Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan

Lore & Background

The film's plot begins with King Kai sensing the destruction of the south galaxy by a Super Saiyan and contacting Goku. On Earth, a spaceship interrupts a picnic, and Vegeta is greeted by Paragus, a Saiyan who claims to have created a new Saiyan planet and asks Vegeta to assume the throne. Paragus tells Vegeta that the Legendary Super Saiyan is rampaging and must be stopped. Gohan, Future Trunks, Krillin, Master Roshi, and Oolong accompany Vegeta onto the ship. On New Vegeta, Vegeta meets Paragus's son, Broly, who joins him in tracking the Super Saiyan. Gohan, Trunks, and Krillin discover the planet is uninhabited except for alien slaves, who reveal a Super Saiyan destroyed their civilization. Goku arrives and is greeted by Paragus, who recognizes him as Bardock's son. Broly becomes agitated at the sight of Goku, and Paragus controls him with a device on his bracelet synced to Broly's headband. Despite this, Broly attacks Goku at night. Goku suspects Broly is the Super Saiyan, and Paragus theorizes Broly's violent Saiyan instincts are awakening due to Goku's power, noting they were born on the same day. Goku and the others confront Paragus upon learning the truth, and Broly breaks free of the mind control, transforming into the Legendary Super Saiyan. Broly attacks Goku, and a fearful Vegeta loses his will to fight. Paragus reveals Broly was born with a power level of 10,000 and was feared by King Vegeta, who ordered his execution. Broly survived Frieza's destruction of the planet and grew unstable. Paragus planned to use Broly to exact revenge on King Vegeta's bloodline and convert Earth into New Planet Vegeta, but a comet is approaching New Vegeta. Goku, Gohan, and Trunks are dominated by Broly until Piccolo arrives and heals them. Vegeta's pride returns, but he is quickly incapacitated. Paragus is killed by Broly while trying to escape. Goku asks his allies for ki, and after reluctance, Vegeta gives his ki, allowing Goku to strike a piercing blow into Broly, causing him to explode. The comet destroys New Vegeta as Goku and his allies escape.

Reader's Guide

Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan is significant as the first of three titular films featuring Broly, followed by Broly – Second Coming and Bio-Broly in 1994. The character also appeared in Dragon Ball Z: The Real 4-D at Super Tenkaichi Budokai, a cinematic attraction at Universal Studios Japan in 2017. In 2018, a reboot film titled Dragon Ball Super: Broly was released, serving as a retelling of Broly's origins and character arc, taking place after the conclusion of the Dragon Ball Super television series. The film was released in Japan on March 6, 1993, at the Toei Anime Fair alongside Dr. Slump and Arale-chan: N-cha! Clear Skies Over Penguin Village. It was dubbed into English and released by Funimation in 2003, and first aired in the United States on Nicktoons on September 14, 2011. The film sold 3.5 million tickets in Japan and grossed ¥2.33 billion ($21 million). A limited theatrical release by Fathom Events in the United States in September 2018 made $658,982. The film's legacy includes multiple home video releases, including DVD and VHS in North America on August 26, 2003, a Blu-ray bundle with Broly – Second Coming on November 13, 2007, and a Triple Feature set with both Broly films and Bio-Broly on March 31, 2009.

Did You Know?

• Broly was created by Takao Koyama and designed by series creator Akira Toriyama.
• The film sold 3.5 million tickets in Japan and grossed ¥2.33 billion ($21 million).
• A third English dub was produced and released exclusively in Malaysia by Speedy Video with an unknown voice cast.
• The film was preceded by Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! and followed by Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound.