Dragonball Z: The Movie Lord Slug DVD

An asteroid-sized object is hurtling toward Earth on a collision course. Goku and Krillin manage to deflect it — but something emerges from the debris: a massive warship, and with it an army of soldiers who declare the planet under new management. Their leader is Lord Slug, an ancient and immensely powerful Super Namekian who has roamed the galaxy for centuries and arrived on Earth for two things: the Dragon Balls, which he uses to restore his youth, and the planet itself, which he intends to terraform into a frozen wasteland to serve as his personal vessel. Gohan is captured. Piccolo arrives to fight and is overwhelmed. Goku faces a Namekian warrior of terrifying power — and when Slug crushes him to the edge of defeat, something stirs in Goku that has never fully surfaced before. In the film's most memorable moment, Piccolo tears off his own ears and bellows at Gohan to whistle — exploiting the one vulnerability no Namekian can overcome.

Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug is the fourth Dragon Ball Z theatrical film, originally released in Japan on March 19, 1991 as part of the Toei Anime Fair double feature. It is notable as the first DBZ film to hint at Goku's Super Saiyan transformation — his rage-fueled "False Super Saiyan" power surge is one of the earliest glimpses of what the series would fully realize in the Frieza arc — and for its unusually large-scale villain, whose giant Namekian form and planet-conquering ambition give the film a distinctly epic tone for its runtime.

The FUNimation DVD release from 2001 was the first to feature FUNimation's in-house English voice cast for a DBZ movie, and notably includes a rock band soundtrack replacing the original Japanese score — a controversial creative choice that later releases corrected by restoring Shunsuke Kikuchi's original music as an alternate audio option. 

Notable Staff & Voice Talent

Director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Original Manga: Akira Toriyama
Screenplay: Takao Koyama
Studio: Toei Animation
Music: Shunsuke Kikuchi (original score)

Japanese Cast:
- Masako Nozawa as Goku / Gohan
- Toshio Furukawa as Piccolo
- Mayumi Tanaka as Krillin
- Kenji Utsumi as Lord Slug
- Hiromi Tsuru as Bulma

DVD Features

- Uncut Version with Original Japanese Footage
- FUNimation Previews

Spoken Languages: English & Japanese Audio, English Subtitles

Edition Details

Japanese Title: ドラゴンボールZ 超サイヤ人だ孫悟空 (Doragon Bōru Zetto: Sūpā Saiyajin da Son Gokū)
Runtime: ~55 Minutes (Uncut)
Director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
DVD Release Year: 2001 (U.S. Uncut Release, FUNimation)
Original Release Date (Japan): March 19, 1991
Publisher: FUNimation Entertainment
Rating: Unrated
Region: Region 1 (U.S. / Canada)
Genre: Action, Martial Arts, Sci-Fi
Themes: Super Namekian Villain, Planet Conquest, False Super Saiyan, Piccolo's Sacrifice, Dragon Balls Misused

Media assumed VG+ unless otherwise