Episode 124 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on January 22, 1992 and titled Z Warriors Prepare in Funimation's dub, opens an anime-original detour into the three years of waiting for the androids. The spotlight belongs to Vegeta, locked inside the gravity chamber Dr. Brief built for him and fixated on a single goal: surpass Goku and become a Super Saiyan. The Japanese title spells it out: "I will overcome Goku!"
Summary
At Capsule Corporation, Vegeta trains inside an old spaceship converted into a gym, with the gravity cranked up to 300 times Earth's. He can barely stay on his feet and gets hit by his own energy spheres, but he refuses to quit and wrecks the equipment, much to Dr. Brief's annoyance. A jealous Yamcha sneaks in to try the same setting and is nearly crushed; he manages to shut the machine off at the last second, stunned by how brutal the prince's routine is.
The next day Dr. Brief mentions that Vegeta keeps demanding tougher equipment and worries he is overdoing it. He is right: trying to outdo himself, the Saiyan fires two blasts into each other and the ship explodes with him inside. Bulma and Yamcha rush over, Vegeta staggers out of the wreckage, angrily tells Bulma not to waste her time on him, and then passes out. On Mount Paozu, meanwhile, Goku, Gohan and Piccolo train together, and the boy is clearly improving.
Bandaged and put to bed, Vegeta has a nightmare. He runs down a dark path after a smirking Goku and can never catch him; then the mysterious youth from the future appears too, and both turn Super Saiyan in front of him before drifting out of reach. A childhood memory surfaces: King Vegeta explaining that low-class Saiyans like Goku were shipped off to distant planets while the royal bloodline stayed on Planet Vegeta, and promising his son that with training he would one day become the legendary Super Saiyan. Vegeta wakes to find Bulma asleep at the desk beside him. Still not healed, he goes straight back to training, now at 400 G, brushing off her protests. Inspired by his drive, Yamcha and Puar decide to get back to work as well.
Our take
In the manga, the three years between Trunks' warning and the androids' arrival pass in a single page. The anime, which needs to give Toriyama some breathing room, fills them with two original episodes, and this first one is surprisingly focused. It shows what the manga only implies: how hard Vegeta has to grind to reach a level Goku hit on Namek, and how much his pride is hurting.
The nightmare is the highlight. Vegeta has no idea yet that the young Super Saiyan is his own son, and watching him fly off at Goku's side stings as much as losing does. The memory of King Vegeta flips the Saiyan hierarchy on its head: the prince was meant for glory, the low-class soldier was not. For Vegeta it is both a humiliation and a spur, and it sets up his return as a Super Saiyan in episode 129.
Then there is Bulma. The care she gives the injured prince plants the seed of a relationship the story will only reveal in episode 126, when she turns up at the rendezvous with a baby in her arms. The anime bridges the gap with a handful of scenes and never pushes too hard.
The gravity chamber itself takes the ship Goku trained in on the way to Namek and pushes the idea to the extreme.
Trivia
- A filler episode with no manga chapters. Written by Aya Matsui and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with animation supervision by Minoru Maeda, it drew a 25.2% share.
- In Japanese, King Vegeta is voiced by Yukimasa Kishino here instead of Banjō Ginga.
- It is the only time Goku appears as a Super Saiyan in his undamaged Frieza Saga outfit, even if only in a dream.
- Like all filler, it has no counterpart in Dragon Ball Z Kai.
- It aired on Cartoon Network on September 12, 2000.