- "From a far away place and time, Earth's greatest adventure is about to begin."
- —Opening Scroll
Sailor Moon is the first season of the Sailor Moon series. Known as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon in Japan, it originally aired on March 7, 1992 on TV Asahi. 40/46 episodes were bundled with 25 episodes of Sailor Moon R to create a 65-episode bundle for English markets.
Plot Summary[]
For the full plot see: Sailor Moon (season 1)
Ditzy teenager Serena is informed, by a talking cat named Luna, that she is actually Sailor Moon -- a superhero-like champion of the Earth, who's destiny is to fight against an evil villain called Queen Beryl. Queen Beryl and her evil cronies are from an alternate dimension called the Negaverse. The goal of the Negaverse is to take over the Earth, drain away all its energy, and use the energy to resurrect the Negaforce.
Now even though Luna has given Serena her magic locket which allows her to use her special powers and change into Sailor Moon, Serena has a very difficult time believing she's supposed to be a hero, and doesn't take her duties seriously. Luna's number one priority - along with trying to identify the other Sailor Scouts - is to find the Moon Princess and ask for her help. The Moon Princess is from the Moon Kingdom, which Queen Beryl destroyed long ago.
Over time, the Sailor Scouts are discovered and gathered together -- Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus. There is also the mysterious Tuxedo Mask, who often appears to 'help' the Sailor Scouts. He claims to only be helping them in order to gain all the Rainbow Crystals for himself. Darien (aka Tuxedo Mask) at first has no memory of being Tuxedo Mask, and believes that these Rainbow Crystals can help provide answers to the strange dreams he has about being Prince Darien in another life, who loved the Moon Princess.
Tuxedo Mask's attempts to get all the Rainbow Crystals fails, and he is hypnotized by Queen Beryl and forced to fight against Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts. In a final showdown with Queen Beryl, the other Scouts are captured by the Negaverse one at a time, leaving Sailor Moon to fight the hypnotized Tuxedo Mask on her own. This proves to be a huge mistake on the part of Queen Beryl, because the love of Darien/Tuxedo Mask and the other Scouts for Sailor Moon awakens the Moon Princess in her. Sailor Moon is the Moon Princess, and each of the Sailor Scouts is the reincarnation of their own planet's Princess. who were all part of, and ruled over by the Moon Kingdom. The Scouts, Prince Darien, and the Moon Princess were all part of the Moon Kingdom's Royal Court.
In the end, Queen Beryl is defeated by this collective power of love and loyalty, through the Moon Princess' Silver Crystal.[4]
Production & Broadcast[]
Sailor Moon premiered on March 7, 1992, in Japan produced by Toei Animation and airing on TV Asahi. Though it wasn't a success straight out of the gate, as the first season continued it became a hit in Japan and started seeing dubs in other Asian countries. Development for a North American version of the series started as early as 1993/94 and a 10 minute pilot was created by Renaissance-Atlantic Entertainment & Toon Makers, Inc., though was ultimately rejected by the Japanese stakeholders.
DiC Entertainment would eventually secure the rights to dub Sailor Moon, partnering with Bandai America to produce merchandise. DiC produced a 65-episode package[5], comprising of 40 episodes of Sailor Moon and 25 episodes of Sailor Moon R. Episodes were heavily edited, new music and sound effects were used, and a PSA segment at the end of each episode titled Sailor Says was added, to teach kids morals about the episode.
The series first premiered August 28, 1995 (in Canada) on YTV during the network's after-school The Zone time block. The UPN Network began airing the series in the US starting September 11, 1995 weekday mornings and afternoons.
After the series was officially canceled, it was picked by the USA Network with support from General Mills-sponsored The Program Exchange. Sailor Moon debuted June 9, 1997 on USA's Cartoon Express during the USA Extreme Action Team Block.
The DiC version of Sailor Moon would also air in other English-speaking countries: United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.
