The End of Vegeta

The End of Vegeta
Japanese Name	無む念ねん⋯！！ 誇ほこり高たかきサイヤ人じん・ベジータ死しす
Romaji name	Munen…!! Hokori Takaki Saiya-jin · Bejīta Shisu
Literal Name	Such Regret…!! The Proud Saiyan, Vegeta Dies
Series
Saga	Frieza Saga
Episode #	86
Kai counterpart:	Defeat Frieza, Goku! The Tears of the Proud Saiyan Prince!
Chapter counterpart	The Ultimate Battle Begins! The Death of Vegeta
Japanese airdate	April 17, 1991
English airdate	October 4, 1999
Previous episode	The Renewed Goku
Next episode	The Ultimate Battle

"The End of Vegeta" (無む念ねん⋯！！ 誇ほこり高たかきサイヤ人じん・ベジータ死しす, Munen…!! Hokori Takaki Saiya-jin · Bejīta Shisu, lit. "Such Regret…!! The Proud Saiyan, Vegeta Dies") is the 12th episode of the Frieza Saga and the eighty-sixth overall episode in the uncut Dragon Ball Z series. This episode first aired in Japan on April 17, 1991. Its original American airdate was October 5, 1999.

Summary

Frieza continues to pummel Vegeta, while strangling him with his tail. Piccolo, Krillin and Gohan know that they can no longer save Vegeta and look on in horror. Finally, Frieza throws Vegeta into a nearby boulder and prepares to deliver the killing blow, promising the others that they will be next.

Frieza is surprised to see Goku arrive at the battlefield

Goku pinpoints their location and appears at the battlefield just in time. After sharing a warm welcome with his friends, Goku bravely walks up to Frieza and the two are finally acquainted. Frieza appears to recognize Goku's face, and when he hears Vegeta address him as "Kakarot", he suddenly realizes that Goku is another Saiyan, and deduces that he is the son of Bardock, a Saiyan who challenged him briefly after the death of King Vegeta. Frieza killed Bardock along with the rest of the Saiyan race that same day.

Frieza tells Goku that his father was the last Saiyan to confront him, but the latter claims not to care about his race or his father's demise and challenges Frieza, much to the shock of Frieza and Vegeta. Frieza attacks, but Goku easily dodges and kicks Frieza square in the jaw, effectively making him the first to harm Frieza in his final form. Frieza then fires a barrage of death beams which Goku manages to deflect with little effort, stunning Frieza, especially since Goku managed to avoid the attacks without putting his friends at risk. Though beaten and battered, Vegeta begins laughing at Frieza claiming that Goku is a Super Saiyan and will defeat him. Irate, Frieza fires a Death Beam directly through Vegeta's heart, mortally wounding him, before irritably comparing him to a broken record for going "on and on". Goku, horrified and outraged at this action, angrily tells Frieza that his action to Vegeta was unnecessary due to him not being a threat, or even able to defend himself, denouncing it as a lack of honor, before Frieza responded that there was no such thing as a Super Saiyan.

A dying Vegeta begs Goku to finally kill Frieza

With his life slowly fading away, Vegeta begs Goku not to be so merciful with Frieza as he was with him, Nappa and the Ginyu Force, claiming that Frieza is not the type to be shown mercy. Goku tries to reject Vegeta's claims, stating that everyone deserves a chance to change their ways, even Frieza. However, despite Goku's pleas to stop talking and save his strength, Vegeta tearfully pours out his history to Goku: Frieza extorted King Vegeta and the Saiyan race into working for him, and even took him away from his father when he was a little boy, threatening to kill King Vegeta if he refused to obey him, but despite Vegeta's obedience, Frieza still killed King Vegeta along with Bardock and the rest of the Saiyan race when King Vegeta attempted to rebel against the tyrant. Goku, who was unaware until now, is touched by this, finally understanding the reason behind Vegeta's hateful nature and the truth about the demise of his species, while Gohan, Piccolo and Krillin look on horrified upon learning of this.

Goku readies himself to fight Frieza

With his final breath, Vegeta begs Goku to kill Frieza and not let him turn any more innocent people into killing machines, before he finally dies from his injuries. Though admitting that he hated Vegeta for his crimes, Goku buries him as a sign of respect after creating a makeshift grave with a brief flash of his eyes, thanking him for saving Gohan, reviving Piccolo and buying time for him to heal.

Fueled with a desire to avenge all of Frieza's victims, Goku vows to put an end to the tyrant once and for all...

Major Events

• Goku arrives on the battlefield and meets Frieza for the first time.
• Vegeta is killed by Frieza.

Battles

• Vegeta vs. Frieza (Final Form)
• Goku vs. Frieza (Final Form)

Appearances

Characters

• Goku
• Gohan
• Krillin
• Piccolo
• Vegeta
• Frieza
• Bardock (Flashback)
• King Vegeta (Flashback)
• Nappa (Flashback)
• Zarbon (Flashback)
• Dodoria (Flashback)
• Grand Elder Guru
• Dende

Locations

• Namek

Objects

• Battle Armor
• Frieza's Spaceship
• Medical Machine

Differences from the manga

• In the original manga chapter, Frieza does not actually deduce that Goku was Bardock's son, although he does note that he resembled Bardock.
• The flashback sequence showing a young Vegeta along with his father, Nappa and other Saiyans on an alien planet is exclusive to the anime.

Trivia

Krillin without the hole in his armor

• Goku and Frieza meet face-to-face for the first time. Prior to this, it was hinted that Frieza knew of rumors of Goku's existence, such as hearing of an Earth Saiyan that defeated Vegeta, and Vegeta quipping that Goku wouldn't get a chance to fight him in "Dende's Demise". This episode marks Goku and Frieza's first meeting in the series.
• This episode also marks the first time Vegeta dies on-screen in the series.
• There are many errors in the artwork in this episode, including, but without limitation, the following:
  • At the beginning, Krillin is seen standing alongside Piccolo and Gohan, but his Battle Armor is completely intact, despite having been impaled by one of Frieza's horns in his second form earlier.
  • When Vegeta is thrown into the hill, the back of his armor is significantly damaged. For the rest of the series, until he disposes of this armor, the back is completely intact except for the hole that Krillin blasted through him.
  • Even in the front, right before he died, there were several cracks in his armor, allegedly from the beating he took from Frieza, that were gone when he was revived by Shenron.
  • When Piccolo and Krillin are flying away before Goku and Frieza start fighting and when Krillin tells Gohan to come with them, he is seen wearing his Turtle School Gi.
• In the Funimation dub, when attempting to finish off Vegeta immediately prior to Goku's arrival, Frieza says to Vegeta "Good night, sweet prince", a reference to the Shakespeare play Hamlet.
  • Also Frieza says to Goku "You're a little smarter than the average Saiyan" after Frieza's attempt at tricking Goku by claiming the latter's shoes were untied (which, as Goku pointed out, he wasn't even wearing shoes) failed, a reference to Yogi Bear.
    • Speaking of Yogi Bear, there's another reference to a Hanna-Barbera character, as in Goku is Ginyu & Ginyu is Goku, Bulma makes reference to Dino from The Flintstones.
  • Also in the dub, during the flashback to when Frieza killed King Vegeta, Frieza briefly says as the king's pendant falls toward his feet "Long live the king!", which Scar said right before he murdered Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King.
• In the Remastered edition, Sonny Strait also redubbed his lines as Bardock in order to keep up continuity with Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku and Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge, and also to make him sound less like Krillin. Also, Bardock's line, "This is for all the people that we killed in your name!", has been removed.
  • The original dub also made it sound as though the soldiers present with Bardock had in fact been allied with Bardock, when in actuality they had been Frieza's men.
• Guru is shown among those who have died at Frieza's hands in the images at the end of the episode, even though it was believed he died of natural causes. The true cause of his death, of which Frieza was responsible, is revealed in Approaching Destruction.

Gallery

Frieza beats Vegeta "My, my, what do we have here? A fallen Prince." Frieza prepares to finish Vegeta Goku with an aura Goku moving to fight Frieza Goku arrives and confronts Frieza Goku avoids Frieza Goku kicks Frieza Goku Frieza fires the Barrage Death Beam at Goku Goku effortlessly deflects Frieza's Barrage Death Beam Frieza Goku after blocking Frieza's beam Piccolo watches Goku facing Frieza Frieza realizes Goku is Bardock's son Goku Vegeta tells Frieza that Goku is a Super-Saiyan Vegeta meets his end An alien vaporized by Vegeta's Galick Beam (flashback) Prince Vegeta with his men (flashback) An Energy Shield used to protect against alien's blasts (flashback) King Vegeta's explosive wave King Vegeta's Explosive Wave destroys the planet he is on (flashback) Vegeta sheds tears Vegeta crying Vegeta's plea for Goku to finish Frieza Vegeta passes away Goku giving Vegeta a proper burial Goku pays his final respects