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This page summarizes the events in the anime series Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT (I've never read the manga, so I can't make any comments on it). If you haven't seen these sagas, then there is a Spoiler Warning in effect. However, the goal of this page isn't to recount the entire series. Rather, it's a brief overview of the significant events in the show, intended to give the reader a feel for the series in general, as well as background information to help read DB fanfictions, and watch the series in medias res without being completely confused. But to help you decide what you want to read and not, there's an italicized note at the beginning of each saga summarized.

Dragon Ball

As of the writing of this summary, I haven't seen much of Dragon Ball. In fact, I've only seen the first ten or so episodes (English dub), and the final ten or so episodes (subtitled). But I felt it was important to go over the basics in DB, as it forms the foundation upon which DBZ is constructed. Dragon Ball is slated for U.S. airing on Cartoon Network in spring/summer 2001.

Dragon Ball is the story of Son Goku, a small, good-natured boy that roamed the woods of Mount Paozu. He lived by himself in the cottage of his grandfather Gohan. Grandpa Gohan found him as a baby in the wilderness and named him "Goku," which is a story of a legendary were-monkey due to the odd fact that the boy had a monkey tail. Unfortunately, Gohan was killed by the mysterious were-monkey that appears on the evening of the full moon, leaving Goku an orphan once again (I'm not sure of his age, but I've read he's somewhere between 5 and 12... he can't count, so he can't really enlighten us much). The story begins when a teenaged girl named Bulma encounters Goku in the woods. Bulma is on a quest to find the seven legendary Dragon Balls, which can summon the dragon Shenlon who will grant the summoner a single wish. She found a Dragon Ball in her basement, and constructed a Dragon Radar to home in on the remaining six balls. When shown one of Bulma's Dragon Balls, Goku innocently reports that it looks like his Grandfather. He then takes Bulma to his home, and shows her the four-star Dragon Ball, which used to belong to Grandpa Gohan and in which resides his spirit (according to Goku). Bulma convinces Goku to come on the quest with her, in search of the remaining Dragon Balls. Goku is at first reluctant to give the four-star ball to Bulma, but is eager to accompany Bulma when told of the great adventures and dangers they'd encounter.

Throughout the series, Bulma and Goku search for the Dragon Balls on numerous occasions, always being troubled by some enemy who is also eager to make a wish. When Shenlon is summoned, he can only grant one wish, but when the wish is made, the Dragon Balls are scattered throughout the planet, only to be recollected to summon Shenlon again in a year's time. So the adventures continue.

As the series develops, we get to see Goku progress. From day-one, he is an impossibly strong boy, but with further martial arts training from Master Roshi and Kami, the guardian of Earth, he constantly manages to defeat incredible odds. Also, his gentle nature helps him befriend a variety of interesting characters, including Oolong, the shape-changing pig, Yamucha the Desert Bandit and his shape-shifting partner Puar, the Ox King and his irrepressible (and lovestruck) daughter Chichi, Krillin, a fellow youthful martial artist, Tien and Chaiotzu, students under a rival sensei, and many others.

Another interesting fact about Goku is this: remember that tail I mentioned? Well, as it turns out, whenever Goku looks upon the full moon, he transforms into the very same were-monkey that killed his grandfather. The transformation reverses when the moonlight disappears, or Goku's tail is removed (but the tail regenerates in times of stress in his youth). Goku has no control over himself in his were-monkey form, nor does he have any memories of what he did when he recovers, so each time his tail grows back, his friends are wary of the potential risk.

The primary villain in DB at first is Emperor Pilaf, a small megalomaniac eager to conquer the world. Others include Piccolo Daimao, the "Demon King" also out to do some world-conquering, and the Red Ribbon Army, a corporate rival of Capsule Corporation (the Briefs' technology company) that is also out for world domination.

Like I said, I didn't see most of DB, so I can't comment on much. But I did see the end, so I can make some comments on that. DB ends years after it began (Goku grows from a young boy to a young man), and the culmination of DB is the battle between Goku and Piccolo Daimao's reincarnation (see the Piccolo character page for details). It was a huge battle, sweeping several episodes, but in the end, Goku stood victorious. Goku decided to spare Piccolo's life, for Kami and Piccolo's souls are bound in life and death, meaning the death of one would cause the death of the other (plus, he's just so good-hearted, he always tries his best not to kill his enemy). Finally, Goku married Chichi and settled down... or did he?

