Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 53 of the first Dragon Ball rewatch of the decade.
We're doing five episodes a week, and we'll be watching every single episode of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. All 508 episodes. Plus the TV specials and the movies.
I encourage you all to watch in Japanese with subtitles, especially if you have never done so before, but watch along in whichever way brings you the most joy.
The good news is KBABZ has returned to aid in trivia!
The bad news is, this week's viewing is the immensely crappy DBZ movie 4, the one with Lord Slugg.
Previous thread: Week 52 (DBZ 70-74)
Next thread: Week 54 (DBZ 75-79)
Anyway, without further ado...
Super Saiyan Son Goku
Dub title: Lord Slug
Originally released 9th of March 1991
Director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Animation supervisor: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Masaki Satō
Written by: Takao Koyama
The gang reckon with the arrival of the mysterious Lord Slugg, who seeks eternal youth!
Interesting trivia:
- Lord Slugg was originally released on Marth 19th, 1991 as part of the Spring "Toei Anime Fair", alongside a movie from the Magical Taluluto series.
- This is the first Dragon Ball movie to open straight into the intro, rather than having a prologue section first.
- Gohan's starting outfit in this movie is from his original introduction in the opening of the Saiyan Arc, presumably chosen so Slugg can take the Dragon Ball from Gohan's hat. Consequently this movie is the first time Gohan has an extended fight in this outfit.
- Gohan's whistling is of course not done by Masako Nozawa; instead it was performed by Hajime Ueshiba, who whistles and plays piano professionally.
- Daizenshuu 6 recounts stories of children imitating Gohan's whilstling while exiting the theatre.
- Maeda designed Hire Dragon's outfit to have bells that with ring as it danced along with Gohan.
- Piccolo and Gohan can sense Lord Slugg's arrival from a MUCH greater distance compared to Goku's ability to detect Tullece in the previous movie.
- This movie is Dr. Brief's first appearance in a Dragon Ball movie.
- The Capsule Corp. observatory's location is unknown, however its interior bears a resemblance with the launch bay from the second episode of Dragon Ball GT, including the upper balcony.
- Bulma's outfit in this movie is from the 23rd Tournament Arc.
- The seeming destruction of Earth isn't the first time a "bad ending fake-out" has been used in the anime: during the 22nd Tournament, Yamcha has a vision from the hospital of Goku losing his fight with Tien, which isn't revealed as such until he bolts awake.
- The NBS logo seen on the set after the computer simulation has a map of the world behind it. The Daizenshuu map only has landmasses similar to Africa and Asia, however the NBS map clearly has North and South America on it.
- This movie is the first time Naoko Watanabe is heard playing Chi-Chi. She would take over the role starting with DBZ Episode 88 after her previous actress, Mayumi Sho, left to raise her newborn child.
- The shot of the boat being engulfed by the sea is very similar to a shot from the anime when Ma-Junior flattens Papaya Island.
- Minoru Maeda adjusted Lord Slugg's design a bit by giving him a helmet and chest armour to disguise his Namekian heritage. Maeda decided against giving him a cape since it would have been too Namekian-like, even though Piccolo is the only one to ever wear one.
- How exactly Lord Slugg's empire interacted with Freeza's, while an interesting thing to think about, goes unexplained.
- One of Lorg Slugg's men appears similar to Drum, appropriate given Slugg's Namekian origin.
- The names of Lord Slugg's men are all puns on the Andromeda galaxy, since they all come from space.
- It isn't explained how Gohan's Dragon Ball stays attached to his hat. Glue, maybe?
- The scene of Bulma summoning Shen Long that Lord Slugg reads is specifically of when she, Roshi and Oolong wished Goku back to life in the Saiyan Arc.
- The limitation of the Demon Clan to last even an hour in direct sunlight did not seem to be any hindrance for Daimao or any of his men when they were conquering Earth.
- When Chichi takes the warm drink to Gohan, she's seen walking past a pinboard with a calendar on it with "3 March" written on it. This doesn't confirm the date, as March is the 3rd month of the year, nor is any year given. However given that none of the days are crossed out, the movie likely takes place on March 1st.
- On the calendar, March 21st is highlighted in red. This is because that's one of the days Japanese Vernal Equinox Day falls on, which commemorates the beginning of spring and as such can vary between the 21st and 20th of March, depending on the astronomy. The date on the Lord Slugg calendar is incorrect however: throughout the entire run of Dragon Ball, Vernal Equinox Day fell on the 20th of March, never on the 21st.
- Also on the cork board are a picture of Master Roshi, and a picture of Goku holding up an infant Gohan.
- Gohan's room once again has a Malboro Formula 1 car in it, this time in the form of a poster. As explained in the DBZ Movie 2 trivia entry in regards to the model of this car seen on a shelf, the famous Malboro racer is referenced by Dragon Ball because the team sponsored Jump through 1990, and Toriyama is a big fan of the sport.
- There's also of course a big Arale poster on the wall; the placement to the right of the door is exactly where the Policeman Arale picture was placed in Bulma's house during Episode 2 of the original anime (it was not present in the manga).
- Gohan and Oolong once again flee the house for misadventues without telling Chichi, just like in the prologue to DBZ Movie 2.
- As seen on a sign, the truck that Gohan and Oolong hide behind is on Iguana Street West.
- The jewelery shop at the bottom of the building where Piccolo fights Dorodabo on is called Moulin Rouge. Moulin Rogue was a cabaret in Paris that birthed the can-can dance. As revealed by the truck, this is the same street where Gohan and Oolong were hiding.
- Medamatcha should not have performed a whistle, considering he didn't close his lips enough.
- This movie provides a rare look at Piccolo's shoulder pauldrons without the cloak completely covering it.
- Goku's arrival parallels his in the Saiyan Arc: after Piccolo takes considerable damage to protect Gohan, Goku arrives and ignores the villains talking to him to tend to Gohan (Goku also catches one of his victims by his back and tosses him to his comrades). It's also similar to his fight with Jheese and Butta, where he makes complete fools of them and hides in plain sight. Angira even looks a bit like Jheese!
- Slugg's disposal of Kuririn (a single karate chop without other movement) is exactly how Cell would eventually defeat Mr. Satan in the Cell Games.
- In the wide shot after Slugg hits Kuririn away, the hole blasted in the wall of the Moulin Rouge shop is missing. It reappears when Slugg tosses Goku into the truck.
- Very famously, the Super Saiyan identified by Kaio in this movie contradicts the Super Saiyan that appeared in the manga; the movie debuted a mere 10 days before Goku would achieve it in the manga. The major difference outside the lack of pupil's is Goku's hair: it remains black instead of turning blonde. Interestingly Toriyama adopted the blonde colouring to save him and his inker from having to ink Goku's hair all the time, so it's possible this decision was made after Lord Slugg was animated. Toriyama did however come up with the idea that the transformation made Goku's hair stand up, which he retained for his storyline.
- Despite punching themselves through multiple buildings, Goku and Slugg always seem to fight in the same Iguana Street West section of the city.
- Lord Slugg's "fleshy bits" on his arms are coloured beige, a middle-ground between anime Piccolo's pink and Daimao's yellow when he's old. Slugg is the only Namekian to have this colouring.
- The green Moulin Rouge appears in one of the shots as giant Lord Slugg fights Goku, despite Slugg destroying it earlier in the movie.
- When Goku is punched through the street into an underground highway, a yellow aircar can be seen that looks a lot like Thunderbird 4, the yellow submarine. Here, the front grille is now on the back, it lacks the roof fin and only has one thruster.
- This is the second movie in a row where Goku is crushed in the hands of a giant villain.
- It's also the second movie in a row where the main villain is defeated by a Genki Dama.
- It's the third movie in a row where major damage upon the planet's environment is part of the villain's plan. In this case, it's freezing temperatures.
- Despite pulling his ears off, Piccolo should still be able to hear the whistling; presumably he did it to lesson its impact. Indeed, he has no trouble hearing Yajirobe talk about Senzu Beans at the very end of the movie.
- The music as Goku admires the sun being out again contains refrains similar to the first track in "Gift of the Dragon Balls", which played when Goku recalled his first meeting with Chichi at the 23rd Tournament.
- The cyan and purple outfit that Gohan wears during the closing credits are identical to the ones Goten wears in the Great Saiyaman Arc and Dragon Ball Super.
- The car that Roshi overtakes Goku in during the end credits is a Caterham 7, a superlight sports car from the United Kingdom. The specific paint job is the one used for the Caterham 7 at the start of the opening to 1967 British Sci-Fi show The Prisoner.
- Lord Slugg contains many, MANY parallels with Piccolo Daimao. Both escaped the drought of Namek and are incredibly powerful warriors of pure evil who swiftly gather the Dragon Balls and wish for their youth (although Lord Slugg wishes for eternal youth specifically). Ma-Junior is also referenced as well with the giant form and using stretchy limbs, as well as pulling off their broken arm to regenerate it.