Episode 97 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on June 26, 1991 and titled Namek's Destruction? in Funimation's dub, contains the line that has amused generations of fans: Namek will explode in five minutes. Frieza, realizing he cannot beat Super Saiyan Goku in a fair fight, chooses to destroy the planet beneath their feet. The countdown that starts here will last ten episodes.
Summary
On a distant planet owned by Frieza, number 79, technicians in a control tower detect two gigantic power levels on Namek, and one of them exceeds their master's. A soldier whose people were wiped out by Frieza cannot hide his joy and is executed on the orders of Commander Gonma, a member of his own race. Shortly afterwards Goku's power overloads the instruments, which explode and kill everyone inside.
On Namek, Gohan reaches his father's spaceship and lays the wounded Piccolo inside. The onboard screen switches on: on the other end, back on Earth, are Chi-Chi, Master Roshi and Dr. Brief. Gohan tells them Frieza has killed Krillin and that Goku is fighting him, then sets off again to find Bulma.
Frieza relives the Spirit Bomb that nearly killed him, and the rage blinds him. He understands that Goku would win a fight between equals, so he fires a blast straight into the planet's core. A blinding light swallows everything and the ground shakes everywhere. On his planet, King Kai fears Namek is gone, but Kami contacts him from Earth: Mr. Popo is gathering the Dragon Balls to revive Yamcha and Tien. If Kami is alive, King Kai reasons, so is Piccolo, and Namek must still exist.
Frieza admits he held back too much, afraid he might not survive himself. The blast has still destroyed the core: he can breathe in the vacuum of space, Goku cannot, and the planet will explode in five minutes. Goku is unfazed, confident he can beat him within that time, and the two charge at each other again.
Our take
Here they are, the famous five minutes. Frieza announces them in this episode, aired on June 26, 1991, and Namek will not explode until episode 106, broadcast on September 4: ten installments and more than two months of airtime for a span that, in the story, should last about as long as a coffee break. It has become the ultimate symbol of time dilation in fighting anime, still quoted and parodied today.
To be fair, the blame does not lie with Toei alone. In the manga the five minutes run from chapter 320 to 328 and pack in plenty, from King Kai's plan to the wishes on two different dragons. The anime, however, adds an entirely original episode, number 102, and stretches nearly every scene, making the paradox impossible to ignore.
This installment has its own confirmed filler. The Planet Frieza No. 79 sequence does not exist in the manga, and neither does the video link between Gohan and Earth: in the comic, Chi-Chi had stayed home. The former is a worthwhile addition, though, because it shows Frieza's empire from below for the first time, with subjects who hate him and hope for his downfall.
One manga detail was cut instead: King Kai's dismayed reaction when he hears about the five minutes.
Trivia
- It adapts the end of chapter 319 and the first eleven pages of chapter 320. Written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with animation direction by Mitsuo Shindō; 23.6% ratings share in Japan.
- It is the first episode to use Shunsuke Kikuchi's music from the movie Lord Slug.
- In the original Japanese broadcast, half of the next-episode preview was given over to a ticket lottery for Cooler's Revenge, released on July 20, 1991.
- Funimation's original title card included the question mark, as in Namek's Destruction?.
Did you know? The spire where Grand Elder Guru lived crumbles when Frieza hits the core, yet three episodes later, when he is brought back to life, it is standing again.
Characters
- Goku and Frieza
- Gohan and Piccolo
- Bulma
- Chi-Chi, Master Roshi and Dr. Brief
- King Kai, Kami and Mr. Popo
- Gonma and the soldiers of Planet Frieza No. 79