Dragon Ball Z Kai Episode 1: Prologue to Battle! The Return of Goku!

Dragon Ball Z Kai is a high-definition remastered and recut version of Dragon Ball Z.  Most of the filler episodes have been cut out and it’s closer to the original manga.  It’s fairly different from the original Dragon Ball Z.  Now on to the episode breakdown.

We see baby Kakarot on the planet Vegeta just before he is to be sent to Earth.  High above the planet, Kakarot’s father is leading a revolt against Frieza but everyone is defeated with ease and the planet below is annihilated.  During his death, Kakarot’s father has a glimpse of his son confronting Frieza and his last thoughts are that his son has to avenge the Saiyan race.  Kakarot, now named Goku, landed on Earth and has had many adventures.  His childhood is recapped.

We meet Goku’s adopted father Gohan, his adventures collecting the Dragon Balls, Master Roshi, his battles with King Piccolo and Piccolo Jr, getting married to Chi-Chi (all of this happened in Dragon Ball).  In the present, Goku is punching down giant trees for firewood.  When he returns home, he discovers Gohan (his son) has wandered off, Chi-Chi wants Goku to find him.  Gohan is sitting on the edge of a raging river and falls in.  He is carried down stream and it looks like he is going to go over the waterfall but Goku is on his way to save him.  Goku doesn’t make it in time but Gohan is somehow on a branch well above the waterfall, like he jumped that high.

A ship from space crash lands on a farm and a large muscular alien emerges.  His first action is to murder a farmer who came to check out the crash site.  This guy is certainly evil.  The alien wears a scouter that detects a high power level, so he travels to discover who it is.  It’s Piccolo!  After some bickering, Piccolo attacks the alien and can’t even hurt him.  It looks like the end for Piccolo until the alien detects another high power level and flys off to find it.

Bulma arrives on Master Roshi’s island and talks about Yamcha being a jerk because he took another girl out on a date.  Krillin is also there.  Goku arrives last and everyone is shocked to find out he now has a son.  Gohan is afraid of everything and Goku explains that Chi-Chi won’t let Gohan train in martial arts.  Everyone reminisces about old times.

Goku senses someone with a higher power level than he has ever felt before.  The alien lands on Roshi’s Island.  He seems to know Goku but calls him Kakarot and says Goku looks just like his father.  Goku has no idea about his origins so he doesn’t know that Kakarot is his birth name.  Krillin talks to the alien and tells him to leave but is knocked into a wall and almost killed for his troubles.  Goku notices this alien has a tail just like he used to have!

Dragon Ball Z Episode 20: Goku’s Ancestors

Goku celebrates catching Bubbles and says he is ready for the next level of training.  King Kai yells at the top of his lunges which summons another creature named Gregory, or as Goku calls him “little Grasshopper man”.  Goku’s next test is to hot Gregory with a giant (and very heavy) hammer.  The problem is Goku can barely lift it and Gregory is extremely fast.  Gregory knocks Goku over multiple times before Goku can even do anything.  King Kai says to himself that he has never given anyone a hammer as heavy as this one.

Back on Earth, Piccolo continues to brutally train Gohan while the rest of the Z fighters train at Kami’s Lookout.  On King Kai’s planet it’s time for a lunch break…and a history lesson on the Saiyans.  King Kai tells Goku that the planet Vegeta once had two races of people.  The Saiyans were a primitive and violent people, while the other race was smaller and technologically superior.  The races fought for a long time (it started when the Saiyans attacked first) with neither side coming out ahead until the Saiyans saw the fullmoon and turned into giant apes (which only happens every 8 years on Vegeta).  This event won the war for the Saiyans.

The Saiyans then teamed up with another alien race because they had spaceships, which allowed them to leave the planet in exchange for conquering other worlds for the aliens.  King Kai says that just like on Earth, the planet Vegeta had a guardian and he had seen enough.  He called down a meteor shower and destroyed the planet because the Saiyans were so evil.  Knowing how evil the Saiyan are motivates Goku to keep training hard.  Kami sends the Z fighters back to Earth, having completed their training.

