Dragon Ball Z

The History Of Trunks

Season 17, Episode 15, Aired 9/12/03

Episode Summary

Fourteen years after the events of the Frieza saga, the Earth is in ruins, terrorized by a pair of Artificial Humans. Goku is long dead of a heart disease and shortly after, Piccolo, Vegeta, Krillin, and the other Z fighters were killed when the Artificial Humans first arrived. Now the only surviving Z fighter is Gohan, who trains Vegeta's now 13 year-old son, Trunks. Gohan seems to be strong enough now to take on one Android, but against both, he still has trouble, and when Trunks always gets in the way, it doesn't get any easier. Finally, Gohan sustains serious injury, and not long after he's healed, he takes on both Androids again. Gohan is killed in battle, finally giving Trunks the necessary fuel to reach Super Saiyan. This is the story of the future.....that never was.

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Cast & Crew

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Tiffany Vollmer

Bulma
Hiromi Tsuru

Bulma (Japanese)
Chuck Huber

Android 17

Fan Episode Reviews (12)

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I can't quite get myself to fully love it and praise it like so many other fans.

7.0

"Good"

By macabre190788, Aug 19, 2010 Report Abuse

Ah, the alternate future story, are there ever any happy stories associated with that? Downbeat and depressing is the order of the day here as well, but like in "Bardock The Father of Goku", you know there will be some sort of resolution in the series, so it's okay. These alternate future stories, I have a love/hate relationship to them, they're just steps above a dream or virtual reality sequence, you know, one of those "it didn't or won't really happen". Okay, that may be discrediting it a bit too much, but there's not a whole lot of point here, everybody dies, but that will be changed, of course. All it really does is develop the character of Trunks and show some great action scenes, oh yeah, and portraying the Androids as really, REALLY ruthless killers, though maybe a bit too much time is devoted to them going on a rampage.

I may not be raving about it, but I did like it, it packs an emotional punch and the ending in partcular with Trunks saying farewell to Bulma. Again, the action scenes and fights are really top notch and Trunks gets some cool moments while fighting the Androids, though running desperately away from them is not one of those moments. This special is absolutely not a good starting point, or even for casual fans, I would say they check out this one after watching the Trunks and Android sagas from the series, or at least have some knowledge of them. The music in the english dub is not very good, in particular the music near the end I found to be a bit....I don't know, cheesy, I guess. Also, Android 18 is supposed to be transformed, or reformed or whatever you want to call it, she's supposed to become nice, a compelling character, but seeing her do all this brutal stuff, killing left and right undermines that somewhat, I mean, I do keep it in the back of the head even when she's nice. But then again, none of this will really come to pass so....Anyway, I did like the special, it's just not worth "going gaga over", I feel, and yes, I am fully aware that it is tremendously popular and you probably think I'm shortchanging it, well, sorry, but that's my opinion.moreless

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Clever writter

9.5

"Superb"

By sparkman10, Nov 05, 2008 Report Abuse

so basicly what happens is goku does the z foghters die master roshi watches it happen gohan dies trunks goes super siayan gets beat up by andriod goes back in time goes through the cell saga when he comes back he destroys andriod 18 and 17 its good because they deserve it its the dramatic ine out of the dragonball movie,s i like it but it is a sad sory everyone dies it is only after watching this is why i liked seeing andriod 18 and andriod 17 die because its revenge for trunks he even says in killing them how they deseved it anyways good movie superbmoreless

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My favorite DBZ special.

10

"Perfect"

By vegeta_ano, Sep 11, 2007 Report Abuse

It starts off with Gohan running home, where everyone is standing outside. Gohan walks into his house and sees that Goku had died of a rare heart virus, but this proves to lead up to something worse.

6 months later, Androids 17 and 18 appear and kill Piccolo, Vegeta, Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu and Krillin with ease.

13 years later, the Androids are seen attacking a city and Android 17 is driving a car going on a killing spree. While this is happening Trunks flies to the city but finds he is too late. While at the city Trunks sees Gohan and askes him to train him, to Bulma's disapproval. Gohan starts training Trunks by trying to get him at Super Sayian level, Trunks gets close but always ran out of energy.

One day they find the Androids at a fun park and they start battling. Gohan tells Trunks to leave the battle to him and goes Super Sayian and starts fighting Android 17. Gohan and 17 start the battle and just as Gohan starts to win 18 interferes. Trunks gets mad and gives chase to 18 up on top of a Ferris Wheel where 18 beats him up and is about to finish him off when Gohan saves him and hides in the wreckage. The Androids get annoyed because they think Gohan has escaped and decide to shoot a couple of random shots before leaving. Next we see a one armed Gohan crawling towards Trunks with the senzu beans bag, unfortunately there is only one left and Gohan gives it to Trunks who takes him to Bulma.

Trunks is seen once again trying to become a Super Sayian with Gohan encouraging him to let out his anger. Trunks' is about to reach it when suddenly it stops. Trunks and Gohan are resting on a rock, Trunks is angry that he can't become a Super Sayian but Gohan encourages him telling him he's doing well. All of a sudden a huge explosion erupts from the city and Gohan becomes a Super Sayian and tells Trunks to leave it to him. Trunks says no and Gohan thinks it over before saying yes, but as Trunks stands beside him he knocks him out to keep him safe. As the Androids are destroying the city Gohan appears and the battle starts. Gohan fares all right during the battle but eventually the Android duo turn the tables and start chasing Gohan. While chasing him the Androids fire two ki blasts and it makes a smokescreen in front of Gohan and they knock him on to the ground and pummel him with multiple ki blasts.

Trunks wakes up and finds out that Gohan had gone to the battle without him. As Trunks flies over the city he finds Gohan's dead body. As Trunks kneels next to Gohan he gets really angry and transforms into a Super Sayian.

3 years later, we see Trunks at about 16 he finds Bulma working on a Time-Capsule and the radio warns the Androids have been sited. Bulma tells Trunks that he is not powerful enough to defeat the Androids and he should go back in time to give Goku the heart virus medicine, Trunks reclines turns Super Sayian and sets off to fight the androids.

He finds the androids in a dead city and the battle starts. 18 is first to fight Trunks but gets mad when he cuts off her hair. 17 then attacks and catches Trunks' sword and throws it away. Trunks then fires a dozen ki blasts but the androids disappear and start a haunting chant. 17 appears from behind him and knocks him into a building where 18 is waiting. They eventually get board of toying with him and decide to kill him. 17 is about to fire when 18 decides she wants the pleasure and fires a huge blast.

Trunks wakes up in his house, bandaged up and tells Bulma he wants to go in the Time-Capsule. Later Trunks is given the medicine and leaves in the capsule to get to the past.moreless

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Best DBZ movie/special......

9.5

"Superb"

By King_CGF, Sep 09, 2007 Report Abuse

History of Trunks is a DBZ special about Trunk's life before coming to warn Goku of the Androids and the heart virus....

The movie begins with Goku's death leading to the introduction of the Androids, who kill all the Z warriors except Gohan. Years later, A now dead Vegeta's son, Trunks is forced to live life with the androids constantly destroying cities and people. Gohan starts to train trunks, after much begging. They eventually confront the androids, but Trunks only seems to distract Gohan, as the fight becomes out of control. This leads to Gohan even losing his arm. Gohan confronts the androids alone the next time, and despite his great efforts, the androids destroy him. 3 Years later, Trunks finds that the androids are close, so now a Super Saiyan, he decides to confront the androids. It quickly becomes clear that trunks is grossly outmatched however, and a battle turns into a struggle to survive. Trunks somehow survives his fight with the androids, and after recovering follows his mother's plan to use the time machine....

An amazingly well done DBZ special. The plot was well done, and the tone was nice and dark...

I recomend this to anyone.moreless

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This Had To Have Been The Greatest Way To Introduce Trunks Character, And All The Pain That Was In His Heart. His Character Is Put Together So Well- The Fact That Trunks Grew Up To Save His Stubborn father and the world? That's a real Hero for you! A 10!moreless

10

"Perfect"

By j2rd, Apr 20, 2007 Report Abuse

Trunks is always going to be the Hero for me! But This is the best way to introduce his painful upbringing and tell the story of how he grew to be the Z Warriors Savior.
I mean, Trunks was set on destroying the androids to get back at them for destroying all that he cared about, and they couldn't be defeated, So when he went back into the past to warn the Z warriors, and he saw his dad and mom, he felt even more compelled to protect his future and ensure the future for everyone was Safe. What A Hero!moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- Only movie to have happened in the manga in a short special chapter. Except is never shown in the manga how everyone dies and Gohan ran out of Senzu beans since the tree's died out.
  Edit
- Since it took longer for Gohan to become a Super Saiyan in this time line, Trunks replaces Gohan as the youngest Super Saiyan ever in this timeline. Edit
- After his arm is blown off, Gohan opens the sack containing the senzu beans with his mouth and says "Only one left", but can clearly see at least three senzu beans fall out. Edit
Notes
ADD NOTES
- On Feburary 19th, 2008, this special, along with Bardock: The Father Of Goku, was uncut and remastered on DVD/Blu-Ray disc.
  Edit
- This movie is connected to the movie If Goku Cant Beat Them, Who Can? because it shows the origin of Trunks' sword, but its never explained how Future Trunks got it if the sword was given to Chibi Trunks.
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- The Cartoon Network Airing Ah Cartoon Network... you know, I really wish they'd just show these movies at night on Adult or something. They really DON'T have to censor as much as they do (even during regular hours!) and it's pretty lame that they do. Then again, that's just Cartoon Network trying to play it "safe" and make sure that no parents call them and complain, which is pretty much what they always do when it comes to censoring. As for the dub, I actually thought it was pretty good. (Well, now at least. I've changed my mind since then) Great voice acting... nice scripts. Truth be told, I'm pretty sure Neel Bligh was given a mistranslated "Toei Engrish" script to work with, and that's why there's so much difference between it and the original script. Usually I have a problem with him, but he did good here and with the other special with the material he was given to work with. (but oh how that man did sink into the epitome of baaaad writing when he was thrust a perfectly translated script of Movie 4 to work with) As for the music- it was surprisingly good. In fact, it was almost superior to the original soundtrack. The "almost" was -only- because of those mood-hurting rap songs that pretty much ruined many key moments during the movie. Unfortunately, FUNimation cut out almost EVERY good song in the movie, and replaced it with generic Faulconer tracks, which really killed off the mood. As usual, FUNimation has no problem replacing all of the original score with a "new" version and then insisting upon charging royalties for "every second" it's heard to the Cartoon Network. (Perhaps that's why they hate silence in their dub so much?) But actually... PAY ROYALTIES to show dubbed music (good dubbed music, mind you) that replaced the original music? No, no, no, that'd actually cost them money and FUNimation didn't get where they are today by not being cheap bastards. So basically, most of the tv specials music is replacement music OF replacement music. I only saw the 2nd half, but what I heard was REALLY bad, and comparing Faulconer's stuff to the original dubbed track it's easy to see how much better the tv special's music was than his usual stuff. I only saw the 2nd half, but I did notice that the ONLY original song retained was that "You all going down now!" one (and they didn't even put in the right place). They also created some "new" songs, of particular note a punk-rock song (probably by a band in Dallas/Ft. Worth, as is usually the case) with a guy who sounded like Mush Mouth from Fat Albert. And man, did it kill the mood. Well, at least they kept in "Through her eyes" which was a really good and very fitting song I had hoped they'd play the full version during the credits, but (rather strangely) they didn't. Instead, despite using that rap song earlier, they cut out