On second thought... this new DBZ manga/anime miniarc, stated by Toei to be canonic, is full of contradictory elements...
It just serves as proof that putting Yamcha fighting prowess in a bad light is something that has no sense at all.
It can't be taken seriously. Chaozu and Yamcha are both incomparably stronger than Roshi, yet he shows up to fight.
It's really just because it would be impossible/over budget/too long for the movie to include every character in the fight, and Roshi makes the cut over Yamcha because... marketability I guess.
I agree with you, and yet the movie is canonic...
That said, i really appreciate a Muten show off, and i find it not too hard to accept since the Freezer infantry is mainly composed by a bunch of fool who need not only scouters but even guns to fire ki blasts... what i find annoyng is that to give credit to a character you end up with underrate another.
I do not think it was necessary for the plot to say that Yamcha had to be left behind because the foes were too strong, yet the author decided to do so.
And yet, even if that could be put aside we have a lot of contraditions:
a) Gohan goes super sayan istead of is mystic form;
b) Piccolo, a super namek with a potential that goes over the base SS form, got beaten by a warrior whose power is on par with Zarbon (30.000-40.000).
I could pass over this, stressing on those contradictions... but this time, probably, i must simply resign myself to the fact that for Toryama Yamcha is just weak.
All valid points. As for the movie being "canonic"...
So is Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.
I respect canon, but it doesn't mean that canon is always good, or even consistent within its own established world. The original author has final say, but I can't help but be baffled by some of the decisions. I personally think Revival of F is a bad idea as a whole.
That said, just because I think something is bad, doesn't mean I am incapable of making bad things myself. It also doesn't mean that an original author can't have bad ideas. A person can be a creative genius and still have bad ideas. Again, look at George Lucas. He created an amazing, imagination-capturing universe that has delighted fans for decades. But someone really should have come along during the prequels and let him know what was good and what wasn't. I can only speculate that people working with him on the prequels were too scared to say anything to him because he was so legendary by then. I can't say the same for sure with Mr. Toriyama, as his more critical editor seems to have been involved in this new string of films, but I suppose after a few decades, and fan-generated buildup, details and characters get pushed aside. Even a creator can be swept up in the torrent of fandom thought.
I actually think Toriyama probably chose Roshi out of personal preference. He always did enjoy the more comedic characters (although he could have used Buu instead).
I guess you could make it work with a little bit of suspension of disbelief. The members of the new Frieza Force may have been all over the place in terms of power (Frieza does remark on how low he believes they've fallen, I believe), so perhaps they used their scouters to determine which fighters were closest to them in level. So maybe the weaker ones went after Roshi because he was more or less around their level. Again, it's all rather convenient, but I think that explanation might work, especially since we learn later that Frieza basically rushed to Earth as soon as he discovered his new form: he probably didn't take the time and preparation to ensure he had a uniformly strong army of foot soldiers. He and Sorbet could have just cobbled together whatever remnants of Frieza's old empire were around
The answer is even more mundane: Yamcha's voice actor in japan is Tooru Furuya, which is incredibly famous and even more expensive to have onboard for a production, so whenever they want to cut movie expenses they just write Yamcha off the story.
http://i59.tinypic.com/9hhz5l.jpg
It just serves as proof that putting Yamcha fighting prowess in a bad light is something that has no sense at all.
It's really just because it would be impossible/over budget/too long for the movie to include every character in the fight, and Roshi makes the cut over Yamcha because... marketability I guess.
That said, i really appreciate a Muten show off, and i find it not too hard to accept since the Freezer infantry is mainly composed by a bunch of fool who need not only scouters but even guns to fire ki blasts... what i find annoyng is that to give credit to a character you end up with underrate another.
I do not think it was necessary for the plot to say that Yamcha had to be left behind because the foes were too strong, yet the author decided to do so.
And yet, even if that could be put aside we have a lot of contraditions:
a) Gohan goes super sayan istead of is mystic form;
b) Piccolo, a super namek with a potential that goes over the base SS form, got beaten by a warrior whose power is on par with Zarbon (30.000-40.000).
I could pass over this, stressing on those contradictions... but this time, probably, i must simply resign myself to the fact that for Toryama Yamcha is just weak.
So is Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.
I respect canon, but it doesn't mean that canon is always good, or even consistent within its own established world. The original author has final say, but I can't help but be baffled by some of the decisions. I personally think Revival of F is a bad idea as a whole.
That said, just because I think something is bad, doesn't mean I am incapable of making bad things myself. It also doesn't mean that an original author can't have bad ideas. A person can be a creative genius and still have bad ideas. Again, look at George Lucas. He created an amazing, imagination-capturing universe that has delighted fans for decades. But someone really should have come along during the prequels and let him know what was good and what wasn't. I can only speculate that people working with him on the prequels were too scared to say anything to him because he was so legendary by then. I can't say the same for sure with Mr. Toriyama, as his more critical editor seems to have been involved in this new string of films, but I suppose after a few decades, and fan-generated buildup, details and characters get pushed aside. Even a creator can be swept up in the torrent of fandom thought.
I guess you could make it work with a little bit of suspension of disbelief. The members of the new Frieza Force may have been all over the place in terms of power (Frieza does remark on how low he believes they've fallen, I believe), so perhaps they used their scouters to determine which fighters were closest to them in level. So maybe the weaker ones went after Roshi because he was more or less around their level. Again, it's all rather convenient, but I think that explanation might work, especially since we learn later that Frieza basically rushed to Earth as soon as he discovered his new form: he probably didn't take the time and preparation to ensure he had a uniformly strong army of foot soldiers. He and Sorbet could have just cobbled together whatever remnants of Frieza's old empire were around