So, we have a thread announcing Super, and people speculating on what it could be, what they want out of it, etc. And we have a thread for Resurrection F, and in BOTH of those discussions, we're bleeding a LOT into discussing the various series, mangas, other movies, etc.
Why not do that in a thread designed for it?!?!?!
Like forum member MekaGojira3k, I've been doing a re-watch of Dragon Ball, Z, GT, and the movies. I'm currently up to the Cell Games Saga and here are my most recent thoughts thus far:
Dragon Ball - I'd NEVER seen more than a couple scattered episodes of this until now (well, a couple months ago at this point) because I thought it was too quaint as a kid/teen. I ENJOY the quaint aspects of it now, and I like that in general, it's not really the FATE OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE HANGS IN THE BALANCE AT ALL TIMES story.
Emperor Pilaf Saga - a solid introduction to the characters, though young Chi-Chi's outfit is quit over-the-top. It was cool to see some of the background though on the characters who wind up just being used for comic relief or pushed to the background in DBZ, and it's fun.
Tournament Saga - I personally LOVE these tournament sagas. There's always a solid narrative running through and they move at a solid pace. Master Roshi rocks.
Red Ribbon Army Saga - We're back to the hunt for the dragon balls, but with a more formidable foe. I like this one
General Blue Saga - Not a huge fan of this one. I know it's a bit arbitrary to split this into a saga, but Blue doesn't really do a whole lot and the pirate cave thing is just...it doesn't work for me.
Commander Red Saga - Great stuff.
Fortunteller Baba Saga - Meh. I KINDA like the "fight the universal monsters" stuff that's going on but overall, it doesn't do a whole lot for me.
Tien Shinhan Saga - Another tournament saga and another good one.
King Piccolo Saga - Pretty good, but a lot of the eventual inconsistencies with the Piccolo character are a tad bothersome (like, why/how does he spit out eggs with dinosaurs in them? And no Namek ever does that again?)
Piccolo Jr Saga - Aside from it seeming a tad odd to me that Piccolo wants Goku dead and so joins a tournament where he can't kill him to force him to fight (whaaaa?) I like this quite a bit. Also though, it drags on a bit too much at the end, with the quest to put out the fire at Ox King's castle.
As for the Dragon Ball movies, it's kinda hard to recommend any of them, though the first one (Curse of the Blood Rubies, I think) is actually a great way to compress the first season into a single movie. The others are basically just ways of compressing even MORE of the Dragon Ball story into the same running length and Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle is especially mediocre, to me at least.
Dragon Ball Z - I'm mid-watch, but I would say I still generally like this better than Dragon Ball as a whole. Vegeta probably has a more complex, satisfying character arc than anybody in Dragon Ball, honestly.
Saiyan Saga - Aside from it taking Goku six months or whatever it is to make it down Snake Way, this is great stuff. I feel like there are more what-ifs from this saga than any other. What if Radditz and/or Napa had survived and became super saiyans later on? That's a big question I've kinda always had.
Namek Saga - You know a 'saga' is pretty bad when it gets compressed down to like 5 episodes later on. This one has a lot of filler, especially the false Namek stuff. Beh.
Ginyu Saga - Not a FAVORITE of mine, but a solid group of fights.
Frieza Saga - I remembered liking this a LOT more the first time I saw it. It's still good, but it seems like Frieza and Goku hardly even FIGHT before suddenly they're both pretty beaten and Goku declares himself stronger and the victor. Lots of "DBZ moves like a snail" problems in this saga, and that's even with it having a few GREAT moments.
Garlic Jr Saga - Filler. Not bad filler, but filler.
Trunks Saga - Another "hard to call it a saga" and just a random decision to split it up, but this is the start (essentially) of my favorite arc in DBZ so, it's one I enjoy.
Androids Saga - I really had fun with this. 19 and 20 are cool designs and just such fun overall.
Imperfect Cell Saga - Another good one, though it's probably the low-point of the Cell story arc. It's got a bit of padding, the androids just sorta shuffle around aimlessly and aside from Kamiccolo, nothing super impactful happens.
Perfect Cell Saga - Great stuff. I love Cell questing for perfection and I love Trunks peeling back the layers of Vegeta for us a little and starting to clue us in that his motives are more noble and less arrogant than they appear
When it comes time for me to 'rank' the sagas, I'll probably combine a lot of them due to the stories bleeding together. It's hard to separate all the Red Ribbon Army or Frieza or Cell stuff mentally, even if it's done in various lists you can find all over the internet in places.
As for the movies, I think they're generally way better than the Dragon Ball movies. Granted, they're largely inconsequential, but they're at least original stories and fun.
Of the ones I've seen thus far I'd rank them as follows from worst to best:
Lord Slug (kinda just a re-telling of Piccolo)
Super Android 13 (oh, you mean Cell? Except less interesting? Okay then, I guess)
Return of Cooler (aside from the first appearance of Vegeta in a movie, it did very little for me)
Tree of Might (Turles is cool, but it's a bit dull and the end is just too convenient)
Dead Zone (I like Kame getting involved in something)
World's Strongest (a unique story, a unique villain, this is a good one through and through, honestly)
Cooler's Revenge (I like it. I like it a lot. The end? I think it's just cool[er] ZING!)
So, I doubt everyone will go as in-depth as me, but let's feel free to discuss Dragon Ball in general here!