Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku

This article is about the Dragon Ball Z TV special. For the Dragon Ball Super manga chapter, see Bardock, Father of Goku. For the Dragon Ball Super manga volume, see Bardock, Father of Goku (volume).

Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku (たったひとりの最さい終しゅう決けっ戦せん～フリーザに挑んだＺ戦士 孫悟空の父～, Tatta Hitori no Saishū Kessen ～Furīza ni Idonda Zetto Senshi Son Gokū no Chichi～, lit. "A Final, Solitary Battle: The Father of a Z-Warrior Son Gokū, Who Challenged Freeza") is the first Dragon Ball Z TV Special, which is an addition to the popular manga and anime series.

It first aired on October 17, 1990. Bridge Entertainment's title is The Father of Goku. Funimation released an English dub of the special to home video in January 2001. It was the first Dragon Ball Z feature to be dubbed by Funimation's in-house voice cast. The special was re-released in a remastered box set bundled with Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks in May 2008. Funimation released a remastered single version on September 15, 2009.

Summary[]

This special is the story of Bardock, a low-class Saiyan warrior. At the outset of the story, his son Kakarot, having just been born on Planet Vegeta, is being prepared to be sent to Earth in order to destroy all life on the planet. Meanwhile, Bardock and his crew are on an assignment to exterminate all the life forms of Planet Kanassa. After the planet is seemingly devoid of all other life, Bardock and crew rest up and celebrate their victory until one remaining warrior catches him off guard and decides to give him the "gift" of seeing visions of the future. This gives him the ability to see the destruction of Planet Vegeta, and almost the entire Saiyan race along with it, at the hands of their master, Frieza. He also sees the salvation of the planet Earth through his son Kakarot.

This prediction becomes reality when Frieza decides to destroy the entire Saiyan race. Within Frieza's Spaceship, Frieza is being briefed by his top two henchmen, Zarbon and Dodoria, in regard to the occurrences in their routine interplanetary galactic trade and conquering. Recent news reveals that the Saiyans' strength constantly grows after each battle. Zarbon informs Frieza that a band of low-class Saiyans had taken over Kanassa in just a few days. Dodoria states that the job to take Kanassa had been in the pool for months and that not even Frieza's elite squadrons could take Kanassa so easily. Frieza, Zarbon and Dodoria contemplate the fate of the Saiyans due to the growing power of the species and decide to take action in order to avoid repercussions, as the Saiyans might pose a great threat to them in the future. Zarbon advises Frieza to eliminate the growing threat before it poses a greater problem. Dodoria and his elite fighters are ordered to eradicate Bardock and his teammates.

Bardock dismisses the visions he had and goes to join his team on Planet Meat, but soon discovers his friends are all dead. Bardock's team was massacred by Frieza's henchman Dodoria and his elites. He battles the ones responsible and defeats them all, but is easily overwhelmed by a single mouth blast from Dodoria. He is left severely injured, but manages to make it back to Planet Vegeta passing his son along the way who has been sent to Earth. Though Bardock attempts to convey the danger that they are all in to the other Saiyans, since he has now realized that Frieza is going to destroy them all, everyone laughs at his claim. However, the Saiyans are scared when Bardock yells at them for their disbelief, and Bardock alone begins one final assault against Frieza.

During the assault, he succeeds in killing many of Frieza's minor soldiers to such an extent that Frieza, witnessing Bardock's actions with barely contained fury, orders for Zarbon to prepare his hoverpod for liftoff. Zarbon expresses confusion on why Frieza would want to leave the ship, although Frieza then subtly threatens Zarbon for questioning his orders, with Zarbon, intimidated by his boss, promptly making preparations. Frieza then emerges as one of Frieza's soldiers puts Bardock into a headlock, with the soldier releasing him, only for Bardock to give a speech on how the Saiyans are free from the tyrant, and then sending the Final Spirit Cannon to Frieza himself in a bid to avenge all those killed in the tyrant's name (and in the Japanese version, voices an interest in taking over the Frieza Force). Bardock seems about to change the future via his actions. However, Frieza counters the attack with his Supernova, which kills Bardock, many of his own soldiers, and destroys Planet Vegeta itself, all while uttering a maniacal laugh. As he is dying, Bardock sees one more vision of the future: his son Kakarot facing Frieza. Being assured that Kakarot would be the one to kill Frieza, Bardock gives a small smile as he disintegrates along with the planet. As the planet is on the verge of blowing up, Frieza continues laughing at its destruction, as well as telling Dodoria and Zarbon to watch the "beautiful fireworks". After his demise, Bardock wishes his son, Kakarot, to take care. At the same moment, Kakarot, who is still in the space pod, wakes up.

