Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone
Japanese poster art
Directed by	Daisuke Nishio
Screenplay by	Takao Koyama
Starring	see below
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Cinematography	Motoaki Ikegami
Editing by	Shinichi Fukumitsu
Studio	Toei Animation
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release date(s)	July 15, 1989 (1989-07-15) (Japan)
Running time	42 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Money made	¥2 billion (est.)

Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone, originally released theatrically in Japan as simply Dragon Ball Z and later as Dragon Ball Z: Return My Gohan!! (Japanese: ドラゴンボールZ オラの悟飯をかえせッ!!, Hepburn: Doragon Bōru Zetto Ora no Gohan o Kaese!!) for its Japanese VHS and Laserdisc release, is a 1989 Japanese anime fantasy martial arts film, the fourth installment in the Dragon Ball film series, and the first under the Dragon Ball Z moniker. It was originally released in Japan on July 15 at the "Toei Manga Matsuri" film festival along with the 1989 film version of Himitsu no Akko-chan, the first Akuma-kun movie, and the film version of Kidou Keiji Jiban.

Despite continuity inconsistencies, Dead Zone acts as a prelude to the Dragon Ball Z television series and is the only film to get a follow-up within the series, that being the Garlic Jr. arc which takes place between the main Frieza and Cell arcs. The canonicity of this arc is debated as it does not appear in the original manga and is largely considered to be filler.

Plot

Following his defeat by Goku at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, Piccolo trains alone when he is caught in an ambush by a group of mysterious warriors. Chi-Chi along with her father and son, Gohan, are attacked by the same group while Goku is away fishing. He senses the danger his family faces and returns to find that his son has been abducted.

The impish Garlic Jr. is responsible and commenced the attack in order for him to retrieve the four-star Dragon Ball that was attached to Gohan's hat. Garlic Jr. senses an immense power within Gohan, and decides to make him his pupil rather than kill him. After gathering the remaining six magical Dragon Balls, Garlic Jr. summons the eternal dragon Shenron and he wishes for immortality. Goku prepares to rescue his son when Kami, Earth's guardian, arrives and explains that centuries prior, he and Garlic Jr.'s father, Garlic, competed for the position of Guardian of the Earth and Kami was victorious. In revenge, Garlic unleashed a demonic horde onto the Earth until Kami defeated him and ended the invasion. Goku proceeds to search for Gohan when he is attacked by the villain's henchmen while Kami faces Garlic Jr.

Krillin and Piccolo arrive with the latter defeating henchman Sansho while Goku manages to defeat the other two henchmen, Ginger and Nicky. Meanwhile, Kami is bested by Garlic Jr. until Goku and Piccolo rescue him. With Garlic Jr.'s newly obtained immortality and a new, muscular form, the rivals Goku and Piccolo are forced to work together and are able to eventually defeat him. Still possessing disdain for one another and mistakenly believing Garlic Jr. to be dead, Goku and Piccolo prepare to fight when Garlic Jr. opens up a portal into another dimension; a void of darkness known as the Dead Zone. Gohan becomes enraged as he witnesses his father and friends in danger and releases his latent power, hurdling Garlic Jr. into his own vortex to be trapped for all eternity. Unable to recall the events, Gohan believes that his father defeated Garlic Jr. while Goku realizes his son has amazing hidden potential. Piccolo vows to defeat Goku while watching him and his friends depart.

Cast

A fourth English dub released in Malaysia by Speedy Video features an unknown cast.

English dub soundtracks

The 1997 Pioneer release kept the original Japanese music.

Funimation's 2005 dub featured a new score by Mark Menza. The Double Feature release contains an alternate audio track containing the English dub with original Japanese background music by Shunsuke Kikuchi.

See also

In Spanish: Dragon Ball Z (película de 1989) para niños