Thread by @Herms98

Age 764 to 767: far out on the galaxy’s movie rim, Cooler belatedly learns of his brother’s loss to Goku…but not how he became a cyborg and went to Earth with their dad, where they both got killed by a completely different Saiyan. News travels slowly in space. #HistoryofEver

For the timing of DBZ Movie 5, Daizenshuu 6 notes Roshi’s line about “since Goku returned from Namek”, and so places it in the 3 years between Trunks and the androids’ arrival. The Daizenshuu 7 timeline follows suit and dates it to between 764 and 767.

The movie itself makes no mention of Trunks killing Freeza, and for good reason: it was released in July of 1991, right at the same time as Trunks debuted in the manga, so during the film’s production the staff were presumably unaware of these future plot developments.

In fact, Toriyama contributed designs not only for Cooler and co, but also a color image of Super Saiyan Goku so the anime staff would know which colors to use (Super Saiyan Goku appeared in the TV series a month before the film’s debut, but the film’s production began first)

(This color image is notable for showing Super Saiyan Goku with red eyes. Apparently Toriyama didn’t settle on the blue eyes until later) kanzenshuu.com/animation-prod…

DBZ movies 1 and 5 (Garlic Jr and Cooler) are the only two movies included in the Daizenshuu 7 timeline. Daizenshuu 6 places each (pre-BoG) DBZ film between two events from the main series, while often noting how they don’t really fit into the timeline.

For instance, Daizenshuu 6 places DBZ Movie 2 between Vegeta’s attack on Earth and Goku’s arrival on Namek, based on Goku still wearing the Turtle (亀) and Kaio (界王) marks, but it notes contradictions such as how Gohan should be on Namek.

For Movie 3, it notes how Goku now has the Go (悟) mark he wore on Namek, and so places the film between his arrival on Namek and the final battle with Freeza, while noting the obvious contradiction that the film is set on Earth.

Movie 4 is likewise placed between Goku’s arrival on Namek and his transformation into a Super Saiyan, since the film hinges on him not quite being a true Super Saiyan yet. However, it again notes the contradiction that Goku should be on Namek rather than Earth.

This sort of analysis is pretty old hat for fandom of course, but the internet was still in its infancy at the time these guidebooks were released, and even now it’s unusual for an official publication to point out contradictions so directly.

Meanwhile in other anime stuff: DBZ ep.125 shows Goku and Piccolo attempting to get drivers licenses, in a plot apparently inspired by two manga title pages of them driving. The narrator says the androids are 3 years away, so this is apparently still early on in their training

On Tuesday: retournament!