Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone

Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone, originally released theatrically in Japan as simply Dragon Ball Z and later as Dragon Ball Z: Return My Gohan!! (Japanese: ドラゴンボールZ オラの悟飯をかえせッ!!, Hepburn: Doragon Bōru Zetto Ora no Gohan o Kaese!!) for its Japanese VHS and Laserdisc release, is a 1989 Japanese anime fantasy martial arts film, the fourth installment in the Dragon Ball film series, and the first under the Dragon Ball Z moniker. It was originally released in Japan on July 15 at the "Toei Manga Matsuri" film festival along with the 1989 film version of Himitsu no Akko-chan, the first Akuma-kun movie, and the film version of Kidou Keiji Jiban.

Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone
Japanese poster art
JapaneseドラゴンボールZ (original title)
ドラゴンボールZ オラの悟飯をかえせッ!!
HepburnDoragon Bōru Zetto (original title)
Doragon Bōru Zetto Ora no Gohan o Kaese!!
Directed byDaisuke Nishio
Produced byChiaki Imada (executive producer)
Written byTakao Koyama
Screenplay byTakao Koyama
Based onDragon Ball by Akira Toriyama
Starringsee below
Music byShunsuke Kikuchi
CinematographyMotoaki Ikegami
Edited byShinichi Fukumitsu
Production
company
Distributed byToei Company
Release date
  • July 15, 1989 (1989-07-15) (Japan)
Running time
42 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box office¥2 billion (est.)

Despite some continuity inconsistencies, Dead Zone acts as a prelude to the series, and is the only film to get a complete follow up during Dragon Ball Z, with the Garlic Jr. arc.

Plot

A few years have passed since Goku had defeated his most powerful enemy, Piccolo, at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Goku is now married to Chi-Chi, and has a son named Gohan, named in honor of his adoptive grandfather. The world has remained overall peaceful since Goku and Piccolo's last battle.

Piccolo is training by himself in a wasteland, until he is ambushed and supposedly killed by a group of shadowed fighters. Meanwhile, Chi-Chi along with her father, Ox King, and Gohan are attacked by the same group. Goku is out fishing during the attack and after sensing danger, he returns only to find his son has been kidnapped. The group responsible for the attack are henchmen of Garlic Jr., a demonic imp-like creature. It is later revealed that their reason for kidnapping Gohan was to retrieve the four-star Dragon Ball that was attached to his hat. Garlic Jr. senses a immense power within Gohan, and decides to make him his pupil, rather than kill him. After gathering the remaining Dragon Balls, Garlic Jr. summons Shenron and he immediately wishes for immortality. Shenron, never having had to grant this type of demand before, grants Garlic Jr. his wish. A furious Goku arrives to try to take back his son, but soon discovers Garlic Jr.'s new power. Kami makes an appearance (which surprises Garlic Jr., who thought that his henchmen had killed Piccolo) and meets up with Goku, and describes a brief history of Garlic Jr. and his father Garlic. Centuries ago, Kami and Garlic both fought for the position of Guardian of the Earth, but Kami, upon separating himself from Piccolo, attained the position instead. Outraged, Garlic unleashed a demonic horde, until Kami defeated him. Goku then proceeds to try to find Gohan when he is attacked by the villain's gang, whilst Kami faces Garlic Jr.

After briefly fighting, Krillin and Piccolo arrive to help. Piccolo gets revenge for being attacked earlier by defeating Garlic Jr.'s henchman Sansho, while Goku manages to defeat the other two henchmen, Ginger and Nicky. Meanwhile, Kami is getting brutally outmatched by Garlic Jr., until Goku and Piccolo rescue him. With Garlic Jr.'s newly obtained immortality and a new muscular second form, Goku & Piccolo are forced to work together and are able to outclass him. Goku and Piccolo then prepare to fight each other, but then Garlic Jr., angry at his defeat, unleashes his ultimate attack, opening up a portal into another dimension; a void of darkness known as the "Dead Zone", created by Garlic Jr.'s father (and the same place Kami banished Garlic in), intending to suck his enemies into the void. Before he could claim victory, Goku's son, Gohan, becomes enraged witnessing his father and friends in danger and releases his latent energy, blasting Garlic Jr. into his own vortex to be trapped for all eternity. Unable to remember anything of what happened, Gohan believes that his father defeated Garlic Jr., and with amazement, Goku figures his son is no ordinary boy, but one with a great hidden potential. Meanwhile, Piccolo vows to defeat Goku while watching him and his friends leave.

Cast
Character Japanese voice English voice
(Pioneer/Funimation/Ocean Studios, 1997) (AB Groupe, 2003)[1] (Funimation, 2005)
GokuMasako NozawaPeter KelamisDavid GasmanSean Schemmel
GohanSaffron HendersonJodi ForrestStephanie Nadolny
Piccolo Jr.Toshio FurukawaScott McNeilDavid Gasman as Big Green
Toshio Furukawa (single scream)*		Christopher Sabat
Garlic Jr.Akira KamiyaDon BrownDoug RandCharles Cody Huber
BulmaHiromi TsuruLalainia LindbjergSharon Mann as BloomaTiffany Vollmer
KrillinMayumi TanakaTerry KlassenSharon Mann as ClearinSonny Strait
Ox KingDaisuke GōriDave "Squatch" WardDavid GasmanKyle Hebert**
Chi-ChiMayumi ShōLisa Ann BeleySharon MannCynthia Cranz
Master RoshiKōhei MiyauchiDon BrownEd MarcusMike McFarland
KamiTakeshi AonoWard PerryEd Marcus as Green GodChris Sabat
ShenronKenji UtsumiDon BrownEd Marcus
Ginger (ジンジャー, Jinjā)Kōji TotaniTerry KlassenEd Marcus
David Gasman		Troy Edward Baker
Nicky (ニッキー, Nikkī)Shigeru ChibaPaul DobsonEd MarcusDoug Burks
Sansho (サンショ)Yukitoshi HoriWard PerryDoug Rand
David Gasman
Ed Marcus		Eric Dillow
NarratorJōji YanamiDoc HarrisEd MarcusKyle Hebert

A fourth English dub released in Malaysia by Speedy Video features an unknown cast.

Notes

^* Furukawa's voice from the original Japanese version is retained in the AB Groupe dub at the beginning of this film, when Piccolo screams and destroys a large rock formation.

^** In the Funimation English dub's credits, Christopher R. Sabat is miscredited as playing the Ox King, a mistake carried over into the Funimation dub of The World's Strongest.

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):
    • Tenka'ichi Gohan (天下一ゴハン, "The World's Greatest Gohan")
      • Lyrics by Sakiko Iwamuro
      • Music by Takeshi Ike
      • Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto
      • Performed by Masako Nozawa
  • ED (Ending Theme):
    • Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Pawā! (でてこいとびきりZENKAIパワー!, "Come Out, Incredible ZENKAI Power!")
      • Lyrics by Naruhisa Arakawa
      • Music by Takeshi Ike
      • Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto
      • Performed by Manna

English dub soundtracks

The 1997 Pioneer release kept the original Japanese music.

Funimation's 2005 dub featured a new score by Mark Menza. The remastered release contains an alternate audio track containing the English dub with original Japanese background music by Shunsuke Kikuchi.

Releases

Box office

At the Japanese box office, the film sold 2.2 million tickets and earned a net distribution rental income of ¥800 million,[2][3] equivalent to estimated gross receipts of approximately ¥2 billion[4] ($14 million).[5]

Home media

The film was licensed in North America by Funimation Entertainment and the home video rights were sub-licensed to Pioneer Home Entertainment. Pioneer's dub used the same voice cast as the TV series did at the time, and was dubbed by Ocean Productions. They released the film as Dead Zone, and later retitled it Dead Zone Vortex for its television airings. As a bonus feature on the Pioneer DVD, deleted scenes from the original episodes 1 and 9 are shown in Japanese with English subtitles, as these two episodes were yet to be dubbed in full at the time. In North America, Pioneer's dub was released on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD on December 17, 1997.[6]

Once their sub-license expired, Funimation released the movie to DVD on May 31, 2005, with a completely new dub done by Funimation's voice cast with "Ultimate Uncut Edition".[7] There's also released the movie on November 14, 2006 as part of a movie box set subtitled "First Strike", also containing The World's Strongest and The Tree of Might. It was later digitally remastered and released in a Double Feature set with The World's Strongest on Blu-ray and DVD on May 27, 2008. The film was re-released to DVD on November 1, 2011 in a remastered box set containing the first five Dragon Ball Z movies.[8] Also, Funimation was released this movie on the Rock the Dragon Edition box set on August 13, 2013 with Ocean dub, with 53 edited episodes of the series, plus two movies of The World's Strongest and The Tree of Might (Movie Edited Version).

AB Groupe, a French company that holds the license to the Dragon Ball franchise in most of Europe, licensed and dubbed the movie, which they re-titled In Pursuit of Garlic.[9] This dub featured a voice cast that was unknown for years, but it is now believed that English-speaking voice actors in France were involved with this dub.[10] In Pursuit of Garlic aired on TV in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, and was sold on DVD in the Netherlands by Bridge Entertainment Group. Speedy Video, a Malaysian-based company, released the film on Video CD, here subtitled The Vengeance of the Demon King. Speedy also released the Pioneer English adaptation on VCD. Both the AB Groupe and Speedy dubs are notoriously known for inaccurate translations (e.g. Piccolo was called "Big Green" in the AB Groupe dub) and dialogue that did not fit the mouth flaps.

References
  1. "Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  2. "予約特典・ドラゴンボール最強への道・劇場版ご近所物語A5サイズ前売特典冊子". Dragon Ball: The Path to Power brochure (in Japanese). Toei Animation. 1996.
  3. "Movie Guide: Dragon Ball Z Movie 01". Kanzenshuu. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  4. "Statistics of Film Industry in Japan". Eiren. Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. 1989. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  5. "Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average) - Japan". World Bank. 1989. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  6. Nishio, Daisuke (1997-12-17), Dragon Ball Z - The Movie - Dead Zone, Geneon [Pioneer], retrieved 2016-04-14
  7. Nishio, Daisuke (2005-05-31), Dragon Ball Z - The Movie - Dead Zone, Funimation Prod, retrieved 2016-04-14
  8. Dragon Ball Z: Movie Pack Collection One, Funimation Prod, 2011-11-01, ASIN B005HVWW3K
  9. "Kanzenshuu • View topic - Where to buy the "Big Green Dub" DVDs from?". www.kanzenshuu.com. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  10. "Dragon Ball Z: Big Green Dub Cast - Behind The Voice Actors". www.behindthevoiceactors.com. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
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