Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 55 of the first Dragon Ball rewatch of the decade.
We're doing five episodes a week, and we'll be watching every single episode of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. All 508 episodes. Plus the TV specials and the movies.
I encourage you all to watch in Japanese with subtitles, especially if you have never done so before, but watch along in whichever way brings you the most joy.
Not a huge lot of trivia this week, because it's all fighting...
To be honest, I think this is the worst run of Dragon Ball. It's just endless fighting with Freeza, with a very slow-moving plot. It suffers in a similar way to the Saiyan arc fighting, except without all the tension of "Will Goku arrive in time during this long fight?" and the feeling of everyone involved becoming exhausted to the point you probably wouldn't be surprised if anyone in that fight just died during one of the standoffs between bouts... The Freeza fight lacks this time-based tension, so it suffers far more from the anime pacing than the Saiyan fight did, if you ask me.
Previous thread: Week 54 (DBZ 75-79)
Next thread: Week 56 (DBZ 85-89)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 233 - The Tide Suddenly Turns!! Piccolo, the Warrior Who Came Late (DBZ episode 80)
Dub title: Piccolo the Super-Namek (Funimation remastered dub) / Gohan Attacks (Funimation TV edit)
Originally aired 27th of February 1991
Kai equivalent: Episode 38 - Freeza Bares His Fangs! Transcendent Power Attacks Gohan (Last half)
Written by: Aya Matsui
Episode director: Jun’ichi Fujise
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa
Seeing the ferocity of the attack that hits Gohan, Vegeta is frozen in terror. As Freeza is about to finish Gohan off, a Kienzan slices his tail off! Kuririn has been revived through Dende’s special ability, and he hassles Freeza. Dende takes this opportunity to revive Gohan. Gohan’s battle power has increased even more, but he’s still no match for Freeza. At that moment, Piccolo finally arrives.
Anime-only/filler content: Kuririn hiding twice and Freeza smoking him out, the gang throwing ineffectual Ki blasts at Freeza after Gohan is healed.
Episode 234 - Piccolo’s Self-Confidence! I Will Be the One to Defeat Freeza (DBZ episode 81)
Dub title: Déjà vu (Funimation)
Originally aired 6th of March 1991
Kai equivalent: Episode 39 - The Reborn Piccolo Arrives! A Furious Freeza’s 2nd Transformation (First half)
Written by: Takao Koyama
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Masahiro Shimanuki
Piccolo and Freeza’s battle has begun. Seeing Piccolo’s extreme confidence, Kuririn can’t hide his uneasiness. But Gohan alone trusts that Piccolo has a chance at victory. Piccolo’s fight shows that his confidence was justified. Turning down Gohan and Kuririn’s offer of assistance, Piccolo challenges Freeza alone to the very end. Having united with Piccolo, Nail’s consciousness causes Freeza to falter. The two’s battle is completely even.
Anime-only/filler content: Two scenes of chatter with Kaio, Ten, and Yamucha, Vegeta trying and failing to escape while Piccolo fights Freeza, Nail's voice telling Freeza that he merged with Piccolo.
Episode 235 - Sally Forth, Goku!! A Furious Freeza’s 2nd Transformation (DBZ episode 82)
Dub title: Frieza's Second Transformation (Funimation)
Originally aired 13th of March 1991
Kai equivalent: Episode 39 - The Reborn Piccolo Arrives! A Furious Freeza’s 2nd Transformation (Last half)
Written by: Takao Koyama
Episode director: Kazuhito Kikuchi
Animation supervisor: Mitsuo Shindō
Fighting with Piccolo, Freeza had even more power hidden. Finally getting serious, he attacks Piccolo. But Piccolo removes his cloak and turban. Piccolo had been fighting with a weighted cloak!! But Freeza still has two transformations remaining. After powering up even further through his second transformation, Freeza overwhelms Piccolo. Continuously firing energy bullets from his fingers, he wears Piccolo ragged…
Anime-only/filler content: Kaio, Ten, and Yamucha watching the fight, Piccolo powering up after taking off his weighted clothes.
Episode 236 - Fear Me!! Freeza Does Battle With a 3rd Transformation (DBZ episode 83)
Dub title: Another Transformation? (Funimation)
Originally aired 20th of March 1991
Kai equivalent: Episode 40 - Freeza’s Final Super Transformation! The Terror Greater than Hell Starts Now (First half)
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
Gohan flies out to save Piccolo, and fires a full-power energy bullet. Having been pushed back, Freeza finally begins the transformation into his fourth form! Feeling that Gohan is drawing near to becoming a Super Saiyan, Vegeta asks Kuririn to “half-kill me”. He says that if he’s revived just one more time, he will definitely be able to become a Super Saiyan. Dende dislikes this at first, but he revives Vegeta at Piccolo’s urging. Freeza then completes his transformation.
Anime-only/filler content: The brief scene of Bulma panicking when Freeza is powering up.
Episode 237 - The Death of Dende… Come Forth! Intense, Full-Force Power (DBZ episode 84)
Dub title: Dende's Demise (Funimation)
Originally aired 27th of March 1991
Kai equivalent: Episode 40 - Freeza’s Final Super Transformation! The Terror Greater than Hell Starts Now (Last half) and Episode 41 - The Moment We’ve Waited For! Son Goku is Revived (First half)
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Tatsuya Orime
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa
Now that Freeza has reached his final form, his power frightens Piccolo and the others before they even fight. Freeza’s finger briefly glows, and the next instant a beam hits Dende head-on! Dende has been killed! Freeza had realized that Dende possessed restorative powers. Piccolo and the others’ attacks are ineffective, but Vegeta is full of confidence. Supposedly a Super Saiyan, Vegeta challenges Freeza to battle. But Freeza holds Vegeta at bay…
Anime-only/filler content: Another scene of Kaio, Ten, and Yamucha, Vegeta powering up after declaring he's a Super Saiyan.
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Interesting trivia:
- At this point in time in the manga, Freeza survives Kaio-Ken x20, Goku begins summoning a Genki-Dama, Piccolo, Gohan and Kuririn try to stall Freeza before he discovers it, Goku throws the Genki-Dama, Freeza turns out to have survived, and he then shoots Piccolo, kills Kuririn and threatens Gohan, breaking Goku and forcing him to transform into a Super Saiyan and start fighting Freeza again.
- This is the first of three times Freeza will get sliced up during his big fight. The second is when he barely escapes the Genki-Dama, and the third is when he accidentally cuts himself after losing track of his own death discs.
- Yet again, a great chance for Goku to be healed goes ignored; after the group learn that Dende has healing powers, nobody thinks to send him away to heal Goku while distracting Freeza.
- Piccolo having advance knowledge of Dende thanks to his fusion with Nail will be utilized in the Android Arc when he fuses with God, which similarly gives him access to his knowledge and wisdom.
- Piccolo after his first bout with Freeza is another rare look at the exposed pauldrons. These are normally not seen because Piccolo typically discards them to get serious before sustaining too much damage.
- Freeza declaring that he has two transformations beyond his current one (the "second form") is the first time the other two are even mentioned; beforehand, it was assumed that Freeza could only transform once, similar to Zarbon.
- Changes in the TV edit of the original dub:
- Just over three minutes were cut from the start of episode 80 to allow it to be combined with the remains of episode 79, mainly Freeza viciously attacking Gohan; also in this cut portion is Goku in the tank worrying, and Piccolo flying to the battlefield, reminiscing about his history with Goku. Most of the "What will happen next time??!!?" waffle was also cut from the end.
- There are no cuts or paint edits to episodes 81 or 82, though notably some footage that was cut from episode 80 was left in the episode 81 recap.
- No cuts to episode 83, but when Kuririn blasts Vegeta, they painted out loads and loads of blood. They similarly painted out the blood when he goes to ask Dende for a heal, and a shot very late in the episode where a little bit can be seen on his back; however, in one short scene between these two, the blood on his mouth is left uncensored.