where it was heard during the credits. (shrugs.) I'm not complaining, I really didn't care for that song, but having nothing but silence during the credits was almost as bad as that rap music. The dead silence for half a minute halfway in the middle of a ballad about loss just- well, it was pretty weird and it didn't help the mood at all. Looks like they can't even handle showing the edited version of their dubbed movies right, ugh. Anyway, Vekou's also one who reviewed the CN airing of the Trunks special. (which premiered 9/12/2003) Don't mind me, just wanted to say my two cents beforehand. Review by Vekou Another one of the most powerful, emotional, dramatic and brilliantly designed parts of the Dragonball Saga is the second TV special, known to most people as the "Trunks special". In my humble opinion, the Bardock special is more enjoyable and more insightful (most of the Trunks special is explained throughout the course of the series) but both are excellent. Unfortunately, both have quite terrible dubs, and I'm not talking about the voice acting (which is stellar in both). The issue of mediocre, incredibly out of place American rock/rap music plaguing the dub is present in this special as well. Fortunately, FUNimation and Cartoon Network have take it upon themselves to NOT secure the rights to have these songs aired on television (some of them, anyways) and have replaced them with generic Faulconer tunes (only some of which fit the scene... but it's definitely an improvement). So, without any further adieu, here's the edit list for "The History of Trunks". UNIVERSAL EDIT : Any time you hear Faulconer music playing in this special, you can guarantee that there was a different song (probably a vocal song). It would be very difficult to track down every time music is replaced in this special, so take not of it here. Also, some music by the group "Tendril," also used in the dub of Movie 8, is swapped in here in place of some songs that couldn't be cleared to air on CN. 1. Japanese "Special" card removed, even though it was present in the Bardock special. 2. Android 17's "Allright! I get ten points for every human I hit!" as he is driving the car cut. 3. Android 17 screaming "Oh yeah! We're talkin' major points here!" as he chases and runs people over with his car cut. 4. Shot of Android 17 spinning the steering wheel and running over massive amounts of pedestrians, saying "You speedy little devils!" cut. 5. Trunks's "Everybody's dead..." changed to "Everybody's gone..." 6. Theme park worker screaming "We've had an attack at Super World! We need help! Come at once, please!" as the camera pans across a battlefield with dead bodies and damaged tanks and equipment of the Royal Military cut. 7. Blood spray as #17 knocks Gohan into a building painted over. 8. Blood vomit as Gohan punches 17 in the face painted over. 9. #18's "That would suck..." changed to "Oh, shut up!" 10. #18's "All the humans are dead, the fun part's over" changed to just "The fun part's over." 11. Wondering what those moving rocks behind #18 were? In the unedited version, it is revealed to be a survivor of the attacks. As he climbs out of the rocks, #18 says "Hey, we missed one...", fires a ki blast at him and kills him. 12. #17's "Ten more points? Ah, now we're tied!" cut. 13. Shots of Trunks desperately shaking Gohan's corpse, screening "Gohan! GOHAN!" cut (note that this throws off the timing of the music in this scene, which was actually quite good in the uncut version, and effectively ruins the transformation). 14. Blood streaming from Trunks's hand as he is screaming painted over. 15. Scene of the exhausted Trunks punching #17 and #18's faces over and over again but to no effect removed. 16. Scene of #17 and #18 brutally smashing Trunks through some buildings removed. 17. A few more violent shots of Trunks being smacked around removed. 18. Scene of #17 stepping on Trunks's head (which is streaming blood) saying "Here, say no more Let's take care of this problem once and for all! How dare you!" removed. 19. Credits redone with new font, new copyright dates and credit given to the Tendril songs that were added into the broadcast version of this special. Not an edit: In the credits, shot of Freeza falling apart into two halves shown unedited, though this shot was cut in the series. Not an edit: Trunks blasting Freeza's remnants left intact, though it was speeded up in the series to remove the shot of Freeza in pieces. Not an edit: Bulma holding a can with a visible "BE" shown unedited, though in the tv Trunks episode it was lifted from the "BE" was painted over with white to match the rest of the can. The "BE" was originally painted over because (as you probably already guessed) it spelled out "BEER." Well, that's all I caught. It's a shame that a good deal of the final battle was cut, because it shows how cold-hearted Android 17 and 18 really are. However, it is understandable that these scenes were cut due to their intense violence. In addition, some of the emotion was buried in the edited version, notably when Trunks finds Gohan's corpse and when he is being ruthlessly beaten by 17 and 18. The scene when he is punching the unflinching 17 and 18 in the face to no avail is really a powerful scene, displaying just how powerful the Jinzouningen really are. Too bad this had to be cut. Come back next week for the fifth Dragonball Z movie, also known as "Cooler's Revenge". See ya! (end of Vekou's review) Special notes-- Ever wonder why the cover art for the two tv specials has been the best DBZ movie/special cover art yet? That's because artist Rick Lebo basically just copied the original Japanese art and made just a few slight adjustments to it. I'm still debating whether or not it's a good thing or a bad thing that he stopped doing this when he drew the cover for Movie 4. So I guess that means that Akira Toriyama is the guy who "copied a screen shot and drew Trunks and Gohan on top of it." As for the "no arm thing," this special was originally based on a DBZ manga issue that had the Trunks story in it, which was read by most Japanese fans prior to their watching this tv special. Thus, for Japanese audiences the cover didn't spoil anything. You're not going to believe this but Funi...accurately captured...ALL of the sound effects! I was surprised myself and kept looking back but nope, they didn't miss any. They even improved on the sound effects for Trunks becoming a Super Saiyajin. (Then again, that may be only because the dub was remastered to stereo whereas the original wasn't) However--over 90% of their sound effects are significantly reduced in volume to make way for the dub music so they still have a ways to go if they ever want to fix their sound effects problems. As for the music... aside from the techno/rock (and especially the rap) the music for this wasn't that bad but it still wasn't as good as the original music. In a net chat interview Kyle Hebert stated that the plots were already written "10 years ago." So why the hell do Funi's script butchers have to ruin every script they get their grubby hands on? They should, and if they were a respectable dubbing company, they would, leave all the dialogue intact (including the cursing) and not give us any of their "wah, wah, wah, it's so hard to get my voice to match their mouth flaps" excuses. If they can have voice actors chat when there isn't any dialogue then why do they bitch about having it there when you see the characters' mouths move? What the hell do they think they're getting paid for? The only dialogue they should change are "Japanese lingual jokes" (stuff like "Do you like martial arts?" "Yeah, it tastes good" that don't retain their original humor when translated and only make sense if you understand Japanese) and cursing for the dubbed cut Cartoon Network Version. Anything else is a deviation from the real plot, a deception to the viewers, and a big fat arrogant slap in the faces of Akira Toriyama and the rest of DB's script writers (who Funimation continues to refuse to acknowledge in any of their credits and have only been given props in Pioneer's 3 movies) who spent many years of their lives developing the story when converting the DB manga to anime form. To think, the guy who had a helping hand in Tien seeing their parachutes wrote this "masterpiece" all by himself and they pay him more respect then they do the real script writers... Edit
Quotes
ADD QUOTES
- (Trunks reverts to base state after being beat up.)
  Android 17: Oh look, he's not a natural blonde.
  Edit
- (Gohan arrives at the scene)
  Android 18: Oh look, it's blondie. Except his hair is black today.
  Android 17: Of course, he's copying me.
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- (Trunks tries to transform to Super Saiyan for the 2nd time while Gohan instructs him)
  Gohan: That's it Trunks, you're doing it! Let go, you're not what you think! The Androids, they're killers Trunks! They'll destroy me, your mother, you...everything you hold sacred is worth no more than a pile of trash to them. (Trunks listens and tries harder)
  Trunks: Grrrrr…..
  Gohan: Don't be ashamed of your anger, killing innocent children is wrong! It's ok to hurt, it's ok to feel the rage! Harness it...use it as a tool! You're doing it Trunks, don't be afraid…let it go, let it all go!
  (Trunks collapses from exhaustion)
  Edit
Allusions
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