Does the BARDOCK SPECIAL fit in with DB-MINUS & DBS: BROLY?
YES! And here's how...
((I edited the clothing colours of Bardock & his crew from the Bardock Special to make it match the colours they have in the DBS: Broly film.))
DB-Minus begins with Bardock & Leek commiting genocide on an unknown planet. Then, they recieved orders for all Saiyans to come back to Planet Vegeta.
Bardock returns home and hears how Freeza is asking about the Super Saiyan legend. Bardock begins putting together that Freeza may be planning to kill all Saiyans. (And it is known that Freeza despises how disobedient the Saiyans are due to their Saiyan pride.)
Instead of getting psychic visions from an alien fish-man, Bardock puts things together on his own and decides to act upon his suspicions. Personally, I like this way better, but both are cool in different ways.
Bardock greets his partner Gine then asks about his sons. After being informed that Raditz is off world, he plans to send baby Kakarrot off planet too. When Gine asks why, he tells her that Freeza is up to something & he senses the presence of death. As someone who has been that presence of death for countless other beings, Bardock would know that feeling all too well.
That night, Bardock & Gine send Kakarrot to Earth & plan to go get him back if Bardock's suspicions are wrong.
They also inform Raditz, but they tell Raditz that his brother was sent as an infiltration child. Why? Because Freeza could be listening on the communicators.
It's stated that most of the Saiyans should be back in a month or so by a Freeza soldier. However, Freeza is impatient & puts the time limit at 1 month. There is plenty of time for events from the Bardock special to take place within a month's timeframe. This also means that there were other Saiyans besides Goku who survived Planet Vegeta's destruction (like the two Saiyans who were with Vegeta, Nappa, & Raditz) because they didn't come back within that month. But survivors like them eventually died.
Freeza also mentions "Super Saiyan" & "Super Saiyan God." Many fans think this is bad, but both are Saiyan legends. The legend of the Super Saiyan is more commonly known, while barely few Saiyans know of the Super Saiyan God legend. It's reasonable to believe at least a few Saiyans knew of the SSG legend.
Bardock's crew even makes a cameo in the DBS: Broly movie.
Now we mix in the events of the Bardock T.V. special!
Some time after Kakarrot was sent to Earth, Bardock is wearing his "T.V. Special" armor. Bardock & his crew take out another civilization, then Bardock passes out and he needs medical attention. He's been fighting and not resting enough. He wakes from being healed and learns his crew is already conquering another planet.
At this point, Bardock would be putting on different armor similar to the Freeza Force armor he wears in DB-Minus & DBS Broly. (Implying he goes through a lot of armor.)
(I edited the wristbands to blue instead of red)
When Bardock arrives to join his crew, we get the scene where Bardock finds his crew dead from a betrayal by Freeza. His suspicions are confirmed. Bardock then has his final conversation with the dying Toma.
This could be the result of Freeza punishing this group for continiously going on missions instead of following his orders to gather on Planet Vegeta.
Bardock grabs Toma's blood-soaked armband & wears it as a bandana.
Bardock fights and defeats the incoming Freeza's soldiers. But, Dodoria then attacks him & leaves him for dead.
After Bardock survives this near-death battle, his armor is partially destroyed. He returns back to his planet in hopes of rallying warriors to fight Freeza. But, when he tries to convince others, they mock him & say he is overreacting. Bardock realizes he is on his own.
(Bardock likely didn't have time to contact Gine.)
An injured Bardock rushes out to space to fight Freeza alone. He battles & blasts his way through hundreds of Freeza Force soldiers.
At some point during the battle, Bardock loses his bandana.
Freeza makes his appearance & throws a Death Ball at Bardock and Planet Vegeta. Bardock fires his Spirit Canon as his final act of defiance.
Gine & all other Saiyans witness their doom headed straight for them. Bardock's last hopes are in his sons who are off world. All of the Saiyans on Planet Vegeta are destroyed...
Some time later, a Saiyan space pod arrives on Earth. Son Gohan then discovers the young Kakarrot then raises him as his own & Grampa Gohan names him "Gokū."
So, events of the Bardock Special were already implied to have happened, but obviously in slightly different ways. Bardock's crew is shown in DBS: Broly & there is at most a 1 month time period before Freeza destroyed Planet Vegeta. This doesn't erase the Bardock Special, it just alters it to fit this "canon" version/the Main Continuity of the story that Toriyama wanted to tell. (Although, the Bardock Special was never officially "canon" to begin with. Us fans just assumed and wanted it to be... but that's a different subject all together.)
Also, DB Minus & DBS: Broly don't make Bardock look weaker because he cared about his family & had pride in them. Is King Vegeta weak for caring about his son or nah? Does it make Z Bardock weak because he cared for his crew? We can't be hypocritical.
(In "extra" art that Toyotaro did, he interprets that Bardock's crew was killed while Bardock was headed to Planet Vegeta & their mysterious disappearance is what makes Bardock more suspicious. It's merely fanart and not actually canon. Pages like these are ideas he has for fun or just pictures of characters he wants to draw.)
(My interpretation of events aren't "canon" either. But, I tried to combine both stories together from what was implied in Toriyama's retelling of Bardock.)
