Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug
Film poster
Directed by	Mitsuo Hashimoto
Produced by	Chiaki Imada Rikizō Kayano
Written by	Takao Koyama (screenplay) Akira Toriyama (original series author)
Starring	Masako Nozawa Naoki Tatsuta Hiromi Tsuru Mayumi Tanaka Toshio Furukawa Naoko Watanabe Yūsaku Yara Kouhei Miyauchi Kenji Utsumi Jōji Yanami
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Release date(s)	March 19, 1991
Running time	46 min.
Language(s)	Japanese/English

Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug (ドラゴンボールZ 超サイヤ人だ孫悟空, Doragon Bōru Zetto: Sūpā Saiyajin da Son Gokū; lit. "Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiyan Son Goku") is the fourth Dragon Ball Z movie. It was originally released in Japan on March 19, 1991, between episodes 81 and 82, and later released in America by FUNimation Entertainment in 2001. Bridge Entertainment's title is Super Saiyan Son Goku. It is the first Dragon Ball Z movie (not counting the later Ultimate Uncut edition of the previous movies), but the third feature (the Bardock - The Father of Goku and History of Trunks specials were dubbed a year before), to be dubbed with FUNimation's English in house voice cast.

SummaryEdit

An asteroid alert is wreaking havoc all over the planet as it is going to destroy the entire Earth. Goku and Krillin go to deflect the asteroid off course so it does not hit Earth. They have been told they cannot destroy it because it is inhabited, and at the time they do not know who inhabits it. They attempt to move it using a combined Kamehameha, but apparently miss and are blown away by the fierce winds produced by the near-clash of the asteroid with Earth.

The asteroid passes near Earth but misses the crash, exploding soon afterward. However, a spaceship from the asteroid lands on Earth, full of soldiers who serve Lord Slug. Along with his crew of vicious fighters, he has traveled from planet to planet wreaking chaos, and Earth is his new target. The way they dominate a planet is to literally change its atmosphere, Terra-freezing the planet. By conforming it to their liking, they make it more suitable for themselves and almost unbearable for any other people, including the native occupants of the planet. Later they transform the planet into a giant spaceship, and move on to find a new planet to conquer.

Upon their landing, a nearby Gohan attempts to stop Slug's soldiers. Slug notices the Dragon Ball Gohan has on his hat. After reading Bulma's mind, Slug learns about the Dragon Balls and how to get them. Lord Slug has by now aged hundreds of years and is rapidly approaching the end of his life, so he sends his minions to gather the Dragon Balls, and uses them to restore his youth and health; like King Piccolo before him, being fully restored gave him a far greater power.

Goku, along with his son Gohan and Piccolo, arrive and square off against Slug's team and manage to defeat them all. The final battle against Slug is left in the hands of Goku. Goku is able to take Slug on in an incredibly fierce battle. Slug gains the upper hand with his Power of Darkness technique and pummels Goku around. As Goku is on the verge of giving up, Slug's taunts combined with the sight of such pointless slaughter pushes Goku over the edge and he transforms into a False Super Saiyan. With his new power, Goku easily dominates Slug and destroys one of his arms.

Now, Slug reveals his Namekian nature by regrowing his arm and removing his helmet, and transforms into a giant version of himself. King Kai reveals that Slug was one of the rare Super Nameks, who began to misuse their power to the point that the Namekians used Porunga to banish them from Namek forever. In his new form, Slug turns the tables on Goku again.

Piccolo intervenes and attempts to fight Slug but is easily beaten. In a surprising move, Piccolo tears off his ears and tells Gohan to whistle. Exploiting a weakness of all Namekians, their extremely sensitive hearing, Gohan's whistling is able to bring Slug to his knees.

Piccolo gives what little strength he has left to Goku in his battle against Slug. Thanks to Piccolo, Goku is able to use the Kaio-ken, and manages to punch a hole through Slug's stomach, weakening the Super Namek severely. Goku flies up above the clouds to deliver the final blow to Slug with a Spirit Bomb powered-up from energy taken from the sun. The Spirit Bomb heads straight into the freezing generator, taking Slug with it and destroying him.

Following Slug's defeat and the end of the threat, the friends reunite and are given Senzu Beans by Yajirobe. The final scene involves Master Roshi waking up from his nap which he started before the aliens landed, and he wishes that something interesting would happen.

Timeline placementEdit

The movie may take place in the three years the Z Fighters are training to prepare for the Androids. Goku is seen driving a car with Krillin in the credits, and he got his license during the three-year preparation for the Androids.^[1] Also, this film takes place at least one year after the events of Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might; when Lord Slug is reading Bulma's mind, one of the images is Krillin, Bulma, and Oolong summoning Shenron with the outfits they wear at the beginning of The Tree of Might.

Daizenshuu 6 also notes that the movie would take place around the time of the fight with Frieza on Namek.

ReleasesEdit

The movie was originally released on both VHS and Laserdisc in Japan. They were in a 16:9 format, cropped from its original 4:3 format. It was then released later in Japan as part of the well-known Dragon Box sets, remastered from its 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 its 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 August 7, 2001 by FUNimation, in VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD. It was released in a 4:3 format.^[2] The movie was later re-released on October 15, 2002, bundled with Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge and Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler.^[3]

FUNimation re-released this film in September 16, 2008, alongside the third movie, Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, digitally remastered and in a 16:9 format, as a "Double Feature" DVD and Blu-ray.^[4]

FUNimation also released Lord Slug with Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone, Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest, Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, and Cooler's Revenge on November 1, 2011. These are the same disks on the double features, however.

CastEdit

MusicEdit

• Opening Theme (OP): "Cha-La Head-Cha-La"
• Intermission Song (IN): "Kuchibue no Kimochi"
• Ending Theme (ED): "“Ya” na Koto ni wa Genki-Dama!!"

• FUNimation Dub
  1. Finger Eleven - Drag You Down
  2. Finger Eleven - First Time
  3. Dust for Life - Seed
  4. Dust for Life - Dragonfly
  5. American Pearl - Automatic
  6. Dust for Life - Step Into The Light
  7. Disturbed - Fear
  8. American Pearl - Free Your Mind
  9. Boy Hits Car - The Rebirth
  10. Deftones - Elite
  11. Disturbed - Stupify
  12. Boy Hits Car - I'm A Cloud
  13. Breaking Point - Coming Of Age

CharactersEdit

HeroesEdit

• Goku
• Gohan
• Piccolo
• Krillin
• Chi-Chi

VillainsEdit

• Lord Slug
• Wings
• Medamatcha
• Angila
• Commander Zeeun

Major battlesEdit

• Gohan & Chi-Chi vs. Lord Slug Soldiers
• Piccolo vs. Wings
• Gohan vs. Medamatcha
• Piccolo vs. Medamatcha & Angila
• Goku vs. Medamatcha & Angila
• Goku & Krillin vs. Slug
• Goku vs. Slug
• Goku (False Super Saiyan) vs. Slug
• Goku vs. Slug (Giant Form)
• Piccolo vs. Slug (Giant Form)
• Goku vs. Slug (Giant Form)

TriviaEdit

• Two of Slug's henchmen, Angila and Wings, are modeled after, and strongly resemble Zarbon and Dodoria respectively.
• In the scene where Chi-Chi realizes Gohan has disappeared from home, a poster of Arale from Akira Toriyama's previous hit series Dr. Slump can be seen in Gohan's room.
• A McDonald's fast food restaurant can be seen in the background of Iguana Street.
• It is the second time that a Namekian wishes for eternal youth, as well as the second time that a Namekian transforms into its Giant Form.
• The movie reveals that Namekian ears are sensitive to certain sounds, like whistling.
• Lord Slug is killed in a similar manner to Turles from the previous movie, The Tree of Might. Both are hit by Goku with a Spirit Bomb and knocked into their device used to do evil things to the Earth (Tree of Might for Turles, and Terra Freeze machine for Slug), destroying it as well.
• The Sun plays an important role in this movie: its light is shown to be harmful to an exposed henchmen of Lord Slug, and it is where Goku gathers the energy to make the Spirit Bomb.
• Based on the shocked reaction of King Kai to Goku's "Super Saiyan" form, it does not appear that Goku assumed the "true" Super Saiyan transformation within this film's past. Created for the movie, this Super Saiyan form (known as "False Super Saiyan" among fans) is a supposed prequel to the actual Super Saiyan form. It was more than likely an attempt to show what a Super Saiyan looked like (due to its mention by Vegeta during the Captain Ginyu Saga), but without the knowledge of its appearance since the movie was released before the true form was introduced to the manga/anime.

