T5W#239-Top 5 Dragon Ball Z Abridged Movie Moments

In the 11 years they worked on Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Team Four Star not only tackled 3/4s of the main DBZ Anime (From the Saiyan Saga to the Cells Games), they also did special Abridged versions of many of the Dragon Ball Z Movies and TV Specials.  Filled with just as much love as their main series, The Abridged Movies continued the trend of making something special feel even better.  Dragon Ball Z Abridged was a passion project by fans, for the fans and all out of love and the movies have that same kind of TLC.  Last week I took a look at the five best moments from the series.  This week, as promised, we’re looking at the Top 5 Dragon Ball Z Abridged Movie Moments.  This includes moments from the 8 movies the crew has covered: Dead Zone, The World’s Strongest, Tree of Might, Lord Slug, Cooler’s Revenge, The Return of Cooler, Super Android 13 and Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan.

#5-“I WANNA EAT YOUR DRAGON!!!” (Cooler’s Revenge)

So yeah…im not sure how true this is but Icarus the Dragon, an almost exclusive movie character (I think he showed up for five seconds in the Garlic Jr. Saga in the TV Series), isn’t exactly the most beloved DBZ character ever.  In fact he only has a couple of brief appearances in Dragon Ball Z Abridged at all and they usually involve him receiving some grizzly demises.  Goku’s fixation on having Icarus as his emergency dinner while he’s injured in Cooler’s Revenge is the pinnacle of this joke.  At the end of the day, you cant be any more blunt.  Sometimes you just gotta have some damn good Dragon meat.

#4-Goten’s Erased from History (Super Android 13)

Every character in Dragon Ball has taken a shot to the genitals multiple times.  This goes doubly for Vegeta, who gets hit in that very spot more than 1000 times thanks to Mecha Cooler.  It was eventually Goku’s turn for such a blow in Super Android 13.  But no one could’ve seen just how big an effect this would have on the timeline as a whole.  Yep, Goku is hit in the balls so hard…it erases his second son, poor little Goten, from the future during a training session with his big brother Gohan.  Considering the decision to end Dragon Ball Z Abridged after the Cell Games…this feels very foreboading…but still ultimately hilarious.

#3-The Champion of Christmas (Lord Slug)

It should be no surprise to anyone that Goku’s favorite holiday is Christmas.  It’s the one time of year his gullible IDGAF attitude is at its peak and he is far happier than usual.  So what happens when someone threatens it?  Well we saw some of that in Tree of Might Abridged but in Lord Slug, the mere idea that Slug could ruin Christmas (even though he just froze Planet Earth in July), is enough for Goku to enter that weird NOT Super Saiyan level and say in that deep and distorted voice, “I AM THE CHAMPION OF CHRISTMAS!!!”  Solid follow up is Slug trying to explain that it isn’t Goku’s favorite holiday only to be met with the reply, “DON’T YOU LIE TO ME!!! ITS SNOWING!!!”  God we love this goofy oaf.

#2-Don’t Eat that Apple (Dead Zone)

Dead Zone contains probably one of the most bizarre squences in all of Dragon Ball (and that’s saying a lot).  Gohan gets his hands on an apple that apparently has alcoholic juices and goes on a head trippy run around Garlic Jr.s Palace before passing out.  Well, that scene still plays out in Dead Zone Abridged…but it’s not just a matter of little Gohan getting drunk.  Replace that with whatever hallucinogenic drug is now in the apple and add in some scary glimpses of far darker imagery, including a beheaded Icarus the Dragon…it should be scary as hell but instead it is funny as frak and still leaves me rolling on the floor laughing well after the brief sequence is over.

#1-Broly is The Devil (Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan)

Broly is by far one of the best villains in all of Dragon Ball Z.  Sure his motivations for being angry are weak sauce but his overwhelming power is nothing to scoff at.  When it came time to give him the Abridged treatment, all bets were off.  How can you make Broly even more intimidating and also a new comedic milestone?  Turns out its by giving him some great jokes and unexpected one liners.  The best of these is Broly’s response to being called a monster.  After some brief and rare hesitation (plus suggestions from Goku and Gohan), he settles on “The Devil…”  Vegeta’s “OH MY GOD HES SO GODDAMN COOL!!!” only sweetens the punchline.  Vegeta, Frieza, The Androids, Cells, every major villain in DBZ was given the best depiction in Dragon Ball Z Abridged…and suffice to say Broly shares that same love along with them.