Episode 34 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on January 22, 1997 and titled Back in the Game in Funimation's dub, shows the dark side of Goku's new power. The Golden Great Ape is stronger than Baby, but no longer knows who he is: he tears Plant apart indiscriminately until Pan, with an old photo and her tears, finally gets through to him. The last scene begins a transformation never seen before.
Summary
Transformed into a Golden Great Ape, Goku clearly outclasses Baby and tosses him around like a toy. It soon becomes obvious, though, that he has lost his mind: he smashes everything in reach, driven by instinct alone. On the Sacred World of the Kais, Elder Kai explains that the tail was pulled out too quickly and that Goku is not trained to control this form. Kibito Kai wants to cut it off, with Shusugoro ready to turn into a pair of scissors, but the old Kai stops him: if Goku can regain his reason, he will reach an entirely new level of Super Saiyan.
Pan and Mr. Satan reach the scene and spend much of their time running so as not to get crushed. Then the Great Ape looks up and sees Earth: he stops the destruction, giving Baby a chance to escape, and climbs a mountain as if trying to touch the planet. Pan decides to talk to him. She shows him the little gi she wore as a child at the World Martial Arts Tournament, but her grandfather does not recognize her, swats her away and blasts her with fiery breath.
Meanwhile, Baby plots his counter: if Goku can become a Great Ape, so can he. He heads for his base to enlist the help of Bulma, whose scientific genius is still at his service, but on the way he stops to stare back at the mountain.
Up on the peak, Pan plays her last card: a photo slips out of her backpack showing the whole family and their friends on a beach vacation, back when she was small. Goku picks it up and, as Pan bursts into tears, the memories come flooding back. His granddaughter's tears do the rest: the Great Ape calms down, takes back control of his body and starts to change again, regaining a human shape.
Our take
Pan's scene carries the whole episode, and perhaps the entire saga. Introduced as the girl who hopped aboard the space trip at the last minute, here she becomes the key to victory, not with a punch but with memories. There is also a symmetry that anyone who knows the original Dragon Ball will spot right away: as a child, transformed into a Great Ape under the full moon, Goku unknowingly killed his grandfather Gohan; now a granddaughter brings her grandfather back from the same beast.
In terms of Saiyan mythology, the episode sets up a strong idea. Super Saiyan 4 is not born of rage, like the first Super Saiyan, or of extreme training, but of mastering the race's oldest instinct. It is the twist that sets GT apart from Z, and the episode has the good sense to hold it back until the very last frame. Meanwhile, Baby's move with Bulma makes it clear that the battle of the apes is far from over.
Trivia
- Written by Junki Takegami and directed by Osamu Kasai, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation director.
- It offers the first, brief glimpse of Super Saiyan 4; the transformation is shown in full in the next episode.
- Among the memories is Pan's childhood match at the World Martial Arts Tournament, while the beach vacation in the photo is a new scene set between the end of Z and the start of GT.
- The Japanese title asks whether the transformation has failed, and the episode answers in the final seconds: the rampage turns out to be only the first step.
Characters
- Goku and Baby, in Vegeta's body
- Pan and Mr. Satan
- Kibito Kai, Elder Kai, Sugoro and Shusugoro
- Chi-Chi, Videl and Bulla
- In memories: Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Krillin, Android 18, Marron and Master Roshi