Deep Thoughts: The Freeza Saga

[ABED]

The Freeza Saga
And so, we finally reach the climactic final battle to perhaps the most iconic villain in Dragon Ball. The sheer length does make it feel "epic" but it also hurts it because it's so long due to some of the most obtrusive filler in the series. I by and large enjoy the fight, but there has a to be a much shorter version of this battle that is just as compelling and climactic. For this reason, the score drops. It's where I think Dragon Ball is no longer firing on all cylinders.

The fight can be structurally broken up into three parts – The fight against Freeza prior to Goku's arrival, Goku vs. Freeza, and Super Saiyan Goku vs. Freeza. I've seen various opinions about which part is people's favorite portion, but I gotta admit that I'm a tad perplexed when I see people say the last part to be the weakest portion. I enjoy all of it, but for me, the fight gets better as it goes along. I like reversals of fortune, but there are only so many I can take especially when I know things won't really pick up until Goku arrives. That said, it is full of great moments like Piccolo returning to take on Freeza or Krillin running away from Freeza after severing part of his tail. It was like something out of a horror movie when Kuririn is trying to run away and hide only for Freeza to pop up in front of him. Sometimes the use of violence can go over the line into egregious territory (e.g., Spopovitch vs. Videl), but Freeza goring Kuririn and toying with him is effective in building an air of hopelessness. Freeza's posture as a gentleman is just a façade. He's a monster through and through. It's this phase that Freeza goes through his different forms and his third form is one too many. It's so short lived and superfluous, I wish Toriyama had kept the fight against Freeza in his first form a little longer. My favorite part of this phase of the fight is Vegeta defeat. After receiving a power up due a near death revival, he's so certain he's a Super Saiyan, and in short order not only is he shown he's still nowhere close to Freeza, his confidence and entire sense of self is shattered. He's taken beatings and will take more in the future, but he's never felt helpless, and it's in that moment that we see something I don't think anyone expected, we see him cry. Then comes the brutal beat down. The calmness juxtaposed with Freeza brutality is chilling. Even a friend of mine told me he felt uncomfortable with it. Thankfully Goku arrives in time to prevent anyone else from sharing Vegeta's fate... for the moment.

The second phase of the battle where there is a glimmer of hope and things pick up, but not before the death of the Saiyan prince. Shot through the heart (and you're to blame… sorry, had to) and or lung is a hell of a painful way to go. Vegeta's death isn't necessarily sad, but there is a bitterness to it. He's a scumbag but Goku did respect him and Freeza just brutalized him at the end. It's here that Goku fully embraces his Saiyan heritage. He only rejected it initially, here he's proudly proclaiming to be one. He'll need every ounce of pride and confidence he has in order to defeat Freeza. Even prior to turning Super Saiyan, Goku shows why he's a cut above the rest. Sadly, it's not enough because despite his new power Freeza is barely scratching the surface of his power. There are a few clover strategies employed by Goku that I think show he's the more skilled fighter, but the gap in their powers negates any advantage he has. At best, Goku gets a few good shots in but at worst, he draws a little blood and gives Freeza a second degree burn on his hand with the 20x Kaio-ken Kamehameha which mostly just royally pissed off Freeza. Goku then turns to his trump card, the Genki Dama which is ginormous. The scale is hard to convey as the crater we see isn't nearly big enough considering the anime shows that the MASSIVE explosion can be seen from space. It was long and exhausting, but so comes the end to Lord Freeza, emperor of… wait, that isn't the end? Crap.

No, it's not the end. Once again, the villain survives the "finisher". Freeza being the prick he is decides to twist the knife. It's that desire that costs him the fight. Hell, it's the reason why Goku had enough time to create the Genki Dama. First is Piccolo, then Goku's best friend, Kuririn, and if that weren't bad enough, the prick threatens Goku's child. And here's where he screws up. Instead of going for the kill shot and taking out Goku first, he triggers a rage deep within and unlocks the thing he feared the most, a Super Saiyan. As fulfilling as it would have been had the Genki Dama killed Freeza, the fight between Super Saiyan Goku and Freeza makes it worth it. Apparently, there are those that don't like this part of the battle as much, but I love it as Freeza FINALLY gets his comeuppance. Freeza shows signs of life in the fight and makes a small comeback after he reaches his full power, but now Goku not only has the edge in terms of experience and skill, he is far stronger. When I say Goku has the edge in experience, I'm talking battle experience. Freeza is so strong he never had need to sharpen his skills or dig down deep against an equal or more powerful opponent. Goku has constantly been taken to the limit and had to dig down deep. Seeing the bully get what's coming to them is so fulfilling. It's something that bothers me in wrestling matches where the good guy takes a beating most of the match and then his comeback consists of a a few moves and a finisher. The bad guy has beaten you up for most of the match and rubbed it in and taunted you and took cheap shots. Throw it back in their face and give them a taste of their own medicine. It's far more satisfying than a brief comeback. Bullies being forced to eat crow makes me smile. I think I've always loved Freeza getting cut in half by his own power. He's such an inept fighter that he slices himself in half. Goku being the good guy he is tries to give Freeza more than he deserves. Goku has broken Freeza physically and mentally, and is satisfied, but Freeza's hubris won't allow it. He can't stand being pitied and idiot that he is tries to kill Goku using Goku's own power. It doesn't work, and so we finally witness the death of the evil lord Free… what? Son of a bitch.

Someone please refresh my memory on how the manga dealt with the destruction of Planet Namek because in the anime, Goku is clearly caught in the explosion. He lives, thank God, but when Goku reveals how he survived, the anime had to retcon this moment. Porunga reveals Goku survived, so we knew he'll eventually return as the Freeza arc comes to a close. I really love the simplicity and calmness of the final scene. Gohan is studying in his bedroom and wondering when he's dad will return while Piccolo watches over him. I think this could've worked as a finale with one minor alteration – the last frame is Goku's spaceship entering the atmosphere. The Freeza arc would've made for a great ending, especially since Toriyama is no longer working at the peak of his talent. The story had reached a very natural conclusion. And no, I don't like the idea of Goku dying on Namek. It feels tonally incongruous with Dragon Ball. Regardless, this isn't the end, FAR from it. Next up, an enemy from Goku's past comes back to haunt his family, that enemy is of course Garlic Jr.

Structure:
By this point in the story, it's all serialized. It's like one long movie. After decades of shows becoming more and more serialized, I've seen the drawbacks of this structure. For one thing, things tend run together in my memory and less of it sticks out. For the anime at least, a lot of the episodes deal with single parts of the battle. Boy I wish I was more articulate. It's hard for me to explain. In the Freeza saga, there is an episode where Goku and Freeza start fighting, the next episode, things start to heat up and Goku starts employing strategies to take advantage of Freeza's inability to sense ki then he gets trapped in the energy sphere, then an episode where Freeza fights only using his hands. They aren't all like this, but it makes things a lot easier to remember. A lot of the times there are certain moments can be stretched too long. There's no reason Goku gathering energy for the Genki Dama needs to be 3 episodes. If shows want to be this serialized, my idea would for each episode to have an arc to it.
Fundamentally, I think the structure of the battle is strong. It tells a good story and ends on a high not, but it's much longer than it needs to be, though a good portion of that is due to filler.

Filler:
This is the filler at its worst. The anime spent multiple episodes on Bulma and Ginyu as a frog. Constant cutaways to whatever silly thing Chichi is up to is bad enough but that's easy enough to cut out, but they actually bothered to tell a full story with Bulma and Froginyu. The only cutaways that have much value are to when Muten Roshi worries about what's going on on Namek and adds some valuable commentary. Oh, just remembered the B-Team fighting the Ginyu Force. Yes, it makes zero sense, but it's entertaining, and it's not that intrusive. One last thought about filler, the contradiction of Vegeta knowing or at least having heard Freeza was behind Planet Vegeta's destruction is avoidable and dumb, but that's the dilemma filler deals with. Either do stuff like this that that contradicts or might contradict "canon" or dance between the raindrops, which runs a higher risk of boring the viewer.

The Dub:
It's still season 3 and it's still awful. The voice filter on Young's Freeza is helpful, though, but we still get dumb lines like "Round and round the monkey goes, if he stops then off with his nose." Or this gem from Kuririn, "It's times like these I wonder 'why didn't I become a shoe salesman?'"
This saga is the last time FUNi would edit out an entire episode's worth of material due to violence. I never bothered to watch to see how they cut around it or what other footage they cut out to turn 2 episodes into 1.

Random Thoughts:
Freeza is defeated on 12/24. I wonder why.
This is the last time I can recall Vegeta mentioning wanting eternal life/youth. It's like he gave up on the idea or figured out it didn't have any appeal.

Home Video:
The singles of the Freeza Saga were a step up from the Ginyu Saga DVD's. There was some effort put into them. The recaps are put back in and the episodes now line up. What was annoying was instead of a play all function, once an episode ended, the disc took you to the episode menu and you had to click "play" manually. Why? The one big thing I remember was the animated 3D menus. The disc menus were the inside of Goku's spaceship. I like the effort and wish they had continued it with every saga. The only other one they did it with was the Cell Saga DVDs.

[8000 Saiyan]

"Krillin's in da house!!!"

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I love the Freeza saga, and the fight between himself and Goku. I don't remember exactly when I first saw Dragon Ball, all I'm sure of is I did see it in 1999 when I was living in the US before it debuted in Ireland early the next year, and I do recall the Freeza saga being on TV and toys (and I think cards too?) being sold at Burger King. I seem to remember seeing the episode where Freeza gets cut in half and loses the fight (possibly during one of Toonami's midnight runs) being the first episode of the show I'd seen. Nonetheless I was hooked and had to keep watching.

I wasn't aware the latter part of this fight was disliked. I agree that it gets better as it goes on, and I'm glad both the Z and Kai options exist for it as I thoroughly enjoy each version. If I have the time I rewatch the fight in Z, but otherwise the Kai version is a fine alternative if your short on time.

The fight between Goku and Freeza never gets old, its the culmination of Goku's journey thus far, both as a fighter and learning about his heritage, the fact there's so much on the line, and the novelty of the original Super Saiyan transformation before it became overused all come together to deliver the shounen fight that defined a generation and has inspired anime fans for decades since.

Fun fact but one of the UK promos for the Freeza saga pronounced Saiyan correctly, which is interesting because by the time it aired here in September of 2000 the series had already been on the air for 6 months, so Cartoon Network must have been aware of Funimation's pronunciation.

The original DVD singles from Funimation are nice to have. The broadcast season 3 dub has not aged well, but I still think its a shame Funimation redubbed it as I think their dub should be presented as it was on Cartoon Network and its sister channels. I wouldn't advise anyone watch the redub available on all the season sets as it serves neither the fans that watched Funimation's Freeza saga dub on TV between 1999 and 2003 nor the fans that want an accurate translation.

[MasenkoHA]

. My favorite part of this phase of the fight is Vegeta defeat. After receiving a power up due a near death revival, he's so certain he's a Super Saiyan, and in short order not only is he shown he's still nowhere close to Freeza, his confidence and entire sense of self is shattered.

My favorite part of this whole thing is Vegeta finally hits a wall. He's been coasting through Namek relying on his Saiyan biology to get stronger than opponents previously more powerful than him; Dodoria, Zarbon, and then Jheese . This power boost? It does jack shit. Through all that he still can't come close to Freeza and then get surpassed by a Saiyan their people deemed a write off.

It's not a coincidence that after this Vegeta will actually start training

I think I've always loved Freeza getting cut in half by his own power. He's such an inept fighter that he slices himself in half. Goku being the good guy he is tries to give Freeza more than he deserves. Goku has broken Freeza physically and mentally, and is satisfied, but Freeza's hubris won't allow it. He can't stand being pitied and idiot that he is tries to kill Goku using Goku's own power. It doesn't work, and so we finally witness the death of the evil lord Free… what? Son of a bitch.

I think what I love most is Goku has nothing but disdainful pity for him. Goku's last two major foes he went out of his way to spare because he wanted a rematch. Freeza? Goku's done with him. Freeza is pathetic now and there was no point in continuing or hoping for a rematch. Even giving him some ki was only done for mercy and not because Goku saw someone who would test his strength.

. Gohan is studying in his bedroom and wondering when he's dad will return while Piccolo watches over him. I think this could've worked as a finale with one minor alteration – the last frame is Goku's spaceship entering the atmosphere. The Freeza arc would've made for a great ending,

I did remember thinking this was the last episode as a kid.
I guess since most kids shows in the US didn't typically have such an obvious "everything's wrapped up, this is the end"

Oddly enough the Japanese version goes out of it's way to make sure you know this isn't the end, with the narrator's "However....:" I don't recall the Funi dub doing anything similar but they were at least guaranteed to reach the end of the Garlic Jr arc when season 3 started so I guess it didn't matter.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I don't recall the Funi dub doing anything similar but they were at least guaranteed to reach the end of the Garlic Jr arc when season 3 started so I guess it didn't matter.

It was similar on Cartoon Network UK. The Garlic Junior saga was promoted before we got to the end of the Freeza saga, so even with the limited internet access I had back then I had no reason to believe the Freeza saga would be the end of the series. Both sagas aired together with no breaks, but Cartoon Network likely realised around this point Funimation's dub was too expensive to license as it was from this point they stopped receiving their dub until that brief run of the Funimation Fusion saga, and by April 2001 they began airing the alternate English dub, which Ocean Studios and Westwood Media produced and worked out a deal with AB Groupe to distribute in the months since Garlic Junior wrapped up.

[Koitsukai]

My preference of the three parts of the final fight are in chronological order.
Fodder vs Freeza is entertaining enough but it becomes a little too repetitive, Gohan has like two rage boosts in the span of 5 episodes. I guess it works showing how hopeless they are, no matter how many times they are healed or how many boosts they get, they are hardly even grasping Freeza's suppressed power.
The third form is so fleeting that it must've made his way into the story because Tori binge-watched the Alien movies that month or something.
IIRC, there are no unnecessary filler scenes or episodes during this chunk.

The second part, Goku vs Freeza is clearly a step up. And while Goku is always outclassed, you still feel he might have something saved for later. Freeza toyed with him, and everybody, for too long... the goals you didn't score, will come back to haunt you sooner than later.
The filler, I think it starts to nosedive by the end of this fight, with Ginyu and the frog and boring Bulma stuff. But the part with Goku seeing all of his friends and drawing strenght from that to come back from underneath the water, I loved that.
I also liked the Z-senshi vs the Ginyu Force. I think that was one of the first episodes I've watched, Reecome using his powers on a new planet.

The last part is the best, the bully's face when he is given the bill. But there's too much filler that stalls the action, yes. That episode with Gohan coming back, I mean come on. The filler is already going to town by now.
However, while it kills the momentum, I enjoy seeing what's happening on Earth. The change of pace from a planet about to disappear with two beasts duking it out compared to the more relaxed Earth with this Walking Dead quietness works for me, at least like paussing a game that's making me way too nervous. It does overstay its welcome, though.

[90sDBZ]

These are the episodes that took me from casual fan to being obsessed with the series. It was the episode of Vegeta's death specifically that got me hooked. I tuned in every night after school to watch more of the Goku vs Frieza showdown, and managed to catch some earlier episodes at weekends (the weekend circulation was separate from the weekday one).

There's too many iconic moments to list in this fight. The Spirit Bomb episodes in particular were more suspensful/exciting than anything I'd seen in my 7 year old life up to that point. And then Goku's SS1 transformation was even more exciting. DBZ was now my undisputed favourite show.

Cartoon Network UK repeated these episodes a lot, sometimes in daylong marathon form, and I'd tune into them every time.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I tuned in every night after school to watch more of the Goku vs Frieza showdown, and managed to catch some earlier episodes at weekends (the weekend circulation was separate from the weekday one).

I remember those too. It's really cool Dragon Ball Z was such a phenomenon on Cartoon Network UK we had programming blocks dedicated to it, like 'Saga Sunday' where an entire saga was aired in a single day with more episodes rerun the following Sunday, and of course 'Dragon Ball Z Rewind', which had reruns of new episodes throughout their run on Cartoon Network.

[8000 Saiyan]

In many ways, Frieza's durability is even more impressive than Vegeta's. Surviving a Spirit Bomb, getting cut in half by his own attack, as well surviving Goku's Angry Kamehameha and the explosion of Namek.

Also, that filler episode where Vegeta says that he knows that Frieza was the one who destroyed Planet Vegeta... Did the writers not realize that Vegeta only found out about Frieza destroying his home world in his fight with Dodoria?

[ABED]

In many ways, Frieza's durability is even more impressive than Vegeta's. Surviving a Spirit Bomb, getting cut in half by his own attack, as well surviving Goku's Angry Kamehameha and the explosion of Namek.

Also, that filler episode where Vegeta says that he knows that Frieza was the one who destroyed Planet Vegeta... Did the writers not realize that Vegeta only found out about Frieza destroying his home world in his fight with Dodoria?

It doesn't impress me. He's durable to the point of parody.

[Majin Buu]

The Freeza arc isn't one of my favorites. I don't hate it, and I acknowledge that it's the most iconic arc and would define the rest of the series going forward; but it's one of the two arcs that defines Dragon Ball's dark and edgy sci-fi phase for me, and over time that's become the part of the series I like the least (though the Bardock special will always be peak Dragon Ball for me because of how unique and well-executed it is).

That being said, Goku becoming Super Saiyan after all the build up and subsequently seeing Freeza finally get what's coming to him after such a long stretch of him tormenting the heroes (and Vegeta) is probably the most cathartic moment I've had with the series since Freeza was just such a loathsome prick- he's the only Dragon Ball villain I actively hated on my first watch because of that (though that was "Season 3" Funimation dub Freeza so take that for what its worth).