This Dragon Ball GT Hot Take Has Dragon Ball Fans Getting Heated
The world of "Dragon Ball" is a long-running franchise that follows Goku (Sean Schemmel) through varying stages of his life. In the first iteration of "Dragon Ball," Goku is exceptionally young and battles against the likes of Emperor Pilaf (Julie Franklin) and his stooges. Tasked with gathering the mystical Dragon Balls, which grant the summoner a wish, Goku saves the world several times over.
In the next series, "Dragon Ball Z," Goku is an adult and has collected an entire retinue of allies that consist of extraterrestrials and Earth-bound warriors and scientists. The major antagonists of "Dragon Ball Z" are the Red Ribbon Army and their powerful androids like Android 17 (Chuck Huber) and Cell (Dameon Clarke), the galactic tyrant Frieza (Linda Young), and the often childlike Majin Buu (Josh Martin and Justin Cook).
Before the 2015 premiere of "Dragon Ball Super," there was also "Dragon Ball GT," which ran from 1996 to 1997 for a total of 65 episodes (via Dragon Ball Fandom). This offshoot came directly after the competition of "Dragon Ball Z" and is a completely original story. Interestingly, some fans have expressed rather strong opinions on the often hotly debated "Dragon Ball GT," a series that owns a 72% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, there are multiple camps of opinion when it comes to the overall quality of the third series in the franchise.
Fans often debate if Dragon Ball GT was good or not
Taking the conversation to the subreddit r/dbz, u/TheSellingDude started things off by noting that they just finished watching "Dragon Ball GT." This user wrote, "Despite lacking in quite a few aspects, I believe that GT is a better continuation of the saga than Super, and its conclusion to the canon is an extremely satisfying and melancholic one."
Other Reddit users also had some strong feelings. Notably, u/DinoRider101 reported that they like both "GT" and "Super" for different reasons. In another comment, u/kainos35 stated that they liked the ending of "GT," but the ending was only good because of "Dragon Ball Z." Conversely, this user claimed that "Dragon Ball Super" is good enough to stand on its own.
However, not all "Dragon Ball" fans view "GT" as a worthy successor of "Dragon Ball Z." In point of fact, u/16Echo wrote, "GT's worst crime is being boring. Like, consistently boring the entire way through. It never hits the high highs of the moments where 'Super' manages to do something neat or clever, but it also never hits the low lows of when 'Super' is at its worst."
Similarly, u/Ryumancer strongly disagreed with the voices in support of "Dragon Ball GT," and lamented the amount of time the series spent building up its antagonists. Even more, this user complained about a lackluster payoff that left them disappointed. They added, "So yeah, gonna have to HORRIBLY disagree here. GT is NOT better than Super. The only good thing GT had was Super Saiyan 4. That's it."
The Dragon Ball GT producer has noted the criticism
When "Dragon Ball GT" first premiered, it proved to be popular, but some of the more ardent fans of its predecessors developed a negative opinion of the show. As highlighted by the above comments, many complained about the show's sudden shift in tone and a noted departure from the formula established in "Dragon Ball Z."
In a 2005 interview, "Dragon Ball GT" Executive Producer Kozo Morishita noted the various ways that viewers responded to the spin-off series. "There were many fans who valued it for the way that it took the 'anything goes' plot progression of the original manga and went even further with it," Morishita said. "At the same time, there were those who said it took the 'anything goes' attitude too far. There were fans who wondered 'why are you ruining the original?' and also those who thought that the 'ruined' parts were what made it interesting."
Still, Morishita appeared to believe that "Dragon Ball GT" was a natural progression of the franchise. In explaining the origins of the series, he said, "The original manga had wrapped up while 'Dragon Ball Z' was still being broadcast, but among myself and others involved, there was no sense of 'this is the end.' We the staff and of course the TV station and sponsors all wanted the 'Dragon Ball' series to continue in that golden timeslot of 7:00 p.m. every Wednesday. That's how much momentum and popularity the series had."
All these years later, it certainly seems notable that viewers of the series are still willing to get into robust debates regarding its quality.