Elsewhere, having just completed an assignment on a far-off world, Vegeta is informed of his homeworld's destruction. His pride keeps him from expressing his shock and he remains outwardly emotionless. Soon afterward, Kakarot's space pod touches down on Earth, where he is found by an elderly man named Gohan, and giggles happily in the old man's arms. Gohan then decides to care for the boy as his own grandson and renames him Goku. The film ends with a montage of Goku's many heroic deeds on Earth, leading to his battle with Frieza.

Releases[]

Bardock - The Father of Goku was released on March 19, 2003 as part of Dragon Box Z, Vol. 1 in Japan. It was re-released on August 5, 2011 as part of the Dragon Ball Z Special Selection along with The History of Trunks. This DVD had a higher video bitrate but a lower audio bitrate.

Funimation released Bardock - The Father of Goku for VHS and DVD on January 31, 2001 in both edited and uncut forms.^[1] As was the case with all previous releases, the special was released in an unformatted 4:3 aspect ratio. The DVD featured a new English dub with a soundtrack of American rock bands and a score done by Dale Kelly, Andy Baylor and Mark Akin. It premiered on Toonami on September 5, 2003, kicking off a month-long event called "DBZ Movies," during which a Dragon Ball Z feature aired every Friday. Bardock aired in an edited format and also included pieces from the Faulconer Productions score from Dragon Ball Z in some scenes when normally licensed music would have been heard on the DVD and VHS. This was likely done because Funimation no longer had the licenses for some of the songs they had included in the soundtrack. This version of the special has never been released to home video.

Funimation re-released Bardock - The Father of Goku and The History of Trunks on DVD and Blu-ray on February 19, 2008 as part of their "Double Feature" line.^[2] This new set featured a brand-new widescreen transfer from Video Post & Transfer and a new audio mix for the English dub featuring the original Japanese score done by Shunsuke Kikuchi in addition to the old mix featuring the American rock bands and the Kelly/Baylor/Akin score. Funimation also released each Double Feature DVD individually on September 15, 2009, but both went out of print soon after.^[3]

American Cover Box Art Bardock - The Father of Goku remastered single

Cast[]

Music[]

Japanese version[]

• OP (Opening Theme): "Cha-La Head-Cha-La"
• IN (Insertion Song): "Solid State Scouter"
• ED (Ending Theme): "Light's Journey"

Funimation version[]

• Saliva - Superstar
• Caviar - The Good Times Are Over
• Sum 41 - Makes No Difference (Ending)
• American Hi-Fi - A Bigger Mood (Ending)

Battles[]

• Bardock (Great Ape), Tora (Great Ape), Fasha (Great Ape), Borgos (Great Ape), and Shugesh (Great Ape) vs. Kanassan Commander, Demetrious, Toolo, and Kanassan warriors
• Bardock, Shugesh, and Tora vs. Toolo
• Vegeta vs. 6 Saibamen
• Goku vs. King Piccolo (Young) (Bardock's visions)
• Goku vs. Piccolo (Bardock's visions)
• Tora, Fasha, Borgos, and Shugesh vs. Dodoria and his elites
• Bardock vs. Dodoria and his elites
• Goku vs. Vegeta (Bardock's visions)
• Bardock vs. Frieza's soldiers
• Bardock vs. Frieza (First Form)

Trivia[]

• Although it bears the Dragon Ball Z logo and opening, Bardock - Father of Goku is a prequel to Dragon Ball; the special takes place 12 years before the events of the Emperor Pilaf Saga.
• The original Japanese poster for the special (as seen in the above infobox) appears to be flipped, as Bardock is wearing his scouter on the right side of his face instead of the left and Goku sports his kanji on the front-right side of his shirt instead of front-left.
• The Japanese version has Grandpa Gohan recast from Osamu Saka to Kinpei Azusa, who was primarily the performer of Moori in the main series.
• In the Funimation dub's plot, Frieza apparently wishes to capture Kanassa because those who dwell there develop psychic powers. However, in the original story, Bardock's crew had no idea why Frieza wants to capture Kanassa.
• In this special it is shown that Bardock fights his way through Frieza's men to get to Frieza himself. However, in the anime, when Frieza speaks of the event in a flashback, it appears the men Bardock fought in the special were actually with him on an attack against Frieza, due to a dubbing error on Funimation's part.
• Vegeta is shown to have been on a far-off world at the time of Planet Vegeta's destruction, whereas an episode of Dragon Ball Z reveals Vegeta is said and shown to have been on Frieza's Spaceship at the time of Planet Vegeta's destruction.
• King Vegeta does not appear in this movie despite the fact that he was killed in the same time period.
• At the end of the special, baby Goku is shown to already be the happy loving boy he is in Dragon Ball when Gohan finds him, despite the fact it had already been established in an episode of Dragon Ball Z that Goku displayed tendencies typical of infant Saiyans and did not lose them until he hit his head. In addition, Grandpa Gohan finds Goku a small distance from his pod during the day, while in "Reunions" it was implied he found him near his pod during the night. Strangely, this special actually earlier features the same scene from "Reunions" when Bardock is seeing visions of Goku's future.
• In one of Bardock's final premonitions before his death, he sees Goku standing face-to-face with First Form Frieza. Goku never met Frieza in his First Form. It can be argued that Bardock only knows of Frieza in his First Form, as Frieza stated no one has seen his Final Form or any of his other forms beyond his First Form. So Bardock would have no idea what it would look like, which is why he sees Goku staring down his First Form. Bardock's visions are also somewhat symbolic rather than objective, meaning they usually don't have to look exactly like how they would transpire. However, as this special was aired before Goku took on Frieza in the manga, it can be inferred that Toei didn't know how things would go down (Goku faces First Form Frieza on the cover of volume 23 of the manga).
  • It is also noted that Goku actually first met Frieza in his first form after he was resurrected in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ (and, in turn, the Golden Frieza Saga of Dragon Ball Super). It lasted for a short time before transforming to his final form.

• The scene where Goku's space pod approaches Earth shows an Earth nearly identical to the real-world Earth, with North and South America clearly visible.
• Clips from this special were reused for the beginning of Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge (both for the main prologue, and for the scenes aboard Cooler's Spaceship regarding screen footage) as well as certain episodes of the anime.
• In Dragon Ball Z Kai (the recut and rebroadcast version of Dragon Ball Z), the first episode used the footage of this special in the very beginning of the episode.
• In the original American DVD release with subtitles, Bardock's name was spelled as "Burdock". It has been changed to the more familiar "Bardock" in all recent DVD releases of this special, however other movies released as Double Features still use the "Burdock" spelling.
• Akira Toriyama has stated that this is his favorite movie - and that it was the kind of story he "absolutely wouldn't draw".^[5]
• One of the eyecatch sequence features a bunch of Saiyans in the background. Some of these Saiyans are actually rough sketches of Bardock's team that were done prior to the special's release, and many of them were changed drastically for the final special.
• While traveling to Planet Vegeta to destroy it, Frieza says that it is "as red as a Blood Ruby". Blood Rubies were a major part of the plot for the movie Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies; at the end of this movie, Shenron removes all of the blood rubies from the Earth, and it is unknown what happened to them after this.
• This was where the music from Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might was first heard, outside of the films.
• Although this wasn't dubbed in Filipino-English (though clips from this special were used in their dub of Movie 5), there was a cover of the ending theme in their language.
• The English dub makes it sound as though Goku's power level of 2 was "average level", when in the Japanese version, it's made clear it if anything was below-average.

Gallery[]

Bardock with his squadron Bardock with his squadron Bardock with the silhouettes of Freeza's elites in the background Bardock with Dodoria's face in the background Bardock with Planet Vegeta in the background Bardock with Frieza in the background Bardock's team attacks Kanassa in Great Ape form Kanassan soldiers fire a energy waves Great Ape Bardock unaffected by the Kanassans' attacks Great Ape Tora fires a Mouth Energy Wave A group of Kanassan warriors are killed by Tora Demetrious fires an Energy Wave Demetrious's Energy Wave injures Shugesh Great Ape Shugesh stomps on a Kanassan Great Ape Shugesh kills Demetrious Bardock's team after the battle Toolo emerges from rocks Toolo charges at Bardock Toolo strikes Bardock with his Future Punch technique Toolo grants his divination ability to Bardock Tora fires his Flame Ballet Toolo is hit by Tora's attack Tora facing the Kanassan Toolo lit on fire by Tora's attack Toolo on fire Bardock kills Toolo with a Full Power Energy Wave Bardock's Full Power Energy Wave Toolo is killed by Bardock Saibamen confront Kid Vegeta A Saibaman lunging at Kid Vegeta A young Vegeta combats Saibamen Vegeta uses an Explosive Wave Vegeta kills a Saibaman with his Galick Beam The Saibaman hit by Vegeta's attack Kid Vegeta using finger beam A young Nappa and one of Frieza's soldiers Kid Vegeta and Nappa Kid Vegeta and Nappa Kid Vegeta and Nappa Planet Vegeta The planet where Vegeta was training at the beginning of the TV special An outpost on the planet where Vegeta was training Zarbon knows the Saiyans are growing stronger Zarbon warns Frieza about the growing threat of the Saiyans Frieza Kid Vegeta Zarbon and Dodoria mock Vegeta Tora Borgos eating on his way to Planet Meat Bardock in a Medical Machine Planthorr Bardock putting his scouter on Bardock has a vision Borgos is sent flying away by a strike to the face Tora reaching for his scouter Dodoria with his henchmen Tora is defeated by an uppercut from Dodoria Bardock arrives on Planet Meat Bardock using his scouter Bardock finds Tora dying Bardock holds Tora's body Borgos dead on Planet Meat Dodoria's Elite Bardock Bardock rushes towards his opponents A Dodoria's Elite fires Continuous Energy Bullets at Bardock Explosions caused by the Appule's race Elite Bardock prepares a Double Axe Handle The Appule's race Elite Bardock Double Axe Handles the Elite The Appule's race Elite falls to the ground Cranbo fires an Energy Wave Cranbo firing his Energy Wave Energy waves fired by Dodoria's Elite Cranbo Cranbo looking for Bardock Bardock grabs another Elite Cranbo fires an Energy Wave The unfortunate soldier hit by the energy wave One of the two remaining Elites The remaining two Elites charge Bardock Bardock is distracted by a vision Cranbo's knee Bardock is restrained Bardock is beaten by Cranbo Bardock causes Cranbo to punch his comrade Bardock after using his clever somersault Bardock prepares a Full-Power Energy Wave Bardock fires the Full-Power Energy Wave The two remaining Dodoria's Elites are killed Dodoria Dodoria fires a Mouth Energy Wave at Bardock Dodoria's Mouth Energy Wave heads towards Bardock The corpses of Fasha and Tora Goku being sent to Earth Bardock and Goku Saiyans Bardock with blood on his face One of Bardock's visions Bardock's vision of him and Goku on Namek Bardock seeing his grown-up son in the vision Bardock powers up Zarbon and Dodoria Frieza's ship approaches Planet Vegeta Frieza's spaceship Frieza Soldiers firing energy waves at Bardock Frieza Soldiers' attack explodes on its target Bardock flying away Bardock elbows a Frieza soldier Bardock kicks a soldier away A Frieza Soldier fires an Energy Wave at Bardock Bardock fires a Full Power Energy Wave Bardock rams in Frieza's soldiers Frieza Soldiers try to stop Bardock Bardock prepares a Rush Ki Wave Bardock blasts Frieza's soldiers One of the soldiers still holds Bardock in a headlock Frieza comes outside The Frieza Soldier releases Bardock Frieza Soldiers shocked Frieza Frieza preparing to destroy Planet Vegeta Frieza prepares a Supernova Frieza's Supernova Bardock's Final Spirit Cannon vs. Frieza's Supernova Frieza's Supernova approaches Bardock Frieza's Supernova approaches Bardock Frieza's Supernova approaches Planet Vegeta Bardock hit by the attack Bardock hit by the attack The Supernova hits Planet Vegeta The Supernova destroys Planet Vegeta Frieza celebrates his destruction of Planet Vegeta Planet Vegeta about to explode Planet Vegeta explodes Planet Vegeta explodes Planet Vegeta destroyed Vegeta on an unnamed planet while his home planet is destroyed Goku as a baby Goku and Grandpa Gohan Goku and Grandpa Gohan Grandpa Gohan after finding Goku Goku as a kid Goku as a teen Goku as an adult Frieza faces Goku, with the deceased Saiyans of the past in the background Bardock with Goku in his arms Dragon Ball Z: Bardock The Father of Goku animanga version

External links[]

• Anime News Network - Bardock - The Father of Goku
• Bardock - The Father of Goku at the Internet Movie Database

References[]

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