Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge

Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge
Japanese box art
Directed by	Mitsuo Hashimoto
Produced by	Chiaki Imada Rikizô Kayano
Written by	Original story: Akira Toriyama Screenplay: Takao Koyama
Starring	See Cast
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release dates	July 20, 1991 (1991-07-20)
Running time	47 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	¥2.20 billion ($16.2 million)

Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge, also known by its Japanese title Dragon Ball Z: The Incredible Mightiest vs. Mightiest (Japanese: ドラゴンボールZ とびっきりの最強対最強, Hepburn: Doragon Bōru Zetto: Tobikkiri no Saikyō tai Saikyō), or by Toei's own English title Dragon Ball Z: The Strongest Rivals, is the fifth Dragon Ball Z animated feature movie, originally released in Japan on July 20, 1991 at the Toei Anime Fair.

In 1996, Creative Products Corporation made an English dub for the Philippines with the title Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Strongest. It was shown in theatres and was released on VHS there. Funimation Entertainment released the film in North America with an English dub to VHS and DVD on January 22, 2002. It was also shown on Cartoon Network. It was later remastered and released in a Double Feature set with Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler, on Blu-ray and DVD on May 27, 2008. The film was released to DVD again on November 1, 2011 in a remastered box set containing the first five Dragon Ball Z movies.^[1]

Plot

In the film, Freeza's older brother Cooler is introduced. It begins with a flashback to when Freeza destroyed the Saiyan home world, Planet Vegeta. Cooler's ship soon picks up a Saiyan space pod on the radar. The pod, carrying a baby Saiyan named Kakarot, is shown to be heading towards Earth, but Cooler's henchmen believe it is an escape. Cooler lets the ship go, accounting that it's Freeza's naïveté, and responsibility. More than twenty years later, Kakarot, eventually renamed Goku, transforms into a Super Saiyan and defeats Freeza on Planet Namek. Despite showing no compassion towards his brother, Cooler takes his Armored Squadron - Doore, Neiz, and Salza to Earth with the intention of killing Goku in order to reclaim his family's honor. His forces ambush Goku and his friends on a camping trip, and Goku is wounded when he takes a blast from Cooler that was intended for Gohan.

After Krillin sets up a shelter in a cave with Goku, Gohan flies off to obtain Senzu beans from Korin. After obtaining the beans, he is ambushed by Cooler's henchmen, but is saved by Piccolo. Piccolo dispatches Doore and Neiz, and takes on Salza, easily gaining the upper hand. During the battle, Cooler arrives and catches Piccolo off-guard with a Death Beam, which impales him through the chest but does not kill him. Cooler then sends Salza after Gohan as he continues to blast Piccolo. Gohan gets to the cave with the Senzu beans, but they are destroyed by Salza. However, he heals Goku with a spare bean that Yajirobe gave him earlier. After Krillin and Gohan are beaten down by Salza, Goku appears fully healed. Cooler shows up, holding onto an unconscious Piccolo. He then blasts Piccolo's body with an unexpected attack as Goku watches in horror. Goku blasts Salza into the distance, and begins to fight Cooler.

After Goku proves to be a worthy opponent, Cooler tells of his bleak history with Freeza. He then reveals his final transformation, one that Freeza never showed or achieved, and this one is far more powerful than Freeza's final form. Now at full power, Cooler pummels Goku around effortlessly, despite Goku using the Kaioken attack numerous times. Cooler then proceeds to destroy the landscape. However, after seeing a bird die from wounds inflicted by damage caused during the struggle, Goku thinks back on his friends and family, and how they all will be killed if Cooler wins. He then picks up the dead bird, letting out a yell so powerful it cracks solid stone. Goku then transforms into his Super Saiyan form, and gives enough of his energy to revive the bird. Cooler then finds himself, like Freeza was, grossly outclassed. After attempting to punch and blast the Super Saiyan with no effect, Cooler summons a trump card when he powers up an enormous ball of energy. Cooler launches the attack with hopes to destroy Goku and the Earth along with him. After a stint of struggling, Goku eventually manages to send it back with the Kamehameha wave, forcing Cooler off the Earth, towards the sun. As he hits the sun's surface, Cooler finally realizes that Goku was none other than the baby Saiyan within the escape pod that he ignored back during Freeza's attack on Planet Vegeta. Lamenting his own naïveté, Cooler's body is then seemingly disintegrated by the sun.

Goku, drained after his battle, is found by Krillin and Gohan. They are looking for Piccolo when Salza reappears and prepares to kill them all. However, before he can attack, he is killed by Piccolo's "Special Beam Cannon" from a distance. Gohan looks around for Piccolo, and the movie ends with Piccolo, having recovered, gazing skyward.

New characters

Cooler

Cooler (クウラ, Kūra, lit. "Coola") is the main villain in the fifth and sixth Dragon Ball Z films and a minor villain in the OVA special Plan to Destroy the Saiyans. He is the brother of Freeza who travels to Earth in Cooler's Revenge to seek revenge on Goku for what happened to his father, King Cold. While he admitted that he never liked his brother and thanked Goku for killing him, he felt that he needed to punish the one who had disgraced his family (Namely his father), by killing Freeza. Despite transforming into his final form, he is defeated by Super Saiyan Goku. He returns in Return of Cooler, his remains having combined with the Big Gete Star, a sentient planet-sized machine. This gives him the ability to create an indefinite amount of Meta-Coolers, which have the ability to constantly repair and improve upon themselves. He tries to consume the planet New Namek, but he is eventually destroyed by the efforts of Goku and Vegeta. He is later resurrected as a ghost by Dr. Raichi in Plan to Destroy the Saiyans along with Freeza, Slug and Turles but was defeated along with them when Goku and the fighters realized they were ghosts and shouted out that they weren't real. He is voiced by Ryūsei Nakao in the Japanese films and Andrew Chandler in the English versions. In the English dubbed version, Cooler has a voice similar to that of Hugo Weaving, but he sounded a lot like Shredder in his final form. He also made a cameo in Dragon Ball GT and on the cover of Fusion Reborn.

Cooler's Armored Squadron

Like the mercenary Ginyu Force (right down to the posing) called upon by Freeza on Planet Namek, Cooler's Armored Squadron (クウラ機甲戦隊, Kūra Kikō Sentai) compose the elder brother's own special fighting team. These three warriors serve as Cooler's subordinates throughout the course of the fifth film. Their dress is the customary garb of soldiers in Freeza's military; an extended length of armor juts from their left shoulder, while the uniforms themselves are in Cooler's primary colors of purple and white, they are shown to have a habit of blocking or reflecting Ki Blasts rather than dodging them. The team is made up of Cooler's right-hand man Sauzer (サウザー, Sauzā, known as Salza in Funimation's English dub), a blue skinned "pretty-boy" commander with blonde hair and a French accent, who is able to slice through objects using a blade of ki formed in his right hand and very similar to Zarbon in appearance; Naise (ネイズ, Neizu, known as Neiz in Funimation's English dub), an amphibian-like tall, brown reptilian creature who can retract the whole of his head into his body, who can fire an electrical attack that can immobilize his opponents; and Doore (ドーレ, Dōre), who is large, long-haired and vaguely reminiscent of The Hulk, and is never seen without his helmet. The henchmen's names are derived from puns; in this case, it is condiments and salad dressings. Nevertheless, all three were killed by Piccolo, who defeated all of them without effort (Though Salza was more of a challenge). The commander of Cooler's Armored Squadron, Salza, also appears in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn.

Cast

There are two more English dubs, including one produced and released exclusively in the Philippines by Creative Products Corp. and one made in Malaysia by Speedy Video. Both of these dubs feature an as yet unknown voice cast. However, for the Philippine English dub, it is speculated that Nesty Calvo Ramirez had voiced Goku, Ethel Lizano had voiced Gohan, Raymond Buyco had voiced Piccolo, R.J. Celdran had voiced Sauzer, and Apollo Abraham had voiced Krillin, Frieza and Cooler. Other actors involved include Mitch Frankenberger, E.J. Galang, Mano Abello, David Soon, Bob Karry (who also provided narration), and Hazel Lizano.^[3]

Music

• OP (Opening Theme):
  • "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA"
    • Lyrics by Yukinojō Mori
    • Music by Chiho Kiyooka
    • Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto
    • Performed by Hironobu Kageyama
• ED (Ending Theme):
  • Tobikkiri no Saikyō tai Saikyō! (とびっきりの最強対最強^?, "The Incredible Mightiest vs. Mightiest")
    • Lyrics by Dai Satō
    • Music by Chiho Kiyooka
    • Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto
    • Performed by Hironobu Kageyama and Ammy

English dub soundtrack

The following songs were present in the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge, but not the remastered Blu-ray version ^[4] The remaining pieces of background music were composed by Bruce Faulconer.

1. Drowning Pool - Reminded
2. Dust for Life - Poison
3. American Pearl - Seven Years
4. Breaking Point - Under
5. Finger Eleven - Stay and Drown
6. Breaking Point - Falling Down
7. Drowning Pool - Mute
8. Disturbed - The Game
9. Drowning Pool - Told You So
10. Deftones - Change (In the House of Flies)
11. American Pearl - Revelation
12. Breaking Point - Phoenix

However, on the Cooler Double Feature, there is an alternate audio track containing the English dialogue and Japanese background music.

References

External links

• Official anime website of Toei Animation
• Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge at the Internet Movie Database
• Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia