History Recap / DragonBallZNamekArc

The ''Namek Arc'' is eighth arc in the ''Manga/DragonBall'' manga and the second arc in the ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' TV adaptation.

The battle against Nappa and Vegeta is won but at the cost of Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and Piccolo's lives. Since Piccolo was linked to Kami and he was the creator of the Earth's Dragon Balls, their deaths mean the Dragon Balls are now useless. All seems lost until Popo reveals that Kami had came from a planet called Namek and they could have Dragon Balls of their own to use. Bulma fixes up a ship and Gohan, Krillin and she head off to the planet while Goku waits to heal so he can follow after them later. However when the trio arrive on the planet, they find it's under siege by a tyrannical overlord named Frieza who likewise is after the Dragon Balls. Complicating matters is that Vegeta, having recovered from his defeat on Earth, is also after the Dragon Balls.

It's divided into three sections

The trip to Namek itself, Bulma, Gohan and Krillin arriving, and fighting some of Frieza's forces while playing cat and mouse with Vegeta over the Dragon Balls.

After recovering from the events of the battle with the Saiyans, the Z-Fighters formulate a plan to go to Planet Namek, home world of Piccolo and Kami to use their Dragon Balls. They initially plan for Dr. Briefs to build them a ship based off Goku's, but in the meantime, Mr. Popo reveals that the ship Kami came in on works just fine. With that, Krillin, Bulma, and Gohan begin their journey to Namek.

''While they're going through detours with a spaceship full of orphans and briefly getting lost on a fake Namek,'' Vegeta recovers from his injuries on a planet owned by his boss, Frieza. Of course, remember how Scouters also functioned as transmitters, and Raditz' scouter allowed Vegeta and Nappa to learn about the Dragon Balls? Well, one of Frieza's henchmen and Vegeta's self-proclaimed rival Cui tells him that Frieza in turn listened in on his Scouter, so he's off to Namek himself. Not wanting to lose his opportunity to become immortal, Vegeta heads off to Namek himself.

While the Z-Fighters get situated in a cave, Vegeta encounters Cui. During their... [[CurbStompBattle "fight"]], Vegeta reveals that he learned how to hide his full power, and to increase his speed, making short work of Cui. Meanwhile, Krillin and Gohan find an Namekian village... and Frieza, with his minions Zarbon and Dodoria! Frieza and his minions ''make short work of a group of warriors,'' steal the Dragon Ball, kill the village elder and one of his children, and prepare to do the same to the other one. This sends Gohan in a rage, causing him to dropkick Dodoria while Krillin rescues the kid.

The truth is, rather than being destroyed by a giant meteor, Frieza was the one who blew it up. He was afraid that the Saiyans were becoming too powerful, and thus eradicated them to keep them from turning against him. Vegeta doesn't take it well. How so? He kills Dodoria for the information (though he was likely gonna do that anyway.)

The Namekian child Krillin and Gohan save, named Dende, helps the two formulate a plan: all they need is one Dragon Ball, then they can deny Frieza his wish. Dende vows to take them to the Grand Elder, who owns one of the balls. Unfortunately, Vegeta had the same idea, and stole a Dragon Ball from a village.

Meanwhile, Goku is sent on a ship made by Dr. Briefs to Namek himself. This ship has a gravity machine, so it can simulate up to 100 times Earth's gravity, perfect for training like on King Kai's world. Speaking of King Kai, he talks to Goku, not only telling him that the Z-Fighters killed by Nappa have arrived on his world, but that Goku should stay away from Frieza at all costs.

Vegeta then encounters Zarbon, which leads to yet another CurbStompBattle courtesy of Vegeta... [[SubvertedTrope at first.]] Zarbon reveals that has a the ability to transform into a more powerful form, also revealing Frieza can do the same thing. He promptly demonstrates this new power, effectively reversing the Curb Stomping delivered to him.

Krillin and Dende eventually find the Grand Elder, who not only gives them the Dragon Ball, but unleashes Krillin's hidden potential. Meanwhile, Zarbon takes Vegeta in for questioning as to the location of the Dragon Ball. However, Vegeta not only finds a way out, but steals Frieza's Dragon Balls, and evades the situation completely undetected. Now he has six, one left from his wish... or so it seems, since Gohan managed to steal the one Vegeta had at first for himself.

But before he can pass judgement, he quickly senses the Ginyus, and forces an alliance to take them down. But the Ginyus not only arrive quickly, they steal the Dragon Balls. All of them. They then hold up a mock tournament to take down the alliance of the Z-Fighters and Vegeta.

First up is Guldo, whose [[ColourCodedTimestop time-stopping powers]] make short work of Gohan and Krillin... but he can't predict when Vegeta sneaks up on him and finishes him off. Next is Recoome, who duels Vegeta one on one, taking everything Vegeta throws at him and dishing out heavy hits of his own. Even when Krillin and Gohan join the fight, it just gets them near-fatally wounded as well. Things look lost...

...and that is when [[BigDamnHeroes Goku arrives on Namek]], not only healing the three, but making short work of Recoome [[SingleStrokeBattle in one hit]]. At that point, Vegeta has to face the possibility that Goku may in fact be the Legendary Super Saiyan himself. Burter and Jeice double-team Goku as well, but it's no use, both are defeated. Jeice runs, but Burter and Recoome are killed by Vegeta.

Vegeta puts Goku in a Healing Chamber, and gives Gohan and Krillin some armor (having already changed into a new uniform himself earlier). He then decides to take a nap, since it's been many days since they've landed. Gohan and Krillin, however, encounter Dende and decide to use the Dragon Balls for themselves. Turns out, the trick to using the Namekian Dragon Balls is all commands, including the activation and the actual wishes, have to be done in the Namekian language.

While he and Vegeta fight, Piccolo encounters the beaten Nail, who reveals a technique they can use to stand a chance against Frieza: [[FusionDance fusion.]] Piccolo absorbs Nail, and becomes even more powerful. And the battle against Frieza is going well, too.

But Piccolo shows up at around that time, and fights Frieza to a standstill. A standstill which doesn't last long, as despite Piccolo having taken off his weights, Frieza reveals he can transform two more times, and thus enters his next form, which is more than a match for Piccolo. When Gohan flies into a rage for Piccolo's sake, delivering a very powerful blast to Frieza, he decides that's a good time to show off his last.

...or so he thinks will happen. In reality, Frieza's final form is more than a match for Vegeta, barely even trying and still dealing a lot of damage. But before the final blow can be struck, Goku returns again, and Vegeta starts talking about how Goku is a Super Saiyan... to which Frieza murders him to shut him up.

With his last breath, Vegeta asks Goku to defeat Frieza, as he must die by a Saiyan's hands. What follows is an epic clash between titans, including mountain tossing, underwater battling, games on the part of Frieza, ''a brief return by Ginyu having stolen Bulma's body,'' and the end result that Goku is losing to Frieza when he uses 50% of his power. At that point, Goku gathers energy from the planet and those around it for a [[CombinedEnergyAttack Spirit Bomb]], which deals a lot of damage to Frieza.

...but despite it looking that way at first, it doesn't kill him. And he's all to quick to severely hurt Piccolo and outright kill Krillin. But when he threatens Gohan, something changes about Goku. He starts [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness taking on a harsher tone]], [[UnstoppableRage acting with abject fury]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and]] [[PowerDyesYourHair his hair turns gold]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and stands on end.]] He also becomes much more powerful, easily overpowering Frieza. At this point, everyone watching realizes the truth, what exactly has happened to Goku.

But Frieza will have none of that, and tries to destroy Namek. However, he holds back out of fear of destroying himself, causing the planet to instead begin collapsing. In a state of panic, Frieza puts on a facade of confidence and states that Namek will explode in five minutes. Meanwhile, King Kai and Kami formulate a plan to use the Earth Dragon Balls to resurrect everyone killed by Frieza and his men... including the Grand Elder, who merely died of an unnatural heart-attack. Dende then uses the Namekian Dragon Balls to wish back everyone on Namek to Earth except Frieza... and Goku, by his request of wanting to see this battle to the end.

Frieza begs for mercy, which Goku is happy to give, and Frieza is happy to squander. Goku's much less willing the next time, and finishes the fight with a blast of his own. But he doesn't have a way to get out, and Namek explodes, after what is clearly more than five minutes.

Back on Earth, the earthlings use the Dragon Balls to bring back all those killed by Frieza, including Krillin, since the Namekian Dragon Balls can wish someone back multiple times. But Goku has survived, and he's looking for a way on his own to get back to Earth. The Namekians build themselves a new Namek with the help of the Namekian Dragon Balls, and take their leave. All is well again.

* AdaptationalContextChange: After Goku defends himself when Freeza tries to stab him in the back with the energy he just gave him, Goku's expression is different between mediums. In the manga Goku has a sad look upon his face [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife reflecting that, despite everything, he never wanted to kill Freeza and is saddened that the tyrant wouldn't accept his mercy.]] In the anime Goku instead gives one last DeathGlare to the spot Freeza was last in before flying off.
* AdaptationalDumbass: Freeza comes across as this in the anime. In the manga, when he realised that Goku is readying the spirit bomb, he quickly decided to kill him off and his plan is only foiled because Piccolo kicked him into a nearby river and this is followed by Krillin and Gohan distracting him by KiAttacks, which pisses him off and by that time, the spirit bomb is ready. In the anime, Piccolo landing one kick on Freeza is [[{{Padding}} padded out]] and turned into an episode-long, drawn out battle between the two, even in ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'' and Freeza very conveniently ignores Goku who is standing ''right there'', allowing him to continue working on his spirit bomb. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in [[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged the abridged series]] where Freeza remarks "somehow I completely forgot about [the spirit bomb]".

** After everyone is teleported to the Earth, Gohan tells the others that Goku is still fighting Freeza on Namek. In the manga Piccolo said that there is no way Goku can beat someone as powerful as Freeza while Gohan disagrees because Goku is now a [[SuperMode Super Saiyan]], much to Vegeta's shock. In the anime however, it is Gohan who is worried for Goku's safety while Piccolo (who has been unconscious the whole time and has not seen Goku's transformation) firmly believes that Goku will beat Freeza. And Vegeta has already seen Goku as a Super Saiyan.
** During his first fight with Vegeta, Zarbon reveals that Frieza can transform like he can. This is removed in the anime, which makes it confusing when Vegeta says to Frieza that Zarbon told him that he could.

** After being left to his own fate after being chopped in half by his own attack Freeza begs Goku for mercy. Goku is naturally infuriated that Freeza would beg for help after all the people he has killed but his conscience leads him to give Freeza just enough energy to leave Namek. [[UngratefulBastard Freeza repays Goku's kindness by trying to kill him]] and Goku responds by blasting him to oblivion.
* AllThereInTheManual: Frieza's reasoning behind his "five minutes" prediction wasn't shown in the manga or the anime, but was revealed in an [[WordOfGod interview]] with Creator/AkiraToriyama.

* BackFromTheDead: Piccolo. And then later, the Namekians murdered by Frieza and his men, Vegeta, Krillin, and finally the three other Z-Fighters who died fighting the Saiyans - Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha.

* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: Vegeta's entire purpose, story-wise, for being on Namek is to kill every single minor villain so the heroes (or at least Goku) don't have to. Cui, Dodoria, Zarbon, 4/5ths of the Ginyu Force (two while helpless!) and most of Frieza's mooks. Goku doesn't want him doing this, and even calls him out after killing the two helpless Ginyu Force members.

** Vegeta doesn't like getting pulled one over on him, especially when he believes he's won. After Gohan 'steals' a Dragon Ball from him, he flies and starts screaming bloody murder as he attempts to hunt them down.

** Piccolo appearing before Gohan and Krillin to confront Frieza.
* BishonenLine: Frieza is the TropeCodifier, if not the TropeMaker - He makes two transformations, each larger and more more monstrous than the form preceding it, until his final transformation is a (relatively) short, sleek, almost chillingly elegant form. Krillin felt that the form looked underwhelming, but Piccolo admits that he is proof on how appearances can be deceiving, and that he'd rather face the previous forms[[note]]He experienced a brutal CurbStompBattle in his third form[[/note]]. Indeed, it's only in this form that Frieza can access anything more than ''3% of of his full power''.
* BittersweetEnding: The group manage to save the Namekians, get the balls and wish their fallen friends back to life. But Namek ends up destroyed (though the Namekians move to a planet that's exactly like Namek) and the Namekian Elder, who had died during the saga but was wished back, dies permanently not shortly after, though he passes on his duties to one of his kinsmen before he does. And Goku, while not dead, is revealed to be somewhere out in space.
* BreakTheHaughty: Vegeta, even more than he had been on Earth. After he tries to jumpstart his CameBackStrong with Dende's healing, he assumes he can become a Super Saiyan and can beat Frieza. But then, he actually starts to fight Frieza, and finds he's ''still'' just a gnat to his ex-boss.

** Kaio ''repeatedly'' explains the Dragon Team that they must ''not'' go near Frieza because he ''will'' kill them and then he will probably blow up a few planets out of spite. Nobody listens to him.

'''Son Goku:''' The way you did that Earthling? You mean Krillin!? '''YOU MEAN KRILLIN!?'''

** Vegeta reveals that Saiyans always do this after they are severely injured. So him, Gohan and Goku take turns doing this. Hell, this trope pretty much [[TrainingFromHell consisted Goku's training!]]
** Piccolo after his resurrection. Fusing with Nail certainly helped as well.

* ChekhovsGun: The space pods the Ginyu force used to arrive on Namek are forgotten about for most of the story. When Goku unsuccessfully tries to use Frieza's damaged spaceship to escape Namek, that is about to [[EarthShatteringKaboom explode]], he jumps in one of the Ginyu space pods and escapes. Two of them are actually briefly visible in the manga, lying next to Frieza's ship when Goku arrives there.

** After smacking Frieza around for a bit as a Super Saiyan, Goku abruptly tells Frieza that he's ending the fight, deciding that the humiliation of being beaten by a lowly Saiyan is justice enough for Frieza's crimes. Frieza retaliates by trying kill Goku with an energy disc, only for Goku to turn it against him.

** Vegeta deals three in a row to Cui, Dodoria and Zarbon, before being dealt one himself ''by'' Zarbon when he transforms.

** Prior to that, an earlier villainous example in Recoome facing off with Vegeta. The latter makes it appear at many points that he's gaining the upper hand - including the very beginning, where he not only catches Recomme off guard, but is thought to have easily finished him off in one swift combination. But it was a lie: Recoome was always in control of the fight, [[JustToyingWithThem and simply prefers to play with his food]]. By the end, beyond a bit of cosmetic damage (armor gone, hair frizzled, some teeth missing - due to his teeth slammed when firing a mouth blast), Recoome is completely fine, while Vegeta is barely clinging to life.
** Played with in Gohan's confrontations with Frieza: normally, he couldn't hope to match Frieza, but when he goes [[PsychoactivePowers berserk]] from seeing his friends seriously hurt, his power spikes, and he charges at him, attacking in short bursts, and then his power dips afterwards - leaving him at the mercy of Frieza. He was actually the first to do damage to Frieza and that was in his first OneWingedAngel state, and after recovering, he forced him to take on his final form - which not even Piccolo or Vegeta did. Even in {{filler}}, Frieza taunting Gohan [[WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied over Goku's (supposed) death]] [[BerserkButton caused the latter to rush him hard enough]] for Frieza to consider using his 100% power up.
** Goku before he becomes a Super Saiyan actually gives Final Form Frieza a decent fight compared to Vegeta, but Frieza still dominates him without having to use over 50% of his power.

** When Vegeta and Ginyu alike expresses their awe/fear that Goku may have become a Super Saiyan, but later reconsider when they see Goku express mercy, since the legend says that the Super Saiyan will be a BloodKnight incarnate. When Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan, he forgoes King Kai's advice to leave the planet with his son and friends because is ''[[RevengeBeforeReason so intent on revenge]]'' for Krillin's death that he intentionally waits for Frieza to power up to 100% of his full strength, to make it all the more satisfying when he beats him. Hell, he even requested that he and Frieza ''alone'' on a dying Namek settle their battle while everyone else is transported to Earth.
** Goku [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this to Frieza, saying that despite him believing no one could defeat him, not only did someone did, but it was a lowly Saiyan. Heck, Frieza's mere attempts to blow up Planet Vegeta in fear of one emerging becomes this by the time he's facing - and is killed - by one.

** In the Funimation dub, the scene where Frieza realises that Gohan is a Saiyan was mishandled, having Frieza instead say, "I'd better keep my eye on that one!" This doesn't match with the wide-eyed expression of shock on his face, and his knowledge of Gohan as a Saiyan comes off as being more abrupt later on.

* EvilCostumeSwitch: Inverted for Vegeta; he switches armors to a design that lacks the threatening ShouldersOfDoom of his old one by the time he's firmly entrenched in his EnemyMine. Though, that doesn't explain why Gohan and Krillin use the ones with said shoulders for the battle with Frieza, and Vegeta explains that he's only wearing it because they don't have one in his size with shoulders. (Though, if the armor can expand, it begs the question of why there's even such a thing as a minimum size.)
* EvilVersusEvil: At least a third of the entire Namek Arc was nothing more than Vegeta taking on Frieza's elite soldiers, the Ginyu Force and Frieza himself, while not being any less evil than before planning to take over Frieza's empire for himself.

** Shenron was used to revive everyone killed by "Frieza and his men". Unfortunately, Vegeta had already betrayed Frieza before his own share of Namek's onslaught, so not all villagers were brought back at the time.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Since using the Dragon Balls required speaking Namekian, neither Vegeta or Frieza had a chance of getting their wish.
* {{Filler}}: The arc has the most notorious examples in the entire series. Examples of note are the fake Namek storyline, Goku's seemingly endless journey through space and pretty much everything involving Bulma. And of course, there's Goku's infamously long winded battle with Frieza.
* FinalBossPreview: Frieza's battle with Nail serves as this, giving us a hint into what Frieza is capable of before he personally takes on the heroes.

* FusionDance: After being transported to Namek, Piccolo finds the heavily-wounded Nail and performs this with him. It makes him strong enough to take on Frieza in his second form.

* GoodIsDumb: Even after outclassing them, Goku continuously shows his enemies mercy, and it comes back to bite him. First, he spares Jeice - who flees to get his boss, Captain Ginyu. Then it turns out that Goku is even stronger Ginyu, but again decides to spare his life - Ginyu then wastes no opportunity [[GrandTheftMe to steal Goku's body]] (he gets it back). Finally, Frieza is the one that pleads for mercy, and Goku very nearly rejects it, considering [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe his fate]] just desserts, but his conscience gets the better of him, and he gives Frieza a bit of his energy. Frieza squanders this chance by firing a blast at Goku when his back is literally turned, but Goku wises up, and counterattacks - (seemingly) ending Frieza.
* TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: It's basically for the first part of the arc Gohan & Krillin vs Vegeta vs Frieza and his forces.

** When down to the final wish, Vegeta finally forces Dende to grant him immortality so he can stand a chance against Frieza. Unfortunately, Guru dies before Dende could finish the wish, negating the Dragon Balls' power, just moments before Frieza arrives.
** Goku's battle with Frieza seemingly ends the first time with hitting him with a giant Spirit Bomb. Then Frieza gets back up, battered, bruised, and utterly pissed.
* HowDoIShotWeb: Captain Ginyu steals the more powerful Goku's body, and initially revels in the body's speed. But when he wants to use the shell's full power against Krillin and Gohan, he finds that he can't. He has no idea how to tap into the body's ki reserves, and certainly has no clue of the ki techniques that made Goku so formidable.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Vegeta kills Recoome and Burter in cold blood, arguing they deserved it when Goku protested. They worked for Frieza and had murdered countless innocent people, which nearly included Goku's son and best friend. Goku's idea of showing mercy proves a mistake when does it against Frieza, who rejects his offers, twice.

