Yo! Welcome to week 420 of the first DBZ rewatch of the decade.
We're doing five episodes a week, and we'll be watching every single episode of DragonballZ and DragonballSuper. All 284 episodes. Plus the movies. We also decided to add the spinoffs (except the first Dragonball
) due to popular demand.I encourage you all to watch the Crunchyroll dub so you don't have to hear Grandma Goku or Wolverine Piccolo or that fucking boring Japanese music.
Alright, now that we've finished prooving how shit GT was and how much Super is superior to it, let's take a dive into the best piece of DragonballZ media, Evolution. When will we finally end this rewatch? Who knows. More importantly, who the fuck cares?
Previous thread: Week 419 (GT 62-64 + A Hero's Legacy)
Next thread: Week 421 (AF 1-5)
Anyway, without further ado...
Movie 14 - Dragonball Evolution
Originally released 10th of April 2009
Written by: Ben Ramsey and James Wong
Director: James Wong
Dragonball Evolution is a 2009 American live-action film adaptation of the Dragon Ball franchise produced by 20th Century Fox. The story centers around the adventures of the lead character, Goku, on his 18th birthday. The film began development in 2002, and was directed by James Wong and produced by Stephen Chow. It was released in Japan on March 13, 2009, in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2009 and in North America on April 10, 2009. Actor Justin Chatwin was cast as Goku, and James Marsters portrays Lord Piccolo, the antagonist of the film. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray July 24, 2009 for the Asian market, and on July 28, 2009 for North America and Europe.[2] It had a budget of $30 million and made just under $55m globally, meaning it made about $25m (not counting marketing expenses or the cut the cinemas / China take, so it probably didn't earn very much at all).
The events depicted in the movie take place in a dimension separate from the main timeline.[3] Obviously.
Trivia:
Spoiler:
Trivia about the movie Dragonball Evolution:
Trivia about the leaked draft script (largely written from the point of view that you won't have read it, so a lot of this is just pointing out things that happen in it):
Spoiler:
- Okay, we'll drop the kayfabe here. Happy April Fool's, everybody!
- Yes, we really did both watch Evolution for this. And no, we still do not plan to cover Super. :p
- To be fair, 86 minutes of awfulness is a lot more tolerable than 2620!
- Dragon Ball Evolution released in 2009, the same year Dragon Ball Kai started airing in Japan. Evolution happens to cover the early story that Kai didn't.
- Thanks to Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox, Dragon Ball Evolution is available on Disney+. This arguably makes it the most widely-accessible Dragon Ball movie. Strangely, the modern Dragon Ball movies are NOT on the service, presumably to avoid overlapping with Crunchyroll.
- Evolution's story is a very broad combination of the Pilaf and Daimao Arcs, with some elements of the 23rd Tournament and Saiyaman Arcs.
- Evolution was shot entirely on film, making it the last Dragon Ball production to do so after Dragon Ball GT and the Goku Jr. Special in 1997.
- Evolution begins with a shot of the sun, like the original Mystical Adventure OP.
- The narrator in the prologue mispronounces Piccolo (more like Peecolo), but correctly pronounces Oozaru (which should really be Ouzaru, or Ozaru). Barry Watson would be proud.
- The first big change is right in the intro: Oozaru is a figure who worked with Piccolo.
- The technique used to seal Piccolo away is called the Mafuba, the original Japanese title for the move. However, the translated name Funimation used in their dubs, the Evil Containment Wave, is actually accurate to the meaning of the term.
- In Evolution, the Mafuba was performed by several martial artists, not just one.
- The narration explains Piccolo was trapped under the earth, but the visuals show him being trapped in a jar sort of like he was in the anime and manga. KBABZ speculates it was both. In either case, how exactly he was released is never shown, but unlike the anime, it's never EXPLAINED either!
- Piccolo is imprisoned in an antique jar here, not a rice cooker.
- Ki is mentioned multiple times in Evolution, making it and the Blue Water Ocean dubs of DB and GT the only English Dragon Ball productions to use the word.
- It is possible Ocean Kai does as well.
- Evolution is set on Earth, as confirmed by the shot of Earth in the opening.
- Like many movies, the fonts used for Evolution's logo in the movie differs from the ones used in the production itself.
- Goku's opening outfit recalls his anime one, being a blue shirt with red cuffs.
- While Grandpa Gohan has been known as a wielder of the Nyoi-bo for decades now, Evolution is the first time he's actually been shown with it at all, let alone actually using it.
- The staff also has end caps on it, which is closer to its typical depiction in Journey to the West.
- Apparently, pushing yourself up off the ground with your staff does not count as touching the ground!
- Yes they really used a cartoon gulp sound effect when Gohan swallows the bug Goku kicked at him.
- Goku has trouble seeing the Shadow Crane Strike because it's too fast for him to see, with Gohan advising he shouldn't rely on his external senses. This is something Gohan had to go through in the Saiyan Arc.
- Gohan's rock garden has seven stones in it, arranged in the typical Dragon Ball arrangement.
- Gohan also apparently had this rock garden prepared beforehand.
- Goku has trouble with sensing ki, which was a subplot in the Heavenly Training Arc. This idea is then dropped, as Goku senses Master Roshi in Paozu.
- When Goku tries to use his ki, we see a shot of the trees, evoking when Goku uses the Genki-Dama by calling upon nature itself.
- Gohan's house has the general appearance of a larger, two-storeyed version of his manga house.
- Gohan has an orange plant in his greenhouse, evoking the Dragon Balls.
- Goku notes his bullies make him want to explode. He would attempt to do just that in GT, before Vegeta points out the idea is futile (speaking from experience from his sacrifice to destroy Boo).
- Evolution is also the first time the Chinese name of a Dragon Ball has been used in English. Helpfully, Gohan explains what it means: Sushinchu, from the Chinese Si Xing Qiu (pronounced as Su Shing Chiu), means "Four-Star Ball" and is the proper name for the Four-Star Dragon Ball (matching the proper names for the other balls, which the Evil Dragons would mirror). This is a detail no English version of Dragon Ball except for the ViZ manga had ever rendered (or would ever render after this movie).
- Rather than recieving it after Gohan dies, Goku gets the Four-Star Ball as a birthday present.
- The box the Four-Star Ball is lined with a blue fabric, which evokes the purple pillow it rested on in the anime.
- The colour palette of Evolution's Dragon Balls are roughly reversed, being dark orange spheres with yellow stars.
- Unlike in any other depiction, the Dragon Balls' stars in Evolution move.
- Gohan knows the legend of the Dragon Balls. In the manga / anime he never seemed to know, but this may be because he has such limited screentime and we only see him posthumously.
- Gohan and Roshi say that the Dragon Balls will grant one "perfect" wish. This isn't too far from the truth: Shen Long always seems to take the intent of the wish into account when granting them, thus making them "perfect" from the perspective of the one asking the wish.
- It would be easy to criticise this movie for transplanting its setting to modern day earth, but when the original manga begun in 1984, its setting was always a mixture of the present day, a sci-fi future, and a fantasy past. So, the modern earth setting isn't totally crazy.
- This is the second time a member of the Son family has been the awkward high school student.
- When Goku arrives at Uni Tech high school, he parks his bike next to a Renault Megane. The model released in 2002, a year after Funimation's own dub of the original Dragon Ball started airing. In the manga Bulma famously encounters Goku while driving a Renault 5 Turbo.
- Goku is yet again nearly run over by somebody in a car early into his adventure.
- Goku having his bike crushed by an obnoxious american muscle car is a fantastic metaphor for Funimation's dubbing practices.
- "Geeko" is actually quite similar to one of the incorrect names the tournament announcer read Goku's as in the Blue Water dub of OG DB.
- Although "Geeko" isn't especially accurate to the Goku of the anime and manga, he's actually not all that far off a much less carefree version of Gohan, what with his women troubles, the fact he's attending high school, the fact he's awkward and people at his school get on his case, and has an uncontrollable hidden power.
- Carey is the second black character to appear in the Dragon Ball franchise with a speaking role who isn't a blackface stereotype (the first was the Path to Power's redesign of Staff Officer Black).
- Carey tries to goad Goku into punching him square in the jaw, something Mr. Satan does to Trunks in the Boo Tournament. Unlike in Evolution, Trunks TOTALLY goes for it.
- Piccolo makes his debut on an airship, much like in the manga.
- The ship Piccolo flies around in is referred to in the video game tie-in as Piccolo's Dirigible.
- In the role of Piccolo is James Marsters, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Smallville fame.
- Marsters was unfamiliar with Dragon Ball when cast, but he did research in the form of renting every Dragon Ball (Z) tape he could from his local Blockbuster, and he binged it with his son. He arrived on set to find no one knew what they were doing and the story bore no resemblance to what he'd watched.
- Marsters would later be cast in Funimation's dub of Super in the role of Zamasu, albeit credited under a pseudonym. We honestly don't blame him there.
- Piccolo's skin was originally shot white, but after fan backlash following early promo material, he was digitally recoloured green in every shot he appears in.
- The first Dragon Ball stolen by Mai is kept in a leather pouch, which is how Goku famously carries it in the manga.
- Goku is still wearing his full coat in the middle of class. Weird!
- In Goku's fantasy of Chichi, she eats a strawberry, which is what Bulma originally wanted to wish for in the manga.
- To date, Dragonball Evolution is the only work that actually acknowledges how much time passed after Piccolo's original domination over the Earth, being 2000 years ago. In Evolution's timescale, that would be 10 years after the birth of our lord and saviour Christopher Sabat.
- For the record, in the original anime/manga, Piccolo's reign of terror could have only been a few hundred years ago, with that being Roshi's approximate age.
- The actors in this film mispronounce Namek in the same way most of the English dubs do (notably, according to Scott McNeil, this was corrected in Ocean's dub of Kai). In addition, they refer to the Namekians as Nameks, which is a somewhat odd choice since the planet is supposed to be called Namek; most English dub scripts after the Namek saga of Funimation's dubbing of Z would change this to Namekians.
- You could criticise this movie on the basis that we know the Namekians in general are a peaceful race, but Grandpa Gohan only ever knew about Piccolo, so presumably he's pretty jaded.
- Evolution has two speaking black characters in the first 12 minutes, which took the manga a year and a half to do.
- Evolution's depiction of Uni Tech high school shows it infused with tech, like the card-scanning lockers and a plaque for a virtual teacher.
- On said plaque, it's revealed that Uni Tech High School was founded in 1989, which is the year Dragon Ball Z debuted.
- Coincidentally, 1989 was also the year the Harmony Gold dub of Dragon Ball's first movie premiered in America, becoming the first English dub of Dragon Ball to air there. KBABZ has watched it several times now and thinks it's way better in comparison to Evolution.
- As well, the signage around the high school has signage in English, Japanese and Spanish, the three languages Dragon Ball is most popular in. This was most likely done to infuse Japanese flavouring with America, which often use Spanish as a second language option in the southern states that are close to Mexico.
- Once again a member of the Son family has a conversation with a girl among high school lockers.
- Goku is correct about Chichi being a stupid name, and not being normal, since it means "boobies" and is weird.
- Goku uses hair gel, something anime characters are often accused of using.
- Goku's room is dressed in the style of the 80s, the decade Dragon Ball started.
- Gohan's cake for Goku has seven candles on it.
- In Goku's room is a poster for "Toisan Tournament Champions", long before Chichi introduces it in the movie proper.
- Goku's hair snapping back happens to line up with Vegeta's words in Funi's dub of Kai, that a Saiyan's hair maintains the same shape from the day they're born.
- Chichi's place looks very fortress-like, much like the Gyuumao's castle in Mount Frypan. Unfortunately it's Gohan's house that'll be destroyed this time.
- We've no idea why the bully pours out the cup of water either.
- "It's not gonna be a fight, it'll be a massacre" echoes Gohan's line from Funimation's dub of Z, where Super Boo asks if Gohan will fight him and he says "Fight you? No, I'm going to kill you." (Or, "I'm going to destroy you" in the edited version and Ocean's dub)
- The idea of Goku winning a fight without throwing a single punch is probably the most Dragon Ball thing in the entire movie. It's reminiscent of Shen clumsily dodging all his opponents attacks, or when Freeza abstained from fighting Goku with his arms.
- We don't know where the bullies got their metal bars either.
- Piccolo seems well-practiced in the Dark Side.
- Much like the end of the 22nd Tournament, Goku is able to sense when a loved one is in mortal peril. He also does this for Chichi and Gohan in DBZ Movie 1.
- Dragon Ball Evolution has a scene where a horrible American version of Piccolo destroys the traditional home of a humble Japanese man, killing off the best character in the movie. Compared to the bike bit from earlier, this moment is a FANTASTIC metaphor for this movie's treatment of the source material as a whole.
- Evolution is also the only time we've seen Goku actually discover his grandpa before he dies. In the manga, it's ambiguous whether Goku actually did this or not.
- Here, a place called Paozu is where Roshi is, not Goku and Gohan.
- Despite not being directly destroyed by Piccolo, the rock garden no longer has the border frame around it when Gohan dies.
- We'll give Evolution this, it certainly has the PACING of a real Dragon Ball movie!
- In the last shot of Goku at Gohan's grave, the film has been slowed down at the end, given that the film grain slows to half the frame rate.
- Despite being an American movie based on a Japanese property, Goku doesn't have a poster of grid iron or baseball on his wall: it's an association football poster!
- Said poster also says 2010 on it, meaning Evolution is set at least a year after it came out.
- Lastly, the poster seems to be for Paozu United football club.
- The box with Gohan's gi has an orange glow coming out it, much like the suitcase in Pulp Fiction (a MUCH better movie).
- Once again Bulma points a pistol at a kid while Goku tries to use kung fu on her.
- Interestingly, Bulma uses a futuristic pistol in her meeting with Goku, compared to the realistic one in the manga.
- In Evolution, it's Bulma who doesn't know exactly what a Dragon Ball is, and Goku has to tell her about them, which is the reverse of the manga.
- Once again, Bulma realizes she could have killed Goku, with Goku responding that it wasn't really the case.
- Evolution is the only time Bulma has actually apologized for this.
- Bulma's outfit has shades of her original one with the pink undershirt, biking gloves, and the pistol on her leg. Unfortunately her hair only has the mint streak on her bang (and that's not even getting into the hair colour debacle).
- Goku says it was lucky Bulma wasn't a better shot, when she didn't actually fire on him and had him at gunpoint TWICE.
- It goes without saying that Evolution's Dragon Radar is very different from the manga, looking more like a Digivice toy. That said, it's also the only one to display an accurate GPS map on it, making it less of a portable radar and more an actual GPS!
- Bulma very obviously breaks the fourth wall (ball?) by saying that DBE is a "catchy name". At risk of ruining a good(?) joke, DBE is Evolution's acronym.
- In Evolution, Bulma's reason for getting the Dragon Balls is tied directly into her Capsule Corp. heritage. In the manga this wasn't the case, mostly because her also having a wish is more interesting, but also partially because her being the daughter of Capsule Corp.'s CEO wouldn't be revealed until Goku's first visit to West City.
- Also, is that positive Dragon Ball energy or negative Dragon Ball energy?
- In Evolution, it's Goku who proposes that he protect Bulma during her search, rather than the other way around. This arguably robs Bulma of a lot of her agency since this decision is made by a male character.
- Bulma Briefs was never Bulma's name in the Japanese anime/manga; her father's name is simply Briefs, but he has a doctorate, making him Dr. Briefs. His daughter's name is simply Bulma.
- Rather than her bike being contained in a storage capsule, in Evolution it unfolds from a tiny size. Can you tell this movie came out two years after Transformers?
- This is also confusing because she just mentioned that she comes from Capsule Corp., but they are never used at all in the movie despite being the source behind the company's name.
- It's not clear why the city they go to is called Paozu instead of West City.
- The virtual lady who says "Directory information downloaded" at the terminal Bulma uses has hair closer to what Bulma had in the manga than what Bulma has in this movie, being purple.
- When Bulma can't find Roshi in the Paozu directory, Goku suggests she try "Master". Roshi means Master in Japanese, so Goku is essentially telling her to use his title in another language.
- When Goku is bluntly spelling Master for Bulma, a chimpanzee is visible on the Harry & Milo's directory. A reference to Bubbles, perhaps?
- Goku is able to sense ki to locate Roshi, something he isn't able to do in the manga until after training with Karin.
- Evolution tries to homage the manga by having Roshi's house be on an island, but because it's in the middle of a city construction site it just comes off as really weird.
- While Bulma technically isn't breaking in because the door is unlocked, Roshi would have good grounds on her for trespassing.
- Much like the Funimation dub, Evolution has a habit of giving characters more lines by slipping them into shots where we can't see their mouths.
- While a VERY weird moment, Goku catching all the pebbles is very reminiscent of the classic "catching the bullets" trick used by Roshi, Crane and Gohan.
- Roshi's shirt having a hot anime girl on it appears to be a more wholesome homage to his... problematic treatment of women in the source material. The bikini magazine and Roshi placing his hand on Bulma's side on the bike, and the accidental way he catches her when falling into Yamcha's hole are thankfully the only others.
- Roshi recognises Goku's Ki attack as the Shadow Crane strike. Was this a reference to the Crane Hermit? Probably not, but maybe.
- It takes half an hour for the movie to actually mention Gohan's name. KBABZ was honestly worried it wouldn't do that at all!
- Roshi mispronounces Gohan in the same way Lando Calrissian always mispronounces Han Solo.
- The full name Muten Roshi is used for the only time ever in English-translated Dragon Ball outside of the subtitled Japanese anime.
- Once again Roshi has knowledge of the Dragon Ball legend, similar the Red Ribbon filler episode. This actually contrasts the manga, where he initially had no idea what they were.
- Dragon Ball Evolution is the first time the Dragon God has been called Shen Long in English.
- Evolution is also the second time the Dragon Ball's stars have been depicted in CG, after The Path to Power.
- When Goku takes out Roshi's Dragon Ball, it emits light from the cabinet despite Goku not having removed it from its pouch yet.
- In Evolution Roshi has the Two Star Ball, while in the manga, he has the Three Star Ball.
- Goku having a vision with the Dragon Ball, dropping it, and then Roshi covering it with cloth is much like Pippin accidentally using the Palantir in The Return of the King.
- Roshi also wraps the Dragon Ball in his scarf, meaning he wears it around his neck like he did before giving it to Bulma in the manga.
- Bizzarely, Roshi says that the Shadow Crane Strike is the most basic of the "air bending" techniques, calling to mind The Legend of Aang. Piccolo devastating the land from atop his airship is reminiscent to Fire Lord Ozai burning forests with the power of Sozin's Comet at the end of Season 3.
- Roshi says there are three elements; air, fire, and water. I guess earth can get fucked.
- Goku walking with weights on his back calls to mind both the 21st Tournament Training and the Worldly Training filler. In both cases, the limitations were invoked by Roshi.
- This movie correctly depicts something even the anime and manga has pretty much completely ignored ever since Goku and Chichi got married; Chichi is a martial artist.
- When Chichi kicks her opponent off the ledge, he gives the Wilhelm Scream.
- Confusingly, Chichi says that the thing she wanted to tell Goku was the Toisan Tournament, then Goku asks what she wanted to tell him, and then she says it was that she's secretly a fighter too.
- Twice now Bulma comes in saying she got a signal on a Dragon Ball. Seemingly it takes a while to lock on to a signal, where in the manga it can instantly detect the location of all seven at once.
- Yamcha is the only character in the entire movie to be based on an existing performance of a Dragon Ball character. Unfortunately, it's Funimation's version of Yamcha.
- The plan to defeat Piccolo is to seal him away with the Dragon Balls, much like in the Daimao Arc.
- KBABZ and Robo agree that Yamcha is easily the worst thing about the movie.
- True to the manga, Bulma tries to seduce her way out of a cave-like situation and it doesn't really work out.
- Notably, Dragon Ball Evolution cuts out Pu-erh and Oolong, the latter of which has been infamous among KBABZ and Robo for contributing very little to the story, particularly in the middle set of DBZ movies. A positive change here!
- Starting with the scene in Yamcha's hole, Bulma gains a second mint streak of hair, in her ponytail. It's not clear when this happens, considering it's implied only moments pass between the last shot of her with only one streak (before Roshi jumps up to talk to Yamcha) and the next shot of her, with the second streak.
- Mai refers to Goku as Son Goku, beating Funimation to the punch on that by a good two years. (Though Ocean got to it first, in about 2003, when the first episode of the Blue Water dub of Dragon Ball aired)
- For a movie that so willingly talks about Ki and kung fu, it's bizarre that it decides to make Piccolo's minions a creation of science.
- Further, it's bizarre that it includes Piccolo's minions and yet Mai is his second-in-command instead of Piano. This was likely done because Mai is cheaper than a CG monster, and they could give Mai a boob window the size of Arkansas.
- The Dragon Radar (KBABZ is NOT gonna call it the DBE) being disrupted by the volcano's high temperatures is somewhat similar to the Red Ribbon filler during the Tao mini-arc where the RRA uses a jammer for the episode, only to realize it affects their radar as well. The only other time the Radar has been affected is when Pilaf put his inside a lead-lined box.