Episodes[]
Ep. # | Episode Title | Original Airdate (CA) | Original Airdate (US) | |
JP | US | |||
1 | 1 | "A Moon Star is Born" | Aug. 28, 1995 | Sep. 11, 1995 |
3 | 2 | "Talk Radio" | Aug. 29, 1995 | Sep. 12, 1995 |
4 | 3 | "Slim City" | Aug. 30, 1995 | Sep. 13, 1995 |
7 | 4 | "So You Want to be a Superstar" | Aug. 30, 1995 | Sep. 14, 1995 |
8 | 5 | "Computer School Blues" | Sep. 1, 1995 | Sep. 15, 1995 |
9 | 6 | "Time Bomb" | Sep. 6, 1995 | Sep. 18, 1995 |
10 | 7 | "An Uncharmed Life" | Sep. 7, 1995 | Sep. 19, 1995 |
11 | 8 | "Nightmare in Dreamland" | Sep. 8, 1995 | Sep. 20, 1995 |
12 | 9 | "Cruise Blues" | Sep. 11, 1995 | Sep. 21, 1995 |
13 | 10 | "Fight to the Finish" | Sep. 12, 1995 | Sep. 22, 1995 |
14 | 11 | "Match Point for Sailor Moon" | Sep. 12, 1995 | Sep. 22, 1995 |
15 | 12 | "An Unnatural Phenomena" | Sep. 14, 1995 | Sep. 26, 1995 |
16 | 13 | "Wedding Day Blues" | Sep. 15, 1995 | Sep. 27, 1995 |
17 | 14 | "Shutter Bugged" | Sep. 18, 1995 | Sep. 28, 1995 |
18 | 15 | "Dangerous Dollies" | Sep. 19, 1995 | Sep. 29, 1995 |
19 | 16 | "Who is that Masked Man?" | Sep. 20, 1995 | Oct. 2, 1995 |
21 | 17 | "An Animated Mess" | Sep. 21, 1995 | Oct. 3, 1995 |
22 | 18 | "Worth a Princess's Ransom" | Sep. 22, 1995 | Oct 4, 1995 |
23 | 19 | "Molly's Folly" | Sep. 25, 1995 | Oct. 5, 1995 |
24 | 20 | "A Friend in Wolf's Clothing" | Sep. 26, 1995 | Oct. 6 1995 |
25 | 21 | "Jupiter Comes Thundering In" | Sep. 27, 1995 | Oct. 9, 1995 |
26 | 22 | "The Power of Friendship" | Sep. 28, 1995 | Oct. 10, 1995 |
27 | 23 | "Mercury's Mental Match" | Sep. 29, 1995 | Oct. 11, 1995 |
28 | 24 | "An Artful Attack" | Oct. 2, 1995 | Oct. 12, 1995 |
29 | 25 | "Too Many Girlfriends" | Oct. 3, 1995 | Oct. 13, 1995 |
30 | 26 | "Grandpa's Follies" | Oct. 4, 1995 | Oct 16, 1995 |
31 | 27 | "Kitty Chaos" | Oct. 5, 1995 | Oct. 17, 1995 |
32 | 28 | "Tuxedo Melvin" | Oct. 6, 1995 | Oct. 18, 1995 |
33 | 29 | "Sailor V Makes the Scene" | Oct. 9, 1995 | Oct. 19, 1995 |
34 | 30 | "A Crystal Clear Destiny" | Oct. 10, 1995 | Oct. 20, 1995 |
35 | 31 | "A Reluctant Princess" | Oct. 11, 1995 | Oct. 23, 1995 |
36 | 32 | "Bad Hair Day" | Oct. 12, 1995 | Oct. 24, 1995 |
37 | 33 | "Little Miss Manners" | Oct. 13, 1995 | Oct. 25, 1995 |
38 | 34 | "Ski Bunny Blues" | Oct. 16, 1995 | Oct. 26, 1995 |
39 | 35 | "Ice Princess" | Oct. 17, 1995 | Oct. 27, 1995 |
40 | 36 | "Last Resort" | Oct. 18, 1995 | Oct. 30, 1995 |
41 | 37 | "Tuxedo Unmasked" | Oct. 19, 1995 | Oct. 31, 1995 |
43 | 38 | "Fractious Friends" | Oct. 20, 1995 | Nov. 1, 1995 |
44 | 39 | "The Past Returns" | Oct. 23, 1995 | Nov. 2, 1995 |
45-46 | 40 | "Day of Destiny" | Oct. 24, 1995 | Nov. 3, 1995 |
Missing Episodes[]
Five episodes of Sailor Moon were cut from the 65-episode pack. Though no official word has ever been said as to why these episodes were omitted, fans have speculated it could be due to certain scenes of violence or inappropriate behavior that DiC would not be able to edit. Episode 2, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 20 , and Episode 42 were all not dubbed.
Episode 45 and Episode 46, were combined and edited into one episode of the dub; episode 40 "Day of Destiny".
Credits[]
Home Media[]
Buena Vista would be the first North American distributer to bring Sailor Moon to home video. They chose to release 12 select episodes over 6 tapes. ADV Films would take over the licensing rights in 2000[6] and it would be the first time North American audiences would be able to own the entire first season on VHS, with DVDs hitting shelves in 2002[7]. Season 1 was spread over 10 VHS tapes and 7 DVDs.
Following the success of the dub releases, ADV Films also released the complete uncut first season with original Japanese audio and English subtitles in 2003.
In 2004, ADV Film announced the Sailor Moon license would be expiring[8]. There is no official DiC Entertainment dub of Sailor Moon available, all of ADV Films products are now out of print. Viz Media has taken over the license, and in 2014 began releasing DVD and Blu-ray sets with the original Japanese audio, and new English dub.
Trivia[]
- The opening scroll at the beginning of the opening credits was only used for the first 14 episodes.
- DiC's initial pitch to investors and networks included names that would later be changed for the final product.[9]
- Serena was named Victoria and would transform by saying "Moon Power!"
- Amy was named Blue, Lita was named Sarah, Raye was named Dana, Mina was named Carrie.
- Tuxedo Mask was called The Masked Tuxedo.
References[]
- ↑ YTV Sailor Moon Airdates
- ↑ Sailor Moon 1995-96 syndication listings
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Answers.com - What Channel Does Sailor Moon Air On?
- ↑ YTV.com Synopsis
- ↑ 65-Episode TV Trope
- ↑ ADV Sailor Moon VHS press release
- ↑ ADV Sailor Moon DVD press release
- ↑ ADV losing Sailor Moon license
- ↑ DiC Entertainment Pitch Video