Episode 72 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on December 19, 1990 and titled Calling the Eternal Dragon in Funimation's dub, plays entirely on the confusion created by the Body Change. Captain Ginyu is enjoying Goku's body, the real Goku is limping along in the enemy's battered one, and Gohan and Krillin, finally reunited with the Dragon Balls, discover they cannot use them.
Summary
Vegeta storms Frieza's ship, cuts down the last guards on board and hunts for the Dragon Balls, but nobody will tell him where they are. He makes the most of the visit anyway: he picks out a fresh suit of battle armor, cleans himself up and marvels at how quickly the Senzu Bean patched him up.
Flying toward the ship, Ginyu shows off to Jeice. His new body is faster, stronger and, as he sees it, better-looking too. Goku, meanwhile, can barely stay airborne. Ginyu's body is wounded, heavy and unfamiliar, and at one point he plows straight into the ground.
Gohan and Krillin reach the ship while Vegeta spies on them from behind the hull. The radar leads them to the buried Dragon Balls, which they dig up before trying to call the dragon. Nothing happens. They remember that a password is needed, and they do not know it.
Sensing two power levels approaching, they duck behind a rock. When they see "Goku" land with Jeice, Krillin is overjoyed, assuming his friend has won and somehow turned the enemy. But "Goku" slaps him for no reason, and Gohan realizes from his mannerisms that this cannot be his father. Ginyu turns on the two boys until the real Goku, stuck in Ginyu's body, finally arrives and explains everything. Vegeta watches in shock but stays hidden.
Goku reassures his son: Ginyu does not know the secret of his body, so they can beat him. The captain laughs it off and begins powering up, convinced he can reach the Saiyan's 180,000.
Our take
The episode is built on recognition. Krillin trusts the face, Gohan trusts the behavior, and it is the son, not the best friend, who first realizes something is wrong. It is a small but lovely detail that says a lot about the bond between father and son after months apart.
There is also an idea that the next episode will develop: strength is not just a matter of muscle. Ginyu has Goku's body but not his experience, and Goku says so with an almost teacherly confidence. It is a theme close to Toriyama's heart, that talent matters but control is built over years of training.
As for the adaptation, the anime adds the guards Vegeta kills (in the manga the ship is empty) and the scenes of Ginyu admiring his new looks and Goku crash-landing, unable to steer the captain's body. They are light moments that stretch the trip to the ship without bending the story.
Trivia
- Written by Aya Matsui, directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto, with animation direction by Masayuki Uchiyama. It adapts the end of chapter 287 and most of chapter 288, with a 23.1% ratings share.
- The Japanese title calls the Namekian dragon "Super Shenron", yet the dragon never shows up here: without the password, the Dragon Balls stay silent.
- In the original Funimation dub Vegeta quips that killing Frieza's leftover guards will be "easier than coloring inside the lines"; the remastered dub changed it to "easier than I thought".
- In the dub Vegeta thinks of Goku as "Goku" rather than his usual "Kakarot" here.
Did you know? Plenty of video games let players dress Ginyu in Goku's outfit as an alternate costume, a nod to this stretch of the series.