Episode 101 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on July 31, 1991 and titled The Last Wish in Funimation's dub, closes the long game of the Namekian Dragon Balls. With Porunga's third wish, King Kai and the Grand Elder plan to carry everyone to safety on Earth and leave Frieza alone on the doomed planet. But Goku has other ideas: he wants to stay too.
Summary
Goku and Frieza resume their fight, and this time the Saiyan lands a clean hit right away. Meanwhile King Kai reaches the newly revived Grand Elder Guru telepathically and lays out the plan: use Porunga's last wish to send every inhabitant of Namek to Earth, except Frieza, who will die in the explosion. Goku overhears and cuts in: he wants to stay behind to finish the fight. If King Kai refuses, he warns, he will never forgive him. Reluctantly, King Kai and Guru agree.
Guru calls on Dende, the closest to the dragon, to make the wish. Not far away, Vegeta, revived by Shenron, looks around in disbelief and even punches himself to check he is not dreaming. Then he spots Goku and Frieza fighting and flies toward them.
Frieza also notices Porunga in the distance and realizes immortality may still be within reach. He races for the dragon, Goku gives chase and the two clash in midair. Dende gets there first; Frieza knocks Goku aside and shouts his wish for eternal life, but in his own language rather than Namekian, and Porunga ignores him. Dende speaks the agreed wish instead. Enraged, Frieza tries to kill him, but the young Namekian vanishes an instant earlier. Vegeta barely has time to see Goku as a Super Saiyan and take aim at the tyrant before he disappears along with everyone else.
Frieza cannot understand how Dende and Vegeta are alive, and Goku explains the plan. On Earth everyone celebrates, while on Namek the tyrant points out that the planet will blow in minutes and mocks the Saiyan's suicidal choice. Goku replies that he actually feels better: now he can fight without worrying about his friends.
Our take
This is King Kai's great sleight of hand, and it works because it pays off a rule set up many episodes earlier: wishes to Porunga must be spoken in Namekian. Frieza, who has chased immortality for the entire saga, loses it over a language barrier. For a tyrant who has always taken everything by force, it is an almost comic defeat, and all the more humiliating for it.
Goku's choice is the emotional core. In the Japanese version, as in the manga, there is nothing selfless about his request: he wants to avenge Krillin, and he wants the thrill of fighting the strongest opponent he has ever met to the very end. This is the Saiyan surfacing, the side that Super Saiyan has just unleashed. Funimation's dub softens him, having him argue that leaving Frieza half-beaten would be dangerous.
The anime adds a good deal to stretch Namek's famous "five minutes": Vegeta punching himself, the midair scuffle on the way to the dragon, Frieza's attempt on Dende, Vegeta seeing a golden-haired Goku and trying to attack before he vanishes, and King Kai filling in Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu. These are confirmed additions to the manga, but they stay true to the logic of the scene.
Trivia
- It adapts the end of chapter 323 and the first thirteen pages of chapter 324. Written by Takao Koyama and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, it drew a 19.5% share.
- Christopher Sabat takes over as Porunga's English voice from this episode, replacing Dale Kelly.
- In the Japanese version Goku threatens to resent King Kai for the rest of his life if he is denied; the dub turns it into a reasoned argument.
Did you know? How Porunga works, and how he differs from Shenron, is covered in our guide to the Dragon Balls.
Characters
- Goku and Frieza
- Vegeta
- Dende, Guru and Porunga
- Gohan, Bulma and Piccolo
- King Kai, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu