Sailor Moon (English version)
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The anime metaseries Sailor Moon has been translated into many different languages, including English. The show's English version is said to be the seed of the franchise's ensuing popularity outside of Japan, and has also served as a profound introduction of anime to mainstream entertainment around the world.
All English adapted episodes and the three movies were helmed by executive producer Janice Sonski. Lisa Lumby-Richards is the only writer to be credited throughout all four seasons; Richards is also the only script writer listed in the credits for the three Sailor Moon movies and the last seventeen episodes of Sailor Moon R.
Background
The North American version of the Sailor Moon anime was translated and distributed in 1995 by DiC Entertainment, initially airing on YTV in Canada and various television stations in the United States. Although the basic storyline remained the same, many alterations were made - often the result of censorship applied due to differences between Japanese and American views about what is and is not appropriate material for younger viewers.
Many Sailor Moon fans familiar with the original Japanese version express great disdain for the English adapatation. Alterations ranged from mild to severe; plot points were vastly altered, an in some cases dropped altogether. Some of these changes include:
- Naming the Sailor Senshi team the "Sailor Scouts" instead of the more accurate translation "Sailor Soldiers" (although the latter term was used much more frequently in later episodes).
- Renaming almost all of the original attacks.
- Removal of much of the adolescent sexuality (including the homosexual relationships between two sets of characters, "solved" in three separate cases, twice by giving effeminate men a female voice actor and using feminine pronouns in reference to these characters, the other by making the characters Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune (who were obviously female) "cousins".
- Removal of even small amounts of violence involving humans (such as when Sailor Mars slaps Sailor Moon) that might have negatively influenced children's behavior.
- Removal or alteration of little details like the main character's tongue in scenes where she sticks it out (probably to avoid kids from copying that habit). Also, editing bathing scenes, such as raising the level of the water.
- Removal of body lines during transformation sequences.
- Complete omission of the Japanese version's original music (the melody of the Japanese show's theme song, "Moonlight Densetsu" or "The Moonlight Legend", was retained for the dub's theme song, though with completely rewritten lyrics and instrumentation, animation, and special effects). After Cloverway took over from DiC this no longer occurred so from episode 83 (original episode 90) onwards the original background music is retained.
- Scripts were rewritten to suggest that all the enemies came from the so-called "Negaverse" (what was referred to in the original series as the Dark Kingdom, and which applied only to the enemy group seen during the first season). This practice was soon downplayed by DiC themselves, and dropped altogether once Cloverway took over.
- Complete omission of no fewer than six episodes by the dubbers, for varying reasons not always but usually stemming from content concerns.
- Removed the presence of many thought-provoking insights on many issues. This interesting procedure has been repeated in later anime adaptations of other magical girl series, like Tokyo Mew Mew.
- An end-of-show "morals" segment, "Sailor Says", which was added on to each episode to satisfy the contemporary requirement of educational content on American children's TV shows. Again this no longer occurred after Cloverway began handling the dub (amusingly, on several occasions the "Sailor Says" segments - which were played out as voiceovers over vaguely-related clips from the episode they were tacked on to - contained footage that had been cut from the dubbed version of that episode due to content concerns, albeit in a new context).
Perhaps most infamously remembered among fans was the treatment of the episode "Day of Destiny," which concluded the first series. The original version of this episode was actually two separate episodes, the first of which included the deaths of all the Sailor Soldiers except for Sailor Moon herself; as the storyline progressed, Sailors Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, and Mars sacrificed themselves to protect their friend and leader. The second episode involved the deaths of Tuxedo Mask and ultimately Sailor Moon herself. Though these deaths ended up being rescinded in the conclusion, it was still deemed necessary to remove all references to death in the American episode (instead of being killed, it was stated that the girls were "captured and held hostage in the Negaverse"). Enough editing was required, in fact, that the two episodes were merged into one. Bootleg copies of the original two-parter, known informally as the "death episodes" for quite some time (until the concluding episodes of Sailor Stars essentially repeated this climax), were popular among tape traders in North America during the height of the series's popularity in that region.
This North American version was the first experience with Sailor Moon (if not anime in general) for many anglophones, and the differences between the two versions led to much confusion. However, many fans worldwide would never have known about the series had it not reached North America, thus most fans regard the North American version as a mixed blessing.
