Dragonball Z Movie 09 - Bojack Unbound
|
Movie Screenshot GalleryBack to Movie Guide Index Discuss on our Forums |
Dub Title: Bojack Unbound
Original Release – July 10th, 1993
American Release – August 17th, 2004
Run Time – 50 Minutes
Preface – Like all “Movies” created by Toei Animation, this movie is not made to fit in the story line of Dragonball Z. This Feature was produced, originally, for an Anime Arts Festival, in which the Viewers may not have been Dragonball Z fans previously. As such, these were made to entertain fans and non-fans alike. Also, the Anime may have been at different episode points in different regions, so it had to be made not to ruin potential plot points. Things were kept somewhat vague because of this, when it comes to surrounding events. Again, I stress that the creators did not intend for it to be looked at as an actual event in the story, but more along the lines of an animated Fan Fiction.
Please note that this is a summary of the Japanese version, subtitled by Funimations own Steven J. Simmons.
Opening - As a reporter narrarates, 4 "Space Warriors" from the 4 Galaxies are shown descending from a space craft. It seems an incredible "Tenka'ichi Grand Budokai" is going to be held by the richest man in the world - "Mr. Gyosan Money". He explains it's for his sons 10th birthday, and that the greatest of Earthlings will be battling the greatest of Aliens. The Producer explains that there are no restraints as to who can enter, that the winner will recieve 100 Million Zeni, the runner-ups will recieve a tour packages for the entire family to the hot springs resorts of the world, and that the winner will also get to battle the victor of the Cell Game - Mister Satan! Kaio-sama views the unfolding events on his television with incredible (crappy) reception. The great hero of the Cell Game flies in on Helicopter for an incredible entrance.
Opening Music & Movie Title
Summary - And now the Tenka'ichi Grand Budokai begins! As we are shown various scenes of people battling, the announcer explains...
- There are 8 Battle Platforms with 25 Contestants each, making a total of 200 entrants.
- It is a battle royale in which the last fighter standing from each platform earns the right to advance.
- One loses by falling off the platform and into the sea (The platforms are pretty high up, too.), surrendering, or getting knocked out.
- Killing is forbidden, as are weapons.
And amongst all the chaos we come upon a battle platform in which Kuririn is dominating the many fighters and feeling pretty confident in himself. Of course, he suddenly notices Chichi in the stands cheering her Gohan on, which can only mean one thing. His heart sinks even further as he finds that Piccolo and Trunks have also entered. Chichi and Bulma have a little dialogue in the stands - Chichi explains that Gohan studies all the time and deserves to relax once in a while. Bulma is hoping to get the Hot Springs tour as a chance to spend some time with Trunks who is back from having defeated his timelines #17 & #18. She also notes that since Goku died, Vegeta's had little to no will to train or fight, and hasn't come to enter the Budokai.
Chaozu cheers Tenshinhan, whilst Oolong nonchalantly does the same for Kuririn. Muten-Roshi, of course, is hard at work hounding the most attractive young ladies he can find. Now we see Kaio-sama and Goku watching from the Afterlife. Goku comments that a battle between Trunks and Gohan will be awesome. Through an unfortunate series of coincidence, Yamcha (whom was sulking about all the other Dragon Team fighters being there) is knocked into the water and disqualified. Next, we see Gohan, Trunks, Kuririn, Piccolo, and Tenshinhan win their respective battle platforms (they were all separate.) and all the while Mr. Satan is having a panic attack, remembering that these were the guys that beat Cell. 3 one shot characters also proceed, and the Tournament matchups are as follows -
Some guy vs. Son Gohan
Tenshinhan vs. Trunks
Piccolo vs. Kuririn
Some guy vs. Some guy
In another one of those famous "You're just a puny kid!" scenes, Gohan beats his opponent with ease, who happens to be...10 times his size. And now, we see Trunks and Tenshinhan face off. This is quite an interesting match, and it lasts for a couple minutes, but then Trunks turns Super Saiyan. Guess the result.
Mister Satan calmly excuses himself from his seat, where he was watching with Gyosan Money, his son, and the Producer. Posing that he has a stomache, he decides he has to leave the island immediatly. Of course, he walks right out into a crowd and the cheering begins, along with his amazing ability to bask in it.
Kuririn is now going to fight Piccolo. After one missed attack, Piccolo is so dissapointed in the Tournament that he simply leaves, giving the match to Kuririn. I guess luck was on his side. And next we see Kaio-sama updating Goku on the state of the Budokai, while Son-kun plays a game of cards with Bubbles...and loses. Mister Satan, now sneaking about the sewer system of the island, finally finds a suitable exit. As he dashes for his freedom, the Producer cuts into his way and stops him. Satan insists but suddenly finds the Island is moving and that he can no longer leave. They are on their way to "Battle Island II". I should emphasize that "Battle Island I" was pretty big. It would compare to a Pro-Football Stadium in overall capacity. "Battle Island II" makes this look like nothing. Whilst it is on an actual island, the center has a Dome shaped complex easily 10 times as big as Battle Island I.
The 4 finalists are gathered in the center of a huge stadium, and the announcer explains the new setup for the new island -
- There are 4 tunnels leading to 4 different Battle Zones.
- Each contestant rides in a little spaceship type thing into their respective tunnels, where they will each battle a "Galactic Warrior."
- Whoever defeats their opponent first and returns to the stadium wins and battles Mister Satan.
Kuririn likes this setup because he now has a chance to defeat Gohan without actually fighting him. They now deploy, in little rocket ships, to get to their Battle Zones. Once they enter the tunnels, they appear to witness an elaborate holograph sequence before they eventually land in their Zones.
Gohan lands in an area full of gigantic kids toys and strange things of that sort. Kuririn lands in a Volcano. Trunks lands in a flowery meadow. The other guy, who is a huge sumo wrestler, lands in a desert. The diversity of the environments explains the size of the Battle Island, but we come to find out later that each "Zone" is separated by fairly thin walls. This isn't shown for some time, but we also find out that there are some other environments that they just accidenly end up in. So bear with me and the constant change of environments...
Kuririn finds his challenger, and it's a tall, beautiful, long haired woman with lime green skin. Kuririn rather enjoys this aspect, but suddenly finds her assault to be deadly and is quickly incapacitated. Dosukoi (the Sumo guy) treads the desert slowly but is suddenly assaulted by a blue skinned, well built, orange haired man who strangles the poor guy to death with one hand. It is at this point everyone kind of realizes that these aren't the Galactic fighters they were supposed to face and the entire Stadium begins to panic. Yamcha and Tenshinhan notice the panic from the Cafe', as does Kaio-sama from the afterlife. The Producer explains to Mr. Money that the fighters were supposed to be Mister Satans pupils, but these clearly are not. As they navigate the crowd, Ten-san and Yamcha see the display screen the shows the dead fighters hand sticking out of the sand. They take to the air and enter rockets like the competitors took earlier to reach the Battle Zones.
As Trunks walks about the flowers, he is suddenly shot at by a large Ki blast. He leaps out of the way and asks the opponent if he has any idea that it's a game. The warrior who launched the blast sits casually in a tree. He too has blue skin and orange hair, but is lankier than the fighter who killed Dosukoi. He attacks Trunks and they engage in battle. For a time they match pretty evenly, and Trunks' opponent even draws out a sword, though it influences the battle little. Eventually they run out into ankle deep water and the Galactic Warrior flares up his Ki and becomes much larger in size, along with his skin turning light green and his hair red.
Gohan sits among the toys peacefully, rather entranced by the setting, but it is suddenly interrupted as all of the toys begin to get launched at him from all angles. After dodging about, another "Galactic Warrior" drops from the ceiling. This one is very short in stature and wears a turban on (her?) head, and also has blue skin. After throwing some more objects, she changes the environment with a gesture, to reveal it was actually a forest.
As the Producer pounds on the door, Mister Satan sits on a toilet hoping to stall long enough for the Dragon Team to kill the evil Galactic fighters. Trunks continues his fight with the Alien Swordsman but finds himself losing pretty badly at the powered up version of his opponent. Just as Trunks is about to get his head sliced off, he bursts into Super Saiyan and stops the blade with his arm. After a moment of tension, he breaks the sword & throws a punch straight through the Alien fighter, killing him. Just as Trunks thinks he can relax, another, very tall fighter appears and knocks him out with a single kick, though we only see his shadow. We suddenly see Vegeta sit up in his bed, who was lounging back in West City. It appears as though he sensed an interesting Ki.
Gohan feels the same thing Vegeta did, calling it an incredible Ki (both seemed to be hinting at the fighter who assaulted and incapacitated Trunks). After much more yelling, Mister Satan finally decides to go face these opponents. Kaio-sama explains to Goku that a these fighters are servants of an incredible evil warrior - Bojack. Bojack once travelled about all 4 Galaxies trying to destroy them, but was sealed up on a planet far away when all for Kaio's teamed up. Bojack was released because Kaio-sama was killed in the battle with Cell, and now has his sights set on Earth. Goku reassures Kaio-sama that Earth will be fine because of Gohan.
Gohan, being chased by his opponent, is now in some kind of a ruined castle setting. He finds Kuririn and Trunks stacked on each other unconscious. Suddenly, he is approached by Bojack and all the "Galactic Warriors" from each Battle Zone, except for the one Trunks killed. Bojack is very tall, and like his servants, has blue skin and long, orange hair, topped off with a bandana. He is very large in build and even compares to Broli. The servant whom killed Dosukoi is named Bido,, whilst the psychic who attacked Gohan is Bujin. And according to the FUNImation DVD's profile section, the beautiful warrior who assaulted Kuririn is named "Zangya", but her name is never spoken in the movie, nor is the one who fought Trunks before.
Suddenly, Yamcha and Ten-san leap from their rockets as they zoom by and drop down next to Gohan. Bujin declares that Earth now belongs to Bojack-sama. Gohan calls this ridiculous and Bido replies by saying that Bojack is invincible throughout the Galaxy. Zangya says that Earth is the greatest of the Northern Galaxies planets and that Bojack is most deserving to rule over it. Yamcha and Tenshinhan attack the team of fighters but are near instantly cast aside like nothings. As Gohan stands, surrounded by these warriors, he tells them they'll pay for this and turns Super Saiyan. All of the fighters go at Gohan but he is able to fight back pretty effectively. They eventually break through a wall and end up in a ruined city - where the rest of the fighting will take place.
Gohan continues to fight, but finds taking on 3 warriors at once can be very, very difficult, and is soon suffers a very large Ki blast from Bido. Trunks is shown begining to come to consciousness...and Gohan is laid into by tons of small Ki blasts by the 3 fighters, and soon finds himself unable to maintain the state of Super Saiyan any longer. Finally taking part in the fight, Bojack casts a huge ball of Ki upon Gohan. Just as it's about to kill the young fighter, a Makankosappo lays into the side of it and deflects it. Piccolo has returned, taking an interest in this new battle. The Namekian attacks Bojack head on but finds the direct approach to be quite ineffective. Though his struggle is valiant, Piccolo is soon unable to fight any longer.
Just as Bojack goes to finish off the Namekian, Trunks jumps in the way seeking some payback. He fires a barrage of Ki blasts upon Bojack, who forms a Force Field to protect himself. Just as he goes to follow through with a direct assault, Trunks is suddenly stopped by some invisible telekinetic force. After a moment, we can see what looks like "Purple Threads of Ki" wrapped about his body, which drain his Ki the more he struggles, according to Bujin, who is the caster of this spell. Just as Trunks is about to be finished, his sword comes flying through the air and cuts the threads, and the ground below Bujin and Bido explodes. Trunks catches his blade and sheath (which were shown lying next to Vegeta back in west city before) and puts them on. Vegeta, brimming gold, rises from where the ground had just exploded and says he will take care of this fight.
Vegeta and Bojack lock horns...and match evenly! But Bojack seems to uncork his Ki and bit and starts knocking Vegeta around. After Vegeta can hold Super Saiyan no longer, Bojack releases his full Ki and undergoes a similar change to the warrior Trunks fought before - His shirt disintegrates and his skin turns green, and his hair red. Trunks tries to fight off Zangya and Bujin but is once again entrapped in Telekinesis. Gohan rushes back into battle to save Vegeta, but is stopped by Bido. All the while, Mister Satan is departing to stop this evil once and for all!
Bojack hits Trunks with a large blast and knocks him out...leaving Gohan alone to face these warriors once again. As Gohan fights pretty well against Bojack (though he clearly isn't giving his full effort...) he suddenly gets trapped in the same Telekinesis that stopped Trunks time and time again. While he is trapped and no longer Super Saiyan, Bojack starts to beat the boy down sadistically. Suddenly, Mister Satan's rocket arrives! As he bounces about uncontrollably, he manages to interrupt Bujin's focus and thus let Gohan free. Bojack blows up the rocket and things continue along. Gohan tries one last time to defeat these evil warriors...and as Goku looks on, Gohan gets trapped in a bear hug with Bojack, in which the sounds of Gohans spine crunching can be heard.
Gohan screams and cries out for his father as his life slips away...and no longer can he bear it. Goku gets furious and suddenly performs Teleportation. In an instant, Bojack recieves an incredible blow to the cheek from a seemingly invisible force, and then the falling Gohan is encompassed by a Golden Light. He see's his father speaking to him..."Gohan! Show him your true power! Stop acting like some pampered baby! You have to protect the Earth!"
And just like that...Goku is gone and Gohan is lying on the ground with his eyes open, repeating the word "Father...". Bojack gets up from his rough fall and asks what that was. Gohan gets to his feet, with his back to Bojack and the others. He declares that his father saved him and bursts into Super Saiyan. And then, immediatly after, he powers up again and undergoes something we haven't seen yet in this movie.
Super Saiyan Two Son Gohan.
And as the smoke clears, Gohan twists around and faces Bojack - "And he said, you weren't going to get away with this...! He told me to protect the Earth!". And with that, Gohan unleashes his Ki fully and the entire island trembles before it. All kinds of crazy things start to happen to the weather and lightning rains upon the Battle Island. And finally, Bojack begins to feel a little bit worried. Gohan slowly walks towards them, as lightning courses all over his body. Bujin and Bido try to stop Gohan using Telekinesis, but it doesn't even faze him and he keeps on walking...but then he stops, and with a shout of Kiai the fighters are thrown back. Through the smoke, they try to come back at Gohan but are suddenly...dismembered.
Zangya is just a little bit horrified and starts to back away as Gohan approaches quickly. Bojack grabs the last of his servants and pushes her forward, throwing a Ki blast straight through her body and thus at Gohan. He easily dodges, but Bojack prepares another, much larger blast. Gohan takes it head on and acts as though nothing happened. Bojack gets pissed and charges at Gohan, but the Saiyan instead thrusts his fist straight through Bojack, much like Trunks had done earlier. The evil warrior is utterly frustrated and confused, and backs away from Gohan...but then prepares his last assault on the warrior, forming 2 Ki balls in each hand.
"And then...and then...he told me to stop acting like some pampered baby!" Gohan cups his hands and blue Ki begins to form in them. Both him and Bojack fire and then charge at eachother whilst the blasts collide...and Gohan destroys Bojack once and for all.
Destruction. Gohan Collapses. Commentary. Hospital. Commentary. Credits. End.
Personal Review - I really, really, really like this movie. The story takes a lot of previous elements from Dragonball and remixes them very well, the fights are very well done and interesting. The bad guy premise holds more creativity than most of the others (I'm talking to you, Movie 7). The ending is outstanding. They portray Ssj2 Gohan even better than the Anime did, and almost as well as the Manga. Truly fantastic, this movie won't leave a bad taste in your mouth, and the music is amazing. And of all the movies, it is the only one that has a chance of fitting into the storyline (though you better not assume it does)!
I give this flick a (“Six Star Ball” or “7 out of 7.”)
Dub Rating - I'll start off by giving praise to Sonny Strait and Eric Vale. Both of them deliver outstanding performances as Krillin and Trunks. Then we have to get to the issues...for one, we have tons of little, unnecessary changes to the story and dialogue. They change Bojack to having been trapped in a star and not a planet, and call him a "Genocide Hound" or something like that, and say he was trying to destory all Galaxies in some "Domidia" sector? That was completely made up. Lots of Bojacks Dialogue is altered in strange ways as well...but the Voice Actor Choice for him was a solid one, as well as all of his underlings. However, from the moment Goku teleports and punches Goku until Gohan collapses from defeating Bojack is among the worst Dub sequences I have ever seen. They put in this stupid...wierd sounding grungy music and totally destroy Goku and Gohan's lines, even more than I'd expect from them. Other than the ending sequence, the Music was done pretty well. I guess that's all.
I rate the Funi Dub of this movie 4 out of 10 (Note that this is a rating of the quality of the dub compared to the original, and not a rating of the actual movie.)
Special Thanks to Funimation for releasing the DVD uncut with Full Japanese Audio Track and Steven J. Simmons for his fantastic Subtitle work.
