Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies

Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenron
Japanese Film Poster
Directed by	Daisuke Nishio
Produced by	David J Longmire
Written by	Toshiki Inoue (screenplay) Akira Toriyama (story)
Starring	See Cast
Music by	Shunsuke Kikuchi
Release date(s)	December 20, 1986 (1986-12-20)
Running time	50 minutes

Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies, known in Japan as Dragon Ball during its initial theatrical release and later retitled Dragon Ball: Shenron no Densetsu (ドラゴンボール 神龍の伝説, Doragon Bōru Shenron no Densetsu^?, lit. "Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenlong") for its home video release, is the first in a series of Japanese animated feature films based on the manga Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama. It was originally released in Japan on December 20, 1986 at the "Toei Manga Matsuri" film festival, where it was shown as part of a triple feature along with Gegege no Kitarō Gekitotsu!! Ijigen Yōkai no Dai Hanran and Kinnikuman - Seigi Choujin vs. Senshi Choujin

Plot

Curse of the Blood Rubies is a modified adaptation of the gathering of the initial story arc in the Dragon Ball manga, with the original character King Gurumes substituting Emperor Pilaf's role as the main antagonist. Like in the manga, Curse of the Blood Rubies depicts how Goku meets up with Bulma. During their travel Goku meets Oolong, Yamcha, Puar and finally Master Roshi during his first search for the Dragon Balls.

New characters

Pansy (パンジ, Panji^?, Penny in the 1989 and 1994 English adaptations)

A young girl who seeks the help of the legendary martial artist Master Roshi in order to rescue her home village from King Gurumes and his forces.

King Gurumes (グルメス大王, Gurumesu Daiō^?)

The ruler of the Gurumes Kingdom. Formerly a human king, his greediness to dig out all the Blood Rubies (リッチストーン, Ricchi Sutōn^?, "Ritchie Stones" in the Japanese version) buried within his own kingdom has left his own people in economic ruins and he gradually transformed into a monster-like creature with a gluttonous appetite. Gurumes is confronted by Goku and at the end of the movie, he reverts back to his human form after Shenron rids the Gurumes Kingdom of all of its Blood Rubies. His name is a reference to gourmet.

Pasta (パスタ, Pasuta^?, Raven in the 1989 and 1994 English adaptations) and Bongo (ボンゴ, Bongo^?, Major Domo in the 1989 and 1994 English adaptations)

King Gurumes's two main underlings, who are ordered to seek the Dragon Balls in order to quench his appetite. Pasta is a redheaded female soldier, while Major Bongo is a big strong male one. Their names in the Japanese version refer to pasta and vongole sauce respectively.

Cast

Character Name	Voice Actor (Japanese)	Voice Actor (English / Harmony Gold dub 1989)	Voice Actor (English / Funimation/Ocean Studios dub 1994)	Voice Actor (English / Funimation dub 2010)
Goku	Masako Nozawa	Barbara Goodson	Saffron Henderson	Colleen Clinkenbeard
Bulma	Hiromi Tsuru	Wendee Lee	Maggie Blue O'Hara Lalainia Lindbjerg (Ep. 2 scenes only)	Monica Rial
Yamcha	Tōru Furuya	Kerrigan Mahan	Ted Cole	Christopher R. Sabat
Oolong	Naoki Tatsuta	Dave Mallow	Alec Willows	Bryan Massey
Puar	Naoko Watanabe	Cheryl Chase	Kathy Morse	Brina Palencia
Master Roshi	Kōhei Miyauchi	Cliff Wells	Michael Donovan	Mike McFarland
Shenron	Kenji Utsumi	Steve Kramer	Doug Parker	Christopher R. Sabat
Pasta/Raven	Mami Koyama	Edie Mirman	Teryl Rothery	Kate Oxley
Pansy/Penny	Tomiko Suzuki	Rebecca Forstadt	Andrea Libman	Cherami Leigh
Pansy/Penny's Dad	Shōzō Iizuka	Steve Kramer	Michael Donovan	Brian Mathis
Pansy/Penny's Mom	Reiko Suzuki	Unknown	Kathy Morse	Dana Schultes
Turtle	Daisuke Gōri	Don Warner	Doug Parker	Christopher R. Sabat
Soldier	Kōji Totani	Barry Stigler	Doug Parker	Zach Bolton
Major Bongo/Domo	Gorō Naya	Michael McConnohie	Robert O. Smith	Jonathan Brooks
King Gurumes	Shūichirō Moriyama	Mike Reynolds	Gary Chalk	Jeremy Inman
Narrator	Jōji Yanami	Michael McConnohie	Jim Conrad	John Swasey

