This has always confused me because many people refer to this as a "special" and not a "movie" like the literally over a dozen "Dragonball" films made. It's certainly longer than a lot of the movies, like "The Dead Zone", which is only 41 minutes long! Anyway, this is considered by many people to be the finest "Dragonball" related work to not have official involvement from the series creator, Akira Toriyama and I certainly agree! It's certainly one of the best origin stories ever made! This features Goku's father Bardock as he was the leader of a group of Saiyans who worked for Frieza. It starts off with him destroying some people who give him the power of precognition.
He's able to have visions of the future of his son, Goku but it's not until the end that he understands what these visions mean. His son is the one who will stop Frieza someday, or at least beat him the longest battle in the entire franchise. Eh, close enough. Frieza's fear is mostly of the Saiyans teaming up to beat him. It's weird to admit this, but I think it was interesting to see some backstory on characters like Dodoria. I mean, a lot of these guys don't have much purpose before Vegeta kills them. It's great how Bardock tricks Dodoria's own men into beating each other.
I've heard some people say it doesn't make sense that this special treats Goku as Bardock's only son, when he had a brother, Raditz. The answer's pretty simple, as Bardock simply doesn't even pay much attention to Goku in this, much less remember Raditz. While it's sad to see him go, there is this short manga that retcons his death as sending him to the past where it's revealed he was the original Super Saiyan! Whether or not this is canon, there's no doubt that this deserves respect as something that inspired Bardock to have a cameo in the manga. Either way, it's an extremely well driven plot giving humanity and loyalty to this character. Tying in directly into "Dragonball" at the end is wonderful too. ****
He's able to have visions of the future of his son, Goku but it's not until the end that he understands what these visions mean. His son is the one who will stop Frieza someday, or at least beat him the longest battle in the entire franchise. Eh, close enough. Frieza's fear is mostly of the Saiyans teaming up to beat him. It's weird to admit this, but I think it was interesting to see some backstory on characters like Dodoria. I mean, a lot of these guys don't have much purpose before Vegeta kills them. It's great how Bardock tricks Dodoria's own men into beating each other.
I've heard some people say it doesn't make sense that this special treats Goku as Bardock's only son, when he had a brother, Raditz. The answer's pretty simple, as Bardock simply doesn't even pay much attention to Goku in this, much less remember Raditz. While it's sad to see him go, there is this short manga that retcons his death as sending him to the past where it's revealed he was the original Super Saiyan! Whether or not this is canon, there's no doubt that this deserves respect as something that inspired Bardock to have a cameo in the manga. Either way, it's an extremely well driven plot giving humanity and loyalty to this character. Tying in directly into "Dragonball" at the end is wonderful too. ****