DragonBall
Z Movie # 4
"Sûpâ
Saiya-jin Da Son Gokû"
("Super Saiyan Son Goku")
"Lord
Slug"
Basic
Synopsis
Young
Gohan and Haiya Dragon visit Piccolo to
show the demon the new dance that Gohan taught the
dragon. But as Gohan whistles the tune to which his purple friend dances, Piccolo, in pain, yells for Gohan to
stop.
A
planetoid headed towards Earth causes a panic, as people everywhere fear the end of the world is at hand. Kuririn
and Goku go out to try to deflect it with their
energy blasts. It still crashes into Earth, but
it turns out to be a spaceship that needs to land
for refueling. The ship is commanded by the imperious
"Emperor of the Universe" -- Slug, who demands that
they leave in three days. A weather satellite is
launched to cause a cloud to cover the planet and
freeze it over. Earth is now more hospitable for
the soldiers living in the ship, and they step outside
to terrorize the Earthlings. Slug, by some ancient race memory, recognizes the
Dragon Ball that is sewn into Gohan's cap, and reads
Bulma's mind to learn about the Dragon Radar. The
Dragon Balls are rounded up, and Slug wishes for
his youth back (similar to Piccolo Daimaô in the
original DB).
Goku
and Kuririn receive Senzu from Yajirobe, and
rush off to fight Slug. Piccolo shows up to save
Gohan, and Slug reveals himself to be a "Super
Namekian." Goku wastes Slug's minions, and even
turns into a pseudo-Super Saiyan (his hair stands on
end, and he gets a red aura, a la Kaiô-Ken) for a while,
but he's trashed by Slug when the "Super Namekian" turns
into a giant. Piccolo tears off his own ears, then
yells for Gohan to whistle again; as we could infer
from the beginning of the movie, Namekians can't
stand the sound of whistling, which gives the heroes
a chance to actually attack. Slug drops to his knees,
and Piccolo imparts his energy to Goku. Goku wails
on Slug, and flies above the black cloud to get
enough energy to create a Genki-Dama that he uses
to finally kill Slug (and since Slug accidentally
trashed his own spaceship, all of his minions are
dead, leaving no more bad guys). The cloud dissipates,
and Yajirobe reappears to give more Senzu to the
heroes. Piccolo's ears grow back.
Finally, Kame-Sen'nin (who'd been sleeping through all this back at his island) wakes up from
his dreams of naked women. He comments
that the weather is very nice today, and begins his stretching routine.
[
paraphrased
synopsis courtesy Curtis Hoffman's movie descriptions
]
Special
Notes
DBZ
movie four marks the first DBZ movie with FUNimation's
own Texas voice acting studio and group. It also
marks a (sad) departure from using the original
Japanese musical score in the English dub. Instead,
this movie uses "real" American bands
(such as Disturbed) for the music. The Japanese
version (found only on the uncut DVD), of course, retains
the original Japanese score, as well as excellent translated subtitles provided by Steven
J. Simmons.
Release
/ General Information
| Japanese
Premiere Date: |
19
March 1991 |
| Japanese
Premiere Location: |
Toei
Anime Fair |
| Japanese
Availability: |
VHS
LaserDisc |
| Domestic
Release Date: |
7
August 2001 |
| Domestic
Availability: |
VHS
(English Dubbed, Edited)
VHS (English Dubbed, Uncut)
DVD (English Dubbed, Edited)
DVD (Hybrid English / Japanese, Uncut) |
| Opening
Theme: |
"CHA-LA
HEAD-CHA-LA"
[ Lyrics
] |
| Insert
Whistling Tune: |
"Kuchibue
no Kimochi"
("The Feeling of
Whistling”)
[ Performed by
Hajime Ueshiba ] |
| Ending
Theme: |
"'Ya'
na Koto ni wa Genki-Dama!!"
("There's a Genki-Dama
in Bad Things!!")
[ Lyrics
] |
Main
Staff
| Producers: |
Chiaki Imada
Rikizô Kayano (Shueisha) |
| Original
Story: |
Akira
Toriyama (Weekly Shônen Jump Serialization) |
| Planning: |
Kôzô Morishita
Kenji Shimizu (Fuji TV)
Weekly Shônen Jump |
| Production
Supervisor: |
Takeshi Torimoto |
| Screenplay: |
Takao Koyama |
| Background
Music: |
Shunsuke
Kikuchi |
| Art
Direction: |
Tomoko Yoshida
Toshikatsu Sanuki |
Character
Design /
Animation Supervisor: |
Minoru Maeda |
| Animation Director: |
Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru
Masaki Satô |
| Director: |
Mitsuo Hashimoto |
Principal
Cast
