Feature

Raditz, an evil alien space fighter, arrives on Earth, disappointed to find that his brother Goku has not completed his mission to destroy the human race. Goku is enjoying the Great Peace on earth with this lovely wife Chi Chi and son Gohan. But this peace is shattered with the sudden arrival of Raditz, an evil alien from the planet Vegeta. Raditz arrives on Earth surprised to find that his brother Goku, formerly known as “Kakarot” on Vegeta, has not completed his mission. Goku, receiving a blow to the head as an infant, has instead become the most powerful defender on Earth. Totally unaware of his evil space-fighter heritage, Goku is confronted by Raditz and told his true story. Raditz soon realizes that Goku has peaceful intentions and will never destroy the human race. After a fierce confrontation, Raditz emerges as the victor and kidnaps Gohan, Goku’s son, with the destruction of the human race as ransom.

■ 2. The World’s Strongest Team

In a daring move, Goku joins forces with his arch enemy, Piccolo, in the battle to save the Earth from destruction. The evil Raditz delivers an ultimatum: Goku must deliver 100 corpses with [sic] 24 hours if he wants to see his son alive again. Goku’s allies, Krillin and Roshi, band together to devise a plan to outsmart the incredibly powerful Raditz. Goku joins forces with his arch enemy, Piccolo, the second strongest being on Earth. Together the team sets out to battle Raditz and rescue Gohan and the world.

■ 3. Gohan’s Hidden Powers

After a fierce battle, it seems that Goku must sacrifice his own life to destroy Raditz and save the human race. In the most fierce battle ever seen on Earth, Piccolo and Goku use all of their combined fighting powers and awesome fighting techniques to battle Raditz. But Raditz stops these energy blasts, which have been known to topple mountains, with his bare hands. In a courageous move, Goku grasps Raditz’ weak point — his tail. Overpowered by Goku, Raditz pleads for his life. Feeling sympathy for his brother, Goku releases him on the condition that he leave Earth for good. However, Raditz quickly turns on his sibling. All seems lost when Gohan breaks free of the space capsule in which Raditz had imprisoned him. In a remarkable burst of power, Gohan blasts Raditz — weakening him enough for Goku to grab Raditz once more. Goku asks Piccolo to fire an energy blast at Raditz even though he realizes it would destroy them both.

■ 4. Goku’s Unusual Journey

Goku sacrifices himself to ensure the destruction of Raditz and Piccolo begins to develop Gohan’s incredible powers. Goku and Raditz are both destroyed by the incredible force of Piccolo’s energy blast, but not before the scouter (Raditz power sensor and information transmitter) informs the other two evil Saiyan warriors that Earth has not been destroyed. It is said whoever holds the seven crystal Dragon Balls will be granted one wish by the Eternal Dragon. So, Goku’s allies set out to gather all seven Dragon Balls and wish Goku back to life. Piccolo, realizing the tremendous strength displayed by Gohan, takes the son of his former arch enemy to train in the wilderness. Meanwhile, Goku is taking advantage of his time in the other world to race down the 1,000 mile Snake Way in hopes of being trained by Martial Arts Master King Kai. Only with the combined forces of Goku, Piccolo and Gohan can they save the Earth from the Saiyan warriors, now on their way to Earth.

■ 5. Gohan’s Metamorphosis

Piccolo takes Gohan to a deserted wasteland to train him to exploit his incredible power. The good guys disperse in a frantic attempt to prepare for the coming of the Saiyans. Gohan begins his training by being deserted in the wilderness. All he must do is survive six months (against the hunger, cold, tigers, dinosaurs, etc.) and then Piccolo will return to teach him how to fight. Danger comes even from within himself when Gohan sees the moon for the first time and turns into a raging, uncontrollable Giant Monkey. To save Gohan and perhaps the entire Earth, Piccolo does the only thing he can do — he gets rid of the tail! Goku continues his way down the hazardous Snake Way to reach King Kai. The rest of the team are called by the Kami, the guardian of Earth, to Korin Tower for training.

■ 6. Gohan Makes A Friend

The allies assemble for training in preparation for the battle of the century against the Saiyans. Krillin finds fellow warrior Yamcha at the battlefield where he has been playing killer baseball as a profession during the Great Peace. But he is more than willing to join the good guys for the “fight of the century” and to go into training under Kami. Piccolo meanwhile checks in on Gohan’s progress. Things are going well. Gohan has transformed from a scared little boy into a budding warriors battling against the predators of the wilderness.