Goku once again uses his brains and hits Gregory (very lightly) with his hammer.  King Kai then tells Goku about a technique called kaio-ken and says no one has been able to master it.  Master Roshi asks his sister about the future and she says as it stands now, the Earth has no future.  The Saiyans pass by Jupiter.  Things are looking grim, the Saiyans are almost here, can our heroes rise to the occasion?  We shall see!

Dragon Ball Z Episode 19: Defying Gravity

King Kai observes Goku acting like an Ape and asks him who he is.  King Kai is a bit goofy for a martial arts master and is more concerned about telling jokes than anything else.  Goku has to pretend King Kai’s jokes are funny just to get Kai to consider training him.  King finally says he will train Goku if Goku can make him laughs.  After presenting some jokes in an intimidating way, Goku succeeds.

King Kai explains that the gravity on his planet is at least ten times that of the earth.  King Kai has Goku jump so he can feel the difference in the gravity.  King Kai is impressed with Goku’s ability to jump so high under such severe gravity.  Goku explains the situation to King Kai, about the Saiyans who are on their way to destroy the earth.  Kai uses his powers to search the cosmos and estimates the Saiyans will arrive on earth in 88 days.

King Kai doesn’t seem too worried and says he can get Goku ready in time.  Training with Kai full time for 88 days is equal to training on earth for thousands of years.  The problem is, King Kai says that the two Saiyans coming to earth are even stronger than he is so there is no guarantee that Goku can win.  Kai has Goku chase bubbles (the ape).  If Goku can catch bubbles under this gravity, he will be ready for further training.  Goku removes his weighted clothes which makes him much faster.  Goku still isn’t fast enough though.  Goku has to stop and take a break to eat (and insults Kai by saying his food isn’t very good).

King Kai starts talking about all of his hobbies, which mostly consist of him driving his car around his very small planet.  Kai wants Goku to put his weighted clothes back on because the Saiyans live on a planet with ten times gravity as well.  Goku will need every advantage he can to win this fight.  Back on earth, Piccolo is still training Gohan.  Gohan is definitely getting stronger, but he still isn’t strong enough.  Piccolo gives Gohan no mercy when it comes to training.

After training, Piccolo and Gohan talk.  Piccolo says that after they defeat the Saiyans, Goku is next on his hit list.  Gohan says that they don’t have to fight anymore because he can tell that Piccolo has changed.  Gohan says Piccolo is like a big green uncle to him.  Even though Piccolo doesn’t like to hear this, it’s true.  Piccolo has changed.  On Kai’s planet, Goku starts using some strategy and cuts bubbles off over and over again, wearing bubbles out.  Goku eventually masters the gravity and captures bubbles.

Dragon Ball Z Episode 18: The End of Snake Way

We open on Goku’s ship he arrived in as a child.  The ship is playing a recording telling Kakarot (Goku’s real name) to destroy all life forms.  Piccolo is training Gohan, trying to make him stronger than anyone else with his brutal training.  Goku is still training on Snake Way.  Gohan has a nightmare of his Dad fighting Raditz and wakes up in a panic.  He looks up and sees the full moon.  He doesn’t turn into a giant ape but he does go wild when he overhears Goku’s ship telling him to destroy all life forms.

Piccolo finds that both the moon and Gohan’s tail have someone come back. That is the least of Piccolo’s problems at this point, because Gohan transforms into a giant ape!  Piccolo attempts to destroy the moon again but comes to find out it’s not real.  This moon is a projection.  His blast goes right through it.  Elsewhere, Master Roshi and Bulma talk about how they managed to gather all of the Dragon Balls with time to spare and how the moon isn’t putting out any moonlight.

Piccolo launches an attack at ape Gohan but it doesn’t have any effect.  Gohan grabs and squeezes Piccolo, smashing him into the ground.  Piccolo finds Goku’s ship, which is where the moon projection is coming from, and destroys it with his special beam cannon.  Gohan returns to normal and is asleep like nothing happened.  Piccolo pulls his tail off to avoid this situation from happening again.

Goku finally comes to the end of Snake Way.  That was a LONG journey!  At first he can’t figure out where to go, as there seems to be nothing at the end of Snake Way.  The he sees a very small planet in the sky.  After jumping to the planet he discovers that the gravity is extremely high and he can barely stand.  Goku runs into an ape and mistakes him for King Kai.  After having “King Kai” throw him some fruit and some goofiness the real King Kai shows up.  Now the real training should begin…

Dragon Ball Z Episode 16: Plight of the Children

Gohan wakes up on a beach and is found by a couple of kids.  These children have been living on their own since a natural disaster destroyed their city.  A couple of adults show up and try to capture the children but they manage to escape.  It turns out the children have a leader and protector who looks after them.  These kids manage to survive by stealing what the need.  Having Gohan cry as a decoy, the rest of the children steal food.  After a police chase the kids manage to slip their would be captors again.

While all of this is going on, Goku continues his run on Snake Way.  Gohan discovers that he is actually very close to his home.  The other children offer to take him there.  Before they can leave, the children are ambushed by the police and orphanage workers.  Gohan escapes with Pigero, the leader of the children.  Pigero allowed the children to get caught on purpose.  He can’t take care of them anymore.  They need a real home with families.

Pigero lets Gohan out close to his home.  Gohan finds his home but decides not to go in.  Piccolo shows up and asks Gohan what his mission is.  Gohan knows he has to get ready for the Saiyans and defeat them.

Dragon Ball Z Episode 15: Dueling Piccolos

While Gohan studies and reminisces about better times with his parents, Piccolo is doing some reminiscing of his own.  Replaying the battle with Raditz in his head he splits himself into two for some serious training.  Piccolo has a lot of interesting powers that other characters on the show do not have.  It’s always cool to see him use them.

Gohan uses his high intelligence to make a sailboat which is able to travel on sand.  This will certainly help him make better time on his journey.  Unfortunately he is attacked by a giant bird.  He does manage to escape but his transportation is ruined.  Where is the flying nimbus when you need it?

After ending up on a beach, Gohan decides to find his way home.  Little does he know he is being stalked by a sabertooth tiger.  The tiger never presents any real danger to him though.  After a lot of travel Gohan eventually ends up where he started, on the beach.  He climbs a mountain to discover he is on a island.  Meanwhile, Chi-Chi’s Dad is attempting to get her to eat.

Piccolo keeps up his hard training against himself, trying to discover any weakness he may have.  Gohan trys a new method; he builds a boat but gets himself into trouble when he is out in the middle of the ocean and a storm hits.  Piccolo feels that Gohan is in danger and puts himself back together.  On Snake Way, Goku continues his journey.  Will he make it in time?

Dragon Ball Z Episode 14: Princess Snake

This is pretty much a goofy filler episode.  Still powered by the fruit he stole in the last episode, Goku has already made it back to where he fell off of snake way.  Past that point he finds a building that sucks him into it.  Goku gets confused and assumes Princess Snake is actually King Kai…no one ever said Goku was a rocket scientist!

Princess Snake mostly wastes Goku’s time by teaching him how to dance and fixing him dinner.  Everything she does, from giving him a bath to the dinner was a trick (they put a sleeping agent in his food).  Princess Snake actually wants to eat Goku.  Every time Goku attempts to leave, Princess Snake talks him into staying a while longer.  While sleeping, Goku has a dream about the Saiyans arriving without him there to save everyone.

Goku wakes up to find out that Princess Snakes palace is all an illusion and he is actually in a snake’s belly.  He manages to escape but the snake chases him.  Using his maneuverability, Goku tricks the snake into being tied into a knot.  Goku gets back on his path, traveling snake way.  So far, three months have passed.  While all of this was going on, back on earth, Gohan saw Piccolo training and everyone else arrived at Kami’s lookout.