Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler

Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: Gekitotsu!! 100-Oku Pawā no Senshi-tachi (ドラゴンボールZ 激突!!100億パワーの戦士たち, Doragon Bōru Zetto Gekitotsu!! Hyaku-Oku Pawā no Senshi-tachi; lit. "Dragon Ball Z: Clash!! 10,000,000,000 Powerful Warriors"), is the sixth Dragon Ball Z movie, originally released in Japan on March 7, 1992 between episodes 130 and 131. It was released on VHS and DVD in the United States in August of 2002, and it also had a special theater presentation (as part of a double-feature with the U.S. premier Fusion Reborn) on March 17, 2006. These movies are the first Dragon Ball-related movies to receive a theatrical release in the United States.

This film is a direct sequel to the fifth movie, Cooler's Revenge and the first appearance of Vegeta in a movie. In this film, Frieza's brother Cooler, who had been destroyed in the previous movie, returns. Cooler's remains merge with the Big Gete Star, which revives him. After his revival, Cooler takes control of the Big Gete Star. He then seeks to resume his consumption of the universe, one planet at a time.

Summary

Cooler's new metallic form

Cooler's Return

The movie begins with Cooler arriving on New Namek within the Big Gete Star. He molds the liquid metal exterior of the star around New Planet Namek, absorbing its energy. Dende, who is now the Earth's guardian, senses the plight of his people and calls Goku to ask for help.

Goku, Gohan, Oolong, Krillin, Yajirobe, Master Roshi and Piccolo arrive and encounter an army of robots which Cooler deployed on the planet to enslave the Namekians, whom he plans to use as biological fuel for the Big Gete Star.

Battle for New Planet Namek

Gohan saves the Unnamed Namekian Warrior from a Cyclopian Guard's blast.

‎

Piccolo battling Cyclopian Guards.

At first, the Z Warriors had trouble penetrating the armor of Cooler's Cyclopian Guards, but Piccolo instructed them to concentrate their energy at one point, and doing this allowed them to destroy a few of the robots. However, there were too many to handle and the warriors were captured along with the Namekians. Throughout the battle, Goku was distracted by a familiar face - that of Cooler, who he was sure had perished years ago. Goku battled Cooler, but it was apparent that Goku was no match for Cooler's new metallic form which gave him the ability to regenerate himself. He was even outclassed after becoming a Super Saiyan. Cooler revealed that the Big Gete Star constantly monitored his body and fixed any problems or glitches that may occur (like Cooler's arm getting torn off for example), while also strengthening him in such a way that it could not happen the same way twice.

Super Saiyans vs. Meta-Cooler

Goku battlling a Meta-Cooler

Goku charging at Meta-Cooler.

Vegeta showed up and joined in the battle, and they soon disposed of Cooler. However, the Big Gete Star housed an army of Cooler clones. Outnumbered and drained of energy, Goku and Vegeta were captured and transported to the Big Gete Star's core to be used as energy to power it. As Cooler was leeching their Super Saiyan strength via strange wires, Goku and Vegeta regained consciousness and released all their Super Saiyan energy into the wires, overloading the system. They then blasted the true Cooler with the last of their energy, causing his ultimate demise as the Big Gete Star exploded in New Planet Namek's orbit.

Goku and Vegeta fell from the sky near the rest of the Z Warriors, and everyone rejoiced. They then realized that Vegeta was nowhere to be found, and Goku looked up at the sky. Vegeta was shown flying in space in his Space Pod with the last remaining chip of the Big Gete Star in his hands. He then crushed it and headed back to Earth.

Major battles

• Piccolo, Krillin & Gohan vs Cooler
• Goku vs Cooler
• Super Saiyan Goku vs Cooler
• Goku (SSJ) & Vegeta (SSJ) vs Cooler

Continuity

The events of this movie cannot be placed even in the anime continuity. Its major plot hole is that Dende is Guardian of Earth at the beginning of the movie, by which time Gohan could turn Super Saiyan. But Goku and Gohan didn't power down from Super Saiyan form from when they left the Hyperbolic Time Chamber until Cell was destroyed. Also, Gohan is clearly younger than he was in the Cell Games, because his hair is still long and he is still shorter than Krillin.

Vegeta becomes a Super Saiyan in the movie and no one is surprised; this means he must have been Super Saiyan before. However, Goku was out of commission when Vegeta first turned into a Super Saiyan. Also, seeing as how Dende is now the Guardian of Earth, Piccolo is a Super Namek due to his merging with Kami, and therefore is stronger than both Goku and Vegeta in their Super Saiyan forms. However, Piccolo has trouble dealing with Cooler's robotic guards.

Cast

Character Name	Voice Actor (Japanese)	Voice Actor (English)
Goku	Masako Nozawa	Sean Schemmel
Gohan	Masako Nozawa	Stephanie Nadolny
Piccolo	Toshio Furukawa	Christopher Sabat
Krillin	Mayumi Tanaka	Sonny Strait
Vegeta	Ryo Horikawa	Christopher Sabat
Master Roshi	Kôhei Miyauchi	Mike McFarland
Oolong	Naoki Tatsuta	Bradford Jackson
Yajirobe	Mayumi Tanaka	Mike McFarland
Dende	Tomiko Suzuki	Laura Bailey
Mr. Popo	Toku Nishio	Christopher Sabat
Moori	Kinpei Azusa	Christopher Sabat
Metal Cooler	Ryuusei Nakao	Andrew Chandler
Narration	Joji Yanami	Kyle Hebert

Releases

Original Japanese box art.

The American double-feature steel book case released in 2008 along side "Cooler's Revenge".

The film originally released in Japan on March 7, 1992 between episodes 130 and 131. It was released on VHS and DVD in the United States on August 13th, 2002. It had a special theater presentation (as part of a double-feature with the U.S. premier Fusion Reborn) nearly four years after its official release on March 17, 2006. These movies are the first Dragon Ball-related movies to receive a theatrical release in the United States. This film, alongside it's predecessor, "Cooler's Revenge", was re-released in November 2008 alongside the remastered Season 7 of the TV series.

Music

• Opening Theme (OP)
  1. "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA"
     • Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori, Music: Chiho Kiyooka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama
       • Song Lyrics

• Ending Theme (ED)
  1. "HERO (Kimi ga Hîrô)"; ヒーロー(キミがヒーロー) (Hero [You’re The Hero])
     • Lyrics: Dai Satō, Music: Chiho Kiyooka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama & YUKA
       • Song Lyrics

Trivia

• This is the first film in which Vegeta appears.
• This is also the first film in which the Super Saiyans (Goku & Vegeta) work together to combat a villain.
• This is the only film that takes place on New Namek and the first movie where the Z Fighters fight a villain on another planet (that isn't Earth).
• This is the last appearance of the technique, Kaio-ken.
• This is the first time where Goku dosen't transform into a Super Saiyan spontaneously (out of rage).
• It also one of the first Dragon Ball-related movies to receive a theatrical release in the United States.
• This is the only time that Dende has been shown wearing an outfit similar to Kami's old clothing.
• The robot trying to cut up the captured Namekians and Z fighters inside the Big Gete Star bares a striking resemblance to the medical droid from the Star War films.
• The scene which Piccolo enters the Big Gete Star resembles the star gate sequence in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• The Namekian that Gohan saves from a blast bears a striking resemblence to Nail, looks and clothing.
• The attack that Goku uses to vaporize Cooler's body as well as the Big Gete Star in the ending heavily resembles the Omega Blaster and the Stardust Breaker (albeit with a yellow colorization).
• The planet Earth doesn't appear at all in this film, unless one counts the brief scene at Kami's Lookout early on and the flashback of Goku's first fight with Cooler.
• At the end of the film, Vegeta uses a Saiyan Space Pod, even though he had long since abandoned using one in the series.
• This is one of the few films to not feature earth as the main setting.

See also

• List of films

External links

• Announcement of theatrical release by FUNimation Films
• FUNimation Films