The Western World Of Sailor Moon | Tales of the Lost

0:00 the Western World of Sailor Moon is sponsored by likewise TV there are so many entertainment options to choose from and with all the different platforms to sift through keeping track of all your favorite shows and organizing your content can become a confusing headache but there's never been an easier way to organize all of my streaming services than when I started using likewise TV with likewise TV you can have all of your favorite shows from different streaming services personalized into one streaming Hub it eliminates the confusion of having to bounce back and forth between Services trying to remember where that new movie is streaming one of my favorite features on likewise TV is my watch list I'm able to save a show or movie I'm interested in all within a single watch list for all of my streaming services which makes everything so much easier to find and

0:45 sort through so if you want a better way to access and organize all your favorite shows and movies in an all-in-one platform try likewise TV you can find a link to the website in the description box below and thank you again to the good people over at likewise TV for sponsoring this stock documentary I've never really enjoyed that nagging feeling you get when trying to recall a lost memory my mind gets consumed with thoughts like oh I've seen that before I know what it is it's at the tip of my tongue and it's gonna bother me for weeks until I can piece it all together but once you manage to figure it all out there's nothing more satisfying than that sweet release it's a lot like the feeling of closure once you're able to arrange together all of the missing bits

1:30 finally get a clear picture of the good and the bad and can make peace with everything only then can you bury the hatchet and move on and that nagging feeling finally ceases the chapter can safely be closed without any remaining baggage or loose ends and that memory can now be tucked away in a pristine condition because nothing is quite as satisfying as getting all the answers as a matter of fact a reoccurring memory that had been plaguing my mind for the last 20 something years of my life was finally solved while researching the documentary something that took 20 years was miraculously found in only a few short hours of strategic searching being a product of the 90s I grew up in a house full of a lot of toys it was a

2:15 time when consumerism and targeted ads really began to kick off an Advertiser started to realize that children were a viable demographic to shill their tantalizing products to stores were chock full of sockemboppers Furby dolls Tamagotchi Easy Bake Ovens beanie babies and Barbie dolls and out of all the easily identifiable toys being cranked out through the machine there was one doll in particular whose identity had been lost on me for years she was a miniature figure much bigger than a Polly Pocket yet smaller than a Kelly doll the doll stood in a fixed position in a dainty pose with arms both stretched out she was stiff like an action figure but she had the soft plastic head of a Barbie doll she had

3:01 bright pastel colored hair with pretty strands of tinsel in it in a very Rosy and cutesy look on her face which made her look like some kind of magical girl doll imported from Japan she wore what looked like large shoulder pads and a fluffy skirt yet she had sneakers and what looked to be biker shorts underneath she looked like sailor Mini Moon merged with Princess Leela from the old 80s cartoon the smoggies listen I know my audience I bet you're about to ask where did such an obscure character reference come from well I make that comparison because my only remaining memory of this doll was when I was watching television with my older sister and I remarks that her doll the same as mine except with purple hair looked like the smoggy's character after we were watching on the screen princess Leela

3:47 oddly specific yes and severely out of date but that's the only memory I have growing up I had this strong affinity for magical girls and Japanese anime so the characteristics of this doll was always very striking to me I was so transfixed by her appearance and she just stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all my North American dolls it's like she came out of some anime fantasy Universe over time this mysterious doll must have gotten lost or thrown out at some point but as the years passed images of this character would always shoot back into my mind I've made a few attempts to find it over the years and it always led me nowhere I figured I'd never find it because at best it felt like some random bootleg toy you'd pick up at a flea market I made all these

4:33 plausible theories to try to soothe my burning questions about this Toy's identity and it just wasn't good enough there was no way this doll was just a bootleg it's designed mine was way too complex but without any starting point to really Branch off of all I could really do was drop my search fast forward to September of 2021 and as I'm laying in my bed obviously doing some heavy in-depth research for this very film that you're watching I get a weird ping suddenly something in me felt inspired so I decided to go do some digging don't you just love distractions first I tried to pick my sister's brain I thought there was a slight chance that maybe she'd remember something about it after all these years but unfortunately she

5:20 didn't know no luck it definitely wasn't gonna be that easy next I tried to retrace my steps with brief descriptors for the doll and for the next hour or so Google would be my best friend going through a short list of Search terms to phrase tiny 90s doll ended up revealing toys that looked somewhat familiar to the image in my head could have been a crystal princess doll I thought to myself they have a similar face but my doll has fixed legs so don't bend but the images were getting eerily similar to what was appearing in my mind's eye so I dug deeper through Google Images Sherry muffin doll no bubblins no cupcake dolls not that either I even saw a few Strawberry Shortcake dolls that came pretty close and then by some Divine Miracle there

6:08 was a little window in the related search off to the side an Etsy listing for a doll that looked all too familiar my heart stopped there she was the moment I saw this doll the pieces all started to align and suddenly the nagging feeling had vanished and almost impossible to find doll turned out to be from a line of toys known as little secrets dolls by Mattel one of the most well-known toy companies in all of history the painful irony of this doll's name is not lost on me this little secret stall in particular was part of their 1993 line and just like from my memory she had a magical girl look fluffy teal hair adorned in Tinsel with puffy shoulder pads and biker shorts under her skirt she also came in purple

6:55 just like the one that my sister owned this was it the anxiety was gone after years of searching I had finally found my doll so why did I bore you with this brief anecdote about my incessant search for some random toy while it closely relates to the subject of my most recent lost media Deep dive magical girls like I said I've always had this hyper fixation towards anything that was more in the magical girl realm hence the little secret stalls and this next story required almost that same amount of patience and planning the anticipation of both felt very similar as well as the uncertainty that I'd even find anything at all actually a lesson in patience is

7:40 probably the biggest theme of what you're about to see tonight in this chapter of tales of the lost I search high and low attempting to track down a famous piece of magical girl lost media the notorious unaired pilot known as Saban Moon a failed attempt at americanizing Sailor Moon before the original anime had been dubbed over for Western audiences through my investigation I managed to gain new insight to its creation through tracking down previously unexplored leads and very quickly found myself sent on what felt like an endless wild goose chase were these Persons of Interest able to lead me to a pot of gold or did my efforts leave me with a giant goose egg in hand if you'd like to find out grab your wands and get ready for the bumpy ride into the Western World of Sailor

8:27 Moon foreign [Music]

9:15 thank you [Music] foreign [Music]

10:11 there has never been anything like it before female superheroes fighting villains and if it makes girls feel good and want to see more then I'm happy I hadn't been exposed to anime before this and now that I'm kind of part of an anime family I got more and more informed that I went to the last utarpa convention and it just blew my mind the quality we got tons and tons of these in what do you think that is it's it's a big it's a big big thing also you get um an ongoing story which you normally don't get in cartoons at all Cosmic soap opera yeah in order to surely appreciate the method behind the madness I think it's imperative to understand exactly who and what Sailor Moon is and why it's such a widely revered Series so it's

10:58 time for a bit of a history lesson Sailor Moon originally released in Japan as pretty Soldier Sailor Moon it's a 1992 anime produced by toy animation and based on the manga of the same name created by the mind of the brilliant artist known as nyako takuchi the series follows the adventures of the 14 year old Dead Sea schoolgirl sukini usagi otherwise known as Serena in the English dub she's your average teenager living as seemingly normal life where she fawns over cute boys and hangs out with her friends by day only to fight evil By Moonlight and defend the people of the earth under the Persona of Sailor Moon with the help of her fellow Sailor Scout friends throughout the series run we watch the growth of Serena from an immature and naive middle school girl to a responsible and courageous young adult

11:43 Sailor Moon was one of the most successful Japanese franchises of its time reaching 1.5 billion in merch sales during its first three years of syndication this Series has since broadened its reach into other countries meeting similar amounts of success and has since been solidified into the world of Pop Culture the Manga and Anime have spawned numerous merchandise three films 39 Video Games Live Action shows theme park rides and even a Japanese live-action adaptation produced in 2003 titled pretty Guardian Sailor Moon with a second animated reboot closely following the events of the manga that began streaming in July of 2014 known as Sailor Moon Crystal though originally meant to be catered squarely at teenage girls Sailor Moon has had a pretty

12:29 widespread impact on many audiences on a diverse Spectrum the series managed to attract a large male audience with its more Shonen tones as the series was more action-oriented through its gritty monster of the weak battles in each episode something previously foreign to the Glam and glitzy magical girl genre Sailor Moon became the blueprint for many magical girl anime preceding it through its unique storytelling action-oriented battle sequences and strong incorporation of real-life fashion trends along with having much more glamorous items and detailed transformation sequences than previously seen in a genre the show not only left this huge mark on the magical girl scene but also the animation industry as a whole even if that impact seems very

13:15 subtle today its influence and style can clearly be seen in an array of Western fantasy cartoons we widely enjoy because many of these animators grew up watching Sailor Moon this cartoon was a lot of people's first introduction to Anime in the early 90s even if you weren't part of the Target demographic and core audience for the series chances are you've seen this titular character repurposed or parodied in other media whether it be through inspiration or through gags now could you believe a show so saturated and gliss and glamor actually changed people's lives sure at first glance Sailor Moon looks like any run-of-the-mill girly anime by today's standards but the show actually had a lot more cultural significance on animated media and Society than you'd

14:00 believe the series created this shift in the animation industry as a whole and still had enough magic left in it to leave a lasting impact on its very diverse community of fans this show Saved people's lives by helping a lot of Youth with their own coming on experiences and journeys of self-acceptance Let Me Explain Sailor Moon storyline evolved drastically through its five season run and eventually went on to tackle heavier and more mature Topics in subject matter and was among the very few female oriented anime at the time to have such an open acceptance and Broad representation of gender expression an identity that had gone underrepresented in anime and cartoons prior to that point even though the show's success was not at the same degree as pokemania Sailor Moon had a

14:47 profound impact on men and women everywhere including people within the marginalized communities of the LGBT plus this series never shied away from portraying gay or gender-fluid characters and has often been cited as an early example of representation that inspired and helped many young gay and trans youth across the board through their journeys of self-acceptance and embracing their own identities allowing them to express themselves in ways they previously felt they had to hide it gave viewers a sense of community and Assurance to their wide portrayal of non-binary gay and trans characters like Amar and Michelle zoysite and the Sailor Stars to name a few Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts were seen as role models for girls everywhere with its revolutionary depiction of its heroines

15:33 the show taught lessons of female empowerment showing that femininity shouldn't be conflated with weakness it presented strong betrayals of friendship along with giving examples of platonic familial and romantic love lastly it exhibited more three-dimensional characters with their own differences who could all come together at the end of the day and save the Earth all while somehow maintaining this balance of being completely corny and campy so chances are even if you have no recollection of this series whatsoever you're at least familiar with the image of the titular hero known as Sailor Moon and you got a nice little history lesson to boot today it's much more commonplace to see Japanese culture integrated into American society but it was shows like Sailor Moon Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon that really made this bridging of this

16:20 Gap possible without this increased fascination with Japanese culture we might not have that broad spectrum of Animation in the west that we have today so we see references of Sailor Moon echoed in media from time and time again the show has had a large cultural impact impact on communities everywhere and yet this widely beloved show didn't always have the easiest time on its climb to the top did you know that Sailor Moon had been met with a series of cancellations in North America before eventually finding its height of success they were actually quite an alarming amount of barriers the show had to push past before and after it made its debut in the west thousands upon thousands of people would have never been changed and inspired by this series if not for

