Saibamen Attack!

is the 17th episode of the Vegeta Saga in the uncut Dragon Ball Z series. This episode first aired in Japan on October 18, 1989. Its original American airdate was July 21, 2005.
==Summary==
The Saibamen face off with Krillin, Piccolo and Gohan as they prepare to fight. Gohan is feeling rather intimidated by these powerful beings, but Krillin and Piccolo encourage him to keep them from psyching him out. Their encouragement works and Gohan returns his focus to the battle at hand. The Saibamen strike first, and Krillin and Piccolo go on the defensive while Gohan stands paralyzed with shock and awe, as they battle around him with lightning speed. One Saibaman catches Gohan off guard and knocks him away, and two more Saibamen attempt to get near him, but Piccolo comes to his defense and stops the them from harming Gohan.
In a brief break, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu appear and join the fight. The two ask why the Saibamen are there, and they are then acquainted with Gohan for the first time. Yamcha also arrives, enthusiastic to test his new abilities. Vegeta suggests that they hold a small contest with the Saibamen, since they are now six Z Fighters against six Saibamen. The Z Fighters accept, since this may buy them time for Goku to arrive. Meanwhile, Yajirobe is being interviewed on TV about the current battle, he explains that his team is currently fighting the Saiyans and that he is not yet apart of the action for strategic purposes.
Tien volunteers to fight first, and quickly dominates his opponent. The Saibaman, however, stands back up, only to be destroyed mercilessly from behind by Vegeta for apparently holding back, warning the remaining Saibamen to fight at their best. Krillin volunteers to go next, but Yamcha requests to go instead, on the basis that Krillin has already been wished back to life with the Dragon Balls and will be lost forever if anything happens to him again. Yamcha battles a Saibaman and apparently defeats it with a Kamehameha. He then becomes cocky enough to challenge the remaining four Saibamen by himself, but the beaten Saibaman wakes up and catches him by surprise by latching onto him. The Saibamen then self-destructs while still holding Yamcha, killing the both of them instantly.
At Kame House, seeing the whole thing on TV, Puar cries out for his friend, while Bulma starts crying uncontrollably.
Grief-stricken and enraged over his friend's death, Krillin vows to take on the remaining Saibamen by himself in Yamcha's place.
==Major Events==
*The battle for Earth begins.
*Vegeta executes a Saibaman for failing to defeat Tien.
*Yamcha is killed by a Saibaman.
==Battles==
*Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo vs. Saibamen
*Tien Shinhan vs. A Saibaman
*Yamcha vs. A Saibaman
==Appearances==
===Characters===
*Gohan
*Piccolo
*Krillin
*Vegeta
*Nappa
*Saibamen
*Tien Shinhan
*Chiaotzu
*Yamcha	
*Yajirobe
*Master Roshi
*Bulma
*Oolong
*Puar
*Ox-King
*Chi-Chi
*Goku
*Turtle
===Locations===
*Earth
**Paprika Wasteland
**Kame House
*Other World
**Snake Way
===Objects===
*Tail
*Battle Armor
==Differences from the manga==
*In the anime there is an additional scene where Gohan, Piccolo and Krillin confront the Saibamen prior to the arrival of Tien and Chiaotzu. In the manga they arrive before any of the fighting begins.
*Yamcha arrives to the battle immediately after Tien and Chiaotzu in the manga, but the anime delays his arrival for a fair bit and shows a scene with Nappa about to sic the Saibamen on the already present Z-Fighters.
*Yajirobe being interviewed on the current battle by reporters on TV is exclusive to the anime.
*In the anime the battle with the Saiyans has TV news coverage. This allowed for additional scenes at Kame House where they watch and comment on the ensuing battle on TV.
*In the manga, the Saibaman Tien fights has its head split open when he elbows it. The head stays closed in the anime.
*The scene of Goku gaining a foreboding while journeying across Snake Way (in Japanese) is only in the anime.
==Trivia==
*This episode marks the first time Yamcha dies in the series.
*The pose that Yamcha makes when the Saibaman kills him has become a popular internet meme.
*In the Japanese version, as Goku hurries along Snake Way, he thinks to himself that he'd better hurry as he has an eerie premonition on how the fight is unfolding. He has no dialogue in either of the English dubs of this scene.
*In the Japanese version, Krillin laments to himself having to break news of Yamcha's death to Bulma and Puar while the dub changes this to him lamenting the death on a more personal level with him saying "It should have been me!". This is possibly due to Puar and Bulma's grieving already being depicted at Kame House and the writers feeling that it was redundant.
**Nappa's following dialogue is altered from him cursing the Saibaman who exploded "settling for a draw" against an opponent like Yamcha while the English dub has him ridicule Krillin for his grief at the former's demise and says that all of them are going to die in due course.
*When Tien's Saibaman unleashes its Acid, its eyes are colored white instead of the usual red.
==Gallery==
==Site Navigation==
es:Episodio 23 (Dragon Ball Z)
ca:Episodi 23 (BDZ)
pt-br:Yamcha morre! Os temíveis Saibaimans
fr:Dragon Ball Z épisode 023
Category:Episodes
Category:Dragon Ball Z episodes
Category:Vegeta Saga
Category:Uncut Dragon Ball Z episodes