Episode 124 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on August 24, 1988 and known in the English dub under the same title, Temple Above the Clouds, takes Goku higher than ever before: past the top of Korin Tower, all the way to a temple floating above the clouds. Fresh from beating King Piccolo, he half expects a hero's welcome. Instead he meets Mr. Popo, a mild-mannered attendant who treats him like a beginner.
Summary
At the top of the tower, Goku points the Power Pole at the sky and tells it to extend. Clinging to it, he rises for hours, rides out a thunderstorm and even takes a lightning bolt along the way.
Down at Kame House, Launch is bandaging Tien when a crowd of reporters storms the island. Word has spread that a little boy defeated the demon king, and everybody wants the interview. Oolong tries to steal the spotlight by turning into Goku, but his usual lechery gives him away in no time.
Elsewhere, Piccolo Jr. stumbles on a family celebrating their son's birthday. The happy scene sends him into a rage: he hurls a rock through the window, sneaks inside, wrecks the place and runs off into the woods. When the father sets the dog on him, the little demon blasts it with an energy beam and realizes, for the first time, how much power he holds.
At last the pole hooks onto the edge of the temple and Goku sets foot on Kami's Lookout. Waiting for him is Mr. Popo, Kami's attendant: if Goku wants an audience, he has to beat Popo first. Goku happily agrees, and every attack misses. Popo lands hits even while Goku is moving too fast to be seen, the Kamehameha does nothing to him, and the very punch that finished King Piccolo meets only air. What Goku lacks, Popo concludes, is focus, and without it he will never meet Kami. Somewhere nearby, a silent figure is watching.
Our take
After an entire saga spent growing strong enough to defeat the most fearsome enemy yet, Goku is put back in his place within minutes, by a character who looks nothing like a threat. Toriyama loves tearing down a hierarchy right after building it, and it works beautifully here: raw strength is no longer enough, and Goku now has to use his head.
Mr. Popo makes a great entrance precisely because he is so disarming. He speaks calmly, almost kindly, while taking the boy apart piece by piece. His lessons will shape the rest of this saga, and the Lookout itself will become one of the franchise's signature locations, all the way through Dragon Ball Z and beyond.
Meanwhile, Piccolo Jr. keeps growing. The anime gives him scenes the manga never had, and the ruined birthday party is the perfect counterpoint: a child who has never known anything like it, answering someone else's happiness with violence.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 162 from page 13 and chapter 163 of Akira Toriyama's manga. It drew a 17.9% ratings share in Japan.
- The reporters at Kame House, Oolong's transformation and Piccolo Jr.'s raid on the family home, dog included, are all anime-only.
- In the manga Goku says nothing before his last attack on Popo, which is a hand chop; in the anime he announces that he will use the same punch that beat King Piccolo.
- Only the anime shows Kami secretly following the fight.
Did you know? The birthday boy's father shares his design with Pansy's father from the first Dragon Ball movie, Curse of the Blood Rubies.
Characters
- Goku
- Mr. Popo
- Piccolo Jr.
- Korin
- Yajirobe
- Tien Shinhan
- Launch
- Oolong
- Kami