■ 7. Trouble On Arlia

The evil Saiyan warriors Nappa and Vegeta are getting closer to Earth, eager to gather the seven Dragon Balls and realize their wish for immortality while Gohan continues survival training and Goku runs down Snake Way still on his way to begin training. Gohan has turned survival training into camp and enjoys playing chase with the animals — even encouraging the Saber Tiger: “Don’t give up you almost caught me that time.” Piccolo has not forgotten him, but is monitoring his training. Nappa and Vegeta make a brief stopover on the planet Arlia where they display their strength and have some fun. But they are looking forward to Earth: “Immortality, here we come.” After running for months, Goku learns that he is only 1/4 of the way to King Kai’s. He hitches a ride with a street cleaner and thinks he has made it to the end of Snake Way and the beginning of his training.

■ 8. Home For Infinite Losers

Perilously, Goku has fallen off Snake Way to the land of no return; however, he is shown a secret passage as a reward for catching the fastest ogre in the land. Goku discovers that he has not reached the end of Snake Way, he fell below it, into the land of no return, the home of the luckless losers. In the race for his life, Goku chases MEZ and is shown the secret passage back to Snake Way. Unfortunately, it leads back to its beginning and there are only three months left until the Saiyans arrive on Earth. But Goku has snatched some of the forbidden fruits and has renewed energy to race toward King Kai’s and the training he needs to save the world.

■ 9. Princess Snake’s Hospitality

A selected group of warriors have gathered at the top of Korin Tower for the special training which will prepare them for the arrival of the Saiyans while Goku reaches the end of the Snake Way only to fall into the treacherous hands of the beautiful Snake Princess. High above the Earth at the top of Korin Tower, the warriors are training. Each of them has a special ability to contribute in the upcoming fight against the Saiyans… Yamcha has his energy manipulating techniques, Krillin has his training alongside Goku, Tien and Chiaotzu have their multi-form capabilities. Now is the time to lay aside differences and petty jealousness and hone their skills for the survival of Earth. Meanwhile, Goku comes to the end of Snake Way only to land in the lair of the Snake Princess. Eager to trap the first man that has been there in 1,000 years, she will stop at no deception to keep Goku there instead of releasing him to find King Kai and the training he has spent so much time and effort seeking.

■ 10. Escape From Piccolo

Gohan escape [sic] the wilderness only to willingly return to training as Piccolo reminds him of his mission: to save Earth. Gohan figures out that the wilderness he has been marooned in by Piccolo is actually an island. So be builds a boat and heads out to sea only to be caught in the throes of a violent storm. Thrown up on shore, he heads for home. But Piccolo, who has been keeping tabs on Gohan, locates him and reminds him of his mission.

■ 11. Showdown In The Past

The warriors experience the awesome reality of the overwhelming power of the Saiyans in the virtual reality of the Pendulum Room and renew their vow to training and fight for the future of Earth while Gohan begins his intensive fighting training under Piccolo. Gohan is now ready to begin his training. He is to fight against Piccolo at all times except when he eats and sleeps. Piccolo teaches Gohan to use his mind as well as body in the fight. The others are also training. Krillin is practicing his kick, Chiaotzu his energy blasts, Tien his splitting into two and then four images, Yajirobe his standing on one finger (there’s always one guy that is less enthusiastic).¹ They learn vividly that to be strong you must know yourself and your enemy as they are taken into the Pendulum Room. In their minds they are transported to the Saiyans [sic] world to fight. They are astonished at the strength of the Saiyans, who survive all their best fighting techniques. The Saiyans approaching are far stronger than those they experienced in the Pendulum Room but the warriors return to their training with a new intensity.

■ 12. The End Of Snake Way

Goku finally reaches King Kai and begins a rather unorthodox form of training in the 158 days that are left before the Saiyans arrive, while Gohan is continuing his fighting training under Piccolo despite the fact that Gohan almost killed him during another metamorphosis as a giant Monkey. Gohan is advancing in his training, but, unknown to Piccolo who has pulled out Gohan’s tail, it grew back, causing him to turn again into a Giant Monkey and to almost destroy Piccolo. The good guys have gathered all seven Dragon Balls and are simply waiting for the year to pass before calling Goku back to fight against the Saiyans. Goku made it to King Kai’s small, round and heavy world (gravity ten times the force of Earth’s). Mistaking the monkey Bubbles for King Kai, Goku thinks he is beginning his training as he imitates the monkeys [sic] movements. The real King Kai’s approach interrupts this hilarious mimicry. After passing the pun test (Goku must tell a pun good enough to make King Kai laugh), King Kai begins Goku’s unorthodox training.

■ 13. A Fight Against Gravity… Catch Bubbles!

Goku conquers gravity and displays amazing speed and thus is about to be trained by King Kai himself in the KAIO-KEN while the rest of the good guys polish up their skills for the showdown against the Saiyans. Fortunately for Goku, training on heavy gravity is the same as training 1,000 years on Earth. Unfortunately, to have a chance at beating the mighty Saiyans, Goku needs to surpass the power of even the great King Kai. But training is going well and he success [sic] in catching the elusive monkey Bubbles. His next task is to develop speed by knocking the incredibly quick grasshopper Gregory down with a hammer. Goku accomplish [sic] this in only two weeks leaving 118 days for him to master the Kaio-Ken! Meanwhile the good guys learn all they can at Korin Tower and return to Earth. Goku learns that the Saiyans [sic] home planet Vegeta has been blown up by a meteorite leaving only four Saiyans: Raditz, who perished on Earth, Goku, the very powerful Nappa and Vegeta, who are on their way to Earth.

■ 14. The Legend Of The Saiyans

Goku continues his training under King Kai, as he reveals to Goku his unknown Saiyan heritage.

■ 15. Black Day For The Planet Earth

The evil Saiyans, Nappa and Vegeta, finally land on Earth and launch a diabolical wake up call for the planet. Goku is called back to Earth to help defend, but can Earth’s Special Forces hold out until he arrives?

■ 16. The Battle Begins… Goku Where Are You?

As Goku finds his way back, Earth’s Special Forces face off against the evil Saiyans and try to protect the Earth. But will all their additional training help them in their struggle against the diabolical aliens?

■ 17. The Saibamen Strike

Nappa and Vegeta launch a diabolical new villain… Plant people known as Saibamen! Now Earth’s Special Forces have even more on their hands…

■ 18. Nappa… The Invincible?

Can anything stop this mighty Saiyan?! Piccolo, Chiaotzu and the others go all out in their attempt to put an [sic] halt to this relentless attacks. [sic]

■ 19. Tien Goes All Out!

Tien takes up the challenge and goes all out against Nappa. Will his fury be enough to halt the titanic Saiyan? In the midst of battle, Vegeta calls a three hour reprise to await the arrival of the highly-touted and long-awaited Goku!

■ 20. Time’s Up!

As the three hour reprise has ended Goku still has not shown. Can Earth’s Special Forces hold out long enough to allow Goku to arrive, or will Earth fall prey to the Saiyans’ destructive plans?

■ 21. The Return Of Goku

As the battle for Earth rages on, Piccolo must make a critical decision to protect Gohan. And who’s that making his arrival?… Goku!

■ 22. Goku Strikes Back

Goku takes his turn against the vicious Nappa and teaches the monstrous thug that what you sow is what you will reap!

■ 23. Goku Vs. Vegeta… A Saiyan Duel

Goku now faces his strongest opponent yet! Can be defeat the Strongest of the Saiyans??

■ 24. Vegeta… Saiyan Style!

Vegeta launches a surprise attack and transform [sic] into a giant ape! Does Goku, or the Earth, have a chance?

■ 25. Stop Vegeta Now!!

Krillin, Gohan and Yajirobe step in to assist Goku in battling the mighty Vegeta. But will their efforts turn the tide?

■ 26. Battle’s End

Gohan’s Saiyan skills are called on as the warrior battles with Vegeta. And teamwork is required as the titanic battle for control of the Earth concludes.

DRAGON BALL Z, having consistently rated in the top three weekly syndicated series, will be back for the ’97-’98 season as a weekly HOUR show. Goku will them meet an even greater opponent: Freeza! Look out in the future issues of PROTOCULTURE ADDICTS for more information and the continuation of the DRAGON BALL Z synopses!