Dragon Ball GT TV Anime Series - Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball GT is a TV anime-only continuation of the Dragon Ball franchise that ran from February 7, 1996 until November 19, 1997. It featured 64 episodes all originally designed and animated for television by Toei Animation. The production was overseen by Akira Toriyama, though some of the character designs and the main story were created and written by the studio itself. Because of this, many fans refused to accept Dragon Ball GT as canon. The first part of the series is almost a homage to the original Dragon Ball, while from the Baby Saga begins to shift the tone of the series to become more serious and akin to Dragon Ball Z. While the original series followed the manga by Akira Toriyama and had to fill time while the manga was being written, Dragon Ball GT had no such issue and featured much faster pacing.
Sagas
There are four sagas in the Dragon Ball GT series.
- Black Star Dragon Ball Saga (Episodes 1-16)
- Baby Saga (Episodes 17-40)
- Super 17 Saga (Episodes 41-47)
- Shadow Dragon Saga (Episodes 48-64)
Black Star Dragonball Saga
Five years after Majin Buu is defeated, Emperor Pilaf finally gathers up the Black Star Dragon Balls. Intending to wish for youth, he is interrupted by Son Goku and mistakenly wishes that Goku be a child again. After their use, it becomes apparent that the Earth will be destroyed if the Black Star Dragon Balls aren't returned within one year.
Bulma builds a spaceship and Goku gathers Trunks and Son Goten. Secretly, Pan is hiding inside the ship and presses the launch button before Goten can board. The three head to planet Imecka first. They land on the planet and check into a hotel where they are charged exorbitant prices for everything. Deciding instead to leave, they return to their spaceship to find it has been taken by the Imeckian army. They also find a small robot called Giru, who eats their dragon radar, forcing them to take him on board. The team then tries to save their ship, as it is about to be torn up for parts by the leader of the planet, Don Kee. Though the group has wanted posters posted all around the planet, the residents of the planet are poor and downtrodden by the tyrant leader Don Kee. This angers Goku enough to confront the tyrannical leader. Don Kee has his strongest fighter, Ledgic, fight with Goku, but Goku is stronger and Ledgic refuses to listen to Don Kee’s commands any longer after finding respect for Goku.
On another planet, the group finds that a monster called Zoonama is said to be causing earthquakes in order to scare the residents in giving him a bride. Trunks dresses as a woman and goes away with Zoonama. Trunks then discovers the earthquakes are events that are happening randomly and Zoonama is outed. He begs for forgiveness and the team is about to return to space when their Dragon Ball is stolen.
Bon Para and Son Para return the Dragon Ball to Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy of the Luud Cult. Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy is collecting energy to feed Luud, a giant robot. The Para Brothers are told that another Dragon Ball was in the possession of Goku, Trunks, and Pan and are sent back to retrieve it. The Para Brothers follow Goku, Pan, and Trunks into the intergalactic beehive Beehay, where they hypnotize the group and almost manage to get away with their Dragon Ball. The group however catch up to them, tie them up and take them to Cardinal Muchy. The Cardinal turns the Para Brothers into dolls to feed to Luud for their failure. Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy turns Pan into a doll which Dolltaki (a speaker for the Luud cult) decides to add to the doll to his collection. Dr. Myuu tells him to feed the doll to Luud, as it holds huge amounts of energy, but Dolltaki refuses. Luud is then awakened and attacks Goku. It also is fed Dolltalki and his Pan doll to power it up. The people inside Luud force Dolltalki to reveal the giant robot’s weakness and, with the help of Goku, manage to defeat it, releasing everyone that was inside. Dolltaki goes to report back to Dr. Myuu but is killed by General Rildo as punishment for failure.
Giru reveals that Planet M-2 is his home planet and that they should make a stop there. The group decides to do so and are met with a seemingly empty planet, save for a few robots resembling Giru. Giru leads the team to General Rildo’s army and they are captured, with Pan being taken away by commander Nezi and Goku and Trunks being absorbed by Bizu.
Baby Saga
On Planet M-2, the team fights against General Rildo and Dr. Myuu’s machine mutant army, but later discover that Dr. Myuu’s real motive is to create the Tuffle parasite, Baby. Baby is then born and reveals that he, in fact, was the one to program Dr. Myuu to enact his revenge on the Saiyans. Baby escapes from the team and heads to Earth, where he possesses almost everyone including his main host, Vegeta. He uses Vegeta to become stronger and eventually reaches his Super Baby 2 form. Goku comes back to Earth and is quickly defeated by Baby and was thought to have been killed, but was saved by Kibito Kai at the last moment. With Goku seemingly dead, Baby uses the Black Star Dragon Balls to wish for the new Planet Plant. He rejoices as he begins to move all of his mind controlled subjects to the new planet via a giant spaceship. In the meantime, Goku falls into another dimension and meets Elder Kai, who plans to restore Goku’s tail and his Great ape ability.
Baby is confronted on Planet Plant by Uub, who is easily overpowered until he fuses with Majin Buu to become Majuub. Majuub is far stronger and seems able to fight with Baby until his transfiguration beam is reflected and he is turned into chocolate and eaten by Baby. Goku then reappears with his tail restored and fights Baby in Super Saiyan 3. It still isn’t enough and, seeing the Earth in the sky resembling the moon, he transforms into a golden Great Ape. He is unable to control this transformation, though, and wildly attacks until Pan calms him down, resulting in Goku gaining the Super Saiyan 4 form. This turns the tide of battle until a possessed Bulma uses the Blutz wave generator on Baby, making him turn into a Golden Great Ape as well. Now Baby is too strong for Goku to defeat. He fires a 10x Kamehameha, but it is useless. All hope seems lost until the recently cured Trunks, Gohan, and Goten come to give Goku more power. Then, from inside Baby, Majuub attacks. Baby is so severely weakened by these attacks that he leaves Vegeta’s body and attempts to escape in his spaceship. Goku sees this and blasts him into the sun with a Kamehameha.
Super 17 Saga
After the defeat of Dr. Myuu, Goku and friends compete in the World Martial Arts tournament. Goku competes as a child due to his height and the fact that Mr. Satan doesn't want to lose to him. Uub also competes in the disguise of Papayaman, but is asked by Buu to lose on purpose because the people of Earth see Mr. Satan as a hero and would be demoralized if he were to lose. Vegeta tries to fight with Goku, but the two give up quickly when Goku announced that he is hungry.
In Hell, Dr. Myuu meets Dr. Gero and they discuss their hatred of Goku and how they want revenge. They come up with a plan to construct a new Android 17. They also contact the Android 17 that is alive on Earth and concoct a plan to synchronise their energies to open a gateway to Earth. All the dead evil warriors escape and cause havoc on Earth while Goku goes to Hell to see what is going on. Frieza and Cell are waiting for him there. They try to freeze Goku in the frost of Hell, but it doesn't work on the living due to their relatively warm bodies, allowing Goku to reverse the attack, freezing Cell and Frieza. Goku then goes to fight the fusion of Android 17 and Hell Fighter 17, now called Super 17. Super 17 absorbs almost all of Goku and his friends’ energy attacks and has an energy barrier that prevents him from taking damage. This even makes Super Saiyan 4 Goku’s power seem futile. Super 17 can absorb massive amounts of energy. Goku then grabs onto Super 17 and attempts to self-destruct but is too weak to do any significant damage to the Android. Now in his child form and on the brink of being killed, Android 18 appeals to Super 17 and tries to stop him. Dr. Myuu tells him to kill her but he refuses and remembers how much he hated Dr. Gero instead. Super 17 then kills Dr. Myuu, before turning back to Goku and 18. 18 fires energy blasts at him, which forces him to take his absorption stance, which leaves him open for Goku’s Dragon Fist attack. Goku plows through Super 17 and turns around and fires three Kamehamehas to finish the job. Super 17 is destroyed and Goku goes to console a shaken Android 18. He tells her that they will revive Krillin (killed by Super 17) with the Dragon Balls and all is not lost. The team gathers up the Dragon Balls which are, to Pan’s dismay, cracked. When chanting the words, nothing seems to happen, until the sky turns black and red lightning flashes. A dark evil smoke comes out of the Dragon Balls and the Black Smoke Shenron appears.
