Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock

The story starts where the TV special leaves off, with Bardock fighting against Frieza, in an attempt to save his home, Planet Vegeta. He fails, as Freeza destroys the planet, killing all Saiyans on it – seemingly including Bardock. However, somehow he survives the blast and wakes up in a little village house. A purple-colored creature enters the room and introduces himself as Ipana. He also tells Bardock that he is on the Planet Plant (惑星プラント), which – as the confused Bardock recalls – was the former name of Planet Vegeta. Suddenly the village is attacked by henchmen of the pirate Chilled, whom Bardock easily defeats, earning him the gratitude of the villagers. He ignores their thanks and states that he doesn't care if they lived or died and flies away into a nearby cave to recover. Doctor Ipana's son Berry comes and brings him food. At first he yells him to go away, but soon they form somewhat of a friendship as Berry keeps bringing him food.

After a while, Chilled comes to find out what happened to his henchmen. The people tell him that a man called Bardock rescued them. Berry sees this and quickly runs to Bardock, telling him that there are people looking for him. After the villagers fail to find Bardock, Chilled and his henchmen start attacking them and destroying the village. At first, Bardock refuses to save them, but after Berry begs him, he flies to the village and saves Ipana, who was going to be killed by Chilled. Due to the resemblance, Bardock at first mistakes Chilled for Frieza and attacks him angrily, but Chilled seems to have the upper hand. However, after Chilled fires an attack at Berry to warn him not to interfere, Bardock becomes angry and transforms into a Super Saiyan. Chilled laughs and says that changing hair color to blond doesn't do anything and attacks Bardock with his blasts, which have no effect on Bardock anymore. He asks who he is, to which Bardock replies that he is just a Saiyan. Chilled launches a final desperate attack in order to destroy the planet, but Bardock's attack overpowers it and sends the mortally wounded Chilled into outer space. The dying Chilled tells his henchmen to warn his family about Super Saiyans. This reveals that Bardock was the Super Saiyan that was encountered centuries ago, therefore making him partially responsible for the events of the entire series, as it was Frieza’s fear of the Super Saiyans that drove him to wipe them all out and lead to Goku being sent to Earth.

Bardock (バーダック, Bādakku)

Voiced by: Masako Nozawa

The father of Son Goku and Raditz, who was thought to be killed by Freeza.

Berry (ベリー, Berī)

Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima

He is the son of the village doctor Ipana, who treats Bardock.

Ipana (イパナ)

Voiced by: Masashi Ebara

The village doctor, who treats Bardock.

Chilled (チルド, Chirudo)

Voiced by: Ryūsei Nakao

He is an ancestor of Freeza and a space pirate. Toriyama provided the design for Chilled.[2]

Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock was serialized in V Jump, with the first chapter released on June 21, 2011, the second on July 22 and the third on August 21.[1] On November 21, 2011, it was announced that the manga would be given an anime adaptation by Toei Animation. The short film premiered on December 17–18, 2011 at Jump Festa 2012.[3] Kazuhiko Torishima, Akira Toriyama's former editor and a former editor-in-chief of both Weekly Shōnen Jump and V Jump, served as producer. The movie later received a coupled home video DVD release with Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans included in the March issue of the magazine Saikyō Jump, which was released on February 3, 2012.[4]

The entire manga was re-printed in the April 2012 issue of V Jump, released on February 21, 2012, with a slightly different ending which follows that of the film. The film was included subtitled in the European and North American exclusive Xbox 360 video game Dragon Ball Z: For Kinect, released in October 2012.[5] The March 2014 issue of Saikyō Jump included a kanzenban version of the 2012 reprint of Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock.[6]

On June 20, 2018, the Episode of Bardock film was released in France on DVD and Blu-Ray as part of the Golden Box Dragon Ball Z steelbook set published by Kazé. The set also contains Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, and Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'.[7]

• Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock (special) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia