Though a divisive entry in the Dragon Ball franchise, Dragon Ball GT has its fans. The show remains memorable for many reasons, including for introducing new concepts like the Super Saiyan 4 transformation and the Shadow Dragons.
That said, those who watched the Dragon Ball Z anime and its respective movies likely found certain elements of GT familiar. Though meant to be a continuation of both the Dragon Ball manga and its anime adaptations (excluding Super, which did not exist at the time), GT incorporated a number of anime-only elements, along with techniques and even major plot points from the Z movies.
10 Movies: Goku Used The Sun To Defeat Cooler And Baby
Goku and his friends usually destroy their enemies with some sort of energy blast or physical attack. Dragon Ball Z Movie 5, known stateside as Cooler’s Revenge, introduced a new method of dispatching Dragon Ball villains. When Cooler prepared a massive energy ball to wipe out the Earth, Goku retaliated with a Kamehameha that pushed Cooler and the ball all the way into the Earth’s Sun.
This unique form of defeating enemies returned in Dragon Ball GT, when Goku blasted Baby and his spacecraft into the Sun with a Kamehameha. While Cooler survived his contact with intense solar heat, Baby was instead incinerated.
9 Filler: Goku’s Fear Of Needles Was Not Present In The Manga
Many Dragon Ball Z filler scenes tended to be comical. A famous example is Goku’s fear of hospital syringes, which was completely absent from the manga. Goku first showed his trypanophobia on Earth while recovering from battling Vegeta, then again when seeing a needle on Namek.
In GT, Goku kept trying to flee a Planet Pital hospital because of his needle fear, even though he had no need of a doctor’s shot. Later, a rigged game of chance against Sugoro exposed Goku’s greatest fear: Chi-Chi in a nurse uniform scolding Goku for being irresponsible before poking him with a gigantic hospital needle.
8 Movies: The Sword Tapion Gave Trunks (Although It’s Only In GT’s Credits)
In the 13th Dragon Ball Z movie (which Funimation titled Wrath of the Dragon), Trunks was given Tapion’s sword, with the end credits implying it was the same sword Future Trunks wielded. In the episode intro to Dragon Ball GT, Trunks can be seen wielding what’s presumably Tapion’s sword, although he never actually used it in the story itself.
There’s no real reason why Trunks couldn’t have used the sword in the show proper, although Wrath of the Dragon’s implication that the weapon was the same blade as Future Trunks’ would’ve probably been ignored, due to continuity issues.
7 Filler: Hell And Its Ogres (Including Goz And Mez) Returned In The Super 17 Saga
While mentioned, Hell (jokingly renamed the “Home For Infinite Losers” in Funimation’s censored dub) was never actually depicted in the Dragon Ball manga. Similarly, while King Yemma’s leaner Ogre assistants appeared in the manga, the buffer Ogres watching over Hell, including Goz and Mez, were no-shows.
Conversely, Hell and the Ogres who guarded it appeared frequently in Dragon Ball Z, with Goz and Mez even challenging Goku for the entire episode they debuted in. These particular Ogres reappeared in GT during the Super 17 Saga and in the show’s final episode, though Goz and Mez themselves only made a minor cameo.
6 Movies: Goku's Dragon Fist Technique From Wrath Of The Dragon
Wrath of the Dragon depicted Goku defeating the giant Hirudegarn with a new attack: the Dragon Fist. The technique involved Goku unleashing a golden energy dragon from his clenched fist that closely resembled Shenron.
Goku used the Dragon Fist in Dragon Ball GT often, finishing Super 17 and Eis Shenron with the move. He later tried it on Omega Shenron, first having the golden dragon wrap around Omega as it did Hirudegarn, then having it punch right through Omega's body. The attack blew Omega apart, but the Shadow Dragon easily put himself back together.
5 Filler: Villains Keeping Their Bodies In The Afterlife
Akira Toriyama’s rules for the Dragon Ball afterlife are simple. Fighters with noble hearts can keep their bodies if sent to the next world; everyone else has their souls cleansed before being reincarnated on the mortal plane. Toriyama's only exception has been Frieza, who seemingly had a body (if not his original one) in the afterlife.
The Dragon Ball Z anime, however, introduced many more exceptions… primarily villains. Cell, King Cold, the Ginyu Force, and Babidi all had bodies in the Other World but were forced to live in Hell. The Super 17 Saga contributed to the trend, showing other villains in the afterlife with bodies.
4 Movies: Enemies From Hell Returned In GT, Just Like In Fusion Reborn
Dragon Ball GT mined the twelfth Dragon Ball Z movie, titled Fusion Reborn by Funimation, for a lot of ideas. A major example was reusing the subplot where an army of killed-off villains returned to attack Earth.
The circumstances, however, were slightly different. Movie 12’s resurrected villains were more coordinated, with Frieza leading an army of past Dragon Ball enemies. GT’s resurrected villain attack was less orderly, though technically led by Doctors Myuu and Gero; Frieza, meanwhile, stayed behind with Cell to fight Goku in Hell. Similarly, only one movie villain reappeared in GT, while several did in Fusion Reborn.
3 Filler: The Tuffles Created GT's First Major Villain, Baby
Despite being a crucial part of Saiyan history and created by Akira Toriyama, the Tuffles never appeared in the actual Dragon Ball manga. Instead, Toriyama passed along designs and the backstory for the Tuffles to the makers of Dragon Ball Z anime. King Kai’s explanation of the species, along with all other mentions of the Tuffles, are therefore filler.
Regardless, the Tuffles became a huge part of Dragon Ball GT, which revealed Baby as their ultimate superweapon against the Saiyans. Funnily enough, Baby shared very similar origins to Hatchiyack, another being created by Tuffles (specifically Dr. Lychee) to exterminate Saiyans.
2 Movies: Cooler Appeared Briefly Among The Resurrected Villains In The Super 17 Saga
Most of the villains from the Dragon Ball Z movies were absent from GT, nor were they mentioned. Even when past villains returned as part of the revived enemies in the Super 17 Saga, no movie foes were in sight… with one major exception.
When the fighters from Hell were first shown going through Doctors Myuu and Gero’s portal, Frieza’s brother, Cooler could be prominently seen among them. After that scene, however, he did not reappear in the storyline, possibly because most Dragon Ball Z movies weren’t considered canon even then… though it's somewhat unclear whether the first Cooler movie contradicts continuity directly.
1 Movies: Goku And Vegeta Fused Into Fusion Reborn's Gogeta
Perhaps the biggest element Dragon Ball GT lifted from Wrath of the Dragon was Gogeta. The fan-favorite fusion is famous for having destroyed Janemba with his “Stardust Breaker” (also called the “Soul Punisher”) technique.
Gogeta returned during Dragon Ball GT’s Shadow Dragon arc. The events of Wrath of the Dragon were never mentioned outright but were alluded to, with Gogeta even repeating his most famous line from the movie. Gogeta looked markedly different in GT however, as he was not only a Super Saiyan 4 but curiously had red hair—an oddity, as the hair on Super Saiyan 4 Goku’s and Vegeta’s heads is black.