Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone

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Dragon Ball Z the Movie: Dead Zone
Japanese box art
Directed by	Daisuke Nishio
Produced by	Hideki Goto Kōzō Morishita Hiroe Tsukamoto
Written by	Story: Akira Toriyama Screenplay: Takao Koyama
Starring	Masako Nozawa Akira Kamiya Hiromi Tsuru Mayumi Tanaka Daisuke Ghori Mayumi Sho Kohei Myauchi Toshio Furukawa Takeshi Aono Kenji Utsumi Joji Yanami
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Editing by	Pioneer, Funimation, Ocean Group
Distributed by	Pioneer, Funimation
Release date(s)	July 15, 1989
Running time	41 min.
Language	Japanese, English

Dragon Ball Z the Movie: Dead Zone, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: Ora no Gohan o Kaese!! (ドラゴンボールZ　オラの悟飯を返せッ!!, Doragon Bōru Zetto Ora no Gohan o Kaese!!, lit. "Dragon Ball Z: Return my Gohan!!") and originally titled simply Dragon Ball Z during its theatrical release, was the first Dragon Ball Z movie. It's also the first to be in the anime to be under the Dragon Ball Z series before the Vegeta Saga.

Dead Zone was released in 1989 by Toei Animation under the Japanese title "Return My Gohan!". It was then dubbed in English by the Canadian company Ocean Group for the American company Funimation, the title being changed to "Dead Zone". It was then re-dubbed by Funimation itself in 2005.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 2.1 Heroes 2.2 Villains 3 Battles featured 4 Releases 5 Cast 6 Music 7 Trivia 8 Screenshots 9 References

[edit] Plot

The movie features the villain Garlic Jr., who is on a vengeful quest to become God of Earth. In order to have his wish fulfilled, his servants kidnap Goku's son Gohan to get the Dragon Ball he is carrying. Garlic then summons Shenron using the Dragon Balls and wishes for eternal life.

Goku must combine forces with his archrival Piccolo Jr. in order to save the world. With Piccolo's, and later Krillin's, help, Goku is able to defeat Garlic's evil servants and rescue Gohan. Kami, feeling responsable for Garlic, arrives and confronts him. However, he is unable to defeat him, and in a last ditch effort Kami decides to sacrifice himself to kill Garlic.

However, Piccolo and Goku arrive in time to take on Garlic, but after a long hard battle, they find themselves defeated and exhausted. Garlic Jr. opens a Dead Zone portal in order to trap everyone within. With time running out, and with the Earth moments away from being sucked into oblivion, Goku realizes that the massive dormant power that lies within his four year old son is Earth's last hope against Garlic Jr.'s Dead Zone. Gohan's hidden power appears, and he sends Garlic into the portal, trapping him inside, and saving the planet.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Heroes

• Goku
• Piccolo
• Gohan
• Krillin

[edit] Villains

• Garlic Jr.
• Ginger
• Nikki
• Sansho

[edit] Battles featured

• Piccolo Vs. Ginger, Nikki & Sansho
• Chichi Vs. Ginger
• Goku Vs. Ginger, Nikki & Sansho
• Kami Vs. Garlic Jr.
• Piccolo Vs. Sancho
• Goku Vs. Ginger & Nikki
• Goku & Piccolo Vs. Garlic Jr.
• Goku Vs. Piccolo
• Gohan Vs. Garlic Jr.

[edit] Releases

The movie was originally released on both VHS and Laserdisc in Japan. They were in a 16:9 format, cropped from it's original 4:3 format. It was then released later in Japan as part of the well-known Dragon Box sets, remastered from it's original film masters and in a 16:9 anamorphic widescreen format. There was much controversy from fans over the decision to crop the movies from it's original 4:3 format. The controversy died down when Toei announced that the films were originally animated for widescreen viewing. The boxed set was released (containing all four Dragon Ball and all thirteen Dragon Ball Z movies) with great critical and audience reception.

In the United States, it was released in March 17, 1997, shortly before the release of the second movie, The World's Strongest, and the third movie, The Tree of Might, by Funimation and Pioneer, in VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD. Thee three movies were uncut, and contained both the Ocean Group dub and the original Japanese dub. They were also released for the first time in a 4:3 format.^[1] The three movies were re-released together by Pioneer on October 9, 2001, in a three-movie boxset, called "Dragon Ball Z - Movie Boxed Set".^[2]

After Funimation acquired the exclusive DVD rights for the first three movies from Pioneer in 2004, they released Dead Zone again in May 31, 2005, containing a brand-new in-house dub and the original Japanese dub.^[3] However, it was later re-released in November 14, 2006, along with the The World's Strongest and The Tree of Might movies, in a "First Strike" DVD boxset.^[4]

Funimation re-released this film in May 27, 2008, alongside The World's Strongest, digitally remastered and in a 16:9 format, as a "Double Feature" DVD and Blu-Ray.^[5]

