There are many different arcs and episodes for Dragon Ball, along with quite a bit of filler. With seventeen movies and five different animes, it's hard to know what you're getting into, so here are the specifics.

Dragon Ball has 153 total episodes, and these episodes are split into arcs, which are split into sagas, which sounds like a lot. However, one episode of the anime could cover somewhere around three chapters of the manga, so compared to the manga, it's pretty short. Dragon Ball's first arc is the Son Goku's Boyhood arc, which consists of the Emperor Pilaf saga and the Tournament saga. The Emperor Pilaf saga takes up 13 total episodes of the series, a pretty short saga compared to most. The Tournament saga takes up 15 episodes, only one more episode than the previous saga, so together the whole arc takes up 28 episodes. The next arc in Dragon Ball is the Red Ribbon Army Arc. This arc is much larger than the previous arc, as it has five sagas instead of two. The first saga is the Red Ribbon Army saga, which takes up 17 episodes. The next saga is the General Blue Saga, which takes up 12 episodes. After that is the Commander Red Saga, which takes up 10 episodes. The next saga is the Fourtunteller Baba Saga, which takes up 16 episodes. And the final saga is the Tien Shinhan Saga, which takes up 18 episodes, making it the longest saga in the arc. All together, this arc takes up a whopping 73 episodes! The final arc of Dragon Ball is the Great Demon Piccolo Arc, which only has two sagas. First is the King Piccolo Saga, which takes up 21 episodes. Finally, the final saga of the series is the Piccolo Jr. Saga, which takes up 26 episodes, so in total the arc adds up to 47 episodes. This marked the end of Dragon Ball, leading into Dragon Ball Z.

Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Z Kai have a different amount of episodes for each arc, as Kai was faster paced than Z. Z has 291 total episodes, while Kai has only 167. Both have the same arcs and plot, just one has more episodes than the other. They start with the Saiyan arc, which only has two sagas, similar to Dragon Ball's first arc. The first saga is the Raditz Saga, which takes up 6 episodes in DBZ, and only 3 episodes in DBZ Kai. The next saga is the Vegeta Saga, which takes up 29 episodes in Z and 13 episodes in Kai. All together the arc takes up 35 episodes in Z, and 16 in Kai. The next arc is the Frieza Arc, which has three sagas in total. The first saga is the Namek Saga, which takes up 32 episodes in Z, and 15 episodes in Kai. The next saga is the Captain Ginyu Saga, which takes up 7 episodes in Z and only 4 in Kai. The final saga is the Frieza Saga, which takes up 33 episodes in Z and 19 episodes in Kai. In Z, it also contains one of the longest fights in anime history, mostly due to it only covering one manga chapter per episode. All together the arc takes up 72 episodes in Z and only 38 in Kai. The next arc of DBZ and DBZ Kai is the Frieza-Androids Arc, which only has two sagas. The first is the Garlic Jr. Saga, which takes up 10 episodes in Z, and was completely cut from Kai, as it was an unnecessary and non-cannon filler arc. The next saga is the Trunks Saga, which takes up 8 episodes in Z and 4 episodes in Kai. All together the arc takes up 18 episodes in Z, and 4 episodes in Kai. The next arc is the Androids-Cell Arc, which has four sagas. The first saga is the Androids Saga, which takes up 14 episodes in Z, and 9 episodes in Kai. The next saga is the Imperfect Cell Saga, which takes up 13 episodes in Z and 8 episodes in Kai. The next saga is the Perfect Cell Saga, which takes up 13 episodes in Z and 11 episodes in Kai. The final saga is the Cell Games Saga, which takes up 29 episodes in Z and 16 in Kai. All together the arc takes up 69 episodes in Z and 44 in Kai. The final arc of DBZ and DBZ Kai is the Majin Buu Arc, which has 7 sagas. The first saga is the Other World Saga, which takes up 5 episodes in Z, and is not used in Kai as it was just filler. The next saga is the Great Saiyaman Saga, which takes up 10 episodes in Z, and 4 episodes in Kai. The next saga is the World Tournament Saga, which takes up 10 episodes in Z and 5 episodes in Kai. The next saga is the Babidi Saga, which takes up 12 episodes in Z and 8 episodes in Kai. The next saga is the Majin Buu Saga, which takes up 22 episodes in Z and 18 episodes in Kai. The next saga is the Fusion Saga, which takes up 22 episodes in Z and 15 episodes in Kai. The final saga is the Kid Buu Saga, which takes up 12 episodes in Z and 9 episodes in Kai. All together the arc takes up 93 episodes in Z and 59 episodes in Kai. The story is continued in Battle of Gods and Resurrection of F, but there is one more saga that takes place after this. The saga is the Peaceful World Saga, which takes up 3 episodes in Z and only 1 episode in Kai.

