Episode 2: Pan Mouths Off!

Episode 2: "I'm the Star! Pan Takes Off Into Space!!"

I have to say, I'm really more of a fan of the way the English version titles the episodes. The sheer wordiness of the original titles is so strange to me.

Episode 2 starts off with a brief re-cap of the previous episode - Pilaf summons Shenron, Goku gets turned into a kid, Chi-Chi is shown crying, and Kaio informs them that the Earth will be destroyed if the ultimate Dragon Balls aren't collected within a year. That's seriously it. Fair enough, I guess those ARE the main takeaways from the previous episode.

After the re-cap, we get introduced to Trunks. He's now the president of Capsule Corp, and all the employees are fawning over him and kissing up to him. Also he wears glasses now, which is an odd look for him.

Odd looks are very much a GT thing.

Trunks is clearly not entirely content with this lifestyle, and he sneaks out of his office by flying out of a window. Nothing is more subtle than opening a draft when you're 40-stories high. Amusingly, Trunks gets changed into his traditional GT outfit while mid-flight, probably exposing himself to many on-lookers below.

Meanwhile, back at the Son family house Goku, Gohan and Chi-Chi are discussing the upcoming dragon ball hunt. We've got a pretty funny moment of Pan sassing out Goten while he's trying to organize a date over the phone.

Nobody has been so badly wrecked by a 9-year old
since Cell fought Gohan

Goten tells her a child shouldn't mouth off like that, and we're introduced to Pan's personal bugbear: being treated like a child. This will underpin the rest of the episode.

Goku re-iterates that he doesn't really want to go to space, and offers the solution of using the Dragon Balls to just move everyone to a new planet. Which is... a novel solution, if incredibly callous. I'll admit I'd never thought of that idea, but the characters decide it'd be better as a back up option

I don't like how Goku's being characterized as so apathetic so far, as I'm not sure why he has such a strong aversion to this. Goku may be selfish, but this just seems like he has no drive whatsoever.

The characters decide to have Goku's plan as a back-up so that people aren't forced to move to another planet, and Gohan offers to join Goku on his search. Chi-Chi is relieved by the idea, and when Pan hears this she says that she'll go as well. Of course, because she's a child her idea gets turned down, and she gets scolded when she tries to insist on it.

At Capsule Corp, Goku and his family see Bulma's spaceship for the first time as she mentions that it only seats three people. And we are introduced to the glory of GT Vegeta's initial design.

Gaze upon its majesty.

Pan offers to help out Gohan, who tells her to check if Videl needs help. Inside the ship, Videl tells Pan to check if Gohan needs help. Ooof. I feel you, Pan. In frustration, she kicks the the side of the ship - causing a large dent with her super strength. It's a humorous touch.

The B plot of this episode is Goku getting abducted by two kidnappers who mistake him for Trunks' illegitimate child, hoping to ransom him for five million zenis (a quarter of what 18 extorted out of Mr. Satan, for reference). They first call Bulma, who doesn't really understand the situation, and next call Vegeta, who politely tells them that they can do whatever they want with Goku. Meanwhile, Goku racks up a massive bill at a restaurant and forces them to go on rollercoasters.

It's a bit of fun.

The main focus of this episode is Pan, as the title indicates. After walking out of Capsule Corp, she goes to Mr Satan's dojo and beats up all the martial artists there, venting off steam. Satan takes her out to a cafe to talk with her about her frustrations. It's a really cute scene to see grandfather and granddaughter interact like this, with Pan explaining that she hates being treated like a kid and Satan getting her fired up with his encouragements. Also cute is Pan's reaction when she forces herself to drink black coffee to appear more like an adult.

Goku is eventually ditched by his kidnappers when he shows off his flight and super-strength (trying to help them out, of course). Back at Capsule Corp, Vegeta drags Goten and Trunks to the spaceship as he has decided they should go into space in Gohan's stead, since they've been slack in their training. It also seems like he came up with this idea mostly to screw with them, as he enjoys shooting down all of their objections.

But while Goten is trying to reschedule his date, Goku and Trunks board the ship to find Pan already on-board. Having resolved to prove to the adults that she's just as capable, she launches the ship into space, leaving Goten behind and shocking everyone. The episode ends with a part falling off the ship as it departs, leaving Bulma with a nervous expression.

And that wraps up the second episode, as well as the set-up for the first story arc! All in all, I think this does a good job of setting up its major points, establishing the team that is going into space, and showing the passage of time from the original Dragon Ball - particularly in Trunks acting as Capsule Corp's president.

The episode mostly focuses on Pan, which is fairly important given that she's a relative newcomer to the cast. Of course, seeing her characterization in the first two episodes I can easily understand why she became such a divisive character - she's mostly based off the archetype of the child protagonist that wants to prove they're just as capable of the adults who try to prevent them from being involved. I'm sure that archetype appeals to children, but many other viewers dislike it for understandable reasons - children are fucking useless.

It's a bit weird seeing this pop up in Dragon Ball of all places, because unlike reality, being a child isn't much of a detriment in the dragon world. Goku started off as a child protagonist, and Gohan had been involved in the plot since he was four years old - reluctantly at first, but by the time he was as old as Pan he had killed Cell. It's a bit weird to see Pan get such a treatment, and it would probably go a long way to making her character likable by having the characters support her desire to go off in space because they trust her, rather than her going behind their backs and making complications.

However, Pan's role in the series was mostly to get into trouble so Goku could rescue her - as mentioned in the Dragon Box release of Dragon Ball GT. So of course, they couldn't make her a capable character in her own right, as that would defeat the purpose for including her. That's also the same reason for her hot-headedness - it allows the writers to use her recklessness to create problems for Goku to solve. And in future episodes, we'll see how her character is handled with these expectations in mind.

All-in-all, this episode had a lot of good character moments - Pan and Satan, Vegeta just screwing with people, a look into Trunks and Goten's adult lives. I'd recommend this episode based on that alone.

I think it was a good decision to split the set-up over two episodes to allow room for these scenes, without dragging things out over several episodes. GT was created around the premise of the space adventure, so I think this is a good set up.

With the next episode, the space adventure begins in earnest!