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duhragonball · 1 year

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Dragon Ball GT TV Special

✨GT Stands for Goku’s Tuchus✨

Unlike its predecessor series, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, there were no Dragon Ball GT theatrical films. However, there was a television special, entitled “Goku’s Side Story! The Four Star Ball is a Testament to Courage”. When Funimation released this special in the U.S., they called it “A Hero’s Legacy”, and promoted it as a “movie”. So whenever people talk about “the GT movie”, this is what they’re referring to, even though it wasn’t actually a movie.

It doesn’t matter that much to me, you can call it whatever you like. I just want to be clear for posterity. Someone might be reading this and thinking “Well, he did this TV special, but he forgot to cover the movie.” No, they’re the same thing. And I suppose this could have been a movie, since it’s about 45 minutes long, like most of the theatrical releases that came before, but this aired on TV instead, like the Bardock special and “History of Trunks”.

Also, for some reason, I keep thinking this was promoted under the title “A Hero’s Tale”, but I can find no evidence of this. I probably just misremembered the title at some point, and assumed it was correct, because of the tale/tail pun. But the hero of this movie has no tail, so it doesn’t actually make sense. Not that this ever stopped a punster before, but I digress.

The reason I’m covering the special now is because it aired on March 26, 1997, between episodes 41 and 42 of the main GT series. And I thought I should cover these in real-world chronological order. On the DVD box set, the special is included on the final disc, implying that you’re supposed to watch it last, which is fitting, since it’s set in the middle of Episode 64, the series finale. But I think the best viewing order is to check it out here, just like the audience in Japan did back in ‘97.

Actually, the best viewing order for GT is to skip the whole series and just look up the theme songs on YouTube, then check out some clips of Knight Rider episodes. Actually, yeah, let me jot that down.

✨Duhragonball’s Recommended GT Viewing Order✨

YouTube video of ‘DAN DAN Hikareteku’ by Field of View.

YouTube video of ‘Sabitsuita MACHINE GUN’ by WANDS.

Okay, so there was an evil David Hasslehoff in Knight Rider, and he drove a semi truck named “Goliath”, and in this clip Knight Rider tricks him into driving off a cliff. Check it out.

You’re done!

Okay, that was fun, now let’s get down to business.

So it’s one hundred years after Episode 41 and everyone’s dead. Well, almost everyone.

According to this special, Pan is the only one left in the world who personally knew her grandfather Son Goku. Wait, so Giru’s dead too? I mean, he’s a robot, so you’d think he’d still be around? And what about Dende? Don’t Namekians live for a long time? I don’t think they thought this through, although it’s possible that some of these longer-lived characters may have been killed off in some off-screen crisis.

Wait, is this why they killed off Majin Buu and Piccolo in GT? Were they planning this flash forward and they wanted Pan to be the last survivor of Dragon Team? It would be hilarious if they went to all the trouble to take out Buu and Piccolo, and completely forgot about Giru. Maybe they planned to kill Giru later in the series and couldn’t get around to it.

Anyway, Pan’s an old woman-- 110 years old to be exact-- and she lives alone in Satan City with her great-great grandson, whom she named Son Goku, in honor of her grandfather. This character is colloquially known as “Goku Junior”, but I’m just going to call him “Goku” for the rest of this post, since the special is all about him. I’ll specify his famous Saiyan ancestor when it comes up.

The special opens with Pan and Goku paying their respects at their ancestor’s grave. The implication is that the original Goku is buried there, but Episode 64 indicates that he isn’t. So I guess they just set up a marker in his honor. Anyway, Pan then starts “training” Goku, which isn’t exactly a martial arts drill, but just some general exercises, like balancing on a log, or playing catch. But Goku sucks at this stuff. Pan laments that he’s not like his namesake at all.

At school, Goku gets cornered by some bullies, and their leader, Puck, swipes Goku’s novelty pen, which kind of looks like a spaceship, with a little spaceman floating in it. Goku puts up no resistance at all, which annoys Puck, because he heard Goku’s been training with Pan, and he seems to only be provoking Goku to find out what he can do in a fight. But Goku won’t fight, and he denies learning how to fight from Pan, so it comes to nothing.

At home, Pan scolds Goku for not standing up for himself. Goku says he wouldn’t fight Puck because he would surely lose in a three-on-one situation, but Pan insists that it’s better to get beaten up than to back down.

I have to say, there is a lot of Saiyan in Pan here. And it’s not just because of her age. I give GT Pan a lot of crap, but she’s no hypocrite about this. Pan got right in Baby’s face several times, even when she had absolutely zero chance of defeating him. And she knows Goku has the same spirit, which is why she’s so frustrated that he never seems to show it. It’s a variation of Saiyan Pride that was always there with Pan, but it was harder to see in the main series, when Pan was a sidekick to several other Saiyan characters. Now, she’s the only one left who even remembers what full-blooded Saiyans were like.

Then she collapses in mid-rant.

She’s somewhat more stable when they get her to a hospital, but they never explain what’s wrong with her. At her bedside, Goku begs and pleads for her to get better, and he promises to train hard and beat up Puck as soon as he can. Aw, the poor kid blames himself for this.

Pan tells him that strength alone isn’t what he needs. What he needs is courage to rise up to life’s challenges. She’s always known that he has it in him, even from the day he was born, which is why she named him after their ancestor.

Wait, so Pan named him? Fair enough, but what happened to Goku’s parents? This is something the special never even tries to address. I think Toei just liked the dynamic of these two living alone together, like Grandpa Gohan and Goku in the pre-Dragon Ball days, or like Goku and Pan in GT. And that’s fine, I kind of like it too, but with those dynamics, they explained what happened to the generations in between the characters. Here, we know Goku Junior had parents, but we never see them. They’re never even mentioned. Did his mother die in childbirth? That’s incredibly sad.

I’ve often wondered if Pan had any other children, grandchildren, etc., but you’d think this would come up while she’s in the hospital. Even if her family couldn’t make it to Satan City to be with her, you’d think there’d be some mention of them.

Instead, she passes out, and Goku gets upset and runs home, alone. We get a shot of their mailbox, with cute pictures of the two of them drawn on the door, and it’s pretty clear that this is it. Just Pan and little Goku. It’s really sad when you think about it. There was a bigger family unit here, and something tragic must have happened, and they’re all that’s left.

I don’t think we’re supposed to think about that. The special never mentions it, so maybe it’s just an oversight, but it makes Goku’s isolation even more profound. There’s just nobody here for him. No one to look after him while Pan’s in the hospital, not even some wacky aunt or whatever. All he’s got are photos of Pan from her childhood. It’s kind of weird how these seem to be the only photos she has in the house. Wouldn’t Pan want to remember her children? Especially if they’re dead? Or maybe she just can’t bear the reminder. I mean, Trunks and Giru are long gone too, but she still seems to have happier memories of them.

Okay, so Goku sees this picture of Pan and Giru with a Dragon Ball, and he recalls the time she told him about it. She starts going on about her “great adventure” in space...

... But he gets bored and goes back to playing Super Nintendo instead. Goku Junior rules. Me too, kid. Dragon Ball GT sucks.

Anyway, thinking about the photo reminds Goku about the story of the Dragon Ball, and he recalls Pan telling him it was left in his ancestor’s house on Mt. Paozu. So he resolves to go there and find it, thinking that the Dragon Ball can grant his wish to make Pan well again. So he packs up and heads out, and when Puck and his crew try to stop him, he refuses to back down. Some sort of ki effect shoves the two cronies aside, and he just walks right past Puck like he ain’t even there. Goku’s on a mission.

But Goku gets tired pretty soon into the trip. I seem to recall Mt. Paozu being like 500km from Satan City. It was some ridiculous distance, which was why Gohan had to use Kinto’un and his own flight powers to commute to school. Goku’s doing this on foot, which seems pretty ridiculous. But then a truck driver stops and agrees to give him a lift.

✨Positivity Page✨

Okay, so this is my favorite character in the whole special, and maybe the best character in all of GT. I call him Evil Truck Driver, because that’s what he is. His cab is full of garbage and he rules. He offers Goku a bite of his hamburger, and Goku declines, saying he has his own food in his pack.

