Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku

Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku (1990) is a Toei Animation TV special you can watch online on iFILM. In forty-eight minutes it fills in the backstory the main series mostly skips: the story of Goku's father.

Bardock is a low-ranking Saiyan soldier who clears planets on the orders of the tyrant Frieza. After one such raid, a dying alien curses him with a strange gift — flashes of the future. What he sees is the extinction of the entire Saiyan race, carried out by the very master he serves. With almost no time left, Bardock chooses to stand against Frieza alone, even knowing how it ends.

This 1990 spin-off expanded Akira Toriyama's universe and turned a minor name into a fan-favorite long before the franchise officially circled back to him. It runs darker than typical DBZ: fewer tournaments, more doomed-hero tragedy. A solid entry point if you want to know where Goku came from. Stream Bardock - The Father of Goku (1990) online on iFILM.