Dragon Ball GT Super 17 Saga: Episodes 41-47

The Super 17 Saga is the shortest arc of Dragon Ball GT: seven episodes broadcast on Fuji TV between March 12 and June 4, 1997, all written by Atsushi Maekawa. With Baby gone, Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu join forces in Hell and build a new Android 17, who tears open a rift between the afterlife and Earth and lets the old villains loose. Goku ends up stuck in Hell while the strongest android anyone has ever seen is born on Earth: Super 17.

How the saga is split

For once, the sources agree. Funimation's American split and Toei's own episode list, which calls it the "Ultimate Android arc", both run it from episode 41 to 47. Before it comes the Baby Saga, which closes with Piccolo's sacrifice; after it, the Shadow Dragon Saga brings the series to an end.

In Japan the start was broken up. After episode 41 the show went off the air for a month, with the special A Hero's Legacy airing on March 26, 1997, and the Super 17 story only really kicked off on April 16 with episode 42, which also introduced a new ending theme, Shizuka Kudō's Blue Velvet.

Mr. Satan's last tournament

Episode 41 is a comic interlude before the storm. At the World Martial Arts Tournament, Mr. Satan sends Goku, who still looks like a child, to the junior division so Pan has a clear run at the adult title; she withdraws anyway, and Goku loses the junior final to a kid who tickles him. The real star is Mr. Satan, on the verge of retiring, who faces a disguised Uub: the boy has the win in his hands, but at the last moment he lets the champion take it.

An alliance in Hell

In Hell, Dr. Gero, creator of the Red Ribbon androids, and Dr. Myuu, the inventor of M-2's Machine Mutants, team up and build a second Android 17, Hell Fighter 17. Through a device Gero managed to slip onto Earth, the new android takes control of the original, and the resonance between the two opens a rift between Hell and the world of the living.

Out pour the villains of a whole era: Red Ribbon soldiers, Nappa and the Saibamen, Pui Pui and Yakon, Android 19, General Rilldo. Word comes through 17 that Goku must come down to Hell, and Goku agrees; but as soon as he arrives, the two scientists slip through the rift and seal it behind him. Waiting for him are Cell and Frieza: Goku outclasses them easily, but nobody can die in Hell, and the pair lock him in an ice prison meant to hold him for twenty years.

Super 17 is born

Then the saga turns dark without warning. In episode 44, Android 17, now controlled by his double, kills Krillin, who was trying to talk sense into him, and leaves Android 18 badly hurt as she shields little Marron. He then meets up with Hell Fighter 17 and the two fuse into Super 17. Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks and Uub take him on one after another, transformations and all, and are swatted aside without effort.

Goku breaks free, since Hell's ice only works on the dead, and freezes Cell and Frieza with their own machine, but he still cannot get out. Piccolo steps in: he gets King Yemma to send him to Hell and, together with Dende on Earth, opens a gate by linking their minds; to keep it open he must stay perfectly still, so he remains behind. Meanwhile Pan takes Gero hostage, only to learn that Super 17 answers to Myuu alone: on his partner's orders, the android destroys Gero.

Super Saiyan 4 vs. Super 17

Goku arrives just in time to save Vegeta. Super Saiyan is not enough, and even Super Saiyan 4 struggles: Super 17 absorbs energy attacks, as Android 19 once did, and grows stronger with every Kamehameha. Goku even tries to blow himself up while holding the android, but Super 17 shields himself with a barrier.

The turning point comes from Android 18. Super 17 kills Myuu, who was scolding him, and 18 attacks to avenge her husband. As her brother soaks up her blasts, Goku spots the weakness: while absorbing, the android cannot move. He punches through him with the Dragon Fist and finishes him with a Kamehameha. To bring back Krillin and the other victims, the group gathers the Dragon Balls, now covered in cracks: what emerges is a dragon made of black smoke.

Episodes

Titles are from Funimation's dub. The episode pages also give the literal translation of each Japanese title.

Characters

• Super 17, the fusion of the original Android 17 and the copy built in Hell, able to absorb the energy of any attack.
• Android 17, controlled by his double: when Super 17 kills Myuu, Goku sees it as the real 17 rebelling and showing him how to win.
• Android 18, who loses her husband and turns the final battle around.
• Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu, the scientists who team up in Hell, both destroyed by their own creation.
• Goku, who faces Cell and Frieza in Hell and Super 17 on Earth; Vegeta, who holds the android off for as long as he can.
• Piccolo and Dende, who open the way for Goku's return.

Our take

This is GT's most debated saga, and not without reason. After the Baby arc had given the series a new tone, it falls back on an older formula: resurrected villains, a Red Ribbon android and a parade of cameos dug up from Z. The villains escaping Hell recall Fusion Reborn, the 1995 Gogeta movie, while Cell and Frieza, brought back to please the fans, end up in an episode that is almost pure comedy. Super 17 himself has little personality, more an obstacle to overcome than a character.

Still, there are strong ideas here. Krillin's death at the hands of his brother-in-law is one of GT's harshest moments, and the saga finally gives Android 18 a leading scene. The final battle works too: Goku does not win by getting stronger but by figuring out how his opponent works, just as he did as a kid. And the ending with the cracked Dragon Balls ties it all together: abusing wishes comes at a price, and the next enemy will be born from exactly that. It is a short detour, but its epilogue sets up the best part of the series.

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