Film Theory:  Dragon Ball Z, Frieza's 5 Minutes Was NOT A Mistake!

how many saiyans does it take to change a light bulb one but it'll take him 17 episodes to do it goku begins removing the light bulb from the box next time on dragon ball z hello internet welcome to film theory where we aspire to reach frieza levels of dialogue what's the deal is your phone call over good thing they reached you before i disconnected your number poetry it's simply poetry now it's been a long time since we last covered dragon ball in fact how to do a kamehameha wave was one of the first uploads on this channel unless of course you include that one video where i talked about the power level of ultra instinct shaggy remember when that was a meme for a hot minute but man people love dragon ball it played a major hand in popularizing anime in the west it gave cartoon network some of the highest ratings they'd ever seen and according to the npd group dragon ball z is the number one selling anime brand of all time i mean sure you may have gotten some odd glances from your parents when they saw you watch trunks scream at frieza for 12 seconds straight in slow motion one hour later but at its heart it's really a show all about overcoming obstacles in the face of overwhelming adversity and screaming at each other's faces for prolonged periods of time but buried amongst the dragon ball franchises 600 plus episodes 19 movies and one vegeta mustache one battle in particular has gone down in infamy not as the most insanely powerful ridiculously destructive fight nor as the most satisfying and well-written story arc that has the longest drawn out fight that's ever graced our tv screens dare i say the longest fight in the history of all of television yes i am talking about the frieza saga for those of you who are nodding your heads or able to read a title now for those of you who aren't familiar with dbz the frieza saga refers to episodes 75 through 107 of the original dragon ball z run during this arc the z fighters go to the planet namek in order to gather the dragon balls which will allow them to summon a dragon able to grant one wish their goal is to revive all those who died at the hands of the saiyans several sagas ago frieza the main antagonist of the saga overhears talk about the namekian dragon balls and sets out to the planet to wish for immortality the two groups eventually meet and since this is dragon ball they fight for a very long time to give you an idea they're on namek starting at episode 36 and the big bad of frieza really doesn't do all that much until episode 75 75 and here you thought my episodes were full of filler but of all that filler nothing is as infamous as this moment five minutes that's how long you have five minutes is all that i need now in most cases this would make it seem like the planet should blow up in i don't know five minutes you know on account of the fact that he just said that but this is dragon ball z so five minutes through the magic of anime is turned into and i'm not exaggerating this at all two hours 38 minutes and 55 seconds give or take about a minute that is from the end of episode 97 to the destruction of the planet in episode 106. so what all happens in that two and a half hour span of time well one hour and 18 minutes are spent showing namek's destruction the events on earth king kai's home kami's lookout subplots with vegeta and gohan that don't include frieza bulma scenes and lastly reminiscing because what better time is there to look back at your past decisions 35 minutes are spent talking and this is specifically anyone talking to frieza so long as it's actively happening on the battlefield and finally 42 minutes are actually spent throwing fisticuffs as well as concentrated balls of energy now it would be natural to assume that maybe these fighters perceive time differently and so that's why a five-minute estimate balloons out to nearly three hours that the show has somehow slowed down the fight so that we can see it and comprehend it that it's all cinematic timing this at least seems to be the most popular theory as to what's actually going on here the animating staff animated the fight so that you could understand what's happening looking into the comments of these sorts of videos they also seem to agree except there's one problem the 35 minutes spent talking to frieza sound can only travel so fast no matter what your power level is so sure you can assume that literally everything else in that three hour block of time is happening concurrently or happening at the speed of light but the talking scenes prove that at minimum the planet explodes no less than 35 minutes after frieza's original 5 minute prediction so then why why would frieza say 5 minutes if namek clearly survives much longer than that that loyal theorists is what i'm here to answer today personally i believe that frieza didn't make a miscalculation about the time at all in fact i think he knew it would last much longer the entire time so let's hope your bodies can take it because today we end the debate once and for all i'm gonna start with the simple facts if you do something a lot no matter the task you get a good feel for it and when it comes to blowing up planets frieza is a pro he knows what type of planet how much power and how much time it'll take for the whole thing to go kaboom look no further than planet vegeta which he eliminates without breaking a sweat so what was his issue with planet namek why wasn't he able to destroy it as easily as other planets well first it was much denser than he expected what do i mean by this well have you ever noticed that namek has a really long day cycle like really really long as in every single shot on namek is in the daytime well because akira toriyama hated drawing night scenes in the manga he made namek tidally locked this means its rotational period matches its orbital period and i guess just to make sure that there would be daylight super all the time namek is locked not just with one not just with two but with three suns this is something that's actually confirmed in the manga now typically planets are ejected from these sorts of tristar systems because they're just too unstable to maintain the gravity of three massive stars all acting on the same ball of dirt would normally pull a planet to shreds ripping it in multiple different directions but somehow namek is not only able to stay in orbit but also stay intact so how could that possibly be well it means one of two things either namek is ridiculously huge or it's ridiculously dense now there's not really a frame of reference for its size but we do get one indication that the world isn't particularly big in the manga frieza's henchman de doria says quote without our scanners it's gonna be a real pain tracking down these last two dragon balls oh well at least it's not too large of a planet plus we see as the planet's collapsing that gohan is able to travel back and forth between the battlefield and the capsule in a relatively short amount of time but without seeing the effects of frieza's planet destroyer as such we can assume that the planet's strength is coming not from its size but rather its density extending the time it takes for the planet to blow up and this surprises frieza he even makes a comment after he fires his attack at namek's core stating that i have that too much power this line isn't goku by the way he's not even facing him he says it to himself because he knows immediately that it's gonna take longer than he initially thought and when goku calls him out on the next line you see his attention audibly turn you couldn't do it you couldn't go through with it after all huh so what do you do if you're frieza in this moment you've miscalculated your attack and you're on the ropes against a really difficult opponent well one thing that we've seen throughout the various battles is that frieza is pretty darn smart he gets a lot dumber as the series goes on but in this main arc he's very strategic serving as the polar opposite to goku where goku fights on fair terms frieza fights dirty where goku improvises frieza strategizes interestingly enough despite all the boasting and confidence frieza is never one to assume things will just work out take the destruction of planet vegeta to prevent an uprising in the loss of his throne he destroys an entire planet purely based off the legend of the super saiyan in addition to militaristic self-preservation and running an empire 448 planets deep frieza is constantly using psychological warfare against his opponents he seems to be a follower of sun tzu's teachings because you can actually trace most of his tactics back to the art of war here's an example from the book rouse him and learned the principle of his activity or inactivity force him to reveal himself so as to find out his vulnerable spots for all the memes about it not being his final form frieza hides his true nature because of this sun tzu quote a true fighter doesn't reveal his true abilities until he's fully sussed out his opponents actually he does it quite a bit one of frieza's signature characteristics is that he often doesn't move a limb during a fight while it could just be a result of how sure of himself he is it also has to be one of the other strategies in the art of war quote again be extremely subtle even to the point of formlessness be extremely mysterious even to the point of soundlessness thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate by not allowing his movements to be predictable he is a total wild card on the battlefield you can't dodge or block what you can't see coming and when your opponent isn't even moving there's no way to prepare for a counter-attack all of this plays into frieza's psychological warfare throughout the series we see instance after instance of frieza belittling his opponents when fighting nail frieza praises his power level of 42 000 only to cut it down by revealing his own to be 530 000. building his confidence only to break it down completely crushing the genuine effort nail had in powering up making the soon-to-be struggle all for naught and again these are all lessons from the art of war quote supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting if your opponent is temperamental seek to irritate him pretend to be weak that he may grow arrogant if he's taking his ease give him no rest a great example of this is when gohan vegeta and dende are forced to watch helplessly as frieza literally plays with krillin impaled on his horn [Music] by treating this powerful fighter like a mere plaything frieza makes his raw power and inhumanity seem that much more unconquerable striking fear into everyone watching including vegeta himself they're demoralized they've lost the battle before it's really begun because they're so afraid of their opponent fast forward a bit and we can see the same kind of twisted demoralization tactics used during his fight with piccolo he intentionally humiliates and tortures piccolo for the fun of it but also to send a warning to everyone else watching from below that feeling of helplessness i was hoping to inspire must be settling in nicely even in piccolo's final moments he lets the namekian resurface just so he can finish the job in front of gohan because frieza has super hearing he knows that piccolo means a lot to the boy so he forces gohan to watch his death devastating gohan's morale during his fight with goku he's constantly bringing up how he's killed so many people the namekians his friends specifically krillin all in an effort to distract and anger goku but it doesn't work the two start fighting in episode 87 but 10 episodes later frieza's established that he can't win by conventional means so his most drastic offensive strategy is to blow up the entire planet knowing that goku will die and he'll be okay in the vacuum of space but when the planet doesn't completely blow up like anticipated he has to come up with a plan to lie following another of sun tzu's quotes all warfare is based on deception in the midst of chaos there is also opportunity by the time frieza uses destroy the planet he's figured the only thing he has to do is force goku to rush to screw up somewhere and look for an opening to deliver the final blow by setting the five minute timer frieza intends to plant fear and doubt into goku's head there's no time to think you ever play chess using a timer it's the same thing it forces you to move faster and constantly be thinking about the clock ticking down in the background by frieza clearly letting his opponent know that goku will die in the explosion while frieza survives whether it's true or not it sets the stakes super high for goku he has to finish the job now to avenge his friends but the clock is ticking just like sun tzu said it created chaos and there is opportunity in chaos the fact of the matter is that frieza without a doubt use the whole five-minute bit as a means of psychological warfare to ensure goku's defeat the only problem was that he not only underestimated the energy needed to destroy the planet he also underestimated goku himself but hey that's just a theory a film theory and goku begins turning the light bulb next time on dragon ball z you know i love the holiday season but i'll be honest i miss the spoops surely i'm not the only one with a jack-o-lantern hole in my heart right well my fellow ghoul enthusiasts ghoul enthusiasts we're in luck thanks to our sponsor for today's episode shutter as the world's premiere streaming service for horror thriller and supernatural content shutter is spooky 24 7 365. that's right no more waiting till october to raise your blood pressure friends we're on the edge all year long baby with shutter you get access to the largest collection of acclaimed horror movies and series streamed right to your favorite devices for just 5.99 a month you'll have unlimited access to stream their unique collection of exclusive and original films series and classics all ad-free with new titles being added weekly now as head theorist i watch a lot of movies like a cornea frying amount of movies so suffice it to say i know good horror when i see it and let me tell you i'm seeing it on shudder the other night steph and i actually watched host which is a shudder original about a sans gone wrong that was shot entirely over a zoom call and it was good yeah it was good hands down one of the coolest things i've seen this year i cannot recommend host enough and again it was a shutter original to be honest horror is a genre that's so often overlooked and it's so nice to see a company funding brilliant and talented filmmakers making actual terrifying content so to you shutter i say thank you and if you want to say thank you to shutter 2 try it free for 30 days go to shutter.com that's shudder.com and use the promo code film theory or use the link down in the description below that is shutter.com and then promo code film theory for 30 days free use it if nothing else to watch host it is absolutely a movie worth your time and in the meantime have a great holiday and i'll see you all next week

Channel: The Film Theorists

Views: 2,130,399

Rating: 4.9338565 out of 5

Keywords: dragon ball z, dbz, dragon ball, dragonball z, dragonball, frieza, goku, gohan, piccolo, frieza 5 minutes, dbz 5 minutes, dragon ball z 5 minutes, dbz meme, dragon ball meme, dragon ball z meme, 5 minutes meme, frieza meme, dragon ball z theory, dbz theory, dragonball z theory, anime, anime theory, anime memes, film theory, film theorists, matpat, film theory dragonball, film theory dragon ball z, dragon ball z, dragon ball super

Id: aOHVqX2Y1xQ

Length: 14min 16sec (856 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 23 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Losteffect]

Doesnt he literally say:

"5 Minutes would have destroyed most planets by now, but this one's a tough ol' girl".

[u/Tytheguy28]

Honestly I think it was so dragged out because they move so goddamn fast. I didn't watch the video and that's my theory

[u/Taograd359]

When he said five minutes, he meant five minutes Namek time, which Toriyama forgot to mention works differently than Earth time.

[u/StarAugurEtraeus]

5 minutes in Dragon Ball time is 2 hours

Jeez no wonder a couple of days of training result in you becoming a muscle factory

[u/DrBadyear]

>matpat

jokes aside it's always nice to see a film/game theory not trying to do lore shit (because he's bad at it

[u/spiderknight616]

I always thought his "five minutes" is drastically different from our "five minutes".