GalleryEdit

Gohan apologizing to Piccolo Krillin at Kame House Master Roshi takes a nap The group cheering for Goku and Krillin Goku and Krillin Goku and Krillin Goku and Krillin's Combined Kamehameha Krillin and Goku firing their Kamehameha waves Explosion caused by Goku and Krillin's combined attack The group after Goku and Krillin's failure Lord Slug's army steps out of the ship Lord Slug with the Four-Star Dragon Ball Commander Zeeun Lord Slug fires a Finger Beam Lord Slug's Finger Beam hits Zeeun Zeeun impaled by Lord Slug's Finger Beam Gyoshu swiftly killed by a Ki Blast Lord Slug summons Shenron, in order to be young again Lord Slug receives eternal youth Gohan runs Gohan fighting Lord Slug's clan Angila and Wings attack Gohan Gohan gets kneed in the stomach Gohan coughs up spit Gohan faints Gohan is knocked out Slug's soldiers firing energy waves at civilians Slug's soldiers firing energy waves at civilians Ki Blasts fired by Lord Slug's soldiers Lord Slug's soldiers Ki Blasts to attack civilians Gohan dodges the blasts fired by Lord Slug's soldiers Gohan deflects Ki Blasts fired by Lord Slug's soldiers Two of Lord Slug's soldiers fire energy waves The attack causes an explosion Ki Blasts hit the ground Goku Gohan fires a Masenko Slug's soldiers hit by Gohan's energy wave Gohan after firing his Masenko Gohan fires another Masenko at Lord Slug's army Gohan's Masenko hits Lord Slug's soldiers Gohan confronted by Slug's soldiers Lord Slug's soldiers firing their blasts at Gohan Gohan dodges the the blasts fired by Slug's soldiers Gohan hit by the attack A Ki Blast fired by Piccolo at Slug's soldiers Piccolo Piccolo vs. Wings Piccolo breaks Wings' arm Wings about to be killed Piccolo charges a Ki Blast Wings is executed Wings's death Angila watches Wings's death from afar Gohan dodges Medamatcha's attacks Gohan fires a Ki Blast at Medamatcha Medamatcha deflects Gohan's Ki Blast while firing his Evil Comet Gohan hit by Medamatcha's Evil Comet Medamatcha with his clones The Medas attack Gohan fires an Energy Wave at the Medas Gohan fires a second Energy Wave at the Medas Gohan has his energy drained by the Medas Piccolo fires a Makōhō at Angila Piccolo fires Eye Lasers Piccolo's Eye Lasers reach Angila Medamatcha charges a Full Power Energy Wave Medamatcha fires his Full Power Energy Wave Medamatcha's Full Power Energy Wave Piccolo protects Gohan from Medamatcha's Full Power Energy Wave Medamatcha's Full Power Energy Wave explodes Piccolo after protecting Gohan Angila and Medamatcha fire Full Power Energy Blast Volleys Angila and Medamatcha's blasts hit Piccolo Medamatcha dodges Goku's Ki Blast Energy Waves fired by Goku and Krillin approach Angila and Medamatcha Goku uses an Explosive Wave on the Medas Goku's Explosive Wave destroys the Medas Goku punches Medamatcha in the stomach Medamatcha defeated by Goku Goku after defeating Medamatcha Goku Angila catches Goku Angila fires his Evil Quasar The Evil Quasar approaches Goku Goku fires a Ki Blast at Angila Goku's Ki Blast Goku's Ki Blast approaches Angila Angila's attack is returned to his mouth Angila is defeated Goku Lord Slug kills his soldiers with a Ki Blast Krillin and Goku Krillin and Goku Goku Goku vs. Lord Slug Goku struggles with Lord Slug Goku fires an Energy Wave at Lord Slug Lord Slug about to be hit by Goku's Energy Wave Lord Slug prepares a Double Axe Handle Lord Slug's Double Axe Handle Goku Lord Slug using his Darkness Eye Beam Goku dodges Lord Slug's attack Lord Slug throws a punch Goku blocks Slug's punch Goku powers up Goku punches Lord Slug Goku punches Slug down Goku kicks Lord Slug Goku charges a Double Axe Handle against Lord Slug Goku smashes Lord Slug King Kai witnesses Goku's power Goku fires Continuous Kamehameha at Lord Slug False Super Saiyan Goku's Continuous Kamehameha Lord Slug regenerates an injured arm he tore off Goku realizes the similarity between Lord Slug and Piccolo Lord Slug begins his transformation Lord Slug transforms into a Great Namek Lord Slug in his giant form Goku charges an Energy Wave to fire at Giant Lord Slug Goku fires the Energy Wave at Giant Slug Giant Lord Slug fires an Energy Wave at Gohan Giant Lord Slug's Energy Wave hits his ship Kakuja tumbles to his death Giant Slug finds Goku Goku charges a Kamehameha to fire at Giant Slug Goku hit by Slug's Darkness Blaster Goku charges a Ki Blast Goku launches his Ki Blast toward Lord Slug Giant Slug fires his Darkness Eye Beam at Goku Giant Slug crushes Goku Piccolo smirks before ripping off his ears Piccolo gives his remaining energy to Goku Goku uses Piccolo's power Goku attacks Giant Slug Goku punches through Lord Slug Giant Slug after Goku ripped a hole in his chest Great Namek Lord Slug with a hole through his chest Great Namek Lord Slug falls on top of his ship Kakuja before exploding Kakuja enveloped by the ship's explosion Goku gathers energy for the Spirit Bomb Goku with the energy he collected Goku uses the Spirit Bomb The destruction of the Terra-Freezing pod Slug's death Lord Slug's demise Goku Goku, Gohan, and Krillin at the end of the movie Piccolo with the others Roshi wakes up Add a photo to this galleryAdd a photo to this gallery

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

• MyFavoriteGames - Movie Summary