"DodgeBall Z" is the third episode of HFIL.
Tagline[]
It's one HFIL of a match as Cell and Freeza go head-to-head in this ballin' episode!
Plot Summary[]
After the events of the previous episode, all residents of HFIL are brought to a dodgeball court. Goz oversees the team selections, naming Cell and Freeza as team captains. Freeza wins a coin toss to determine who chooses first and begins to think about who to choose, first thinking to choose Dodoria but realizing that Cell would choose Zarbon in return. Freeza then thinks that Cell may realize this, but decides that the "Least obvious choice is sometimes the most" and ultimately chooses Dodoria. Cell responds by choosing Zarbon, angering Freeza and making him attack Guldo, who Goz appoints to Freeza's team.
Cell then picks Raditz due to his smaller frame compared to Recoome (as hitting Raditz's hair doesn't count). Recoome goes to Freeza's team as Cell realizes that without Jeice and Burter, who are doing commentary, Cell's team is at a one-person disadvantage. That is, until Mez brings Super Kami Guru in on a forklift.
The game is very back-and-forth as no one manages to eliminate anyone else, though Recoome's strength costs Cell's team a lot of energy. After one too many innuendos, though, Zarbon transforms into his monster form, eliminating Recoome. Dodoria manages to eliminate Zarbon and Freeza uses a trick shot to eliminate Raditz, though he unintentionally also eliminates Dodria. As Freeza realizes that his only remaining teammate is Guldo, he begins to rant about how weak Guldo is, causing the little green alien to sacrifice himself to Cell's team.
Freeza manages to get a feint to outsmart and eliminate Cell, but as he tries to eliminate Guru, who has spent the entire game sleeping, the ball gets stuck in Guru's fat stomach. Goz rules that this counts as a catch and that Cell may choose a member of his team to bring back in. Cell naturally chooses himself and playfully punches Guru's arm, startling him and causing the ball to fly out and hit Freeza in the face before ricocheting and hitting Cell in the face.
Guru is declared the winner and while the other residents of HFIL try and fail to lift him in celebration, Cell confronts Freeza, subtly revealing to him that the person who killed him was Vegeta's son but lets Freeza know that he's not going to tell everyone else as now they're playing Cell's Game.
Running Gags and Callbacks[]
- Burter and Jeice doing commentary is a callback to Namekimania 2011, as pointed out by Burter himself.
- Jeice telling Burter to "keep your eye on it, Burtie" while Raditz has the ball is a reference to the argument over the name of the move that ultimately got called "Keep Your Eye on the Birdie" from The Return of Raditz! ... Wait....
- Cell replacing "hell" with "here" in "what the here is wrong with him?"
- Despite holding back, Zarbon transforms into his monster form and makes several innuendos.
- The claim that Freeza will play without using his hands is a callback to Leave It To Freezer where Freeza claims he will fight Goku without using his hands.
- The jockstrap incident is mentioned.
- Goz injuring his back while trying to lift Guru is a callback to a deleted scene from Snakeway to Heaven in which the Snake Way cleaner falls off the road into Hell and onto Goz, severely damaging Goz's back. Both times Goz exclaims "Mein spine!"
- Freeza's words from Cell in a Hell are echoed.
- The knockouts of Raditz, Dodoria and Recoome are a callback to how they all died to Piccolo and Vegeta respectively (Raditz blasted through the stomach by the Makankosappo, Dodoria blasted head on by Vegeta and Recoome left face down on the ground in an undignified position.)
- The events of "The Cell Games" is alluded to.
- The use of the phrase "Crap Baskets" makes a return.
- Cell states that he literally has never lied, as callback to when he said something similar to prior getting attacked by Tien
Cultural References[]
- Guru refers to himself as the "Big Gulp", a drink sold at 7-Eleven.
- Burter claims that the crews couldn't be more motley. While this is an accurate way to describe it, as the word "motley" can mean "a varied mixture", it is most likely a reference to the band Mötley Crüe.
- The scene where Cell and Raditz are both knocked out on the ground is a reference to the scene in Captain America: Civil War where Falcon and the Winter Soldier were both incapacitated on the ground, sarcastically reprimanding each other.
Cast and Crew[]
- Takahata101 as Cell, Guldo, and Guru
- GanXingba as Recoome and Jeice
- Lanipator as Goz and Raditz
- Stephan Krosecz as Mez
- KaiserNeko as Burter and Zarbon
- Antfish as Dodoria
- LittleKuriboh as Freeza
Trivia[]
- This episode was dedicated to Christopher Ayres who was the English voice of Freeza (spelled as Frieza by Funimation) from 2010 to 2019. Ayres died on October 18, 2021, at the age of 56, following years of complications from pulmonary disease.
- Raditz' model has been retextured with higher-definition textures, resulting in cleaner lines definiing his clothing.
- The residents of HFIL all seem to be able to use their ki despite the fact they are all wearing ki-suppressing ankle bracelets.
- Despite concretely having no DNA from Yamcha within Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Cell briefly uses his Spirit Ball technique to stop a dodgeball moments before impact.
- KaiserNeko revealed on Twitter[1] that Burter's line "Thank God! This voice is killing me" was ad-libbed. Jeice and Burter were originally supposed to be wearing blazers and Burter was supposed to complain that his didn't fit. However, they realized that due to time and budget, this may not be an option, leading to Kaiser ad-libbing the line that was ultimately used. Coincidently, the line was also a comment on how harsh performing Burter's voice is on KaiserNeko.
References[]
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