Music

• Opening Theme
  1. "Makafushigi Adventure!" (魔訶不思議アドベンチャー!, Makafushigi Adobenchā^?, "Mystical Adventure!")
     • Lyrics: Yuriko Mori, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kōhei Tanaka, Performed by: Hiroki Takahashi

• Ending Theme
  1. "Romantic Ageru yo" (ロマンティックあげるよ, Romantikku Ageru yo^?, "I'll Give You Romance")
     • Lyrics: Takemi Yoshida, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kōhei Tanaka, Performed by: Ushio Hashimoto

English release

Curse of the Blood Rubies (originally titled Dragon Ball: The Movie and later, Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenron) was originally licensed to Harmony Gold USA in 1989, who dubbed and released the film in conjunction with Mystical Adventure. The dub was released to VHS, and broadcast in limited syndication as a double feature with Mystical Adventure. The dub was edited for content, and most of the characters were re-named. The audio track was recorded at InterSound, inc. in Hollywood, CA, United States. Because of the failure with Harmony Gold's release of the franchise, the Dragon Ball series was dropped, and the 3 movies went through several companies such as Streamline Pictures and MGM Home Entertainment before being licensed to Funimation Productions in 1995.

The second English dub version of Curse of the Blood Rubies, which was produced by Funimation as a pilot to sell the Dragon Ball series to syndicators, was originally released on VHS in North America by Trimark on September 24, 1996 (although it was produced in 1994). The dub version was also edited for content and used a scene from the second episode of the TV series to fill in lost time. However, unlike the previous dub, most of the series' returning characters got to keep their original names (though this dub did make use of most of the supporting character names from the 1989 dub, such as Penny). In addition, the dialogue was loosely based on the 1989 dub script. The audio track for the 1994 English dub was recorded in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The dub was later released on Region 1 DVD on October 24, 2000 as part of the Saga of Goku set from Trimark along with Funimation/BLT Productions' original dub of the first thirteen episodes of the TV series. For a long time, it was the only Dragon Ball movie that had yet to be released by Funimation in an uncut bilingual format due to licensing issues with Lions Gate Entertainment (who bought Trimark in 2002). The 1994 English dub was also released on DVD in Australia by Madman Entertainment as part of the Saga of Goku set released to Region 4 DVD, despite using Funimation's newer in-house dub of the first thirteen episodes.

Another English dub of the film was produced for European markets by AB Group and dubbed in the Philippines and aired in the UK as "The Legend of Shenron" on Toonami UK in the Summer of 2005, and was released on DVD as the alternate English language track on some European releases. The entire voice cast for this English dub is unknown.

In 2009, Funimation announced that they had acquired the Home Video rights to the film from Lions Gate Entertainment, and that the film will be released uncut. On April 6, 2010 Funimation announced that "Curse of the Blood Rubies" would be released to a bilingual DVD on July 27, 2010, but the release was delayed to December 28, 2010. Funimation announced the voice cast for a new English dub of the film on November 12, 2010.^[1] The 2010 English dub is mostly unedited (the only visual edits being to the title and credit sequences), but the script was mostly recycled from the 1994 English dub (which itself was based on the 1989 dub script), with the most notable change being all the character names reverting back to their originals. The audio was recorded in Dallas, TX, United States. However only two members of the Funimation voice cast from the Dragon Ball anime signed on to reprise their roles for the movie.

The film (containing the 2010 dubbing) was later re-released in a Dragon Ball Movie 4-Pack on February 8, 2011.^[2]

References

1. ^ http://www.facebook.com/FUNimation/posts/470124183480
2. ^ http://www.rightstuf.com/1-800-338-6827/catalogmgr/7h39Z6AM1qdyyIWerF/browse/item/90030/4/0/0

External links

	Dragon Ball portal
	Film portal

• Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies at the Internet Movie Database
• Dragon Ball at the MPAJ (Japanese)