Dragon Ball: Fight, Son Goku! Win, Son Goku! (South Korea, 1990)
So the 2023 Dragon Ball Apocrypha Liveblog rolls on, and this is the part I’ve been looking forward to: The Gaijin Live-Action Trilogy. We begin with the first live-action adaptation of Dragon Ball, produced in South Korea in 1990.
Now, if you’re not familiar with this film, you might be wondering: Why would Toei and Shueisha license a Dragon Ball movie to a South Korean studio? And the answer to that is: They didn’t. This was an unofficial adaptation.
Beyond that, I really don’t know the backstory to this one. Presumably, Dragon Ball had become popular enough in Korea that there was some interest in a movie, and I think it was easier to pull a stunt like this in the 90′s than it would be today. This movie isn’t exactly a big-budget affair, and if Toei was aware of it at the time, they probably thought it wasn’t worth the hassle of pursuing legal action.
You can find the movie on YouTube like I did, but I’m pretty sure there’s home video options out there. But if you just want a quick rundown of the movie’s highlights, I’ve got you covered.
For the most part, this movie is a straight adaptation of the first arc of the Dragon Ball manga. Bulma meets Goku, convinces him to join her on her search for the Dragon Balls, they meet Roshi, Oolong, Yamcha, Chi-Chi, and the Ox-King, and then eventually they have to deal with the villainous Emperor Pilaf. Oolong stops him by wishing for panties, Bulma and Yamcha get together, and Goku goes off to explore the wider world.
The main problem with this movie is that it’s a little too faithful to that plotline, adapting little moments that probably didn’t need to be in a feature film. I could respect the attention to detail, except the movie also manages to go completely off the rails as well, which sort of defeats the purpose of doing a shot-for-shot retelling of the original comics. On top of that, the movie also cuts a lot of corners.
The best example of this is when Goku first meets Bulma. In some versions of this scene, she hits him with her car, and in some she manages to stop in time, but here, Goku just happens along her parked car while she’s checking the engine. And I get it, they’ve got a pretty young kid playing Goku, and if I was the actor’s mom, I wouldn’t want him filming a scene where he almost gets hit with a car, but considering the other car-related nonsense later in the movie, it’s kind of weird that the opening scenes are so subdued.
Also, when Bulma tells Goku about the Dragon, they just use what looks like footage from the cartoon they’re shamelessly ripping off.
And when they start off on their journey, and Bulma gets attacked by a pterodactyl, it’s just a guy in a costume. It’s a pretty fancy costume, although I have no idea what this thing is supposed to be. Like, if this were a stage musical, I could just accept that this guy represents a pterodactyl, but maybe he’s supposed to be a cyborg bandit, or some other enemy that was easier for the studio to create. The thing is, he still swoops down and grabs Bulma in his talons like a pterodactyl. But why didn’t they give him a mask? Maybe the actor left it at home the day of the shoot.
Also, Goku fights this guy for a really long time. I’m pretty sure he just hit him once in the comic, but this movie drags it out for a really long time, and it’s a very one-sided beating. I don’t understand this.
One touch I really like is how Bulma uses Hoi Poi Capsules in the movie. It’s a simple thing to skip, but when you think about it, it’s such an easy effect to pull off in a live-action movie. Just have the actor toss a prop, show some smoke and fireworks, and then show the characters looking at the building or vehicle that “suddenly” appeared before them. This movie features literal puppets, and it still managed to make Hoi Poi Capsules work, so later productions really have no excuse.
So Bulma sets up a house for them to spend the night, and inside Goku watches... Dragon Ball? Wow, they really had no shame at all about this.
They do the bit where Bulma gives Goku a bath, and there’s some sort of censor effect over Goku’s crotch, which.... yeah, this all gets really messed up when it’s a real live kid standing around in the buff. Also, why are we doing this scene from the manga? Of all the things you could cut, this should have been a no-brainer.
Then we get to the part with the Turtle, and he’s just a guy in a suit, but it’s a pretty damn good likeness of the character. That’s one thing I respect about this production. They wanted to do a live-action Dragon Ball, and they didn’t just shy away from logistical challenges like a talking turtle.
On the other hand, while they wait for the Turtle to return from the sea, Bulma starts wishing she’d brought a swimsuit so she could enjoy the ocean. Then the movie just shows her in a swimsuit, cavorting around the beach. This doesn’t actually happen, they just decided to show this anyway, as if it had happened.
This movie just makes a lot of weird choices. For instance, Master Roshi is dressed very authentically. He’s got the clothes, the staff, the turtle shell, all of it. And yet they gave him these braids for some reason. He’s bald on top, but they stopped short of just shaving his whole head. Also, he never has on sunglasses. And yet, the character always has sunglasses with him at all times! He keeps a pair hanging from a lanyard around his neck. So why not just put them on and complete the look?
Anyway, things play out pretty much like they do in the comics. Roshi gives Goku the Kinto’un cloud, and then Bulma notices Roshi’s Dragon Ball. This would be the part where Roshi offers to trade it for a look at Bulma’s underwear, but that doesn’t happen. Instead... I’m not really sure. They get really close together as they look at Roshi’s Dragon Ball, and then she accidentally kisses him, more or less, and Roshi just gives the thing to her, as though he’s already satisfied.
Then we just smash cut straight to this scene, where Goku and Bulma are in a whole other place. There’s no transition or anything. They’re just like “Oh, we’re at the house,” as if they turned around and found this place along the same beach they were just at.
This leads into the Oolong part of the story, and while I don’t understand this setting, I have to give them props for their pitch-perfect casting of Oolong’s disguise. He looks almost exactly like he did in the original story.
Also, his robot disguise kicks ass. Goku fights him for a bit, and then...
Yeah, not so impressive. I don’t know, I feel like Oolong was close enough to human that you could get away with prosthetic ears and a snout. So Bulma takes him along on their quest, and they do the bit where Oolong tries to turn into a fish and escape, except....
Mai is spying on them. So Mai looks pretty much like you’d expect her too, but here’s a weird twist. She raises her arms...
...And turns into a centipede? And then she goes in the water? I didn’t think centipedes could swim. Anyway, she attacks Oolong for no obvious reason, and Goku has to save him.
Then they do the bit where Bulma tricks Oolong into eating magic laxatives. Fun fact: In Korean, they say “pee pee pee”, but it actually means “poop poop poop”. At least, that was the impression I was given by this scene. Anyway, this is all observed by Puar, who reports back to Yamcha’s lair. Also, Puar enjoys a cigarette, because who knows? This movie was made in Korea, but Puar is in Flavor Country.
Anyway, Yamcha looks fuckin’ awesome in this movie. The fact that he’s constantly accompanied by this ridiculous Puar doll only heightens the immersion for me.
Hell yeah!
Cool pals 4-ever.
Very intimidating.
Yamcha tries to do a cool entrance with his car, but it doesn’t work and he nearly runs himself over, and then he has to struggle to get it to stop. Then he and Goku fight until he sees Bulma and backs off.
The weird thing is that Yamcha isn’t afraid of girls like he normally is in this story. They never even get into that. Instead, it just seems like he’s really infatuated with Bulma, which distracts him. Here, he sees Bulma for the first time and imagines frolicking on the beach with her in a wedding dress. Then Goku hits him and knocks him out.
Then he spies on their house to learn what the Dragon Balls are, and he accidentally sees Bulma in the shower, but he just tells Puar he saw something great. And he confidently says he’ll get his wish, but he never explains what that wish would be.
Then we get to the Frypan Mountain stuff. They just show Chi-Chi running around killing some monster or bandit or whatever. Meanwhile, Ox-King is just a regular-sized man with a really red costume.
Chi-Chi’s costume looks kind of bad. Like, the design had the right idea, but her helmet is way too big and the pink armor parts just look like fabric attacked to the white tights. She looks like a little kid who just got done with ballet class and her dad let her put on his motorcycle helmet.
In further-away shots like this one, it looks pretty good, though. Like, I can tell what they were going for, and it could have been really cool, but they just didn’t pull it off. Speaking of pulling, Chi-Chi pulls on Goku’s tail, but it doesn’t mean anything, because Yamcha’s not around to see it, and Goku’s secret weakness never comes into play. I’m a little surprised that he even has a tail in this movie, since it never figures into the plot.
So then we go back to Master Roshi, and when Goku and Chi-Chi ask him for the Bansho Fan, Turtle reminds him that he doesn’t have it. Then Roshi just starts smacking him around for no reason, and Turtle bites Roshi’s balls.
Then Roshi continues to assault Turtle, even as he uses him to fly to Frypan Mountain. I get using Turtle in place of Baby Gamera, but that’s about the only thing I get about any of this part of the movie.
Then he arrives and sits on Ox-King like a chair, and makes Bulma sit down in front of him, like Ox-King is a motorcycle or something. For several awkward minutes, Roshi kind of gestures at Bulma, but there’s no dialogue, so I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. Well, obviously, this is meant to reflect the part where Roshi asks Bulma to let him fondle her in exchange for putting out the fire on Frypan Mountain, but this bears no resemblance to any of that.
Also, I’m pretty sure the Dragon Ball isn’t even in Ox-King’s burning castle. Chi-Chi has it in this movie, if I’m not mistaken. So Bulma really doesn’t have anything at stake here.
So Roshi finally gets down to business and bulks up, which is a pretty simple effect they pull off. Just get a jacked up dude to pose in the same costume and never show his face in the shot.
And here’s the Kamehameha. Dunno why it’s orange, but no big deal. Goku does his own and blows up a rock, but it’s not as spectacular.
Chi-Chi is all impressed and Goku does this cute humblebrag pose. “Yep, not too shabby for a first try. Yeah, I’ve been working out a lot. Chopping wood with my hands, crushing rocks. Been thinking about trying some Spirit Bombs one of these days, but I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.”
So let’s check in on the villains. They’ve shown up a few times in pointless scenes, but I need to point out this scene because it’s the best picture I could get of this dude, named Murasaki. I don’t know if he’s meant to have any connection to Murasaki, aka Sgt. Major Purple, but he looks like Nappa with hair. Anyway, Emperor Pilaf sends him to go take out the good guys, who now have five Dragon Balls.
So they run into each other in a cave, where they fight and have a fun chase in mine carts, and Murasaki has ninjas on his team so maybe he really is a reference to Sgt. Purple. Anyway, Goku takes him out with a Kamehameha. Then Yamcha shows up and lends his sword to the team.
Then this green robot attacks and they all take turns trying to beat him. Oolong attacks him with nunchucks (!) but it doesn’t work. Goku tries his best, but nothing. Then Yamcha summons his car to the battle and flies(!!) the car into the robot, but that does nothing.
I still don’t understand how this fight ended. Bulma starts powdering her face, and I think the robot saw its reflection in her compact mirror, and then it exploded? I can’t explain why, I’m just reporting my observations. The gang all congratulate her for winning, but I’m not even sure she was trying to do anything.
Then they go back in the cave? I guess? And Pilaf knocks them out with gas to steal their Dragon Balls. That guy in red and black armor might be Shu, but they never specify it in the subtitles.
Then we just immediately cut to this hole in the wall that Goku made with his Kamehameha. They don’t even show the group being trapped in a place, or Goku shooting the blast to create the hole. Bulma suggests that Oolong turn into a bat to pass through, and he does, but they don’t show it, which is pretty weak. I mean, how hard would that effect have been?
Outside, Pilaf is at... EPCOT center? What the fuck?
Pilaf has all seven Dragon Balls, so fair play to him, although we only ever saw six of them in this whole movie. Bulma started with one, then found four more, and Pilaf had one. I think the last one might have been in the cave? Or maybe Bulma had it from the start, since in the original story she had two Dragon Balls before she met Goku, even if the movie never showed that.
Anyway, here’s cartoon Shenron again.
Pilaf verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
slllloooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwlllllllyyyyyyyy makes his wish, giving Oolong time to figure out that he can just make some other wish first and stop him.
See, it’s important to make live-action adaptations of cartoons, because that way you can depict moments like this with a more realistic style that pen and ink could never do justice.
So from here the plot just completely abandons the original story. Instead of Goku turning into a giant ape, Pilaf starts using Force Lightning on Oolong, until Goku busts out to save him.
So it’s these three vs. the good guys. Goku fights Mai for a bit, then hits her with a ki blast and she explodes. Shu (?) beats the crap out of Oolong until Yamcha throws a flagpole at him like a javelin and that blows him up.
Pilaf just wrecks everyone’s shit, and even Goku can’t stop him. Also, I should note that Pilaf has been making weird faces throughout the movie, and now Goku is making faces as well to mock him.
But nothing he does seems to work. Even Goku’s mighty weapon, the Pool Noodle Nyoi’bo, seems to be useless.
Also, Pilaf can do the Kamehameha too? The good guys are fucked... until!
Turtle suddenly shows up, offering to help? Wait, really? What the hell is he gonna do? Is he going to beat up Pilaf like he took out those guys in that one filler episode?
Yes, that is exactly what happens. He just goes right up to Pilaf and starts smacking the shit out of him with his flippers.
Get turtle’d.
Then they all gather together and shoot Kamehamehas at him together. This is like the end of the second Broly movie, only instead of Goku and his sons, it’s Goku, Oolong, and the fucking turtle.
Finally, after taking a triple Kamehameha, Pilaf makes one last goofy face and explodes. Huzzah.
Then the characters just sort of make small talk. Oolong explains that he wished for panties because he stole Bulma’s panties the day before, and he wanted to give her a replacement pair. Wait, why not just give her back the pair he stole? Bulma says she wanted to wish for a boyfriend, but seems less than eager to find one in Yamcha? I have no idea what they were going for with Yamcha and Bulma in this movie but they totally blew it. Then Goku taps his foot on Turtle’s groin and declares that he has no boobs, so that makes him a boy.
Then the cast and crew all stand around posing together, and an explosion goes off behind them and they run for it. Yeah, okay.
Anyway, the moral of the story is: Don’t fuck with Turtle.
So yeah, this movie is... well, awful. I mean, it’s amusing in places and kind of fun to watch. It’s bad in an entertaining way, which makes it the perfect antidote to a screening of Dragon Ball GT. But it’s still a terrible, terrible piece of cinema.
I’m not sure what else to say here, so I’ll just close out with a gallery of Emperor Pilaf’s goofy expressions.
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I decided to watch Dragonball Evolution for the first time since 2009 now that I’ve actually finished dbz and after watching 10 minutes I started taking notes. So here they are if you were curious:
* This movie is essentially about if Gohan was a huge loser and started trying to date Erasa, but also everyone is white
* I do like the effect of the dust swirling around when Goku powers up at the beginning
* Grandpa Gohan acts a lot like Goku too??
* Why does Mai have a boob window???
* Why is Chi Chi the popular girl?
* The hair gel bit was kinda fun tbh
* What’s with the weird food? Is that a dbz thing?
* Why does Goku sneak out to go to a party? Does Gohan have a problem with parties?
* They are learning about the lunar eclipse in highschool?
* I swear, someone just made a dbz self-insert modern AU fan fiction and pitched it as a movie
* I don’t hate Piccolo’s design in this movie, but I don’t like that he’s just a discount Frieza
* Forehead VEINS!!
* Did they watch Dragon Ball or not? I legit can’t tell
* Roshi isn’t a turtle hermit, nor is he old
* “How is Go-Hand?”
* Prophesy? Apocalypse? Final destination visions?
* I feel like everyone is acting in a completely different movie than each other
* AIRBENDING? This is avatar now??
* Oh good, glad they still have women being groped by Roshi, I was worried it wouldn’t be included /s
* Wilhelm scream
* Did they watch Dragon Ball at all? I really need to know
* Why is Roshi expositing information he shouldn’t know?
* Piccolo doesn’t shoot eggs from his mouth, very disappointed
* Tossing the very valuable dragon ball around a lake of lava
* Why has Bulma and Yamcha given up on getting dragon balls?
* No wonder I confused this move and The Last Airbender
* I like that Goku has a struggle learning the Kamehameha, wish it was actually done well
* Why does Mai shape shift now??
* “Which one do I shoot?”(tm)
* Kamehamehas can defibrillate people now?
* Superhero landing!
* Broly Moon
* Goku is not a saiyan, he’s a giant gorilla who also works for piccolo?
* Did. They. Watch. Dragon. Ball.
* Beaten by the power of love(tm)
* Yamcha has canonically killed
* This movie was so rushed
* Shennron is so short omg
* How is this a real movie? It was licensed by Tohei, people sat down and made this
*He’s literally wearing the opposite colors he’s supposed to be wearing, how??
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