The Tree of Might
Encyclopedia
Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, also known by its Japanese title or Toei's
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...

 own English title Super Battle in the World, is the third Dragon Ball Z
Dragon Ball
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995; later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the...

feature film. It was originally released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 on July 7, 1990, between episodes 54 and 55 of DBZ, at the "Toei Anime Fair" film festival, where it was shown as part of an Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama
is a Japanese manga artist and game artist known mostly for his creation of Dragon Ball in 1984. Toriyama admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he remembers for the great art...

-themed triple feature titled Toriyama Akira: The World (the other two films were anime versions of his one-shot stories Kennosuke-sama and Pink
Pink (manga)
is a one-shot Japanese manga written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama that originally appeared in Shueisha magazine V Jump in December 1982. It would later be featured in Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater Vol. 2 in 1988...

).

It seems to be set sometime after Vegeta and Nappa were on Earth, but before Bulma, Gohan,and Krillin left for Namek, although Vegeta isn't even discussed in the movie. It was first dubbed in English by Funimation Entertainment
Funimation Entertainment
Funimation is an American entertainment company. Originally founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, the company became a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005...

 in association with Saban Entertainment and Ocean Productions, and was edited into a three-part television episode, which first aired in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in November 1997. Funimation later sub-licensed the movie to Geneon Universal Entertainment who, also in association with Ocean Productions, re-dubbed the movie and released it uncut on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 on March 17, 1998, featuring the then current English voice cast from the TV series, dialogue closer to the original Japanese script, and the original Japanese background music. On November 14, 2006, the movie was re-released on DVD, dubbed by Funimation's in-house voice cast as part of a movie box set titled "First Strike," also containing Dead Zone and The World's Strongest. It was later remastered and released in a Double Feature set with Lord Slug on Blu-Ray and DVD on May 27, 2008. The film will be released to DVD again on November 1, 2011 in a remastered box set containing the first five Dragon Ball Z movies.

An English dub produced in Malaysia, and an English dub produced by AB Group in France, were also created. The Malaysian English dub was released on VCD in Malaysia and AB Groupe's English dub aired on TV in the Netherlands, the UK, and Ireland, as well as saw a release on VHS and DVD in said countries. The two alternate English dubs were released under Toei's official English title.

Plot

In the movie, the Z-Fighters face a new threat that starts with the burning of a forest, in which Gohan
Son Gohan
is a fictional character from the Dragon Ball universe created by Akira Toriyama as a protagonist for the media franchise, which consists of a series of manga, anime, soundtracks, movies, television specials, video games, and other collectibles...

 and Krillin rescue the forest animals and a small dragon named Icarus. Although they are able to restore the forest to its normal state with the Dragon Balls, Icarus doesn't return and stays with Gohan, much to Chi-Chi's fury. Goku then shows a nearby cave to let Gohan keep the dragon with him. Later, the Earth is visited by an unfriendly group of aliens under the leadership of a Saiyan. Upon arriving, they plant a seed which grows the Tree of Might, a plant that sucks the life of the planet on which it was planted and leaves it a desert. At King Kai's request, Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu investigate and try to destroy the Tree, but are unsuccessful. They are then confronted by the aliens whilst their leader watches from inside the spaceship. Eventually, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu are defeated by the aliens, with only Goku remaining as the one who can hold his own against them.

During the ensuing battle, Chiaotzu is rescued by Gohan, who had just arrived, and demonstrates his incredible fighting skills by easily taking out the two identical aliens. He is then encountered by the aliens' leader Turles, a Saiyan who bears a striking resemblance to Goku. Turles gives Gohan a choice to either join him or die. Gohan refuses to join Turles, and is saved in time thanks to the arrival of Piccolo
Piccolo (Dragon Ball)
is a fictional character from the Dragon Ball manga, authored by Akira Toriyama. Piccolo was first introduced as the reincarnation of the evil Piccolo Daimao in chapter #167 first published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on April 4, 1988, making him a demon and archrival of the primary...

. However, Turles defeats the both of them and creates an artificial moon, turning Gohan into a Great Ape and sets him on Goku, who is almost crushed to death in Gohan's hand until Icarus arrives and calms Gohan down. But when Turles attacks Icarus, Gohan is angered and turns on Turles, who fires an attack at Gohan. Before the attack can make contact, Goku manages to cut his son's tail off and restore him to normal. Cradling the little one in his arms, Goku threatens Turles. Angry and impressed at the same time, Turles sets his henchmen on Goku, who uses the Kaioken attack and makes quick work of them while Piccolo unsuccessfully fights Turles again. Goku and Turles then fight, with Goku having the upper hand, until Turles pushes his power further by eating a fruit from the Tree of Might. With his new power, Turles dominates Goku and beats him to the point that he is no longer able to fight, even with the use of the Kaioken x10 (x20 in the funimation dub).

Slowly recovering while Turles is distracted by the rest of the Z-Fighters, whom he brutally dispatches, Goku decides to use his Spirit Bomb. Despite gaining energy from the living, he is not able to attack Turles as he counterattacks with a blast of his own, neutralizing Goku's Spirit Bomb. Unable to gather more energy from living beings, Goku decides to steal energy from inside the Tree of Might itself. Eventually successful in creating the Spirit Bomb, Goku sees his opportunity, and fires it straight into Turles, who is carried up the trunk of the Tree of Might and destroyed along with the Tree when the Spirit Bomb explodes. With the terror now over, the Z-Fighters return to their normal lives once again.

Setting

It seems to be set sometime after the fight with Vegeta and Nappa, and before Gohan, Bulma, and Krillin left for planet Namek, despite the lack of preparation for leaving. It has to be after the fight with Vegeta and Nappa because Goku is alive, and has use of the kaioken and spirit bomb techniques, and there are appearances from King Kai as well. It has to be before they left for Namek, as Goku doesn't have the ability to become a super saiyan. The confusing part is that Goku uses the Kaioken x10, which he used to deal a significant blow to Frieza, but in his fight against Vegeta, he was only able to use the 3x kaioken. To add to this, Goku is barely a match for Turles, a lower-class saiyan, at the exposition of their fight. Yet, earlier, he was able to take on Vegeta, a super-elite. Additionally, following the fight with Nappa and Vegeta (prior to Goku's arrival), many of the Z fighters were dead (i.e. Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha and Piccolo). Because Piccolo was killed by Nappa, the Dragon Balls should have disappeared from Earth. However, they are used in the opening of the movie. This would indicate that the movie takes place after Goku's fight with Frieza and the destruction of Namek.
Some Dragon Ball Z sites say that Turles had somehow gotten his hands on the Tree of Might seeds, and was planting them on other planets before Earth and had been eating the fruit from the Tree for quite some time, just on different worlds. Earth is full of life, which is why he seeks out Earth, to gain more power than ever from a fruit from the tree that was planted on Earth. This is never explained fully, however. His overwhelming power over Goku could also be explained by the ability of saiyans to become much stronger after being beaten to near-death (Bardock, Goku's father, was a lower-class saiyan as well, was able to take on Frieza's elite fighters before he died). Another notable aspect of the movie is that Gohan's haircut was the same as just before he left for Namek.

Turles

Turles(Tururesu) is the featured supervillian in Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might. He is an upper class saiyan with somewhat grey skin and bears a striking resemblance to Goku, and can be considered an alternate version of Goku if he had never found peace on Earth. It is revealed that the reason they both resemble each other is because when it came to identifying the lower class breed of saiyans many of them would look alike (Not all, as Bardock's team didn't look the same, and Gohan does not have the same look, although his brother, Goten, does. ). During the destruction of Planet Vegeta he was on another mission and therefore was not caught in the fall of the saiyan planet by the hand of Frieza. He then roamed the universe assembling a band of rebels who had terrorized several planets before coming to Earth. Upon arriving he planned to plant the seed of The Tree of Might, capable of taking away the planets energy to supply power to the fruit it grows, able to enhance ones own strength exponentially. While fighting Goku, Turles eats one of the fruits and he greatly overpowers him gaining the upper hand, even able to destroy a Spirit Bomb. With the planets energy slowly deteriorating Goku creates another Spirit Bomb from the immense energy of gained from The Tree of Might and uses this to kill Turles. In Tenkaichi 2 and 3 he is given an exclusive Oozaru form for the game. Turles's seiyu is Masako Nozawa, Ted Cole in the Ocean Group English dub, Chris Patton in Funimation English dub.

Cast

Character Name Voice Actor (Japanese) Voice Actor (English / Ocean Group Studios 1997) Voice Actor (English / Geneon) Voice Actor (English / FUNimation 2006)
Goku  Masako Nozawa
Masako Nozawa
is a Japanese voice actress and actress affiliated with Office Nozawa. Her pet name is Mako. Her husband, Masa'aki Tsukada is also a voice actor....

Ian James Corlett
Ian James Corlett
Ian James Corlett is a Canadian animation voice artist, writer, and musician. He is the creator of Studio B Productions' animated series Being Ian and Yvon of the Yukon....

 
Peter Kelamis
Peter Kelamis
Peter Kelamis is an Australian-born Canadian actor and comedian.-Life and career:Kelamis was born in Sydney, Australia of Greek origin. In 1985, Kelamis enrolled in the University of British Columbia...

 
Sean Schemmel
Sean Schemmel
Sean Schemmel is an American voice actor, ADR director, and script writer who has worked for NYAV Post, Bandai Entertainment, Funimation Entertainment, OkraTron 5000, DuArt Film and Video, and 4Kids Entertainment...

Gohan
Son Gohan
is a fictional character from the Dragon Ball universe created by Akira Toriyama as a protagonist for the media franchise, which consists of a series of manga, anime, soundtracks, movies, television specials, video games, and other collectibles...

 
Masako Nozawa Saffron Henderson
Saffron Henderson
Saffron Henderson is a Canadian voice actress and singer and the daughter of Bill Henderson of Chilliwack fame. She has voiced various characters from anime series...

 
Saffron Henderson Stephanie Nadolny
Stephanie Nadolny
Stephanie Ann Nadolny is an American voice actress and Singer who has worked on the properties of FUNimation Entertainment and ADV Films...

Krillin  Mayumi Tanaka
Mayumi Tanaka
is a Japanese voice actress from Tokyo currently affiliated with Aoni Production.She is best known for the roles of Ryuunosuke Fujinami in Urusei Yatsura, Pazu in Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece, Krillin, Yajirobe and Uranai Baba in Dragon Ball...

Terry Klassen
Terry Klassen
Terry Klassen is a Canadian voice actor and voice director in Vancouver, British Columbia. He co-created Yvon of the Yukon. He is the voice director for shows including Martha Speaks, "Johnny Test", "George of the Jungle", "Ed, Edd n Eddy", several "Barbie" movies, "Transformers", "CardCaptors",...

 
Terry Klassen Sonny Strait
Sonny Strait
Don "Sonny" Strait is an American voice actor who works for anime series of Funimation Entertainment. He has provided voices for a number of characters in English language versions of Japanese anime films....

Yamcha  Toru Furuya
Toru Furuya
is a veteran narrator and seiyū born on July 31, 1953 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As a child, he was a member of Gekidan Himawari, a children's acting troupe...

 
Ted Cole
Ted Cole
- Anime Roles :* Beyblade - Lee, Spencer, Kane, Coach Barthez* Dokkoida!? - Pierre the Slave* Death Note - Reiji Namikawa, Yukito Shiraba, John McEnroe/Larry Conners, Jack Neylon/Kal Snydar* Dragon Ball - Yamcha...

 
Ted Cole Christopher Sabat
Christopher Sabat
Christopher Robin Sabat is an American voice actor, ADR Director, and Line Producer. He has provided voices for a number of English language versions of Japanese anime films and television series, as well as video games...

Tien  Hirotaka Suzuoki
Hirotaka Suzuoki
was a Japanese voice actor and actor from Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture who graduated from Tokyo Keizai University.His best known roles include Mobile Suit Gundam , Captain Tsubasa , Saint Seiya , Dragon Ball Z , The Transformers , Ranma ½ , Rurouni Kenshin , Pokémon...

 
Matt Smith
Matt Smith (voice actor)
Matt Smith is a Canadian voice actor who works for Ocean Productions in Vancouver.-Roles:*Dragon Ball Z - Tien * InuYasha - Hojo, Akitoki Hojo * Zoids: New Century Zero - Sanders...

 
Matt Smith John Burgmeier
Chiaotzu  Hiroko Emori
Hiroko Emori
is a Japanese voice actress whose works for Aoni Production.-Notable voice roles:*Armitage III as Bronski*BS Tantei Club: Yuki ni Kieta Kako as both Toshie and Sachi Tachibana*Caroline the car in the Japanese version of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends...

 
Cathy Weseluck
Cathy Weseluck
Cathy Weseluck is a Canadian voice actress who frequently works with Ocean Productions in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is known with providing the voice for characters in various anime series such as Mirai Yashima , Dorothy Catalonia and Catherine Bloom , Near , Shampoo , Kagome's mother , Misa...

 
Cathy Weseluck Monika Antonelli
Monika Antonelli
Monika Antonelli is a voice actress and librarian best known for voicing Puar and Chiaotzu in the Dragon Ball anime series, as well as earlier video games and other media for the franchise from 1999 to 2008...

Piccolo
Piccolo (Dragon Ball)
is a fictional character from the Dragon Ball manga, authored by Akira Toriyama. Piccolo was first introduced as the reincarnation of the evil Piccolo Daimao in chapter #167 first published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on April 4, 1988, making him a demon and archrival of the primary...

 
Toshio Furukawa
Toshio Furukawa
is a Japanese voice actor affiliated with Aoni Production and is married to fellow voice actress Shino Kakinuma. His height is 164cm. Hobbies are Fishing, diorama, reading and movies.In July 2011, Furukawa appeared at Anime Expo as a guest.-Career/Personal:...

 
Scott McNeil
Scott McNeil
Scott McNeil is a Canadian actor and voice actor. He currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...

 
Scott McNeil Christopher Sabat
Bulma  Hiromi Tsuru
Hiromi Tsuru
is a Japanese voice actress from Kanagawa Prefecture. She is currently affiliated with Aoni Production.She is most known for the roles of Bulma , Ukyo Kuonji , Dokin-chan , Madoka Ayukawa , Miyuki Kashima , Reiko Mikami and Naomi Hunter is a Japanese voice actress from Kanagawa Prefecture. She...

 
Lalainia Lindbjerg
Lalainia Lindbjerg
Lalainia Lindbjerg is a Canadian voice actress who works for Ocean Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.-Biography:...

 
Lalainia Lindbjerg Tiffany Vollmer
Tiffany Vollmer
Tiffany Vollmer is an American voice actress best known for voicing Bulma in the Dragon Ball franchise.-Career:Vollmer was cast as Bulma in 1999 for FUNimation's third season of Dragon Ball Z, replacing Leslie Alexander, who left the show after playing Bulma in DB Movie 2, that was dubbed much...

Chi-Chi  Mayumi Shō
Mayumi Sho
is a Japanese seiyū. She formely works at Aoni Production and is currently working at Kekke Corporation. She is married to fellow seiyū Keiichi Nanba.-Notable voice roles:*Ikuko Otonashi in Maison Ikkoku*Chi-Chi in Dragon Ball and early Dragon Ball Z...

Laara Sadiq Laara Sadiq Cynthia Cranz
Cynthia Cranz
Cynthia Jane Cranz is an American voice actress who works for anime series of Funimation Entertainment...

Oolong  Naoki Tatsuta
Naoki Tatsuta
is a Japanese voice actor affiliated with Aoni Production.He is most known for the roles of Buta Gorilla , Daima Jin , Oolong , Ashibe's Father , and Scoop-kun ....

 
Alec Willows Doug Parker
Doug Parker
Doug Parker may refer to:* Doug Parker, chief executive officer of US Airways* Doug Parker , voice actor*Douglas Parker, playwright*Chief Parker, fictional DC Comics character, appears in stories featuring the original Superboy...

 
Bradford Jackson
Bradford Jackson
Bradford Jackson is an American voice actor who worked for the FUNimation distributing company. He is best known for voicing Oolong in the Dragon Ball metaseries...

Puar  Naoko Watanabe  Cathy Weseluck
Cathy Weseluck
Cathy Weseluck is a Canadian voice actress who frequently works with Ocean Productions in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is known with providing the voice for characters in various anime series such as Mirai Yashima , Dorothy Catalonia and Catherine Bloom , Near , Shampoo , Kagome's mother , Misa...

 
Cathy Weseluck Monika Antonelli
Master Roshi  Kōhei Miyauchi
Kohei Miyauchi
' was a veteran Japanese seiyū born in Kagoshima Prefecture. His real name was Takayuki Miyauchi and his nickname was "Miya-chan". On June 2, 1995, Miyauchi died on his hospital bed at the Nihon University Itabashi Hospital from abdominal varices...

 
Dave Ward  Don Brown Mike McFarland
Mike McFarland
Michael Charles McFarland is an American voice actor, ADR Director, Script, and Line Producer at Funimation Entertainment. He also did work with ADV Films, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, New Generation Pictures and Okatron 5000...

King Kai  Joji Yanami
Joji Yanami
is a Japanese voice actor currently represented by Aoni Production.- Television :* Ookami Shōnen Ken , Boss* Hustle Punch , Professor Garigari/Garigari Hagase* Osomatsu-kun , Tou-san...

Don Brown  Don Brown Sean Schemmel
Shenron  Kenji Utsumi
Kenji Utsumi
is a Japanese voice actor and actor from Kitakyūshū, affiliated with the self-founded Ken Production. He is married to fellow voice actress Michiko Nomura....

 
Don Brown Don Brown Christopher Sabat
Icarus/Higher Dragon Naoki Tatsuta
Naoki Tatsuta
is a Japanese voice actor affiliated with Aoni Production.He is most known for the roles of Buta Gorilla , Daima Jin , Oolong , Ashibe's Father , and Scoop-kun ....

Cathy Weseluck Cathy Weseluck Christopher Sabat
Rasin Kenji Utsumi Ward Perry
Ward Perry
Ward Perry is an anime voice actor who has voiced characters for a number of anime dubbed by the Ocean Group in Vancouver, Canada. He is mostly known as the voice actor of Dragonball Z Villain Kid Buu.-Credits:...

 
Ward Perry Andy McAvin
Andy McAvin
Andrew Mark "Andy" McAvin is an American actor and voice over actor with nearly 80 credits to his resume. He also appeared in over 120 professional theatrical productions including Broadway musicals. He does voice work in anime dubs for ADV Films and Seraphim Digital.One of his most prominent...

Lagasin Masaharu Satou  Don Brown Don Brown Andy McAvin
Daiz Yūji Machi
Yuji Machi
is a seiyū who is known in Japan as the voice of Ultraman Tiga as well as the voices of Appule and Daizu in Dragon Ball Z. His real name is , and he works for Aoni Production....

 
Scott McNeil Scott McNeil Mark Lancaster
Kakao Shinobu Satouchi
Shinobu Satouchi
is a seiyū who is best known as the voice of Fox McCloud in the Japanese version of Nintendo's Star Fox series and Super Smash Bros. series. He was also the voice of Giru in Dragon Ball GT...

 
Alvin Sanders
Alvin Sanders
Alvin Sanders is an actor, now residing in Vancouver, BC. He currently sits on the Union of BC Performers' executive board.-Anime Roles:* Darkstalkers - Jon Talbain* Dragon Ball Z - Mr Popo, Additional Voices...

 
Don Brown Jeff Johnson
Armond Banjo Ginga
Banjo Ginga
, sometimes credited as his real name , is a Japanese voice actor who was born in Kofu, Yamanashi. Ginga is currently affiliated with Aoni Production...

 
Alec Willows Alec Willows Paul Slavens
Turles Masako Nozawa Ted Cole Ted Cole Chris Patton
Chris Patton
Christopher David Patton is an American voice actor who works on anime for Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, Seraphim Digital, and OkraTron 5000...


Censorship

Funimation's first dub of The Tree of Might was heavily edited for content and length, just like their original dub of Dragon Ball Z:
  • In order to spread time for the movie to be a three-part episode; several scenes from the series were added, such as when the Eternal Dragon is summoned, when Turles, his henchmen, and Piccolo make their first appearances in the film, and most of King Kai's scenes.

  • Blood was completely edited out in the movie and the violence was toned down as well. For example, scenes where a character was punched or kicked hard were blocked by flashes of light.

  • The scene where Turles forces Gohan to transform into an Oozaru by holding his face and forcing him to keep his eyes open was edited so that Turles held him by his shoulders instead.

  • The scene where Turles has his foot on top of Goku was edited so that Goku's face under Turles' foot wasn't shown.

  • The scenes where Gohan is nude, following his Oozaru detransformation, were edited so that he was covered up by some means, such as adding extended lighting to the scene where Goku catches Gohan after cutting off his tail or adding a digital bush in front of him during the scene where he is awakened by Icarus. They did, however, forget to remove or censor a shot when Gohan is lying naked in Goku's arms, but it is barely noticeable.

Music

  • OP
    1. "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA
      CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA
      is the first opening theme song of the anime series Dragon Ball Z and is the fifteenth single by J-pop artist Hironobu Kageyama. It was released on vinyl, cassette, and mini CD on May 1, 1989 in Japan only. It is coupled with the first Dragon Ball Z closing theme "Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Power!"...

      "
      • Lyrics: Yukinojo Mori, Music: Chiho Kiyooka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama

  • ED
      • Lyrics: Dai Sato, Music: Chiho Kiyooka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama & Ammy

deftones- hole
disturbed - down with the sickness
linkin park- crawling
breaking point-27
saliva- ladies and gentlemen
skillet- earth ivasion
linkin park- breaking the habit
finger eleven- one thing
linkin park -one step closer
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK