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"So this is it, uh. Namek. My home. This is what I've yearned for my whole life, without ever knowing it was here."
Piccolo upon arriving in Namek.

"Piccolo's Return" (かみさまかえった!スーパーシエンロンでピッコロがふっかつ Kami-sama mo Ikikaetta! Sūpā Shenron de Pikkoro ga Fukkatsu, lit. "God Also Returns to Life! Piccolo is Resurrected by Super Shenlong") is the second episode of the Frieza Saga and the seventy-sixth overall episode in the uncut Dragon Ball Z series. This episode first aired in Japan on February 6, 1991. Its original American airdate was September 22, 1999.

Summary[]

EveryoneShocked

Porunga disappears

With Porunga now summoned, Dende wishes for Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu and Piccolo to be revived, but there is a problem: Porunga has the ability to revive only one person at a time. King Kai relays the news to the fighters on his planet, and they immediately get into an argument as to which one of them should remain. Piccolo demands to speak to Gohan, but the others oppose this, believing Piccolo is merely demanding his payment from Gohan for saving him from Nappa. However, Piccolo talks to Gohan and instructs him to wish him back first, since by doing this, Kami and the Earth's Dragon Balls will be restored and they can be used to revive the others. For the second wish, Piccolo demands to be teleported to Namek, desiring to fight Frieza in revenge for his fallen people. King Kai objects to this, but Piccolo refuses to listen, despite his earlier "promise" not to approach Frieza.

FriezaFirstFormPink-RedScouter

Frieza appears before Vegeta, Gohan, Krillin and Dende

Meanwhile, Vegeta suddenly wakes up from his nap upon sensing Frieza approaching. Hoping to lure Frieza away from Goku, who is still recovering, Vegeta attempts to join his allies outside, but sees that the sky has gone black, but the horizon is still light. Realizing that Gohan and Krillin have summoned the Dragon behind his back, Vegeta furiously rushes towards them. Krillin and Gohan sense him from afar, and quickly make the first two wishes. Unfortunately, Porunga sends Piccolo to a random spot on Namek quite far away from the scenario. As Dende suggests using their last wish to teleport Piccolo there with them, Vegeta appears, infuriated at his allies' betrayal. As he prepares to take his revenge, Gohan blurts out that there is still one wish left.

Frieza spots the Dragon from afar and races towards it as fast as he can. Vegeta demands that Dende wish immortal life for him. Dende hesitates, and Vegeta begins manhandling him in an attempt to coerce him into making the wish.

As Porunga had said when Piccolo was asked to be transported to Namek from King Kai's planet, Piccolo is indeed there, but he has ended up far away. After Piccolo sees his home planet for the first time, he regains focus. Piccolo then tries sensing Gohan's ki, but finds nothing on either side of him, and he realizes Porunga merely sent him to a random spot on the planet. At an instant, he detects Frieza's ki, but even then this does not stop the brave Namekian and he flies off to join his friends.

At the location where Vegeta and the others, Dende still refuses Vegeta's request and Porunga begins to run out of patience. Vegeta explains that this wish is by now their only chance to stall Frieza long enough for Goku to heal and join them. With Frieza fast approaching, Krillin reluctantly orders Dende to make the wish for Vegeta's immortality. Dende obeys and begins making the wish, but as Vegeta begins to thrive, Porunga suddenly disappears and the Dragon Balls turn to stone: Guru has died.

Dende tearfully breaks the news to the Earthlings, adding that Vegeta is not immortal. Enraged at losing his shot at immortality, Vegeta prepares to kill Gohan and Krillin when he stops short, frozen with fear: Frieza has arrived, vowing to crush them all for ruining his plans.

Major Events[]

  • Piccolo and Kami are restored to life with the first wish from Porunga.
  • Piccolo is transported to Namek by Porunga with the second wish from Porunga.
  • Grand Elder Guru dies, causing Porunga and the Dragon Balls to disappear.
  • Frieza arrives in front of the others.

Appearances[]

Characters[]


Locations[]

Objects[]

Bruce Faulconer tracks[]

  • "Call Out the Dragon" - When King Kai is thrilled that Porunga has been summoned on Namek.
  • "Vegeta's Theme" - When Vegeta senses Frieza approaching.
  • "Vegeta Angry" - When Vegeta is angry at Gohan and Krillin for summoning Porunga behind his back.
  • "Call Out the Dragon" - When Dende is asking Porunga to make Vegeta immortal.

Differences from the manga[]

  • Tien Shinhan and Yamcha arguing over who should be revived and then after their arguing with Piccolo is exclusive to the anime.
  • King Kai getting angry at Piccolo for reneging on his promise to stay away from Frieza is only in the anime. In the manga, King Kai never so much as mentions it even when Piccolo demands to be wished to the Planet Namek.
  • The scene on Kami's Lookout when the titular guardian is restored to life is expanded in the anime with Mr. Popo chasing a butterfly around before noticing Kami solidifying on the mortal plane. Kami also thanks Popo for taking care of the sanctuary while he was gone with the genie shedding tears of joy over the former's revival.
  • Dende suggesting using Porunga's third wish to bring Piccolo to their exact location is only in the anime.

Changes[]

  • In the Toonami UK version of this episode, Dende's "don't piss off the god of love" was censored by muting the line "piss off" for 1 second, leaving him only saying "don't the god of love". In the later Toonami USA airings, the scene along with the quote were cut out. However, this quote was retained in the (uncut and edited) English VHS releases. The version aired by YTV in Canada featured an alternate take of the line where Dende says “Don’t tick off the god of love!” This line was presumably meant for Toonami’s edited airings, but the uncut version was aired by mistake.

Trivia[]

  • The original airing of this episode featured Chris Forbis voicing Kami[1], but was redubbed by Christopher Sabat by the time of the remastered box sets.
  • In the original dub, Chris Cason is the voice of Tien Shinhan, but in the remastered version, Cason was replaced by Tien's current voice actor, John Burgmeier. Cason also voiced Mr. Popo originally, but he'd be replaced by Christopher Sabat in the Garlic Jr. Saga and also redub Cason for the remastered set.
  • In the Funimation dub, Dende says that Guru was like a grandfather to him. This is an odd line, as Guru is literally his father, and he has never known someone who is a grandfather.
  • Back in the episode "Picking Up the Pieces", Piccolo's body was loaded into a freezing pod to preserve it for resurrection. However, when wished back in this episode, his halo disappears when he is returned to life, but his soul does not return to his body, similar to what happened when Goku was restored to life during the Vegeta Saga. Unlike Piccolo, however, Goku's body was not left on Earth, leaving the difference between the resurrections and the status of Piccolo's original body unknown.
  • Despite Chiaotzu being the only one among the dead Z-Fighters who cannot be revived by Earth's Dragon Balls, having been wished back previously, this is never brought up and Chiaotzu is even ecstatic when Piccolo reveals his plan to bring Kami and the Earth's set of wish orbs back.
  • Krillin's armor is missing its crotch guards in two shots when Vegeta is criticizing him and Gohan for using the Dragon Balls behind the former's back.

Gallery[]

References[]

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