Ask John: Is There 200+ Episodes of Dragon Ball?

Question:
I just recently came across a few sites that said there were 200+ episodes of Dragon Ball. Is this true? I thought DB only had 153 episodes and 4 movies. I have also heard a rumor that the whole series of original DB is available subtitled. Is this true?

Answer:
Today Ask John contains what may be considered SPOILER information about what happens in later episodes of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT. To view scroll down the page till the text appears again.

Let me see, if memory serves me correctly, the original Dragonball TV series ran for 153 episodes. It was followed by Dragonball Z, which ran for 319 episodes and had 2 hour-long TV specials. The third television series, Dragonball GT, ran for 64 episodes and 1 hour-long TV movie. There were 3 movies in the original Dragonball series: Curse of the Blood Rubies, Sleeping Beauty in Devil Castle, and Adventure in Penguin Village. The fourth Dragonball movie, Path of the Strongest, was the 10th anniversary Dragonball movie, and the last film produced. It was released after the 13 Dragonball Z movies (which are all side-stories that do not directly relate to the TV series story-line).

The Dragonball saga, although broken up into 3 TV series, makes up a single continuing story. Depending upon where you choose to begin, the saga begins with Goku growing up in Dragonball, learning to fight, defeating Ma, defeating Ma Jr. (better known as Piccolo), and getting married to his childhood friend ChiChi. Dragonball Z reveals that Goku is actually an alien. Dragonball Z, the most famous of the three series, traces Goku’s life into middle-age, his death, and his return to life. By the end of Dragonball Z, Goku’s first son Gohan has grown up, married Videl and fathered a daughter, Goku’s grand-daughter, Pan. Goku’s second son, Goten, is still a child at the end of the series. Also, by the end of DBZ, Goku has mastered the ability to power-up to Super Saiyajin level 3. Bulma, by this time, has married Vegeta and given birth to two children: Trunks and Bra; Kurilin has married Android 18 and fathered a daughter named Maron. The two DBZ TV specials are side-stories to the TV series. The first special focuses on Goku’s father, Bardock’s, unsuccessful struggle to prevent Freezer from destroying the Saiyan home planet. The second TV special is an alternate-future episode revealing what would have happened if the androids 17 and 18 had defeated all the the Z warriors. Dragonball GT begins about five years after the conclusion of DBZ. In DB GT, Goku’s childhood enemy Pilaf returns and accidentally uses the “black dragonballs” to return the 50 year old Goku to a child’s body. Goku, Trunks and Pan then set off across the galaxy to recover the disbursed dragonballs and return Goku to normal. Along the way the Earth is destroyed, Piccolo dies permanently, and Goku learns to power-up to Super Saiyajin level 4. At the conclusion of GT, the great dragon, feeling taken-advantage of after so many years of giving out wishes, refuses to grant Goku’s wish to bring back to life everyone that’s died in GT. Goku makes a deal with the dragon: in exchange for one final wish, Goku will live forever with the Dragon. The Dragonball GT TV special is set 100 years later and shows Goku’s great, great grandson discovering his own Saiyan heritage and power.