Episode 77 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on September 2, 1987 and known in the English dub as Pilaf's Tactics, settles the matter of the last Dragon Ball in the Fortuneteller Baba Saga. Its keepers are Emperor Pilaf and his two henchmen, back with three brand-new robots and a plan built on information that has just gone out of date. A light, comic breather after Grandpa Gohan's emotional return.
Summary
Baba has just revealed where the missing ball is, and Goku wastes no time. He leaves the six balls he already has with Upa, calls the Flying Nimbus and takes off. The One-Star Ball is riding in a luxury car headed straight for the fortuneteller's palace. Inside are Pilaf, Mai and Shu, who spied on Baba's matches through their satellite and now believe they know Goku's weak spot: his tail. Grab it, and Goku will be helpless.
Goku lands on the car's roof and recognizes the trio right away. A confident Pilaf proposes a duel with clear stakes, his ball against Goku's six, and they seal the deal with a pinky promise. The three climb into their Pilaf Machines, battle robots that surprisingly shrug off the boy's first attacks, Power Pole strikes included. While Goku's friends wait at Baba's palace and someone starts sensing bad omens, the trio corners him. The robots pin him down, Shu burns off his pants with a jet of flame to expose the tail, and Pilaf reaches out to squeeze it. There is just one problem: the tail is gone. Grandpa Gohan tore it off moments earlier, during their bout in Baba's arena.
Out of ideas, the three merge their machines into a single giant robot. Goku answers with a Kamehameha that rips off one of its arms and wrecks Mai's section. Pilaf and Shu recombine into a smaller, faster, ostrich-like form with Mai clinging on top, and Shu tries to end things with a missile. Goku catches it and hurls it straight back, and the explosion destroys what is left of the robots. Beaten, Pilaf hands over the ball. Goku, now practically naked, also demands some clothes, and Shu has to give up his ninja outfit.
Our take
After a tournament of oddball fighters and a moving reunion, going back to Pilaf feels like fresh air. He is the same character he was in 1986: megalomaniacal, touchy and always one step behind events. His whole strategy rests on a fact that was true until a few minutes ago, and that is the joke the episode is built on. The audience knows the tail is gone; Pilaf does not.
The episode also works as a measure of how far Goku has come. Early in the series Pilaf's gang managed to lock him up in their castle; now their robots only serve to show how strong he has become. A Kamehameha that guts a steel giant and a missile returned to sender are almost casual gestures for someone who has just faced Mercenary Tao (Tao Pai Pai in Japanese) and climbed Korin Tower.
The weakness is zero tension. But the episode is not trying for more, and it is a pleasure to see the trio from the earliest chapters again before Dragon Ball shifts gears toward the training journey and the next tournament.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapters 109 and 110 of Akira Toriyama's manga; chapter 110 shares the episode's Japanese title. It drew a 23.0% ratings share in Japan.
- The scene at Baba's palace, where Goku's friends wait for him and talk about bad omens, is anime-only. Everything else, from the wager to the returned missile, follows the manga.
- Goku's Turtle School uniform is retired here: he wears Shu's outfit for the whole three-year journey, until episode 83 and his arrival on Papaya Island.
- In the edited Toonami version, Pilaf fires Shu on the spot when Shu suggests giving up the hunt; in the original he simply tells him to shut up.
Characters
- Goku
- Emperor Pilaf, Mai and Shu
- Upa
- Fortuneteller Baba
- Bulma, Krillin, Yamcha and Master Roshi (at Baba's palace)