Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 68 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.
KBABZ is taking a little break from trivia writing to work on revamping IGN's Mass Effect guides (though he did write one entry, on the time travel in this arc), and I'm swamped this week, so apologies for the lean trivia section.
Previous thread: Week 67 (DBZ 136-138, movie 7)
Next thread: Week 69 (nice) (DBZ 144-148)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 292 - An Ominous Premonition! Bulma Unveils a Mystery (DBZ episode 139)
Dub title: Unwelcome Discovery
Originally aired 13th of May 1992
Kai equivalent: Episode 67 - One More Time Machine?! Bulma Unveils a Mystery
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa
On the way to Kame House, Trunks thinks that even if they destroy the artificial humans in the present, the ones in the future will still exist. The future Bulma built the time machine, thinking that it would be good for there to be a peaceful future where the artificial humans have been defeated. Meanwhile, Vegeta resolves to surpass the Super Saiyan. A picture of the time machine that Trunks rode in is delivered to Bulma’s. Seeing this picture, Trunks is frightened at the existence of another time machine.
Anime-only/filler content: Chaozu cooking for the others at Kame House before Ten collects him for training, Trunks's flashback to him and Bulma travelling through ruined wastelands, Goku's nightmare.
Episode 293 - The Discovery of an Evil Egg!! A Terrified Trunks (DBZ episode 140)
Dub title: Seized with Fear
Originally aired 20th of May 1992
Kai equivalent: Episode 67 - One More Time Machine?! Bulma Unveils a Mystery, and Episode 68 - And So the Monster Makes its Move… Take Off! It’s the Super Namekian!
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Kazuya Hisada
Trunks and the others head to the place where the time machine in the picture is. There they discover an old time machine. Somehow it is the same as the one that Trunks had ridden in. Trunks discovers an oddly shaped egg shell in the cockpit. Furthermore, he proves that this time machine arrived one year before he defeated Freeza. Gohan then discovers the husk of a bizarre life-form. Trunks feels uneasy about the whereabouts of whatever came out of that husk…
Anime-only/filler content: Kuririn giving a short recap to Yamucha, Roshi, and Oolong, some of the conversation in the van between 16, 17, and 18.
Episode 294 - To Face an Unprecedented Foe… A Super Namekian is Born!! (DBZ episode 141)
Dub title: The Reunion
Originally aired 27th of May 1992
Kai equivalent: Episode 68 - And So the Monster Makes its Move… Take Off! It’s the Super Namekian!
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Daisuke Nishio
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
Ginger Town is a town located close to where the old time machine was. Its inhabitants have all suddenly disappear. As God watches over the conditions in the lower realm from his temple, he discovers the monster who wiped out Ginger Town’s inhabitants, and decides to merge with Piccolo. Piccolo then merges with God, and the super-powered Piccolo is finally reborn. After Piccolo heads to Ginger Town, the mysterious monster finally shows itself…
Anime-only/filler content: Piccolo walking through Ginger Town before meeting Cell.
Episode 295 - The Kamehameha?! The Monster Who Possesses Goku’s Energy (DBZ episode 142)
Dub title: Borrowed Powers
Originally aired 3rd of June 1992
Kai equivalent: Episode 69 (nice) - I Am Your Brother! The Monster Who Possesses Goku’s Ki
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Jun’ichi Fujise
Animation supervisor: Minoru Maeda
The monster that appeared before Piccolo was Cell, who possessed the ki of both Goku and Freeza. Piccolo one-sidedly attacks Cell, but Cell unleashes Piccolo’s special attack, the Makankōsappō. However, Piccolo deflects the technique. Not yet in his perfect form, Cell is nothing for Piccolo to be afraid of. But this time Cell displays the pose for the Kamehameha. Piccolo cannot hide his surprise at seeing this technique.
No significant anime-only/filler content. (For the first time since Week 45)
Episode 296 - A Life Form of Evil and Destruction!! His Name is Artificial Human Cell (DBZ episode 143)
Dub title: His Name is Cell
Originally aired 10th of June 1992
Kai equivalent: Episode 69 (nice) - I Am Your Brother! The Monster Who Possesses Goku’s Ki
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Animation supervisor: Tadayoshi Yamamuro
Cell fires Goku’s Kamehameha, of all things. Piccolo narrowly dodges it, but is caught by Cell, and has the life sucked out of his left arm. With Piccolo having no chance of winning, Cell reveals his true identity. He is an artificial human that Doctor Gero’s computer created from the cells of Goku, Freeza, and others. Furthermore, he came to this era in the time machine in search of No. 17 and 18. After learning Cell’s identity, Piccolo regenerates his arm and challenges Cell.
