37-2 - Dragon Ball Z [Ocean Dub] Episode 5 + Dragon Ball Z [Funimation Dub] Episode 9

Gohan is alone in the wilderness, Krillin tries to work out how to break the news to Chi-Chi and Dragon Ball Z invents the filler episode.

This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Dragon Ball Z in two different dubs: Ocean Dub Episode 5, "Gohan's Metamorphosis," and then the franchise's very first filler episode: Episode 9 in the original dub, "The Strangest Robot."

"No Time Like the Present" wraps up the immediate aftermath of Raditz's death and sets the one-year clock ticking. Piccolo hauls Gohan out into the wilderness for training, something that leads to him destroying the Moon when he learns the true secret of the Saiyans. At the same time, Goku begins his journey down Snake Way.

Then Episode 9, "The Strangest Robot," takes a sharp left turn into pure filler: Gohan falls into an underground ruin and discovers a probe robot that has been buried there for eighty years. The robot is grumpy. Gohan is crying and refuses to leave it alone, but despite this, they become unlikely companions.

It is the first time in Dragon Ball Z's history that an episode departs entirely from the manga, and it is a gentle, melancholy little thing about a boy learning that people who look after you don't always get to stay. But is it worth watching?

We compare how the two dubs handle the transition between these early episodes, what "The Strangest Robot" tells us about the anime industry and if Dragon Ball Z’s filler is worth watching.

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📌 Topics covered this episode:

– DBZ [Ocean Dub] Episode 5 "No Time Like the Present" recap & review

– DBZ [Funimation Dub] Episode 9 "The Strangest Robot" recap & review

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Toonami Absolution is a weekly podcast where Alyx, Jon, and Sam revisit the Toonami and Adult Swim shows that made them, and you, you.

From the block's early days with shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Transformers: Beast Wars to the imported anime that made Toonami and Adult Swim appointment television for a generation of kids, such as Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, and Dragon Ball.

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