Episode 38 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on February 19, 1997 and titled Family Bonds in Funimation's dub, is the one in which Goku's family returns to his side. Freed by the Sacred Water, Gohan, Goten and Trunks reach the battlefield and, together with Pan, hand their energy over to the exhausted Super Saiyan 4. Buying the time they need, though, takes help from someone everyone thought was gone.
Summary
The Golden Great Ape is fully charged again, and Goku, still faking a confidence he does not have, can no longer avoid his blows. Pan realizes her grandfather is running on empty and throws herself at Baby with a barrage of energy blasts that do not leave a mark. The Great Ape swats her down and is about to crush her when, as Goku gathers his last strength for a Kamehameha, Trunks arrives and draws Baby's attention.
Baby turns on Trunks instead, but Gohan and Goten, just freed by Kibito Kai, swoop in to save him. Goten and Trunks consider the Fusion Dance, but Goku stops them: it would not be enough. Only Super Saiyan 4 can beat Baby, and to get back to full power he needs their energy.
Baby understands this too and charges at them to stop it. Goku spends what little he has left on a Solar Flare that blinds the Great Ape, and the four Saiyans, Pan included, start pouring their strength into him. Baby recovers quickly and gets ready to wipe them out, but suddenly he doubles over in pain: Majuub, whom the Great Ape had swallowed after turning him into chocolate in episode 33, has regained his human form inside his stomach and is hitting him from within, just as Baby's eggs did to the Earthlings. He holds out as long as his energy lasts, then gets spat out.
Baby answers with a Super Galick Gun aimed at the group, and when the smoke clears everyone seems to be out of action. Mr. Satan, the last one standing, decides to face the giant alone, even if it costs him his life. Goku's voice stops him: he is back on his feet, with an aura so fierce that he tells Satan and Pan to keep their distance. The others come to and stare, speechless, at Super Saiyan 4 at full strength. Both fighters power up: the final battle is on.
Our take
The Japanese title, "with everyone's power," already says what matters. After so many episodes in which Gohan, Goten and Trunks were Baby's puppets, the show gives them a role again, and it does so in the most Dragon Ball way possible: not with a personal victory, but by putting their strength at someone else's service, like the Earthlings raising their hands for the Spirit Bomb against Majin Buu.
The best moment, though, belongs to Majuub. The boy Goku chose as his successor at the end of Z had vanished in the most thankless way imaginable, eaten like a piece of candy; GT brings him back at the decisive moment, from inside the enemy, and finally gives him a gesture worthy of the expectations. Mr. Satan's scene, ready to step forward out of sheer stubbornness, is a small tribute too: the world's phoniest champion has always had real courage when it counted.
Trivia
- Written by Toshinobu Ōi and directed by Hidehiko Kadota, with Kazuya Hisada as animation director.
- In the Japanese title, the character 力 ("strength") carries a reading aid that makes it "pawā," the English word power.
- The whole episode takes place on Planet Plant, with no scenes on the Sacred World of the Kai or on Earth.
- Funimation's title, Family Bonds, highlights the energy transfer between Goku, his sons, his granddaughter and Trunks.
Characters
- Goku and Baby in Vegeta's body
- Pan and Mr. Satan
- Gohan, Goten and Trunks
- Majuub and Kibito Kai