Product Details

• Actors: Jill Frappier, Katie Griffin, Susan Roman, Ron Rubin, Karen Bernstein
• Directors: Junichi Sato
• Writers: Phil Harnage, Todd Swift
• Producers: Andy Heyward, Nicole Thault
• Format: Animated, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Rating: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: A.D. Vision
• VHS Release Date: November 21, 2000
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000525JM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,700 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
High-pitched, relentlessly fast paced, and filmed in eye-gouging gumball colors, this video series combines two previously released dubbed episodes from the Japanese animated series, along with a couple of new ones. The adventures of a group of schoolgirl superheroes, Sailor Moon is a lighthearted kiddy variation on a ubiquitous Japanese subgenre, stories of alienated adolescents granted paranormal powers and enlisted on the side of virtue in apocalyptic struggles across space and time. Imported to the U.S. in an attempt to create a post-Power Rangers franchise for girls, the show never became a mainstream megahit in the states, although it still has passionate fans (thanks to airings on the Cartoon Network). The chirpy, giggly tone may be off-putting, but the level of visual imagination (and the self-sufficient courage of the young heroines) can be exhilarating, especially when kids and parents watch together. This first volume kicks off with the "secret origin" episode, "A Moon Star Is Born," in which Tokyo middle-school student Serena is transformed into the title character by the occult power of a mysterious locket. She acquires a cute sidekick (a talking cat named Luna), and in the three succeeding episodes she begins to assemble her support team of spunky Sailor Scouts, with names like Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus. In the second episode, "Talk Radio," a phantom radio program is somehow connected with the door-to-door delivery of flowers whose fumes put people to sleep. Also includes the episodes "Slim City" and "So You Want to Be a Superstar," with a total running time of 90 minutes. These edited shows are appropriate for fans age 5 to 12. --David Chute

From the Back Cover
A Heroine is Chosen...
To stop the evil Queen Beryl from taking over the Earth, Luna the magic cat seeks out 14-year-old Serena and reveals that she has the magic powers of Sailor Moon! Although she's unsure of herself at first, Serena quickly learns that if you believe in yourself, anything is possible. Together with Luna, the mysterious Tuxedo Mask and her many other friends, Sailor Moon leads the fight for good and justice! Watch out Queen Beryl! Earth has a new protector and her name is Sailor Moon!

Suitable for All Ages--Contains Four Complete Episodes
A Moon Star Is Born
Talk Radio
Slim City
So You Want to Be a Superstar

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Beginning of a Great Series, December 28, 2004

By	ttmoore3 (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This tape is the first four episodes of the Sailor Moon english dub. The series, in any language, in wonderfully produced and enjoyable for most anybody. With five seasons and 200 episodes, long story archs are divided by season. However, this series has quite a bit of filler episodes (episodes not advancing the main story). In this tape, there is only 1 episode dealing with the main story.

For this 1st series, the story has to do with the wicked Queen Beryl who is trying to gather energy for the Negaverse. She commands her strongest warriors to create monsters to steal this energy.

Episode 1: A Moon Star is Born - 1st appearance of Serena (Sailor Moon), Darien (Tuxedo Mask), Luna, Queen Beryl, Jedite, Molly, Melvin, Andrew. Obviously, this is an important episode. Young 14 year old Serena is tapped by the talking cat, Luna, to become Sailor Moon and battle the forces of the Negaverse. Serena is a reluctant hero and spends much of her battles whining and crying. She is aided by the mysterious Tuxedo Mask and so how, she always manages to gather enough courage to face her fears and defeat the villain at hand.

Episode 2: Talk Radio - Jedite uses a radio love show to steal the energy from young girls. Serena stumbles upon the plot while attempting to get her love letter onto the show. Fun filler episode which introduces the Luna Pen, an object that allows Serena to change her appearance.

Episode 3: Slim City - Serena and her friend, Molly, attempt to work out and lose weight. However, Jedite is stealing the energy of those who work out. As her friends begin showing signs of drained energy, Serena catches on to Jedite's plot and faces another of his monsters. Good filler episode with a good message for young girls about weight and appearance.

Episode 4: So You Want to be a Superstar - Serena, Molly, and their friends are desperate to win a contest to be chosen as a new celebrity superstar. But, of course, Jedite is behind the contest and steals the energy of the girls until Sailor Moon leaps into action and defeats another monster to save her friends. Another fun filler episode.

This is a great series if you just sit back and enjoy it for what it is. These episodes are a good introduction to the show and this gives a preview of what a great series this will grow to become.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sailor Moon: The Legend Begins, November 26, 2000

By	Judy (Rexburg, ID USA) - See all my reviews

Gee, what can I say I bought this movie in hopes that it contained one of the few episodes that had never been seen in America, but I guess I was wrong. On the bottom it says Contains Previously Unreleased Episodes and I had heard from a web page that the Unrealeased Episode was one we've never seen before. But dispite my mis-understanding I was glad i bought it. Having the whole series in videos is great to collect and you can watch them anytime that you like. The sound and quality is much better than you's get by recording it off the T.V. and the cover boxes has great pictures on it. They still have the Sailor Says on the end of each episode and they have to start the show with the opening song animation and end it with end animation and song so it's kind of a hassel to get the the next episode. But I would buy for the sheer fact -more Sailor Moon bought in America the more we get-, and it's great to watch Thanks

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sailor Moon Says: Spend your money on something else., April 23, 2002

By	lemonzest "lemonzest" (Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sailor Moon - A Heroine Is Chosen (TV Show, Vol. 1) (DVD)

I have been a Sailormoon fan since 1994, and have been impatiently waiting for a DVD release of this series ever since DVD players went mainstream. I was thrilled to find that Pioneer did a truly amazing job with the DVD release of the Sailormoon S and SuperS seasons. High quality, excellent covers, a product that kids AND adults wouldn't be embarrassed to buy. I couldn't wait to see if they would FINALLY release the first two seasons as well.

Then ADV Films came along and bought the rights to the dubbed first season.

This is a company that is known for releasing such shows as "Delinquent in Drag" and "Kekko Kamen" ("the most outrageous superheroine ever! Clad in a red mask, red boots and nothing else" - direct from the ADV website). I find myself putting their release of the Sailor Moon dub into the same category: "Who Would Watch This, Let Alone Pay For It?"

Cheesy, low-quality cover artwork that would make anyone over age 12 reluctant to even be caught LOOKING at the DVD in the store, let alone buying it. No Japanese language track, nor seperate Japanese-only release (as Cardcaptor Sakura has done because of the hacking of the dubbed version). No uncut verson. Skipped episodes. I don't need Queen Beryl's crystal ball to tell me the future of this show.

This DVD is appropriate for young children who were fans of the TV dub, and perhaps die-hard dub fans who just want a clean copy of the episodes. However, if you are a sub fan or simply curious about the show, I would suggest you skip this one over. Sailormoon may be the show that brought the magical girl genre back to life in Japan, but there's a reason that so many fans are adamently against this release: it reduces a beautiful, enjoyable series into a grating, childish hack job.