Dragon Ball Z: The Tree Of Might
Japanese box art
Directed by	Daisuke Nishio
Produced by	Chiaki Imada Tamio Kojima
Written by	Story: Akira Toriyama Screenplay: Takao Koyama
Starring	Masako Nozawa Naoki Tatsuta Hiromi Tsuru Mayumi Tanaka Toshio Furukawa Mayumi Sho Toru Furuya Naoko Watanabe Suzuoki Hirotaka Hiroko Emori Kohei Myauchi Kenji Utsumi Joji Yanami
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Release date(s)	July 7, 1990 (1990-07-07), March 17, 1998 in North America and Europe
Running time	60:00
Language	Japanese and English
Preceded by	Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest
Followed by	Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug

Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: The Ultimate Battle for the Entire Earth (ドラゴンボールZ 地球まるごと超決戦, Doragon Bōru Zetto Chikyū Marugoto Chōkessen^?), is the third Dragon Ball Z feature film. It was originally released in Japan on July 7, 1990 between episodes 54 and 55.

It was first translated into English by Funimation Productions, in association with the original Ocean Studios voice cast, and was edited into a three-part television episode, which first aired in the United States in 1997, between the Ocean dub's first and second seasons of Dragon Ball Z. Ocean later re-dubbed the movie and released it uncut on VHS and DVD on March 17, 1998, featuring dialogue closer to the original Japanese script, as well as the original 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. This version of the movie was later re-released on Steel Case DVD and Blu-ray along with Lord Slug on September 16, 2008, the same release date as the remastered Season Six boxset of the series. This was one of the only two Dragon Ball films dubbed into English for the British market by AB Groupe (the other being The World's Strongest).

[edit] Synopsis

In the movie, the Z-Fighters face a new threat that starts with the burning of a forest, in which Gohan 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. However, Turles defeats the both of them and creates an artificial moon, turning Gohan into an Oozaru 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 Kaio-ken 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 10x Kaio-ken.

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.

[edit] Continuity Errors

The film is concidered non-canon. The reason being that it is set after the Saiyan Saga, yet every single Z-Fighter who died in that battle are alive in this movie. Also the confusion of who Turles is (whether he is Goku's relative or not) is never explained. One accepted theory is that the creators wanted to show what Goku might've been like if he hadn't suffered the head injury during his infancy that erased his memory of being a Saiyan.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Censorship

Ocean Studios' first dub of the movie was edited just like the series. Among these edits include:

• In order to spread time for the movie to be a three-part episode; several scenes from the series (both Dragon Ball and DBZ) are 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 is completely edited out in the movie and scenes where a character is punched or kicked hard is 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 holds him by his shoulders instead.

• The scene where Goku is slammed to the ground and Turles has his foot pressed against Goku's face is edited so that Goku's face under Turles' foot isn't shown.

• The scenes where Gohan is nude, following his Oozaru detransformation, are edited so that he is 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.

[edit] Music

• OP
  1. "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA"
     • Lyrics: Yukinojō Mori, Music: Chiho Kiyoka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama
       • Song Lyrics

• ED
  1. まるごと (Marugoto, (The Whole World^?)
     • Lyrics: Dai Satō, Music: Chiho Kiyoka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama & Ammy
       • Song Lyrics

[edit] Trivia

• In both the original Japanese version and Ocean's second dub of the movie, first mentions of Frieza are made preluding to the later fight with Frieza in the television series.

• Ocean's first dub of the movie was Ian Corlett's last voice work as Goku before he quit and was replaced by Peter Kelamis.