Dragonballs in the process. The weaknesses of this episode begin to come through again here, as weāre given hints as to Goku and Piccoloās previous rivalry, but not enough information on that rivalry to justify their joining forces or their dislike for one another. This is unfortunate, because both Goku and Piccolo have the strongest voice actors in this episode (and with the exception of Vegeta, arguably the series), and theyāre really good at playing off of each other. With just a little more exposition, their relationship couldāve been made perfectly clear.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed these, because there are many, many more to come.
And yes, each of my reviews from here on out will be approaching Dragonball Z: Abridged as its own unique show, separate from the original series. (Which means that any comments you may have about the show already establishing things that they joked about are null and void). The reasons for this will become inc
In case youāre wondering, Iāve seen twenty some odd episodes of Dragonball Z Kai, but I watched them after having watched DBZA four times, mostly out of curiosity.
If anyone would be interested in writing reviews of DBZA from the perspective of someone who has seen the entirety of the original show already, Iād love to have that as a companion piece to these.
āOh my god, heās a parent.ā And a damn shitty one at that (but weāll get to that).
āYou know, you guys are the reason I go to therapy.ā
And thus marks the first tally in the āKrillin Ownedā count.
Yes, Iām borrowing the A.V. Clubās format for TV reviews. Sue me (please donāt).
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