Dragon Ball Z - Movie 3: The Tree Of The Power ...
A forest fire interrupts a camping trip enjoyed by Gohan, Krillin, Bulma and Oolong. Gohan and Krillin manage to put out the fire and use the Dragon Balls to restore the forest and the animals that were killed by the inferno, and Gohan befriends a small dragon he names Icarus. Unbeknownst to the group, the fire was started by a probe sent by a Saiyan space pirate named Turles, who bears a striking resemblance to Goku and who has chosen the Earth to plant the tree of might, which absorbs the life of a planet and converts it into fruit that when eaten, gives the consumer a massive power increase. Turles' henchmen plant the seed and King Kai telepathically warns Goku of the danger. He, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, and Chiaotzu attempt to destroy the tree using energy blasts but fail. Turles' henchmen attack and overwhelm them. The Earth begins to succumb to the devastation of the tree's life absorption as water vanishes and plants and animals begin to perish.
Dragon Ball Z - movie 3: The tree of the power ...
Goku gains the upper hand against Turles, until he obtains a fully grown piece of fruit from the Tree of Might and consumes it. With the sudden surge of power, Turles overwhelms Goku until his allies come to his aid. As they fight Turles with limited success, Goku begins to form a Spirit Bomb, but the Earth, having been drained by the Tree of Might, does not have the energy left to properly fuel Goku's bomb which Turles destroys. However, the energy from the Tree of Might begins to flow into Goku and this allows him to create another, more powerful Spirit Bomb. Goku confronts Turles underneath the tree's roots and blasts him directly with the attack, launching him up the tree and destroying them both.
The planet of New Namek is in trouble after colliding with an amorphous star that drains the planet of its energy. Dende (Tomiko Suzuki) calls on Goku to rescue his people, so the Z fighters go to face the threat and rescue the Namekian people. They discover the star is attached to Meta-Cooler, a robotic upgrade of the villain dispatched in the previous movie. Goku and Vegeta (Ryo Horikawa) must put their Super Saiyan powers together for the first time to stop Meta-Cooler from destroying the entire planet.
In the final movie treat from the initial run of DBZ, a mysterious hero is freed from a music box after an old man tricks Gohan into using the Dragon Balls, and his release will be followed by a great evil that will bring destruction to the Earth. It takes all of their cunning and the power of every Saiyan on Earth to face off against this enormous monster and save the planet from its wrath.
So they shoot their finest energy blasts at the base of the tree, and it does nothing. Krillin suggests another try, but Yamcha points out that if they use too much power they could destroy the Earth instead.
Turles was a low-class Saiyan warrior from Planet Vegeta. It is assumed that he escaped the Supernova attack Frieza used to destroy Planet Vegeta because he was on a mission at the time. At one point, Turles recruited Amond, Rasin, Lakasei, Daizu and Cacao, forming his own private army known as the Turles Crusher Corps. They managed to obtain the seed of the Tree of Might, a tree that produced a fruit, capable of greatly increasing the power of anyone who ate it. However, this tree needed the life energy of a planet to grow. And so, Turles and his henchmen began seeking out planets that could sustain the tree.
With Future Trunks now in the picture, Super Android 13! firmly takes place later on in the Dragon Ball Z timeline where said power-levels have been suped-up. While not strictly canonical, the film does further expand on the Dr. Gero and Android mythos making it one of more ambitious 90s Dragon Ball Z movie entries.
Almost 80% of the movies are non-canonical and do not add to the actual story of Dragon Ball. Still, die-hard fans of the franchise might want to stay updated with the overall series without a hole in their heart. So, we have come up with a chronological sequence of the Dragon ball movies in which they can be enjoyed!
Uncut Theatrical Movie - A seed of the Tree of Might has been planted on Earth by a group of space pirates. Once rooted, the Tree of Might will devour all life energy, leaving the planet a deserted land where no living thing can survive. Goku and his friends try to destroy the tree, but find their power is not enough. Suddenly, they are attacked by the evil space pirates, and Gohan is captured by Turles, the evil leader of the group and a Saiyan! Turles powers up by eating a fruit of the tree, and challenges Goku. Can Goku save Gohan and the planet Earth from Turles and the Tree of Might?! NOT Rated (contains some violence and brief nudity), 60 min., Color, Bilingual (Japanes and English tracks). NOTE: This is a laserdisc, NOT a DVD. This will not play in a DVD player. It requires a LASERDISC PLAYER.Cover price $29.98.