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The Saiyan Saga picks up several years after the final battle between Goku and Piccolo. All has been quiet, and the Z-Senshi (Z-Warriors) had gone their separate ways. Goku lives in the woods of Mount Paozu with Chichi and their four year old son, Gohan, named in memory of his grandfather. The adventure begins when an incredibly powerful alien crash lands on Earth. His name is Radditz, and he arrived on Earth searching for Kakarott, his long-lost younger brother. Oh, and one more thing... Radditz has a tail.

So finally, Goku's past is revealed. He is Kakarott, a member of the Saiyan race. And who are the Saiyans? A race of barbaric warriors from the planet Vegeta (Vejiitasei) who deal in the planetary trade market. They attack hospitable planets, purge them of all intelligent life, and sell them to the highest bidder. And here's another shocking discovery... Kakarott was sent to Earth on a purging mission (Saiyans are so strong, infants are powerful enough to purge planets with weaker dominant species). Radditz had come to Earth in the hopes of finding Kakarott alive, because the Saiyan home planet had been destroyed by a passing comet, and he was on a mission of collecting the few that were still alive.

Obviously, Goku isn't happy to learn that he is a member of a bloodthirsty species. And Radditz is taken aback to find Kakarott alive and well, with the Earth still thriving. And when Goku refuses to finish the mission he was initially sent to Earth for, Radditz kidnaps Gohan in order to blackmail Goku. And Goku is powerless to do anything about it.

Enter Piccolo. He had encountered Radditz soon after the latter arrived on Earth, and he is concerned that the barbarian will destroy his planet. So Piccolo offers Goku a short-term truce: they'd face Radditz together, and then resume their rivalry. Goku agrees, and the two strongest Earth warriors fly after Radditz and Gohan. They fight, Gohan reveals that he has an astonishing ki (energy, most often used in fighting), and Goku dies when he holds down Radditz long enough for Piccolo to fire a Special Beam Cannon (Makankosappo... his signature energy attack) right through the both of them. Goku and Radditz are rapidly fading, and Piccolo mentions to Radditz that Goku won't be dead long, for his friends would collect the Dragon Balls and wish him back to life. Big mistake. Radditz smugly replies that his scouter (an eyepiece that lets him read ki levels) is also a transmitter, and that the two other Saiyans would come within a year to make a wish. And they are much more powerful than he.

So the Z-Senshi have a new dilemma: what to do about the two Saiyans that would arrive on their soil in a year's time... both of whom are far stronger than Radditz, who they barely managed to defeat. Piccolo decides to take Gohan and train him, believing his phenomenal innate strength would be essential in defeating the Saiyans. Bulma collects the Dragon Balls to wish Goku back to life. Kami summons Tien, Chaiotzu, Krillin, Yamucha, and Yajirobe to his domain (the Sky Palace, which hangs over the globe in the upper atmosphere) for special training. And Kami arranges for Goku to take advantage of his trip into the afterlife by seeking special training from King Kai, a higher level god famous for his unique (but effective) training practices.

The year passes. Goku trains in ten-times Earth's gravity, the other Z-Senshi train with Kami, and Piccolo's severe training turns Gohan from a whiny, sheltered baby into a surprisingly capable fighter. And during that year of training, Piccolo finds himself growing a little attached to Gohan.

Then the Saiyans arrive. And those Saiyans are Vegeta, the Saiyan prince, and his attendant Nappa. And they're there to wish for immortality with the Dragon Balls. The Z-Senshi are prepared to defend their planet, but Goku is still on his way back from the dead. So Nappa kills Yamucha, Chaiotzu, Tien, and Piccolo in the meantime, along with seriously roughing up Gohan and Krillin. But when he faces Goku, Nappa can't land a single punch. Vegeta is so disgusted by Nappa's ineptness that he incinerates him effortlessly. And then, the battle is on.

The fight between Vegeta and Goku includes spurts of blood, broken bones, and energy attacks that tear the battle ground apart. The two seem about evenly matched, but Vegeta uses a ki-sphere that simulates the light of the full moon to turn into an oozaru (the were-monkey). This is the first time Goku actually saw an oozaru. Goku is barely able to breathe when Krillin and Gohan find them, and help out. But they can't overpower Oozaru Vegeta either. Luckily, Yajirobe musters the courage to get involved, and chops off Vegeta's tail, removing that advantage.

Vegeta is finally defeated, and Krillin is prepared to kill him once and for all, but Goku pleads with Krillin to spare him, for Goku respects Vegeta. So Vegeta retreats, promising to exact revenge. And the remaining Z-Senshi are rushed to the hospital to recover.

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I've only seen the English dub of this saga as well. This summary is a compilation of the Namek, Ginyu, and Frieza Sagas, but since they bleed into each other significantly, I didn't see a reason to keep that distinction. The only thing to note is that, while Frieza appears often in the Namek and Ginyu sagas, he doesn't fight the Z-Senshi until the Frieza saga. These sagas are all available for VHS purchase, (and thankfully, the editing isn't as blasphemous as the Saiyan Saga). I don't think they'll be airing on Cartoon Network in the immediate future.

This story arc picks up immediately after Vegeta's retreat. Goku, Gohan, and Krillin are mending in the hospital, but Goku's injuries are far more serious. But the team faces another problem: the dead Z-Senshi. For the Dragon Balls cease to exist when Kami (their creator) dies, and since his life is uniquely bonded with Piccolo, when Piccolo died in the fight against Nappa, the Dragon Balls disappeared. No Dragon Balls, no wishes. But the team isn't about to give up yet.

There's a glimmer of hope left, for when Vegeta first arrived, he took one look at Piccolo, and expressed his surprise at seeing a Namek on Earth. He continued that he'd heard the legend of seven balls found on Namek that would grant wishes. He'd passed it off as myth, but after hearing Piccolo speak of them through Radditz' communicator, he decided it was a legend worth investigating. Piccolo himself had no memory of the planet Namek (he arrived on Earth as a child), but Mr. Popo, Kami's assistant, knew a bit more about Kami's past. So the team decided to try and find the planet Namek, and hope that they had a set of Dragon Balls too.

Mr. Popo leads Bulma to Kami's old spaceship, which she fixes up and prepares for travel. She, Gohan, and Krillin leave Earth to find Namek, but Goku is still far too fragile to accompany them.

Meanwhile, Vegeta has similar intentions. He finds one of Frieza's ships, and since he's a member of Frieza's legions, he is able to use one of their regeneration tanks (full immersion in a healing liquid) to restore himself. He learns Frieza himself had moved on to Namek in search of the Dragon Balls, and he hastily follows to intercept. For, while Vegeta is a member of Frieza's forces, he isn't at all loyal to the beast, for he suspects Frieza had something to do with Vejiitasei's destruction.

And so, three teams are searching for the Dragon Balls of Namek: Frieza and his armies, Vegeta, and Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan. Namek itself is a planet that had suffered severe weather disturbances (which is why the Saiyans or Frieza never bothered to conquer it earlier), and only a few hundred Nameks are still alive. One of them is Guru, the Namek elder and creator of the Namek Dragon Balls. He sends Dende, one of the younger Nameks with innate healing powers, to assist the Z-Senshi in collecting the Dragon Balls.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Goku finishes recuperating, and Dr. Briefs manages to construct a space ship that can traverse the space between Earth and Namek in a few days (it took the other three two months to make the trip). So Goku trains hard in the ship, which doubles as a gravity chamber, allowing him to train in 100 times Earth's gravity. That, combined with the power boost he got from recuperating (Saiyans get stronger when they recover from critical injuries) make him incredibly more powerful when he arrives on Namek. And thanks to his added strength, the Z-Senshi are able to defeat Frieza's most elite warriors, including the entire Ginyu Force.

Vegeta winds up forming a hesitant truce with the Z-Senshi, for both had to face the ultimate threat of Frieza, a monster with a ki that completely eclipses any other living being. Dende informs the Z-Senshi that the Dragon Balls of Namek aren't as limited as the ones on Earth... Porunga can grant three wishes at once. So Vegeta and the Z-Senshi planned to split the three wishes, Vegeta getting his immortality, while the others wish for the dead Z-Senshi to be restored.

The Dragon Balls are gathered, and Porunga is summoned. Only, he is summoned immediately after the final fight with Captain Ginyu, which left both Goku and Vegeta recovering. Krillin hoped to avoid granting Vegeta immortality (he's still can't be trusted, after all). Wishes can only be made in the Namek language, so Krillin and Gohan ask Dende to ask Porunga to revive the fallen Z-Senshi. But Porunga, unlike Shenlon, can't resurrect more than one person with one wish. So they wish for Piccolo to be restored to life (which restores Kami, and the Earth Dragon Balls). The second wish is for Piccolo to come to Namek and help in the battle against Frieza. Before Dende could make the third wish, Vegeta arrives, foaming at the mouth and swearing bloody revenge on the whole group for trying to betray him. Dende is halfway through the wish to grant Vegeta immortality when suddenly Porunga vanishes... meaning Guru had died.

Vegeta barely has time to sputter his indignation when Frieza appears just over the bend. His plans of gaining immortality were ruined, and he's angered that a bunch of weaklings had spoiled everything by constantly stealing the Dragon Balls he had collected, as well as killing his best soldiers. Also, he is furious that Vegeta had betrayed him. And so, Frieza takes matters into his own hands.

