English movie cover of Path To Power
The Path to Power was the forth Dragon Ball movie released in 1996. It is also known as the Dragon Ball 10th anniversary special. Even though there are many noted discrepencies from the regular series, the basic story as relating to Goku is similar in many ways. The only major difference being that the villain changed from the first Dragonball saga.
Synopsis
Goku is an extremely strong but innocent boy who almost gets run over by a girl named Bulma when he's out fishing in his remote home one day. Bulma is on a quest to gather the seven magical Dragon Balls so she can ask the dragon Shenron for the perfect boyfriend, and Goku posesses one of the Dragonballs that she seeks, and as a deal, he joins her on her quest. But it soon becomes apparent that the pair is in a race to find the seven magical stones before another group does. The Red Ribbon Army is on a quest to get the balls so that they can ask the eternal dragon Shenron for world domination. As Goku fights his way through the forces of the Red Ribbon Army and the ruthless leader Commander Red, he realizes that love and devotion toward your friends is the only true path to power.
Characters
Heroes
Villains
Comparison to the anime
- Goku doesn't wear his all-blue gi or the traditional red one. Instead, he wears one similar to the one he wears in Dragon Ball GT (blue top, beige bottom).
- Bulma, like her manga counterpart, has purple hair instead of turquoise.
- Emperor Pilaf and his minions are not featured at all.
- General Blue isn't killed by Mercenary Tao (as Tao was not in the movie). He is instead presumably executed by orders of Commander Red.
- The Red Ribbon Army has some cosmetic changes: General White is a young Italian rather than an older Russian man, Major Metallitron is black and smaller, Commander Red has a smooth hairstyle, and Staff Officer Black actually has hair (similar to Commander Red's).
- Oolong is first encountered by Goku and Bulma in the desert, rather than terrorizing a village with his shape shifting abilities.
- Muscle Tower is bigger and more futuristic. Ninja Murasaki also doesn't appear.
- The Red Ribbon Army base is by the seaside, rather than in the middle of the forest.
- Goku's raids the army base to rescue his friends (Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, Oolong, Master Roshi, and Turtle) in the movie. In the anime, Goku does it to get the Dragonballs that the army has.
- In the movie, Commander Red is shot in the side and falls over to his doom. In the anime, he is shot in the head.
- The first wish to Shenron was to bring Android 8 back to life. In the anime, it was for a pair of ladies' underwear.