Hogan Reviews

The second DBZ movie, titled “The World’s Strongest Guy” in Japan and just “The World’s Strongest” in English speaking markets (one of the least edited titles of the bunch!) sees Goku and co. take on Dr. Wheelo, a scientist who has put his large brain in an equally large mech and wishes to transplant it into the world’s strongest body… for some reason. I mean, if he’s a scientist rather than a fighter I don’t really get the appeal, but whatever! It gives us Goku, Piccolo, Gohan and Krillin at their Saiyan Arc levels of power and throws in some love for Master Roshi while it’s at it, so it can’t be all bad. Let’s take a look!

The film opens up with Gohan and Oolong, an odd couple to say the least, in an icy place looking for the Dragon Balls which have mysteriously been gathering up recently. They’re too late though as a scientist called Dr. Kochin summons Shenron and wishes for his master’s lab to finally be free from the ice (yep, the Dragon Balls are used even quicker than last time!) To make matters worse some “bio-men” (a.k.a. Saibamen pallet swaps) arrive and attack, with Gohan and Oolong only surviving thanks to the nearby Piccolo intervening, though he goes missing soon after. A few days and another Gohan children’s theme musical section later and we see that Kochin’s master, Dr. Wheelo, is a brain in a jar and wishes to have his brain transferred into the strongest guy in the world and that his data says it’s a man called Master Roshi, so the Bio-Men and Kochin arrive at Roshi’s island and are surprised when he takes out a few of them, but when Kochin kidnaps Bulma Roshi is forced to agree to go with them. At the lab Wheelo sends his three best fighters to attack Roshi and while he briefly puts up a fight he’s soon overwhelmed, but during the fight Bulma shouts that their data is outdated and that Goku is the strongest, and will soon be heading here…

This scene of Goku Kaio-Ken-ing out of the block of ice always looked so great in the original US TV intro!

Sure enough, thanks to Oolong informing him of Bulma and Roshi’s kidnapping, Goku arrives and is soon pitted against the same three warriors, and while he takes out pallet-swap Dodoria he struggles with the two more uniquely designed enemies, though is soon helped by the arriving Krillin and Gohan. The enemies are swiftly killed off but Wheelo reveals a mind-controlled Piccolo, who immediately begins to fight Goku despite Gohan’s pleading, while Krillin attempts to free Bulma while dodging Kochin’s gun-arm. Kochin then begins to taunt Gohan despite Wheelo sensing something is wrong and sure enough Gohan lets out another unconscious wave of power that breaks the mind control device on Piccolo. Left with no choice Wheelo reveals his brain isn’t in a jar, but inside a large mech and decides to take out all the gathered fighters himself…

Reliving the Goku vs. Piccolo rivalry one last time…

It’s another fun story, though I will say beyond Wheelo’s mech itself the new cast aren’t as fun as the previous lot, and while I do like the icy setting Wheelo’s lab is a bit dull. So it’s similar to the previous effort, but just a little bit worse. Unlike “Dead Zone” though it makes no effort to try and fit into the timeline, given Yamcha, Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu don’t appear and yet Piccolo does, and Goku knows Kaio-Ken and the Spirit Bomb it’s like an alternate Timeline where Nappa and Vegeta were killed before Piccolo was offed, and I guess as they didn’t know about Namek so Chiaotzu stayed dead and Ten stayed with him? … and screw Yamcha? … In other words, it doesn’t fit!

Overall Thoughts:

Always loved the odd mech design here, though as people always point out given the scale of the machine Wheelo’s brain must be huge!

“The World’s Strongest” is another fun 40-or-so minute slice of DBZ action, but it does have a less interesting cast of villains and backdrop, so it ranks below “Dead Zone”, that’s for sure. I did always like Wheelo’s mech form though! (and for the record, given the short run time these have I’ll almost certainly watch this again down the line, so no doubt there, rating system!)

As our heroic cast tries to take Wheelo down, including a great moment where Goku, Krillin and Roshi all do a Kamehameha together for old time’s sake, things turn sour when he calls down power from his main computer, an act that sends Kochin to his death and revealing him to be an android all along, for… some reason.

Two teachers and three students team up to take out Wheelo!

Wheelo takes to the upper-atmosphere of the planet to fire a powerful strike down below but as everyone (who can fly) heads up there to attack Goku builds up a Spirit Bomb and… is knocked back by a blast and loses it (things have to match what’s recently aired on screen, remember!) That being said with further distractions from his allies Goku throws the bomb and it finishes off Wheelo for good. Cue everyone gathering together hurt but in good spirits leading into credits!