In other news, iMac fever sweeps Tallahassee. Now my mother wants one, probably because she knows she can always call me for free technical support. Currrrses.
In still other news, I recently got the opportunity to be humiliated in front of the product testing person, as I and another person from the programmers' dungeon struggled to get a demo properly set up. We at least managed to get it into a semblance of function before time expired and we all went home. I love product development! Yes! It is a mighty thing, full of great failures and vast disappointments.
In world news today, yet another airplane has fallen out of the sky for no clear reason. Now, sure, stuff happens. Occasionally you'll get some idiot putting flammable stuff in places flammable stuff ought not to be. Occasionally weird weather bits will suck a plane down. But it's the description of some of these incidents, which seems to go like "Well, it just sort of came apart", that really bugs me. With all of our technical genius, we ought to be able to make planes that don't fall apart in mid-air. Or, for that matter, lose structural integrity at high altitude and kill everyone inside, yet keep cheerfully flying along for a while until crashing into the cold, unforgiving ground. I long for the good old days, when airliners never got a chance to fall apart, because they were too busy getting blown up by terrorists or shot down by surly Russians. I mean, true, either way, the people on board were just as dead, but it's a somewhat less embarassing way to die. I mean, if you're going to die, your last few minutes shouldn't be spent thinking, "You morons! Even *I* know how to make a plane whose wings don't fall off at the slightest provocation!" They should be spent thinking, "You know, maybe we _shouldn't_ have pissed off those Middle Eastern fellows so much."
Ah, the agony of defeat.
Frieza and Goku continue to scuffle, as Frieza summons up a second disc of pain and hurls it at Goku. Goku tries the old 'fly at the enemy' trick, this time blasting at Frieza's feet to kick up a cloud of dust. Frieza, however, easily avoids his own energy discs. Goku and Frieza yell at each other a bit, then Goku pops open a truly impressive can of whup-ass on Frieza. Although he really needs to work on his combat quips. "I'm gonna... slap some sense into you!!" just doesn't cut it, even if it DOES proceed Goku going all three stooges on Frieza.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, everyone gets to listen to Vegeta's badly dubbed maniacal laughter. Just in case anyone's forgotten since last episode, Vegeta restates that when Frieza and Goku are dead, he'll be the strongest warrior in the universe, and will promptly conquer everything. Our heroes (and the various Nameks with fighting skills) all go into their Standard Surly Poses, while Bulma just gives Vegeta a quizzical look. Vegeta does, however, seem to be smarter than your average villain, perhaps having learned something from his experience. Namely, he's going to wait until he knows Goku is actually dead before picking fights with people.
To keep the episode properly padded, we now get some flashbacks from Vegeta's past, working for Frieza. He, Nappa and Raditz, the last three Saiyans in existance (at that point, they hadn't noticed Kakkarot on Earth yet) are cheerfully conquering planets for Frieza. After spending three days laying waste to the forces of some pathetic little world, they return to report to Frieza, expecting to be rewarded. Frieza, however, mocks them, and remarks that either of his two key henchmen could conquer the planet in about a day. Nappa actually almost attacks Frieza, but Vegeta calls him off, and the three sulk off. Nappa and Raditz wonder how much longer their Prince will make them put up with Frieza, adding that they've heard he was responsible for the destruction of their world. Vegeta responds with a 'duh', he already suspects that himself, but he knows he's not strong enough... yet. But the more he fights, the stronger he'll be, until he's the strongest in the universe.
Back on Earth, more maniacal laughter, and more people staring at Vegeta.
Back on Namek, Goku and Frieza continue to pound each other. Well, actually, it's Goku pounding Frieza. This continues until Frieza, like an idiot, gets hit by one of his own destructo discs. King Kai, watching from the Next Dimension, remarks that Frieza is now half the villain he used to be. Sure enough, Frieza is neatly bisected by his own attack.
Parenthetical digression - the reason 'destructo discs' like these, or the one Krillin uses, are so deadly, is that they're a combined physical/energy attack, and hence can't be deflected like normal energy attacks, while still doing ludicrous amounts of damage like an energy attack. At least, that's the story, and we're sticking to it.
However, even THIS isn't enough to kill Frieza. It just takes him down to zero energy, but leaves his upper body still functional. That's a bit much, but then again, this is a guy who can cheerfully survive in deep space, so it's not too much of a stretch. Goku turns to leave, but Frieza begs pathetically for his life, until Goku finally gives in (being, when you get right down to it, a nice person) and transfers some of his own power to Frieza, enough to allow the villain to probably escape the dying planet. Forgiving your enemies is certainly a good thing, but good grief, how many second chances is Goku going to GIVE Frieza?
Next episode: Boy, this last minute is such being stretched out a long ways...
Rant 'o the day contains no additives, preservatives or alien spores of any kind. Use only as directed. Do not expose to direct sunlight. Do not fold, spindle, multilate or remove identifying tags. Handle with care. Contains less than 3% milk fat by weight, not by volume. Certified 'Syndicate Approved'. Squeeze the lemon. Remember, kids, only users lose drugs.
THIS SPACE FOR RENT