Recap / Dragon Ball Z Abridged E 56

"I feel like a man dying of thirst watching another man drown."

—Krillin, as Goku keeps getting worn out with Chi-Chi

Original Airdate: November 25, 2016

"A Hell of a bomb to drop", indeed.

As the Z Fighters prepare for the Cell Games, Goku brings an old acquaintance from Namek to Earth in order to find a replacement for Kami while also learning that a new member of the Son family is coming his and Chichi's way. Meanwhile, Bulma and Dr. Briefs encounter a shocking revelation from Android 16's data files.

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Ƶ5,000 says it's tropes:

• Adaptational Context Change: Played for Laughs with Goku. In the canon version, he travels to New Namek looking for a new guardian and explains the situation to all the Namekians, who then let him take Dende with him back to Earth. Here, he casually teleports to New Namek while everyone else is discussing the need to find the planet first, and kidnaps Dende offscreen before taking him back to Earth, not even sure if he can do the job before taking him.
• Adaptation Expansion: The DBZA crew throws in totally new footage to expand on Android 16's character and, in turn, the reason Dr. Gero built Androids for the sole purpose of killing Son Goku. See Drama Bomb below.
• Babies Make Everything Better: Chi-Chi wants another baby and spents all episode aggressively making sure Goku gets it on with her as her condition from last episode. Near the end as Goku wants to throw in the towel, she becomes much more friendly after learning that she is finally pregnant.
• Badass Boast: Mr. Satan gives one during his press conference announcing his entry into the Cell Games:
  Mr. Satan: Now listen here, Cell. I know why you gave everyone a week to prepare for your little tournament, it's so you can spend the last seven days on Earth praying that Mr. Satan wouldn't show up! (Crowd cheers). So after I eat my Jimmy John's, and drink my Hetap, and f*** my hot Asian wife! (Crowd cheers again) I'm gonna squash you like the Bug. You. Are.
• The Bet: Dr. Briefs makes a bet with Bulma, saying he thinks that a video file found in Android 16's memory banks is interracial porn. They instead find footage of Goku (inadvertently) killing Dr. Gero's son, as well as the schematics of the bomb implanted in his body.
  Bulma: By the way, you owe me Ƶ5,000.
  Dr. Briefs: Ahh, daughter of a bastard!
• Brick Joke: A 56-episode one.
  Goku: Bulma! Sex makes babies!
  [Baby Trunks yawns]
  Bulma: I'm well aware.
• Brutal Honesty: Popo tells Dende exactly how bad being Kami will be if he takes the job.
  Popo: As the creator of the Dragon Balls, you shall assume the throne of Kami, Guardian of this planet. Nobody's thankful, there are no days off and no-one ever visits.
  Dende: (disgusted tone) Ugh, sounds like being a parent.
• Butt-Monkey: When Cell is telling the whole story of the Dragon Ball series up to that point to the reporter, he gets to the part where Goku is revealed to be an alien, then skips ahead a year to Nappa and Vegeta. The reporter asks what happened to Goku’s brother and Cell casually says “Oh, he died” in disinterest. He later talks about Vegeta and informs the reporter about the Saiyan being a "cartoon characters". He later expresses some disappointment that the prince was later revived.
• Call-Back:
  • Once again, a villain is asked, "How did you know about the parts you weren't there for?" In this context, The KBC reporter is asking just how Cell knows everything that happened from Dragon Ball up to this episode.
  • Vegeta going insane in three days also happened to Piccolo in the previous episode, except Vegeta didn't have Nail and Kami to speak to, and Mr. Popo only changed the dilation after Piccolo's turn.
  • Dende says, "Hey" to Gohan in the exact same manner that he did in the second Kai special.
• Call-Forward: During one of their sessions, Goku describes Chi-Chi as telling him to "Go for ten", an allusion to Goten's name.
• Challenge Seeker: Why Goku endures Chi-Chi's marathon sex sessions.
  Krillin: You know you can say "no", right?
  Goku: Well, duh! But it's a challenge, Krillin. And I never back down from a challenge. Also it feels really good. Have you ever tried it?
  Krillin: Like... with a real person?
• Companion Cube: Due to losing his mind while in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Vegeta paints a volleyball in Nappa's likeness and talks to him as if he's actually there.
• Continuity Nod: One of the files in Android 16's mind is Murder.exe.
