| Director: | Daisuke Nishio |
| Producer: | Chiaki Imada Rikizō Kayano |
| Starring: | See below |
| Music: | Shunsuke Kikuchi |
| Cinematography: | Yukio Katayama |
| Editing: | Shin'ichi Fukumitsu |
| Studio: | Toei Doga Co., Ltd. |
| Distributor: | Toei Company |
| Runtime: | 46 minutes |
| Country: | Japan |
| Language: | Japanese |
| Gross: | [1] |
Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler is a 1992 Japanese anime science fiction martial arts film, the sixth Dragon Ball Z film, originally released in Japan on March 7 at the Toei Anime Fair along with the second film and the third Magical Tarurūto-kun film. It was preceded by and followed by .
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 began 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 Cooler, who Goku was thought to have killed, is responsible. Cooler, now with a metallic body, reveals that he is going to absorb the planet and its lifeforms to power his ship. Goku fights Cooler while the others battle his robots who have 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 in one large energy attack before making his way to rescue those who were captured. Elsewhere, Goku struggles against Cooler's new "Meta-Cooler" form which gives him the ability 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, and 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, and just before he is strangled to death, Vegeta saves him. The two Super Saiyans attack Meta-Cooler together and they manage to destroy him. However, his ship recreates one thousand manifestations of Meta-Cooler, tipping the balance of power decisively against the Saiyans. Goku and Vegeta attempt one final defense but are captured and transported to be converted into fuel.
As his ship is leeching their energy, Cooler explains that after his defeat, his brain was absorbed by the remnants of a spacecraft's computer system and fused together; which he eventually took control of. Goku and Vegeta begin to release all their energy which overloads the system. They encounter the true biological Cooler, who Goku manages to kill with an energy blast. Piccolo arrives and encounters a Meta-Cooler which explodes. All of 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.
| Character name | Voice actor | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | English | ||||
| Goku | Masako Nozawa | Nesty Calvo Ramirez | David Gasman | ||
| Gohan | E.J. Galang | Jodi Forrest | |||
| Piccolo | Toshio Furukawa | Ray Buyco | Christopher Sabat | ||
| Paul Bandey | |||||
| Vegeta | Ryō Horikawa | Doug Rand | |||
| Ryūsei Nakao | Apollo Abraham | ||||
| Ed Marcus | Andrew Chandler | ||||
| Kuririn | Mayumi Tanaka | ||||
| Apollo Abraham | Sharon Mann | Sonny Strait | |||
| Yajirobe | Ethel Lizano | Ed Marcus | Mike McFarland | ||
| Kame-sen'nin | Kōhei Miyauchi | ||||
| Nesty Calvo Ramirez | Mike McFarland | ||||
| Oolong | Naoki Tatsuta | Apollo Abraham | David Gasman | Brad Jackson | |
| Dende | Tomiko Suzuki | Hazel Lizano | Paul Bandey | ||
| Mr. Popo | Toku Nishio | Apollo Abraham | Doug Rand | Christopher Sabat | |
| Moori | Kinpei Azusa | ||||
| Ethel Lizano | Sharon Mann | Chris Forbis | |||
| Narrator | Bob Karry | Ed Marcus | |||
A fourth English dub produced and released exclusively in Malaysia by Speedy Video features an unknown cast.
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.[2] 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.
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.
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.[3]