''Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug'', also known by its Japanese title , is a 1991 Japanese animated science fiction martial arts film and the fourth ''

Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 '' Dragon Ball'' anime series and adapts the latter 325 chapters of the original ...

'' feature film. It was originally released in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on March 9 between episodes 81 and 82 at the Toei Anime Fair as part of a double feature with the first '' Magical Tarurūto-kun'' film.

Plot

Gohan visits

Piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

and shows him a new tune he has learned to whistle. Due to his advanced Namekian hearing, this causes Piccolo pain so he angrily orders Gohan to stop when they both sense an approaching threat incoming from outer space. Bulma and her father discover that a meteor harboring lifeforms is heading toward the Earth and will destroy the planet upon impact. Amidst mass panic, Goku and

Krillin (known as Kuririn in Funimation's English subtitles and Viz Media's release of the manga, and Kulilin in Japanese merchandise English translations) is a fictional character in the '' Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama. He is in ...

rush to intercept the meteor and hope to push it away by blasting it with ''Kamehameha'' waves but they are both rendered unconscious by the force of the meteor but it seemingly explodes in orbit. A spaceship then lands in one of Earth's cities. An army of

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and ''-oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20t ...

alien soldiers exit the ship and declare the Earth under the rule of their leader, Lord Slug. The soldiers attack a group of civilians but Gohan arrives to defend them. From the ship, Lord Slug observes that Gohan has a magical Dragon Ball sewn onto his hat which he loses during the scuffle. After his henchmen render Gohan unconscious and reveal the plan to convert the planet into a biological spaceship, Slug appears and uses

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W ...

to read Bulma's mind and learns about her radar used for tracking the Dragon Balls. Slug's men successfully gather the Dragon Balls and summon the eternal dragon Shenron who grants Slug his wish for

eternal youth Eternal youth is the concept of human physical immortality free of ageing. The youth referred to is usually meant to be in contrast to the depredations of aging, rather than a specific age of the human lifespan. Eternal youth is common in myth ...

. Slug's forces begin transforming the Earth which begins to cause life to perish across the planet. Goku and Krillin are revived by Yajirobe who gives them each a healing Senzu bean. Gohan meanwhile resumes his assault against Slug's army and is rescued by Piccolo. Piccolo kills the henchman Wings and Gohan is overwhelmed by Medamatcha leading to Piccolo being injured when he jumps in front of an energy blast intended to kill Gohan. Goku and Krillin arrive and Goku easily kills Medamatcha and Angila. Slug appears and is attacked by Krillin who is quickly dispatched. Goku fights Slug but is overwhelmed; in a moment of rage, Goku is seemingly able to access a portion of the Super Saiyan form. Goku pummels Slug and breaks his arm. Before Goku's eyes, Slug rips his arm off and regrows it, and removes his helmet, revealing that he is actually a Namekian. Through telepathy,

King Kai '' Dragon Ball'' is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The franchise features an ensemble cast of characters and takes place in the same fictional universe as Toriyama's other work, ''Dr. Slump''. While many of the c ...

warns Goku that Slug is a Super Namekian, a bloodline of violent warriors obsessed with power who were banished from their home world. Slug assumes a giant form and begins to crush Goku between his massive hands. Piccolo intervenes to rescue Goku and before he is also crushed, tears off his own ears and calls out for Gohan to start whistling. The whistling deafens and weakens Slug, allowing Piccolo to transfer his remaining energy to Goku who powers up and manages to fly straight through Slug's abdomen and incapacitates him. Goku then ascends into the sky and begins preparing a ''Spirit Bomb'' in order to destroy the pods transforming the planet, but Slug manages to pursue him. Goku launches the Spirit Bomb at Slug which sends him hurtling into his own machines, killing him and saving the planet. Yajirobe heals everyone with Senzu beans as they celebrate their victory.

Cast

Music

*OP (Opening Theme): ** " Cha-La Head-Cha-La" *** Lyrics by

Yukinojō Mori , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese lyricist, composer and poet who is affiliated with Amuse, Inc. He has written over 2,000 songs for numerous artists such as Kyosuke Himuro, Takuro Yoshida and Junichi Inagaki and theme songs for ...

*** Music by *** Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto *** Performed by

Hironobu Kageyama is a Japanese singer and composer prominent in the soundtracks for anime, video game and tokusatsu productions. He is sometimes called Kami (Kei) by his fans. Kageyama got his big break at age 16, as lead singer of the rock band Lazy. By the ea ...

*IN (Insert Song): ** *** Lyrics by Dai Satō *** Music by *** Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto *** Performed by Hajime Ueshiba *ED (Ending Theme): ** *** Lyrics by Dai Satō *** Music by *** Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto *** Performed by

with Shines

English dub soundtrack

The following songs were present in Funimation's in-house English adaptation of ''Lord Slug''. * Finger Eleven - "First Time" *

Dust for Life Dust for Life was a post-grunge band from Memphis, Tennessee formed in 1999. Formation and initial success After the dissolution of the Memphis grunge band Bacchanal, Jason Hughes recruited three members from the local Memphis rock band Spaceman ...

- "Dragonfly" *

- "Step Into the Light *

American Pearl American Pearl was a hard rock band from Los Angeles, California. They released one studio album through Wind-up Records in 2000 and toured internationally before disbanding two years later. History Formed in 1997, American Pearl started with ...

- "Free Your Mind * Deftones - "Elite" * Boy Hits Car - "I'm a Cloud" * Finger Eleven - "Drag You Down" *

- "Seed" *

- "Automatic" *

Disturbed Disturbed may refer to: Books * ''Disturbed'', a 2011 novel by Kevin O'Brien (author) Film and TV * ''Disturbed'' (film), a 1990 film starring Malcolm McDowell * "Disturbed" (''Numb3rs''), a 2009 episode of ''Numb3rs'' * "The Disturbed", a 20 ...

- "Fear" * Boy Hits Car - "The Rebirth" *

- "

Stupify "Stupify" is a song by American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Disturbed (band), Disturbed. It was released on 12 April 2000, as the first single from their debut album, ''The Sickness''. It peaked at No. 12 on the United States Hot Mainst ...

" * Breaking Point - "Coming of Age"

Bruce Faulconer Bruce Laland Faulconer is an American composer, musician, and music producer. He is the President of Faulconer Productions Music Corporation and its CakeMix Recording Studio, based in Dallas, Texas. Faulconer wrote the score for 243 episodes of t ...

produced an alternate opening theme for this version (which would be replaced in the 2008 remastered version with another original track composed by Mark Menza) and the remaining pieces of background music were composed by Faulconer and Evan Jones. The Double Feature release contains an alternate audio track containing the English dub with original Japanese background music by

Shunsuke Kikuchi was a Japanese composer who was active from the early 1960s until 2017. He specialized in incidental music for media such as television and film. Kikuchi was regarded as one of Japan's most highly demanded film and TV composers, working princi ...

, an opening theme of "Cha-La Head-Cha-La", and an ending theme of "There's a Genki-Dama in Bad Things!!".

Box office

At the Japanese box office, the film sold tickets and grossed ().

Releases

It was released on VHS in North America on August 7, 2001, and on DVD on September 4, 2001. It was later released in Double Feature set along with ''

The Tree of Might ''Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might'', also known by its Japanese title or Toei's own English title ''Super Battle in the World'', is a 1990 Japanese anime science fantasy martial arts film and the third '' Dragon Ball Z'' feature film. It was or ...

'' (1990) for Blu-ray and DVD on September 16, 2008, both feature full

1080p 1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen vert ...

format in HD

remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ed 16:9 aspect ratio and an enhanced

5.1 surround 5.1 surround sound ("five-point one") is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the "point one"). Dolb ...

mix. The film was re-released to DVD in remastered thinpak collection on November 1, 2011, containing the first 5 ''Dragon Ball Z'' films.

Reception

Other companies

A third English version produced and released exclusively in Malaysia by Speedy Video, features an unknown voice cast. Other English dubs were also made by French company AB Groupe. This company done for European markets which was released under the misspelt title ''Super Saiya Son Goku'', and another one for a Malaysian VCD release by Speedy Video which had the title ''Super Saiya People, Goku''. While the Malaysian dub's cast remains unknown, the AB Groupe dub was revealed to have been recorded by English-speaking actors based in France who have also done voices for animated television series such as '' Code Lyoko'' and '' Chris Colorado''.

References

External links

Official anime website
of Toei Animation
MyFavoriteGames - Movie Summary
* * {{Toei Animation films 1990s Lord Slug 1991 anime films 1991 films Funimation Films scored by Shunsuke Kikuchi Toei Animation films