* LampshadeHanging: When Dr. Briefs installs a gravity machine as per Goku's request, he mentions that it goes up to 100x, which he promptly advises that Goku reconsider on attempting to train in, noting that his movements will be as if he weighs ''six tons'' [[note]]Goku weighs around 60kg[[/note]], and should probably be killed when that occurs. Goku laughs off his advice.
* LastSecondChance: Goku initially leaves Frieza to die, but takes pity on him and gives him some energy so he can escape the planet. Frieza tries to uses the energy to attack Goku only to have it countered, and Goku finishes him off.

*** When Guru is revived, he has Dende make the final wish to have Porunga teleport everyone, except Frieza (and Goku, at his own request), to Earth.

* MagicCountdown: One of the most infamous examples in fiction, when Frieza says that Namek will explode in 5 minutes... only for it to take 10 episodes for their fight to finish and said explosion to actually occur. General consensus is usually that Frieza really had no idea when Namek was going to blow (he quite explicitly screwed up trying to destroy it- usually the destruction is instant) and made up the '5 minutes' number on the spot to avoid looking like an idiot.
* MeaninglessVillainVictory: Frieza gets all seven Dragon Balls thanks to the Ginyu Force...and realizes that he has no idea how to get his wish. Him leaving them at his ship while he goes to grill the Great Elder for instructions gives the heroes enough time to get a few wishes of their own, making everything Frieza did on Namek a ShaggyDogStory.
** Vegeta comes close to collecting all seven Dragon Balls, taking the five Frieza had, and the one Krillin gained from Guru. But Gohan managed to swipe the one Vegeta was hiding. Retroactivily it turned to be even more meaningless since as noted under FailureIsTheOnlyOption and ShaggyDogStory, he wouldn't have been able to use the Dragon Balls even if he got all seven.
* MergerOfSouls: This happens when Piccolo merges with Nail. He carries Nail's memories and his behavior make subtle changes based on Nail's influence.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Several, Vegeta's first fight against Zarbon goes like this, the battle against Recoome doesn't go well at all for Vegeta, Gohan and Krillin, and Vegeta suffers a vicious one in his fight against Frieza's final form.

** Basically Krillin and Bulma's reaction when on arriving on Namek to find the Dragon Balls, they see a Saiyan pod arrive on the planet. Become even worse when Krillin and Gohan sense, then see, that there's an army of aliens who ''aren't'' Namekians flying across the planet likely for the Dragon Balls as well, some of whom were stronger than Vegeta, and none of them friendly.

** Ginyu, when he realizes how strong Goku is and starts to panic (along with Jeice) when he believes Goku might be a Super Saiyan.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Frieza for the first 2/3 or so of the arc. It's not an exaggeration to say that his ''entire army'' had to die before he could be bothered to get out of his chair, despite being beyond strong enough to very easily curbstomp anybody on the planet.

* SeriousBusiness: Captain Ginyu takes his ''Franchise/SuperSentai''-like poses ''very'' seriously. In the anime, he's even using Frieza's {{Mooks}} to help him come up with new ones and shown [[BadBoss dispatching those who perform them incorrectly.]] (The English dub changes it so that he's looking for new recruits). Goku taking out (well technically, Vegeta) three of his men while Jeice and Ginyu perform the pre-battle pose has the two muse that the pose isn't as special anymore, and gets Ginyu really riled up and charges towards Goku's location.
* ShaggyDogStory: For Frieza, he and his forces go on a warpath across Namek trying to collect the Dragon Balls. He finally succeeds only to find that 1) They need a Namekian password to activate them and 2) The Namekians are the only ones who can communicate with the dragon to ask for wishes. Frieza (and by extension, Vegeta) pretty much kills all of them (prior to them being wished back to life) before he realizes it and when he does try to make a wish, the dragon doesn't understand him. So even if Frieza had won, there was no way he could get his wish granted.
* ShootTheMedicFirst: When Frieza reaches his final form, the first thing he does is killing Dende to stop him from healing the others.
* SoLastSeason: When Raditz arrived, a power of 1,000 was considered formidable. (Even Goku with his best technique was only around 900), in this saga 1,000 is considered so little that a group of Mooks literally laugh at that level of power.

* TearsOfFear: Vegeta when faced with Frieza's final form, is outclassed and realizes that he isn't a Super Saiyan after all, meaning that he will be brutally killed by his former master. The narrator/King Kai notes that this is the first time that Vegeta ever shed tears, and that the proud Saiyan warrior had lost the will to fight, resigning himself to his fate.
* TranquilFury: Frieza voices his discontent on the loss of the Dragon Balls in an eerily calm tone to the absolutely terrified heroes. The cliffhanger is not helped at all by everything turning a blood red hue and the narrator noting that Frieza is ''burning'' with anger.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: While not volatile, Gohan and Krillin hate the idea of working with Vegeta, or even helping him try to become immortal, since he also played a hand at destroying most of the Namekian villages. However, between him and an even worse villain after them, they have no choice until Goku shows up.

* VillainProtagonist: Vegeta is arguably a main character in this arc, and he's definitely a villain.

** Guldo and, to a greater extent, Recoome, give Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin a hard time, displaying just how dangerous the Ginyu Force as a whole compared to Frieza' lower minions.

** Earlier, the three heroic Namekians who try to save Moori's village. Their power levels are all around 3,000 - [[SoLastSeason which would've been impressive around the Saiyan Saga]], [[SubvertedTrope and they do admittedly go a good job of fighting Frieza's men]], [[DoubleSubverted but Dodoria steps in]] and quickly shows how utterly outclassed they are.
** Also, Nail. Badly. He was easily the strongest Namekian, stronger than ANY of Frieza's men outside of the Ginyu Force and even outclassed Vegeta prior to his fight with Recoome. He'd have done well in a fight against almost everyone other than Frieza...and that's exactly who he's pitted against.
** Frieza shows off why he is the dreaded tyrant by beating Vegeta within an inch his life and eventually killing him.

* EnemyMine: Vegeta for the second half of the saga when it becomes apparent he's not strong enough to fight Frieza's elite team and needs Krillin and Gohan's help.

* EvilVersusEvil: At least a third of the entire Namek Arc was nothing more than Vegeta taking on Frieza's elite soldiers, the Ginyu Force and Frieza himself.

** When everyone realizes an extraordinarily ''ticked'' Frieza is approaching while Porunga is summoned, Krillin becomes so desperate for a fighting chance against him that he tells Dende to give Vegeta what he wants and grant him immortality, even though the chances are high that Vegeta will kill all of them once he gets what he wants. The only thing that prevents Vegeta from obtaining immortality is the Grand Elder passing in the middle of Dende making the final wish.

* BatmanGambit: How the Dragon Balls (both Namek and Earth versions) are used here:
** Because the Namekian dragon Porunga can grant three wishes, but can only revive one person per wish...
*** Piccolo suggests using the first wish on himself so Kami can come back and, thus, restore Shenron and the Earth Dragon Balls.
*** He then requests the second wish take him to Namek, though he has to find Gohan and Krillin because they never considered wishing him to meet them directly.
*** When Guru is revived, he has Dende make the final wish to have Porunga teleport everyone, except Frieza (and Goku, at his own request), to Earth.
** When Kami is revived, he and King Kai work together to have Shenron revive everyone on Namek previously killed by Frieza and his cohorts. Guru died due to the strife of his people thanks to Frieza, so he is revived along with Porunga and the Namekian Dragon Balls.

** Zarbon when Vegeta reveals during their rematch that Saiyan biology ensures that they become even stronger after near-death experiences...which Vegeta was left in after the last encounter with him.

* ProperlyParanoid: The reason behind finding the Dragon Balls, as well as destroying Planet Vegeta, is the possibility that a Saiyan will one day be strong enough to finally beat him. He already believes Vegeta isn't it, but he would soon face his better in the form of Goku.

* AintTooProudToBeg: With his pride shattered, Vegeta in his dying breath tearfully begs Goku to avenge the Saiyan race by finally bringing down Frieza.

* Frieza shows off why he is the dreaded tyrant by beating Vegeta within an inch his life and eventually killing him.

* OutsideContextProblem: Frieza takes the theme of the BigBad being much, much stronger than the heroes to levels not seen until ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods''. To compare him in his final form to the Z-Fighters when they first arrive on Namek is like comparing a god to mere mortals.

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Ginyu Force are indeed quirky, acting as cheerleaders, or playing games to pass the time. Unfortunately for the heroes, they are considered Frieza's most fearsome squad because they have the power to back it up.

** When Kami is revived, he and King Kai work together to have Shenron revive everyone on Namek previously killed by Frieza and his cohorts.

** Even King Kai is shaken that Frieza is involved, having hesrd of him, and orders Goku and the others to avoid him at all costs; not that it matters later.

** Goku's battle with Frieza seemingly ends the first time with hitting him with a giant Spirit Bomb. Them he gets back up, battered, bruised, and utterly pissed.

** Vegeta hits this when he discovets that Gohan took one of the Dargon Balls away.
** Frieza hits multiple times when his pursuit of the Dragon Balls keeps coming up short.

** Once Frieza believes that his pursiit of the Dragon Balls is not in his favor anymore, he decides to call on the Ginyu Force to come to Namek. The look on Zarbon's face, and later Vegeta's, tell that this elite team is considered Frieza's last resort.

* BatmanGambit: How the Dragon Balls (both Namek and Earth versions) were used here:

*** Piccolo suggests using the first wish on him so Kami can come back and, thus, restore Shenron.
*** He then requests the second wish takes him to Namek, though he has to find Gohan and Krillin because they never considered wishing him to meet them directly.
*** When Guru is revived, he has Dende make the final wish to transport everyone, except for Goku and Frieza, to Earth.
** When Kami is revived, he and King Kai work together to have Shenron revive everyone on Namek previously killed by Frieza and his cohorts.

* HopeSpot: Goku's battle with Frieza seemingly ends the first time with hitting him with a giant Spirit Bomb. Them he gets back up, battered, bruised, and utterly pissed.

** Even King Kai is shaken that Frieza is involved, and orders Goku and the others to avoid him at all costs; not that it matters later.

** One of the wishes with the Namekian Dragon Balls is to transport Piccolo to Namek so he can help his friends fight Frieza. However, they all neglected to specify that he should be transported next to them, resulting in him appearing further from them.

** Once Frieza realizes that his pursiit of the Dragon Balls is not in his favor anymore, he decides to call on the Ginyu Force to come to Namek. The look on Zarbon's face, and later Vegeta's, tell that this elite team is considered Frieza's last resort.

* GoodIsDumb: Even after outclassing them, Goku continuously shows his enemies mercy, and it comes back to bite him. First, he spares Jheese - who flees to get his boss, Captain Ginyu. Then it turns out that Goku is even stronger Ginyu, but again decides to spare his life - Ginyu then wastes no opportunity [[GrandTheftMe to steal Goku's body]] (he gets it back). Finally, Frieza is the one that pleads for mercy, and Goku very nearly rejects it, considering [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe his fate]] just desserts, but his conscience gets the better of him, and he gives Frieza a bit of his energy. Frieza squanders this chance by firing a blast at Goku when his back is literally turned, but Goku wises up, and counterattacks - (seemingly) ending Frieza.

** Vegeta hits this when Gohan ends up taking one of the Dargon Balls away.

** Vegeta to Recoome.
** Recoome to Goku.

** Because the Namekian dragon Porunga can grant three wishes, but only revive one person per wish...

*** He then rewuests the second wish takes him to Namek, though he has to find Gohan and Krillin because they never considered wishing him to meet them directly.

** When Kami is revived, he and King Kai work together to have Shenron wish everyone on Namek killed by Frieza and his cohorts.

** Once Friza realizes that his pursiit of the Dragon Balls is not in his favor anymore, he decides to call on the Ginyu Force to come to Namek. The look on Zarbon's face, and later Vegeta's, tell that this elite team is considered Frieza's last resort.

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Ginyu Force.