DBZ:Abridged Review

Series: Dragon Ball Z Abridged (DBZ:A)

Genre: Animation; Abridged Series

Original Creator(s): Akira Toriyama (manga writer/illustrator of Dragon Ball); Takao Koyama (anime writer)

Abridged Series Idea Creator: Team Four Star

As stated in the previous blog on the reviews of Abridged Series, what “abridged series” does is pretty much shorten an episode so that the viewers can get a full idea of an episode and get through the series far quicker. However, instead of just plain old script that would normally make an episode, the abridged series creators will rewrite the script so that there is humor in each and every episode while still keeping the actual essentials of the story in tact.

For this review, we will be looking at the Dragon Ball Z Abridged, which can be shortened down to DBZ:A. DBZ:A is based off of a popular anime series known as (I’m pretty sure you’ve guessed it!) Dragon Ball Z! And the abridged version of it that everyone that knows of the abridged series has come to know and love – a team by the name of Team Four Star.

What this team decided to do was start the episode off with what almost any show with supernatural things would start out: A day that would seem like any other day, which everyone would expect is to be a normal day. Until there’s a crash from what seems like either a meteor or a spaceship. Sure, it may not seem as if there’s anything funny to this until an extremely minor character that probably shows up only once throughout the entire series comes into the screen with a panicked mind about having to lose his marijuana field from whatever the crash was. To crack jokes on sex is the easiest way to go, but there are cases where things like that won’t go so well with even abridged series. But with the way this episode started out with open spaced, grassy patched field with what could be used for farming, to go for drug joke worked pretty well with opening of the episode – Especially when it’s something not many would expect. And with people’s usual first instinct being to correct themselves and cover up what they said with another statement, especially when there’s a higher authority around, it only adds onto the joke. To give an example how people would usually react if there were to have spaceship land on earth, it also adds onto the humor. Even with all the components of taking everyday things of how people would behave to what they would say, it was the pure fact that the script was well written that made just the beginning of the first episode of the DBZ:A fun and gives the audience something to laugh at.

And even once the theme song ends, it goes on for a little while before even MySpace is introduced with how Piccolo, the green skinned character with pointy ears and turban around his head, doesn’t have any friends. To even tie in something that we can relate to and laugh at a character about for having no friends at all except Tom, the creator of MySpace, really does bring some of us oldies that actually know of how MySpace was back, does it not? And it’s not long before “technical difficulties” shows up to follow it up with Piccolo just as he’s about to engage in a fight when two voicers begin arguing about who gets to do the voicing for one of the characters. To have to add that in may seem unnecessary, but to have it scripted out and actually make it seem like there’s an argument going on is well done and well played as well. And it also the audience a reason to stay tuned and listen, almost like an attention grabber, so that they can stick around to see how long the argument will last if not for how certain characters will be voiced differently.

There are even other subjects that this first episode of the DBZ touches up, which is having to be cheated on by one side or another when in a relationship. In this episode’s case, a male character named Yamcha that appears as a silhouette cheating on Bulma, female character with light blue hair that comes up to only her chin level. And it’s in cases like this situation where the sex jokes actually are funny is being kept rolled with by continuing it on with Goku and his son, Gohan. But because Goku character had been taken in as a small child and been raised, trained by, and watched over by a small group of people consisting of living on the island he arrives at, in this episode, his innocence is kept throughout the entire time the sex jokes are made. But it’s only so that the audience can get a better laugh out of how Goku seems so clueless to what’s actually going on rather than actually having the knowledge of a full grown adult or those that have been exposed to adult ways.

There are several other jokes that the Team Four Star plays with, and even recycles towards the end with the use of MySpace. However, it’s not how choppy the Team Four Star makes the episode look by throwing in various scenes together from the first episode – It’s also the fact that they were able to make it flow in the way that it actually doesn’t look like the video is all over the place, even if some of the scenes were used over and over again, to make the conversations actually work. Altogether, when having to work on the DBZ:A, Team Four Star plays with the concept of making jokes and references to the things that people can either connect to, such as through use of mentioning MySpace, or even as far as making inappropriate jokes that actually also does work in everyday life that can get the audience to laugh over.

Having had to try and create an abridged team with few of my friends myself and having to sit together to write a script, I can tell everyone straight out that having to make an abridged series isn’t exactly the easiest thing on earth even though the teams such as Team Four Star actually are able to make their shows funny. Other teams, however, somehow manage to get their name out there, but not all the teams can come out just as funny as Team Four Star all the while still staying true to the series the way Team Four Star has with Dragon Ball Z Abridged series when being put next to the actual Dragon Ball Z series itself.

Even when the episode is over, they give a clear sign to declare that it’s the end of the episode before having to move onto the next thing as an extra for people to get a little more laugh at. But more so than a little extra, something that has absolutely nothing to do with the episode itself.

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