[edit] Cast

Character Name	Voice Actor (Japanese / Toei Animation Dub)	Voice Actor (English / Ocean Dub)	Voice Actor (English / Funimation Dub)
Goku	Masako Nozawa	Peter Kelamis	Sean Schemmel
Kid Gohan	Masako Nozawa	Saffron Henderson	Stephanie Nadolny
Piccolo Jr.	Toshio Furukawa	Scott McNeil	Christopher R. Sabat
Bulma	Hiromi Tsuru	Lalainia Lindbjerg	Tiffany Vollmer
Krillin	Mayumi Tanaka	Terry Klassen	Sonny Strait
Ox-King	Daisuke Gōri	Dale Wilson	Kyle Hebert
Chi-Chi	Mayumi Shō	Laara Sadiq	Cynthia Cranz
Master Roshi	Kōhei Miyauchi	Dave Ward	Mike McFarland
Kami	Takeshi Aono	Michael Dobson	Christopher R. Sabat
Shenron	Kenji Utsumi	Don Brown	Christopher R. Sabat
Garlic Jr.	Shigeru Chiba	Don Brown	Chuck Huber
Ginger	Kōji Totani	Terry Klassen	Troy Baker
Nicky	Shigeru Chiba	Don Brown	Doug Burks
Sansho	Yukinori Hori	Ward Perry	Eric Dillow
Narrator	Jōji Yanami	Doc Harris	Kyle Hebert

[edit] Music

• Opening Theme (OP)
  1. "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" (Chara Hetchara) (OP animation 1)
     • Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori, Music: Chiho Kiyooka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama
       • Song Lyrics

• Insertion Song (IN)
  1. "Tenka-ichi Gohan"; 天下一ゴハン (The World's Greatest Gohan)
     • Lyrics: Sakiko Iwamuro, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Masako Nozawa (Son Gohan)
       • Song Lyrics

• Ending Theme (ED)
  1. "Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Pawā!"; でてこいとびきりZENKAIパワー! (Come On Out, Incredible ZENKAI Power!)
     • Lyrics: Toshihisa Arakawa, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: MANNA
       • Song Lyrics

• Additional orchestral music composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi

[edit] Trivia

• This movie takes place after the end of Dragon Ball and before the beginning of Dragon Ball Z.
• The events of this movie can be placed into the Dragon Ball Z timeline. There are a few discrepancies, however. For example, Krillin was introduced to Gohan in the movie, yet he did not know who he was in the beginning of Dragon Ball Z (though he could have simply forgotten about him). Also, though Piccolo and Goku became allies to fight Garlic, Piccolo states in the first episodes of Dragon Ball Z that their alliance to fight Raditz is the first time they fight together. Not only that, but in "Unlikely Alliance" ("The World's Strongest Team in the original dub) Goku comments on his discovery that Piccolo trains with weighted clothes; however, he makes the same comments in Dead Zone (though not in FUNimation dub, he merely says "I can't believe we're fighting on the same side").
  • On the other hand, Krillin (despite not knowing who Gohan is) refers to the events of this movie once, when he says "Gohan's been kidnapped again."
• This is the only movie where Kami not only appears, but actually fights (not counting Piccolo in Movies 6, 7, 8, 9, and 14).
• Flashbacks in the Dragon Ball Z episodes "The Heavens Tremble", "Black Fog of Terror" and "Fight with Piccolo" feature animated footage from Dead Zone.
• This is the only movie to feature the ending theme song from the TV series ("Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Pawā!"). All other movies feature original songs as the ending themes.
• This is the only post-King Piccolo Saga entry in the series where Goku uses the Power Pole in combat.
• Despite being released under the Ultimate Uncut Special Edition line, the Funimation version is actually more edited than the original Pioneer release.
  • While the movie itself was fully uncut, the Special Edition version used the wrong opening animation. This was corrected in the double feature release.

[edit] Screenshots

Goku with powerpole	Garlic Jr.	Super Garlic Jr.	Enraged that Super Garlic Jr. hurt his father, Gohan stands ready to unleash his enormous hidden power
Super Garlic Jr. opens The Dead Zone, and intends to suck the Earth into oblivion	Arch rivals combine forces to save the world	Goku and Piccolo Jr. vs Super Garlic Jr.

[edit] References

Dragon Ball films
Dragon Ball adaptations
Theatrical films	Curse of the Blood Rubies • Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle • Mystical Adventure • The Path to Power
Dragon Ball Z adaptations
Theatrical films	Dead Zone • The World's Strongest • The Tree of Might • Lord Slug • Cooler's Revenge • The Return of Cooler • Super Android 13! • Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan • Bojack Unbound • Broly - Second Coming • Bio-Broly • Fusion Reborn • Wrath of the Dragon
Television specials	Bardock - The Father of Goku • The History of Trunks
OVAs	Gaiden: Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku • Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!
Dragon Ball GT adaptations
Television specials	A Hero's Legacy
Other adaptations
Live-action films	Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins • Dragon Ball • Dragonball: Evolution