Bardock

From Dragon Ball

Bardock
Kana	バーダック
Romaji	Bādakku
Anime name	Bardock
Manga name	Burdock
Alternate name(s)	Barduck
First appearance	TV special Bardock - The Father of Goku
Appears in
Race	Saiyan
Family Goku (Son) Raditz (Son) Chichi (Daughter-in-law) Future Gohan (Grandson, alternate timeline) Gohan (Grandson) Goten (Grandson) Videl (Granddaughter-in-law) Pan (Great-Granddaughter) Goku Jr. (Great-Great-Great-Grandson)
Character Listing - Category

Bardock (バーダック Bādakku), is a character in Dragon Ball Z. It was only after the television special, Bardock: The Father of Goku, first aired in Japan on October 17, 1990,^[1] that Bardock was given a brief cameo in two panels of the manga by Toriyama, who helped design the character for Toei Doga's theatrical production.^[2] It is interesting to note that this was the first time in Japanese history that a fictional character would be shown in a manga after being created for the anime as filler material.^[3] His name is a pun on "burdock" (バードック bādokku), an herb. While Viz Media's manga use "Bardock", and FUNimation Productions' Japanese-language English-subtitled anime also use "Bardock",^[4] the FUNimation English anime dubs use "Bardock".^[5] Some Japanese merchandise even use "Barduck".^[6]

Nearly all Saiyans are named using English-language vegetable puns. Bardock's name (Bādakku) is pun on "greater burdock", a type of root vegetable. In English, the pun is either rendered directly as "Bardock", as the Japanese "ā" is often used to represent both pronunciations.

Contents 1 History 2 Personality 3 Manga 4 Name 5 Special abilities 6 Voice actors 7 Video games 8 Trivia 8.1 Sources 9 Notes and references

[edit] History

The biological father of Kakarot (Goku on Earth) and Raditz, Bardock is a low-class Saiyan mercenary that leads a small group comprised of four others (Toma, Fasha, Shugesh and Borgos); who, like all Saiyans, travel in groups from planet to planet to conquer them by clearing the planet of its inhabitants for a high price, only on the orders of the tyrant king Frieza. While on a mission, he is given the gift of precognitive foresight by an inhabitant of a planet he and his team conquered (this "gift" actually being a curse from this warrior as revenge against Bardock), and collapses shortly afterwards. During rest and recovery, he is suddenly overtaken by futuristic visions in his mind and witnesses the destruction of his home Planet Vegeta by the hand of Frieza. While still recovering, it is mentioned by his doctors that his battle power is just reaching 10,000, and may become stronger than King Vegeta.^[7]Gradually, Frieza had feared the increasing power of Bardock and his team, and orders Dodoria to slaughter the five-man squad on their next mission. Bardock is shocked to find out that his teammates had been betrayed and murdered by the orders of Frieza, as they completed missions that even Frieza's elites were too afraid to take on, and he vows to avenge his fallen comrades and is suddenly assaulted by Dodoria's Elite. Being able to kill off the entourage, Bardock is overpowered by Dodoria, and left for dead. He survives, almost barely, and desperately struggles against time to change his planet's grim fate. He begins by warning some of the people of Planet Vegeta about Frieza's plan; none gave ear to his attention, and simply thought that he was in way over his head. Seeing no way as to convince anyone, Bardock takes it on his own by attempting to fight Frieza head on, not just for his planet's sake, but to avenge those he killed. He ultimately fails at stopping Frieza's rampage on the planet and is killed, along with the rest of the planet's inhabitants, by Frieza's attack. Moments before his death, he has a vision of his son, Kakarot, challenging and defeating the warlord which brings a smile to him, his only regret is that he never had a chance to hold Kakarot as a baby in his arms. His bitter struggle had come to an end.

[edit] Personality

Bardock displays personality traits fairly typical of Saiyans. He loves fighting and destruction, and is a cold-blooded killer. He seemed to have an overall fearless personality, since he and his team took ones that even Frieza's elites were too scared to do, and he even didn't show any fear when he confronted Frieza. For the most part he didn't acknowledge his son being born, since he knew he was only going to be sent away to another planet. Despite that, he deeply cared for the other members of his team, and was enraged when he found out they were killed. He was apparently also loyal to the rest of his race since he tried to warn them of Frieza's attempt to destroy their planet.

During his last confrontation with Frieza, he seemed to have a change of heart, and implied that after he dealt with Frieza, he would no longer exterminate races.

[edit] Manga

The author, Akira Toriyama, liked the character enough to insert him in a volume of the manga in two separate panels. When the character of Frieza notices a resemblance between Goku and "the Saiyan who resisted until the end". Narrated text confirms that the Saiyan that Frieza killed many years ago was Goku's father. In the first chapter of DBZ manga, Bardock is alluded to when Raditz comments Goku looks just like his father.

[edit] Name

Bardock's name is, like all other Saiyans, a pun on a plant. In this case, the vegetable "burdock". The word "burdock" transliterated into katakana is "badokku" (バードック, bādokku), but the character's name is written as "badakku" (バーダック, bādakku), changing the 'do' character to 'da'. This character change actually makes the kana sound more like "Bardock" to English speakers, making it difficult to accurately romanize the word to show the pun. The word could be romanized as "Burdock", "Barduck", "Badack" or any combination of those syllables.

[edit] Special abilities

• Riot Javelin (also known as Final Spirit Cannon): A blue ball of ki that Bardock used in an attempt to stop Freeza.

• Heat Phalanx: A heated ki punch. (Only used in the Budokai and Shin Budokai series, as well as Burst Limit.)

• Saiyan Spirit: A combo used by Burdock in Shin Budokai: Another Road and Burst Limit. It is used in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 but was called Spirit of Saiyans. It is possibly his strongest attack in the Budokai series. This attack is never seen in the manga or the movie special.

• Great Ape: Like all Saiyans with a tail, Burdock can transform into a Giant Ape at the sight of a full moon (or similar sources).

• Power Ball (not stated in the manga, only mentioned in Ocean Dub): By combining his ki with the planet's atmosphere, Burdock can create a ball of condensed Bruits ray, which simulates the effects of a full moon, allowing him to transform into a Great Ape.

• Divination: A psychic power "gift" granted by a Kanassajin, Burdock was able to see into the future (though he has limited control of when he wanted to see these images).

[edit] Voice actors

• Japanese Dub: Masako Nozawa

• Latin American Dub: Mario Castañeda

• Ocean Dub: Paul Dobson

• FUNimation Dub: Sonny Strait

[edit] Video games

Bardock appears as a playable character in several Dragon Ball Z video games such as: Dragon Ball Z: Sagas, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (with Great Ape form), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (with Great Ape form), Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road. In the video game Dragon Ball Z: Super Sonic Warriors 2, Bardock can be selected as a support character. Also in Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, Bardock is available both as a playable character and a 'drama piece' or ally character. He features a purple and blue alternate costume, with a red scouter, thus looking much like Turles. Bardock has been confirmed to be in Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World.

[edit] Trivia

• Bardock was likely the strongest Saiyan warrior in the Saiyan-lower castes at the time of his death.

• Near the time of his death, Bardock was rumored to have a power level of nearly 10,000, which was said to surpass that of even King Vegeta.

• In the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Z, Bardock was said to be a scientist, but this is not stated in the manga or any other version of the anime.

• It is interesting to note that Bardock never once mentioned his son Raditz (though his line of "His son being born a long time ago" may have been a reference to Raditz, as he is the older brother of Goku).

[edit] Sources

• Taken directly from the anime special Bardock - The Father of Goku and manga chapters.
• Taken directly from an episode in the Saiyan Conflict, during Goku and Vegeta's battle.

[edit] Notes and references

Related characters
Goku • Raditz • Tora • Fasha • Borgos • Shugesh • Dodoria • Frieza