Burdock (Dragon Ball)

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Burdock
Japanese バーダック
Romaji Bādakku
Anime Name Bardock
Manga Name Burdock
Alternate Name(s) Barduck
First Appearance Chapter #307
DBZ Chapter #110
Appears in character appears in the Dragon Ball Z seriescharacter appears in Dragon Ball Movie(s) almost exclusively
Race Saiyan
Family
DB Character Listing - Category

Burdock is a fictional character from the anime and manga of Dragon Ball Z. He is a saiyan, and the biological father of both Raditz and the hero of the series, Son Goku.

Burdock is the first known fictional character portrayed in a manga that was actually introduced in an anime filler. To be specific, his first appearance was in the Dragon Ball Z television special Tatta Hitori no Saishû Kessen ~Furîza ni Idonda Z Senshi Kakarotto no Chichi~ (A Lonesome, Final Battle: The Father of Z-Warrior Son Goku, who Challenged Freeza), released by FUNimation as "Bardock: The Father of Goku". The author of the Dragon Ball manga, Akira Toriyama liked the character so much that he was given a brief appearance in a flashback in the manga itself.

Burdock also looks very similar to one of his sons, Son Goku, or Kakarrot. He also is a lookalike to the villain Tullece.

His name is a pun on burdock, which is an herb.

Contents

[edit] History

The father of Kakarrot (known as Son Goku), Burdock was the leader of a small group of saiyan mercenaries who went from planet to planet, conquering the inhabitants with their overwhelming power and clearing the planets for purchase. They did this in order to prepare the then desolate planets for Freeza to be sold on the Galactic Market for a high price. Although originally classed as lower level saiyans with limited fighting capabilities, Freeza becomes worried about Burdock and his team's steadily increasing power. Freeza sends his elite warriors to kill Burdock and his group, but he had stayed behind, recovering from an injury that he received earlier while he and his team conquered planet Kanassa. Burdock realizes that this injury allows him to see into the future, and he has a vision about his home planet's destruction by the hands of Freeza.

Burdock arrives only to find his team slaughtered. Realizing that this was Freeza's doing, he vows revenge on the tyrant. Burdock is forced to fight an elite of Freeza's named Dodoria, who defeats Burdock and leaves him for dead. But Burdock recovers and returns to Planet Vegeta and tries to warn his fellow saiyans about the approach of Freeza.

Though severely injured, Burdock is driven by his apocalyptic visions of the future to confront Freeza. It seems that Freeza's concerns were justified; Burdock plows through elite legions of his mercenaries, even briefly getting close enough to launch an attack on Freeza. However, Freeza easily nullifies Burdock's attack and unleashes an even greater attack: his infamous Death Ball; an energy blast so massive and so powerful that it can destroy an entire planet. As Burdock is consumed by the attack, he has a final vision of the defeat of Freeza by the hands of his son.

[edit] Manga

Burdock's short appearance in the manga.
Enlarge
Burdock's short appearance in the manga.
Burdock's demise in the manga by Freeza's attack.
Enlarge
Burdock's demise in the manga by Freeza's attack.

The author of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama, loved the TV special and Burdock himself so much, that he decided to put him in two panels of the manga. In said panels, Freeza remarks on how Son Goku looks just like a saiyan that he killed many years ago, a saiyan who resisted until the very end. Narrated text confirms that the saiyan that Freeza killed many years ago was Son Goku's father.

[edit] Name

Burdock's name is, like all other saiyans, a pun on a plant. In this case, the herb burdock. The word "burdock" transliterated into katakana is バードック (bādokku) but the character's name is written as バーダック (bādakku), changing the do character to da. This character change actually makes the kana sound more like "Burdock" 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.

Viz's manga uses "Burdock" while FUNimation's anime dubs use "Bardock", and some Japanese merchandise uses "Barduck".

[edit] Voices

Toei Animation:

FUNimation:

[edit] Family Tree

Ox King
 
 
Grandpa Gohan
 
 
Burdock
 
 
 
 
 
 
adoptive
grandfather ->
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Chi-Chi
 
 
 
 
 
Son Goku
 
Raditz
 
Hercule
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Son Goten
 
Son Gohan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Videl
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Son Goku Jr.
 
 
 
 
 

[edit] Video games

  • In the bonus voices in Budokai 3, Burdock must meet Vegeta and then Goku and then help them defeat Freeza as he must have jumped into the future in his visions.
  • In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Burdock got his own side-story where he didn't get killed by Freeza. Instead, he kills the tyrant and lives on to challenge his son.