Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug
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Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: Sūpā Saiya-jin da Son Gokū (ドラゴン ボール ゼット 超 サイヤ人 だ 孫 悟空, Doragon Bōru Zetto: Chō Saiya-jin da Son Gokū; Literally meaning "Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiyan the Son Goku"), was originally released in Japan on March 19, 1991 between DBZ Episode 82 and DBZ Episode 83 and later translated in America by FUNimation in 2001. Bridge Entertainment's title is Super Saiyan Son Goku. It is the first Dragon Ball film (not counting the later Ultimate Uncut Special Edition of the previous films) to be dubbed with FUNimation's English voice cast.
Contents
Synopsis
Arrival on Planet Earth
An asteroid alert is wreaking havoc all over the planet as it is going to destroy the entire Planet Earth. Son Goku and Kuririn tried to deflect the asteroid off course so it did not hit the planet. They have been told they cannot destroy it because it is inhabited, and at the time they did not know who inhabited it. They attempted to move it using a combined Kamehameha, but apparently missed and were blown away by the fierce winds produced by the near-clash of the asteroid with the planet.
The asteroid passes near Planet Earth but misses the crash, exploding soon afterward. A spaceship from the asteroid lands on Planet Earth full of soldiers who serve Slugg. Along with his crew of vicious fighters, he traveled from planet to planet in his spaceship wreaking chaos as he went. They attempt to carry out on Planet Earth the same destruction there that they had at a countless number of other planets. The way they dominated a planet was to literally change its atmosphere, Terra-freezing the planet. By conforming it to their liking, they made it more suitable for themselves and almost unlivable for any other people, including the native occupants of the planet. They would sometimes transform the planet into a giant spaceship and move on to find a new planet to conquer.
Upon their landing, a nearby Son Gohan attempted to stop Slugg's Soldiers. Slugg noticed the Dragon Ball Gohan had on his hat. After reading Bulma Brief's mind, Slugg learned about the Dragon Balls and how to get them. Slugg had aged hundreds of years and was rapidly approaching the end of his life. So he sent his minions to gather the Dragon Balls, and used them to restore his youth and health like Piccolo Daimao before him, being fully restored gave him a far greater power.
Battle against the Super Namekian
Goku, along with his son Gohan and Piccolo, squared off against Slug's team and managed to defeat them all. The final battle against Slug was left in the hands of Goku. Goku was able to take Slug on in an incredibly fierce battle. Slug started having the upper hand, until Goku was able to go Super Saiyan (or False Super Saiyan as the form was later named), and started beating Slug.
Slugg then revealed his Namekian nature and transformed into Giant Slugg. North Kaio revealed that Slug was a Namekian who had left the planet a long time ago. He had a strange mutation, however, that made him pure evil. He was also powerful enough to be called a Super Namekian. In his new form, Giant Slug started pounding Goku.
Slugg's destruction
The battle was not going well for Goku until he was discarded by Slug who drew his attention away to Piccolo. In a surprising move, Piccolo tore off his ears and told Gohan to whistle. Exploiting a weakness of all Namekians, their extremely sensitive hearing, Gohan's whistling was able to bring Slugg to his knees.
Piccolo also gave what little strength remained in him to Goku in his battle against Slugg. Thanks to Piccolo, Goku was able to use the Kaio-ken, and managed to punch a hole through Slug's stomach, weakening the Super Namekian severely. Goku was able to defeat Slugg with ease from that point on. The movie ends with Goku flying up above the clouds to deliver the final blow to Slugg with a Genki Dama powered-up from energy taken from the Sun. The Genki Dama heads straight into the freezing generator, taking Slugg with it and destroying him.
The final scene involves Turtle Hermit waking up from his nap which he started before the aliens landed and he wishes that something interesting would happen.
Characters
- Angira
- Dorodabo
- Haiya Dragon
- Kuririn
- Medamatcha
- North Kaio
- Oolong
- Piccolo
- Shen Long
- Slugg
- Son Chichi
- Son Gohan
- Son Goku
- Turtle Hermit
- Yajirobe
Major battles
- Son Chichi vs. Slugg Soldiers
- Piccolo vs. Dorodabo
- Son Gohan vs. Medamatcha
- Piccolo vs. Medamatcha and Angira
- Son Goku vs. Medamatcha and Angira
- Son Goku and Kuririn vs. Slugg
- Son Goku vs. Slugg
- Son Goku (False Super Saiyan) vs. Slugg
- Son Goku vs. Giant Slugg
- Piccolo vs. Giant Slugg
- Son Goku vs. Giant Slugg
Releases
The movie was originally released on both VHS and Laserdisc in Japan. They were in a 16:9 format, cropped from the original 4:3 format. It was then released later in Japan as part of the well-known Dragon Box sets, remastered from its original film masters and in a 16:9 anamorphic widescreen format. There was much controversy from fans over the decision to crop the movies from its original 4:3 format. The controversy died down when Toei announced that the films were originally animated for widescreen viewing. The boxed set was released (containing all four Dragon Ball and all thirteen Dragon Ball Z movies) with great critical and audience reception.
In the United States, it was released in August 7, 2001 by FUNimation, in VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD. It was released in a 4:3 format.[1]. The movie was later re-released on October 15, 2002, bundled with Cooler's Revenge and The Return of Cooler. [2]
FUNimation re-released this film in September 16, 2008, alongside the third movie, Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, digitally remastered and in a 16:9 format, as a "Double Feature" DVD and Blu-ray.[3]
Continuity
This film takes place after Movie 3. The events of this movie placement in the anime continuity or the series timeline is unknown. The movie may take place in the three years the Z Warriors are training to prepare for the Androids. Or it may takes place in an alternate timeline where Piccolo survived the Nappa/Vegeta encounter and before the trip to Planet Namek. It could be possible that due to Piccolo surviving the battle that the trip to Planet Namek didn't happen and it takes place a few years after the battle (if from the same timeline as the previous two movies).
Goku's Super Saiyan form in the film is a different form of Super Saiyan (created for the movie) and is known as the False Super Saiyan, as it is a supposed prequel to the actual Super Saiyan form.
Voice cast
Music
Japanese
Opening theme (OP)
- "Cha-La Head-Cha-La"
- Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori, Music: Chiho Kiyooka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama
Intermission song (IN)
- "Kuchibue no Kimochi"
- Vocals: Hajime Ueshiba
Ending theme (ED)
- "Ya" na Koto ni wa Genki Dama!! (「ヤ」なことには 元気玉!!; Literally meaning "There's a Genki-Dama in Bad Things!!")
English
- Bruce Faulconer – "Dragonball Z Theme"
- Finger Eleven – "First Time"
- Dust for Life – "Dragonfly"
- Dust for Life – "Step into the Light"
- American Pearl – "Free Your Mind"
- Deftones – "Elite"
- Boy Hits Car – "I'm a Cloud"
- Finger Eleven – "Drag You Down"
- Dust for Life – "Seed"
- American Pearl – "Automatic"
- Disturbed – "Fear"
- Boy Hits Car – "The Rebirth"
- Disturbed – "Stupify"
- Breaking Point – "Coming of Age"
Trivia
- The film reveals that Namekians' ears are sensitive to certain sound frequencies such as in Whistling.
- A cup that Chichi is bringing to Gohan has an image of Tama on it.
- A calender in once scene shows the date as being March 3rd.
- In the scene where Son Chichi realizes Gohan has disappeared from home, a poster of Arale Norimaki from Akira Toriyama's previous hit series, "Dr. Slump", can be seen. Incidentally, Goku met Arale when he was a kid.
- This is the last film where the Dragon Balls are used until Dragon Ball Z: Broly: Second Coming.
- Slugg is killed in a similar manner as Tullece from Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might. Both are hit by Goku with a Genki Dama and knocked into their device used to do evil things to Earth (The Shinseiju for Tullece and the Terra Freeze machine for Slugg), destroying it as well.
- Two of Slugg's henchmen, Angila and Dorodabo, are modeled after, and strongly resemble, Zarbon and Dodoria, respectively. Zeeun slightly resembles Tard.
- This is one of the only films in which Chichi fights. However brief it is, she does get in a good shot and knocks out two of Slugg's Soldiers. She also fights briefly against Ginger in Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone.
- This film is the first to have the main villain's name in the title.
- The Sun plays an important role as sunlight is shown to be harmful to Slugg's Demon Clan and it is where Goku gathers the energy to make the Genki Dama.
- This is the second time that a Namekian transforms into their Giant form.
- A McDonald's can be seen in the background on Iguana Street.
References
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Ball-Z-Feature-Uncut/dp/B00005M2C4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1245608457&sr=8-2
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Ball-Movies-Coolers-Revenge/dp/B00006SFK6/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1245608457&sr=8-7
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Ball-Double-Feature-Steelbook/dp/B001C4ZQD4/ref=pd_cp_d_2?pf_rd_p=413864101&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=6304863853&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1F8BV69JKF9C92KKB9MQ
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