Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies
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Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies, released in Japan as Dragon Ball 神龍 の 伝説 (ドラゴン ボール シェンロン の でんせつ, Doragon Bōru: Shenron no Densetsu; Literally meaning "Dragon Ball: Shen Long of Legend"), was released in Japan on December 20, 1986 between "A Trip to the City" and "Master Thief, Hasky". It was titled Dragon Ball in its original theatrical run, but was renamed for subsequent video releases in Japan.
Contents
Synopsis
This film is a re-telling of the gathering of the Dragon Balls during the Emperor Pilaf Saga, but with King Gurumes taking Pilaf's role as the central villain. Like that initial saga, it depicts how Son Goku met up with Bulma Brief, Yamucha, Oolong, Puar, and Crane Hermit, as well as the first quest for the Dragon Balls. (These events would be retold again in Dragon Ball: The Path to Power.)
This film is used as the basis for the live action Taiwan film Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins.
Evil has spread throughout the land starting with a kingdom and its ruler, King Gurumes. The king's men are scavenging for what lies beneath the land, Blood Rubies. But one girl stands up to the king and his men. Her name is Penny. She shoots her slingshot at one of the king's stormtrooper's. The stormtrooper retaliates, but Penny's father steps in. The trooper backs off and crushes a rock revealing a Blood Ruby. Penny's father tells the trooper his opinion on the excavation because it's destroying the crops and the kingdom. The trooper likes his courage, and attacks him with a fist to the face, knocking the man out. The trooper leaves in a jeep to go back to the palace. Penny decides to teach them a lesson and leaves the kingdom in search of help.
At the king's palace, the king is eating and throwing food everywhere, and criticizing his men. The king is an ugly beast, and what caused this was the Blood Rubies. The Blood Rubies make him hunger for more food, and more treasures. One of his soldiers, Raven, enters his palace telling him she located another Dragon Ball. The king wants the it which he would then have five Dragon Balls, but there is a couple fortune hunters who are also after the balls too. The king doesn't care of this, he just wants the ball, and he'd pay anything for them, and tells Raven he'll pay in Blood Rubies.
Far away from the kingdom lives a boy, who owns the Dragon Ball. He thinks the ball is his grandfathers and prays to it. The boy then goes to go catch a fish for lunch. The fish almost eats him, but in the end, the boy is the victor.
On the road nearby, a girl is also after the magic balls. She spots the king's men in an airship and tries to beat them to the ball.
The boy spots the ship also and sees that it is landing near his house. The car and the girl in it collide into the boy and his fish. The boy thinks it is a monster who wants to steal his fish. The boy attacks the car and smashes the window. The girl gets out and tells him she is a human. The boy stops , and doesn't believe her because of the way she looks. She explains to him she is a girl. The boy never saw any other humans besides his grandfather, and doesn't know what a girl is. The boy spots a Dragon Ball in her pouch and thinks she stole his grandfather. The girl finds out where the other ball is, the kid has it. The two of them start to run up to the boy's house to stop the king's men.
The king's men steal the 4 star Dragon Ball from Goku's house and go back to the ship.
The boy and girl run to the boy's house to stop the intruders. They reach the house only finding a gold coin where the Dragon Ball use to be. The king's men take off in there ship from behind the house. The girl uses a capsule and a airship comes out. The two get into the ship and introduce themselves. The boy is Goku, the girl is Bulma. They take off and go after the ship. Raven gets into the gun turret and starts to fire at the ship. Bulma counters with there gun and hits the enemies wing. Raven brings out a bazooka and blows Bulma's ship out of the sky. Bulma and Goku fall. Goku throws his staff and saves Bulma from landing in the water. They both end up wet though, because Goku does fall in the water and Bulma has an accident in her pants.
Bulma and Goku continue on a motorcycle. It starts to get dark, so Bulma uses a capsule and a house pops out. Goku isn't used to Urban living and is curious about all the things inside the house. Goku doesn't like the food much and decides to go get his own food. Bulma goes along too. So they leave the house to find better food.
On the way Goku and Bulma find Penny who is being stalked by a monster who can transform. Goku steps in and defends Penny. The monster thinks Goku is weak and wants him to prove his strength, so he tells Goku to break a tree in half. Goku does very easily, and the monster chickens out, turns into a bat, and flies away.
Goku follows the monster and they end up in a desert. The monster is actually a pig in his true form, named Oolong.. Oolong is very scared of the area because of the Desert Bandit Yamcha. Yamcha is there and shoots his Machine gun at their feet. Yamcha has a flying companion named Pu'ar, who is a shape shifting cat, that went to school with Oolong. Oolong asks Goku to beat Yamcha. Goku agrees and draws out his staff. Yamcha pulls out his sword and the two go into battle. Goku blocks all of the swings Yamcha makes, and then makes his move and his Yamcha in the stomach with his extending pole. Yamcha uses the power of the wolf on Goku, hitting him into a wall. Bulma arrives and Yamcha runs, revealing his shyness. Yamcha falls off of a cliff and hits head first in the ground, chipping his tooth. He runs away saying "I'll never get a date!!!" Bulma likes Yamcha and wants to find him.
In a capsule motorhome, Penny reveals to Goku and the others about her looking for Master Roshi, the Turtle Hermit. All of them decide to head south to find the old master. Penny reveals to them the past of her kingdom and the Blood Rubies. Yamcha hears from the outside and decides to find Master Roshi first.
They reach the little Island where Master Roshi is. The master thinks they want to steal his shell. Penny tells him that they need him to help her kingdom. Master Roshi yells to Yamcha, who was there before the others, and tells Yamcha that he lied to him. Bulma gets close to Yamcha and he goes red. Yamcha runs behind the house. Master Roshi calls for Flying Nimbus, a magic cloud and gives it to Goku. Only one with a pure heart can ride it. Yamcha takes off on a boat. Bulma spots Master Roshi's Dragon Ball. Master Roshi lets her have it, on the condition that he get to poke her breasts. She pulls Oolong aside and promises him a set of panties if he changes to her shape and gets prodded in her place. But when Oolong does this, he chooses to go overboard and have Roshi do a "puff-puff" with the boobs, with Bulma angrily watching from behind the house.
The king's men are in a sub and launch pick-pocket rockets to get the Dragon Balls. It gets one of the balls. The king's men decide to blow up the island and then get the last ball. Master Roshi powers up and shoots a Kamehameha and destroys the sub and all the missiles. The king's men escape in a jet. Goku tries out the attack Master Roshi did and succeeds in blowing up a rock. Master Roshi doesn't go with Penny, but tells her Goku is a strong enough fighter.
The Dragon Ball gang head towards the castle to get the Dragon Balls. The king's army is waiting for them. They start to fire at there airship. Goku gets on his cloud and attacks the commander, while Bulma tries to get the balls. Goku destroys the disk the commander is on, and Goku goes into the castle. Yamcha joins the battle and gets inside the castle as well. Yamcha grabs a bunch of Blood Rubies and runs. Yamcha runs into Bulma and the others. Raven finds them and shoots Yamcha. Yamcha hits Raven and finds out that Raven is a girl. Raven throws bombs down the corridor. Yamcha saves Bulma and the others from the bombs. Bulma and the gang get inside the king's room, where Goku meets up with them. The king gets up and mutates to a big monster. Goku challenges the king and blasts him in the stomach with a Kamehameha. The king's stomach begins to glow. Bulma realizes the balls are in his stomach, and throws the last ball into his mouth. The Dragon emerges destroying the castle. The Dragon tells someone to make a wish. Penny wishes for the land to be peaceful and beautiful. The Dragon removes all the Blood Rubies from the soil and restores the land. The Dragon disappears and the balls split up in seven directions. The king and everything in the land is back to normal. Bulma and Yamcha get together. Penny gives the king an apple, and the king likes it, and wants to keep all the trees and flowers of the kingdom. Goku gives Raven her coin back, calls for Flying Nimbus, and flies off into the sky
Characters
Voice cast
Music
OP (Opening theme)
- "Makafushigi Adventure!" (魔訶不思議ア ドベンチャー!; Literally meaning "Mystical Adventure!")
- Lyrics: Yuriko Mori, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kōhei Tanaka, Performance: Hiroki Takahashi
ED (Ending theme)
- "Romantic Ageru Yo" (ロマンティック あげる よ; Literally meaning "Romantic Bring I")
- Lyrics: Takemi Yoshida, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kōhei Tanaka, Performance: Ushio Hashimoto
FUNimation's initial dub edits
Scene removals
The first version of Curse of the Blood Rubies produced, the Japanese dub, featured a surprising amount of content which was removed upon the film's original VHS release in North America. Although FUNimation released it alongside the first thirteen episodes of the anime on an uncut DVD set in Australia and New Zealand, the film included in this set is not the original version but the 1995 dub from its premier North American release.
The earliest notable edit occurs early in the film, where Goku first encounters Bulma after being accidentally struck by Bulma's motorcycle. In the original version of the film, Goku responds by charging at Bulma, who panics and shoots Goku three times in the head with a handgun, and is astonished to find Goku completely unharmed. In the dubbed version, this scene is entirely cut, making it appear that Goku's initial response is to charge at Bulma and thrust his Power Pole at the motorcycle, severely damaging it.
Scenes in the dubbed version which take place at Bulma's DynoCap house were recycled from Dragon Ball and did not appear in the original release.
During Goku's fight against Yamucha, scenes in the original version that closely depict Goku's face being pummeled by Yamucha's Wolf Fang Fist are removed entirely, making the technique appear as though it is no more than a kick (as in the Japanese dub, Yamucha closes the move by kicking Goku into a stone structure). Goku retaliates by performing a Jan-ken technique, meeting fists with Goku (rock), using his other hand to poke Yamucha's eyes to temporarily blind him (scissors), and then smacking him in the face (paper) hard enough that he ricochets off of a wall of stone. Yamucha recovers from this and exclaims, "You little shit..." before Bulma arrives. In the dub, the entire Jan-ken sequence is removed, making it appear that Bulma arrives immediately after Yamucha uses the Wolf Fang Fist on Goku.
Upon noticing that Master Roshi possesses a Dragon Ball, rather than be obliged to simply give it to Bulma like he does in the dub, the original version sees Roshi requesting Bulma first show him her breasts. Bulma accepts, but instead has Oolong transform in her exact image (although he first comically transforms into a stocky Bulma roughly his original size). It is then Oolong who teases Roshi at Bulma's dismay, before exposing to him his breasts. To coincide with the removal of this sequence, the paper stuffed in his nostrils (due to nosebleeds which occurred after Oolong showed him his Bulma-breasts) when he is shown just moments before his home is destroyed by the submarine was edited out.
The shuttle ride sequence after leaving Turtle Island was shortened in the dubbed version, though it is not clear why. The original scene features Penny's flashback to an unseen conversation with Roshi that her friends will save her land, followed by Bulma reassuring her everything will be okay. This is where the scene ends in the dub, however, originally it went on to reveal what Bulma intends to wish Shen Long for – a boyfriend. In the dubbed version, this is not revealed until the film's climax.
Another scene removed from the English release actually shows Yamucha's chest being riddled with bullets as Raven shoots him, before being flung against a wall; the only scene remaining that depicts the attack (besides an earlier one closely showing the gun being fired). As Yamucha returns to his feet and begins fighting Raven, rather than notice she is a woman only after her goggles are knocked loose, in the original film he first realizes this when punching her he accidentally fondles her breast.
The UK airing of the film on Toonami, entitled Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenron, was shown uncut and also featured the original Japanese opening, "Makafushigi Adventure!".
Notable dialogue alterations
Bulma's dialogue was also altered in the scene where she is pinned to a mountainside by Goku's Power Pole after her DynoCap shuttle is destroyed by Raven and she and Goku plummet from the sky. While pinned in the Japanese version, she whines that she peed herself, while in the dub she screams that she is "having a crisis." It is still rather clear what's happened because of the sparkles falling from below her bent legs. In the newer dub, Goku has the added line "How come you're dripping? YOU didn't fall in the water". Bulma responds by moaning and shouting, "Breathe a word of this and I'll kill you~!" This dub also makes reference to the coverup as they drive onward, with Bulma saying, "I don't know what came over me, it's not like that was my first crisis."
When Oolong confronts Penny, he demands the girl marry him to which Penny responds by shooting him in the face with her slingshot; Oolong then threatens to eat her if she does not comply. In the dub, this dialogue is altered to Oolong sarcastically asking, "Well, what have we here?" before being shot by Penny, followed by a more assertive threat by Oolong to eat her. When Bulma pulls over and notices Pansy and the monster, originally Oolong turns his sights to Bulma and demands now that she marry him. In the English release, however, his statement after Bulma and Goku arrive is altered to "I can't believe it–a full course meal!" This rewrite was kept in the 2010 redub.
When Goku and Oolong are ambushed by Yamucha, Puar provides a different explanation for Oolong's transformation inferiority in the original film. In this version, she claims that Oolong was kicked out of "transformation kindergarten" for stealing the teacher's panties; this was altered to Oolong having attended "shapeshifting academy [until] he flunked out," drastically altering its meaning. This dialogue change was reversed in the updated dub.
When the scene of Oolong transforming into Bulma was restored, new dialogue was created for the dub that differs slightly from the original script. Bulma still promises her panties to Oolong, but more current slang is used ("boobies", for instance) and the notorious "Puff-puff" is renamed "Bouncy-bouncy".
During the climax of the original film, Penny wishes the blood rubies would disappear from the land, leading Shen Long to simultaneously unearth them all. For the dub, her dialogue was altered so that Penny simply wishes for her land to "be peaceful and beautiful again," which Shenron asserts will not be possible with the blood rubies buried underneath it, ensuing in the unearthing sequence
Trivia
- In FUNimation's original dub, Bulma is voiced by two voice actresses. This film was dubbed prior to dubbing the 13 episodes of the BLT Productions dub of the series, and Maggie Blue O'Hara was FUNimation's first choice to voice Bulma. She was let go after the film was completed, however, and the character was recast with Lalainia Lindbjerg for the series, and since adding in footage from episode 2 was an afterthought, Lindbjerg voiced Bulma in those scenes. O'Hara returned to voice Bulma in the international Westwood dub of Dragon Ball Z after Lindbjerg had left.
External links
- Anime News Network - Dragon Ball Movie 1: Curse of the Blood Rubies
- Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies at the Internet Movie Database
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