Dragon Ball GT Episode 02 Review: MUSTACHE

Dragon Ball GT, Episode 2: I'm the Star! Pan Blasts Off Into Space!

Ah, yes, I can see why GT is probably nowhere as fondly remembered as its predecessors or its successors. This episode doesn't really have any real parts that truly offended me by being bad, but it certainly drags on and on and on, and by the time the episode has ran its course I really don't see any real significant scene or felt like any of the scenes I saw mattered beyond re-introducing some characters. Essentially the episode's final scene has the trio of Goku, Pan and Trunks blast off into space in Bulma's ship by accident because Pan is so pissed off at being treated as a kid she sneaks on board. Everything that happens in this episode prior to that are all glorified filler, though.

Like, I think the only real scene that informs us of anything resembling characterization is Mr. Satan's brief role as a balding-but-doting grandfather to Pan. The dialogue and scripting is absolutely stilted, though, and while the scene starts off strong with the two bonding, it honestly didn't feel like it ended up informing us of Pan's choice to stop sulking and sneak on board. Likewise, Trunks gets a couple of scenes that essentially set him as some sort of bored ultra-competent child prodigy, but he likes to... fly off instead of dealing with paperwork? That's the entirety of this version of Trunks' characterization. I get that Kid Trunks and Future Trunks are two entirely different characters that have vastly differing personalities due to the circumstances that they grew up, but this GT Teen Trunks feels honestly inorganic. Also note that having it be told to us how awesome this Trunks is for several minutes straight when on-screen he's just shown sneaking around like a kid trying to skip class isn't a flattering way to introduce a character either. 

MUSTACHE

Everything else, though? Absolute filler. Goku being "kidnapped" by accident by a duo of thieves went on for way too long and didn't go anywhere, and it's actively boring and not even funny. Goten being a playboy is hilarious, but it's also clear that the show didn't really know what to do with him, whereas Bulma, Gohan, Chichi and Videl are reduced to exposition machines as to why we can't just lift off yet. Wasn't there a bit where Gohan said he wants to come along? Why did it randomly become Goten and Trunks at the final scenes? Also, why even force Trunks into becoming the president of Capsule Corps when clearly he doesn't want it, and later drag him for some dragon ball gathering? It's weird. 

Perhaps the only other significant re-introduction is Vegeta, who's... settled into his life as a middle-aged father something fierce, including adapting a hilariously bad flat top and a dapper mustache. It's a design that is apparently provided by Toriyama, showing that, yes, even the much-vaunted author of Dragon Ball does sometimes make really bad design choices. I don't mind the mustache so much, I don't think, but by god that hair makes him look like a dork. Vegeta is also extremely dry here, just showing up to intimidate Trunks and Goten. 

Honestly, perhaps the biggest weakness is that the post-timeskip concepts shown to us here are somewhat interesting -- playboy Goten, grandpa Satan, tired-multimillionaire-savant teen-Trunks and civilian-husband Vegeta... but nothing is actually done with any of these reintroduced characters other than having them show up and display their brand-new characteristic. Overall, I didn't enjoy this episode as much as I did the first. It's mostly just boring non-exposition tied into an asinine subplot about Kid Goku being kidnapped, and only the sheer and utter ridiculousness of Vegeta's new look gave me some modicum of genuine hilarity.

Moving forward, I'll group Dragon Ball GT episodes by their mini-arcs and their arcs -- I won't review each episode individually like these first couple of episodes.