And that catches Evil Truck Driver’s interest. “What’s this?” he thinks. “More food? Besides my own food? That gives me an idea..”

So about five miles down the road, Evil Truck Driver suggests that Goku stop and take a break to pee, since they have a long trip ahead of them. And while Goku’s taking a leak, Evil Truck Driver empties Goku’s pack, tosses it out of the truck, and drives off.

Dude just stole that kid’s food! And left him on the side of the road! That is fucking horrible! Do you see? Do you see why I call him Evil Truck Driver?

I mean, fuck. A lot of villains in this franchise have done far more horrible things, but let me put this into perspective. Evil Truck Driver wasn’t even hungry. He was in the middle of eating his own meal, and still went out of his way to steal even more food. From a child!

Oh, but that’s not the worst of it. Check this out.

IT’S A HAMBURGER TRUCK. Evil Truck Driver is literally hauling tons of hamburgers. I mean, they’re probably all frozen, but you know he’s got a microwave in that cab. I promise you, that burger he was eating was pilfered out of the back. Evil Truck Driver didn’t pay for that burger. If he’d steal from a child, then he wouldn’t think twice about embezzling from the MocMas corporation. So this motherfucker has a truck full of food, more food than he could possibly eat in a year, and he still went out of his way to steal more food from a helpless child.

Now, you might be asking yourself: How in the world does a guy this crooked ever get entrusted with hauling freight? Good question! Let me answer that with another question: Do you think he stole this truck? Because I do. I think he saw it sitting at a gas station, noticed the winged hamburger image on the side, and just hopped in and drove off. The real truck driver is still in the gas station, taking an extra long shower, and he hasn’t even noticed that his rig is gone.

There’s a special place in hell for Evil Truck Driver, I’m gonna tell you that right now.

So Goku hoofs it to a convenience store, and Puck’s there waiting for him? How did he get all the way out here? Or did Goku double back? And why is Puck wearing a mining helmet? Anyway, Puck seems to have taken a great interest in Goku’s journey, and decides to go with him. He says it’s because school is boring, but in fact he has a secret respect for Pan, who once stopped him from using a baseball bat in a street fight. I guess this was why he picked on Goku, since that was his closest connection to her. When he hears about Evil Truck Driver, he tells Goku that you have to be wary of extra-nice people, which is true, I suppose, but it’s still kind of weird how Evil Truck Driver is presented like some life lesson based on the real world. Like one of the writers had this happen to him once. Someone offered him a lift and then stole all his food.

Let’s move on. So Puck decides to join Goku, and he steals a bunch of provisions from that convenience store, because stealing is suddenly okay now? Then they camp out in the woods and get attacked by wolves. Goku gets cornered and suddenly powers up and jumps to the top of a tree without realizing it. Then the boys get rescued by a kindly young woman. She takes them to her home and puts them up for the night, and even feeds them. Gosh, she sure is nice... waiiiit a minute...

Oh no! She’s hot! I mean-- evil! yeah, she’s evil. Also, hawt. Turns out, the woman is actually some sort of shape-shifting demon named Mamba. She kind of looks like Emperor Pilaf, Garlic Junior, and all of the Herans from Bojack’s crew. I don’t know that there’s a connection there, but I just want to point it out.

Luckily, the boys are still suspicious from Goku’s encounter with Evil Truck Driver, so when she goes to kill them, they’re one step ahead.

She corners them, but Goku tells her she’s pretty, which seems to distract her for a moment. No, don’t change back! Mamba, you were hotter as a demon!

Awww, yeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ about. Mamba was only pretending to fall for that dumb trick, and she uses her magic hair to strangle Goku, until he has another burst of hidden power and knocks her down. Puck cuts him loose and she’s pretty upset about that, but then they knock over her soup broth and they get away.

Then they make it to a rope bridge, and Goku nearly falls off while trying to cross. Puck tries to save him, but ends up falling into the ravine himself, while Goku miraculously survives.

So now Goku’s all alone again, but he has to keep going, for his grandma’s sake. Along the way, he rescues a baby bear from this other demon guy, who’s apparently in league with Mamba? Goku does the “hidden power” shtick again and sends him flying. Okay, I’m sick of dancing around this, let’s just say it.

