Dragon Ball: Evolution- Speculation and Discussion

[Saiyan-Professor]

To anyone that saw the movie was there anything you did like about it? Was it entertaining? What parts did you like the most? Were there any pro's?

I wrote this in another thread.

The following is my review or rather observations of Dragonball Evolution. Yet, I feel compelled to say the following.

I have just watched the movie and I have no earthly idea what everyone on this forum is talking about!



I found the movie quite enjoyable and this is a version of Goku I like (this is the only time I will use the character’s earth name). He is still naive but less annoying. He actually showed emotion instead of acting like a “clown”. This Goku does not go through life with a cavalier attitude. It was good to see him in normal clothes instead him running around in a loud orange dogi all the time and he finds motivation in something other than food. Goku actually likes women (Chi-Chi) in this movie like any normal teenage male. Bulma, Chi-Chi and Mai are hot as hell. It is interesting how a scientific name for the Dragonballs (promethium orbs) is presented to bring the concept closer to reality.

In addition, Bulma’s PhD impressed me and that she wants to use her scientific knowledge towards something positive that benefits all instead of something vain and trivial as in the original series. She wants to use the Dragonballs to create an alternate means of generating energy for the world. Later in the movie, she admits to Yamcha that she also desired fame but this should not distract from how her actions would profit all humanity and the recognition she would receive would be an added bonus. The writers acknowledge the current desire to achieve a clean inexpensive source of energy. This Bulma actually proves somewhat useful to the team instead of depicting the image of the lowly yet beautiful helpless female that is always in need of saving by the hero. The Capsule Corp., Spyder Capsule Bike was a good touch as well.

An interesting thing I noticed was that Muten/Master Roshi reminds me more of Jiraiya from Naruto fame then the ancient master from the Dragonball series. In my opinion this is a good thing because I am rather found of Naruto’s “pervy sage” sensei. There is also a nod to the manner in which Muten Roshi trained Goku in the original story. In the film, “Son Goku” (the full name is actually used) has to carry and run with all the supplies on his back while Roshi and Bulma travel in luxury on the Spyder. At the training grounds, it is implied that the fate of the earth is not only left to the capable hands of Goku but there are many others that are training as well, Chi-Chi being one them.

The movies rendition of Yamcha the desert bandit is reminiscent of the Funimation’s representation of him yet he is more confident and livelier than the one we were originally introduced to in manga and anime. Piccolo Daimaô’s blood siphoning chair was impressive in addition to the fact that his minions the “Fulum Assassins” are created from his blood. Their design is grotesque yet they appear to fulfill their role. While Piccolo’s progeny in the manga and anime was far more appealing to the eye this was a contemporary twist on his reproductive abilities. Instead of him spewing an egg out of his mouth, we have a interweaving of science and magic. Just like their counterparts in the original telling (a form of Namekian), the Fulum have inherited the ability to regenerate severed body parts.

Mai’s powers seemed to be seeped in science and magic as well for she can only take on the appearance of someone if she can attain a sample of their DNA. Mai faces Chi-Chi in a tournament where she scratches Chi-Chi in order to get a genetic sample. Later she appears in Chi-Chi’s form in order to steal the Dragonballs thus indicating she had all that she required from that one sample in order to disguise herself as Chi-Chi.

Si-fu Norris the aged wise master of Roshi who provides him with the Mafuba Jar is a welcomed addition to the crew. I am overjoyed to see a black man associated with Dragonball that is not a ridiculous caricature. If only Akira Toriyama could have had such insight. Later when Roshi is training Goku in the courtyard to help him control his Ki/Chi, their movements is very suggestive of the Chinese form of martial arts called Tai chi chuan ("supreme ultimate fist"). Which is very appropriate because this form of martial arts emphasize the development of one’s Chi/Ki or “"breath energy" by means of breathing exercises called “ch'i kung” thus in the movie any attacks that involve this energy is called “air bending”. Later when Goku is shot by Mai disguised as Chi-Chi and rendered in an unconscious death-like state Muten Roshi uses his Ki in the form of a Kamehameha to metaphorically “breathe” the breath of life back into Goku or revive him with his Ki or life energy.

When the team goes to face Piccolo Yamcha reveals his flying SUV that is another nod to the original series. It was quite impressive and not too far-fetched. The most disappointing part of the film was the writer’s conception of the Ôzaru. Honestly, I believe more thought should have been put into its design. The fight scene between Goku and Piccolo reminds one of something from the two television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel except with a bigger budget, which was two, shows that James Marsters who portrayed Piccolo was a co-star. It did not cause me any uncomforting feelings but to others it may have not appeal to them. The calling forth of Shenlong was rather weak, it could have been handled in a far less dramatic manner, but Shenlong’s appearance, and exit was eye-catching. The editing of the movie was badly done for everything seemed to move at a pace that was unrealistic. However, one must keep in mind that this was a copy of the film that was released to a foreign market thus the North American edition may have all the pacing problems solved.

[JAPPO]

It was just as good as Mortal Kombat 1 imo.

I think it could have been much better but for what it is, it's not bad.

[Super Sonic]

I'm not looking at spoilers, but do have an interesting situation about the movie coming up. The movie premieres here couple of days before big convention I'm going to. So, me and a bunch of my friends will be going in cosplay. Yeha, it might not be to great, but will likely treat like when I watch old anime by just watching. Besides, will have pics of me as Mr. Satan and my friend as young Gohan there, so can stand out.

[omegacwa]

13. Yamcha was pretty well done. Joon Park was a good choice.

Wow, we really are coming at this movie from different perspectives, I thought Yamcha was god-awful, he was like FUNimation's "Cat loves food" Yamcha on crack.

Hmm... Well, I guess I can see where you are coming from. But I doubt the likeness of LAM Yamcha and the Funi one was probably coincidence as it seems they didn't actually take anything from the dub.

[Innagadadavida]

13. Yamcha was pretty well done. Joon Park was a good choice.

Wow, we really are coming at this movie from different perspectives, I thought Yamcha was god-awful, he was like FUNimation's "Cat loves food" Yamcha on crack.

Hmm... Well, I guess I can see where you are coming from. But I doubt the likeness of LAM Yamcha and the Funi one was probably coincidence as it seems they didn't actually take anything from the dub.

Well, I like dub Yamcha, so that, I'm excited about.

[Dr. Casey]

omegacwa, based on your comments and that list... my opinion will probably more or less match yours.

Thought the very idea of Mai defeating Goku with a sneaky blaster shot still makes me cringe.

I dunno, isn't that pretty reminiscent of Ninja Murasaki defeating Goku with a shuriken? Or at least it seemed that way until the next episode.

[Super Ghost Kamikaze]

Goku being defeated by a laser blaster shot really isn't a problem for me. It's obviously not a "normal" gun, and this Goku is a weaker iteration. Goku is still abnormally strong, and were nothing else wrong with his character, I'd be perfectly happy.

Besides, guns in the original have been threatening whenever it suits the plot, and they were ineffective when it was funny for them to be ineffective.

[Saiyan-Professor]

Goku being defeated by a laser blaster shot really isn't a problem for me. It's obviously not a "normal" gun, and this Goku is a weaker iteration. Goku is still abnormally strong, and were nothing else wrong with his character, I'd be perfectly happy.

Besides, guns in the original have been threatening whenever it suits the plot, and they were ineffective when it was funny for them to be ineffective.

Either it was in this thread or another but someone also brought up the fact that during the Freeza and early Trunks Sagas, Freeza’s goons ran around using those arm mounted Ki blaster thingies.

[Super Ghost Kamikaze]

Goku being defeated by a laser blaster shot really isn't a problem for me. It's obviously not a "normal" gun, and this Goku is a weaker iteration. Goku is still abnormally strong, and were nothing else wrong with his character, I'd be perfectly happy.

Besides, guns in the original have been threatening whenever it suits the plot, and they were ineffective when it was funny for them to be ineffective.

Either it was in this thread or another but someone also brought up the fact that during the Freeza and early Trunks Sagas, Freeza’s goons ran around using those arm mounted Ki blaster thingies.

Laser blasters, considering I really doubt that technology can harness Ki, but that's semantics.

The argument against that, of course, is that those arm blasters did no good whatsoever. =p

[Tsukento]

Besides, guns in the original have been threatening whenever it suits the plot

Since when? o_O

[Onikage725]

Goku being defeated by a laser blaster shot really isn't a problem for me. It's obviously not a "normal" gun, and this Goku is a weaker iteration. Goku is still abnormally strong, and were nothing else wrong with his character, I'd be perfectly happy.

Besides, guns in the original have been threatening whenever it suits the plot, and they were ineffective when it was funny for them to be ineffective.

I can accept "weaker iteration" of Goku for movie purposes, I suppose. Just, thinking in context with the show I'm familiar with, it isn't even remotely plausible. We find out in episode 1, with a power level of 10, that Goku is bullet proof. There's nothing in the show to indicate a laser gun would be any more effective against a Saiyan or any ki-harnessing fighter of appreciable skill. By the Daimao arc, he had survived much worse than a shot from a side arm.

Either it was in this thread or another but someone also brought up the fact that during the Freeza and early Trunks Sagas, Freeza’s goons ran around using those arm mounted Ki blaster thingies.

Those were really only good for intimidating non-fighters. Fighters who used them were pretty weak, well under 2,000. 3 Namek fighters at 3k beat the crap out of those guys, running through the hail of arm blaster fire with impunity. Sure, one of those guys could have given Daimao arc Goku a very bad day, but I doubt Mai is wielding Freeza tech.

[Dr. Casey]

Besides, guns in the original have been threatening whenever it suits the plot

Since when? o_O

There's the part where General Blue pulls a shotgun on Goku, of course, and Yamcha says the guns Pilaf and company use on him around episode 11 or 12 are dangerous and pulls him out of harm's way (Which I'm guessing is Toriyama speaking through the characters).

[JAPPO]

In good news, the film is doing well at the box office in Asia.

Now it's time for speculation... time:

I have a bunch of promo photos (which I released over the year) that were not in the movie at all. For example there was a photo of Piccolo holding Goku by the throat and then Goku doing a matrix-type dodge.

In the pirated film all of you pirates saw, there was no hand-to-hand fighting anywhere in the final showdown.

Also the PSP game, script, and even Junior Novel had things that weren't in the movie... honestly the script was much better than what was used in the pirated asian movie. If anyone cares I can post word-for-word examples of stuff that got cut.

Off the top of my head, Roshi explains that the Fu Lums are Nameks called Regenerators, Piccolo tells Goku he is a Saiyan named Kakarot and then shows him where he landed, and Goku has a vision of the Oozaru killing Roshi, Yamcha, and Bulma... in the movie he MENTIONED it, but it was never shown.

And my FAVORITE SCENE from the script was CUT. It's when Piccolo creates the Fu Lums. He walks up to them and slashes them in two, then laughs like a maniac.

[Super Ghost Kamikaze]

Besides, guns in the original have been threatening whenever it suits the plot

Since when? o_O

There's the part where General Blue pulls a shotgun on Goku, of course, and Yamcha says the guns Pilaf and company use on him around episode 11 or 12 are dangerous and pulls him out of harm's way.

Exactly. Now, these are before the Daimao arc, but the film simply doesn't have the scale to just explain away having Goku either suddenly have Daimao-level power or develop it. To give him some Ki manipulation at the start, and then strengthen it to the point of learning the Kamehameha makes sense. I'm fine with him being weak enough that a special laser gun that makes whirring and buzzing sounds before firing at point-blank range after Goku just got a pretty nasty shock, well. I don't think it's a problem.

