Many people bash Dragon Ball GT for being simply a commercial hit by Toei Animation, because it's not made by Toriyama, and because Z is 100000 times better. I can agree on these points, they are all true, but GT is not as bad as it could have been.
Biggest Dragon Ball fans know full well that after GT ended, fans were so wanting for more, even if GT wasn't quite the big deal - it was even cancelled after only 64 episodes, compared to the total of over 400 of the previous 2 series. Many, many fan-fictions were made (at times, I even made a few, I so loved the world created by Toriyama). Dragon Ball GT, in a way, is a fan-fiction, as it's hardly even related to Toriyama, if not for a few concepts like the SSJ4. So, a Dragon Ball made purely to make the crying fans shut up, by different authors who didn't properly follow the previous events of the series? Well that sounds just terrible. The series though, isn't all that bad.
The Dragon Ball fan-base was always split in 2 - those who preferred the comicity and absurdity of the 1st Dragon Ball series, and those who loved the sci-fi macho fights between ubermuscle'd saiyans of Z. GT obviously tries to give bread to both fan-bases, making the 1st part of the GT series a tribute to the 1st series with all the searching of the Dragon Balls - some plots even rip-off completely previous plots from the 1st series! Even the trio, Goku, Trunks and Pan seems a homage to the Goku - Yamcha - Bulma trio of 1st series. In fact, the 1st part of the series is actually pretty lame. It gets interesting in some parts, but only the Baby part really changes the things for the best, thus making GT actually worth a watch.
This part is obviously a homage to Z, more like to Buu series, and it's the longest enemy in GT, lasting quite some episodes - which is good, because I find this part far the most interesting in the series. Here we get some insane combats, some actually pretty inventive, but most of them kind of missing the thrills of DBZ, but with many situations that are resolved by luck and not by skills. This thing happens later on as well, in the following enemies, which are far less interesting than Baby in fact. The way Toei tries to continue the android-saga over 3-4 years after it ended is quite mad, as it really adds no depth - except for the final words about it maybe, which I won't spoil. The last part of the series focuses on a situations that fans were "what-if-ing" from several years - what would happen if the Dragon Balls turned against our friends? Well, despite the logical happening of that, this part is actually very boring, and only at the very end it gets any interesting, even thought it's very much like the Janemba movie of Z. The ending is fairly logical, but it's not worth the wait, and I think a better ending should have been made.
At the end, GT is not bad, considering. The core fighting is still very good, and some fights are really well-done, especially for the time. Some parts though fail very hard, because they completely rip-off earlier plots. The characters aren't as good as before either, with Pan being so whiny that it's often annoying. Goku turned out to be stupid as well. And there's some heavy plot-hole. But at the core, this is Dragon Ball. If you liked the mindless combats in Z, there's no reason for you to miss GT either. Just be prepared that GT is a cheap and unofficial way to end an amazing series, and while it's not bad compared to general animes, it's quite a downfall for Toriyama.
A must for hardcore fans, otherwise you won't be missing much.
Biggest Dragon Ball fans know full well that after GT ended, fans were so wanting for more, even if GT wasn't quite the big deal - it was even cancelled after only 64 episodes, compared to the total of over 400 of the previous 2 series. Many, many fan-fictions were made (at times, I even made a few, I so loved the world created by Toriyama). Dragon Ball GT, in a way, is a fan-fiction, as it's hardly even related to Toriyama, if not for a few concepts like the SSJ4. So, a Dragon Ball made purely to make the crying fans shut up, by different authors who didn't properly follow the previous events of the series? Well that sounds just terrible. The series though, isn't all that bad.
The Dragon Ball fan-base was always split in 2 - those who preferred the comicity and absurdity of the 1st Dragon Ball series, and those who loved the sci-fi macho fights between ubermuscle'd saiyans of Z. GT obviously tries to give bread to both fan-bases, making the 1st part of the GT series a tribute to the 1st series with all the searching of the Dragon Balls - some plots even rip-off completely previous plots from the 1st series! Even the trio, Goku, Trunks and Pan seems a homage to the Goku - Yamcha - Bulma trio of 1st series. In fact, the 1st part of the series is actually pretty lame. It gets interesting in some parts, but only the Baby part really changes the things for the best, thus making GT actually worth a watch.
This part is obviously a homage to Z, more like to Buu series, and it's the longest enemy in GT, lasting quite some episodes - which is good, because I find this part far the most interesting in the series. Here we get some insane combats, some actually pretty inventive, but most of them kind of missing the thrills of DBZ, but with many situations that are resolved by luck and not by skills. This thing happens later on as well, in the following enemies, which are far less interesting than Baby in fact. The way Toei tries to continue the android-saga over 3-4 years after it ended is quite mad, as it really adds no depth - except for the final words about it maybe, which I won't spoil. The last part of the series focuses on a situations that fans were "what-if-ing" from several years - what would happen if the Dragon Balls turned against our friends? Well, despite the logical happening of that, this part is actually very boring, and only at the very end it gets any interesting, even thought it's very much like the Janemba movie of Z. The ending is fairly logical, but it's not worth the wait, and I think a better ending should have been made.
At the end, GT is not bad, considering. The core fighting is still very good, and some fights are really well-done, especially for the time. Some parts though fail very hard, because they completely rip-off earlier plots. The characters aren't as good as before either, with Pan being so whiny that it's often annoying. Goku turned out to be stupid as well. And there's some heavy plot-hole. But at the core, this is Dragon Ball. If you liked the mindless combats in Z, there's no reason for you to miss GT either. Just be prepared that GT is a cheap and unofficial way to end an amazing series, and while it's not bad compared to general animes, it's quite a downfall for Toriyama.
A must for hardcore fans, otherwise you won't be missing much.