It's over 9000!
From Dragon Ball Encyclopedia
It's over 9000! is a translation mistake that was spoken by Vegeta's original English voice actor, Brian Drummond. It has since become an Internet meme after being spread on YouTube. Originally posted on October 17, 2006, the meme was started by the user Kajetokun. It showed Vegeta angrily crushing his Scouter several times while repeating "It's over 9000!" in response to Nappa's questioning of Son Goku's battle power. The meme then spread across the world, with the video now having millions of views and even referenced in certain video games of the series (like Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3). The meme was directly referenced during the trailer for the upcoming release of the Dragon Box. Vegeta, who presents the trailer, says "Can you feel the Dragon Box's power? It's over 9000!" Also, the phrase is being spoofed commonly in YouTube Poop viral videos. One particularly famous reference occurred on the Oprah Show. A YouTuber and fan of "It's over 9000!" submitted an email to Oprah during a week devoted to pedophilia. In the email, the YouTuber jokingly claimed to be "part of an organization "Over 9000!" strong, all raping children." Oprah famously read the the email out loud on her show, believing it to be true. This incident became known as "Oprah 9000".
Contents
Actually an error
In the original manga and even Japanese dub of the anime, Vegeta actually says, "It's over 8000!". Even in the FUNimation Remastered Box Sets, Vegeta still says, "It's over 9000!", now voiced by Christopher Sabat. This change was made due to inconsistencies with the dubbing process where 9000 fit the mouth flaps of the animation better. Fans, however, complained about the FUNimation dub lacking the drama and energy of the original version. They also complained about Christopher Sabat's voice being too calm-sounding for the scene, unlike Brian Drummond's which had a lot of anger in it.
TeamFourStar did a video on YouTube as part of their abridged series of Dragon Ball Z satirizing this error. In the dialogue between the two, Vegeta responds by saying, "It's over 8000!". Nappa then says, "Aw, Vegeta, you didn't do it right!" to which Vegeta responds by saying, "Yes I did Nappa, YES I DID!" They further parody this by stating Goku has a battle power of 1006, but Vegeta then reveals he has the Scouter upside down.
In Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, Vegeta correctly states, "Its over 8000!"
Dragon Ball Z Kai has two separate dubs of the line, the TV version stating that "It's over 9000!" and the DVD version with the correct "It's over 8000!"
In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Vegeta again says, "It's over 9000!" as in the English dub of the anime. The game was localized by FUNimation based on their version of the anime.
Possibilities
It is possible for "It's over 9000!" to be correct since it is over 8,000. This has occurred several other times where battle powers are given more as estimates than accurate figures. For instance, Son Gohan's retaliation against Nappa is given as over 3,000, and Freeza's battle power is given as "Over one million!" when the exact figure is 1,060,000. Later on, Freeza claims his battle power is only 1% of his full power when in actuality it is 3⅓% of his maximum power according to Dragon Ball: Daizenshū 7. Despite this, however, Vegeta has a given battle power of 18,000 to which Goku with a Kaio-ken of at least 2X would still be higher making Goku the superior in their fight. The opposite is shown, however, making it near impossible for Goku to actually have a battle power figure above 9000.
Other popular comedic Dragon Ball videos
Other popular videos involving the Dragon Ball series include others by Kajetokun such as "The Balls Are Inert", "THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS GOING TO DIE", "I HOPE MY BODY CAN TAKE IT", and "IF THEY SET THAT ANDROID FREE IT WILL BE THE END OF ALL OF US! NOOOOOO!" There are also videos by other users exploiting funny scenes from different films such as Future Trunks Brief's $30 dollar hair cut in Movie 7, Super Android 13, young Gohan saying he wanted to be an orthopedist, but cutting out "ortho" and "t" to make it sound like "pedis", and even one about North Kaio saying the "F-word". There are also a series of videos known as "Alternate Reality Dragon Ball Z", "Dragon Ball Z Abridged", and another called "Dragon Ball Z: The Real Abridged" which have gained critical acclaim. Of course, there are many videos like these, all which receive thousands of views and have become common jokes around the globe.
The It's over 9000! meme was also referenced in the Nintendo DS games Ninja Town, Scribblenauts, and Ace Attorney Investigation: Miles Edgeworth, the video games Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters, Trinity Universe, the TV show Mad in the skit "Grey's in Anime", and a series that is on both YouTube and Newgrounds called Super Mario Brothers Z.
Quotes
(In the Japanese dub - Dragon Ball Z)
- Nappa: What is Kakarot's battle power?
- Vegeta: It's higher than 8000!
- Nappa: Higher than 8000?! There has to be some mistake! It's a malfunction!
(In the FUNimation sub - Dragon Ball Z)
- Nappa: What is Kakarrot's battle power?!
- Vegeta: Higher than 8000!
- Nappa: Higher than 8000?! There has to be some mistake! It's a malfunction!
(In the Ocean Group dub - Dragon Ball Z)
- Nappa: Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level?
- Vegeta: (removes his scouter and crushes it) It's over 9000!
- Nappa: What, 9000? There's no way that can be right! Can it!?
(In the FUNimation dub - Dragon Ball Z)
- Nappa: Vegeta, what did you say his power level is?
- Vegeta: (while crushing his scouter at the same time) It's over 9000! Raah!
- Nappa: 9000?! There's no way that can be right! It can't!
(In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3)
- Nappa: V-Vegeta, what's Kakarot's power level?
- Vegeta: It's over 9000!
- Nappa: Over 9000! That's got to be some kind of mistake, it's a malfunction!
(In Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit)
- Nappa: V-Vegeta! What does the scouter say about his power level?!
- Vegeta: (while crushing his scouter at the same time) It's over 9000!
- Nappa: What?! Nine thousand?! That can't be right! It must be broken! (to Goku) Cause there's no way you're stronger than me!
(In the FUNimation dub - Dragon Ball Z Kai - TV version)
- Nappa: Vegeta! Vegeta! What's wrong with you?! Tell me what his power level is!
- Vegeta: (while crushing his scouter at the same time) It's over 9000!
- Nappa: What?! 9000?! You've got to be kidding me, that thing's a piece of junk!
(In the FUNimation dub - Dragon Ball Z Kai - DVD version)
- Nappa: Vegeta! What does the scouter say about his power level?!
- Vegeta: (while crushing his scouter at the same time) It's over 8000! Raah!
- Nappa: 8000?! C'mon, that can't be right! It must be broken or something!
(In the Hebrew dub)
- Nappa: What is Kakarotto's fighting power now Makita?
- Vegeta: Alot more then 8000!
- Nappa: 8000?! That can't be! The device must be broken!
(In the Chinese dub)
- Nappa: Quick, tell me, what is his power level?
- Vegeta: It's already over 8000!
- Nappa: Huh? Over 8000? This must be wrong! The scouter must be broken!
(In the German dub)
- Nappa: Check it again, Vegeta. How high is his power level now?
- Vegeta: It's way over 8000! Arrgh!
- Nappa: Way over 8000? But this no way possible! It's a faulty device!
(In the Brazilian Portuguese dub)
- Nappa: Please, say what Kakarot's power level is!
- Vegeta: Argh, it's over 8000!
- Nappa: Over 8000? That has to be a mistake! This device must be broken!
(In the Latin American dub)
- Nappa: Please tell me, what is the power of battle of Kakarot?
- Vegeta: Is more than 8000!
- Nappa: What 8000? Must be a mistake. The machine suffered a breakdown!
