Dragon Ball Rewatch, Week 40 - DBZ episode 23-27

[Robo4900]

Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 40 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.

We're nearly at the end of the Saiyan arc now, and the next movie is just two weeks away. Lots of exciting things happening.
Additionally, this week's Kai episodes line up quite nicely with the Z episodes, with two Z episodes per Kai episode. Pretty much from this point until the Cell arc concludes, we'll have 3 Kai episodes per week. (The only exceptions are some very filler-heavy weeks, such as Garlic Jr. or fake Namek)

Previous thread: Week 39 (DBZ 18-22)
Next thread: Week 41 (DBZ 28-32)

Anyway, without further ado...

Episode 176 - Yamucha Dies! The Terror of the Saibaimen (DBZ episode 23)
Dub title: Saibamen Attack! (Funimation)
Originally aired 18th of October 1989
Kai equivalent: Episode 9 - Yamucha’s Hard Struggle! The Terrifying Saibaimen (Last half)
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 16 - The Battle Begins... Where Are You Goku? (Last few minutes) and Episode 17 - The Saibamen Strike (First half)
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Katsumi Aoshima

Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and then Yamucha fly in to where Piccolo and the others are fighting the Saibaimen. Vegeta suggests they have a game of one-on-one, so first Tenshinhan faces off against a single Saibaiman. The Saibaiman shoots acid from his head, but because he is defeated by Tenshinhan, he is easily annihilated by Vegeta! Next, Yamucha fights in place of Kuririn, and the Saibaiman he defeats latches onto him and self-destructs!! Kuririn is furious!

Anime-only/filler content: Gohan, Piccolo, and Kuririn fighting the Saibaimen before Tenshinhan and Chaozu arrive on the battlefield (kept in the original dub, but not in Kai), Yajirobe being interviewed (also in the original dub but not in Kai), any and all scenes involving the TV coverage of the battle with the Saiyans, including those at Kame House (kept in the original dub; Kai cut some of it, but not all of it).

Episode 177 - Farewell Ten-san! Chaozu’s Suicide Strategy (DBZ episode 24)
Dub title: The Power of Nappa (Funimation)
Originally aired 25th of October 1989
Kai equivalent: Episode 10 - Wait, Chaozu! Tenshinhan’s Screaming Kikōhō (First half)
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 17 - The Saibamen Strike (Last half) and Episode 18 - Nappa... The Invincible? (First half)
Episode director: Tatsuya Orime
Animation supervisor: Osamu Kasai

As Bulma cries from watching a television relay from the scene of the battle, Kame-Sen’nin consoles her by saying that Yamucha can be brought back to life with the Dragon Balls. The ki blast fired by the enraged Kuririn defeats three of the Saibaimen, and Piccolo wipes out the surviving one, but Vegeta and Nappa are uninjured! After getting Vegeta’s permission to fight against all five of them on his own, Nappa knocks off Tenshinhan’s left arm! Chiaotzu clings to Nappa’s back and self-destructs! But even with this, Nappa is unaffected.

Anime-only/filler content: More scenes involving the TV coverage of the battle with the Saiyans, including Roshi consoling Bulma after Yamucha's death (kept in both original and Kai), Nappa's first bout where he attacks Kuririn before powering up after Piccolo intervenes (kept in the original dub, but I don't think in Kai), Nappa firing a ki beam at Chaozu after his attempt to paralyse him with his mind (kept in both, I think; not entirely sure about Kai), Nappa's attempts to get Chaozu off his back when trying his self-destruction gambit (I'm fairly sure this was kept in both), extensions to Tenshinhan's grieving over Chaozu's death, including the flashback sequence (kept but cut down in both).

Episode 178 - Tenshinhan Cries Out!! This is My Last Kikōhō (DBZ episode 25)
Dub title: Sacrifice (Funimation)
Originally aired 1st of November 1989
Kai equivalent: Episode 10 - Wait, Chaozu! Tenshinhan’s Screaming Kikōhō (Last half)
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 18 - Nappa... The Invincible? (Last half) and Episode 19 - Tien Goes All Out! (First half)
Episode director: Daisuke Nishio
Animation supervisor: Tomekichi Takeuchi

Nappa beats Tenshinhan around after Tenshinhan, weeping at Chiaotzu’s death, furiously attacked him! Piccolo challenges Nappa with a combo play, but their surprise attack fails when Gohan gets scared and runs away. With even Piccolo and Kuririn’s doppelganger attack being ineffective, they constantly endure Nappa’s wild attacks. Tenshinhan dies after firing a Kikōhō mustering the last of his energy!! Even this doesn’t defeat Nappa!! Vegeta tells Kuririn that he will stop the battle for three hours, until Goku comes.

Anime-only/filler content: More scenes involving the TV coverage of the battle with the Saiyans, general fighting padding, Piccolo and Kuririn's doppelganger attack. Generally the filler from this episode was kept in the original dub, but not in Kai, though Kai did use some of the TV coverage scenes. (Written by Hiroshi Toda)

Episode 179 - An Intense 3-Hour Delay! The Kinto-Un Bullet-Express (DBZ episode 26)
Dub title: Nappa's Rampage (Funimation)
Originally aired 8th of November 1989
Kai equivalent: Episode 11 - Will Son Goku Make It?! The Battle Resumes in 3 Hours (First half)
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 19 - Tien Goes All Out! (Last half) and Episode 20 - Time's Up! (First half)
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama

Vegeta tells Nappa that they’ll wait for the arrival of the traitorous Goku (Kakarrot), and then kill everyone. Gohan is depressed about his own cowardliness, but Piccolo treats him harshly. Waiting impatiently, as a diversion Nappa obliterates the armada and war planes that attack the island, and even wipes out a city! Three hours then pass, and Piccolo and the others fight Nappa once again!! Meanwhile, after crossing the Serpent Road, Goku arrives in the lower world and flies off on Kinto-Un.

Anime-only/filler content: More scenes involving the TV coverage of the battle with the Saiyans, and Nappa's rampage. Mostly kept in the original dub, almost all cut from Kai. (Written by Takao Koyama)

Episode 180 - Leave it to Me! Gohan’s Great Burst of Anger (DBZ episode 27)
Dub title: Nimbus Speed (Funimation)
Originally aired 22nd of November 1989
Kai equivalent: Episode 11 - Will Son Goku Make It?! The Battle Resumes in 3 Hours (Last half)
Edited dub equivalent: Episode 20 - Time's Up! (Some footage also incorporated into episode 21)
Episode director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa

Carrying out his secret plan, Piccolo grabs the Saiyans weak spot, their tails. But since Nappa has strengthened his tail, Piccolo is instead defeated! Kuririn’s special attack, the Kienzan, is also dodged by Nappa, and as the danger continues, Gohan and the others sense the approaching Goku’s ki. An impatient Vegeta orders Nappa to kill the three of them, and after being angered by Gohan’s desperate counterattack, Nappa fires a tremendous energy bullet at him. At that moment, Piccolo spreads out his body to cover Gohan!!

Anime-only/filler content: The scene involving a heavily-armed Chichi readying herself to go to the battlefield to save Gohan before the others at Kame House convince her not to go; this was kept in the original dub, but cut from Kai.

-

Interesting trivia:

• At this point in time, in the manga Bulma, Kuririn and Gohan leave for Namek, Vegeta arrives at Planet Freeza No. 79 and learns that Freeza is already on Namek, the trio arrive on Namek and get their ship destroyed, Vegeta arrives and defeats Cui, and Goku is healed by Karin's Senzu Beans and blasts off for Namek.
• This is the first of two times Vegeta uses his "point to implode" technique. The second time will be against Cui.
• One of the vehicles that approaches the battlefield in episode 22 has written on its side "NCC-1701-A". Additionally, the design of the vehicle itself, as is clear when it appears in the background behind Nappa, is strikingly similar to the kind of shuttlecraft used in Star Trek. The Enterprise with the registration number NCC-1701-A, the Enterprise A, made its debut in 1986's The Voyage Home, following the destruction of the original NCC-1701 Enterprise in The Search For Spock (1984). On TV, the Enterprise A had already been succeeded by The Next Generation's Enterprise D (NCC-1701-D) in 1987, however the Enterprise A went on to appear in two further movies after 1987, The Final Frontier (1989) and The Undiscovered Country (1991), meaning both the Enterprise A and the Enterprise D were equally the "Current" Enterprise at the time this episode of Dragon Ball Z aired.
• Piccolo killing the Saibaiman straggler is the final time in the manga where he uses a demonic-type move with his mouth beam. Appropriately enough, it exposes the Saibaiman's skeleton.
• Just before Nappa's attack, Chaozu tells Tenshinhan that his powers don't work on him. This is the last time these powers are even mentioned in manga material.
• When Chaozu blows himself up to try and kill Nappa, Piccolo says that such a move won his respect. This is odd, because when the Saibaiman pulled the same thing on Yamcha, Piccolo was shocked.
• In edited episode 18 (equivalent to uncut episodes 24 and 25), the role of God was recast from Dale Wilson to Ward Perry, who would continue to play the role for as long as the Vancouver cast dubbed Dragon Ball under Funimation. Dale Wilson would return to the role when the Westwood Media/Ocean dub of Z episodes 123-291 began, at which point he would also take over the role of King Enma from Ward Perry.
• Edited episode 20 has Bulma say "Tien Shinhan" while looking at a picture of him and the rest of the gang, marking the first time that name was spoken in English-dubbed Dragon Ball.
• A scene from uncut episode 27 that was used in edited episode 21 has Piccolo flash back to his time with Gohan, including a lot of scenes that weren't included in the edited dub, such as him asking Piccolo what happened to his dad, and him not liking the apples Piccolo gave him.
• Edits in the original dub:
  • After Nappa blows up a manned helicopter, Tenshinhan says "Look! I can see their parachutes! They're okay!" to cover up Nappa's mass murder attempt. Apparently Animerica magazine declared this line their "Anime quote of the month" after it aired.
  • A particularly graphic shot of a Saibaiman dying was cut, though the fact it died was kept intact. Once again, it seems that, provided the violence isn't too extreme, death is okay for anything that isn't human.
  • Kuririn running to Yamucha's body, listening for a pulse, and not hearing it, was cut.
  • Yamucha's body was painted out of the crater it appears in, implying he was vapourised (or otherwise "Sent to the next dimension").
  • Various shots showing Yamucha's body were cut or painted over.
  • After Roshi tells Bulma that Yamucha can be revived, the shot of him patting her butt (as well as her hitting him in retaliation) was cut.
  • Tenshinhan's arm being cut off was shortened, but not entirely removed.
  • After Ten's arm is cut off, he says to Nappa "You just wait till it grows back!" While his supernatural nature, his multi-arm technique, the existence of Senzu beans, and Piccolo make this a tiny bit plausible, in reality he is of course unable to do this.
  • Blood on the faces of Ten and Chaozu were painted out. However, in one scene, Ten has blood coming from the side of his mouth, and that isn't painted out.
  • Some of the flashback to Ten's history with Chaozu was cut.
  • A shot of a news crew that Nappa destroys is cut so Funimation can explain they ran away.
  • Various lines of dialogue are added to suggest the people Nappa is massacring got away; "Eject pilot, eject!" "Abandon ship!", etc. Nappa himself says "These humans are such cowards! A little target practice on some empty buildings, and they scatter!"
  • The Navy destruction was slightly cut to remove a particularly big explosion, likely to make it a little more plausible that some of these people got away.
  • Various graphic shots of buildings full of people getting massacred by Nappa were cut.
  • A bruise on Piccolo's head after Nappa elbows him was painted out.
  • Nappa kicking Gohan in the stomach before Roshi's TV cuts to static was replaced with a different shot, of Nappa winding up for a punch.
  • Another shot of Nappa kicking Gohan in the stomach was cut.
  • Blood coming out of the cut on Nappa's cheek from Kuririn's Kienzan was painted out.
  • Blood on Nappa after Gohan kicks him around was painted out.
• The title page for Chapter 218 depicts photos of the Son Family, the Dragon Team on the Lookout, Piccolo, and the "Kame House Gang". The latter picture is the last time Toriyama will draw Lunch in the manga.
  • Although, as previously noted, and as explained in Kanzenshuu's rumours guide on the subject, Lunch would appear in a draft version of Chapter 515, though she was ultimately replaced with #17 in the finished version (though the dialogue wasn't changed from the draft to reflect this).
• In Chapter 219, the panel of Vegeta giving the survivors three hours has the shading on his armour flipped. This is never corrected, with the exception of the digital Full Colours.
• The shot of Nappa destroying the F15 fighter is the only shot in the Rock The Dragon intro to actually be from an episode of the anime; almost all the others are from the first three DBZ movies. The remaining few shots are from the TV opening animations.
• The Kienzan is the first move invented by Kuririn. Befitting his character, it ignores being powerful and instead focuses on cutting, rendering it completely lethal until Perfect Cell somehow withstands it in the anime.
• The presence of the media team near the Saiyan fight is kept in Kai, so that the tragic scene where Bulma and Puar witness the death of Yamcha can be kept. Otherwise however they have a significantly reduced presence in this version.
• Redraws in Kai episode 9:
  • Nappa gathering energy before destroying East City.
  • Nappa blowing up East City. Possibly done to censor flashing imagery. If so, this would be the only one of these five that has a reason to be here.
  • Nappa and Vegeta surveying their destruction of East City.
  • Bulma putting on the scouter.
  • Kuririn angrily staring down the Saiyans.
• Redraws in Kai episode 10: (There are 24 in total, so I'll be summarising; see the full gallery in Kanzenshuu's episode guide listing)
  • Loads and loads of Ki attack shots, likely done to censor flashing imagery.
  • Some general attack shots too, with seemingly no reason behind them.
  • One or two shots that actually somewhat extend the frame for widescreen, though only slightly, and it's only one or two shots at most.
• Redraws in Kai episode 11: (Again, a lot of them in this one, so I'm summarising)
  • Various seemingly-unnecessary redraws.
  • Goku running, with weird colouring for some reason.
  • A pink part of the arm right below Piccolo's right hand was recoloured green.
• In Funimation's Kai dub, Nappa strangely shouts "I HATE THE MEDIA!!", presumably a reference to Dragon Ball Z Abridged, which had begun about a year or two prior to Funimation's work on Kai. TeamFourStar themselves based their "I hate the media" jokes on a Nappa line from the original edited dub: "I never did watch the news... well, maybe just a few times... and it stunk!"
• The three hour wait demonstrates a rare secondary function of the Scouter: acting as a countdown timer!
• In the original Japanese version, Gohan tells Nappa "Your momma's belly-button sticks out!", in the original edited dub he says "You smell like toenails!", in the uncut dub, he says "You smell!", and Funimation's Kai dub has him say "You're stupid and ugly, and you smell!"
• In edited episode 19, after Gohan realises Tenshinhan might still be alive if he hadn't chickened out, Piccolo says to Gohan "It hurts, doesn't it? Facing your fears would have been less painful." Funimation called back to this line of dialogue in their in-house dub of uncut episode 266 by having Super Boo say it to Gohan after he absorbs Piccolo. They kept this line basically as-is in their uncut dub of episode 26. They couldn't win either way with this one, though; by keeping the callback, they softened it considerably compared to the original Japanese line, "That's right! Who knew you were such a coward?!" Whereas if they had fixed the line, they would have ruined the callback they added in 2002.
• Funimation's 2005 redub changed various actually-pretty-accurate lines of dialogue from Nappa from edited episode 20, completely rewriting them into lines completely unrelated to the original Japanese lines.
• This is also the only time we get to see God jump straight from the mortal realm to Other World (aside from his death, of course).
• Recurring death tallies:
  • Chaozu: 2
  • The moon: 2
  • Yamucha: 1
  • Tenshinhan: 1
  • Son Goku: 1
  • Piccolo: 1
  • Roshi: 1
  • Kuririn: 1
• Aside from the filler scene of Karin seeing Piccolo fly away after fusing with God in the Android arc, this is the last time we see Karin's Tower until Goku stops by to demonstrate his full power before facing Cell.
• As Vegeta explains why they don't need Piccolo alive, he says that he never believed the legend of the Namekian "Power Spheres" until he got proof Goku was back. This suggests that Vegeta was sceptical that the Dragon Balls really existed when coming to earth.
• Piccolo's death scene is the first instance of purple blood being used for a Namekian, except in Kai.

Episode summaries, airdates, and titles courtesy of Kanzenshuu's episode guide. Filler breakdowns and Dragon Ball logo provided, and trivia co-written, by KBABZ. Additional trivia courtesy of Chris Psaros's DBZ Uncensored guide.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Now we get to where the Saiyan arc really picks up, and the hero characters start dropping before Goku arrives on the battlefield.

- Gohan's getting chicken after Piccolo and Krillin attack Nappa shows that even with the development he'd had training in the wilderness he still had some of his old cry baby-ness even if not nearly as much as before.

-Krillin's furious multi beam attack after Vegeta insults Yamcha is an awesome scene, and him blowing all but one of the Saibaimen to bits at once.

- Piccolo grabbing the last Saibaiman's arm as it tries to reach Gohan, and his "Go to hell" line before flinging it into the air and destroying it with his mouth beam is a favorite moment of mine.


Misc note:

DBZ ep 27 is the point at which the Ultimate Uncut Edition release was silently canceled by FUNi in May/June 2006, as at the time volumes 10 and 11 of the "Vegeta Saga" were apparently very close to coming out. This is by far one of the most tragic and worst spots in the history of the series home releases here, because it led to fans having a set that could never be completed. All the poor foks who purchased those Vegeta Saga II box sets back then got horribly jipped by that unfortunate decision, but clearly the three to four episodes a disc format they had been doing past six or so years was already obsolete by that point and it would've made more sense if FUNi had done something like the Dragon Ball Saga sets for the UUE and rest of the series. Instead, we got a product in the Orange Bricks that was awful in most every aspect.

[ArmenianPepsi]

Ah yes. "Look! I can see their parachutes! They're okay!" and "They blew up the cargo robot!" are some of my favorite hokey censorings from Saban DBZ. But to be honest, I dont think there could be anyways besides outright cutting the shots to find a way to sidestep Nappa murdering people, and not make it sound so ridiculous.

[Planetnamek]

Love the Saiyans rampage through the city, the ridiculous lines trying to cover up death are even more funny when you're watching a fan-recut with uncut Dragon Box footage like I was for the Ocean dub.

I rolled my eyes so hard when I heard that "I hate the media" line in Kai, something about an official DB product referencing a Youtube fan-series just feels very wrong to me(And i'm saying this as a DBZA fan) it's one of many gripes I have about Kai. To me that line sounds more ridiculous and desperate then any of the punched-up dialogue from the original dub.

[MasenkoHA]

To me that line sounds more ridiculous and desperate then any of the punched-up dialogue from the original dub.

I’m hardly a fan of the pandering but saying it’s more ridiculous than any punched up dialog from the original dub is quite a reach

[Planetnamek]

To me that line sounds more ridiculous and desperate then any of the punched-up dialogue from the original dub.

I’m hardly a fan of the pandering but saying it’s more ridiculous than any punched up dialog from the original dub is quite a reach

An official DBZ product referencing a fan-show just feels like a desperate attempt to pander to the younger internet audience that never grew up watching DBZ and only knows about it through DBZA. I don't think it's a reach.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I'd say the even more bizarre pandering (although not a product of these episodes but inspired by ep 176) is that Bandai actually made dead Yamcha figures.

[Matches Malone]

The fight with Nappa is by far one of the most brutal in the franchise. Seeing all these characters drop dead one after the other was mind boggling, even though I wasn't familiar with who they were due to (unfortunately) starting with Z.

[Planetnamek]

I'd say the even more bizarre pandering (although not a product of these episodes but inspired by ep 176) is that Bandai actually made dead Yamcha figures.

Really? Damn that's kinda messed up, i'd imagine some parents had issues with that.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I'd say the even more bizarre pandering (although not a product of these episodes but inspired by ep 176) is that Bandai actually made dead Yamcha figures.

Really? Damn that's kinda messed up, i'd imagine some parents had issues with that.

I was pretty shocked by that actually, because seriously though...making figures of said character's dead corpse??? Yeah i'd like to know who in their right mind at Bandai signed off on this.

[ArmenianPepsi]

I'd say the even more bizarre pandering (although not a product of these episodes but inspired by ep 176) is that Bandai actually made dead Yamcha figures.

Really? Damn that's kinda messed up, i'd imagine some parents had issues with that.

I was pretty shocked by that actually, because seriously though...making figures of said character's dead corpse??? Yeah i'd like to know who in their right mind at Bandai signed off on this.

Maybe someone there just had a unhealthy hatred, and needed something to complete their anti-shrine to Yamcha

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Really? Damn that's kinda messed up, i'd imagine some parents had issues with that.

I was pretty shocked by that actually, because seriously though...making figures of said character's dead corpse??? Yeah i'd like to know who in their right mind at Bandai signed off on this.

Maybe someone there just had a unhealthy hatred, and needed something to complete their anti-shrine to Yamcha

I guess that's one possibie explanation, i don't know why else someone there would approve making a figure of Yamcha lying dead in a crater (albeit somehow not getting evaporated by the kamikaze Saibaiman as can happen with certain explosive forces in real life) from that episode.

[ArmenianPepsi]

I was pretty shocked by that actually, because seriously though...making figures of said character's dead corpse??? Yeah i'd like to know who in their right mind at Bandai signed off on this.

Maybe someone there just had a unhealthy hatred, and needed something to complete their anti-shrine to Yamcha

I guess that's one possibie explanation, i don't know why else someone there would approve making a figure of Yamcha lying dead in a crater (albeit somehow not getting evaporated by the kamikaze Saibaiman as can happen with certain explosive forces in real life) from that episode.

Well, as unfortunate as it is. Yamcha just being wasted right off the bat in this battle vs the Saibaiman is not the worst we'll see happen to him, in the future he'll get the shaft even harder.

[KBABZ]

Yamcha being wasted is only that in retrospect now that we know that he'll fall by the wayside thanks to his time away from the action. I think Toriyama planned his death and that of Tien and Chiaotzu early on: note how Krillin is the one who shows up first and chats with Gohan and Piccolo before the Saiyans arrive, then the dead men walking come in and don't get that chance. Those first three, plus Goku, are the ones who eventually slug it out with Vegeta at the end, with the addition of Yajirobe. So I feel that Toriyama always knew what the real long-term roster was for the fight.

Yamcha's death also serves the narrative purpose that you can't let your guard down around not just the Saiyans, but their mindless henchmen as well.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Yamcha being wasted is only that in retrospect now that we know that he'll fall by the wayside thanks to his time away from the action. I think Toriyama planned his death and that of Tien and Chiaotzu early on: note how Krillin is the one who shows up first and chats with Gohan and Piccolo before the Saiyans arrive, then the dead men walking come in and don't get that chance. Those first three, plus Goku, are the ones who eventually slug it out with Vegeta at the end, with the addition of Yajirobe. So I feel that Toriyama always knew what the real long-term roster was for the fight.

Yamcha's death also serves the narrative purpose that you can't let your guard down around not just the Saiyans, but their mindless henchmen as well.

Yes, compared to OG DB especially early on where he was a fairly prominent character at least with exception of the parts where Goku's off Dragon Ball hunting solo.

[ABED]

To me that line sounds more ridiculous and desperate then any of the punched-up dialogue from the original dub.

I’m hardly a fan of the pandering but saying it’s more ridiculous than any punched up dialog from the original dub is quite a reach

An official DBZ product referencing a fan-show just feels like a desperate attempt to pander to the younger internet audience that never grew up watching DBZ and only knows about it through DBZA. I don't think it's a reach.

That anyone would not watch the series but watch the fan parody is truly a sad thought. Why just why?

[MasenkoHA]

Re: Yamcha dying by Saibaman


I don’t think Yamcha was wasted or treated as a joke. He only died because the saibaman offed himself in a kamikaze attack to show how dangerous the Saiyans were. The Z warriors were significantly weaker than Nappa. Piccolo got the “take the blast for someone else in a heroic sacrifice” death. Tenshinhan got the “give it everything I got till I drop dead” death Chaozu got the “Take you with me” death. What the hell was Yamcha going to get if he had died to Nappa? Just get one shotted by him most likely. Dying to a suicidal saibaman was probably the best option for him to get some sort of dignified death.

[Planetnamek]

I’m hardly a fan of the pandering but saying it’s more ridiculous than any punched up dialog from the original dub is quite a reach

An official DBZ product referencing a fan-show just feels like a desperate attempt to pander to the younger internet audience that never grew up watching DBZ and only knows about it through DBZA. I don't think it's a reach.

That anyone would not watch the series but watch the fan parody is truly a sad thought. Why just why?

Maybe because they didn't have cable growing up and their syndicated stations never had a good timeslot for DBZ?

[ABED]

An official DBZ product referencing a fan-show just feels like a desperate attempt to pander to the younger internet audience that never grew up watching DBZ and only knows about it through DBZA. I don't think it's a reach.

That anyone would not watch the series but watch the fan parody is truly a sad thought. Why just why?

Maybe because they didn't have cable growing up and their syndicated stations never had a good timeslot for DBZ?

Regardless of that scenario that I don't buy, starting with the parody is dumb. If you have internet fast enough that can stream youtube, you can get DB.

I don’t think Yamcha was wasted or treated as a joke.

Agreed. He died to reinforce the danger of even the weakest of the invaders. He served an important purpose. On top of that, it's a pretty good short fight.

[Planetnamek]

That anyone would not watch the series but watch the fan parody is truly a sad thought. Why just why?

Maybe because they didn't have cable growing up and their syndicated stations never had a good timeslot for DBZ?

Regardless of that scenario that I don't buy, starting with the parody is dumb. If you have internet fast enough that can stream youtube, you can get DB.

I don’t think Yamcha was wasted or treated as a joke.

Agreed. He died to reinforce the danger of even the weakest of the invaders. He served an important purpose. On top of that, it's a pretty good short fight.

Eh I don't really see how it's dumb at all.