Episode 42 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on April 4, 1990 and titled The Search Continues in Funimation's 2005 uncut dub (Hunt for a Dragon Ball in the Ocean/Saban version), pushes the long original detour before Namek forward on three fronts. On Raiti and Zaacro's planet the Dragon Ball hunt grows ever more spectacular, on Earth Goku can no longer stand his hospital bed, and on a distant base the Saiyan prince gets back on his feet. The Japanese title, after all, is all about him.
Summary
On a Frieza base known as Planet No. 79, Vegeta's treatment in the healing tank continues, and his anger at Kakarot seems to make the fluid bubble. Back on Earth, in the middle of the night, Goku slips out of the hospital while Chi-Chi sleeps in the chair next to his bed.
On the supposed Namek, Bulma, Krillin and Gohan cross a desert with Zaacro; Raiti, he explains, stayed home to take care of some business. The radar shows a moving Dragon Ball: it is trapped inside a huge tornado. Zaacro claims that tornadoes on his planet spin for ages, Bulma stops the two fighters from blasting it for fear of destroying the ball, and when the funnel turns on her, Gohan dives in, grabs the ball and breaks up the tornado with a Masenko.
The next ball lies in what looks like a dense evergreen forest. It is actually the back of a gigantic bird, which takes off toward a castle on a mountaintop; chased by other hungry birds, the four drop down onto the castle. Inside sleeps a giant wearing the ball as an earring: Krillin, Gohan and Zaacro manage to pull it free, but wake him up. Bulma saves everyone by starting the giant's toy airplane. As they fly off, Krillin looks back and for a moment the castle seems to be gone, then it reappears looking different. Zaacro watches him suspiciously.
Goku, meanwhile, unwraps his bandages among the rocks and tries to fly, but the pain sends him crashing down; he gets up, trains, falls again and realizes he will never beat the Saiyans this way. At the hospital Master Roshi and the Ox-King search everywhere for him, and Chi-Chi loses her temper. Finally, on Base No. 79, the doctor drains the tank: Vegeta is fully healed, eye included, and when he is told his tail did not grow back, he replies that it will in time.
Our take
For three quarters of its running time this is still escapist adventure, with tornadoes, giant birds and a fairy-tale castle. But the script starts dropping clues more boldly: the castle changing shape behind the heroes and, in the last shot of the mountain, a stone obelisk where the giant should be are an elegant way of telling viewers that this world is not what it seems.
The most interesting material lies elsewhere, though. Goku escaping the hospital to train is perfectly in character and foreshadows the obsession that drives him through the whole saga. And Vegeta's short closing scene, the only part taken from the manga, is an unsettling reminder: while the heroes play treasure hunt, the enemy is already back on his feet.
Trivia
- Written by Aya Matsui and Takao Koyama and directed by Jōhei Matsūra, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation supervisor.
- Only one manga page, page 9 of chapter 246, with Vegeta leaving the tank, is adapted here. Ratings share: 19.2%.
- According to Kanzenshuu the two balls won here are the Three-Star Ball, in the tornado, and the Seven-Star Ball, hanging from the giant's ear, bringing the group's total to five.
- In the Funimation dub, Planet Frieza No. 79's doctor changes voice actor from one episode to the next during this stretch.
Did you know? The control-tower soldiers watching Vegeta recover and the doctor's colleagues of the same species exist only in the anime: the manga version of the scene is far more spare.
Characters
- Gohan, Krillin, Bulma and Zaacro
- Vegeta and the doctor of Planet Frieza No. 79
- Goku, Chi-Chi, Master Roshi and the Ox-King