Kai Episode 52 (11 April 2010)

[Gaffer Tape]

So I just got finished watching 102 of Z on the DBox, and, damn, I had forgotten how totally useless that episode was. Even the summary in the book basically only says: "Goku and Freeza fight. People on Earth worry about his safety." And that's it. Nothing happens in this episode. So I'm not at all surprised this episode of Kai blew through 3 or so episodes. 102 could have been discarded entirely without missing a single thing of importance.

Oh, and then Piccolo has an extended flashback about every Piccolo/Goku-related event in the series (which is really the highlight of this episode), and then Vegeta claims he'll find the dragonballs, wish for immortality, and take over the world (none of which he ever does), and then he demands that everyone bows down to him. Yippie...

[Metalwario64]

"Goku and Freeza fight..."

Actually, I thought those fight scenes were pretty good. There was a lot of grappling and ground-based hand-to-hand combat. But yeah, those pointless Earth scenes and flashbacks were a total waste, and brought down what would otherwise be a decent episode on its own...

[Gaffer Tape]

Well, I mean, yeah, don't get me wrong. I'd be crazy to say that the Goku and Freeza fight is marred by scenes of Goku and Freeza fighting. After all, that's what it's supposed to be. It's just that the fighting in this episode, while having a few good moments, doesn't move the story along. It doesn't go anywhere. Nothing is accomplished. You can't even say it's running out the clock due to the fact that the clock moves at an arbitrary and ridiculous pace.

Basically, every episode for the past 15 episodes or so has been nothing but Goku and Freeza fighting, but other things have happened to show progression: Goku manages to get Freeza to use his hands, Goku tries a 20x Kamehameha, Goku charges a Genki Dama, Goku uses a Genki Dama, Goku becomes a Super Saiya-jin, Freeza blasts Planet Namek, Popo wishes to Shenlong, Dende wishes to Porunga. 102 was the episode where nothing happened, and I think is the prime example of where the derisive name "Drag-On Ball" originated. Now that I've seen this, I wish I'd seen all of Kai 52. I only bothered to watch the end to see Freeza get cut in half. But just the fact that they apparently breezed through this episode so quickly shows to me that they just took the "greatest hits" (pun intended) and merged it with other episodes where things actually happened.

[Metalwario64]

But just the fact that they apparently breezed through this episode so quickly

Yeah, there was only about 2-3 minutes of that episode in Kai tops. Most of it was the typical super-fast punches and kicks, and the scene where Goku punches back one of Fri­­eza's giant blasts.

[Gaffer Tape]

and the scene where Goku punches back one of Fri­­eza's giant blasts.

Haha, yeah, I remember that! The giant blast that Goku pushes out into space only to have it collide with an innocuous-looking planet, smashing it into all but worthless debris, surely killing every living organism that had made it its home? I laughed my ass off at that!

[Metalwario64]

out into space only to have it collide with an innocuous-looking planet, smashing it into all but worthless debris, surely killing every living organism that had made it its home? I laughed my ass off at that!

Heh, they cut that part out though...