As a child, I remembered watching four Dragon Ball Z movies which were edited into two movies. One was called The Greatest Rivals which was a combination of Cooler's Revenge and Return of Cooler. Another one combined both The Return of Broly and Bio Broly. I didn't even realize that these movies aren't canon if you try to look at even at the minor details. Please remember the Dragon Ball Z specials like Future Trunks' backstory and Bardock: the Father of Goku are TV specials. Let's get on shall we?
So what's the purpose of the Dragon Ball Z movies? It seems to be a series of what-ifs. Let's think of some interesting what-ifs that were created by these movies. Here's what I could name of what-if scenarios that were made and here are the only ones I'm familiar with... and let's think of these entries like the "What If" comic series by Marvel Comics:
Turles
The events in Tree of Might are pretty much a what-if scenario. It's what-if there were more Saiyans that survived Frieza's genocide. Turtles, a Saiyan, was portrayed to be one of Frieza's minions who defected. The movie could have fit in if the events happened after Frieza and Goku turned into a Super Saiyan. Goku acted as if he was still unable to go Super Saiyan. Characters who should've been DEAD after the Saiyan Saga are still alive at this point. This really shows that the show was just a what-if scenario. Goku defeats Turles with a miniature Spirit Bomb - an attack that obviously failed to destroy Vegeta. Did Toei decide to give that failed attack some non-canon successes?
I think one way this movie could be canon are through these tweakings. Make the movie happen AFTER the Namek Saga. Maybe, after a week or two and before the Android Saga leading to the Cell Saga. I think it'd be interesting if Vegeta was also there. Vegeta would probably still be unable to go Super Saiyan at this point. The final battle could happen if Goku goes Super Saiyan rendering the Tree of Might useless. It'd be interesting to have Vegeta seethe with envy as Super Saiyan Goku FRIES Turles.
Lord Slug
This is pretty much a scenario where "Should Goku have already learned to be a Super Saiyan?" The whole "False Super Saiyan" scenario also proves that this movie isn't canon. Need I mention that also Goku here uses a puny Spirit Bomb to defeat such a powerful foe? For this movie to be canon, I think Goku should have gone Super Saiyan to defeat a Namek who's that powerful. Lord Slug would be another movie I felt just can't work. Lord Slug was defeated by Goku using another miniature Spirit Bomb.
I'd say make this movie canon by this. Make it where Vegeta is probably out there trying to become a Super Saiyan or still trying to get along with the others. I think it'd be fixed also of Goku goes Super Saiyan against Lord Slug. Lord Slug went so powerful that the incomplete Spirit Bomb feels out of place. Have Goku hammer Lord Slug with the Super Saiyan form.
I'd say make this movie canon by this. Make it where Vegeta is probably out there trying to become a Super Saiyan or still trying to get along with the others. I think it'd be fixed also of Goku goes Super Saiyan against Lord Slug. Lord Slug went so powerful that the incomplete Spirit Bomb feels out of place. Have Goku hammer Lord Slug with the Super Saiyan form.
Okay, he does look Cooler than Frieza but he's not canon. So it's safe to assume that maybe Frieza is King Cold's only child in the canon. He's pretty much what if King Cold had another son. His power itself proves that there's some inconsistency. Remember, Frieza stated that his fourth form is his true form and that the first three forms were created to suppress his high levels of power. Another inconsistency is that Goku now had easy mastery of the Super Saiyan. Cooler angering Goku would have already triggered the Super Saiyan power. What's also disappointing is that Cooler's final form ended up getting wasted when Goku became a Super Saiyan. That alone makes Return of Cooler another what-if scenario, it fits well with the movies but not the Anime series. His cameo alone in Dragon Ball GT already proves GT to be an alternate continuity.
I think there could be ways for Cooler's Revenge to fit in. I think Gohan having a tail could be explained in the story. Piccolo cut it and later it grew again. I don't think it's much of an issue. Mistaking Goku for the one to kill Frieza instead of Future Trunks is another. It can be said that Cooler felt Frieza had died during that time. Cooler, having been an aloof big brother, may not be too concerned about Frieza. Maybe, have it that Salza mistakes Frieza to have died in Namek. Though, another way to fit in is that Cooler thinks Frieza died at Goku's hands when it's at Future Trunks hands. Maybe, Future Trunks can retreat for a while and so does Vegeta for it to work. Even more, I think Cooler can reveal that he's managed to add a boost to his base form in contrast to Frieza.
For Return of Cooler, Dende was already the Guardian of Earth when it happened. One way to make it canon is if Gohan could turn Super Saiyan. Have Vegeta jump in as well (and I think he should've been in Cooler's Revenge). I think the best way to deal with this is that Metal Cooler brags that he could withstand more attacks. Maybe, have Gohan still learned the ropes of being a Super Saiyan - something he managed to do better during the Cell games. Maybe, it'd be interesting if Gohan's rage suddenly was the cause of Cooler getting overloaded.
The movie seems to be set in a lot of what-ifs. The movie felt like it was an alternate continuity where Cell is defeated, Goku lives and Android 13 is actually a remnant of Dr. Gero. If it were trying to fit in so where are Android 17, Android 18 and not to mention Cell in all of this? Gohan not going Super Saiyan here feels like it's what if his ability to become one didn't come until later. What's more interesting is that Dr. Gero's master computer is still intact even if it was destroyed in the series.
I think a good way to fit the Android 13 movie is this. Have Goku and the gang still wary of 17 and 18. It's an ongoing hunt. Meanwhile, Dr. Gero created three androids to fight off Goku should the Master Computer be destroyed. I think it'd be interesting if Android 13 actually met Android 17 and Android 18 telling them to back off. Maybe, have some conflict between them. It's a shame really that Goku absorbing the Spirit Bomb into himself was only made canon decades later in Dragon Ball Super.
This is yet another what-if scenario if you have an Omega Level Super Saiyan such as Broly going on. Broly had a total of three movies that fit with each other but not with the series. The movies are supposed to happen during the Cell saga but if it were so, where were Cell, 17, 18, and other important characters in the Cell Saga? It would have been cool if this Omega-level genocidal madman could have run into them. But again if he did Cell would have been totally obliterated by him. The androids would have been destroyed by him. Just the first movie alone already dismisses him from the canon. If Cell did get some of his DNA then I think either Cell will explode or would have become even stronger than before. Too bad his concept isn't even in the Anime.
I think the best way to deal with Broly in his first two appearances (and the Bio Broly plot) is through these methods. Have the first appearance of Broly happen BEFORE the Androids arrived. That means Vegeta shouldn't go Super Saiyan yet. Instead, it should be another time where Vegeta's still training to become a Super Saiyan. I think it was also very OOC of Vegeta to become a coward in the first Broly movie. Vegeta's my favorite Dragon Ball Z character so I felt Toei Ltd. slapped my face with that scene.
The next two movies Broly Returns and Bio Broly should try to take place before the Buu Saga. I just don't see how it could fit in. The same goes for Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan. I think it would be interesting if Videl still didn't learn to fly or how Broly becomes that threat. Maybe, have Goten and Trunks say, "Well at least, the greatest threat is over... for now." Maybe, that's before the end of the third film could foreshadow Majin Buu's return. Instead, the three films were practically not canon.
Decades later, Dragon Ball Super created a Broly movie retconning all three movies. I was wondering if the movie could be canon or not. The way Goku was sent to Earth felt out of place too. Why was Goku in Super Saiyan armor when he was sent to Earth? I felt changing the way Goku was sent to Earth was just weird. Come on, the canon media established it Goku was sent to Earth as a naked infant and not. Bardock: The Father of Goku and the actual TV series showed Goku was sent to Earth NAKED. That's why I refuse to buy into it that Dragon Ball Super's movie about Broly is canon. Meanwhile, Resurrection of F is canon seeing how Frieza could go into his golden form also in the series.
Bojack Unbound supposedly happens after the Cell Saga. Though, I think some contradictions are there such as Future Trunks should already be back to his Days of Future Past type of timeline. Another thing is how Gohan, like Goku, still had to struggle to become a Super Saiyan, after he supposedly mastered holding it during the fight with Cell. I think Gohan should've been made to go Super Saiyan easily, have a hard time against Bojack, then defeat him. I felt both Cooler and Bojack were wasted by the Super Saiyan transformations too easily.
Janemba
In this case, I think this story could take place AFTER the Buu Saga. Maybe, have it that both Goku and Vegeta are back in the world of the living AGAIN. Maybe, have it where residues of negative energy from Kid Buu's death could've caused the trouble. Again, I'm a person who thinks the Buu Saga is the WEAKEST of the Dragon Ball Z sagas. So... I'll not discuss much either.
Hirudegarn
I think the movie could easily fit after the Buu Saga. I don't think many tweaks are needed to make it fit into canon. The only thing needed is that Shenron should be able to grant two wishes by now. The same could be done with the hairstyle of Future Trunks in Bojack Unbound. Also, a filler saga in the Anime had it that Garlic Jr. came into the series before the Android Saga.
Frieza got another non-canon treatment in the movie Dragon Ball Super: Resurrection of F. Granted, Frieza has made non-canonical what-if appearances in other non-canon films starting with the films where Cooler was in. Cooler was given the hypothetical fifth form against Goku in a what-if scenario. Frieza managed to acquire his ultimate transformation in Golden Frieza which quickly replaced the 100% Power Frieza. While Cooler looked cooler in his fifth form - I felt Frieza's golden form had the charm that it's simplistic design proves to be a very misleading facade.
The events of Resurrection of F seemingly ignore the other movies. For one, no mention of reviving Cooler is ever made at all. Cooler only gets mentioned in NON-CANON material like video games and the what-if movies. Here, it seems canon but at one detail - Frieza is in a cocoon and in his cyborg form for some reason while he hang from the tree. I kinda felt Frieza deserved his treatment of being hang in a portion of Hell where it looked serene. Frieza enjoys carnage and destruction so much that it's best to send him to that part of Hell where it doesn't appeal to him. The events were later rewritten for Dragon Ball Super where it fit more into the series. So, the whole movie got RETCONNED to fit into the series. So, the film itself has become non-canon as it was revised for the TV series.
I felt the same thing should've been done for several villains. I guess Frieza will remain an only child in canon.
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Later, we had an OVA called Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans. It's where Dr. Lychee is the last survivor of the Truffles race and plans to eliminate the Saiyans. Obviously, so not canon based on the characters that appeared. Eventually, some of these villains made it into the not-surprisingly, non-canon, Super Dragon Ball Heroes, a web series.
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While you can still enjoy these movies but these are just a series of what-ifs. In short, I feel these characters were probably rejected for the main storyline. However, they decided to create the what-if scenarios to
While you can still enjoy these movies but these are just a series of what-ifs. In short, I feel these characters were probably rejected for the main storyline. However, they decided to create the what-if scenarios to
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