CrazedFanboy

In the Saban dub of Dragon Ball Z, this episode marks the start of the conflict between Nappa/Vegeta and Earth's Special Forces, even though Nappa technically doesn't start fighting until episode 18 (20-something in the non-censored version of the series).

The prior episodes mainly revolve around the training of Earth's Special Forces, so most of Saban's censorship in those episodes was related to Goku's misadventures in the afterlife (ie changing "Hell" to "Home for Infinite Losers" in episode 8). With this one, we start seeing absurd dialogue used to cover up mass carnage. Such as when Vegeta quips, "Too bad it's Sunday, those buildings would have been filled tomorrow" just SECONDS after literally destroying a city that was shown to be packed full of people. Aside from the censorship, the Saban dub for this episode and the rest of the Saiyan Saga is still good in my opinion, especially in terms of music, so I'd recommend it over the uncensored redub. Just be prepared for some of the most obvious attempts to cover up death.

Eric Stoltz plays a laidback slacker archetype named Richter, and his witty interactions with an assortment of quirky rural characters are what make this a fairly enjoyable film. Joanna Going is "going" against type by playing a trashy stripper. The same can be said for Spader, who plays a similarly lowlife character, in stark contrast to the smug yuppie roles we associate with him.

The scenes with Richter's mother (Mary Tyler Moore) are noticeably more comedic in nature, and almost feel like they're from a different movie. But they do provide a distraction from the confusing main plot, and the scene where Going's character meets Richter's family is probably one of the most entertaining parts of the film.

As far as the soundtrack goes, all I can say is that it isn't cinematic at all, although I can understand why they went the route they did, considering the setting.

This comes off very much like "X-Files: The Animated Series". The acting, sound design and general themes all owe a massive debt to that show. However, there's also a heavy emphasis on action, which is to be expected, seeing as this was a Saturday Morning Cartoon from Saban Entertainment, the creators of "Power Rangers".

My favorite aspects of B.A.D. are the soundtrack and gritty storylines. The music does the job in the scarier scenes, but also has an ethereal quality to it. The stories, while generally falling into the "monster of the week" pattern, are still far more interesting than typical Saturday Morning fare.

This likely was a victim of the crappy network it aired on (UPN). I could potentially see B.A.D. being more successful on either FOX Kids or first-run syndication. If there's any Saturday Morning Cartoon of this period that deserved another season, it was this one. Thankfully though, not long afterwards a similar animated series called "Roswell Conspiracies" came along and was sort of able to replicate what B.A.D. had done.