• Crazy-Prepared: When Dende modifies the Earth Dragon Balls to grant two wishes, as opposed to three due to the need to revive multiple people at once. As a trade-off, he also prevents anyone from using them to wish for immortality, in part to prevent another Immortality Seeker like Freeza from abusing Shenron's power.
• Deadline News: Cell agrees to an interview with a TV reporter where he explains his origins and by extension, the entire Dragon Ball saga up until that point. The interview actually goes quite well and it seems the reporter will make it out okay... Until Cell kills him for forgetting to address him as, "Mr. Perfect Cell."
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Dende outright threatens Mr. Popo if he calls him "Little Green" again. Popo actually respects him for this.
  Mr. Popo: Well I'm going to call you Little Green.
  Dende: Your funeral.
  Mr. Popo: (literally cracks a smile for the first time since Kami left) I like you.
• Double Entendre: A whole lot of it in this episode whenever there is talk about the "goings-on" between Goku and Chi-Chi. For instance, when talking with Krillin about Chi-Chi trying to make him go for more orgasms.
  Goku: Well you know what they say, a Saiyan gets stronger every time he comes (yawn) back from the brink of death.
• Drama Bomb: It's revealed in this episode that Gero's son, whom Android 16 was modeled after, was killed during Goku's assault on the Red Ribbon Army's headquarters, and thus explaining a great deal in Dr. Gero's obsession with killing Goku. Bulma and her father lampshade this:
  Bulma: Jesus…
  Dr. Briefs: Yeah… that's a hell of a bomb to drop.
• Fan Wank: In-universe, oddly, the episode seems to fix a plothole from the original series - that being, Vegeta not mastering the Full Power Super Saiyan despite knowing how to do it and having years in the Time Chamber to figure it out. In this version, Vegeta went crazy inside the Time Chamber after only three days and Popo had turned off the time dilation, which wouldn't leave him enough time to do much of anything.
• Funny Background Event:
  • When Dende does his whistle to Gohan, you can hear Piccolo say "ow" in the background reminding the audience about thd Namekians possessing sensitive hearing.
    Dende: That hurt me more than it hurt you.
  • Gohan reads the opening card, clearly uncomfortable from the distinct pounding sound in the background.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Piccolo is not the only one hallucinating in the Time Chamber. Vegeta has also started hallucinating after only three days, except he has completely lost his mind due to not having Nail or Kami in his head to converse with. Mister Popo even says going in there alone is a big mistake, implying this will happen to anyone who enters the Time Chamber alone.
• A God Am I: His initial protestations aside, Dende soon takes upon his new role as Earth's Guardian with glee, and takes a page from his Elder's playbook by demanding to be addressed as, "Super Kami Dende."
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • A downplayed example. Krillin is bothered by Goku complaining about how much he and Chi-Chi have been having sex lately, while Goku remains oblivious. Krillin is actually polite enough to give Goku advice, but does bring up his own troubles with women in a subtle manner.
  • A much more direct example is when Gohan brings up how they don't have Dragon Balls around Trunks, who responds with biting sarcasm at the prospect of a world without Dragon Balls. Of course, given that it was Gohan, considering what Gohan was to him in the future and also what Gohan sacrificed for him, Trunks quickly lets it slide.
    Gohan: We live in a world without dragon balls now!
    Trunks: Oh yeah, that sounds terrible. I'm so sorry.
    Gohan: It's alright. we'll manage.
    Trunks: ...I can't be mad at you.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Gero's son is killed by young Goku's Kamehameha right as he is hastily wrapping up his video log:
  Gero's Son: Okay sorry about this, Dad. Gotta run. Love you. Good luck with that whole cyborg— (Video stops right as Goku unleashes the Kamehameha)
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Krillin decides to leave the fate of the world to Goku, as the world is doomed anyway if he loses and Krillin knows he can never catch up.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Nobody bothered to tell Bulma the Dragon Balls were gone until after they got them back. Goku informs her of this before heading out and she asks “wait, we didn’t have Dragon Balls?” in confusion before getting back to work.