This film provides examples of the following: All There in the Manual: The backstories of Turles and his crew, which were all revealed in the Akira Toriyama - The World artbooks released between 1990 and 1995.
Amazing Technicolor Population: Four of the five members of Turles's crew have abnormal skin colors.
Artifact of Doom: The Tree of Might is one of these, as it requires an enormous sum of energy to grow its Power-Up Food fruit and drains most planets, including Earth, dry in the process.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Turles is the only one of his men strong enough to go head to head with Goku, who is in turn the only one of the Z Fighters who is strong enough to go head to head with the Crusher Corps and win (against all of them at once, no less).
Ass-Kicking Pose: Rezun and Rakasei dabble in this, predating the more famous Ginyu posers.
Asteroids Monster: Rezun and Rakasei split from their combined form after being hit with a dual-energy attack from Tien and Chaiotzu.
Back from the Dead: While not shown in the movie itself, All There in the Manual establishes the Tree of Might's extract as being capable of this. Turles uses it to revive the Beenz twins Rezun and Rakasei from ancient fossilized remains.
Badass Arm-Fold: Turles favors this pose.
Badass Cape: Turles wears a white one that's more than a little reminiscent of Piccolo's.
Badass Crew: Turles' minions, whom by and large prove stronger than the heroes.
Bash Brothers: Rezun and Rakasei tend to work together in fights, as do Daiz and Cacao.
Big Bad: Turles is the main antagonist of the film.
Blood Knight: Turles is this, in proud Saiyan tradition.
Bowdlerise The 1997 FUNimation/Ocean/Saban dub uses Batman (1966)-like "Kapow" stars and a white fog effect to cover hits to the face.
The same dub tried to replace Turles forcing Gohan's eyes open so he can look at the fake moon with Turles simply holding Gohan by the arms. The result is a crappy mock-up job with Gohan sporting a constipated look the entire time.
Butt-Monkey: Yamcha as usual. He buys a flying cruiser early in the film, only for it to get blown up by Turles's crew as they plant the Tree of Might. They don't even notice him, and when he challenges them alongside the heroes, none of them know or care what he's talking about. Then it gets down to the fight, and despite getting to show off his Spirit Ball, the attack proves completely ineffective and he goes down quickly to Cacao. The bit about the busted cruiser becomes something of a Running Gag in the games, usually being referenced in dialogue between Turles and Yamcha: Yamcha: You'll pay for trashing my ride, punk! Turles: ... I'm sorry, what are you rambling on about?
Card-Carrying Villain: Turles more or less revels in his villainy. Turles: Hmph. I know the difference [between good and evil]; I just don't care.
Continuity Snarl: Much like with most of the other films, is not part of the main continuity and in turn suffers from inconsistencies. The other human members of the Z Fighters are still alive, and Yamcha has King Kai's emblem. However, the absence of Vegeta or Goku being able to go Super Saiyan prevents this from taking place after Frieza's defeat, which is when the other humans would be alive. According to Daizenshuu 6, the movie would take place after Goku's arrival on Namek, but before his fight with Frieza, suggesting that it takes place in an Alternate Timeline.
Combat Pragmatist: Turles is a pretty clever fighter. He forces Gohan to go into his great ape form, and he also destroys the fake moon to avoid looking at it by mistake, causing the heroes to have to fight an uncontrollable Gohan while he's rampaging. When Gohan's pet dragon calms him down, Turles just blasts him away, angering him - this backfires as Gohan turns his attention to Turles, who just decides to kill him.
Cool Starship: Turles and his crew travel to Earth in one of these. From what we see of it, it's essentially a Saiyan Attack Ball on steroids.
Covers Always Lie: The poster shows Goku holding the Power Pole, which he never uses in the movie.
Creepy Twins: Rezun and Rakasei, the purple midget followers of Turles.
Cultural Rebel: Turles is the Saiyan equivalent of one, as he defiantly rejects his role in the Saiyan Fantastic Caste System as a low-class and disposable warrior.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Turles' battle with Goku after activating his Super Mode. His interactions with the rest of the gang before this also qualifies.
Goku himself delivers one to Turles' minions as well, easily defeating all of them simultaneously.
And Turles's crew in turn delivered a collectively one of these to their Z Fighter opponents right before being trounced by Goku.
Darker and Edgier: The film as a whole is this to the material at the time. Not only was Turles one of the more successful movie villains, the way the tree sucks everything up as well as the overall concept is quite grim.
Dark Is Evil: Turles. Not only does he wear all-black battle armor, but he has darker skin than Goku.
The Dragon: Amond seems to be the second-in-command of the Crusher Corps, despite not being the strongest member of the team (which is either Daiz or Cacao, depending on your source).
Defeat Means Friendship: Or rather servitude, which is how Turles acquired Daiz
Early-Bird Cameo: Goku wears his "Go" gi and uses Kaio-ken x10, which didn't appear in the anime until several months after the movie premiered. In fact, they only made their debut in the manga a few days before the movie's premiere.
Yamcha's gi has the King Kai symbol on the back, even though this movie came out a year before he was wished back with the Dragon Balls in the manga.
Early-Installment Weirdness: While the Tree of Might and its fruit is not explored in detail, it is stated by King Kai that the Fruit is meant only for the gods and Eternal Dragons to eat. Future Dragon Ball media would later state that the Shinjin, the godly race where gods as the Supreme Kai and King Kai belong to, come from fruits themselves, meaning that Turles was possibly eating unborn Kais. Luckily, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 rejected this last part.
Edible Theme Naming: Turles' name in Japanese is an anagram of lettuce. Lost in the adaptation name of Turles.
Evil Counterpart: Word of God confirms Turles is supposed to represent what Goku would have been like without his childhood head injury. Before increasing his power level, Goku lampshades this to Turles. Goku (1998 uncut Ocean dub): You know, I'm glad I was hit on the head as a baby, or else I would have turned out just like you! Both he and Goku enjoy fighting and food, and if All There in the Manual is a credible source, both earned the allegiance of a good number of their comrades by defeating them in battle.
Evil Gloating: Turles did this at first. He gets angrier as the movie progresses and more or less drops this by the final showdown.
Evil Mentor: Turles tries to become this to Gohan, though the young Saiyan isn't having any of it.
Evil Prince: Turles's minion Daiz is established as one of these via All There in the Manual, being revealed to be the crown prince of his home planet who joined Turles via a particularly dark case of Defeat Means Friendship.
Expy: Turles is one of Vegeta, taking here Vegeta's role to act as the Saiyan counterpart to the "humanized" Goku in the main manga/anime. Made even better in that Turles is also an Identical Stranger to Goku.
Forbidden Fruit: The Tree of Might produces literal forbidden fruit that was intended for only the gods themselves to consume.
Fossil Revival: Turles's minions Rezun and Rakasei (the two purple midget guys) are established as this via All There in the Manual, being revealed to be members of an extinct race Turles revived with extract from the fruit of the Tree of Might because their race was known for their genius and Turles wanted them to be his mechanics.
Freudian Excuse: All There in the Manual establishes that Turles's ambitions of interstellar conquest were more than a little influenced by Frieza's like-minded reign, to the point that in the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games Turles explicitly states he intends to seize Frieza's home planet and wipe out his species entirely. Frieza, for his part, considers Turles "a pale imitation of my greatness."
Fusion Dance: Rezun and Rakasei can fuse into a singular being, predating the much more well known Saiyan fusions by a good few years.
The Hedonist: Turles attempts to convince Gohan to join him by going on about all the perks the Space Pirate lifestyle has to offer him.
Hidden Depths: All There in the Manual, sure, but as detailed on the character page, there is significantly more backstory to each member of Turles's Crusher Corps than the movie lets on (much more than is typical for DBZ henchmen), to the point where some of them honestly border on Hero of Another Story.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Goku uses the energy from the very same Power-Up Food-producing Tree Turles planted to create a Spirit Bomb powerful enough to destroy Turles and the Tree.
Human Aliens: Daiz is the most human-looking member of the Crusher Corps, despite being an alien from the planet Kabocha.
I'm Your Worst Nightmare: Piccolo gives this threat to Turles. He's not particularly fazed, but considering Piccolo's mere presences leaves all but two people on Earth pissing themselves, he gets points for effort.
Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Turles looks exactly like Goku. Some supplemental material suggests Saiyans whose parents are of lower rank share a common ancestry as a result of Planet Vegeta's Fantastic Caste System. Some dubs either say Turles is Goku's brother or clone. In the film, Gohan acknowledges the resemblance, then Turles gives some explanation: Turles (1998 uncut Ocean dub): You think I resemble Kakarot? Of course - we are both lower-class Saiyan warriors, and there's only a few types like us. Turles (2006 Funimation dub): You recognize that I resemble your father - we are both Saiyan warriors struck from the same mold. Built for destruction.
Irony: Turles is played off as a Foil to Goku and in one translation they are even passed off as brothers, when in truth Turles is old enough to be Goku's father.
Kick the Dog: Turles forcibly turns Gohan into a Great Ape and sets him loose on his own father, forcing Goku to figure out how remove his rampaging son's tail without otherwise hurting him.
Kneel Before Zod: Perhaps due to their shared ancestry, Turles would rather Goku "kneel before him and beg forgiveness" than kill him, even after Goku has killed his crew. When Goku refuses, however, that small glimpse of mercy is taken off the table in very short order.
Lack of Empathy: Turles shows no sign of anger or sadness at the defeat of his crew, instead seeming more annoyed that they were defeated so easily. Then there's this exchange between him and Goku in the 2006 Funimation dub: Turles: Disturbing. The strongest of all Saiyan blood and he has a soft spot for a purple dinosaur. Kakarot, you raised this Saiyan too much like an Earthling! Goku: I raised him to know the difference between good and evil! Unlike some people. Turles: Hmph. I know the difference. I just don't care.
Light Is Not Good: Earlier in the movie, Turles is decked in a long white cape before joining the fray.
Loyal Animal Companion: Icarus a.k.a. the Haiya Dragon makes his debut in this film as one of these to Gohan. Despite the dubious canonicity of the film itself, Icarus would later appear in the anime proper. He also appears in the next two DBZ films.
Might Makes Right: Turles and all his crew subscribe to this, to the point of referring to their leader as "mighty Turles" and calling the Tree itself "the lone pillar of strength on this planet."
Mr. Exposition: A particularly egregious line by Krillin, which he delivers while lying on the ground, seeing how Goku failed to defeat Turles with the Spirit Bomb he created. Krillin: No! Earth's energy was sucked up by the Tree of Might and Goku couldn't find enough power to form a Spirit Bomb to defeat Turles! Now we're dead for sure...
And then he comments on the situation again when Goku absorbed the energy of the tree to form another, more powerful Spirit Bomb, and defeat Turles for good.
King Kai also "helpfully" takes up this role at the end, explaining to his pet cricket and monkey (and any viewers who might have missed it) exactly how Goku was able to defeat Turles and save the world.
Multiple-Choice Past: Foreign-language dubs try to give a reason for why Turles looks like Goku, and none of them agree with each other. He's either a clone of Goku, his Evil Twin (in the biological sense, one even renaming him Raditz, after Goku's actual canon brother that looks nothing like Turles), or just a Saiyan who happens to look like him (the last being the official explanation).
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Goku gets a rather brutal one courtesy of Turles, even after going Kaio-Ken x10.
Non-Serial Movie: This movie has no spot in canon, but is basically what would have happened if Goku made it back to earth on time when Vegeta attacked Earth.
No Ontological Inertia: Despite the Tree of Might draining so much of Earth's energy that it appears as a lifeless brown world from space, its destruction at the end causes all life/water/etc on Earth to be returned to the exact state it was before the Tree was planted. With a worldwide shower of magic pixie dust (or something), no less.
No-Sell: The first thing the Z Fighters try, quite sensibly, is to just destroy the Tree of Might outright. Unfortunately for them the Tree is much tougher than the average plant, tanking all of their combined energy blasts none the worse for wear.
Oh, Crap!: Turles has this expression as he's fighting Goku, while trying to play off all his attacks as lucky shots. He gets this expression again when Goku's second Spirit Bomb, powered by the fruit, overtakes his attack.
Older Than They Look: While he doesn't show it due to Saiyan aging, All There in the Manual establishes that Turles was a veteran fighter before Planet Vegeta was destroyed, putting him in the same generation as Bardock and making him one of th