Anime-only/filler content: The army vs Cell, the flashback to Cell's history is shown while he explains it, rather than simply being dialogue.
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Interesting trivia:
- At this point in time in the manga, Goku saves Piccolo and Tenshinhan from Cell, Vegeta and Trunks leave the time chamber allowing Goku and Gohan to go in, and Vegeta transforms to his semi-ascended form.
- Kuririn's ringtone when Bulma calls him is the Dr. Slump theme.
- Z episode 141 is the first to feature music from Z movie 6.
- In the Westwood dub, Dale Wilson gave Scott McNeil a run for his money with his fusion scream.
- Cell drinking a guy in Z episode 142 was slightly censored in Ocean's edit of the episode, cutting shots of the man melting. For a very long time, people claimed that this was not the case on the first UK airing of the episode, but I was shown a tape of that first airing a little while back, and it's still censored there.
- Cell's backstory has a notable plothole; he mentions Freeza's defeat from the familiar timeline and that Gero didn't retrieve cells from Trunks at that time, even though it's known that Trunks didn't time travel back and defeat Freeza in Cell's timeline.
- This episode is when we learn Cell's origins and how he got here, and needless to say, it's very confusing and not really explained how it's even possible for him to do what he did. Nevertheless, fans have speculated for years what the answer might have been. Below will be KBABZ's own theory for how it all played out. In short, the two timelines (Original and "Familiar") have alternate versions as a result of Trunks' time traveling, and the time machine can only travel between a "pair" of Timelines.
- In the Original Timeline, Timeline 1, Mecha Freeza and King Cold arrive on Earth with the intent of destroying it, but Goku uses Instantaneous Movement to warp from his Ginyu pod and kills them. Two and a half years later, Goku catches the Heart Virus and dies of it. This greatly affects Dr. Gero's motivation, so when the Androids do show up, they're not as powerful as they could be. Nonetheless, the Dragon Team are slaughtered, with only Gohan surviving without awareness of 19 and 20. Gohan trains Bulma and Vegeta's son, Trunks, loses his arm and eventually dies. Two years after that, Bulma completes work on a time machine in the hopes that Trunks can find a way to defeat the Androids and help make a future that isn't completely horrible for Earth.
- Trunks uses the time machine to travel 18 years into the past to when Freeza and King Cold arrived, creating Timeline 2. He kills the two warlords himself (not realizing Goku has Instantaneous Movement), and warns Goku about the Androids and gives him a cure for the Heart Virus. Trunks briefly goes back to Timeline 1 to recharge the time machine, and returns to Timeline 2 three years after his first arrival to help with the Androids, including 16, 17 and 18 (who are now more powerful because Goku didn't die and affect Gero's motivation). Trunks and Kuririn are able to find the Android blueprints in Gero's second lab, and using them, the three Androids are deactivated.
- Trunks returns yet again to his own time, this time with the ability to shut down 17 and 18, which he does. However, when he's about to go back to Timeline 2 and tell the Dragon Team the good news, he's killed by Cell.
- Cell travels back into the past to BEFORE the arrival of Freeza and King Cold, creating Timeline 2a: this is the Familiar Timeline we see play out on the page/screen. He lays dormant for several years until he can recover his full size, which happens when 17 and 18 are activated by Dr. Gero shortly after Trunks returns to help in the fight. He absorbs them to attain his Perfect Form, creates the Cell Games, and is defeated by Son Gohan. During this, Trunks trains for a year in the Room of Spirit and Time, greatly increasing his Battle Power.
- Trunks now returns to his own time, creating Timeline 1a. Since he trained for the fight against Cell in the Room of Spirit and Time, he's now powerful enough to easily kill 17, 18 and even Cell all on his own, rather than shutting them down like he originally intended to. These events play out in the "Peace for the Future!" Chapter/Episode.
- The "Remastered" Funimation dub of Z episode 143 has Nappa still voiced by Chris Sabat in the flashback, even though Phil Parsons had been cast in the role by that point.
- There are 10 redraws in Kai episode 67, there are 14 in episode 68, and there are 7 in episode 69 (nice).
- If I had chosen to make Z movie 6 or 7 its own week, then Week 69 (nice) would contain Kai episode 69 (nice). Never let it be said I don't have some regrets about my choices in this rewatch.
