“The original Dragon Ball has 153 episodes. If you include Dragon Ball Z and Super, that’s 575 episodes (153 + 291 + 131). Adding GT and Daima brings it to 659.”
The pacing of the original Dragon Ball is surprisingly tight. Because it adapts the early manga chapters, it moves at a "adventure of the week" pace rather than the "staring and screaming" pace of its sequel.
If you want to experience the full story but are intimidated by the total number, here is the optimized viewing path that reduces the episode count while keeping the story intact:
Ant Commander Pro file manager.Click on the image to enlarge it
chocolatey installed: