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Dragon Ball Z - The Movie - Dead Zone

Dragon Ball Z - The Movie - Dead Zone

List Price: $19.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "The First DBZ Movie!"
Review: This is the very first Dragon Ball Z movie to be released. It was first released in Japan in 1989 under the titled "Return My Gohan," but has been dubbed into Dead Zone. Buy the Uncut version if you want true DBZ, the edited version doesn't show the very beginning when Piccolo fights Garlic Junior's men. This is probably the funniest Dragon Ball Z movie as well, I loved the part when Gohan ate that apple and started to see things and act funny. Garlic Junior wishes for immortality in this movie, that's why he kidnaps Gohan, for the Dragon Ball on his hat. Goku goes to the place where Gohan is being held, and he starts fighting. Krillin and Piccolo join him, and then they all fight Garlic Junior after he transforms. Gohan eventually unleashes his hidden power that we all know about and hurles Garlic Junior into the Dead Zone. Because this movie is from Pioneer, the voices of the characters are different than in the series. Movies 1-3 are all the same voice, movies 4-13 will have the same voices as in the series with Sean Schemmel as Goku and Chris Sabat as Vegeta. The animation is very clear and well-drawn, too.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good Dragonball Z movie
Review: For those of you who don't know, alongside the standard Dragonball Z series, 13 movies, 2 specials, and 1 OVA/OAV were released. Most of these were strictly for entertainment, as there is no way most of them could possibly have taken place. Also, none of them are very long (they are about the same length as 2-3 standard episodes.) Read on for my review of the first movie - Dead Zone.

TIME: This movie occurs before Dragonball Z begins, probably a year before Raditz arrived.

PLOT: Here's the basic story. A power-hungry demon named Garlic Jr. is the son of a demon who attempted to become guardian of the earth, but the current guardian did not allow it. To get revenge on the world, he obtains the Dragonballs and makes himself immortal (since Gohan was wearing his Dragonball hat at this time, henchmen kidnapped him.) This is the ONLY time in all of Dragonball/Z/GT someone SUCCESSFULLY makes an immortality wish. Goku goes to Garlic Jr's castle with the hopes of rescuing his son, while his worst enemy (at the time,) Piccolo, is also going to the castle to get revenge on the henchmen that attacked him.

OFFICIAL?: This film could never have taken place, because the Z-crew already knows Gohan here, but they meet him for the first time in the Raditz saga. Likewise, Goku was surprised to see Gohan's hidden power in the Raditz saga, despite the fact that he uses it in this film. Because the film could never have happened, the Garlic Jr. saga of the actual series could also never have happened.

There you have it - the first Dragonball Z film. This was done by Pioneer, so the English dub actors are different than the ones you hear in the later TV episodes. Likewise, these DVDs have more extras than the modern DBZ DVDs, but not much. These films are good overall, but for the most part only die-hard Dragonball Z fans will get a kick out of them. I would actually consider holding off on buying this - it should be redubbed and rereleased soon - hopefully with more extras. I hope you enjoyed this review. If you did, please click the "YES" button below.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: funny and action exhilarating
Review: Gohan is kidnapped by the menacing Garlic Jr because he wants revenge from Kami over his father Garlic's death. Goku, Piccolo, Gohan and Krillin join the fight as Garlic Jr opens the dead zone to suck KAmi's tower in it. action highlights include when Goku knocks one of Jr's henchmen with his powerpole into a domebuilding then blows it up, where Gohan crys out and knocks Garlic Jr. in and where Piccolo fights a henchmen. purely for fans, others would find it corny. uncut version is better

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "The First DBZ Movie!"
Review: This is the very first Dragon Ball Z movie to be released. It was first released in Japan in 1989 under the titled "Return My Gohan," but has been dubbed into Dead Zone. Buy the Uncut version if you want true DBZ, the edited version doesn't show the very beginning when Piccolo fights Garlic Junior's men. This is probably the funniest Dragon Ball Z movie as well, I loved the part when Gohan ate that apple and started to see things and act funny. Garlic Junior wishes for immortality in this movie, that's why he kidnaps Gohan, for the Dragon Ball on his hat. Goku goes to the place where Gohan is being held, and he starts fighting. Krillin and Piccolo join him, and then they all fight Garlic Junior after he transforms. Gohan eventually unleashes his hidden power that we all know about and hurles Garlic Junior into the Dead Zone. Because this movie is from Pioneer, the voices of the characters are different than in the series. Movies 1-3 are all the same voice, movies 4-13 will have the same voices as in the series with Sean Schemmel as Goku and Chris Sabat as Vegeta. The animation is very clear and well-drawn, too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: pretty much the only one that fits into the story line o dbz
Review: this isn an awesome movie! i think that it is definetley worth your money! first of all it is actually a dragonball movie because it takes place years before dragonballz started. the plot is very good and is sort of a prequel to the series itself so if you see this the series will make a lot more sense thatn if you dont see it. its about a greedy evil demon that wants immortality to get revenge on the people who trapped his father away. it has a great musical score and great animation.i think this is my favorite movie so far....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: worth your money for one scene alone!
Review: This is a very enjoyable movie, one of the best Dragonball Z movies I have seen so far, but I have to say that this DVD is worth your purchase just for the scene where Gohan eats an apple and gets smashed! Turn on your subtitles for the hilariously demented lyrics to the fun song that plays during that scene! You'll laugh your bottom off!
How cute is chibi-Gohan??
sample lyric: "Big, big, big clouds up above/look like a giant octopus/The Sun's surprised to see it/and fries it all up/then a dinosaur comes/and eats the fried octopus up"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the few that fit into the Universe (Anime one)
Review: The dead zone takes place before the events in the Sayin saga. In it the evil Garlic Jr. is searching for the seven dragon balls so he can wish to become immortal. In his search the last one he needs is on the hat of Gohan. He and his troops kidnapp Gohan and Garlic can sense a tremendouse energy coming from the young boy. It is because of this that he wants to addopt Gohan as his own.

In the Meantime Goku has discovered that GOhan has been captured and immedietly uses the Dragon Radar to track him down. By the time he gets there though Garlic Jr. Has already made his wish for immortality. Goku teams up with Piccolo and Kami and they battle Garlic Jr for the sake of earth, however in the end GOhan uses his sleeping powers to attack Garlic and throw him into the Dead Zone. From there we can assume that one year later (due to the fact that it takes on year for the Dragon balls to be restored) the events of the Sayin Saga take place.

This is one of the better DBZ movies (they all are great but) and in saying that I mean that it fits into the story line or mainstream universe (the others being Bardock, Coolers Revenge, and History of Trunks) while the other movies focus on a sub universe. Overall this is a must own for any DBZ fan or causal anime fan.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The First DBZ Movie -- One of the Better Ones Actually
Review: INTRO/PLOT: Fans of the later sagas of DBZ tend not to like this movie as much because of its "lack-of" ki (energy) attacks. This movie is mostly about hand-to-hand fighting which I miss so much in the series as it progresses. Since this is the first movie, you won't see such characters as Vegeta or Trunks. This is basically a Goku save Gohan early DBZ movie. Akira Toriyama (the creator) tends to make the movies (when he does make them) sort of like the series. This movie is basically a spin-off of the Raditz battle, in that Gohan is catured by the villain and Goku and Piccolo team up to fight the villain for their own means. Heck, even the villain (Garlic Jr.) uses a few attacks that Raditz does. So its pretty obvious.

DVD: The DVD is ok, but a little annoying. Everytime you go to the main menu, you are greeted by the Eternal Dragon Shenlong saying his famous phrase about what is your desire. It gets old really fast. Most people enjoy quick and to-the-point menus, and this certainly doesn't deliver in that aspect. The good thing is that the original Japanese audio track is included...which was one of the few things Pioneer did well with DBZ while they had it.

EXTRAS: This is one of the only DVDs in DBZ history to have original unedited clips from the series included. Its a nice addition from the usual "commercials" that are included in the present DBZ DVDs.

AUDIO: The audio is very good quality. Japanese & English audio tracks are included so you get the best of both worlds, depending on which you are a fan of. The Dub isn't "too" bad, although a little below par. The Japanese always blows the English audio away as far as DB is concerned though.

OVERALL: Overall, I liked this DVD, even though its a mere 60 minutes (actually 50-something). If I were the buyer, I would purchase this DVD as long as its under [price], otherwise you are spending too much for the time of the movie. As far as the quality of the DVD, I can put up with the annoying menus enough to enjoy this better DBZ movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Yawn... Also Spoiler
Review: Sorry to disappoint all those fans but this movie isn't very good! It's okay the first two times but then it just puts you to sleep! Zzzz...! This is the first movie out of 13 Dragonball Z movies. Return My Gohan or The Dead Zone is not much of a movie and is a big let down. Basically Garlic Jr. becomes immortal after kidnapping Gohan and using the 4 star Dragonball on his hat. Gokuu (or Goku) but is said Gokuu in the movie comes to save his son, yadie yadie ya. Then Kurrin (or Krillin) comes to help. Then Piccilo comes because the hench men beat him up a long time ago. Gohan knocks Garlic Jr. into the Dead Zone he's trapped there. We've all seen that before. I really suggest that you try something else, than Return my Gohan. Even Lord Slug is better, and this is what I have to say about that :(!!! If you want good anime, you should try Martian Successor Nadesico.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not the best, but still well worth watching!
Review: The fight scene between Goku, Ginger, and Nikki was cool, but this isn't the best DBZ movie. Sure, it's got all the action and stuff to keep you entertained, but I can't believe how big of a cry-baby Gohan is in this film! I mean, geez, what was Akira thinking?! If Gohan wasn't such a coward, I'd give this five. But because of Gohan's miserable performance, I only gave it four.


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