TV Review: Dragonball Z - Season Two.

This probably won't be an incredibly long review. Last time, on Dragonball Z... well, read here.

So Goku is still healing up from the battle with Vegeta (even though he keeps sneaking out for extra practice). Gohan, Krillin, and Bulma are still headed for Planet Namek to use the Namekian Dragonballs to wish back everybody that died against Vegeta and Nappa. But once they finally get there (after being sidetracked once or twice), they discover they're not alone. Not only is Vegeta searching for the Namekian Dragonballs, but his old boss, the insanely powerful Frieza is looking for them, as well. Namek is being destroyed one village at a time, and Frieza already has five of the balls. But he can't be bothered with doing anything himself. Instead, he sends out all of his little henchmen to do all the hardwork for him.

And that's where this little 'season' suffers the most. In fact, I never really saw this as a season in and of itself. This season and the following season all deal with Namek and Frieza, so it's easier to lump them all together as one season. However, as they are separated, I guess I'm gonna review them as such.

Although this season starts out slow, similar to the previous, it still starts out much more exciting. They get to the action faster, and it never really slows down. It has its peaks and dips, but it's still relatively non-stop. Though if it weren't for the fact that important characters and information are set up within this season, I'd categorize it mostly as filler. It's just Frieza's henchmen sent off to do his dirty work. First his right-hand men that were there with him to begin with, but then, after they fail, he sends for the powerful Ginyu Force.

And there's the next dip in the season. You only have to worry for a couple episodes about anybody being in any real danger before Goku shows up, and then he proceeds to kick ass as usual. But on top of that, the Ginyu force is ridiculous. They're almost too silly and over-the-top for the show, and that's saying a lot. But I guess you could say, although Frieza is still the 'big bad' of the whole, the Ginyu Force is the 'big bad' of the season.

But, as I said, a lot of important stuff (and people) is set up in this season, so it's not exactly easy to get rid of. Though I think it could have been shrunk down considerably. If you cut out some scenes that just show everybody staring at each other not doing anything, cut down on the pointless Bulma scenes, along with entire episodes toward the beginning of the season (was the accidental landing on the alien planet really necessary?), you could probably cut this season down by at least a third.

Though good stuff does start coming from this. Vegeta begins his slow turn to the side of good by being forced to work with the heroes. Gohan also starts to become even more powerful still. Oh, and the voice acting and scripting has gotten better considerably from the first season. I'd say it still has a small bit to go, but I am aware that it does get better as it goes along anyway, so I'm not too worried about that.

Really, I don't have a hell of a lot to talk about with this season. It's not particularly stand-out by any means. It has good action, of course, but the Ginyu are too stupid to take seriously as villains. However, I know the next season is gonna be so much better. It's almost non-stop action (shouldn't be slow starting as we basically left off halfway through the story-arch), and Frieza is a real villain to worry about. Not to mention we'll finally have Super Saiyan Goku. So I'll leave it there for now. We'll see what I think about the next season, next time... on Dragonball Z!

(Okay, I know... cheesy).