Episode 94 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on June 5, 1991 and titled Power of the Spirit in Funimation's dub, brings the long Spirit Bomb charge to its end. Piccolo holds out as long as he can, then Gohan and Krillin buy the final seconds. When Frieza decides to destroy Namek, Goku's sphere is ready to come crashing down on him.
Summary
Piccolo takes on Frieza to give Goku time to finish the sphere. He hammers him with a barrage of energy blasts, but the tyrant does not get a scratch and beats him down with ease, until the Namekian cannot even stand.
On King Kai's planet the fight with the Ginyu Force begins: Yamcha against Recoome, Tien against Burter and Jeice, Chiaotzu against Guldo. At first the squad seems to have the upper hand, then Yamcha and the others realize that their training with King Kai has made them much stronger, and they turn things around.
On Namek, Frieza is about to finish Piccolo when Gohan and Krillin hit him with two surprise blasts, fired with energy even Piccolo did not think they still had. The tyrant barely blocks them and stares in disbelief, clenching his fists until his hands bleed. His patience is gone: he announces he will turn Namek and everyone on it to dust, raises a finger to the sky laughing like a madman and starts charging a ball of energy. At that exact moment, Goku completes the Spirit Bomb.
As he rises to attack, Frieza moves right under the sphere. Goku hurls it, his friends throw themselves to the ground for cover, and the tyrant tries to push it back with all his strength, but it is not enough: with a scream he is sucked into the center of the blast. The shockwave knocks everyone flying, including Bulma and the Ginyu frog, who end up slammed against a cliff. King Kai relays the news to his pupils. In the huge crater left behind, the only ones to climb out are Gohan and Krillin, who wonder what has become of Goku, Piccolo and Frieza.
Our take
This is the end of the duel's first great act, and it is staged like a true finale: anyone watching for the first time has every reason to believe Frieza is dead. The Japanese title, asking "who survived?", leaves the door open, though, and the next episode will throw it wide in the cruelest way.
The manga comparison shows the stretching at work again. In chapter 316 the Piccolo-Frieza clash begins and ends with the kick that sends the tyrant into the sea; the anime adds a volley of attacks and a long beating to give Piccolo's sacrifice more weight. Frieza's fury is heightened too: the bleeding fists and the bulging veins as the Spirit Bomb crushes him are Toei additions. The Ginyu Force's fight in the afterlife, finally, is filler from start to finish.
That excess of rage serves a purpose, however. A Frieza who loses his cool and decides to blow up the planet foreshadows what he will actually do three episodes later, once he realizes he cannot beat Goku in a fair fight. The elegant tyrant of the final form is starting to crack, and the series shows it with a clarity the manga keeps drier.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 316 of the manga. Written by Hiroshi Toda, directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with animation direction by Yukio Ebisawa; 21.0% ratings share in Japan.
- Frieza's desperate struggle against the Spirit Bomb closely mirrors Bardock's last stand against the tyrant's attack in the TV special about Goku's father.
- In the remastered Funimation dub, Dale Kelly's original voice for Captain Ginyu was kept for this episode instead of being replaced by Brice Armstrong's, most likely by oversight.
Did you know? In Funimation's original dub, Krillin delivers a couple of lines in this episode with a slight Italian accent.