Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug

Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug
Japanese box art
Japanese	ドラゴンボールZ 超(スーパー)サイヤ人だ孫悟空
Hepburn	Doragon Bōru Zetto Sūpā Saiyajin da Son Gokū
Directed by	Mitsuo Hashimoto
Produced by	Chiaki Imada Rikizō Kayano
Screenplay by	Takao Koyama
Based on	Dragon Ball  by Akira Toriyama
Starring	See cast
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Cinematography	Masaru Sakanishi Motoi Takahashi
Edited by	Shin'ichi Fukumitsu
Production company	Toei Animation
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release dates	March 19, 1991 (1991-03-19) (Japan)
Running time	52 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	¥2.05 billion ($15 million)

Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug, also known by its Japanese title Dragon Ball Z - Super Saiyan Son Goku (Japanese: ドラゴンボールZ 超(スーパー)サイヤ人だ孫悟空, Hepburn: Doragon Bōru Zetto Sūpā Saiyajin da Son Gokū) is the fourth Dragon Ball Z feature movie. It was originally released in Japan on March 19, 1991 between episodes 81 and 82 at the Toei Anime Fair as part of a double feature with the first Magical Tarurūto-kun movie. An American English dub was produced by Funimation and released to VHS and DVD on August 7, 2001. Two other English dubs were also produced, one in France by AB Groupe done for European markets which was released under the misspelt title Super Saiya Son Goku, and another one for a Malaysian VCD release by Speedy Video which had the title Super Saiya People, Goku. While the Malaysian dub's cast remains unknown, the AB Groupe dub is now believed to have been recorded by English-speaking actors based in France who have also done voices for animated television series such as Code Lyoko and Chris Colorado.^[1]

This is the first Dragon Ball Z movie to be dubbed with Funimation's English voice cast, and also the first to have songs by bands replace the original Japanese score (although the original Japanese score was restored for tracks on later releases). It was later remastered and released in a Double Feature set with Tree of Might 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.^[2]

Plot

While meditating beside a waterfall, Piccolo is approached by Gohan and Icarus, with Gohan showing Piccolo a tune he has just learned to whistle. To his shock, Piccolo finds the noise excruciatingly painful due to his enhanced Namekian hearing, and angrily orders Gohan to stop. Meanwhile, at the Capsule Corporation compound, Bulma and her father discover that a meteor is heading toward the Earth and will most likely destroy the planet upon impact. Amidst mass panic throughout the Earth, Goku and Krillin rush to intercept the meteor, blasting it with Kamehameha waves, but fail to damage it. The meteor, however, does not hit Earth, instead passing it and exploding in orbit. When the dust clears, a strange building is present on the Earth.

An army of armored soldiers comes out of the building and declares the Earth to be under the rule of their leader, Lord Slug, and terrorize the citizens for laughing at them. Gohan and Chi-Chi appear and fight the soldiers, whose eyes appear to be hypersensitive to the sunlight, but Chi-Chi is easily subdued and Gohan loses his hat with the four-star Dragon Ball as Slug himself appears and takes it. Bulma appears and defies Slug's henchmen, who reveal their intentions to Terra-freeze the Earth and turn it into their own star cruiser. Slug reads Bulma's mind and learns about the Dragon Radar, and orders his men to find the remaining six Dragon Balls in one hour.

Slug's men eventually bring the Dragon Balls back to base and summon the Eternal Dragon, Shenron. The elderly Slug wishes for eternal youth, which is granted, and he launches a pod into space, where it summons dark clouds to cover the sky, blocking out the sunlight, modifying the atmosphere to accommodate Slug and his men, while proving deadly for the human race. Goku, still exhausted from his ordeal with the meteor, is found unconscious by Yajirobe, who gives him a Senzu Bean.

At Slug's base, Gohan resumes his assault against Slug's army and manages to bring down scores of them until he is subdued. Piccolo appears and rescues Gohan from death. Slug's top men, Angila, Medamatcha and Wings appear and engage them in battle. Piccolo kills Wings while Medamatcha smothers Gohan into unconsciousness, but as Medamatcha moves in to finish Gohan, Piccolo throws himself in front of Gohan and takes the blast. They are almost killed, but Goku and Krillin arrive on the scene in time and kill Angila and Medamatcha, but Slug then enters the fray.

Slug blasts Krillin aside and fights Goku one on one, easily taking the upper hand despite Goku's efforts. However, as Slug moves in to finish Goku, Goku is overcome by rage at the damage done to the Earth and its inhabitants, and transforms into a Super Saiyan. With his power boosted, Goku easily takes control of the battle and pummels Slug, breaking his arm in the process. To Goku's horror, however, Slug tears his damaged arm off and regenerates it, also removing his helmet and revealing that he is actually a Namekian. As Slug transforms into a giant, King Kai telepathically contacts Goku and tells him that Slug is the last Super Namek, a branch of Namekians who grew obsessed with power and were banished from Planet Namek by use of the Dragon Balls.

Goku and Slug continue their fight, but with Slug's increased strength and Goku's superior speed, neither can best the other. Slug eventually grabs Goku and starts to crush him, but Piccolo, knowing his own weaknesses, intervenes and pulls on Slug's antennae. Slug grabs Piccolo in his hands, but Piccolo, remembering his sensitive hearing, pulls his own ears off and screams for Gohan to start whistling. The noise deafens Slug, especially in his giant form, leaving Piccolo to transfer his remaining energy to Goku. Goku powers up and manages to fly straight through Slug's stomach, knocking him out. Goku then flies into the sky and begins preparing a Spirit Bomb in order to destroy the Terra-freezing pod, but Slug gives chase. In desperation, Goku fires the Spirit Bomb at Slug, hitting him and sending him directly into the Terra-freezing pod which explodes, destroying Slug and removing the dark clouds from Earth's atmosphere.

In the aftermath, Yajirobe appears and provides everyone with Senzu Beans. At Kame House, Master Roshi, who slept through all the events, wakes up and wishes for something exciting to happen.

New Characters

Lord Slug

Lord Slug (スラッグ, Suraggu), sometimes known as just "Slug", is a Namekian and the villain of the movie Lord Slug. Slug was born and lived on the original Planet Namek sometime prior to the climate change that wiped out almost all Namekians. Slug, along with other Namekians, discovered the key to unlocking a higher consciousness within. They were known as Super Nameks, but they soon became intoxicated by their new power and began to misuse it, behaving much like the Saiyans. He formed a demon-like army on Namek, and approaches Earth in his eponymous movie. He attacks Goku, but is foiled when Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan. Lord Slug rips off his broken arm and regenerates, transforming into a Great Namek. Using Kaio-Ken, Lord Slug is seemingly killed by a gaping hole in his chest, but starts to pursue Goku. However, Slug met his demise soon after as Goku kills him with a Spirit Bomb. Lord Slug appeared again in the OVA, Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, as well as in Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans (the remake of Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans featured in Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2), where he was revived as a Ghost Warrior alongside Turles, Frieza, and Cooler. In the original version, Slug could not die unless he was killed the same way he was before, which resulted in Gohan whistling once again, which cripples Slug with pain and Piccolo finishes him off with a large energy blast. In the remake, he couldn't be killed unless the Destron Gas Machine was destroyed.

Cast

A third English produced and released exclusively in Malaysia by Speedy Video, features an unknown voice cast.

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
• IN (Insert Song):
  • Kuchibue no Kimochi (口笛の気持ち^?, "The Feeling of Whistling")
    • Lyrics by Dai Satō
    • Music by Chiho Kiyooka
    • Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto
    • Performed by Hajime Ueshiba
• ED (Ending Theme):
  • "Ya" na Koto ni wa Genki-Dama!! (「ヤ」なことには　元気玉!!^?, "There's a Genki-Dama in Bad Things!!")
    • Lyrics by Dai Satō
    • Music by Takeshi Ike
    • Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto
    • Performed by Hironobu Kageyama with Shines

Funimation dub soundtrack

The following songs were present in Funimation's English adaptation of Lord Slug.^[3]

• 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

Bruce Faulconer produced an alternate opening theme for this version (which would be replaced in the 2008 remastered version with another original track composed by Mark Menza) and the remaining pieces of background music were composed by Faulconer and Evan Jones. However, in a double feature in which it was released along with Tree of Might, there is an alternate audio track containing the English dialogue and Japanese background music.

References

External links

• Official anime website of Toei Animation
• MyFavoriteGames - Movie Summary
• Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug at the Internet Movie Database
• Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia