Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: Moetsukiro!! Nessen Ressen Chō-Gekisen (ドラゴンボールZ 燃えつきろ!!熱戦・烈戦・超激戦, Doragon Bōru Zetto Moetsukiro!! Nessen Ressen Chō-Gekisen; ; ; lit. "Dragon Ball Z: Burn Up!! A Close, Intense, Super-Fierce Battle"), is the eighth Dragon Ball Z movie. The original release date in Japan was on March 6th, 1993 between episodes 176 and 177. It was released on Video and DVD in America by FUNimation Entertainment on August 26th, 2003. Due to the popularity of this movie, it spawned two sequels, Broly: Second Coming and Bio-Broly. All three films where remastered and re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray by Funimation on March 31, 2009.
Summary
Introduction
While at a hanami picnic, during a painful singing session courtesy of Krillin, a massive ship arrived. Out came Paragus, one of the few surviving Saiyans. He invited Vegeta to rule a new Planet Vegeta. Vegeta initially refused until Paragus appealed to Vegeta's ego by asking him to kill the Legendary Super Saiyan that had completely destroyed the south galaxy.
Gohan, Trunks, Krillin, a drunk Master Roshi (in the Funimation dub, Bulma claims that he was behaving strangely because an unknown person hid all of Master Roshi's girlie magazines, and Oolong and Krillin claims after arrival thar he overdid himself by "eating too many tuna sandwiches"), and Oolong departed with Vegeta (Future Trunk's reasons being to try and stop his father from doing something stupid, as Trunks was suspicious of Paragus' motives).
Goku was at a school interview with Chi-Chi who was trying to get Gohan into the school. Goku was then called telepathically by King Kai. (It appeared that he is talking to himself and the school asks Chi-Chi if Goku is a magician.) He then teleported to King Kai and King Kai explained that he had sensed the Legendary Super Saiyan in the south galaxy and he sent Goku to stop him. By the time Paragus had arrived, Goku had already been searching for the Super Saiyan.
At first the group (besides Future Trunks, as he didn't trust Paragus, and tried to stop Vegeta) believed that Paragus had good intentions and honestly wanted to create a new Planet Vegeta. Later on it was revealed that the planet was on a collision course with a large comet, Comet Camori.
A new Planet Vegeta
Soon after Gohan, Trunks, Krillin, Master Roshi, Oolong, and Vegeta arrive, a report comes in that the Legendary Super Saiyan is attacking another planet. Vegeta takes Paragas' son, Broly, and investigates.
While Vegeta and Broly are investigating the attack on Todokama, Gohan, Trunks and Krillin go out to investigate the new Planet Vegeta. They find a slave colony strip mining the planet to send energy to the palace. Gohan, Trunks and Krillin quickly break up the slave labor going on at the colony. This is also when Goku arrives on the planet to be punched by Krillin. Paragas also first meets Goku during this scene, and immediately identifies him as Bardock's son.
Goku and Piccolo Battling the Legendary Super Saiyan
Shortly afterwards, Vegeta and Broly return from Todokama. Upon arrival, Vegeta expresses annoyance at Paragus for failing to tell him where The Legendary Super Saiyan is, as he can't find it without knowing its location. Vegeta notes that Goku is at the palace and expresses annoyance at his present despite his "not being on the guest list." He then tells Goku to stay out of his way as he tries to find and kill the Legendary Super Saiyan. The first time that Broly sees Goku he immediately recognizes him and gets extremely angry. A fight almost breaks out between Goku and Broly until Paragus brings the latter back under control by using a mind-control device put on him when he was a teenager. Unfortunately for Paragus, Broly has found a way to bypass the mind-control which the device has over him.
During this scene we are told, by Paragus, portions of Broly's past. Broly apparently was disturbed and emotionally unstable as a kid and blew up at least one planet. During his teen years, when Paragus tries to restrain Broly, Broly then throws a punch at Paragus causing him to be blinded in his left eye. After this incident, his power began to scare him, so he was forced to have a scientist develop a ring to control his power, an incident that nearly resulted in Broly killing Paragus. However, after the ring worked, Paragus decided to use Broly to conquer the universe. Later on that night, Paragus walks into Broly's room and tries to figure out why Broly is resisting his control, until he realizes that Goku and Broly were born on the same day. Broly was born with a fighting power of 10,000 while Goku was born with power level of 2. It is said that Goku cried constantly, keeping Broly awake for days on end. From then on Broly would constantly hold a grudge against Goku, and Goku's arrival was most likely the reason he was resisting his control.
After Paragus reflects on the past, Broly attacks Goku during the night. It is in this fight that we see Broly in his restrained Super Saiyan form. Towards the end of the fight Paragus reasserts control over Broly and forces him to stop attacking Goku. He barely manages to do so, foreshadowing things to come.
Battling the Legendary Super Saiyan
Eventually Gohan, Trunks and Krillin bring the slaves they freed back to the palace, and they identify Broly as the one that attacked their planet. Broly walks towards Goku shouting, "Kakarot!" repeatedly. Broly goes into his restrained Super Saiyan form again while in the walk towards Goku. Vegeta transforms into his Super Saiyan form and attacks Broly but the attack has no effect. Then Paragus decides to reveal the entire story. Broly soon rages out of Paragus' control and becomes a monstrous behemoth of a Super Saiyan, his most powerful form. Vegeta, stunned by Broly's power, falls to the ground, eyes wide with fear.
Broly's rampage
Broly, raged beyond control, destroys the strip mines and the slaves' home planet. Broly goes after Goku and Gohan in a chase, destroying forests and slaves with a barrage of ki blasts. The chase stops and Goku turns Super Saiyan. Gohan follows suit and then Trunks comes to help and also transforms into his Super Saiyan form. This is when the action really starts. To make it short, the battle is Broly in his Legendary Super Saiyan form versus Goku, Gohan, and Trunks in their Super Saiyan forms (Goku stated that Broly wins round one, but then it gets to round 2). The battle gets intense, but remains completely one-sided. Then Piccolo shows up after Broly annihilates the boys and saves Gohan from a would-be-fatal attack (During which, in the Japanese version, Broly tells Piccolo that he [Broly] isn't a monster, but, in actuality, the devil.). Piccolo then gets around to handing out everyone senzu beans. Not long after, the four warriors then decide to gang up on a patient Broly, who stands on a thin cliff. In only a matter of scenes, all four of them become annihilated by Broly again; Goku continuously gets punched in the face, Trunks and Gohan are both brutally clotheslined, and Piccolo is kicked twice, and then blown meters away from a ki blast into a cliff. Recovering from the blast, Piccolo attempts to get Vegeta to fight. In shock, he refuses, and is abandoned by Piccolo. Meanwhile, Goku is having a hard time doing anything to Broly, except giving him a good time. Vegeta, rediscovers his inner Super Saiyan pride, transforms into his Super Saiyan form once again, and joins the fight against Broly. His efforts, however, are futile as he is blown directly into a cliff and knocked unconscious. Broly later finds his father, Paragus, attempting to flee inside a Saiyan space pod, leaving his son to die in the explosion of the planet. Broly crushes the pod in return, and throws it directly at the comet.
Piccolo tells everyone to channel their power to Goku so he can defeat Broly. One by one they comply, except Vegeta. While gathering energy, Goku suffers at the hands of Broly; he is blown across the landscape by ki blasts, clotheslines, and very powerful punches. Finally, on the brink of defeat, Goku convinces Vegeta to help him. Goku then uses all the power that the Z-Warriors gave him to power one punch, defeating Broly. After dispatching Broly, Comet Kimori destroys the planet. However, the Z-Warriors and remaining slaves manage to escape in the Capsule Corp. spaceship Piccolo used to get there.
In the ending, Goku and Gohan Instant Transmission back to their house, and ultimately confront an angry Chi-Chi. Goku then tells Chi-Chi that his favorite hobbies are Reading and Sports (Ironically, the same phrase that Chi-Chi wanted to have Goku say at the PTA interview.). Chi-Chi then faints out of exasperation.
Major battles
- Goku vs. Broly (Super Saiyan)
- Vegeta (Ascended Super Saiyan) vs. Broly (Super Saiyan)
- Goku (Full Power Super Saiyan), Gohan (Full Power Super Saiyan), Trunks (Ascended Super Saiyan) & Master Roshi (Max Power) vs. Broly (Legendary Super Saiyan)
- Goku (Full Power Super Saiyan), Piccolo, Gohan (Full Power Super Saiyan) & Trunks (Ascended Super Saiyan) vs. Broly (Legendary Super Saiyan)
- Vegeta (Ascended Super Saiyan) & Trunks (Ascended Super Saiyan) vs. Broly (Legendary Super Saiyan)
- Goku (Full Power Super Saiyan) vs. Broly (Legendary Super Saiyan)
Canonicity
Though it is absent from the Funimation dub, the opening narration in the Japanese version of the film states that Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan takes place during the ten-day wait prior to the Cell Games. The movie fits here in the time line, but Gohan and Goku are seen outside their Super Saiyan forms, which they didn't transform out of during that period.
If the events of this movie did take place during the ten day wait prior to the Cell Games, Goku should have technically been able to beat Cell seeing as he defeated Broly, who would have been much stronger than Cell. However, it should be noted that the only reason why Goku and the Z-Fighters won was because Goku had to garner energy from his comrades, and punch Broly in the only known weak spot (the place he was stabbed as a baby), and not because of true strength. Also, the saiyan cells within Cell may have caused him to become stronger after his battle with Vegeta and Trunks, as well as the implication that Cell himself does training during the ten day wait for the Cell Games, which could of also lead him to become stronger than Broly even in his LSS, still far weaker than Cell's Complete power. However, when one considers that Goku was able to give Cell (even if he was holding back somewhat) a good fight, the aforementioned scenario doesn't appear to be the case. Broly's first two appearances both show him being defeated by otherwise `cheap` means, confirming that the Z-Fighters were far too inferior to otherwise stop him both times.
Another problem is Anime Filler shows several occurrences of the planet being in terror from Cell while the movie portrays the Earth as being in a time of relative peace with adults even trying to get their children into school. This makes it a problem when trying to fit the movie into the anime time line
Cast list
Music
Funimation dub
- Tendril - Eternal Sacrifice (Dragonaut)
- Tendril - The Invisibles
- El Gato - Stained-Glass Windshield
- El Gato - Lost in America (Part 1)
- The Pointy Shoe Factory - On Your Knees
- The Pointy Shoe Factory - Bump In The Night
- The Pointy Shoe Factory - The Dub Of The Dead
- Doosu - Louisiana House Five, Mid 1950's
- The Aleph - Lazarus
- Slow Roosevelt - Boys Lie, Girls Steal
- Slow Roosevelt - Silverback
- Spoonfed Tribe - Beetle Orange
- Dokodemo Doa - Fearful Yet Hopeful
- Pantera - 10's
- Gravity Pool - Reach
- Gravity Pool - Not Won't Give In
- Haji's Kitchen - Day After Day
- Haji's Kitchen - Lost
- Brave Combo - Dance of the Hours
Trivia
- This is the first Dragon Ball Z film in which Gohan uses his Super Saiyan power.
- It is also the first time the four Super Saiyans (Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and Future Trunks) fight together (along side Piccolo) as a team to defeat a villain.
- This is the second Dragon Ball Z movie to feature a Saiyan villain, and the only one to feature two of them.
- This movie, as well as Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming, and Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly, are the only movies where a Saiyan is a villain.
- This movie, along with Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming and Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly, are the only ones to feature a Super Saiyan as the main villain.
- This is the only Dragon Ball Z film in which King Vegeta, Prince Vegeta's father (and Future Trunks paternal grandfather), appears (in flashbacks).
- During the Movie, Master Roshi transforms to his "Max Power" form briefly (when he drunkenly challenges Broly).
- The Shamoians (or rather, similar looking characters) make a cameo appearance in Warriors of the Dead as two creatures play-fighting.
- During the Trunks Saga, until he found out that he was his son from the future, Vegeta refused to believe that Trunks was a Saiyan, despite him turning Super Saiyan, as Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan were the only Saiyans left (and Goku and Vegeta the only pure Saiyans). However, almost immediately upon seeing Paragus, he says "You're a Saiyan, aren't you?" He also seems to be aware of the existence of the Legendary Super Saiyan. (However, in the Frieza Saga, he also seemed to be aware of the existence of the Legendary Super Saiyan, or at the very least the legend.) In addition, it's most likely that, other than Frieza and (possibly) King Cold, the only ones to directly refer to him by "Prince Vegeta" are Saiyans (the fact that Paragus was seen with a tail wrapped around his armor and has black hair may also be a factor for Vegeta identifying him as a saiyan).
- At 70 minutes, this is the longest of all thirteen Dragon Ball Z films.
- When Master Roshi is changing his face with a mask (when he drunkenly challenges Broly), one of the faces he makes is that of Arale Norimaki from Akira Toriyama's first manga series, Dr. Slump. Another face Roshi makes has the features of a Super Saiyan, as well as a beard illustrated in the likeness of the Super Saiyan hairstyle typically adorned by Goku, complete with a golden aura. It is uncertain if this is an Easter egg showing Toei's answer to how a bald Super Saiyan might appear, or if, like the sequence as a whole, it is meant to be taken as a simple comedic gesture.
- Goku's line of "Hey, I thought you Kais were supposed to know everything!" was a reference to the fact that King Kai has made mistakes in his judgment despite his alleged omniscience (for example, thinking Frieza was dead twice, forgetting that Nameks only need water to survive, believing that Namek was destroyed even though the planet still had five minutes, etc.).
- Along with Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming, this was one of the first two Dragon Ball Z movies to be released on the Blu-Ray format.
- In the Funimation dub, when Chi-Chi practices interviewing Goku, Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli can be heard in the background music.
- Even though Funimation cut most references to Master Roshi being drunk in the movie, one hint at his original condition remained in the final cut, in the scene where Vegeta and the others arrive on New Vegeta, when Roshi complains of "feeling all hung over" ("feeling all hungover" is referring to a condition called a hangover, that generally occurs the night after someone drank too much alcohol).
- One of the questions Goku is asked when he and Chi-Chi are trying to get Gohan into school is he or Gohan played any sports. While Goku replied in confusion, he is a martial artist, which is a sport.
See also