✨”Good” “Ideas”, Poorly Executed✨

This is just kid Gohan from early Dragon Ball Z. I get what they’re going for here, this is a story about a kid who’s expected to live up to the example set by his famous ancestor, and he ultimately succeeds in an unexpected way. But they already spent that nickel on Gohan’s character arc in the Saiyans Saga. Goku Junior running around with Puck reminds me a lot of that episode where Gohan lived with those orphans for a while.

Oh, and he bandages the baby bear’s paw, just like how Gohan tended to that injured dinosaur. Remember that?

Well, never mind that shit, because Mamba’s back, and she wants revenge for her hair! Also, she brought the snake guy from earlier, and there’s a buff chicken man too. Is this the descendant of Captain Chicken?

Chicken Man tells Mamba that she looks good with short hair and yes. Hard Agree, Chicken Man. I’m not even jealous. You shoot your shot, Chicken Man. Mamba’s a fine foxy lady, and if I can’t have her, then I’ll be satisfied knowing she’s getting it on with somebody, even if it’s a giant chicken.

Wait a minute, she’s wearing the same pendant that Bojack’s crew all wore! What is up with that?

So they chase after Goku and the baby bear, and also the mama bear, who befriended Goku when she found out he saved her baby, and then this big purple motherfucker shows up. He’s Yomao, the “Lord of Mount Paozu”. Yeah, I forgot to set this up. Earlier, Puck had mentioned a legend about some terrible monster at Mt. Paozu, and he expressed an interest in seeing it eat Goku. Then they ran into Mamba, and Puck wondered if she was the monster of Mt. Paozu, but it’s actually this guy, Yomao. The other demons all cower in deference before him. I don’t think they actually work for him or anything, but they recognize his power.

And Yomao is definitely a demon, and not just a boar-man or some jacked up descendant of Oolong. He has shapeshifting powers like Mamba, except he seems to be able to do more with them, like turning his limbs into weapons, or even tree roots, which he uses to choke out the mama bear. The mama bear signals Goku to run away with her baby while she has Yomao occupied, but he baby can’t stand it, and tries to help its mommy.

And that’s the last straw. Goku’s had all he can stands, and he can’t stands no more. He turns Super Saiyan, and between the Gohan stuff and the Bardock headband, it’s like he’s ripping off three generations of characters at once.

Yeah, Yomao thinks he’s Lord of Mt. Paozu, but he should have checked his GPS, because I’m pretty sure this is actually Goku Town, Population: Get wrecked, son.

The other demons see Yomao’s defeat and flee in terror, and then Goku passes out. When he wakes up, he thinks the bears defeated Yomao instead.

So then Goku finally makes it to where he’s going, which is funny because I don’t know how he knew the exact location of this place. But it’s Grandpa Gohan’s house, which is still standing after all this time.

But inside, it looks like a mess. The place has been abandoned for decades. Once upon a time, Goku set up a Capsule house right next to this one, where he and Chi-Chi raised their family. And Gohan had a house right next to it at the end of DBZ. I think that’s all still there in GT as well, but 100 years later, that’s all gone. I guess after Chi-Chi died, Pan put her house back in its capsule and that was that. Maybe she left the Four-Star Dragon Ball here while she was packing up, and never returned.

This is the most poignant part of the special for me, because it’s Grandpa Gohan’s house, and who knows how long ago he started living out here, but that’s where it really started. The special mostly focuses on the two Goku’s, but it the real “hero’s legacy” is Grandpa Gohan’s. Now, some 153 years later, no one even remembers the kindness he showed to an alien baby, or how that simple act of compassion changed the course of history and saved the entire universe. All that’s left is an abandoned house.

Goku finds the Dragon Ball inside, and prays to it, asking the Dragon Ball to spare Puck and heal Pan, but nothing happens. Goku is horrified to find that his whole journey has been for nothing, but then....

The original Goku suddenly shows up! Like, Kakarot, I mean. Actually, I should just call him Kakarot for this scene. Old Kakarot, since he’s very old.

So he explains that you need all seven Dragon Balls to make a wish, but apparently Pan never explained this, or Goku was too busy playing Super Nintendo to pay attention. Old Kakarot explains that he’s Goku’s ancestor, but he keeps losing track of how many generations back it’s been. So he just calls himself “Grandpa Goku.” That’s succinct, albeit imprecise.

Actually, Old Kakarot comes through for me while he gives Goku Junior a pep talk. Goku Junior thinks he’s weak and cowardly, but Old Kakarot says he’s impressed with the strength and courage he’s seen from the kid over the course of this journey. He caps it off by pointing out that, after all, Goku Junior is his descendant, but he loses track of the generations again, so he just calls him Son Goku and lets that name speak for itself.

Now, in the dub, they don’t go over this in detail, but in the subtitles, Old Kakarot actually uses the line “You’re the grandson of my granddaughter’s... granddaughters’s child...” And even though he’s confused, I think that paints a more realistic picture. The dub implied that Pan is Goku’s grandmother, but she’s 110! There should be a few more generations in between, and Old Kakarot seems to confirm this.

If we take him literally, then Pan had a grandaughter, who then had a child of her own, who then became the parent of Goku Junior. So that makes Goku Junior the great-great grandson of Pan. And that means he’s the great-great-great-great-grandson of Old Kakarot. And that sounds about right, becuase it puts three generations between Pan and Goku Junior, instead of just one. Pan could have become a grandmother around age 50, and then a great-grandmother at age 75, and then Goku Junior could have been born around the time she turned 100. It also explains why Old Kakarot kept getting confused. In the dub, it’s implied that he’s just a great-great grandfather, which isn’t that complicated, but the gag makes more sense when he has to remember four “greats” instead of just two.

Anyway, don’t ask me how Goku Junior is related to Luffa. GT isn’t canon.

So back to the story, while the two Gokus are talking about this, suddenly a police airship shows up, and Puck is on board. He survived the ravine? How? We never find out.

Oh, and Pan’s in there with him? So she survived too? Well, we never found out what was wrong with her in the first place, so sure, I guess that makes sense. Maybe Goku Junior just jumped the gun when he went on this Dragon Ball hunt.

Goku turns to tell Old Kakarot the good news, but the old guy is suddenly gone? Goku thinks the Dragon Ball actually worked, but then he hears Old Kakarot’s voice telling him it was never the Dragon Ball, but Goku’s own courage that made this possible. Wait, what? Puck fell down a ravine! Maybe someone rescued him, but it sure wasn’t Goku.

So Goku rejoins the others and they head back home, and the narrator mentions that he’s keeping the Four-Star Ball as a memento of Old Kakarot, just like how Old Kakarot kept it as a memento of Grandpa Gohan, just like Grandpa Gohan kept it... well, not for any sentimental reasons. I think Grandpa Gohan just thought it looked cool. And then we get an obnoxious picture of GT Goku to close this out.

So yeah, I think it’s safe to say this is my favorite GT thing out of the entire series. It has a genuine character arc, and it tells a much more coherent story, unlike the regular episodes which often seem to just mark time or muddle through in order to get to the next plot point. But that still leaves the big question:

✨Is This Special Worse Than “The Roaming Lake”?✨

I’m not gonna lie, this was a tough call. I do enjoy this special more than anything else in GT. When I decided to rewatch all of this, the special was the one part I was looking forward to seeing again, because it was a bright spot in an otherwise crappy run of episodes.

However, as I go through this thing, I notice a lot of sloppy, unexplained contrivances. Here we go.

1) We never learn what happened to the rest of Pan and Goku’s family. It doesn’t really matter, but since their absence heightens the drama, I think it was a missed opportunity, and it’s likely that Toei never even considered it.

2) Goku’s encounter with his ancestor, Old Kakarot, is never explained. It would be tempting to handwave this by saying it gets addressed in Episode 64, but no, Episode 64 doesn’t explain jack shit. Is this a ghost, or a hallucination, or what? This is like when Goku appeared in DBZ Movie 10, also without explanation, and I hated it then and I hate it here. It is not “nitpicking” to want to know how a 153-year-old character is suddenly walking around acting like no time has passed at all. If it’s magic, just tell us it’s magic. But don’t say nothing and expect the audience to just accept it as magic. That’s bullshit.

