Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler

Plot

The Namekian people, now living on a new planet after their home world was destroyed by Frieza years prior, find New Namek under siege by a mysterious, sentient spaceship that has latched onto and begun attacking their home. Dende, now the Earth's guardian, senses the plight of his people and telepathically calls on Goku for help.

Goku, Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, Oolong, Yajirobe and Master Roshi travel to the New Namek and upon arrival encounter an army of large robots abusing the Namekians. They learn that Frieza's older brother Cooler, who Goku was thought to have killed, is responsible. Now with a metallic body, Cooler reveals that he will absorb the planet and its lifeforms to power his ship. Goku fights Cooler while the others battle his robots with durable armor that they struggle to penetrate. All except Piccolo are captured along with a village of Namekians.

Piccolo manages to destroy all of the robots with one large ki attack before making his way to rescue those who were captured. Elsewhere, Goku struggles against Cooler's new "Meta-Cooler" form, which allows him to regenerate himself. Cooler also reveals his ability to use the instantaneous movement technique, an ability which Goku also uses. Cooler explains that his ship constantly monitors his body, fixes any damage it might incur, and improves his design to increase his durability. Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan, which is also ineffective against Meta-Cooler. Vegeta arrives, saving Goku from being strangled.

The two Super Saiyans attack Meta-Cooler together and destroy him. However, his ship recreates 1000 manifestations of Meta-Cooler, decisively tipping the balance of power against the Saiyans. Goku and Vegeta attempt one final defense but are captured and transported to be converted into fuel.

As his ship leeches their energy, Cooler explains that after his defeat, his brain was absorbed by and fused with the remnants of a spacecraft's computer system, of which he eventually took control. Goku and Vegeta begin to release all their ki, which overloads the system. They encounter the true biological Cooler, whom Goku manages to kill with a ki blast. Piccolo arrives and encounters a Meta-Cooler, which explodes. The Meta-Coolers and robot soldiers subsequently explode, and the heroes escape before the ship leaves New Namek's orbit and explodes.

Goku and Vegeta fall from the sky near their allies, and everyone rejoices in the victory. In his spaceship, Vegeta crushes the computer chip that created Cooler's ship.

Cast

A fourth English dub produced and released exclusively in Malaysia by Speedy Video features an unknown cast.

Music

OP (Opening Theme):

"Cha-La Head-Cha-La"

Lyrics by Yukinojō Mori

Music by Chiho Kiyooka

Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto

Performed by Hironobu Kageyama

ED (Ending Theme):

Hero (Kimi ga Hīrō) (HERO(キミがヒーロー), "Hero (You're The Hero)")

Lyrics by Dai Satō

Music by Chiho Kiyooka

Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto

Performed by Hironobu Kageyama and Yuka

English dub soundtracks

The score for the English dub's composed by Mark Menza. The Double Feature DVD release contains an alternate audio track containing the English dub with original Japanese background music by Shunsuke Kikuchi, an opening theme of "Cha-La Head-Cha-La", and the ending theme "Hero (You're the Hero)".

The dub made in the Philippines contained English versions of the Japanese opening and ending theme songs, performed by Gino Padilla along with a children's chorus known as the Age of Wonder. These songs were featured on the album Dragon Ball • Dragon Ball Z: Songs of a High Spirited Saga - Volume I, along with other English versions of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z songs.

Releases

It was released on DVD and VHS in North America on August 13, 2002. It was later released in Double Feature set along with Cooler's Revenge (1991) for Blu-ray and DVD on November 11, 2008, both feature full 1080p format in HD remastered 16:9 aspect ratio and an enhanced 5.1 surround mix. The film was re-released to DVD in remastered thinpak collection on December 6, 2011, containing the second 4 Dragon Ball Z films.

Other companies

In the Philippines, Creative Products Corporation produced an English-dubbed feature-length film titled Dragon Ball Z: The Greatest Rivals, which combined an edited version this film with its predecessor. This feature was released in over 30 Metro Manila theaters on July 11, 1996. Later that year, on November 6, it received an extremely limited VHS release, only sold at Dragon Ball-based promotional events that were hosted by Gino Padilla, who performed the theme music for this version.