Dragon Ball Z Double Feature - The History of Trunks / Bardock the Father of Goku

Great specials, though disappointed with the DVD treatment

In recent years, FUNimation, who has begun to release countless anime titles spanning various genres, has gone back to the franchise that made them big - Dragon Ball Z. They have gone back and begun releasing the series and the films in inexpensive season sets and double features.

This double feature combines the two television specials of the Z series - Bardock: The Father of Goku, and The History of Trunks.

Bardock: The Father of Goku takes place around the time Kakarotto (eventually renamed Goku) is born on Planet Vegeta. Bardock leads a Saiyan batallion that goes around conquering planets for Frieza. Following a successful mission, though, Bardock receives a tragic gift/curse from one of its inhabitants - the ability to see the future. Through this mysterious ability, he learns of Frieza's plan to destroy the Saiyan homeworld. It's up to the lower-class soldier to put an end to the tyrant's scheme before it is too late. And all the while, a young up-and-coming Saiyan prince is showing great promise as a conqueror of worlds.

The History of Trunks is set in the alternate timeline Future Trunks came from, before he came back to the past. Goku has died of a heart virus. All of the Z-Fighters have been killed by the heartless Androids 17 and 18. The only surviving warrior is Gohan, who has become a man and mastered the art of the Super Saiyan transformation. He reluctantly takes Bulma's son under his wing, knowing someday he could make all the difference.

The television specials are far superior to the feature films. Unlike the movies, they fit into the actual series storyline and, perhaps more importantly, develop characters we know and love. The endings of both specials will have the potential to put you in tears - and how many of the movies can you say that for? These specials are two of the defining moments of Dragon Ball Z.

Unfortunately, the specials have gotten rather poor treatment on DVD. First and foremost is the picture quality. The image has been cropped, just like the season sets. Unlike the theatrical movies, these specials were NOT made with the intention of cropping, and there are plenty of moments that will make you question the decision. Additionally, the overall picture quality throughout is very grainy and shows print damage. It doesn't look like it's been remastered like the series and the theatrical movies. Which is a shame, considering how much better these specials are than the movies.

My other complaint is the lack of bonus material. When FUNimation issued these movies on DVD as sold-separately releases, they featured a "World of Dragon Ball Z" featurette, which told the story of the series up to the time that had been aired in America at the time - it was a handy little segment that allowed you to "catch up" with the series. Why FUNimation opted not to include it in this set I will never know.

And now for the all-important question - should you get this set if you already own FUNimation's older DVDs of the specials? My answer is no, there just isn't reason enough to replace your older DVDs with this set. Additionally, you can get the older versions of the movie for VERY cheap if you look around online enough. But if you can't find the older, cheaper issues, this makes for a decent alternative. You DO get 2 good movies for a good price.

Final verdict? Get it if you're a DBZ fan, but not if you already have the older DVDs of the movies, which are superior in every way, and not cropped. September 25, 2008

DBZ Double Feature History of Trunks/Bardock The father of Goku

I like this item. The Androids were far more brutal than in the timeline which Trunks isn't familiar with.
At the start of the year i brought the 'Bardock the father of Goku' on dvd. It had alot of trailers about Cell, Androids,History of Trunks and brief history of Dragonball and in Dragonball Z up to the Android saga. I expected those to be on the digital enhanced steelbook copy.
I like the movies and will buy the other ones that come out. September 6, 2008

For DBZ fans

History of Trunks is a great movie all around, a good tragedy ending in hope (or HOPE!! if you know what I mean). Bardock however seems to have been a subpar dub. I watched both and the details that were omitted or changed in his lines are quite unnecessary. This includes details about him talking about his son (changed to something unrelated like 'Oh I better not waste time'). That's coming from a long time fan of the dub, they just botched this one up. But the original is still there, so it gets credit where due. Oh again for the faint of heart: cropping unnoticeable. August 27, 2008

Nice collection

These are two great movies and I enjoyed watching both. This dvd had the same treatment as the boxset DBZ DVD's. Although I love the case it comes in. So no actual special features here. Suprisingly I got my sister into DBZ after watching The History of Trunks. So now she's really into the whole series. So I do recommend this to anyone who's really into the DBZ story. May 9, 2008

Definitely Lacking

These aren't movies, they are one hour specials meant for cable (so they're actually each roughly 45 minutes). So all in all you only get a hour and a half of material with no, and I mean absolutely NO, bonus features.

Each movie is pretty good in it's own right, but they aren't worth 22 dollars. $10...maybe $15 is all this featureless compilation is worth.

If you have seen these before and know what you are getting into then by all means decide for yourself if you'd like to purchase this. However, if you haven't seen these two movies, you should pass this up and try to find some place to watch them on the web, or wait until it's cheap. April 16, 2008

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