- Bulma stands out from her anime/manga counterpart by using her gun on someone (or something) that isn't Goku.
- Goku making the bridge is somewhat uneccessary considering Roshi was able to jump right out of Yamcha's hole.
- In real life, Goku would have died purely from the heat: his bridge solution puts him close enough to the lava that his clothes would automatically catch fire, and his skin would probably melt.
- It also never occurs to any of the Dragon Team that they could simply climb on the cliffs around the pool of lava.
- The moment where Mai punches Goku square in the face only for him to not react at all was done several times in the anime.
- It's unclear exactly how Roshi was able to tell what the visions Goku was seeing were. Nonetheless, this is the last time in the movie it happens.
- Roshi says the future is always changing; I'm sure Trunks will be happy to hear that in a few movies' time-- oh, right.
- Goku getting non-consensual visions of the future is also reminiscent of Bardock having the same in his Special.
- Yamcha's name isn't given in the movie until Goku says that Oozaru will kill him and the rest of the world.
- Evolution is also the only time Roshi has ever been shown holding Nyoi-Bo.
- The scene between Roshi and Sifu Norris (yes that's actually his name) is the first one that isn't really inspired by anything in Dragon Ball, except perhaps Roshi and Mutaito in general.
- What the fuck is Ernie Hudson doing in this movie?!
- Collecting a paycheck, that's what.
- Presumably in this version, Roshi was never trained by Mutaito.
- KBABZ hopes to god Sifu Norris isn't a reference to Chuck Norris.
- True to the anime/manga the Mafuba will kill Roshi if he succeeds in using it.
- The Toisan Tournament of Champions uses a circular ring. In the manga and anime, only "official" tournaments like the Tenkaichi Budokai uses square rings, while the more casual ones like at Baba's use circlular ones.
- Dragon Ball Evolution is the first production in the entire franchise to show two female martial artists fighting each other, in Mai and Chichi's match at the Toisan Tournament.
- Chichi fighting Mai is also only the second / third real fight she's been in in the entire franchise. Her fight with Goku was ridiculously one-sided, she was possessed in the Garlic Jr. filler, and she was shown only sparring with Goten in a Boo Arc flashback.
- Like Roshi at the 22nd Tournament, Mai forefeits by stepping out of the ring once she's accomplished her goal.
- Evolution is the only time Dragon Ball has had two concurrent love storylines in the same work.
- As Goku progresses in the journey, he gradually starts adopting a look closer to his original counterpart.
- Roshi tells Goku that he needs to master his Ki in order to master the Kamehameha. This is the opposite of the manga, where Goku gets pretty good at using it years before he recieves any formal ki training (as does Kuririn!).
- Roshi channels his Ki between his hands, similar to Videl doing so when Gohan teaches her about Ki. Roshi's explainations of the move's mechanics are also accurate (to the anime: the manga never showed the Ki gathering between the hands).
- Roshi's Kamehameha (or Kame Hame Ha, judging by the way they pronounce it) is depicted as being yellow like in the manga, rather than blue like in the anime.
- Roshi leaves Goku to practice the technique under his own devices, which is similar to the manga where Roshi never directly taught his students specific techniques.
- Evolution's depiction of Ki attacks are much more wispy and smoke-like, compared to the more geometric, laser-like look from the source material.
- Goku attempting to cheat in his lesson calls to mind Kuririn cheating in the retrieve-the-rock lesson.
- In this movie, the secret to mastering your Ki appears to be horniness. No wonder Roshi is a master!
- Evolution does more to imbue Chichi with martial arts sensibilities than the entire manga and anime do.
- The chant to the vessel for the Mafuba is, according to the subtitles, in Hindi.
- Bulma seems to know who Chichi is in the temple curfew scene despite not meeting her before that point.
- Yamcha says that he didn't think Goku had it in him (referring to hooking up with Chichi). This is the same line Roshi says to Goku in Funi's dub of Kai when he reveals his son Gohan.
- Not only did Mai use a Polyjuice Potion to appear as Chi-Chi, she also apparently bought her exact wardrobe.
- Mai changing appearance is reminiscent of Pu'er and Oolong, although here this only applies to their bodies and not their clothes.
- Speaking of which, it appears that Chichi and Mai have the exact same shirt, bra, pants and waist size given Chichi's clothes fit Mai perfectly after she's changed back.
- Just like the Big Green dub, this movie gives "Kamehameha" a million and one uses.
- When Sifu Norris tells Roshi "good luck, my friend" before he leaves with the container, his jaw doesn't move.
- The biggest change with Goku's gi is that he's wearing a belt with the Kame symbol on it, calling to mind Mr. Satan's championship belt.
- It takes an hour and five minutes for anyone on the Dragon Team to meet Piccolo.
- Goku being Oozaru makes no sense in the movie, because of the 2,000 year gap between the events of the movie and Piccolo's first reign of terror. Unless Oozaru can be reincarnated like Piccolo did in the anime, this is impossible.
- In the shot of Mai running up the cave wall, you can see the foam rock depress under Mai's foot!
- Goku's defeat of Piccolo calls to mind that in the anime, where he thrusts forwards directly at him. Unlike the manga however, the Kamehameha doesn't provide Goku's thrust, thus leaving it unexplained how he does this.
