Episode 14 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on June 5, 1996 and titled The Battle Within in Funimation's dub, closes the long detour on planet Luud. The full-power colossus has Goku and Trunks on the ropes, but its weak spot is uncovered from the inside: it has to be hit from outside and inside at the very same moment. That makes it a timing mission for Goku and Pan, solved in the clumsiest and funniest way possible.
Summary
Fed by Pan's energy, Lord Luud is now out of the two Saiyans' league, and they take hit after hit. Inside the machine, meanwhile, Pan has come to along with everyone else who was absorbed, the Para Para Brothers included, and the first thing she does is take her frustration out on Dolltaki for everything she put up with as his doll.
The cult leader lets slip that there is a way out, then tries to clam up. The Para Para Brothers make him talk: Luud was built around a single red cell near its heart, and destroying it brings the whole machine down. There is a catch, though. The blow has to land from the outside and the inside at exactly the same time. Pan immediately tries blasting the cell on her own, to no effect.
To get word to Goku, the three brothers put their strangest talent to use: by singing, they open a telepathic link with him and explain the plan. Goku and Pan get ready to fire together, but they cannot get in sync. Attempt after attempt, one of them always goes a split second early. Goku finds the fix himself, suggesting they swap the countdown for the names of foods.
This time the two blasts go off in unison and hit the cell. Luud explodes, and everyone who had been turned into a doll returns to normal and drops safely to the ground. In the confusion, though, Dolltaki gets away on a spaceship right in front of everyone.
Our take
This is the right ending for an arc that started out as a comedy. Instead of settling things with a bigger aura, the script asks Goku and Pan to find a shared rhythm and turns the climax into a gag about timing: grandfather and granddaughter getting it wrong, adjusting and finally clicking. That the key turns out to be a chant about food is pure Goku, and an affectionate nod to the hungry kid of the original Dragon Ball.
Pan comes out of it well. After three episodes spent as an object, she is back in the driver's seat and gets her payback on Dolltaki. Even the Para Para Brothers, introduced as simple dancing henchmen, find a purpose in the finale. Trunks, on the other hand, is reduced to a supporting role, which is a pity after his strong moment in episode 12.
Overall, the Luud arc is one of the more uneven stretches of early GT, but this episode wraps it up with a simple, likeable idea, the kind that makes these first space adventures feel so different from Dragon Ball Z.
Trivia
- Written by Toshinobu Ooi and directed (storyboard) by Mitsuo Hashimoto, with Yūji Hakamata as animation director and Tomoko Yoshida as art director.
- It drew a 15.2% share in Japan and aired two weeks after episode 13: no episode was broadcast on May 29, 1996.
- Funimation's dub aired it on April 9, 2005, paired with episode 13.
- In the Japanese version Goku and Pan sync up by reciting three kinds of donburi rice bowls (pork, tempura, and chicken and egg). Funimation swapped them for a "pepper pot, pickle pot, purple pot" chant.