Gohan's Hidden Powers

"Gohan's Hidden Powers" is the third episode of the Raditz Saga and third episode in the original Saban dub for the Dragon Ball Z series. It aired in first-run syndication on September 27, 1996.
==Summary==
Piccolo, now with only one arm, reveals that he was a secret ace up his sleeve, but will need some time before he can charge up this new attack. Thus, Goku is given the job to stall Raditz for five minutes. Goku and Raditz begin to fight, but once again Goku is unable to keep up with Raditz. He is sent crashing to the ground, and even after unleashing a Kamehameha, Goku is unable to do any kind of damage to Raditz. Raditz then blasts Goku out of the sky with a Saturday Crush. But the time is enough and Piccolo fires his most powerful attack, which he had originally designed to use against Goku: the Special Beam Cannon. The Cannon almost hits Raditz dead on. However, Raditz is able to dodge it, which completely horrifies Piccolo. The attack did nothing but injure Raditz's shoulder and damage his armor. Raditz continues to torture Goku by crushing his ribs under his foot. Gohan watches from inside the Space Pod, and something begins to crack.
Gohan bursts through Raditz's space capsule, shocking Piccolo and Raditz. Goku tells Gohan to run away, but Gohan is too deeply enraged to make sense of anything. Raditz, reading Gohan's power level to be well above his own, begins to panic. Suddenly, Gohan charges at Raditz and hits him in the middle of his chest, leaving him mortally wounded. Gohan runs to his father's side as Raditz staggers to his feet. Goku pleads with Gohan to run, but now he is too scared to run. Raditz reads Gohan's power again, and it has substantially dropped to one. Raditz knocks Gohan unconscious, which sends him a few feet away. Raditz approaches Gohan and begins to gather energy to kill him. Raditz reveals that Gohan was the first person to wound him this severely. As Raditz raises his arm for the final blow, Goku puts him in a Full Nelson, preventing the attack. He tells Piccolo to try the Special Beam Cannon again, even if it means his death. Piccolo, without hesitation, begins to gather energy for another Special Beam Cannon.
==Major events==
*Gohan's hidden powers are witnessed for the first time.
==Fights==
*Goku and Piccolo vs. Raditz
*Gohan vs. Raditz
==Quotes==
==Censorship==
*Some of the dialogue in this episode, "The Arrival of Raditz", "The World's Strongest Team", and "Goku's Unusual Journey" was altered after the initial broadcasts to remove any and all referrals to death as Saban Entertainment was not keen on having such references in any of their children's programming. The original dialogue is reinstated on the Dragon Ball Z: Rock the Dragon Edition DVD set.
**Surprisingly, Raditz's line "Whisper all you want, you're still going to die!" was retained in the re-censored version. They also retained his line about killing Goku if need be as he stomps on his brother's ribs. Finally, they also retained Raditz's intent to kill Gohan before the latter can become a threat to the saiyans.
==Trivia==
*Goku and Raditz both use the word "kill" in this episode, and Raditz also says "death." However, in later episodes (up until Episode 53, which was the last episode done before FUNimation took full control), phrases such as "fading into the next dimension," "another dimension," "destroy," "leave," "hurt," and "emergency ward" are used as euphemisms for the words "kill," "die," and "death."
*Pioneer's DVD/VHS release for this episode did not have a title card.
*This episode contains the infamous claim from Piccolo that Raditz is "faster than the speed of light", something not claimed in the original Japanese version or any subsequent dubs. It should be noted though that Piccolo may have not been speaking literally when he said this.
==External links==
*IMDb page for "Gohan's Hidden Powers (1996)"
*Review of the episode's censorship
==Site Navigation==
Category:Episodes
Category:Dragon Ball Z episodes
Category:Edited Dragon Ball Z episodes
Category:Raditz Saga