- In Evolution, the Dragon Balls seems to create Shen Long, rather than Shen Long emerging from them.
- In the movie, Shen Long is depicted entirely golden. This detail would be reused for Super Shen Long in Dragon Ball Super.
- When fighting Chichi at the end, the colours of Goku's gi are the inverse of how they usually are.
- The movie ending with a fight between Goku and Chichi is broadly similar to Z ending with a friendly duel between Pan and Goten. Pan won.
- Bizzarely, Toriyama is credited as an Executive Producer on the movie.
- Famously the movie ends with Piccolo being nursed back to health in a bed as a sequel hook, presumably covering the Saiyan Arc. If it were to be authentic (lol), it would mean introducing kid Gohan.
- Mai's name is never mentioned in the movie: it's only listed in the end credits.
- The credits list several Crane operators. As far as we can tell, there were no Crane Hermit animatronics made for the movie.
- Two Cranes are credited in the movie: Trata Films and EFD Rentals, as well as a Super Techno Crane from Active Remote Systems.
- The end credits say that the events, characters and firms depicted in the movie are ficticious, and any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events of firms is purely coincidental. Presumably, this also applies to similarities to the source material.
- This movie being a bit shit is why Toriyama decided to involve himself with Battle of Gods, and thus be responsible for basically everything in the revived era of Dragon Ball. He was worried his creation would be ruined again if he wasn't involved.
- Toriyama was quoted as saying:
Dragon Ball once became a thing of the past to me, but after that, I got angry about the live action movie, re-wrote an entire movie script, and now I’m complaining about the quality of the new TV anime, so it seems that Dragon Ball has grown on me so much that I can’t leave it alone.
- Robo honestly enjoyed watching this crappy movie, but he can't forgive its greatest sin: giving us Dragon Ball Super.
- Toriyama was quoted as saying:
- In 2016, the film's screenwriter Ben Ramsey wrote an apology to fans of Dragon Ball for his work on this film. More on that in a bit.
- Ben Ramsey's fourth or fifth draft (according to the man himself) leaked in 2008, prior to the film's release, and can still be found online; it's very different from the released film, and Ramsey is generally of the opinion that the producers' and director's forced changes made it into "flat out garbage."
- Ramsey has said a couple of times he hopes an actually good, proper Dragon Ball live action movie gets made someday. He has also expressed that he has no desire to be involved in such a project, but puts forward Derek Padula as someone who should be involved.
- Ben Ramsey had no interest in Dragon Ball when he wrote this script, so why did he write it? Apparently he had written a script for a Luke Cage movie that was quite popular in the industry, so he got sent a lot of job offers, including Dragon Ball; he decided to take Dragon Ball because he knew it would be a good payday, that's it. Derek Padula claims Variety reported he was paid $500,000 for his work, though this may have just been for the first draft; Robo was unable to find the actual quote from Variety.
- Interestingly, Ben Ramsey's script for Dragonball Evolution (titled Dragonball Z in earlier drafts) was not the first script Fox considered; according to Derek Padula he was brought on to write a Dragon Ball script, but before him, an unknown writer contributed a Dragon Ball Z script, which got thrown out.
- A script for a sequel to Evolution, titled Dragonball Reborn, was already written (at least as a draft script) according to MTV news.
- The home media release of the movie not only changed the logo, but was also labelled "Z Edition".
- KBABZ watched the entire movie in his pyjamas.
Spoiler:
- In the draft script, Goku and Gohan's sparring match at the top of the movie takes place on a series of wooden posts ascending up a hill.
- The Nyoi-Bo is named in the draft script, called "powerpole". As a reminder, Power Pole was a name invented by the Harmony Gold dub 20 years before this movie, and was inherited by Funimation. Its name was because in HG's script it was the source of Goku's strength (the dub never got far enough to run into the logtistical issues with this, like him discarding it at God's Lookout or not being able to use it in the Tournaments).
- Similarly the script also includes the Flying Nimbus by that name, where Roshi is revealed to actually have it at the climax of the movie.
- The draft script takes place in the far future, roughly the year 4000, after the geography of the world has drastically changed, either due to tectonic shifts or due to aliens invading.
- In the draft script, Goku's class is about history, the teacher specifically calling out a myth that aliens invaded a long time ago.
- In the leaked script, much is made about the fact that everyone knows about the Piccolo cataclysm 2,000 years prior, albiet not the specifics. This is in stark contrast to the Daimao Arc, where the only people who seemed to know about it were Roshi and Crane. Although notably, in the script it's believed by many to be a myth.
- The girl Goku stares at in class in the draft script is some blonde girl called Kira Palu. An expy of Erasa, perhaps?
- Piccolo is referred to as a demon in the draft script, although it still prefers to call him an alien most of the time.
- In the leaked script, Goku says that Piccolo and Oozaru weren't from outer space, but Namek. In KBABZ's opinion, this is semantics since Namek is IN outer space!
- Goku has two best friends at school who also wear martial arts robes; Kal and Wulan.
- Don't worry though, they suddenly get brutally murdered offscreen 25 pages in.
- Similar to the Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission manga, "Dragonball" is a brand in-universe used for trading cards.
- In the draft script, Goku simply forces his love interest's locker open, rather than using a Ki technique to blow all the lockers open. It was likely changed to a ki technique in the final movie to pique Chi-Chi's curiosity because it's a ki technique, tying in with her interest in martial arts.
- Goku, Kal, and Wulan play a video game called Dragonball - Lair of the Eternal Dragon.
- Rather than Bulma flashing back to the theft of the Dragon Ball at Capsule Corp. later in the film, we actually see Mai steal it from Capsule Corp.
- The script directly says that Capsule Corp. HQ is in West City, although it's only name-dropped once by Yamcha at the end of the script.
- Rather than describe its first two fight scenes, the script instead describes them mostly with WHAP! PAP! OOOF! WHAP! POW! BOOF! It will continue to do this for the rest of the story, but with actual descriptions as well.
- The draft script refers to Pilaf's other lackey as Shou, presumably pronounced like in the 1995 dub (sort of like shiaow); the 1995 dub is what Ben Ramsey would have had easiest access to, if he watched the show for research off the available DVD or VHS releases, since Funimation's uncut dub of the first 13 episodes didn't release in the USA until 2009, the year the movie actually came out.
- Pilaf is described in the draft script as "short diminutive ALBINO MAN with a bald head CRISSCROSSED BY BLUE VEINS. He stares out at us with SICKLY PINK EYES." This is a description probably better suited for Garlic Jr.
- The script has Goku attacked by wolves, who appear out of the dark in a forest at first as many pairs of glowing red eyes. This is very reminiscent of Dragon Ball Episode 2's filler scene where Goku, Mai, and Shu are attacked by wolves, as well as Goku and Puck's encounter in the woods before they're saved by Mamba.
- Predicting Sean Schemmel's ad-lib eight years early, the script has Goku decide to forget his tractor.
- Paozu is a small village rather than the bustling city it is in the final movie, the party Goku goes to is there instead of in Chichi's castle estate, and it's already over when he arrives, the party is a disaster for Goku as his love interest is kissing a guy who bullied him at school earlier and doesn't even notice him, and it starts to rain while he walks away.
- In the draft script, we don't see Grandpa Gohan's house get destroyed.
- All three major Asian characters introduced at the start of the story die together when Gohan's house is raided, leaving their white saviour to avenge them.
- This entry assumes that 20th Century Fox had no intention of casting someone asian, let alone actually Japanese, in the lead role, which you can't blame us for thinking.
- In the draft script, the Namekians are referred to as "Namek-Jins"; this is accurate to the Japanese in that that's literally what a Namekian is called, but it fails to grasp the English meaning there, that being "Person from Namek", whereas Namekian captures that just fine. It MAY have been to tie into Piccolo's hero-breaking speech at the end that Goku is a Saiya-jin, except there he's called Saiyan like we're used to in English, so it still makes no sense.
- The draft script compares Goku donning his gi to Superman donning his suit for the first time.
- On that note, the draft script also has Goku don this gi immediately after Gohan dies, rather than waiting until the climax of the film.
- Bulma knows what the Dragon Balls are in the draft script.
- The radar is still called the DBE Locator, though.
- The draft script refers to the currency of this world as RMB, but never explains what it actually stands for.
- In the draft script, Bulma gives her name and Goku laughs at it; apprently this was included as a deleted scene on the DVD, but KBABZ and I failed to find these on YouTube, they're not on Disney+, and neither us are buying the damn DVD for this!
- Unlike the finished movie (but like the manga), Bulma is the one who suggests Goku join her on her hunt for the Dragon Balls. Here though it's so that he can protect the Dragon Balls rather than her, since Bulma is perfectly capable of handling herself in a fight (something that survives into the final movie, sort of).
- The draft script makes Goku smitten with Bulma's flirtations, and just her sexual appeal in general, after the disaster at the party. Robo had already settled on considering the draft script worse than the finished film anyway, but this put it past the point of no return for him despite this script making more of an effort to follow the Pilaf Arc's structure.
- Bulma refers to Goku using nicknames in the draft script, such as GoGo. This sort of reflects her calling him Son-kun in the Japanese version, even into his adulthood.
- In the leaked script, Bulma keeps the Dragon Balls in a lead case. This is what Pilaf did in the Baba Yaga Saga so that he couldn't be tracked down.
- The leaked script uses Capsules, while the final movie uses hyper-compressed unfolding vehicles. This is odd because the movie was made with a low budget, so authentic Hoi Poi Capsules would have been far cheaper to accomplish with literal smoke and mirrors.
- The description for Bulma's vehicle is "THE COOLEST DAMN MOTORCYCLE YOU'VE EVER SCENE[sic]". Based on that description, it can ONLY be a 100% accurate recreation of Bulma's AF4029 motorbike... right?
- In the draft script, Dr. Briefs found the Dragon Ball in an archeological dig "in the Northern Territories" and then died.
- In the first action scene, Goku catches Mai's sword with his bare hands. This sort of wuxia action feat was first done in Dragon Ball when Goku met Trunks, where he deflected all his sword strikes with his index finger.
- In the leaked script, Goku's immunity to bullets is revealed when Mai shoots him (although he does still have a minor wound from it). KBABZ admits this is a far more natural way to reveal this than having Bulma shoot him.
- On a personal note from both KBABZ and Robo, it's our opinion that this script was changed because a lot of it would have been incredibly expensive to make with its reliance on CG environments and action.
- The village scene mixes religious imagery by having a buddha statue and a huge crucifix together in the altar. Many characters also say "for god's sake" and "Jesus,".
- Yamcha uses the Wolf Fang Fist in the draft script. Even in this shitty leaked script, IT DOESN'T WORK (for Yamcha; Goku kicks his ass imitating it).
