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
Distributed by Toei Company, in association with Fuji Television
Release date
  • March 9, 1991 (1991-03-09) (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: Son Goku the Super Saiyan (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 9, 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 was revealed 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. As Gohan apologizes to Piccolo, they both soon sense something coming from space. 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-like spaceship is present on the Earth.

An army of armored soldiers comes out of the ship 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. After his henchmen knock out Gohan, 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 by Yajirobe, who gives him and Krillin some of the Senzu Beans.

At Slug's base, Gohan resumes his assault against Slug's army and manages to bring down scores of them, only to get injured. 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 by draining his energy with her small clone minions, the Medas. But as Medamatcha moves in to finish Gohan, Piccolo throws himself in front of Gohan and takes the blast. They are almost killed by Angila and Medmatcha, but Goku and Krillin arrive on the scene in time. Goku kills 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 the seemingly weakened Goku with one punch, overcome by his rage at the damage done to the Earth and its inhabitants, Goku quickly blocks him 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 grows 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 drops Goku and grabs Piccolo in his hands, preparing to kill him instead. But remembering his sensitive hearing, Piccolo rips his own ears off and calls for Gohan to start whistling. The noise deafens and weakens Slug, especially in his giant form, leaving Piccolo to transfer his remaining energy to Goku. After Slug blasted away Gohan and destroys his own ship, Goku powers up with the Kaioken 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. Immediately, 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.

Cast

Character name Japanese voice actor English voice actor
(Funimation, 2001)		 English voice actor
(AB Groupe, c. 2003)[1]
Goku Masako Nozawa Sean Schemmel David Gasman
Gohan Masako Nozawa Stephanie Nadolny Jodi Forrest
Piccolo Toshio Furukawa Christopher R. Sabat Paul Bandey as Big Green
Kuririn Mayumi Tanaka Sonny Strait as Krillin Sharon Mann as Clearin
Yajirobe Mayumi Tanaka Mike McFarland Ed Marcus
Bulma Hiromi Tsuru Tiffany Vollmer Sharon Mann as Blooma
Dr. Brief Jōji Yanami Chris Forbis as Dr. Briefs Paul Bandey
Chichi Naoko Watanabe Cynthia Cranz Sharon Mann
Oolong Naoki Tatsuta Brad Jackson David Gasman
Kame-sen'nin (Turtle Hermit) Kōhei Miyauchi Mike McFarland as Master Roshi Ed Marcus
Shenron Kenji Utsumi Christopher R. Sabat Ed Marcus
Kaiō Jōji Yanami Sean Schemmel as King Kai Paul Bandey
Hire Dragon (ハイヤードラゴン, Haiyā Doragon) Naoki Tatsuta Christopher R. Sabat as Icarus Jodi Forrest
Angira (アンギラ) Keiichi Nanba John Burgmeier Paul Bandey
Gyoshu (ギョーシュ, Gyōshu) Shigeru Chiba Sonny Strait Doug Rand
Kakuja (カクージャ, Kakūja) Shōzō Iizuka Christopher R. Sabat Doug Rand
Commander Zeeun (ゼエウン, Zeeun) Kōji Totani Brad Jackson Paul Bandey
Dorodabo (ドロダボ) Daisuke Gōri John Freeman as Wings David Gasman
Medamatcha (メダマッチャ, Medamaccha) Yukitoshi Hori Kent Williams Doug Rand
Lord Slug Kenji Utsumi (old)
Yusaku Yara (young) 		Brice Armstrong Ed Marcus
Narrator Jōji Yanami Kyle Hebert Ed Marcus

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

Music

Funimation dub soundtrack

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

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

  1. 1 2 http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15614
  2. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HVWW3K
  3. ↑ Imada, Chiaki (Producer), & Hashimoto, Mitsuo (Director). (2001 Aug 7). Lord Slug [Motion picture]. Japan: FUNimation.
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