17:06 people pushing for its success behind the scenes and what might you ask was keeping this series alive behind the scenes fan power [Music] thank you one extreme form of obsession with technology is the information junkie they are people who are actually in love with information hitoshi DOI is wired on information specifically any information on Japanese animation known as anime he's one of a growing number of data junkies called

17:52 otaku the otaku seem to me to be it's kind of very pure expression of of hunger for information even if the information is essentially meaningless Sailor Moon premiered in Canada on August 28 1995 and September 11th of that same year in the U.S but halted production in November of the same year after only two seasons the reason low ratings so wait if the series is such a masterpiece and highly beloved to anime fans why on Earth did it have such a rough start laying out its foundations in North America how do low ratings make any sense how could this have just happened when Sailor Moon had so many fans invested into the series how could it just up and disappear well there's a

18:38 pretty simple answer to this and that is unreasonable time slots the truth is the low ratings that caused its first cancellation back in November of 95 wasn't simply because the fans weren't enjoying it it was an issue of exposure thankfully being dubbed by Deke entertainment the series was considered Canadian enough to be screened during Prime Time hours as local content so me and all the other Canadian kids got to enjoy Sailor Moon in all its Glory but sad sadly the show struggled to maintain the same momentum in the U.S simply because it aired during what we'd like to call dead time slots meaning it was pushed out in the early mornings and afternoons and this was simply an unrealistic time for their target audience to even see it so it's not that the kids didn't like what they were watching they would just be at school or

19:26 taking naps whenever the show would air it was doomed from the start and unfortunately how the show performed in the US was ultimately the deciding factor so when they pulled the plug fans were devastated and from that Devastation created an online frenzy fans were so passionate about its cancellation though their efforts to resuscitate the series through petitions and passionate letters started to gain coverage by local news stations intrigued by this very vocal fan phenomenon online Sailor Moon developed this huge cult following among anime fans and was responsible for the surge of online fan communities and websites in the early to late 90s the anime was so widely loved that a study done in 2004 showed that there were over 3 million websites about Sailor Moon

20:12 compared to the 491 000 websites for Disney's most well-known character Mickey Mouse the internet was just the perfect medium for these die-hard Sailor Moon fans also known as Moonies to share their addiction although the show met its untimely ending before it could really plant its roots the fans that were watching just knew they had something special and the internet made it that much more easier to connect Moonies from all over the world they now had a place where they could keep up to date with news from Japan look through spoilers fan theories and release dates review and discuss dub comparisons and even write their own fan fiction about the series the internet kept fans in the know about what was in the original series versus what was shown to them through overly censored dubs being a

20:58 moony was like being a part of this secret Niche Society we were big in numbers but also somehow quiet all at once and even though Moonies were small in numbers their impact on the future of the series was strong and would serve as one of the earliest examples of the power of petitioning online a method of online activism that while common today was completely foreign at the time from the cancellation of the series birth the website known as Sailor Moon SOS it was created as a hub for fans to share information about the series but more importantly it was The Unofficial fan campaign website advocating for the re-airing of Sailor Moon after the series was canceled fans gathered over to SOS to sign a petition that garnered over 12 500 signatures at the time those

21:46 numbers were huge the site was full of passionate fans who all shared one main objective bringing back Sailor Moon the collection of SOS signatures ended on June 8 1997 upon the return of Sailor Moon Nationwide thanks everybody for your support of the signatures collected 66 662 were collected online with a total of 12 061 collected offline as of March 1st 1997. that's right we asked online fans to circulate copies of the offline petition to fans without internet access many of whom didn't even know SOS existed that's how dedicated we are to the cause the save our Sailors campaign is a fan organized public campaign to

22:32 help promote Sailor Moon on North American television as with any public campaign no matter how well intended the SOS has its share of supporters and critics lately questions accusations rumors related to the SOS have been circulated among the internet media notably in various news groups and mailing lists unfortunately we do not have the time Norman power to answer each and every query our supporters slash critics may have so we'll try to summarize the most commonly asked questions about the SOS in order to clarify some things and dispel some myths next question please and it worked in an act of desperation fans joined forces online to petition for their beloved series and Sailor Moon was essentially saved by its fan base

23:19 and was scheduled to re-air only two months after the campaign ended on June 9th of 1997 and this time around saw much more exposure than before which allowed for the remainder of the English dub to be produced up to its fourth season known as Sailor Moon Super S it was on a great streak the fans were happy the stakes on the show were getting higher and suddenly as fans were anticipating the fifth and final season known as Sailor Moon Sailor Stars it got canceled again this time though it wasn't an issue of dead Air instead the dubbing of Sailor Moon now fell under a more narrow censorship protocols U.S television networks deemed certain themes to mature for its time so a lot of the original Sailor Moon dub while loved by many was already met with heavy

24:04 censorship and this was especially hard to navigate when looking to dub the fifth and Final season of the series basically the reason why Sailor Stars was never given an English dub was squarely because of the increasing mature themes but also due to the introduction of three new characters who were added to the Scout's lineup The Starlights were young pop Idol stars that are biologically male and can transform into female sailor Guardians called the Sailor Starlights I'm sure you could see why this would be a hot button issue in the west as little as 20 years ago and with the Sailor Starlights having been heavily censored in other dubs around the world it was just too much for them to navigate around without completely butchering the original story even more than it already had been in Seasons prior so they decided to let a

24:50 good thing die and from then on all we got were reruns but that wasn't quite the end of Sailor Moon in the U.S they truly underestimated the power of the internet and they underestimated Moonies because this did not stop the train of Sailor Moon fans from falling in love and spreading the show's moon power over the globe so Sailor Stars lived on through some pretty impressive fan subs and dreaded 144p Real Player dubs until the show finally saw us release in 2015. almost 20 years after the premiere of the original sailor star series to go hand in hand with the new viz media dub for the release of Sailor Moon Crystal there now that everyone's up to speed on all things Sailor Moon I can finally move on to the main point of all of this now you know her painful upbringing and

25:37 have possibly gained some newfound respect for the heroine in the process and just so we're all clear on the timeline Sailor Moon was canceled right out the gate due to unruly time slots was resuscitated through online fan intervention only to be canceled again due to the cultural barriers and censorship practices that were in place at the time but was subsequently brought back in 2015 completely redubbed and with a new series to boot but knowing all of that effort that was put forth and all of the pitfalls to push through to even get a semblance of a series of an English up I don't think it would be a surprise to anyone if I just came out and said that once upon a time there was a huge chance that the character Sailor Moon might have been completely unrecognizable from the blonde meatball-haired heroine we all know and

26:23 loved today well at least in North America that's right before this series acquisition and subsequent dubbing there were talks of remaking the anime from the ground up they wanted to repackage the widely popular Sailor Moon into something they thought would be more palpable for American audiences putting her anime debut at risk [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you once upon a time we almost didn't get the iconic character we know and love today and instead of being saved by fan opinion this time sailor Moon's fate was

27:08 completely out of the hands of the public the year was 1993. the massive success of Sailor Moon in Japan had the series extending its reach to places like Germany Italy and Latin America just to name a few with the series being so positively received and the money rolling in worldwide toy animation was ready to shift their focus onto a heavier market for a stronger return their sights were set on the world of the English speakers but while it was relatively easy to distribute the anime in other countries finding a decent Distribution Company in North America and Europe would prove to be a much harder task and with the increased number of fans online producing their own bootlegs and fan Subs of the series toy had to act fast meanwhile in North America Saban entertainment's Mighty

27:55 Morphin Power Rangers a heavily edited and Americanized version of the Japanese series Korea Sentai Jewelry Ranger was the highest rated kids show on broadcast television Saban had concocted their own show by using the fighting sequences and action shots from the original Japanese series and merged this with re-shot non-action scenes with an All-American cast recreating the show from the ground up in a formula they'd continue to use in the Power Rangers seasons that would come to follow kids loved the Power Rangers I loved the Power Rangers and with this windfall of success seen from the Power Rangers American Distributors were now on the hunt for the next cool Japanese import Rocky solotov head of the animation company

28:41 known as tune makers eventually caught wind of toys plans to have Sailor Moon distributed to the English-speaking Market he got in touch with toi's American Division known as Renaissance Atlantic the company that acted as the middleman between toy and Saban to create the Power Rangers to pitch and produce an idea of their own rather than simply acquiring the licensing and dubbing the anime into English tune makers approached Renaissance with their own unique ideas for the show and wanted to take things a step further and Renaissance was all on board in a joint venture on the bidding war for the licensing of Sailor Moon tune makers teamed up with the Power Rangers producers known as Renaissance Atlantic to pitch a completely different Americanized concept of the successful Japanese anime to the Fox network with

29:28 renaissance's previous history three melding Together live action hybrids like the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers the company conceptualized a pitch of the new series which was to be Half-Life action and half western style animation the pitch was dubbed project Y and would showcase both the animation work of tune makers and the live-action Productions of Renaissance Atlantic the plot of Saban Moon would revolve around five high school girls who would get up to your regular teen Antics by day but veering away from the original plot by night these girls now known as the princess warriors would save outer space rescue their defeated princess comrades being Neptune Uranus Saturn and Pluto and sees the jewels of power from the clutches of the evil queen Barrel one of the more notable differences mentioned

30:15 by Rocky solotov in his anime Fringe interview was that in an attempt to appeal to a wider American audience he wanted for the show to feature a more ethnically diverse cast among other noticeable changes the all-asian cast was swapped out and instead Sailor Jupiter was now now black Sumer Venus was now either Latino or Mediterranean with Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury both now white Stiller Mercury more specifically now had paraplegia and used the wheelchair Sailor Mars was the only character in the group to have her nationality kept the same Luna the cat also had a bit of a makeover as she now had a white coat instead of black if Luna hadn't been mentioned in the lyrics to the two minute video it would have been difficult to identify whether or not this was a new cat entirely or if it was actually the character Artemis Luna's companion in the original series

31:01 but it was noted in the anime Fringe interview that although Luna's color was altered they did in fact intend to introduce Artemis later in the series for whatever reason they made the decision to swap their colors eventually tune makers produced a 17 minute proof of concept video along with a two-minute music video both of which were directed by Rocky solatoff of tune makers Renaissance Atlantic presented this concept to toyi but ultimately in the end this pitch was turned down as this Venture would have of costs significantly more than simply exporting and dubbing the anime and as a result tune makers lost the bidding war project y was canceled and the licensing was handed over to geek Productions to dub the first two seasons of Sailor Moon for an English language release in North America since its Inception in 1993 much

31:48 information on this unaired live-action pilot had been kept confidential between tune makers Renaissance and toy animation it became this blip in time that was never intended to be shared with the public Fading Into the Dark As a memory which only existed with people closest to project y but all of that changed some years later when key artifacts from this failed pitch started making rounds online and very quickly caught the interest of Sailor Moon and lost media fans everywhere in late 2012 the contents of a California storage locker rented by Raymond ikovacci a former employee at tune makers had been sold among the items discovered and results were concept art original animation cells and other artwork

32:33 related to project y this was the first time the public would catch wind of the existence of a full 17-minute pilot script and pages of the script with dialogue and notes included were then scanned and released to the public this had seemed like a Monumental breakthrough in the search for this lost series but if not for the release of this footage right here some years prior it's likely that none of the contents in the storage locker would have ever been taken seriously this was the birthplace of the Saban Moon search this is the video where it all began the legendary live-action Saban moon clip one of the fandom's most mysterious pieces of nostalgia if not for this video we would have never been able to verify the authenticity of all the content that was

33:19 released from that storage locker in 2012. without this mysterious clip these pieces of evidence could have very well been written off as rumors or fan Creations if only the people in this video realize how important this Infamous recording would become if only more questions had been asked what is this footage and what is the story behind it and why was Project y widely dubbed by fans Saban Moon foreign [Music] this was the video that started the hunt for Saban Moon without this clip the

34:06 tale of Saban Moon would have gone mostly buried it wasn't until this video surfaced that questions began to arise in the community and for this discovery we all have a man by the name of Alan Hastings to thank for this deep descent into unearthing Saban Moon you're probably wondering what is this video how did it make its way online and who the heck is Alan Hastings this mysterious recording showcases the lost two minute music video for the live-action Sailor Moon pilot created by tune makers and Renaissance Atlantic Apparently after its cancellation this footage had been showcased for promotional purposes at conventions here and there this recording specifically was from an exhibition at an Anime Expo panel in 1995. the music video was presented by LightWave 3D developer Alan

34:53 Hastings whose previous company known as new tech was instrumental in developing the graphic software which tune makers had used to render some of their animations a convention attendee managed to tape the event re-uploading it to the internet where it began to spread like wildfire [Laughter] Hastings presented Snippets of the reel to Roaring laughter at the absurdity of it all as you can see the music video wasn't very well received at the time but had so much potential if exposed to the Right audience this footage uploaded many years after 1998 was what set off the rat race for the infamous Saban Moon because of the relatively poor quality of this circulated footage many anime fans falsely believed that the music

35:39 video was actually a leaked trailer for The now inactive project y instead of it being a two-minute promotional piece but as we now know in the 2000s interview with Rocky solatoff for anime Fringe magazine he clarified that there had not only been a two-minute music video but also a 17-minute pilot video still lost to this day this very short two minute video is what has had fans seeking answers ever since since then this notorious video including the Sailor Moon live action pilot has been mistakenly dubbed on Moon by many fans so if we know the pitch was created by tune makers and Renaissance Atlantic why do we call it Saban Moon why not tune moon or something or Renaissance Moon because Renaissance Atlantic had

36:25 previously been instrumental in Saban's acquisition of toy Super Sentai series which then became the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers people who viewed the music video mistakenly believed that Saban had actually created it and began to call it Saban Moon however sabon had nothing to do with this project it was more of a familiar Name by association and because of its initial confusion the moniker for project y kind of stuck and solidified amongst fans it is incredibly lucky that this footage was even captured without it the tune Maker's iteration would be all but a rumor but while the music video had been showcased at conventions here and there to this day the full 17-minute pilot has never been publicly released since Saban Moon

37:10 came to light petitions have been released in an attempt to have the Lost pilot share to the public but these petitions unlike in 1997 have gotten largely unacknowledged in my investigation I intend to not only uncover this lost pilot episode but also if possible a high quality recording of the original music video showcased by Alan Hastings at the Anime Expo of 1995. this deconstruction of the music video was just the beginning I had to dive much deeper to unearth more potential leads in order to get more answers I needed to conduct a more thorough investigation so it was time to head to the drawing board but before we can take this plunge I think it's important to get any confusions out of the way and review the other attempts that had been made at americanizing Sailor Moon and

37:58 yes there have been other attempts [Music] thank you before we dive any further into this and to avoid any confusions going forward it's worth noting that while the tune makers live action remake was the first and most infamous attempt at altering the series this was not the only time Sailor Moon had been looked at for the potential for an Americanized makeover there have also been two much more lesser-known attempts at americanizing the series one of the more obscure instances involved a proposed live-action film by Disney where actress

38:44 Gina Davis a self-proclaimed Mooney was in talks to play the role of Queen Barrel it was also rumored that Melissa Joan Hart of Sabrina Fame was to be casted to play the role of Sailor Moon this idea sprung up during Disney's Renaissance Era which was a period through the late 80s and 90s where the company was producing critically acclaimed and commercially successful animated films that were mostly musical adaptations of well-known stories and with the Walt Disney Company owning Geek Entertainment through a limited partnership from 1996 to the year 2000 ideas began to bounce around at the potential of adapting the series sadly not much is known about this project and eventually the idea was scrapped all that really remains of Disney moon are the few existing articles that bolster

39:30 this claim one being an archived post from the website my city news dated from 1997 by journalist David Poland the article is more or less as short and sarcastic tongue-in-cheek reporting of the proposed film adaptation but an even stranger and now more well-known potential adaptation came to light all by chance in July of 2018 from a journalist's venture into uncovering the Mysteries behind Saban moon in this 2018 Kotaku article writer Cecilia denastasio and her team set out to uncover more information on the tune Maker's adaptation but wound up finding something totally different a series known as team Angel after the tune Maker's pitch was canceled in 1998 former Bandai America president Frank

40:17 Ward along with his company Renaissance Atlantic entertainment tried to revive the idea of doing a live-action series based on Sailor Moon this time they had called it team Angel without the involvement of tune makers a two-minute reel was produced and sent to Bandai America but was also subsequently rejected this entire Deep dive in Discovery was chronalized in the Kotaku article during their in-person interview with Frank Ward where he even showcased the two-minute reel and went into further explanation of his short-lived concept team Angel was an unaired fantasy action series featuring four heroic angels that live in their own mythical and otherworldly Dimensions whenever they sense danger the Angels transport to the planet Earth to protect the civilians rescuing them from natural

41:03 disasters and freak accidents and those with impure intentions and bad hearts as you can see they were clearly going for something ethereal and outerworldly and with popular live action shows like Hercules police and Xena Warrior Princess that had a huge presence on sci-fi and fantasy networks around 1995. I sometimes wonder if this spin-off could have been largely successful if it went through a few reworks and was aged up for the Right audience which would have ended up being a very interesting blip in Sailor Moon's history if this idea had ever been approved I can only guess that team Angel was most likely developed in response to the first cancellation of Sailor Moon in the U.S the team Angel pitch was created February 19th of 1998 but as we now know

41:48 new episodes of Sailor Moon resumed in the U.S in June of 1997. in response to the surge of fan petitions a few months prior rendering any ideas of a live-action Concepts null and void there was no longer a need for any alternate Sailor Moon incarnations so the two-minute team Angel reel that was produced and sent to Bandai America similar to Saban moon was shelved and never released to the public until years later of course when The Relic was revealed in the Kotaku article from 2018. I found that the team Angel Discovery was so eerily similar to my own experience investigating lost media we both went in looking for one item and came out with something entirely different in my case it was looking for the Mean Girls DS game only to find the

42:34 missing clueless game would I be as lucky this time or like the journalists involved in the Kotaku article when I stumble upon something entirely different from what I set out to find [Applause] thank you [Applause] so what are we looking for exactly my hope is to find a clean copy of the two minute music video the full 17 minute pilot and if possible any extra footage that had been filmed in the studio for project y but before diving into my search the best place to start was at the beginning I had to gather all of the

43:20 possible Clues from the information already readily available along with some sources that have gone severely overlooked though sitting in plain sight surely somewhere in that sea of information I'd find some leads and maybe even come up with new theories surrounding Saban Moon so here are some facts we know about Saban Moon and its relationship to the original series along with evidence and theories that can be pulled from said information number one the tune makers logo and Sailor Moon prototype merch some of you may be surprised to hear that there are a handful of remnants of tune maker Sailor Moon that still live on in the Deep dub in the two-minute music video presented by Alan Hastings we can very clearly see the familiar sailor moon logo from the English dub widely known

44:06 to Western audiences but how could this be interestingly enough though Deke had exclusive rights to the series after winning the bidding war for Sailor Moon for some reason or another they decided to recycle the original logo designed by tune makers and Renaissance Atlantic and why did they decide to stick with this design we can't really be sure a more plausible explanation would be that at the time of the license acquiring merchandise and imports from the series had already been rolled out and rebranded for the Western Market so keeping the logo consistent with the merchandise that had been created before the series localization was probably the most cost effective solution for Deke one interesting thing to note about the merch being released before the series was that since they had assumed the

44:51 Renaissance and tune makers deal would have been approved several toys from Sailor Moon were adjusted to fit the proposed live-action adaptation with items you unique from the original Japanese series as a result of this many of these new early prototype toys for Saban moon were scrapped and have never been publicly seen the only real evidence we have of these manufacturings are from the words of Rocky solatoff himself in the anime Fringe interview and also one leftover prototype that somehow managed to slip through the cracks now I can't be sure if this was unbeknownst to Bandai America at the time as they probably would have had limited knowledge of the series but this Infamous moon cycle that had never appeared in the anime was originally meant to be a vehicle used in the tune

45:37 maker series shown in American advertisements of the mid 90s this unique item was bit of an anomaly among fans until it had been confirmed to be connected to project y number two the name Theory this one may get a little bit complicated certain names in the Deep dub were also retained from the original tune makers pitch and we have quite a few key pieces of evidence to prove this connection along with a little more obscure but very likely theories firstly Deke character names show up in the original tune makers pilot in the original tune maker script that had been leaked to the web several character names appear that had been recycled back into the series by Deke entertainment we can see that Prince Darien though spelled differently in the dub along with Queen Serenity and queen

46:24 Barrel are all referenced in the first episode even within the two minute music video sailor Moon's cat Luna is briefly mentioned in the lyrics which indicates that during the localization process possibly due to time constraints or simply because they liked the changes these names were carried over into the dub there's also the Deke commercial even more obscure evidence connecting deep to tune makers comes from an early geek promotional video revealing entirely different civilian names from what the characters would end up being called when the series first premiered in 1969 the first man stepped on the moon history was made now get ready to make history again blast off with the most powerful Series in 25 years Sailor

47:09 Moon Japan by store and now she's coming here Sailor Moon is number one in France Italy Spain Hong Kong and Japan and now she's sailing to the USA record-breaking ratings and shares Sailor Moon is the biggest sales and Merchandising phenomenon ever in Japan bigger than Power Rangers and turtles combined we're talking serious moon power one and a half billion dollars of retail sales and now it's coming here with massive sales support from Bandai with Carmen San Diego deep demonstrated that a female action adventure lead can appeal to both boys and girls Sailor Moon has the same Universal audience

47:54 appeal girls will love sailor Moon's transformation from everyday schoolgirl to superhero [Music] boys will love the non-stop action this is an action adventure series that will blow your mind with powers granted by a Celestial Guardian named Luna who takes the form of a black cat and with the magic of her secret incantation moonflower and ordinary high school girl named Victoria transforms into the superhero known as her friend blue becomes Sailor Mercury her friend Sarah becomes

48:41 her friend Dana becomes they were Mars her friend Carrie becomes the sailors are aided by a mysterious stranger known only as the mass tuxedo the sailors have sworn to protect Earth against the wicked green barrels and her alien allies From Another Dimension they've come to take over our world and only Sailor Moon and her friends can stop them over 90 million fans worldwide can't be wrong blast off for the Moon Sailor Moon coming this fall from Deke

49:29 Amy is now blue Lita's name is Sarah Rey is known as Dana Mina is now called Carrie and Serena is now named Victoria oh and Tuxedo Mask is now known as the masked tuxedo why tuxedo mask's name had been flipped around to the mass tuxedo only one could guess perhaps they had intended darion's Alter Ego to be more of a Zorro inspired character as his redesign seems to have more of a Hispanic Flair to it and there's the fact that Darion is a name of Spanish origin it's hard to say what direction they were going for as Prince Darien's Alter Ego is alluded to but never actually revealed in the pilot script I believe that these new names that show up in this early Deke promotional video may have been these characters true

50:16 identities in the tune Maker's adaptation including the mass tuxedo before the series was handed over to Deke unfortunately the civilian names of each Sailor Scout hadn't been included in Rocky solotov's original script but rather their prince Jesus warrior names but with what we know about Deke retaining some of the original tune Maker's names from both the song lyrics and the original script it's entirely plausible that these identities of the Sailor Scouts from the pitch could lie within this early geek promotional video that was made to shop the series around to different networks I mean the likelihood of this is just way too high to ignore at this point so I tried to investigate this a little further the tune makers music video had this huge late 80s to early 90s bubblegum Flair to

51:03 it so the cheesy eccentricity of the video was literally a product of its time since the show had a bit of a dated Flair to it I decided to look up a list of the most popular female names of the 1980s and 1990s and sure enough all of the names with the exception of blue appear to be highly ranked on the list for the 1980s Carrie is number 77 on the list and for popular names of the 90s Sarah placed number four Victoria at 19 with Dana at 164. now this might seem like somewhat of a stretch but let's consider the fact that these names are of the top 200 names on a list of 18 million female births per decade with these names being such common eurocentric names of their time especially around the time frame of when

51:49 the tune Maker's idea was first conceived I was even more so swayed into the direction that this Theory may have some weight to it and I bet you're wondering about the name blue well blue is sort of the outlier here and wasn't on either of the lists so I'm gonna spitball a little bit these two decades in particular are moments in time when slangs and nicknames had Rose in popularity so perhaps blue could have been a cool new nickname for the not so blue fiery redheaded wisecracking character who according to the script was nothing like her original more docile and book smart counterpart from the Japanese version but again I'm just spitballing take this last little Theory with a grain of salt there's much less evidence to support the character named

52:35 Blue and it's more likely that Dee could named her this because she's quite literally Blue from head to toe these two key instances of names being reused from the original tune maker script and lyrics and being recycled back into the dub only bolsters the theory that the names that appear in the early promotional video may have actually been the unknown civilian names of the Sailor Scouts from the tune makers pilot and it's quite possible that these names were scrapped as the new names not only sounded more current to the time now being the mid to late 90s but also fit more closely in line to the names of their original Japanese counterparts hopefully you're still falling because that one was a bit of a steep dive but the theories don't exactly stop there there's also the theory of the Sailor slogans perhaps a little more

53:21 far-fetched of all the theories is that a possible slogan for the series would have been the phrase moon power possibly in place of the more famous catchphrase in the name of the Moon I'll punish you this theory is largely due to the fact that the phrase moon power is mentioned not only in the tune maker script but also in the early Sailor Moon toy commercials along with the Deke ad that predates the dub [Music] at first glance this might not seem like a very substantial detail but think of this the series was pitched with a very late 80s bubble gum stick and the slogan moon power has never been uttered in the Deep dub if it were it would seem a little out of place as the phrase is much more fitting for something you'd hear in the tail end of the 80s rather

54:07 than the mid 90s could moon power be the remnants of a totally radical and butchered slogan made up by tune makers it wouldn't seem very far off If This Were proven to be true I mean children's programming of the late and early 90s was in no shortage of corny dialogue [Applause] so hearing a character utter such a phrase would be oddly fitting the last Avenue Worth investigating was the list of voice talent that was rumored to be connected to the Saban Moon project when asked about the cast and crew involved in the Live Action Project Rocky solatoff recalled a memory of recording with long time voice actress Adrian Barbeau it's said that Adrian Barbeau was rumored to have been the voice actress for both Queen barrel and queen Serenity Barbeau however has never

54:53 confirmed such claims another plausible piece of evidence that needed to be looked into was the rumor that actress Tammy Adrian George was cast to play Sailor Jupiter though the actress in the video Bears some similarity due to the quality of the video this rumor has gone unconfirmed with all of these pieces of evidence to explore I had more than enough leads to dissect and hopefully things wouldn't be all that hopeless [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] I was able to unearth and come up with several different theories from my thorough investigation from evidence and

55:40 facts that have been floating around on the web I ended up producing an array of different sources to begin looking into so many possible theories and names attached to certain aspects of project y it was just a matter of if and how quickly these names would respond or more importantly if I'd even get a response at all over the next few weeks I reached out to voice actors connected to the project employees at toy companies like Bandai and Irwin I searched high and low for Deke employees that were working around the time of the serious licensing along with reaching out to key entities that stood out and had either worked at tune makers or closely with the company to any capacity and even with all these Newfound Avenues to explore they all led to dead ends the closest I had come to making any sort of

56:25 contact with my leads was when I got through to Adrian barbeau's agent they informed me they would relay the message to her and get back to me in time but unfortunate definitely that was all I would hear from her team some weeks later I received a response from an individual over on Instagram could it be Adrian Barbeau nope it was from a man by the name of Dale Hendrickson a name I stumbled upon during my search that popped up with some sort of Association to tune makers I felt at that point I had exhausted every Avenue possible and though I was a little apprehensive at first to reach out so informally I decided to take my chances when he responded on that fateful day my heart sank in relief oh hey that could be interesting I was involved in the project it was a rather strange project

57:11 so long ago I'll have to refresh my brain on that one that's amazing it was actually so hard to find anyone with ties to the project if there is anyone you know of from the company that you're still in touch with I would love to have them featured as well any extra info would certainly add more to the documentary I could send you a handful of questions via email in the coming days if that's all right is there an email I could forward the question questions too by the way have you contacted Rocky salatov I haven't spoken with him in years but he was the main producer for animation his company was called tune makers thank you and yes I had reached out to him directly and also through the tune Maker's email a week ago hopefully he'll see it and also be interested from there we decided to move our conversation straight to email excited to get started I made sure to

57:56 write down all of the burning questions I had in mind finally out of all of the sources someone had seen my message someone had given a response a completely new lead in this wide web of a mystery and maybe just maybe Dale would be able to give me all of the Insight I desperately wanted to know about this series that's quite literally been lost to time I was eager excited and ready to get started and immediately I sent over my long list of questions I let a few days pass figuring he would probably need some time to sit down and answer everything and at the end of that same week Dale had reached out hey Raven sorry for the late reply things got really busy leading up to the holiday these are great questions and I admit I'm surprised by the interest or that

58:41 there would be a cult following the sorts for our little project do you know the name Frank ward he was a primary producer who brought the project from the original Property Owners from Japan to sabana entertainment and ultimately to tune makers I'll have more time later next week to discuss further have a great weekend Dale hey Dale uh I remember coming across the name Frank Ward I read that after the live action pilot was canceled he produced another series known as team angel that was also meant to be a successor to Sailor Moon I would love to get in touch with him as well hopefully he'll remember not only the team Angel series but also the tune makers cartoon I'll go out hunting for contact info thanks for letting me know and no worries take your time I'm excited to read your answers little did I know that after this exchange things would start start to get a little bit

59:27 quiet hey Dale I hope you've been well just wanted to touch base to see if you had a chance to look over the questions I'm hoping to have collected all the interviews by the 25th so I have time to splice everything together for its release date for the end of the month hopefully that's enough time for all the sources to submit their answers and respond and if not I'm willing to extend the deadline just let me know hey Raven I should be able to answer your questions this week things got busy over the past week and weekend hopefully you're able to contact Rocky as well take care Dale hi Dale just sending a follow-up message to see if all was well from the last time we spoke have you had a chance to look over the questions I sent over once I have everyone's interviews collected I should be able to figure out how I'm going to present Those portions so I can wrap up the documentary from there I'm hoping to have stuff released two weeks from now let me know if there's anything you had questions about or if you need more time

1:00:13 thank you sincerely Raven at this point I was absolutely sure I wasn't going to be hearing back from Dale it had been around 43 days since our first meeting and I still hadn't come any closer to any sort of answers I new patients would ultimately get me closer to finding answers but with so many days of dead air I was beginning to lose hope and worried if maybe he'd gotten cold feet it was beginning to feel like a weird game of cat and mouse and then suddenly on the night of August 31st Dale finally responded hey Raven sorry for the late reply if it's not too late I can try and answer your questions I'll look them over and see what I can do hi Dale thank you and no worries I'm glad to hear you're okay would you be able to have it sent before the end of the week if

1:00:59 possible thank you Raven I should be able to a sense of relief set in I don't know people's lives the man probably had more important things to tend to but rest assured later that night the following message made its way to my inbox and our conversation went a little something like this I am Dale Hendrickson I was surprised to see the date on that clip you sent 1994. I thought it happened in 1998 or something memories and I definitely don't remember that giggling laugh track LOL indeed at that time I was doing character design on The Simpsons I had known Rocky of tune makers through industry connections he asked me to come on board on an after-hours basis to help with the project I would go over to his Studio on lunch hours and evenings I was helping with character design and art Direction

1:01:44 tune makers was in the works since 1991. can you recall your time at the company did you work on many different projects or just the Sailor Moon pilot my time with tune makers was strictly freelancing part-time if Sailor Moon went to series I might have considered more involvement do you remember these animation cells yes I maybe can have some of those cells have to check my storage locker did you know anything about the original Sailor Moon series prior to working on the Americanized pitch yes I was definitely aware of the original I thought it was really strange this dude in the top hat floating around having some kind of romance with Sailor Moon or everybody for that matter I couldn't quite figure it out one thing was for sure American audiences would never understand it either or so I thought the cultural differences were so apparent in anime and I did think a

1:02:30 niche audience would find it here but not mainstream having said that I was very intrigued with anime in general I thought the movements were almost non-existent but the still Graphics that they would zoom into maybe animated hair falling over one eye for emotional effect were amazing I thought us animation could learn a lot from anime we'll answer more tomorrow I was excited to see that Dale was able to get through full at this point that I'd hear back from him the next day there was silence I tried to reassure myself that though it took a lot of time and persistence he would probably be back to discuss more and that day turned into weeks and after sending a brief follow-up message not wanting to bother him still nothing but

1:03:15 after patiently waiting exactly two weeks a new message came in [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] thank you I will admit I was a little exhausted from the back and forth but I was still pretty confident that there would be some sort of conclusion to all of these delays after waiting to hear back from

1:04:00 Dale for over two weeks since our last encounter he suddenly popped back up hey Raven so sorry I'm really bad I got a bit run over with work as this is not my main email for work with the studio I miss getting back to it I will go over the questions some more and get back to you by the way have you found Raymond iyakovachi he was the overseas producer for the animation and a good friend to Rocky he usually has some good Tales to tell Dale [Music] I couldn't believe my luck I felt so devastated at this point getting solid communication was like pulling teeth I felt like a carrot was being dangled over my head I didn't really know what to think I wanted to scream through the computer screen all of the burning questions that I had part

1:04:46 of me felt bad for wanting answers but I did preface during our first encounter that the project was somewhat time sensitive and I felt I may have been strung along as it had taken over three months to get only four answers it seemed as I was being led in circles and if I stuck around at this rate I don't think I would have gotten any more info than I had asked for but this is the reality of detective work it's not easy I had to think about this more rationally and A Little Less close to heart I was starting to realize that this might not be the person who could provide the right answers to what I was so badly looking for and that my

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