Episode 2 of Dragon Ball GT, broadcast in Japan on February 14, 1996 and titled Pan Blasts Off in Funimation's dub, sets up the trip into space and then derails it in the funniest way possible. Bulma builds a ship to hunt down the Black Star Dragon Balls and Vegeta decides who will go with Goku, but in the end it is Pan who picks the crew: she stows away and hits the launch button before Goten can climb aboard.
Summary
Once she hears about Pilaf's wish, Bulma gets to work on a spaceship with help from Gohan and Videl. Pan wants to pitch in but is turned away more than once: everyone thinks she is too young, both to help build the ship and to fly it. Frustrated, she kicks a wall in the cargo hold, never noticing that she has knocked something loose. The only one who takes her seriously is her grandfather, Mr. Satan, who gives her some tips on how to get treated like a grown-up.
Trunks, meanwhile, is now president of Capsule Corporation and bored out of his mind: while his secretary reads out the day's schedule, he slips out the window and flies off. Goku, killing time around town, is kidnapped by two crooks who think he is Bulma's grandson. Their ransom demand does not worry her or Vegeta in the slightest, and sure enough the kidnappers run for their lives as soon as they realize what they have grabbed.
Gohan had volunteered to go with his father, but Vegeta changes the plan: Trunks and Goten are going instead, because in his view they have both gone soft during the years of peace. Trunks has to leave his executive chair and Goten his date with his girlfriend, neither of them happily. As everyone says goodbye, Videl realizes Pan has vanished, while a phone call from his girlfriend keeps Goten outside the ship.
When Goku and Trunks reach the cockpit, they find Pan already at the controls. She hits the button and the ship takes off, leaving Goten behind, though he does not seem too upset about it. As it disappears into the sky, a small part drops at Bulma's feet, and she starts to wonder nervously where it came from.
Our take
This is the episode that truly assembles GT's trio, and it does so with a simple idea: Goten's seat goes to whoever wanted it most. The Japanese title, roughly "I'm the Star!", says it all. Pan spends the episode being told she is too young and ends it by deciding for herself, with an impulsive move that is funny and completely in character. It is no accident that the only adult on her side is Mr. Satan, the grandfather who has always spoiled her.
The portrait of the next generation is the strongest part. Trunks and Goten, two hyperactive kids in Z, are now a bored executive and a teenager with his head elsewhere, and Vegeta ships them off precisely to shake them up. The change feels believable, and it explains why Trunks takes the mission almost with relief. The kidnapping is less useful: a gag lifted from a family comedy that goes nowhere.
The part that lands at Bulma's feet, on the other hand, is a nice hook. Pan's kick will come back to haunt the crew as early as the next episode.
Trivia
- Written by Aya Matsui and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation director.
- Its 19.7% rating share is the highest of the entire series on Fuji TV.
- Vegeta debuts his GT look here, with shorter hair and a mustache. His daughter Bra also turns up in this episode.
- The two bumbling kidnappers look a lot like the burglars from Home Alone.
- Funimation's dub recast Videl for GT, with Susan Huber taking over from Kara Edwards.