Frieza's power is phenomenal. He fights Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan easily, but when Piccolo shows up, he is forced to transform into a higher-power body. Frieza constantly toys with the group, using just the right amount of power to be a little stronger than they are. Finally, he decides he's done playing, and transforms into his ultimate form (the small white form with purple plating). He kills Dende (after he figures out Dende is the healer), and then beats the stuffing out of Vegeta. But before Vegeta is quite dead, Goku arrives on the scene (he had been recovering from his fight with Captain Ginyu).

Vegeta is on death's bed, but he's not ready to give up yet. He beseeches Goku to kill Frieza, for Frieza killed the entire Saiyan race. Frieza felt threatened by the Saiyans, for they were a formidable race that was difficult to dominate. Also, he feared the legend of the Super Saiyan... a mythological warrior of millenniums past with a ki great enough to match Frieza himself. So rather than take chances the Super Saiyan was only a myth, he exterminated the entire species, claiming it was a passing comet that destroyed Vejiitasei, and keeping Vegeta alive for fun. Vegeta begged that Frieza be killed "by Saiyan hands," but then Frieza put another blast through his chest, finally ending it.

So begins the fight between Goku and Frieza. Goku is seriously outmatched, and tries to form a Spirit Bomb (an attack that draws the life energy out of everything on the planet). But that Bomb doesn't suffice either, and Frieza laughingly punches a hole through Piccolo's chest, and brutally blows Krillin up.

That last move was a mistake, for watching his best friend die in a painful explosion was enough to push Goku to the next level. His hair burns gold, and he becomes the Super Saiyan. And Frieza has met his match.

Frieza becomes so frustrated he decides to play dirty, and use a core-incinerating sphere to blow up all of Namek. For no matter how powerful a Super Saiyan is, he still needs air to breathe, whereas Frieza can survive in space. The blast doesn't blow up Namek immediately, but there was no stopping the eventual destruction.

While Goku fights Frieza, he asks Gohan to take Piccolo (who's barely still alive) and Bulma, and leave Namek before it blows up. However, the fact that Piccolo survived that energy beam didn't go unnoticed by King Kai (who incidentally had trained Piccolo, Tien, Yamucha, and Chaiotzu after their deaths). He asks Kami to collect the Dragon Balls of Earth, in order to summon Shenlon.

And so the plan is enacted. Shenlon is summoned, and he grants the wish to restore all those killed by Frieza and his men. This includes Guru, and as a result, Porunga is restored... with one wish remaining. Goku demands that wish be used to send everyone on Namek to Earth except himself and Frieza. So everyone that Frieza or his men killed (i.e. Vegeta, Dende, Guru) was resurrected, and sent to Earth. However, Krillin couldn't be restored by Shenlon, for Shenlon can't grant the same wish twice, and he had already restored Krillin in Dragon Ball.

And the battle continues. Now confident that everyone was safe and sound on Earth, Goku could maximize his power. And he does overpower Frieza, who lies on the ground dying. But Frieza asks for mercy, and Goku (naive to a fault), grants Frieza a drop of energy to sustain his life. Frieza uses that energy to shoot at Goku, who dodges it and fires another blast.

The planet Namek blows up.

On Earth, the entire group (including Vegeta and the Nameks) live at Capsule Corporation to wait four months until the Namek Dragon Balls can be used again (the balls can only be used once a year, but the Namek year is 120 Earth days). The first wish is for Krillin and Goku to be sent to Earth's Check-In station. (Since they died on Namek, they would've been restored exactly where they died. The only way to avoid that is to send their souls to Earth's Check-In, where they could subsequently come to Earth when restored.) Porunga announces that Goku isn't dead, and therefore sending him to the Check-In station would kill him. Everyone is surprised, since Goku hadn't returned to Earth. They wish Krillin back to life, and try to wish Goku to Earth, but he refuses to come (he said he'd come soon). The third wish is used to restore Yamucha to life.

Vegeta is shocked to learn that Goku survived the explosion. The only reason he remained on Earth is to find and challenge Goku the moment he was resurrected. But once he learned the truth, Vegeta took one of Dr. Briefs' space ships and headed out into space to find Goku himself.

Another 120 days pass. Wishes one and two restore Chaiotzu and Tien to life. And wish three sends all the Nameks to a new planet suitable to their needs. Piccolo decides to remain on Earth, for Earth had always been his home.

And so the sun sets on the Frieza Saga. Goku is still M.I.A., Piccolo returns to his life of solitude (though never too far from Gohan), Gohan is given a chance to finally get some schoolwork done, and peace reigns. But for how long?

Next... the Garlic, Junior Saga