Episode 44 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on April 30, 1997 and titled 17 Times 2 in Funimation's dub, is the one where the saga's namesake villain is born. Android 17 kills Krillin and gravely wounds his sister, then fuses with his twin from Hell: Super 17 sweeps aside every fighter left on Earth in moments, while Goku, still trapped in the afterlife, can only watch.
Summary
Android 18 is about to give in to her brother when Krillin steps in. He reminds Android 17 that she now has a husband and a daughter, and that 17 himself was the one who killed Dr. Gero. For a moment 17 seems to waver, but Hell Fighter 17's voice takes control again and he strikes Krillin down. That wakes 18 up, and she hurls herself at her brother. 17 then targets Marron: her mother shields her, takes the blast head-on and collapses. As he flies off, 18 drags herself to her husband's body and takes his hand.
In Hell, Cell and Frieza are savoring their revenge, but the ice holding Goku starts to melt: it only works on the dead, and he is alive. Free again, the Saiyan turns the same machine on his two enemies, freezes them solid and then accidentally shatters both statues. On Earth, General Rilldo has Gohan cornered, but Majuub, Goten and Trunks destroy him with a single blow; Pan, Mr. Satan and Giru arrive too, and Giru frees Gohan.
Vegeta is unimpressed by Hell Fighter 17 until the two doctors reveal that he has been using only half his power. Then the original arrives and the twins fuse into Super 17. One punch sends Vegeta flying; Majuub, then Goten and Trunks with a combined attack, and finally Gohan with a Super Kamehameha fail to even scratch him. The Saiyans transform, but a burst of energy knocks them back to their base forms, and Vegeta's strongest attack is simply absorbed.
From Hell, Goku sees everything and asks King Yemma to send him back to Earth, but even Yemma is powerless. That is when Piccolo steps forward and asks, from the afterlife, to be sent to Hell. When King Yemma refuses, he starts acting like a villain, blasting trees apart, and gets exactly what he wanted. He reaches Goku with an idea for getting him home.
Our take
This is the harshest episode of the saga, for a specific reason: it hits characters Dragon Ball Z had left in peace. Android 17 and Android 18 had closed their story as enemies who became, in different ways, part of the heroes' world; GT takes 17 back and turns him into a puppet who kills his brother-in-law in front of his niece. The scene of 18 holding Krillin's hand is short and quiet, and that is exactly why it sticks.
Super 17 is a concept that fits the series: a villain assembled by scientists who add together two versions of the same android instead of inventing a new one. The long sequence in which every fighter fails one after another is there to measure him, even if it follows a pattern we have seen many times.
The best touch comes at the end: Piccolo playing the demon to get himself sent to Hell, and then apologizing for it, is a small wink at his past.
Trivia
- Written by Atsushi Maekawa and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with Kazuya Hisada as animation director.
- In the Japanese version Vegeta notes that 17 has grown much stronger since they last met; Funimation's dub has him say the opposite.
- In Funimation's dub Krillin claims 17 hates Dr. Gero for giving him human emotions, while Dragon Ball Z had blamed Gero for turning the twins into androids against their will.
- The Japanese title calls Super 17 the "ultimate android"; the Toei episode list names the whole arc after him.