- Chris Psaros has no notes on episode 84 as he didn't have a copy of the Japanese version when he was writing his guide. However, he does note that Dende's corpse is shown intact.
- The big 3-minute cut in the TV edit of episode 80 is the last cut that big in Dragon Ball (unless you count Funimation initially skipping the first 16 episodes of GT).
- Freeza also mentions that the Dragon Team are the first to ever see his "third form" (or first "power regression" form). One theoretical way this is possible is that his father saw his original "final form" at birth, and then Freeza developed his power regression forms in private, meaning King Cold never saw the Xenomorph-looking one. Freeza may have transformed into his "second form" in front of his father, and/or to defeat an opponent who was challenging his "first form".
- As is well-known, Toriyama was inspired by the Xenomorph in creating the design of Freeza's second form. This is the first time he's applied this inspiration onto an actual alien! The comparison is further emphasized in Kuririn's "imagine spot", where Freeza's hypothetical true form has large fangs and an extended tongue.
- Freeza's rapid-fire beam-less attacks on Piccolo are somewhat similar to the move Vegeta used to blow up Cui way back at the start of the arc.
- In the Full Color-edition of the manga, Piccolo and Vegeta's ki attacks are one of the rare occasions where they're coloured anything other than yellow. Typically ALL ki attacks are coloured yellow, even the famous Kamehameha. Gohan's huge ki ball attack on Freeza is another exception, being slightly more orange.
- As Freeza mulls over who could have possibly fathered Gohan, he feels there's a slight resemblance to Raditz. This is rather prescient of course given that Raditz is the brother of Gohan's father!
- Freeza's line "Feast your eyes while you can... on my last transformation... MY TRUE FORM!!!" is the closest he ever comes to saying "This isn't even my final form" (another close candidate is "And I have two more transformations left").
- Vegeta mentions that him shooting himself won't bring about the "Zenkai" effect; this is the only time it's mentioned.
- As well, Kuririn shooting Vegeta is the final time the "Zenkai" effect is used as a major plot point, and is never featured after this point again, let alone depicted.
- As Gohan sets Piccolo down, he says "A Namekian called Dende can heal you!". Presumably Gohan didn't hear Piccolo calling Dende by name when first setting down to fight Freeza.
- Changes in Funimation's edited Kai dub:
- Since this is a new feature in this thread (don't expect this to become a regular thing. There's so much to write out here, I may not do this again; besides, the guide I'm basing this off of is way better presented anyway
), I'll note that as per usual, the title cards use a different font than Funimation's uncut home video; arguably the TV version is a closer match to what's used in the Japanese version. Likely the reason for the different font is because the TV edit uses a video master prepared by Ocean for their own dub's TV edit. We know Ocean used their own scripts for their dub, so it's possible they simply created two versions of every title card, or it's possible the two companies shared episode names to allow ease of this edited dub being licensed by Funi. - Also as per usual, to censor some of the more intense fighting, moments of impact were covered by white flashes and black screens with impact stars, and the most intense sections were cut entirely (usually only 2-3 seconds was cut at a time), though sometimes they were a little more creative. Blood was painted out too, text was translated, blood from the mouth was often painted to look like spit, and patches of blood on the skin was often painted to look like dirt. These edits are surprisingly well done, too; you'd never notice anything was supposed to be any different unless you'd seen the uncut version recently. However, while Ocean did a good job of editing the video master, Funimation's dialogue censorship could often be a little weird...
- In Episode 39, Piccolo's line "Shut the hell up" became "We'll see about that", Freeza's line "Don't panic boy, he'll resurface momentarily. I certainly wouldn't want you to miss his demise" had "demise" changed to "defeat", Piccolo's line "Now I will have vengeance in the name of all the Namekians you slaughtered!" became "Now in the name of all the Namekians who suffered by your hand, you're going down!". Freeza's line "You scum should consider this an honour..." had "Scum" changed to "Worms", a "Damn it" from Goku became "Darn it", Piccolo's "What the hell?!" became "There's no way!", Freeza's "How nice of you to join me, you don't wanna be late for your own funeral" became "How nice of you to join me, you don't wanna be late for your own party", Piccolo's "Damn it!" became "Ugh!", and Kuririn's "Damn!" became "Great!". In total, the episode features 75 seconds of cuts.
- In episode 40, Vegeta's "Every time a Saiyan recovers from a near fatal injury, his power increases!" had "fatal injury" become "serious injury", Kuririn's "As much as I'd like smashing your face in, it wouldn't be right" became "As much as I think you deserve it, it wouldn't be right", then Vegeta's "And what could he do?! He's a low-class scum, he's reached his peak!" became "And what could he do?! He's reached his peak! I'm the Saiyan elite!" Then Freeza's "It would be far more satisfying to leave you with one final vision more terrifying than death" became "It would be far more satisfying if I first showed you just how hopeless your puny efforts have been", and his "A nightmare beyond even the horrors of hell" became "A vision of terror beyond your worst nightmares." Then, Kuririn's "Damn!" became just a yell. Dende's "So many of my brothers murdered by your hands..." became "After what you did, all the harm you caused my people...", then Vegeta's "Unless you heal me quickly, Freeza will kill us all!" had "Kill" become "Destroy", then his "Damn you!" became "Curse you!" Meanwhile, during Kuririn's explanation of Zenkai boosts, he explains "Any time a Saiyan like Vegeta nearly gets killed", which became "Any time a Saiyan like Vegeta takes heavy damage", as well as "Thats why Vegeta asked me to blast him half to hell" becoming "That's why Vegeta asked me to blast him like that". Then Dende's "How many of my brothers did he kill in cold blood?" became "I could never forgive him for what he's done to my people!" Then Kuririn's "Damn..." became "Man..." Vegeta's "Consider yourself lucky I didn't incinerate you" became "Consider yourself lucky, you deserve far worse!" Then Goku's "Damn, this is bad..." became "Just hang in there, guys!" After Dende dies, Piccolo's "What in hell has he become?!" became "What kind of monster are we dealing with?!"... Goku's "Damn it, I'm sick of this" became "Ugh, I'm sick of this", a "Damn it!" from Piccolo became "Darn it!", Freeza's self-quotatious "I'd show you a nightmare beyond the horrors of hell" became "I'd show you a terror beyond your worst nightmares", and lastly, and most weirdly, Kuririn's "Come on, you freak!" became "That does it, you freak!" In total, the episode features 11 seconds of cuts.
- In episode 41, Piccolo's "No, damn it! It's not good enough!" became "No, no! It's not good enough!"; Vegeta's "Damn it, I had him!" became "I was certain I had him", Piccolo's "What the hell is he doing?" became "What the heck is he doing?", and Vegeta's "And you can burn in hell!" became "And you will feel my wrath!". In total, the episode features 84 seconds of cuts.
- Since this is a new feature in this thread (don't expect this to become a regular thing. There's so much to write out here, I may not do this again; besides, the guide I'm basing this off of is way better presented anyway
- Freeza's third form has easily the shortest amount of exposure. It lasted two chapters of the manga, and in both Z and Kai, it lasted an episode and a half.
- As is famous by now, Freeza's final form is much simpler, smaller and more streamlined than any of his other forms. This was deliberate on Toriyama's part as he wanted to subvert expectations. Kuririn's "imagine spot" shows what Toriyama probably thought the audience would think his fourth form would look like. Piccolo even makes it a point to say that looks can be deceiving.
- There's also a more practical reason for this as well; Frieza's final form is considerably easier to draw; aside from the tail, forelimb armor, ape feet and "jewel" segments, he's essentially a naked man. The final form lacks the horns, armor, and the lines on his arms and legs that would have made his first three forms much more time-consuming to draw. Toriyama would later find it a pain having to draw and colour in all of Cell's spots!
- In the manga, Freeza doesn't say "bang" before shooting Dende.
- The title of Episode 84, in Japanese, is "Dende no Shi… Detekoi! Tobikiri Zenkai Power". The second half of this, which roughly translates to "Come Forth! Intense, Full-Force Power", is also the title of the DBZ ending theme at this point.