Shadow Dragon Saga
Black Smoke Shenron eats the Dragon Balls and splits into seven different dragons that are scattered across the Earth. The Earth is covered in a negative energy and the atmosphere becomes dark and frightening. Goku and Pan set out with Giru to find the dragons and take the Dragon Balls back. First they come across Haze Shenron who uses poison to fight the group to great effect until Giru, being a robot, saves the day. Next, they encounter Rage Shenron, who uses electricity, but is foiled by a rainstorm and quickly dispatched. Oceanus Shenron is the next dragon the group meets. She has a beautiful appearance and her wind powers are strong, until Pan manages to get the upper hand and helps Goku win the fight. Naturon Shenron, a burrowing dragon uses dirty tricks to fight, but is easily outwitted and destroyed by Goku. The next three dragons are all capable of using martial arts, making the fights far deadlier.
First off is Nuovo Shenron, the dragon of fire. He is honorable and will not resort to trickery to win. His brother Eis Shenron, the dragon of ice, appears and freezes Goku, demanding that Nuovo destroy him. Nuovo refuses, stating that it is not honorable and unfreezes Goku, who is now furious. Eis Shenron is now being beaten by Goku and beings to plead for his life before launching an underhanded sneak attack that blinds Goku. Goku still defeats Eis Shenron and before he can receive an antidote for the blindness from Nuovo Shenron, Neuovo is killed by the One Star dragon, Syn Shenron. Goku is about to be killed when the Z Fighters arrive and save him. They offer to help in the fight against the One Star dragon, but Goku tells them it’s useless, as no matter how many they are they stand no chance against the mighty dragon. Instead, they decide to give all of their remaining energy to Goku to recharge him to full power. Syn Shenron is almost completely decimated by a Kamehameha, but before dying, he absorbs the other six dragon balls to become Omega Shenron and reaches all new levels of power. Goku is now again completely outclassed even after regaining his vision.
Vegeta shows up to aid in the desperate fight by using Bulma’s Blutz wave generator to become a Super Saiyan 4. Still overwhelmed by the beast, Goten and Gohan hold off Omega Shenron long enough for Goku and Vegeta to fuse and become Gogeta. Gogeta manages to force Omega to expel six of the dragon balls, thus losing his mighty power. Before the last blow can be struck, Gogeta defuses and the terror begins again. Omega begins to reabsorb the dragon balls to regain his power, but before he can, Goku swallows the Four Star dragon ball, much to everyone's surprise. Fusion being their only hope, the mighty dragon interferes with their every attempt to fuse, until the pair run out of energy and all seems lost. Syn Shenron then fires a massive energy ball at the Earth which Goku jumps in front of and tries to repel. He promises that no one will ever use the Dragon Balls again in such a careless way, so long as he can beat Omega Shenron. The ball explodes and Goku is gone. It seems like all is lost as everyone is in turn cut down by the terrifying One Star dragon until a giant spirit bomb rises into the sky. Goku then gathers the energy of the universe and destroys the mighty dragon.
Shenron appears in the aftermath confused as to why he has appeared without using the Dragon Balls. He explains the situation and how he must leave Earth for 100 years and requests that Goku come along with him. Goku makes one last wish to restore Earth and the people lost in various battles back to normal before declaring Vegeta the new protector of the planet. Goku then says farewell to his family and all of his friends, visits Piccolo in Hell, and heads off with Shenron. 100 years later at the 64th World Martial Arts tournament, Pan, now an elderly woman, is watching her grandson Goku Jr. fight with Vegeta Jr. when she spots Goku in the crowd for a split second. He leaves the tournament and, after reminiscing on his life, he flies away on the flying Nimbus with his power pole in hand. This brings Dragon Ball GT to its slightly controversial, but sweet end.
Links
Dragon Ball Series
Dragon Ball Z Series
Dragon Ball Kai Series
Dragon Ball Super Series
Super Dragon Ball Heros
Akira Toriyama