Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku / YMMV

Broken Aesop: At least, broken theme. The story of Bardock is that of a low-class Saiyan standing up face to face against the emperor, Freeza. The story doesn't treat Bardock as anything but "a nameless Saiyan" not worth talking about, which is what fuels the tragedy. Despite this, the special felt the need to give Bardock a power level of ten thousand, twice the one the elite warrior Nappa has in the Saiyan saga, turning the character from simple mook to a sort of prodigy.
Broken Base: The reason for this is not because of the story itself, it's more Bardock and Goku's history. In the TV special, Bardock displays his traditional Saiyan personality, but eventually regrets not able to hold his young son Kakarot (at least in the English dub). In Dragon Ball Minus, Bardock does in fact love his sons, and sends Goku to Earth out of concern for his safety before Frieza kills the Saiyans. However, people finally do get to see Goku's mother Gine, who'd never gotten a mention until Minus. However, the fact that the special is the more popular Origin Story of the two that it's often adapted in video games than the Minus version.
Complete Monster: Frieza is the tyrannical emperor of the Frieza Force, who had conquered and enslaved countless planets throughout the universe, including the Saiyans. Upon noticing how rapidly the Saiyans grew in strength, particularly Bardock and his squadron, Frieza became concerned that they could pose a threat to him in the future, and thus decides to wipe out their entire species, starting with Bardock's crew. With Frieza approaching Planet Vegeta with the intent to destroy it, he observes with amusement when Bardock faces Frieza and his army alone. After Frieza patiently hears out Bardock's speech of the Saiyans no longer serving him, Frieza launches an attack that kills Bardock, hundreds of Frieza's own soldiers, and the entire Saiyan race along with their planet.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Despite not having that much screentime nor background, Seripa/Fasha has quite a fan following, due to being the only named full-blooded female Saiyan in the franchise for two decades. She's featured in a lot of fanart and fanfiction, at the time there was speculation she was Goku's mother, and even managed to be popular enough to be featured as a playable fighter in the 3rd Budokai Tenkaichi game with an original moveset.
Fanon Discontinuity: A lot of people tend to disregard Bardock's power levels in this special, as not only they break the theme of Bardock being a nobody in the grand scheme of things, it also makes him stronger than Nappa and Base Goku at the time of the Saiyan saga. The fact those random numbers add nothing to the overall story is a reason to ignore them. And considering that Toriyama mentioned that Bardock was not strong enough to be middle class, this could also be considered Canon Discontinuity.
Hilarious in Hindsight: As satisfying as Bardock's final vision of Goku confronting Frieza is, it's hard not to imagine how he'd react to seeing the two of them working together to defeat Jiren (which also leads to Frieza coming back from the dead) in Dragon Ball Super.
Jerkass Woobie: Bardock, heavy emphasis on the Jerkass and the Woobie. He's a Saiyan warrior who fought and exterminated entire planets for Frieza. And he receives a vision of his home planet and entire race being wiped out by Frieza, tries to warn them of it, and nobody believes him. Following this, he learns that Frieza had his team killed, despite having taken on dangerous missions that even Frieza's elites were too afraid to take. Before dying, he finds that Toolo gave him the power see the future just to so he would see his race being destroyed and have no power to prevent as revenge for the death of his own race. He may have started out as very dismissive of Goku but in the end comes to love his newborn son as he is dying and laments that he never got to hold him.
Macekre: Aside from Bardock's voice, the rest of the dub is one of the strongest examples in the franchise. The English dub is infamous for its heavy alterations to the story and characters. It's bad enough that the rumor that Funimation didn't have access to the Japanese version, only the Latin American Spanish dub, seems credible.
Moment of Awesome: Bardock against Dodoria's elites. Bardock, unlike most Saiyans, is very clever. He doesn't charge them mindlessly, instead he manipulates them, uses misdirection and otherwise avoids a straight fight. He manages to deal out a Curb-Stomp Battle even though this same group managed to defeat his whole team effortlessly. Even though he loses directly to Dodoria, this scene illustrates that he's just like Goku; he knows how to fight clever when he's pushed.
Nightmare Fuel:
- Thanks to his visions, Bardock finds himself on Namek and sees his son all grown up but facing away. As he calls and reaches out to him, the vision of Goku remains silent and slowly turns around, revealing a look of utter contempt before transforming into a smiling Frieza.
- Planet Vegeta’s destruction. Bardock fights his way through Frieza’s army hoping to take him down and change the future, but is powerless to stop Frieza’s Super Nova and is the first casualty of the fall of the Saiyan race. All the while Frieza is just laughing his head off over how he destroyed an entire planet of his own soldiers like it was a firework show. Even Zarbon and Dodoria were rather horrified at the sight of Planet Vegeta’s destruction with all of its inhabitants still intact.
Sacred Cow: The original Japanese version is often seen as one of the finest stand-alone stories and is responsible for catapulting Bardock into becoming one of the most popular characters in the franchise. Later alterations to the story and Bardock's fate and characterization lack the critical acclaim of this special.
Superlative Dubbing: A character-specific example. In the original Japanese and Latin American Spanish version, Bardock shares the same voice with Goku. The voice acting for Bardock in the English dubs scrap that and casted Krillin's voice actor, however, and gave him a more unique voice that fit his character. The choice is actually quite popular, even among haters of the English dub.
Tough Act to Follow: The TV special is considered one of the best prequel stories ever made, which includes the tragedy of Bardock, who couldn't defeat Freiza, but knows that his second son would defeat him some day. Other interpretations of the television special is often considered inferior to this one because they didn't have the drama and weight of the original, which included Dragon Ball Minus. Even the prologue of Dragon Ball Super: Broly is seen in the same light, and the only saving grace is that it shows Bardock trying to stop Frieza and failing the same way he did in the special.

YMMV / Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku

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