SP001

The list of authors can be seen in the **page history** there.

* English
* Toma
* Selypa
* Pumbukin
* Totapo
* Tohro
* Divination

***Dragon Ball Z: A Lonesome, Final Battle - The Father of Z Warrior Son Gokū, who Challenged Freeza*** (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～, *Doragon Bōru Zetto Tatta Hitori no Saishū Kessen ~Furīza ni Idonda Zetto-senshi Son Gokū no Chichi~*), known in English as ***Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku***, is the first *Dragon Ball Z* TV special. It was broadcast on Fuji Television on October 17, 1990, between *Dragon Ball Z* episodes 63 and 64.

## Plot

The special is the story of Bardock, a so-called low-level soldier in Freeza's armed forces. At the outset of the story, his son, Kakarotto, is born on planet Vegeta, and is being prepared to be sent to a "frontier planet" (Earth) in order to destroy all life there. Meanwhile, Bardock and his crew are on an assignment to exterminate all the lifeforms of planet Kanassa, transformed into Giant Monkeys by the planet's full moon. The next morning, after the planet is seemingly devoid of all other life, Bardock and his crew rest up and celebrate their victory until one remaining Kanassan warrior catches him off guard and decides to give him the "gift" of seeing the future, before being destroyed by Bardock. This haunts Bardock with visions of the destruction of Planet Vegeta, and the oppression of the entire universe at the hands of Freeza.

Bardock dismisses the visions, and goes to join his team on planet Meat, but soon discovers his friends are all dead. He then briefly talks with the nearly deceased Tora, who tells him that Freeza ordered the attack on the crew, saying that Freeza was frightened by the growing power of the Saiyans. Horrified and then furious by his fallen comrade's words, he takes Tora's blood-soaked armband and wraps it around his head. He battles the ones responsible, and defeats them all, but is easily overwhelmed by a single mouth blast from Freeza's henchman Dodoria. He is left severely injured, but manages to return to Planet Vegeta.

Bardock now realizes Freeza intends to destroy the entire Saiyan race by annihilating their homeworld. Unfortunately, he is unable to convince the others of the approaching peril and, with no other choice, decides to confront Freeza himself. After penetrating Freeza's armed guard, Bardock sends a large energy blast at the tyrant himself, expecting a sure victory. However, Freeza counters this with his Super Huge Energy Sphere technique, which destroys Bardock, many of his own guards, and the Planet Vegeta itself. As he is dying, Bardock sees one more vision of the future: his son Kakarotto facing Freeza. Being assured that Kakarotto will be the one to defeat Freeza, Bardock gives a small smile as he disintegrates along with the planet. Bardock, after his death, telepathically tells his son Kakarotto in the space pod to avenge the Saiyans, to which Kakarotto wakes up.

Elsewhere, Vegeta, having just completed an assignment on a far-off world, is informed by Nappa (in the English version it is one of Freeza's minor soldiers who tells him) of his homeworld's destruction, and that Freeza claims that the planet was destroyed by a huge meteor. Vegeta's pride keeps him from expressing his shock, and he remains outwardly emotionless. Soon afterward, Kakarotto's space pod touches down on Earth, where he is found by an elder man named Gohan, giggles happily in the old man's arms. Gohan then decides to adopt the boy as his own grandson, and gives him a new name, Gokū.

### Original Score

The opening theme for the movie was  *no Tabi|Journey of Li* by Hironobu Kageyama, while the ending was 光の旅 (Hikari no Tabi, *Journey of Light*) by both Kageyama and Kuko (Waffle). The movie has also an insert song, *Solid State Scouter* (ソリッドステート・スカウター, *Soriddosutēto Sukautā*), performed by Tokio.

### FUNimation Soundtrack

The following songs were present in the FUNimation dub:

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

## Reception

The film holds a rating of 8.1 on IMDb, based on 2,092 votes. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 98% based on 380 votes, with an average rating of 4/5.

## Spin-off Sequel

*Main articles: Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock (manga) and Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock*
It was announced that a short spin-off manga would be drawn by Naho Ōishi to help explain the back story of Bardock’s new Super Saiyan transformation. This spin-off manga was entitled *Episode of Bardock*, and was set as a new “sequel” story to the original TV special. An animated adaptation of the manga was announced and later premiered at Jump Festa 2012 on December 17, 2011.

## Trivia

* The special serves as a prequel, takes place 12 years before the events of *Dragon Ball* series. However, the author's latest work, *Dragon Ball Minus*, have some contracditions with it, making this special non-canon.

## References

1. ↑ Doragon bôru Z: Tatta hitori no saishuu kessen - Furiiza ni itonda Z senshi Kakarotto no chichi (1990) on IMDb
2. ↑ DRAGON BALL Z: BARDOCK THE FATHER OF GOKU (1990) at Rotten Tomatoes