Episode 51 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on June 6, 1990 and titled Vegeta Has a Ball in Funimation's uncut 2005 dub, moves pieces on three boards at once. Vegeta claims his first Dragon Ball and hides it where nobody can find it, Krillin and Dende set off for Grand Elder Guru's home to protect the last one, and in the afterlife the friends who fell on Earth arrive at King Kai's planet, where their voices reach Goku across space.
Summary
In Tsuno's village, the Namekians surround Vegeta and pound him from every side. Just when they think they have buried him under a heap of rocks, the prince bursts out, sending boulders flying, swats one villager's energy wave straight back at him and kills them one by one. Left alone, old Tsuno refuses to reveal where the Dragon Ball is, and Vegeta obliterates him. The ball is sitting on a cushion in one of the houses: Vegeta throws it into the nearby lake. As long as only he knows where it is, Frieza can never gather all seven.
Meanwhile, in Bulma's capsule house, Dende turns down food: Namekians only drink water. He explains that the plants his people grow, the Ajisa, are meant to bring back forests destroyed long ago by a terrible storm. Then Gohan and Krillin feel Vegeta's energy and realize he is slaughtering a village. Krillin blames himself for not killing him on Earth when he had the chance.
At Moori's village, Zarbon points out that Dodoria is late. Frieza replies that if Dodoria cannot catch two pests and a child, he is of no use anyway. He sends Zarbon and Appule, his last remaining soldier, to search for the other villages, and returns to his ship with the Dragon Balls.
Once Dende learns why the Earthlings came, he asks for their help and offers to take them to Guru, the eldest Namekian, who repopulated the planet after the catastrophe and keeps another Dragon Ball. Dende is his 108th child, born from an egg that came out of Guru's mouth, and Bulma is baffled to learn that Namekians have no concept of male and female. Krillin flies off with Dende. On the way he becomes convinced he will die on Namek, and reflects that he has never even had a girlfriend.
Out in space, Goku is training when King Kai speaks into his mind: Piccolo, Tien, Yamcha and Chiaotzu have reached his planet to train, having run Snake Way faster than Goku did. Yamcha says hello and explains that Kami stayed behind at the Check-In Station.
Our take
Tsuno's village is the answer to anyone who, after Dodoria's death, was starting to cheer for Vegeta. The prince is as ruthless as Frieza, just smarter: hiding one Dragon Ball instead of chasing all seven is the move of someone who knows he is the weakest player at the table and plays ahead.
The rest of the episode breathes. Dende stops being just a child to rescue and becomes a guide, with a small lesson in Namekian biology that Toriyama handles with his usual light touch. The telepathic chat with the dead reminds us that the mission on Namek has a specific goal: bringing them back. Krillin's gloomy line about his fate sounds like a joke, but it is one of the cruelest prophecies in the series.
Trivia
- Written by Aya Matsui and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda. It adapts chapter 259 from page six, chapter 260 and the first two pages of 261, with a 19.8% ratings share.
- In the Ocean/Saban dub, episodes 51 and 52 were merged into a single episode, Stay Away From Frieza.
- Appule leaves with Zarbon here, but in episode 54 an anime-only soldier is the one who finds the ruined village; in the manga Appule himself reports to Frieza.
Did you know? Krillin is right to fear dying on Namek: Frieza will kill him later in the saga.