Episode 61 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on September 12, 1990 and retitled Hidden Power in Funimation's uncut dub, is the one where the Ginyu Force, Frieza's elite squad, finally makes its entrance. Before that, Goku completes his training in space, and on Namek an alliance nobody saw coming takes shape: Vegeta, Gohan and Krillin on the same side.
Summary
In space, Goku finishes his training and sets the gravity back to normal. Even he is impressed by his progress. Realizing he could use a bath, he cleans up, picks a sports drink over the beer in the fridge and goes to sleep before the last leg of the trip, unaware that he has pushed past the limits of any Saiyan before him.
On Namek, Gohan and Krillin are almost at Grand Elder Guru's house when they sense Vegeta close by. Krillin stays behind to stall him and sends Gohan ahead. Vegeta finds only Krillin, but meanwhile Guru unlocks the boy's hidden potential. Sensing the new power, Vegeta races to the house, convinced the last Dragon Ball is kept there. Waiting for him is Nail, Guru's guardian, ready to fight. When Gohan steps outside, Vegeta is startled by how much he has grown, then laughs: he is still the stronger one.
Inside, Guru senses huge energies approaching the planet, and Dende rushes out to warn the others. Krillin hopes it is Goku, but Gohan looks up: there is more than one. Vegeta counts five and knows at once what that means. Frieza has summoned the Ginyu Force. So the prince offers a deal: he will leave the two alone, but he wants their Dragon Ball, because immortality is the only way to stand up to the squad. Nail reveals that Namek's Dragon Balls grant three wishes, and Krillin agrees.
Krillin stops by Bulma, who has tied her ball to her leg so it cannot roll away again, and takes it. Only afterward does she notice Vegeta was with him. Meanwhile the squad's pods land before Frieza: Recoome, Burter, Jeice, Guldo and Captain Ginyu introduce themselves one by one with elaborate poses. Visibly embarrassed, Frieza pretends to be impressed and lays out the plan: bring him the Dragon Balls.
Our take
The Ginyu Force's introduction is one of the most famous moments of the saga, and a stroke of genius in terms of tone. After episodes of mounting tension, with Frieza slaughtering Namekians and Vegeta killing his former comrades, Toriyama sends in the empire's strongest warriors... and has them dance. The poses come from the sentai and tokusatsu shows the author watched with his kids, and the effect is disorienting: they look ridiculous, yet they are terrifyingly dangerous.
The episode's other core is the alliance. Watching it form through cold calculation, almost like a strategy lesson, makes Vegeta more compelling than ever: he has not turned good, he has simply done the math.
The anime adds plenty of light touches, mostly around Goku. The manga has no scene of him realizing he stinks and no beer-versus-sports-drink choice. Bulma's ball tied to her leg is an invention too, a direct consequence of the giant crab subplot from the previous episode. And in the manga Vegeta does not flip Krillin off while Gohan is being powered up; Dragon Ball Z Kai later softened the gesture into a fist.
Trivia
- It adapts parts of chapters 270, 271 and 272, with a 23.3% ratings share.
- Written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, directed by Tatsuya Orime, animation supervised by Yukio Ebisawa.
- In the original Ocean/Saban dub it was episode 48, Arrival of the Ginyu Force.
- In Funimation's 2005 uncut broadcast, Burter was mostly voiced by Vic Mignogna; Christopher Sabat later redubbed his lines for the remastered release.
Did you know? The squad's names are dairy puns: Ginyu echoes gyūnyū, Japanese for milk, while Burter comes from butter.