Don't get me wrong, I think the film's terrible. But this just isn't that much of a fault.

[Velasa]

And my FAVORITE SCENE from the script was CUT. It's when Piccolo creates the Fu Lums. He walks up to them and slashes them in two, then laughs like a maniac.

o_o That scene I want. Daimaou + scarey nutjob = good shit.

[omegacwa]

In good news, the film is doing well at the box office in Asia.

Now it's time for speculation... time:

I have a bunch of promo photos (which I released over the year) that were not in the movie at all. For example there was a photo of Piccolo holding Goku by the throat and then Goku doing a matrix-type dodge.

In the pirated film all of you pirates saw, there was no hand-to-hand fighting anywhere in the final showdown.

Also the PSP game, script, and even Junior Novel had things that weren't in the movie... honestly the script was much better than what was used in the pirated asian movie. If anyone cares I can post word-for-word examples of stuff that got cut.

Off the top of my head, Roshi explains that the Fu Lums are Nameks called Regenerators, Piccolo tells Goku he is a Saiyan named Kakarot and then shows him where he landed, and Goku has a vision of the Oozaru killing Roshi, Yamcha, and Bulma... in the movie he MENTIONED it, but it was never shown.

And my FAVORITE SCENE from the script was CUT. It's when Piccolo creates the Fu Lums. He walks up to them and slashes them in two, then laughs like a maniac.

I only watched it online because I couldn't resist, but as I said i will see it in theaters opening day anyway. Watching a shitty off sync audio low quality dark film camcorder copy will never replace actually seeing a film in theaters.

Also yes, It felt like things were cut for no apparent reason other than to make it shorter, which makes no sense because a 2 hour film would have been perfectly acceptable.

[Kaboom]

That sounds gnarly. Please share, if possible.

[Onikage725]

Besides, guns in the original have been threatening whenever it suits the plot

Since when? o_O

There's the part where General Blue pulls a shotgun on Goku, of course, and Yamcha says the guns Pilaf and company use on him around episode 11 or 12 are dangerous and pulls him out of harm's way (Which I'm guessing is Toriyama speaking through the characters).

I don't recall the scene, but what threatens Yamcha isn't necessarily a problem to Goku. Pilaf Saga Yamcha probably wasn't bullet-proof. He wasn't a Saiyan and his PL had to be single digits (since he was a match for Goku only when the lil guy was famished).

[Super Ghost Kamikaze]

Since when? o_O

There's the part where General Blue pulls a shotgun on Goku, of course, and Yamcha says the guns Pilaf and company use on him around episode 11 or 12 are dangerous and pulls him out of harm's way (Which I'm guessing is Toriyama speaking through the characters).

I don't recall the scene, but what threatens Yamcha isn't necessarily a problem to Goku. Pilaf Saga Yamcha probably wasn't bullet-proof. He wasn't a Saiyan and his PL had to be single digits (since he was a match for Goku only when the lil guy was famished).

I don't remember this scene, but what Casey is saying is that Yamucha pulls Goku out of the way. Which means that Yamucha(and thus Toriyama) thought Goku would be hurt by the bullets.

And you don't see Goku just standing in the middle of gunfire in the Red Ribbon arc. He's flying around, smacking people with his magic stick. He didn't just walk through the gunfire, because the bullets were SUPPOSED to be a threat so they WERE. Much the same way that Chichi can beat up anybody whenever she gets mad for the laughs.

[omegacwa]

The whole guns not effecting Goku and co was just put in for gag purposes. This is why people are convinced Mister Satan's power level is like, 6, because he was injured by a bullet. Give me a break, you think the greatest martial artist in thee world (outside Ki users) Power Level really was below 10, you have got to be kidding me, but of course that's a whole other discussion.