LAST year was a good year for Dragonball Z as new video games were introduced, we went seven years into the future and met new characters like Goten, Videl and Majin Buu So now grab a comfy a chair as we look back and remember the good and bad DBZ moments of 2002...
THE GOOD
1. Dragonball Z Video Games Galore! - After a great abcense of Dragonball Z video games since 1997 a total of four brand new DBZ video games were released in 2002. It began in May 2002 with the high selling RPG, The Legacy of Goku for Gameboy Advance, and was followed by Collectible Card Game, also for Gameboy Advance, then another RPG, this one for Gameboy Color called Legendary Super Warriors was released in November but the big one came in December with the grand release of a brand new fighting game called Dragonball Z: Budokai!
2. New Dragonball Z on TV and Video/DVD - There were great changes to Dragonball Z last year as we moved seven years into the future and things happened such as Gohan became an adult and Krillin grew hair (as well as getting married to Android 18 and having a kid named Maron). There were many new characters introduced including Videl and Goten and we revisited a now eight year old Trunks and then there was Majin Buu and the fight between Goku and Vegeta. On video and DVD the story continued (the following will be on TV this year) with the arrival of Gotenks, the introduction of super saiyan 3 and the transformation of Buu.
3. Armageddon Expos in Auckland and Wellington - Without the kind people at Armageddon it would be unlikely that any DBZ fan in New Zeaaland would of had the chance to meet and get autographs from two DBZ voice actors. In Auckland there was Stephanie Nadolny (voice of Kid Gohan, East Kai and Kid Goku in Dragonball) and in Wellington there was Kyle Hebert (voice of Adult Gohan, West Kai , Pikkon and the narrator)
4. Live Action DBZ Movie Announced - In March 2002 FUNimation announced that they would be making a live action (not animated) DBZ movie to be released by production studio 20th Century Fox in either 2003 or 2004. Polls on the official site revealed that the fans want Jet Li to play Goku and Jackie Chan to play Vegeta in the movie...
5. Akira Toriyama in New York - On December 6 2002 Dragonball Z creator, Akira Toriyama, visited New York, USA as part of the launch of the magazine Shonen Jump in America. Shonen Jump, for those of you who don't know, is a comic magazine in which the Dragonball comic strips appeared in between 1984 and 1996 and Mr Toriyama himself was there to see the launch of the English version of the magazine (it can also be bought here in New Zealand). A couple of fans even got to ask him questions (lucky kids!) although as I understand it the questions they asked were pretty stupid. You can see the questions as well as photos of the event and pics of Mr Toriyama himself by clicking here
THE BAD
1. Planet Namek Closes - The most popular unofficial Dragonball Z website closed at the beginning of the year to great sadness by the DBZ web community.
2. Sticky TV Begins - Great horror came as TV3 decided to make Dragonball Z part of a kids show called Sticky TV to compete with TV2's WNTV. Oh the horror!
3. Irwin Toys Bankrupt - The makers of all Dragonball Z toys (although not because DBZ toys sold badly) went bankrupt and over 135 people lost their jobs just before Christmas. The Dragonball Z toy license was later sold to Jakks Pacific...
4. Kid Gohan Voice Actress in Car Accident - In November 2002 the voice of kid Gohan, Stephanie Nadolny, was involved in a serious car crash when her car was totalled in a collision with a tractor-trailer. Thankfully Stephanie was okay and was back doing voice recording within a couple of days...
5. Dragonball Z is Taken Off TV - For the first time since March 2000 Dragonball Z was removed from TV3 in October 2002 and replaced by Zoids: New Century. After a fan outcry it came back in late December. Phew!
Well thats all. It seems like it took a whole year just to write that all out! What a year 2002 was for Dragonball Z. I wonder what 2003 will bring?