3) How did Puck survive? The Dragon Ball didn’t save him because it doesn’t work that way. Pan couldn’t have saved Puck because she would have had no idea he was down there. I guess Puck could have survived the fall and managed to flag down Pan as she passed by, but he fell straight down a ravine. Again, just tell the audience these things. Have Puck say something about landing on a big pile of mattresses.

4) How is Mt. Paozu just overrun with man-eating demons? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but Yomao must be pretty damn strong if it takes a Super Saiyan to beat him, so how did he get here?

5) Also, it’s pretty rich that Pan never gets to become a Super Saiyan, but they let her great-great-grandson do it, even though he’s fighting small fry like Yomao.

6) The moral of this story is completely undermined by the plot. Goku Junior found himself along this journey, so he gained some personal growth, but the trip was a complete waste of time. Pan would have recovered anyway, apparently. Nothing Goku did actually helped her. All he accomplished was to beat up a few demons and almost get Puck killed. Well, he did rescue that baby bear, but come on. Mamba and her crew will just hunt down the bear and eat it tomorrow. If Goku had just stayed home and played it safe, everything would have worked out just as well.

7) How did Puck know Goku would be at that convenience store? How did he get there before Goku?

8) Evil Truck Driver, while awesome, completely derails the entire story arc. The idea here is to escalate the obstacles in Goku’s path. He starts out struggling with Pan’s training, then he deals with a bully, then the Evil Truck Driver, then a demon, then three demons, then an even stronger demon. But somehow Evil Truck Driver short-circuits the whole thing. He’s the most memorable threat in the special, because he’s so over-the-top that I can’t stop thinking about it. They should have come up with a more plausible way for Goku to get robbed, is what I’m saying.

9) In the same vein, they kind of screwed the pooch by having that rope bridge between the demon encounters. Puck (seemingly) dies to the bridge, so that scene is really the climax of the special, even though the demons are supposed to be a bigger deal.

10) Finally, Goku Junior’s whole hidden power gimmick really works against his character arc. He has to find the courage to face all these dangers and obstacles, but there’s no tension to any of the physical hazards in the story. We know the bullies can’t hurt him because he shoves them away with his ki. We know the wolves won’t eat him because he’ll use his ki to escape. We know Mamba won’t kill him because his ki will save him at the last second.

So when he agonizes over the decision to defend the baby bear, it doesn’t matter, because the audience knows he’ll be just fine. Goku Junior doesn’t know that, so it’s the same amount of emotional turmoil for him, but he’s still in no danger. And when he stands up to Yomao, it’s the same thing. As a result, the only meaningful ordeals Goku Junior deals with in this story are the psychological ones. He has to find a way to help Pan on his own. He loses Puck, but he has to keep going. He finds the Dragon Ball, but it doesn’t work. Those are the big moments in the story, but they’re overshadowed by the inconsequential ones, where he looks like he’s in danger but he’s actually not.

So, in the final analysis, this special is a little too clever for its own good. They tried to do this heartwarming tale about a boy discovering himself on a quest, and mostly succeeded, but they still handwaved a lot of stuff that shouldn’t have been handwaved. In particular, Pan and Puck being okay at the end is a lot like the Roaming Lake miraculously showing up at the end of “The Roaming Lake”.

The difference is that “The Roaming Lake” actually took the time to set that idea up so it would make sense at the end, when it gets paid off. The problem with the GT TV Special is that we start with a legend about the Dragon Ball, but then it doesn’t work, and then it turns out everything worked out anyway, for no apparent reason. There is no payoff to that. The viewer is satisfied to see Pan and Puck are all right, but it would have been a lot sweeter if their survival had anything to do with the events of the story.

So... yeah, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but chalk another on up to the Roaming Lake. Holy shit.

✨The Blade Braxton Memorial Haiku*✨

Are wishes free now?

Grandpa Goku, please grant my wish

For a better story.

#dragon ball #dragon ball gt #really sucks #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #a hero's legacy #pan #goku #goku junior #puck #evil truck driver #mamba #yomao

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