With both TV specials now available on DVD, the next logical step for Funimation in their ongoing plan to remaster everything “Dragon Ball Z” was to begin releasing the series’ other 13 films in conjunction with the remaining season sets. This two-disc double feature collects the first two, “Dead Zone” and “The World’s Strongest,” and though neither one is considered required viewing for the casual fan, they’re still part of the official canon. “Dead Zone” takes place just before the first episode of “DBZ” – when Goku and Piccolo were still mortal enemies and Gohan was as annoying as ever – and finds the evil Garlic Jr. fulfilling his wish for immortality. “The World’s Strongest,” meanwhile, takes place just after the Saiyan Saga and follows the famous Dr. Wheelo (now in brain form after his body decomposed in an icy prison) as he attempts to harvest the world’s strongest warrior for his new body. Both movies have two things in common: they use Gohan’s hidden potential as the catalyst for eventual victory (like Bruce Banner, you don’t want to make Gohan angry), and they exhibit several similarities to future story arcs (Dr. Wheelo is essentially a poor man’s Dr. Gero, right down to the robot warrior lackeys). Neither one is especially memorable, but diehard fans wanting to update their collection will be rewarded with the best-looking versions of these movies yet.
Click to buy “Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone / The World’s Strongest”
The night opened with the Oceanic Six on a plane back to Hawaii. After Jack coaches the group on their “story,” they arrive to discover an Oceanic Airlines-moderated press conference set up to allow reporters to ask the survivors questions. Among the topics covered included the fate of Jin (Sun says he died when the plane crashed), the birth of Aaron (he’s being played off as Kate’s biological child), and confirmation that no other people could have possibly survived. But that wasn’t the juicy part.
In fact, Richard Alpert didn’t only visit him as a prematurely born baby (I’m still curious as to how Alpert manages to remain the same age for nearly 50 years), but he contacts him twice more throughout his childhood – once under the guise of a “school for special kids” and again via a pamphlet for a Portland-based science camp. Then, as an adult going through rehab following his accident, Locke is visited by another Dharma suit: Abaddon, who suggests that he experience the Australian walkabout to help discover himself. It’s all very coincidental, and while the writers utilized this same tactic in the first two seasons, those instances weren’t bound by such disbelief.
