We all frequent message boards and online forums (such as alt.fan.dragonball), and we all contribute as much as we can. Unfortunately, we don't KNOW of all the places people post questions, so it's impossible for us to reach everyone. However, if you're reading this, you at least know where WE are, so it's possible for you to ask us directly.

What we're going for here is sort of an "Answerman" or "Ask John" (from Anime News Network and Anime Nation, respectively). We'd like you to e-mail in whatever questions you may have, so long as it somehow relates to the world of DragonBall; be it the manga, the anime, merchandise.. whatever. We've been around for a few years, now, and we know the ropes... we like to think we know our stuff.

And we want to help. E-mail your questions to VegettoEX@aol.com with the subject "Ask VegettoEX." We'll try to update this section every Saturday, with at least one question straight from the fans. Thanks!

[ Last Updated: Sunday, 08 February 2004 ]
[ Past "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]

Q. I have a question regarding Pu'er. I know during season one and the old DB dub they pulled a Zoisite (gender change) on him for some reason. (I'm thinking they heard his Japanese voice and instantly mistook him for a female). Do you know if they ever corrected that? Since then I have never heard anyone on DB or DBZ refer to Puar by anything gender specific, whether saying him or her, or whatever. - Wassup2

A. You're right; as far as I know (which isn't much, granted), they tended not to refer to Pu'er with any kind of gender-specific label during the course of the dub, although there were at least one or two slips when he's labeled "she" or "her." Then again, I have no idea if they really used gender-specific pronouns for him in the original Japanese dialogue, either. For what it's worth, he speaks in a more-or-less masculine way, and when Toriyama was later asked about the "gender question," he said that he always thought of Pu'er as male. Honestly, I had always felt the exact opposite, but whatever... - VegettoEX

Q. Is the Broli from movie 11 actually the same Broli from movies 8 and 10 resurrected in a cloned body, or is he just a mindless clone? - FDLink

A. He doesn't seem to be entirely mindless, as he seems to remember "Kakarrot" quite well (or rather, well enough to figure out that he should be attacking people while yelling that name... hehe :P). It's really hard to say, since there's no indication anywhere of just what the mental structure of the clone may be. I'm tempted to believe it's a cloned body, rather than a full-out clone. Why, you ask? For one thing, when we first see Broli in movie 11, the body is already at adult size. Movie 11 can't take place all THAT long after movie 10, which means there would have been no time to clone Broli and grow him into adulthood (despite that being their only real chance to collect his DNA).

Actually, we're really overthinking this. Movie 11 sucks! :P - VegettoEX

Q. do u know anything bout police goten and trunks...... - Senzubeanhead4

A. *cross fingers and closes eyes* Please don't turn into mailbag, please don't turn into mailbag, please don't turn into mailbag... - VegettoEX

Despite the question's ultra-super-duper vagueness, what I think we're being asked about is an illustration where they're depicted as such. In which case, I distincly remember seeing a drawing in Daizenshuu # 1, where Gohan, Goten, and Trunks are riding (and firing weapons) in a car labelled "Satan City Police." Of course, I could be completely off-base about this, not having the book to check, but that seems to be the most likely answer. But, at any rate, please... for our sake (and sanity) as well as yours, be a little more specific next time. Then again, at the same time, this was a fun one to show friends... - Julian

Q. Where does the name "Kamehameha" really originate from? And do you pronounce it as it is spelled, or do you say "Kameyameya Wave?"....I doubt you don't pronounce it the second way, but I have to know. - Katie C.

A. The story goes that Toriyama wanted to have some kind of appropriate attack for Kame-Sen'nin, the good ol' turtle elder. Since kame means "turtle" in Japanese, Toriyama started with it. Apparently he asked his wife for advise on how to finish the name of the attack, and she came up with the full title of Kamehameha. Whether or not she intentionally derived that from the name of the original Hawaiian king, we don't know; a rough translation of the Japanese would be "Turtle Destruction Wave," though, so it really could go either way.

How do you pronounce it? Well, here's a comparison:

Japanese: KA - may - HA - may - HA
FUNimation Dub #1: ka - MAY-ha - MAY-ha
FUNimation Dub #2: ka - MAYA - MAYA

Note the difference between what syllables are emphasized between the Japanese and English dub; the "may" is WAAAY overdone in the dub, turning it into an almost completely different word. Also, the syllables "MAY-ha" in the dub are much closer, in relative distance when enunciated, than they are in Japanese. Props to the voice directors for getting it right for the Budokai games, though! Good stuff... glad to hear it done correctly there. - VegettoEX

Q. Do ANY of the movies have a time where they fit perfectly into the timeline? Dead Zone tried, but all the problems about Krillin and Bulma knowing Gohan
come up. Could any fit during the numerous "X Years of Training" segments? - Knux Five

A. The only movie that can perfectly fit into the canon storyline without any continuity problems is movie nine. This would take place after the Cell Games, and after Trunks returns to his own timeline to defeat # 17, # 18, and Cell. If Trunks were to defeat them, then come to our timeline to hang out for a bit and say that he's saved his own world, it's perfectly possible (remember that he was about to use the time machine when Cell showed up). There's nothing else going on during this time that could potentially conflict with the events. It doesn't seem all THAT long after the Cell Games, and everyone looks like they have their appropriate character designs. - VegettoEX

Q. So if Trunks went back to the future to kill the androids (or so I've heard), then how come 18 is still alive to this day? - Elk

A. DBZ handles time travel much differently than, say, Back to the Future. In BttF, when something is altered in a timeline, it is reflected in the past / present / future of that same timeline. That is to say, whatever the characters do to change history directly affects them and the world around them.

For example, when Marty met his own mother in the past (as "Calvin Klein"), she would remember who "Calvin" was in the present after he returns. She never puts it together that it's her own damn son, but that's just her being stupid :P.

In DBZ, it's very different. When a timeline is disrupted, instead of it being reflected in the past / present / future of that timeline, a totally new parallel timeline is created and branched off. So when Trunks returns to the past to give Goku the cure for the heart disease, Goku does not miraclously come back to life in Trunks's own timeline; nothing changes at all. However, the events of OUR timeline are changed by Trunks. As for how he manages to keep moving between his own timeline and the one he created, it's never really explained.

We know... it's pretty confusing! - VegettoEX

Q. I am majorly confused by all the timelines started by Cell and Trunks. Is there anything I can read about them, or maybe get a good diagram explaining it all? - Mike Balkan

A. You think YOU'RE confused?! Check out the next question. - VegettoEX

THIS WEEK'S MESSAGE BOARD DISCUSSION:

Here we are in the fourth week of this new feature! I think it's a really neat thing to add to the section, and I'm glad to see people are getting involved. Please feel free to contribute to the discussion, and even start up your own!

I took it upon myself to throw my message board slaves to work for me. With the intellectual abilities of so many people, SURELY we'd come to some kind of conclusion about how all the various timelines work, what prompts the timeline splits, etc. etc. etc.

Guess what?

We're up to four pages and five timelines. And it's still confusing.

A. Read over the discussion, here! Lots of great input from quite a few people.

We're trying to stay with our weekly schedule for the section... so... e-mail us your questions for next week's update! We love getting all these questions, each week, so the more you send us, the more we can (try to) answer for you!

[ "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]