• Mook Horror Show: The one from the original Dragon Ball is played up with Gero's son's last video. Complete with the Red Ribbon Army soldier calling Goku some thing.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: When Bulma opens up the video in Android 16's memory, the figure on it reads the date first, and it rings a bell for Bulma. That's because it's the date and time Goku attacked and destroyed the headquarters of the Red Ribbon Army.
  Gero's Son: May 12th, 750. 4:30pm. Red Ribbon HQ.
  Bulma: Wait, why does that date sound familiar?
• Mythology Gag: Piccolo's offscreen "ow" when Dende wolf-whistles at Gohan, and Dende's following comment that "That hurt me more than it hurt you", are both references to the sensitivity of Namekian hearing as established in the Lord Slug movie.
• Oblivious to Love: Gohan has yet to reciprocate Dende's obvious crush on him.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Goku when Chi-Chi catches him at Kame House and yells at him for leaving the bedroom.
  • Piccolo once Mr. Popo mentions that Vegeta’s first mistake was going into the time chamber alone. Having gone in alone himself (at least PHYSICALLY alone, considering Nail and Kami) and suffered hallucinations after only 3 days, he realizes that this will happen to anyone who goes in alone.
• Oh, My Gods!: Dende gets this idea as he settles into Kami's role
  Dende: Oh, thank God! Or I guess I should start saying, "Me!"
• Pun: We find out where Goten got his name from; Chi-Chi tries to get Goku to beat his record of "nine times" by yelling "Go for ten!"
• Rage Breaking Point: Dende finally loses it when Krillin starts calling him "Little Green" again and smacks him with Kami's cane, before demanding Krillin address him by his real name:
  Dende: YOU WILL CALL ME DENDE! DENDE! SAY IT! SAY MY NAME!
  Krillin: (terrified) Dende! Dende!
  Dende: No… Super Kami Dende.
• Running Gagged: As mentioned above, Dende makes Krillin finally stop using the "Little Green" nickname on him.
• Sanity Slippage:
  • After just three days alone in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Vegeta's mental state has already deteriorated to the point he's conversing (and fighting) with inanimate objects. What's worse, Popo adjusted the time dilation so that one day in the Chamber equals one day in real time (possibly as continued retribution for Vegeta calling him "black man" in the previous episode). Meaning that it only took three days in real time as opposed to in the diluted time effect for Vegeta to start losing his mind during his isolation whilst training.
  • Compare that with Piccolo. It's likely Popo only adjusted the dilation for Vegeta, meaning Piccolo's three days were still three days, but as the start of the year that normally occurs inside, meaning only about 12 minutes or so in real time outside the chamber. Plus, having Nail and Kami in his head gave him actual people to interact with. Lastly, it's implied that they only started hallucinating by day 3 which translates to 12 minutes or so outside, when Vegeta already lost it by day 3 in real time.
• Wowing Cthulhu: Dende telling Popo off for trying to boss him about doesn't scare Popo in the slightest. He's actually impressed by Dende's attitude, stating that he likes him.
• Wham Episode: In addition to Dende becoming the new Guardian of Earth after Kami went back to being a part of Piccolo, it's revealed that Dr. Gero's desire for revenge on Goku, which led to the creation of the Androids and Cell, is the result of Goku killing Gero's son when the former destroyed the Red Ribbon Army's HQ.
• Wham Line: When Bulma hears the recording date from the video log she uncovered, she struggles to remember why that date in particular was so familiar^note It's the day Goku ended the Red Ribbon Army in Dragon Ball. Near the end of the recording we hear this:
  Red Ribbon Soldier: (Alarms blaring) Hey, get your ass moving! Some thing is tearing its way through the compound, we gotta go!
  Kid Goku: KA... ME... HA... ME...
• Worth It: Dende hurts his own Namekian ears by giving a whistle to Gohan, but is content having done so.
  Piccolo: Ow!
  Dende: That hurt me more than it hurt you.

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Reporter: Well, thank you for your time, Perfect Cell.
(Cell frowns, then blasts the reporter)
Cell: MISTER Perfect Cell.