Unlikely Alliance

"Some brother. I don't think your mom gave him enough spankings when he was a kid."
— Piccolo

Unlikely Alliance (やった！これが地ち上じょう最さい強きょうのコンビだ！, Yatta! Kore ga Chijō Saikyō no Konbi Da!, lit. "Alright! This is the Strongest Combo on Earth!") is the third episode of the Raditz Saga and the entire Dragon Ball Z series. Its original Japanese air date was May 10, 1989. Its original American air date was June 16, 2005.

Summary

In the previous episode, we see that Raditz effortlessly defeats his younger brother Goku and kidnaps Gohan. He asks Goku to kill one hundred Earthlings and put them on the beach, if he wanted to ever see his son again.

Piccolo25 — Piccolo planning an alliance between him and Goku

Unwilling to complete the task, Goku sat there and pondered on how get his son back when his archrival, Piccolo, shows up. The others are shocked to see him and immediately take up fighting stances. Piccolo assures them that he means no harm, and offers Goku a hand in defeating Raditz. However, he states clearly that he is not doing it to save Gohan, but rather just wants to make sure Raditz does not conquer the Earth, as he wants to do it himself.

GohanHidingFromRaditz — Gohan hiding from Raditz

While the others do not trust Piccolo, Goku accepts the offer. Taking Bulma's Dragon Radar to locate the Four-Star Dragon Ball, that was on top of Gohan's hat. Earth's two strongest fighters then, depart from Kame House to eliminate the threat and rescue Gohan.

Meanwhile, Gohan keeps annoying Raditz by crying out. Getting annoyed each second, Raditz locks Gohan in his Space Pod. This distresses Gohan further, and, for the first time, he starts demonstrating his unlimited dormant potential, as his power level skyrockets. Raditz picks it up with his scouter, but unable to believe that a child could possess such power, he dismisses it thinking that the Scouter malfunctioned.

File:GokuPiccoloBehindRaditz.png

Goku and Piccolo appear behind Raditz before getting kicked away

That was until Goku and Piccolo arrive on the spot. Since the Scouter predicted their arrival, Raditz becomes shocked at realizing that his Scouter is not malfunctioning and that Gohan really does have a power level of 710.

GohanImprisonedByRadtiz — Gohan locked in his uncle's space pod

Goku declines the offer of life as a Saiyan and demands that Raditz give back his son. Raditz decides to give Goku one last look at Gohan before he dies. Seconds later, the powerful warriors begin to do battle. The battle is intense, but even with their combined strength, Goku and Piccolo are caught off guard by the evil Saiyan. Raditz then reveals to Goku and Piccolo that the two remaining Saiyan Warriors have an even higher power than himself much to their dismay.

Major Events

Goku and Piccolo team up in order to take down Raditz.

Battles

Goku and Piccolo vs. Raditz

Appearances

Characters

Locations

Objects

Techniques

Shining Friday - Used by Raditz to destroy the Farmer's pickup truck.
I'm A Top-class Warrior! - Used by Raditz when starting his battle against Goku and Piccolo.

Differences from the manga

In the anime Piccolo makes his appearance to the group whilst hovering above Kame House. In the manga Piccolo came out from the side of Kame House having stayed hidden around the corner.
Chi-Chi at home wondering when Goku and Gohan would return home was exclusive to the anime.
The scene where Gohan hides under the Farmer's pickup truck which causes Raditz to pick it up and destroy it with Shining Friday is exclusive to the anime. In the manga, he puts Gohan in his Attack Ball as soon as he returns to his landing site.

Trivia

This episode marks the creation of the Z Fighters, with Goku and Piccolo as the founders.
Goku stated that he had no idea that Piccolo trained with weighted clothing, however, Goku made the same discovery in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone, which is purported to have taken place before this episode.
In the English dub, there is a scene where Goku and Piccolo are shocked by Raditz because he states he is just warming up. In the original Japanese version, they are shocked because he reveals that two stronger Saiyans will likely be coming to Earth; something he does not reveal until later in the dub. This is corrected in the Dragon Ball Kai dub episode featuring this same scene.
In the English dub, when Goku and Piccolo remove their weighted clothes, Raditz states that he is ten times stronger than them, which is not exact because he has a power level of 1,500 while both Goku and Piccolo have a power level of a little above 400.
- Additionally Raditz also gives Piccolo and Goku's power level with weights as being 320 and 330 as opposed to 322 and 334 in the manga. With the weights removed Piccolo's power level is given as 400 as opposed to 408 in the manga.