I've talked at length about Dragon Ball Z and if you haven't figured it out by now that it's one of the most popular anime franchises in history then there's no hope for you. Over 200 episodes, several movies, manga, and plenty of games have made their way into the hands of otaku over the past couple of decades. FUNimation has done well with the license and it would appear to be one of the company's most lucrative judging by how many releases there have been. Recently they have been handling the uncut version of the series and some of the films have landed in the form of double packs.

The first pairing of movies hit Blu-ray a while ago and featured the two Broly storylines. The quality of the films was fine enough and it served well as an introduction to the medium for FUNimation. While they don't find themselves being delivered in high definition on Blu-ray, the second DBZ feature pack proves to be just as successful.

The History of Trunks and Bardock: The Father of Goku were actually TV specials rather than movies by all standards. They stand apart from being categorized as feature films and are essentially extended episodes that tied into the show some way or another. With a total run time of 96 minutes I'm sure you can figure out just how much bang you're getting for your buck though with that being said if you're a fan of DBZ you're definitely going to want to pick these up as they add some depth to the series.

The first inclusion of this release takes place in the future when comparing the two features with each other. The History of Trunks opens up with Goku dying of a strange disease and goes on to showcase the decimation of our heroes. Years later Gohan has become a Super-Saiyan and he's really the only one of the old crew left alive and kicking. Meanwhile a pair of powerful androids has risen to prominence and the threat against humanity becomes serious. Luckily Gohan doesn't have to go at it alone though as Trunks stands by his side ready to train and fight.

This episode took DBZ into some interesting directions and offered a look at a possible future for the series. It's grim and bleak and you can trust me when I tell you that things only get worse before the credits roll. Even with that in mind the action is pretty intense and there are some fine dramatic notes hit here that the series faltered on. In the end this was essentially just a fun exercise for the show that provided some filler and fan service. For the most part the same can be said for the Bardock special included here.

While the Trunks episode looks at Goku's death, the Bardock one looks at his birth as we are taken back to a point in time when the Saiyans were abundant and more of a threat (as if that were possible). Goku, or Kakarot if you will, was born on Planet Vegeta which was the Saiyan home world as lorded over by Freeza. While out on a mission to eradicate all life on a targeted planet Bardock receives an interesting surprise just before his quest is complete. A lone survivor gives the Saiyan the ability to see the future and thusly changes the fate of the galaxy.

Bardock sees Freeza betraying the Saiyans and destroying Planet Vegeta. Ousted by his peers and confused by his visions everything comes to a boiling point with some massive battles as you'd expect. As Bardock confronts Freeza we see exactly what Goku was destined to do and how his role as conqueror changed to savior. Compared to The History of Trunks I felt Bardock: The Father of Goku had more substance to it.

When all is said and done if you're a fan of DBZ you owe it to yourself to have these episodes in your collection. They don't add a ton of content to the series but they do serve as a nice way to get a dose of background and insight into the characters. These may be filler by all standards but they were a lot of fun and the affordability of this release certainly makes it an easier pill to swallow.

There's no getting around the age of these episodes. Bardock was release in 1990 while Trunks came out three years later. With that being said FUNimation has gone to some length to restore the image and present it in a manner that mirrors the uncut boxed set releases. That means you can expect the original full frame image to be chopped up a bit and presented as anamorphic widescreen. A far lesser amount of grain was in the image than I anticipated and compression was relatively low. Overall if you can stomach the aspect ratio cropping you'll be pleased but not impressed with this release.

Three audio selections are available on this DVD as the original mono Japanese track is present along with stereo and 5.1 presentations for English. As a stickler for Japanese tracks I found the mono offering to be more than suitable though the allure of the more robust English tracks was definitely there. As far as dub quality is concerned the English tracks were just fine and matched what you can expect from the series. Technically speaking the 5.1 fell kind of short with sound that was a tad flatter than expected and somewhat distorted at times. The entire track wasn't like that but there were plenty of moments in between that definitely took the wind out of the 5.1's sails.

Nothing is included here for bonus material.

If you're a fan of Dragon Ball Z then chances are good that you're interested in this release. If you haven't seen these before and you don't have them in your collection then this is definitely a no-brain purchase. Both episodes were very entertaining and offered some fine background into the show's characters that didn't come through during the series. With that being said the widescreen presentation may put some diehards off and the audio comes up a little short. Still, this turns out to be a solid release from FUNimation and something that DBZ lovers should definitely check out.

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