Name changes
Before Sailor Moon's American debut, DiC distributed a promotional tape to syndicators and stations to sell the series. This tape is notable in that it features completely different names for the five main characters; Usagi was called "Victoria," Ami was "Blue," Rei was "Dana," Makoto was "Sara," and Minako "Carrie." However, when the series first aired these were the vaild American names, with some of the original Japanese names translated into English:
- Usagi Tsukino - Serena Tsukino
- Ami Mizuno - Amy Anderson ([Disputed statementdisputed]—see [Rei Hino - Raye Hino
- Makoto Kino - Lita Kino
- Minako Aino - Mina Aino
Production history
North America
The English adaptation of Sailor Moon hit the airwaves on August 28, 1995, with the show airing on YTV in Canada, and entered syndication in the United States two weeks later. While the show had moderate success on YTV, in the US the show struggled in early morning timeslots despite picking up a loyal following of fans. The show left syndication in 1996 after 65 episodes had been broadcast, leaving fans with no real conclusion or resolutions to the major Sailor Moon R storyline. A year later, in 1997, the show resurfaced on USA Network where it aired for several months before leaving the airwaves again.Although the series aired at various times in America, in Canada it was fairly consistently given an early-afternoon timeslot (YTV scheduled the program for noon), and this consistency may explain how Sailor Moon was initially far more of a ratings success in Canada than in the States.
DiC originally dubbed a total of 65 episodes for distribution in 1995, a number that took them approximately two-thirds of the way through Sailor Moon R and ended on something of a cliffhanger. Two years later, in Canada, funding was acquired to dub the remaining seventeen Sailor Moon R episodes into English and the episodes aired in Canada to wrap up lingering plotlines. Ironically, the last episode of Sailor Moon R was a clip show episode, which featured previews for Sailor Moon Super, the show's third season. The shows were brought over to America a year later, initially billed as "The Lost Episodes."
DiC subsequently fell into breach of its contract to dub Sailor Moon, allowing Cloverway Inc., the North American branch of Toei Animation, the Japanese studio that produced the original version of the anime, to pick up the distribution rights to Sailor Moon S and SuperS.
Cartoon Network
On June 1, 1998, Cartoon Network acquired the rights to the original 65 English-dubbed Sailor Moon episodes and began airing them as part of its anime-themed Toonami block. The decision proved extremely profitable for Cartoon Network, as ratings for the show helped boost viewership for the Toonami programming block and generated revenue for them to acquire more shows such as Dragon Ball Z to add to the block. Cartoon Network later acquired the rights to the remaining Sailor Moon R episodes, and subsequently aired English-dubbed versions of Sailor Moon Super and Sailor Moon SuperS. The Super and SuperS episodes also aired in Canada on YTV, in 2000.Cloverway's production of the North American versions of S and SuperS was strikingly different from DIC's dubs of Sailor Moon and R in that all of the original animation and music was kept (except for the opening theme, which was the same as DiC's version (it had different animation, depending on if it was the movie, TV show, or VHS version) although the closing theme omitted the vocal track), the "Sailor Says" segments were eliminated, and much less overt censorship was in evidence (the rules for children's television in America having been relaxed in the intervening years due to the advent of a TV ratings system), keeping the two series relatively close to the Japanese version. However, many Sailor Moon fans disliked Cloverway's "Americanization" of the two series by the addition of slang words (such as "phat") with no corollary in the Japanese series. They also vehemently objected to the treatment of the characters of Sailor Uranus (Amara/Haruka Tenoh) and Sailor Neptune (Michelle/Michiru Kaioh) during Sailor Moon S. Though it was never explicitly stated in the show, in the original Japanese series it was strongly implied that they were lesbian lovers, a fact that series creator Naoko Takeuchi has confirmed, but in Cloverway's adaptation they became "cousins" instead, in an attempt to explain their relationship away as something else (homosexuality being an extremely taboo subject in American entertainment aimed at children). Nonetheless, it was generally agreed among the fan community that Cloverway's efforts represented a major improvement over DiC's dubbing of the first two series.
The S and SuperS dubs were first aired in 2000 on Cartoon Network as part of their Toonami programming block, and on YTV. The movies were also dubbed by Cloverway (but with many DiC voice actors returning for their previous roles) and aired on Cartoon Network and YTV. The broadcast syndication licence for Sailor Moon in North America recently expired, and Cartoon Network also recently lost the rights to Sailor Moon in May 2003. The series is no longer shown on television in any English-speaking country.
The dubbing in all cases was performed at Optimum Studios in Toronto, Ontario, with Canadian voices in most of the character roles. The show was originally distributed for broadcast syndication by Seagull Entertainment, and later by Buena Vista Television (who had obtained an interest in DiC after Disney purchased ABC) and the Program Exchange. As indicated by the Optimum Productions website [link], the writing staff is employed by Optimum; as such, some writers are common to both the DiC and the Cloverway produced versions of the show. The company boasts "trained adapters" who utilize "hip" colloquialized dialogue of the target country.
Australia
In Australia, the first 65 syndicated episodes of Sailor Moon were first seen afternoons on the ABC's childrens block in late 1995. The following year, they were transferred to the Seven Network's Agro's Cartoon Connection. They were replayed there several times, until early 1999, when Seven would finally air the newer 17 episodes. All 82 English episodes would be played on Seven once more; late 1999 - early 2000 on their morning program, The Big Breakfast. In early 2002, the series was again transferred, this time to Network Ten's Cheez TV. Cheez TV only played the first 65 episodes (twice), and due to classification restrictions, were forced to skip two episodes, Match Point For Sailor Moon and A Friend In Wolf's Clothing.Sailor Moon also played on Australian cable network Fox Kids from September 2001; Fox Kids were the first Australian outlet to play the entirety of the English-dubbed series, with Sailor Moon Super starting in April 2002 and Sailor Moon SuperS starting in August 2002. In December 2002, Fox Kids aired a marathon of all 159 episodes over two weeks.
Home video
Pioneer Entertainment (now Geneon Entertainment) has rights to release Sailor Moon S, SuperS and the movies on Region-1 DVD and VHS, both in the dubbed and uncut versions. In 2002, ADV Films released the English dub of Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R as a set of fourteen Region-1 DVDs (these were also released on Region 4 (Australia) and Region 2 (UK)). ADV also released a subtitled version of the entire Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R series in two separate DVD boxsets -- uncut, except for the removal of next episode previews and one episode (67) from the Sailor Moon R set, and using different versions of some openings than were in the original. ADV's license to distribute Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R in either form expired at the end of March 2004. Geneon's license expired in 2005.
The basic plot of episode 67 involves Chibiusa finding and befriending a dinosaur, not any fighting against the main villains of the series. Its absence is notable due to it being Sailor Moon R's requisite "summer holiday" episode, of which one was featured in each of the five Sailor Moon series (and one of the few times the girls all appear in bathing suits, to the delight of male viewers). Some printings of the ADV box set include a full description of episode 67 in their liner notes, perhaps suggesting that the decision to remove it was done relatively late in the production process.
During 1996 and 1997, a total of six VHS tapes, each containing two key (if nonconsecutive in most cases) episodes of the series, were released by Buena Vista Home Video. These tapes were originally available excuslively through Toys 'R' Us stores, but later saw wider distribution in other chains. In 1998, a VHS boxset containing all thirteen episodes of the "Doom Tree" storyline (the first part of R) was released, also through Buena Vista.
So far, no American company is known to have the rights to release the Ami-chan no Hatsukoi theatrical short (shown prior to the SuperS movie), the SuperS TV special, or the Sailor Stars series. Due to this, the difficulty of circulating fansub tapes in the past, and the series' long run, many fans have not actually seen the entire series in full.
Toei has also stated that it does not ever intend to license its most-recently-produced live-action Sailor Moon series or the musicals outside of Japan, so viewers outside the country, including those in North America, have to rely on alternate means to view those presentations.
Voice cast
- Susan Aceron (Trista Meio/Sailor Pluto) (#2) (eps 103-120)
- Dennis Akayama (Malachite) (#1) (eps 18-39)
- Liza Balkan (Amy Mizuno/Sailor Mercury) (#2) (eps 83-159)
- Linda Ballantyne (Serena Tsukino/Sailor Moon) (#3) (eps 83-159)
- Emily Barlow (Raye Hino/Sailor Mars) (#2) (eps 66-82); (Mina Aino/Sailor Venus) (#2) (eps 83-159)
- Stephanie Beard (Rini Tsukino/Sailor Minimoon) (#2) (eps 96-159)
- Karen Bernstein (Amy Mizuno/Sailor Mercury) (#1) (eps 5-82)
- Kirsten Bishop (Zoicite) (eps 11, 15-31); (Emerald) (eps 66-81); (Kaorinite) (eps 83-156)
- Robert Bockstael (Prince Diamond) (eps 66-82); (Pegasus/Helios) (eps 121-159)
- Vincent Corazza (Darien Chiba/Tuxedo Mask) (#3) (eps 66-159); (Alan Granger) (eps 41-53)
- Tony Daniels (Jedite) (eps 1-10, 82); (Wiseman) (eps 54-82)
- Jill Frappier (Luna)
- Katie Griffin (Raye Hino/Sailor Mars) (#1) (eps 7-65, 83-159)
- Jennifer Griffiths (Avery) (eps 54-65, 79)
- Terri Hawkes (Serena Tsukino/Sailor Moon) (#2) (eps 12-14, 16-20, 22-40, 42-82)
- Tracey Hoyt (Rini Tsukino) (#1) (eps 54-82)
- Sarah LaFleur (Amara Tenoh) (eps 83-119)
- Kathy Laskey (Bertie) (eps 54-65, 79)
- Mary Long (Molly Baker); (Katzy) (#2) (eps 61-65, 79)
- Kevin Lund (Nephlyte) (eps 10-20, 22)
- Tracey Moore (Serena Tsukino/Sailor Moon) (#1) (eps 1-11, 15, 21, 41)
- Stephanie Morganstern (Mina Aino/Sailor Venus) (#1) (eps 29-82)
- Colin O'Meara (Andrew)
- Roland Parliament (Melvin Gurio)
- Alice Poon (Katzy) (#1) (eps 54-59)
- Toby Proctor (Darien Chiba/Tuxedo Mask) (#2) (eps 11-65)
- Nandine Rabinovich (Miss Haruna)
- Barbara Radecki (Ikuko Tsukino); (Michelle Kaioh/Sailor Neptune) (eps 83-119)
- Susan Roman (Lita Kino/Sailor Jupiter)
- Rino Romano (Darien Chiba/Tuxedo Mask) (#1) (eps 1-10)
- Ron Ruben (Artemis)
- Rob Tinkler (Rubeus) (eps 54-66, 82); (Malachite) (#2) (ep 82)
- Maria Vacratsis (Negaforce) (eps 21, 40)
Trivia
- When Sailor Moon was up for bid by Toei to be produced in North America, Toon Makers Inc attempted to obtain the rights to the franchise so that their company could make an original Power Rangers-style version of Sailor Moon, half live-action and half American-style cartoon. A two-minute music video and pilot for this proposal was produced by Toon Makers, but rejected by Toei because the series would have had a higher production cost than just dubbing the original version. Today, the short film clip, commonly known as "Saban Moon" in fan circles (due to its misconception of being a Saban production) and available for viewing on the Internet, is often pointed to by defenders of the dubbed episodes as a "worst-case scenario." The full pilot has never surfaced to this date.
- It has been confirmed that Sailor Stars, the final season of Sailor Moon, will not be dubbed because Toei is not putting it up for license.
- In the two minute 'Saban Moon' clip, you can see all of the original five "inner senshi." Even after the [interview with Rocky Solotoff], the founder and CEO of Toon Makers Inc., exact details are sketchy. Of note, the show tried to be as 'politically correct' as possible and ended up casting Sailor Mercury in a wheelchair, and Sailor Jupiter as an African-American. Ungela Brockman was the actress of color, and was possibly slated to be Sailor Jupiter. Luna is a white cat, instead of black, and no explanation is given to why this change was made except the claim that it was done because of a fear of associating the Sailor Senshi with witchcraft.
External links
- [Optimum productions], Official website of the English dubbing company.
- [Sailor Moon Uncensored:] Details on the differences between the Japanese and English versions of the show.
- [Toonami Digital Arsenal]: A page with many Sailor Moon downloads, including the aforementioned Toon Makers clip and the DiC promotion video.
- [Sailor Moon a la Saban: Debunked]: An article debunking the Saban connection to the Toon Makers video clip.
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