The next anime is Dragon Ball GT, which isn't cannon, but I will still list the episodes here. GT has 64 episodes, and was not very well received among Dragon Ball fans. The first arc of the series is the Baby Arc, which has two sagas. The first saga is the Black Star Dragon Balls Saga, which takes up 16 episodes. The next saga is the Baby Saga, which takes up 24 episodes. In total the arc takes up 40 episodes. The next arc is the Shadow Dragons Arc, which only has two sagas, just like the last arc. The first saga is the Super 17 Saga, which takes up 7 episodes. The next saga is the Shadow Dragon Saga, which takes up 17 episodes. All together the arc takes up 24 episodes.

Dragon Ball Super hasn't finished, so it can't be organized into arcs just yet, but there are sagas. So far Super has 81 episodes, and will be ongoing for a while from now. The first saga is the God of Destruction Beerus Saga, which takes up 14 episodes, and simply recapped the Battle of Gods movie. The next saga is the Golden Frieza Saga, which takes up 13 episodes and like the last saga just recaped a movie. The next saga is the Universe 6 Saga, which takes up 19 episodes. The next saga is the "Future" Trunks Saga, which takes up 31 episodes. The final saga so far is the Universe Survival Saga, which started at episode 77 and is still ongoing.

So in all the series is pretty long, with a total of 756 episodes! (If you count both Z and Z Kai). Not to mention all of the movies there are to watch. Since that's a lot to sit through i'm going to suggest the best order to watch so you won't have to spend so much time in front of your screen. Honestly, you don't really have to watch Dragon Ball, you can just skip right past it if you want to, it'll still make sense if you do. After Dragon Ball, or if you skip Dragon Ball, you should watch Dragon Ball Z Kai. Kai is much shorter than Z and gets rid of a lot of filler that had been in Z, and makes it a lot less trouble to watch. After Z Kai, I suggest skipping GT, as it's not canon and not very good. Next you should watch the two movies Resurrection of F and Battle of Gods, since they're very worth a watch. After the two movies you can move on to Super, and if you want to, you can just skip the movie recap sagas, unless you want to watch them or didn't watch the movies.

All together, the strategy of watching Dragon Ball, then Z Kai, then GT, then the two movies, and watching all of Super, it would leave you with 465 episodes to watch plus about three hours of movies. If you use the strategy of skipping Dragon Ball, watching Z Kai, skipping GT, watching the two movies, then watching all of Super, that would total up to 248 episodes to watch plus about three hours of movies. If you decide to skip Dragon Ball, watch Z Kai, skip GT, watch the two movies, and skip the recap parts of Super, you'll get 221 episodes and about three hours of movies. And, if you use the final strategy of skipping Dragon Ball, watching Z Kai, skipping GT, skipping the two movies, and watching all of Super, you'd get 248 episodes and no hours of movies.

Whatever strategy you use, whether I suggested it or you made your own, I think Dragon Ball is definitely worth a watch wether you're just starting out with anime or you've already watched a few and this one just slipped away from you.