102 "Tokoton Yarou ze!! Kieyuku Hoshi ni Nokotta Futari"
(Let's Get it On!! The Two Are Left On a Vanishing Planet)
91-8-7
87 "Duel On A Vanishing Planet" 99-10-27

Freeza and Goku begin the final round of their battle, now with only two minutes left before Namek explodes. Meanwhile, everyone else is a bit dazed to find themselves on Earth, and wonder how exactly they got there. The Great Elder explains the situation, and all question the wisdom of Goku's decision to stay behind and fight.

This is a terrible episode.

Basically, 20 minutes are spend doing nothing. You could miss this entire episode (save perhaps for a few lines during the "Earth" scenes), and not even be aware that you did so. That's a bad sign. Not only does the fight become VERY, VERY TIRESOME at this pont, but it goes absolutely NOWHERE. My God, I remember watching these episodes and just begging for the battle between Goku and Freeza to end. BUT NOT ONLY DOES IT KEEP GOING, IT KEEPS GOING FOR THREE MORE EPISODES!

You know, I kind of wish the dub had mistranslated the whole "5 minutes" thing. That I could have understood. As of this episode, we are told that it has come down to "2 minutes" before Namek explodes which is just as ridiculous as ever. We can sit there and watch as these two minutes pass over and over and over again, but it doesn't make the explosion come any sooner. Nor does anyone in the show seem to realize that HOURS ARE PASSING BY BEFORE THEIR EYES.

Eh, but that's DBZ for you. You gotta love it for having the guts to just pull down its pants and laugh at you for trying to be critical. I mean, how can you be critical of a show that has such an obvious sense of humor about itself?

Anyway, the episode has no alterations or particularly bad dialogue to speak of. Sorry, but that's just the way it worked out. And I like how people are telling me that my episode comparisons "suck" lately and are too short. Umm... yeah. FUNi gives me what they give me, folks. Would you rather they edit the show more?

By the way, I have no idea what the hell "tokoton" means, it's one of those Goku words that doesn't appear in any dictionary. So I was forced to steal the first part of the title translation from Simmons. Steven, you da man.


I really enjoyed Piccolo's little Dragon Ball flashback, because it gives everyone a chance to see just a bit of those episodes that will probably never be translated. This flashback is actually the highlight of the episode, which says a lot about it, I think.

It also contains a treat for dub fans, as we finally see the shot of Piccolo's Makkankosappo going through Goku and Raditz, as it was meant to be. Another bit of once-edited footage that Season 3 allowed us to reclaim. I always get a tingly pleasure when I see something edited in previous seasons left in for the newer episodes, because I can at least fool myself into thinking that progress is being made on the dub and that it will actually be "good enough" someday.