- In the draft script, the Four-Star Dragon Ball is in Yamcha's cave, and is not the one Gohan gives to Goku. Curiously, Roshi's is still the Three-Star Ball.
- Also, rather than Yamcha trapping the gang in his hole, he tries to rob Goku and Bulma similar to the manga, but then they're attacked by a creature, and because they helped him kill it he decides to be friendly.
- Yamcha gives up his Dragon Ball in exchange for a 7-figure sum of money... in cash. So he follows them around until they can give him this highly impractical payout.
- Pu-erh is a regular tabby cat, albeit trained to steal stuff. Presumably this would have been done in CG, a fairly good reason to cut the character when the movie was made on a low budget (we assume they didn't want to go with a puppet like the Korean bootleg movie).
- The leaked script has a joke where Roshi learns Bulma's name without her telling it first, thanks to it being spelt out in big letters on the back of her varsity jacket. This is the only time KBABZ can recall that people wearing their names on their clothes has actually been referenced.
- In the leaked script, Bulma says that her technical name for the Dragon Balls is "Orbicular metamorphic anomalies". This may explain why she calls them "prometheum orbs" in the final movie until Goku corrects her. In the leaked script, Bulma calls them Dragon Balls anyway because it's easier to say.
- When Robo first mentioned the Romani caravan (the script uses different words that are considered offensive these days) in the script, KBABZ called that they would likely be killed, since they're foreigners who the script probably deems expendable, like Goku's two friends at the beginning of the movie. He was totally right.
- One of the survivors of the caravan is Suno (actually a shape-shifting Mai), with the script highlighting her wintery name when the scene is set in the desert. She seems to lack her anime counterpart's sharpshooter skills.
- Suno is a survivor of the caravan and has a Dragon Ball on her. At first glance, this means the caravan was attacked because they had a Dragon Ball, but then they left without the Dragon Ball. Commander Red would KILL them for that! As it turns out, Suno was Mai in disguise, and she probably did that to infiltrate the Dragon Team. Regardless, nobody seems to realize the logical fallacy.
- The leaked script has Suno (well, Mai disguised as a girl named Suno) join the Dragon Team. This isn't too out of the ordinary: DB Movie 1 had Pansy, an expy of Suno, do exactly the same thing.
- Mai is disguised as Suno, aged 10, meaning Evolution could have beaten Super to the punch of de-aging her by several years!
- The leaked script is strong evidence that we didn't have spellcheck in 2007. We're talking "prophesy" and "the coolest thing you've ever scene" in every instance.
- In the draft script, the gang go to the village of Oxford, where they find (Robo shits you not) the Ox-King.
- As a man of England, Robo was both furious and in hysterics that they actually went for that pun.
- Yes, Chichi shows up there as well. Robo chooses to believe this all means Ox-King and Chichi are both British in this script.
- One clever act of efficiency in the leaked script is moving Oolong to Mount Frypan with Ox-King. KBABZ actually considers this better than Path to Power and DB movie 1 merging Oolong with Yamcha! It's just too bad he's...
- In the draft script, Oolong is a terrifying wraith/ghost monster that takes young girls into its cave and drains out their souls, leaving rotted husks behind. It attempts to do this to Bulma but Roshi kills it with a Kamehameha.
- Not that it's surprising, but the leaked script also makes the "Kamehameha Wave" error.
- The leaked script has the Dragon Team travel on horses. As far as KBABZ can recall, the only other time someone has been on a horse in Dragon Ball is Pilaf, in one of his early imagine spots, although the kingdom in the "Goku Goes to Demon World" filler episode may also have examples.
- Pilaf is a Namekian in the draft script, and the Namekians are evil and work with the Saiyans to conquer planets. Whether this means they replace Freeza, or are closer to his lackeys, is unclear.
- Pilaf uses a flashback machine to give Goku flashbacks to when he was a baby and arrived on earth, and when he was Oozaru and killed Gohan, Kal, and Wulan earlier in the film. He transformed at the full moon, but only because he's now 18, and he was still normal height (like in the final film). However, the eclipse will make the transformation permanent and make him much larger, according to Pilaf.
- Also, while Mai is a shapeshifter like in the finished film, it's revealed here that she's a Namekian, when the race doesn't have women in the manga. So basically she's an evil Skrull.
- Roshi uses his own flashback technique to show Goku that he didn't actually go through with killing Gohan, Kal, or Wulan, and in fact Mai and Shou did that after Goku backed off and ran away.
- Pilaf succeeds in wishing Piccolo back from the dead (yes, he was dead, rather than sealed away). He then is in the final battle, but Goku defeats him with a Kamehameha. This may be why Piccolo isn't in the finished film much until the final battle; it's a leftover of this earlier version of the script.
- Kinto'Un ("The Flying Nimbus"; name taken from Funimation's dub, which got it from the Harmony Gold dub, just like "Power Pole") makes an appearance in the draft script, at the end of the film, after Roshi alludes to it many times over.
- The script notes it's deliberately abstaining from getting too saucy with Bulma and Yamcha's kiss since it's PG-13, despite repeated uses of the words shit (2), bitch (9) and skank (5) throughout.
- For those keeping track, the word bitch is said more times in this one script (9 times) than the River fish has died in the entire classic anime (8).
Trivia written by Robo and KBABZ. Happy April Fools, everyone!
