Dragon Ball GT The Lost Episodes 5: Activation
KichigaiSaru
Funimation brings us the 5th disc in the Lost Episodes sequence, the early episodes of Dragon Ball GT. Last time, on disc 4 of the Lost episodes, our heroes chased the Para Para brothers, who stole one of the Dragon Balls. Having finally defeated their Dance and attack technique, our heroes end up in a strange place, the Temple of Luud.
Pan is turned into a doll by the evil Dolltaki, to be his play toy for the rest of his life, while our heroes fight Mutchy, an extremely powerful servant of Dolltaki. After watching the Saiyan team bring down Mutchy, Dolltaki sacrifices the rest of his followers to Luud, hoping their strength is enough to revive the giant doll. That brings us here, to The Lost Episodes 5 Activation.
The Man Behind the Curtain
While Pan is forced to cope with Dolltaki’s crazed dress up game, Trunks and Goku watch as Luud is revived and takes to its feet. Despite its huge size, Luud is able to move with speed and amazing power. Our heroes aren’t dissuaded by this though, and Goku tells Trunks to search for Pan while he keeps Luud busy. Back with Dolltaki, Pan gets a glimpse of Dr. Myu, Dolltaki’s boss who’s desire is to rule the universe with the power of the Dragon. Seeing that Luud at its current power level was no match for Goku and Trunks, Dr. Myu decides to feed both Dolltaki and Pan to Luud to boost its energy. The giant doll’s new energy level seems like it might be enough to put down both of the mighty Saiyans. Will they be able to resist the new power of Luud and rescue Pan from his mechanical gut?
The Battle Within
As Luud reaches power level three, all of the people who were absorbed suddenly wake up, only to find themselves floating around inside. Dolltaki has been exposed as a traitor to his followers. The Luud order in cooperation with Pan, hold him captive demanding that he reveal the means to escape. Using the, shall we say, creative power of the Para Para brothers, Dolltaki is forced to reveal the single cell weakness of the giant doll. A cell, taken from Dr. Myu, and mutated to form the infrastructure of the creation will require a blast from the inside and outside simultaneously to destroy. Using the Para’s telepathy, our heroes coordinate an attack. It is successful and everyone is freed from Luud, but Dolltaki manages to escape. Will our heroes manage to reclaim their Dragon Balls, catch Dolltaki, and stop the sinister Dr. Myu?
The Beginning of the End
While the team is in pursuit of Dolltaki and Myu, Giru’s sensors detect a Dragon Ball on a nearby planet. The heroes stop by, only to find that the planet is a desert occupied by giant sand worms. The first attack leaves the ship damaged and in need of water which is a rare commodity on this planet. Feeling dejected by Trunks’ suggestion to drop her off on Earth, Pan sets out on the desolate dunes of the planet to find the Dragon Ball herself. She is soon lost in the endless sea of sand and finds herself defenseless when the sand crawler attacks. Giru shows what it is made of when it comes to Pan’s rescue, defeating the sand creature by itself, plus discovering the Dragon Ball and an oasis. The heroes refill and prepare for departure, Dragon Ball in hand, to resume the search for Dolltaki and Myu. Unbeknownst to them, however, Myu had already had Dolltaki disposed of. His great creation, General Rilldo, is already in search of the team, ready to capture them to further Myu’s research with their powers. Can the heroes fend off the powerful Rilldo and stop the evil plans of the terrible Dr. Myu?
Giru’s Checkered Past
Unaware of just how close Rilldo is to catching up to them, our heroes are surprised to pass by Giru’s home planet. Pan convinces Trunks that a day trip to the planet wouldn’t be a bad idea, and the team heads down to the surface. Giru begins acting strange as soon as they arrive, and to the surprise of everyone, they are greeted by hundreds of Giru look-a-likes. Giru is welcomed back, heralded as a hero to the planet by his bot friends, although he claims not to know them, he is shortly contacted by General Rilldo himself. It looks like the team was deceived by the wily little bot, and it has delivered them straight into a trap. The Sigma Force, a team of robots under the control of Rilldo meets up with Giru and abducts Goku and Trunks. Will Pan be able to stay out of the grips of the robots all around the cities, and rescue her captured teammates?
The DVD started and ended strong, picking up with their battle with Luud, and ending with Giru’s betrayal. This was definitely a strong DVD, which kept me guessing. My only complaint was that there was a lull in the action in the middle. I can’t really fault the DVD for this, however, since it did come with 4 episodes, the action was all there, just a little more spread out. In short, if you’re just looking for good ol’ Dragon Ball action, this might not be your best bet. If you are interested in the story at all, however, this DVD pushes the story forward a lot, which I truly appreciate.
Technical: 8.3
The DVD extras are the same as the other Lost Episodes DVD, which includes Character Bios, Trailers, and Textless Songs. The bios keep up with the story, and again, makes good with the continuing plot development. The sounds and art are, as usual, up to par with the Dragon Ball standard. Another bonus is that this DVD had 4 episodes rather than 3 which is often the case.
Entertainment: 8.5
Although the action was concentrated in the first 2 episodes on the DVD, the story development was really good throughout. The sequence of events made sense, and the character development was a good break from the action. I particularly liked the Giru plot twist in the last episode. This was definitely the high point on the DVD for me.
Overall: 8.5
The lack of action was a small detriment to the overall rating of the DVD, but the character development and the extra episode definitely made up for it. The action we got was, as always, fantastic. The progression of the story and the characters made me want to go find the next DVD, I need to know what happens!
Episodes: The Man Behind the Curtain, The Battle Within, The Beginning of the End, Giru’s Checkered Past
Extras: Character Profiles, Textless Songs, Japanese and English languages, English Subtitles, Scene Selection and Trailers
