DBGT: The Lost Episodes
Vol. 1 - Reaction (Uncut)

The Skinny: Goku, shrunk down to a kid-size thanks to familiar thieves he hasn't seen in ages, begins a journey to search throughout the galaxy for the mystical black-star Dragon Balls with his granddaughter Pan and family friend Trunks.

Rating: 13+
Where Found: In video stores courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment

Pros: Finally, the "lost" first episodes of Dragon Ball GT are presented the way they were meant to be seen.
Cons: The textless opening was just for the "Grand Tour" rap version of the theme, not "Dan Dan."

My Take:

Why didn't Goku just go to the Namekian planet using that teleportation method, ask their dragon to bring the seven black-star dragon balls back to Earth as well as transform him back to his regular size? That would have saved so many problems. Of course we wouldn't have much of a show, now would we?

Dragon Ball GT has been criticized for being nothing more than a toyetic series. Like the movies, it's completely out of canon with the original works of Akira Toriyama. It never reached the popularity of Dragon Ball nor DBZ in Japan and, out of the entire run of the series, it's the shortest. When FUNimation brought the series to North America last year, they completely axed the "quest" portion of the series and started with the "action" side of the series, similar to the Freeza and Cell sagas of the series. The first episode of the dubbed version compiled many scenes that led to the new starting point of the series. The "Lost Episodes" DVD volumes will fill in the void that had been missing.

Everybody knows the story by now, but these episodes show exactly how Goku became a child once again and how his new journey began. The name of the first volume, Reaction, is a perfect one since we're witness to the reactions of Emperor Pilaf and his loyal army seeing Goku for the first time in what seems like ages (they were last seen a couple of episodes after the Piccolo Saga ended on Dragon Ball). After making an idiotic wish (well, Pilaf didn't really wish that . . . he just got caught up in the moment not realizing what he was saying), we see the reactions of all of Goku's family and friends to the now diminuitive hero. Of course, that's nothing compared to the reaction of hearing the news from King Kai that they now have to scour the universe to find the dragon balls.

These are the episodes that set up the story we're now seeing on Cartoon Network's Toonami every Saturday night at 10 PM EST/PST. These will probably never be seen on US television, so the DVD releases are your only chance to see Dragon Ball GT the way it was meant to be seen (plus, you have the option to hear the original Japanese theme rather than the infamous "Take It To Da Grand Tour" theme as well as the closing themes and eyecatches).

Dragon Ball GT: Reaction is a must have for all Dragon Ball fans and is the ultimate beginning to the final chapter of the popular franchise.