Episode 285 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on November 29, 1995 and titled People of Earth Unite in Funimation's dub, gives Mr. Satan (Hercule) his finest hour. Earth does not trust Vegeta, barely listens to Goku, and the Spirit Bomb stays far too small. Then the world champion, the man who took credit for beating Cell, speaks up, and the whole planet raises its hands to the sky.
Summary
At the others' urging, Vegeta swallows his pride and asks for help again, politely this time. A young man raises his hand, but people around him call it a demon's trick, and someone claims the voice belongs to one of Babidi's accomplices. On the Sacred World of the Kai, Kid Buu pins the good Buu to the ground with an energy sphere. Mr. Satan throws a rock to distract him, and the monster notices the Spirit Bomb above Goku's head. Vegeta jumps in to buy time and is torn apart.
So Goku speaks to the people of Earth himself. A few who know his voice respond: Yajirobe and Korin, Tien and Chiaotzu, Upa and Bora, Launch at the wheel of a truck and, in a brief cameo, Android 17. They are too few, and Goku begins to despair. On Earth, Piccolo sends Gohan, Goten and Trunks into the cities to convince people, but nobody listens, and crowds run from the Namekian on sight.
Meanwhile Vegeta keeps taking hits to keep Buu away from Goku. That is when Mr. Satan, fed up, makes himself heard across the planet. As soon as they recognize their hero's voice, the people of Earth, convinced they are helping him, raise their hands as one. In the anime, old acquaintances such as Nam and Giran join in too. The energy of an entire planet crosses space and the Spirit Bomb becomes enormous.
Our take
This is Mr. Satan's redemption, and it works because it grows out of his flaw. At the Cell Games he was the clown who claimed Gohan's triumph as his own; ever since, the world has loved him for a lie. Goku, who has saved Earth many times, is a stranger to ordinary people, and Vegeta is downright suspicious. The only voice humanity trusts is the fake hero's. Akira Toriyama closes the loop with a bittersweet, affectionate irony: stolen fame becomes the weapon that saves the universe.
And this time Satan is not lying for his own sake. He is driven by anger at a world turning its back on the people defending it, and by his friendship with the good Buu, whom he has just watched being beaten down. The crowd thinks it is lending energy to its champion, and in a sense it is right: for once, Satan deserves the applause.
The episode also works as a farewell parade for the world of Dragon Ball. The faces that answer Goku's voice, many of them last seen in the first series, are a reminder of how many lives the hero has touched over years of adventures, just a few steps from the end of the series.
Trivia
- It adapts all of chapter 515 and the first page of chapter 516. Written by Atsushi Maekawa and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with Tadayoshi Yamamuro, later the director of Resurrection 'F', as animation director.
- Its 17.3% share is the highest among episodes 281-285.
- Gohan, Piccolo, Goten and Trunks touring the cities, along with several cameos such as Korin, Yajirobe, Tien, Chiaotzu, Launch, Nam and Giran, are anime additions.