Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 11 - DB episodes 46-50

[Robo4900]

Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 11 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 (more on that later, when we actually get there).
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.

And with this week, we begin 1987.
Well... We actually began 1987 with episode 45, but... Well, the movie last week was from '86, so at the very least, this week we've finished 1986. Which is kinda like beginning 1987. Usually they'd be one in the same. So there.
Much great stuff happened in Dragon Ball in 1987; the Red Ribbon arc ran through most of it, giving us our first real villains in Tao Pai-Pai and General Blue, and we got the Baba and most of the 22nd Tenkaichi arcs, and eventually, the second of the movies (one of the best, in my opinion).

Previous thread: Week 10 (DB movie 1)
Next thread: Week 12 (DB 51-55)

Anyway, without further ado...

Episode 46 - Bulma's Big Blunder
Dub title: Bulma's Bad Day
Originally aired 14th of January 1987
Episode director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama

Bulma and Goku arrived at the middle of the sea. This was General Blue’s territory, where he’s searching for the Dragon Balls! Dropped into the sea by Bulma from a nearby island, Goku dives, but it is very deep and he can’t hold his breath! Left on her own, Bulma wanders around the island trying to buy capsules, but it turned out there was a Red Ribbon Army base there!! Goku comes running and defeats the soldiers who are assaulting Bulma!! Goku suggests that they borrow a submarine from Kame-Sen’nin.

Anime-only/filler content: General scene expansion.

Episode 47 - Kame House is Discovered!!
Dub title: Kame House: Found / Kame House, Discovered!
Originally aired 21st of January 1987
Episode director: Yuji Endo
Animation supervisor: Mitsuo Shindo

Goku arrives at Kame House, but Kuririn and Lunch are using the submarine to go shopping. Kame-Sen’nin asks for the micro-band in exchange for letting them borrow the submarine. He plans on making himself small and peeking in on her in the toilet and bath! However, when Kame-Sen’nin goes to peak on Bulma when she uses the toilet, he’s flushed down the toilet!! When Kuririn comes back, Goku and Bulma set off with him. Meanwhile, having used the dragon radar to follow Goku’s Dragon Balls, General Blue discovers Kame House.

Anime-only/filler content: Roshi watching the video, Krillin and Launch out shopping, Goku finding Turtle's son.

Episode 48 - General Blue Commences His Assault!!
Dub title: Deep Blue Sea / General Blue Attacks
Originally aired 28th of January 1987
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Tomekichi Takeuchi

In addition to his group pursuing Goku and the others, General Blue launches a detached group to attack Kame House. They believe that Kame-Sen’nin is the scientist who created the Dragon Radar. Going after the Dragon Ball which fell into the sea-bottom chasm, Goku and the others enter the cavity in the chasm from the other side, and discover a cave. General Blue’s submarine then suddenly attacks! Bulma and Kuririn panic when they learn that the ones attacking them are the Red Ribbon Army!! Blue’s submarine pursues Goku and the others as they flee into the cave!!

Anime-only/filler content: The flying submarine opener, the Blue Base scene, Lunch finding the Dragon Balls, Roshi sneaking into the bathroom, the extended Scramble speech and Blue Base departure, Roshi getting sucked into the vacuum.

Episode 49 - Watch Out, Lunch-san
Dub title: Roshi Surprise / Watch Out, Launch!
Originally aired 4th of February 1987
Episode director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama

General Blue’s detached group arrives at Kame House. The commander threatens Kame-Sen’nin, but is instead easily defeated! The commander takes Lunch hostage, but he is completely cornered after Lunch sneezes and becomes violent. Meanwhile, after fleeing into the cave, Goku and the others’ submarine has entered a waterless cave. They run off, leaving the submarine behind. For some reason, the cave is equipped with electric lights… This was the pirates’ secret base!!

Anime-only/filler content: Black debriefing Commander Red, Roshi trying to get Launch to take a bath and massaging her, General Dark's scene, and Launch geting upset with Roshi's cooking.

Episode 50 - The Pirates’ Trap
Dub title: The Trap Is Sprung / The Pirate Trap
Originally aired 11th of February 1987
Episode director: Minoru Okazaki
Animation supervisor: Minoru Maeda

Treasure is supposedly hidden in the pirate’s cave. And to protect that treasure, naturally traps were set! Goku and the others somehow manage to pass through these traps, such as a wall that shoots spears, or a trap door that opens above lava. The Red Ribbon troops are completely wiped out, except for Blue!! Goku and the others come to the end of the path, and come out into the pirate’s sea-bottom dock. Goku can sense that something is moving. A skeleton-type battle robot appears, and immediately starts attacking them!!

Anime-only/filler content: Commander Red and the painting session, the scene with the lava pit and Blue strangling the eel.

-

Interesting trivia:

• We're phasing out noting general expansion of scenes from here on, because at this point, basically every episode has some general scene padding.
• The photograph of Goku at the start of Episode 46 is based on the title page art for Chapter 45 of the manga from a year and a half earlier (this is the chapter where Goku fights Namu).
• Episode 46 is the one and only time Turtle's son is mentioned or seen in the entire franchise.
• General Blue is the first villain in Dragon Ball history to be given his own theme: he would be followed by Tao Pai-Pai, then later Piccolo Daimao, and Raditz. Further villains then tended not to get themes, as Toei only called on Kikuchi to record new music sessions for the movies (as previously noted), and Tokunaga didn't really use leitmotifs at all in GT.
• Ep 46 is a rare moment displaying Kinto'Un's sentience: it's notably distraught when it realizes Goku has been brushed off of it by the tree.
• The proportions of Kame House are notably taller in the title card than how it's usually depicted.
• Episode 47 had the highest rating for the Dragon Ball anime series on Fuji TV, with 29.5% rating share.
• The spear hallway in the pirate cave is of course based on the temple opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first Indiana Jones film.
• Episode 48 features the Red Ribbon Army insert song in the Japanese version. Both dubs mute it.
• The Pirate Base is incredibly anachronistic: the pirates are 18th century, their base is rather modern, and the Robot is futuristic with a WWII aesthetic.
• The design of the Pirate Robot is of course inspired by Alien, but its appearance is also similar to that of the Heyun robot from Dragon Boy, a two-shot Dragon Ball prototype from 1983. This inspiration would later be used for Frieza's third form in the Namek arc. The tail is also similar to Cell's.
• The Pirate Robot's design also has segmented elements, including the abdominal section, and glossy black pecks with a white line acting as a border. These design elements would later be re-used and become synonomous with the design of Saiyan armour and Freeza's technology

Episode summaries, airdates, and titles courtesy of Kanzenshuu's episode guide. Filler breakdowns and Dragon Ball logo courtesy of KBABZ, who also co-wrote the trivia.

[MasenkoHA]

Sadly not much to say about these episodes. General Blue ended up lasting longer than any other Red Ribbon commanding officer and he’s just not that interesting or fun to me. I will say Sonny Strait’s Blue is surprisingly good, one of the few Funimation voices I prefer over the Japanese voice.


Goku, Kuririn, and Bulma go hunting for pirate treasure could have made for an interesting 50 minute standalone movie but here’s it just sooo stretched out.

[KBABZ]

Goku, Kuririn, and Bulma go hunting for pirate treasure could have made for an interesting 50 minute standalone movie but here’s it just sooo stretched out.

The Pirate Cave episodes are my favourites in concept (I love islands as a setting), but in execution? Holy crap, you did NOT need to pad out with filler yet, guys!

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I agree, there's a lot of repetitions of earlier themes and subplots in these episodes like the Stark contrast between Goku's natural instincts and Bulma's sophistication (she calls him diving and not using a submarine from a hoi poi capsule "primitive"), Muten Rishi having ulterior motives that bite him in the ass and the general adventurous feel.

I think these episodes are fine for what they are though, they're not bad by any means and entertaining at the very least.

[ABED]

Maybe my tastes aren't that discerning because I find the Pirate Cave episodes to be a blast.

[Robo4900]

It's been a while, but honestly I have fond memories of these episodes too.

[MyVisionity]

These are probably some of my favorite episodes of the series. A lot of that has to do with the return of the Buruma/Goku dynamic. It always works really well when they're paired together. I love the episode with the perverts on the island. We get to see Toriyama's twisted side come out again. I like when Goku is looking around for Bulma and crashes into the tree, and then immediately gets caught up in eating the fruit. It's little moments like that I enjoy. Plus how unfazed he is after he takes out the perverts, it's great.

Another reason these episodes work for me is the return of the Kame House family. Roshi, Kuririn, Lunch, and Umigame are all great characters who really click in this arc. Roshi's perverted antics are in top form in these eps. I love how he tries so hard with the shrinking device and yet gets foiled every time. I also like how he disposes of Dock and his men. Kuririn mixes in well with Bulma and Goku. We get to see the different facets of his character at play, whether he's being the polite and respectful monk Kuririn, the selfish and perverted Kuririn, or the loyal to Goku Kuririn.

We also see the introduction of General Blue, as portrayed by Toshio Furukawa. He is probably the most memorable of the Red Ribbon villains, aside from Taopaipai. He's a character with a lot going for him, whether it's his unforgiving and cold-blooded ruthlessness, his formidable martial arts prowess and supernatural powers, or his stereotypical effeminate traits. He definitely leaves an impression. I like how he deals with the officer that he catches picking his nose at the base. To be frank, I might have done the same thing Blue did if I were in his shoes.

[MasenkoHA]

Maybe my tastes aren't that discerning because I find the Pirate Cave episodes to be a blast.

To be clear there are parts that are a lot of fun. Like the death trap with the arrows or Goku and the Octopus it’s just when it goes on for like...8 episodes?

[KBABZ]

Maybe my tastes aren't that discerning because I find the Pirate Cave episodes to be a blast.

To be clear there are parts that are a lot of fun. Like the death trap with the arrows or Goku and the Octopus it’s just when it goes on for like...8 episodes?

In my original T1C pass I was able to cut these episodes down from 9 to 7 episodes. It would have been six but that Shiva statue is VERY ingrained into the plot.

[ABED]

Maybe my tastes aren't that discerning because I find the Pirate Cave episodes to be a blast.

To be clear there are parts that are a lot of fun. Like the death trap with the arrows or Goku and the Octopus it’s just when it goes on for like...8 episodes?

That's fair. I have no problem with it at its current length but I don't love it so much I can't see how cutting it down wouldn't improve this section.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Been a crazy last two weeks, but getting caught up now:

Episode 46 - Bulma's Big Blunder

This episode starts off quite fun but takes a dark turn as we see the consequences of Goku's lack of self control at times. As we begin Goku is having lots of fun riding the Kinto Un, to the extent shrunk Bulma needs him to slow down, especially when they are hovering over one of the Dragon Balls that is buried in the sea. As soon as they are on dry land we once again see the contrast between Goku's rural survival instincts and Bulma's urban sophisticated strategies as she calls his attempts to dive in and search "primitive". Much to Bulma's disappointment and ire the capsule she hoped would have a submarine was not only missing but contained dirty magazines, and even Goku finds the sea too deep, necessitating the need for a vehicle. Once Bulma is chased by the Red Ribbon Army officers and Goku tries to defend her we see his love of combat go too far as he smashes their helicopters with the nyoibo causing them to fall, perhaps to their death, with even Bulma saying it was probably unjustified.

Episode 47 - Kame House is Discovered!!

As Goku continues to have fun on the Kinto Un, Bulma not only fears for her safety but the thought they were so stuck for underwater transport they had to turn to Roshi. Once our heroes reach the Kame House we see Bulma has gotten to know Roshi as she speculates he may have dirty motives to use in exchange for a submarine. Bulma was surprised it was only that Roshi can have the Micro Band and for them to wait on Kuririn and Lunch to return from grocery shopping, although as we may suspect as viewers there are in fact ulterior motives to the former. Roshi's plan to shrink himself and spy on Bulma using the toilet is twarted by his failure to catch her at the wrong time just when she is leaving. Overall a lot of comedy here but not much else to say as it is largely a transitional episode leading up to the next mini-arc.

Episode 48 - General Blue Commences His Assault!!

We get some progression with the arc in this episode as we see the consequences of Goku's actions on Muscle Tower in terms of him becoming a target. Luckily for Goku backup is on the way. Kuririn joins in the search for the Dragon Ball buried beneath the sea. Ironically we see more of Lunch's naivety as she finds Dragon Balls but doesn't know what they are. General Blue is introduced as a very assertive and strategic military officer, and demonstrates good command of the officers who must retrieve the Dragon Ball before making their attack. Conversely we see Goku struggling to swim too deep to find the Dragon Ball. Additionally Bulma builds on the smarts she had previously shown by asking Goku to check for cracks on the inside of an underwater cave. Once it becomes evident Goku is an enemy of the Red Ribbon Army Bulma and Kuririn are mortified, perfectly escalating the tension for what is to come.

Episode 49 - Watch Out, Lunch-San

Another bridging episode for the most part. We see a bit of wackiness from Roshi, and his thought process, which only exacerbates his motives as he rates himself on his success of lack thereof in his spying efforts. Even Roshi's long term companion Turtle was unimpressed by how he tried to take advantage of polite Lunch's naivety when he offered her a massage, and is excited when she is reverting back to that form. Once the B-Army reach the Kame House tensions are compounded by their demand for either a Dragon Ball or the radar they think Roshi made. Moreover, Goku and friends find themselves backed intoa corner until they reach another cave.

Episode 50 - The Pirates’ Trap

Solid lead in to the pirate cave mini-arc after a couple transitional episodes. We see Goku showing off his huge leaps, which he naively thinks Bulma and Kuririn can do as easily. Funnily enough Kuririn makes an impressive jump, but it goes too high, not necessarily far. This trap floor comes as an unpleasant surprise for General Blue too as he sees his officers caught up. Another mini quest for Goku, Bulma and Kuririn within this mini-arc presents itself with them having to escape falling into a pit of magma, which was entertaining although the dirty jokes with male characters, this time being Kuririn is showing fatigue now. Once we reach the end of this episode and the Pirate Robot appears our heroes are set for more fighting and this mini-arc starts to come into its own.

[Robo4900]

Similarly behind myself.

The attempted rape of Bulma makes episode 46 hard for me to say much good about, to be honest.

Episode 47 opens with a rather delightful piece of music, labelled "Red Ribbon Strategy" on Kenisu's site. No particular insight there, I just really like this piece.

Episode 48 has one of my favourite gags in the series; a guy is to report something to Blue, so he walks up to him, opens his mouth to speak, and Blue immediately punches him into a wall.
And oh yes, the insert song. Pure AWESOME. I love it!

Will I be able to blitz through 49-50, and get a start on week 12's episodes? Probably. But for now, I just watched these three. And I most enjoyed watching them (save for certain parts of #46).

Lots of great memories from this era of DB.

[Robo4900]

Interestingly, I've noticed a subtitle translation error in episode 49... Roshi sounds like he refers to Yellow Lunch as "Lunch-cha" here, but the subtitles render it as "Lunch-san".
Perhaps the poor-quality audio Mandelin was working off made it hard for him to tell. Especially since Roshi had consistently referred to Yellow Lunch as "Lunch-san".

Anyway, episode 49 is great. Roshi's perverted antics are usually awful, but when Yellow Lunch is consistently foiling him, it ends up being less objectionable. Quite enjoyable, even.

I do like that Blue takes a moment and says "Yes, they're just three kids, but they wiped out Silver and White's units." The baddies here aren't dumb, they're taking a moment and thinking through the situation before charging in like idiots. If Blue hadn't made this call, they would've run in guns blazing, and Goku would've beat the entire platoon up, leaving just Blue, with a tactical disadvantage, and probably they'd have been wiped out as easily as Silver. 'Course he's not totally genius, because he makes the assumption that the only reason Goku beat Silver and White was with some kind of weapons. And he ends up losing his entire platoon to the traps from still being too gung-ho. Though to his credit, he does find the correct way past the traps.

Heh. Y'know, the traps like the circles that shoot spears always reminded me of the traps in the Death Zone in The Five Doctors.

Blue strangling the electric eel is an interesting way of demonstrating his utilitarian cruelty.

The pirate robot is pretty scary and awesome. I dig it. Great way to end an episode, too; "OH SHIT GOKU, KURIRIN, AND BULMA ARE BEING ATTACKED BY A ROBOT WITH A SWORD!"

A great bunch of episodes, honestly. I think it's about here that Dragon Ball really hit its stride. I'll expand on that in the next thread, since that's the current week, but I think we've really begun Dragon Ball's golden age here.

[jaisonas]

These episodes are some of my favorite in the series, partly cause of the story, but mostly cause of the James bond-esque soundtrack. (Favorite tracks being the song playing when blue and co spots the cave and the others in the sub (ep48) and the commence chase song midway episode 50 where blue sends the army to chase the gang)