Acquiring Sailor Moon Episodes and Movies

Starscream · Post by **Starscream** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 6:42 pm

Since there have been a number of inquires as to whether or not there exist various forms of the show for home viewing, I've decided to make a sticky explaining the details behind the status of Sailor Moon in the States - I'm sorry, but I don't have any info about it's status in other countries. People who do have this information are more than welcome to contribute to this thread.

First, some background (very compressed, and a bit broken - please correct me if any of this is wrong, as I've pieced it together from various sources):

The rights to release Sailormoon on VHS and DVD fell to two companies: ADV (who worked with DiC) releasing Seasons 1 and 2, and Pioneer/Geneon (paired with Cloverway) releasing Seasons 3, 4, and the movies. Pioneer/Geneon and Cloverway released Sailor Moon S, SuperS, and the 3 movies in dual-language formats on DVD, as well as single-language formats on VHS. ADV and DiC had some problems with their license (again, as far as I can infer), and so only initially released Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R as single-language DVDs and VHS tapes. Eventually, ADV released a subtitle-only version of Seasons 1 and 2 as large boxed-sets. Pioneer/Geneon soon followed suit, releasing the DVD versions of their seasons and the movies as boxed sets, as well.

As of the day of this writing, ADV, DiC, and Cloverway have lost their licenses to Sailor Moon. Geneon has lost the license to the movies, and is expected to lose the seasons some time this year. Therefore, acquiring the DVDs and/or VHS tapes is a matter of quantity; once they're gone, they're gone for a LONG time, until TOEI decides to let Geneon - or whomever - pick up the licenses again.

Therefore, if you are looking for the ENGLISH ONLY versions of the show, go with the individual DVD or VHS tape releases of the first season from ADV - you'll have better luck with the DVDs, as the tapes are pretty rare. If you only want the Japanese subtitled version, go with the boxed sets for the first two seasons. Read up on some of the other threads about concerns with this version, including shoddy video and audio quality, as well as an episode that, for whatever reason, was skipped in both the English and Japanese versions. For Sailor Moon S and Super S, go ahead and pick up the bilingual DVDs, and switch to whatever language you prefer.

As always, some suggested retailers are rightstuf.com and Amazon. Rightstuf only has DVD versions, while Amazon does have some tapes in stock for all the seasons and the movies. Just make sure to take note of what you're buying before you purchase it.

I hope this clears things up pretty well, and I hope that this marks an end to the clamoring for the different versions of the show. Thank you.

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 11:03 pm

Starscream wrote:The rights to release Sailormoon on VHS and DVD fell to two companies: ADV (who worked with DiC) releasing Seasons 1 and 2, and Pioneer/Geneon (paired with Cloverway) releasing Seasons 3, 4, and the movies. Pioneer/Geneon and Cloverway released Sailor Moon S, SuperS, and the 3 movies in dual-language formats on DVD, as well as single-language formats on VHS. ADV and DiC had some problems with their license (again, as far as I can infer), and so only initially released Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R as single-language DVDs and VHS tapes. Eventually, ADV released a subtitle-only version of Seasons 1 and 2 as large boxed-sets. Pioneer/Geneon soon followed suit, releasing the DVD versions of their seasons and the movies as boxed sets, as well.

Just adding a some more backstory in regards to the first two seasons.

Warning: This is a long post giving more details regarading all contracts and releases of the first two Sailormoon seasons in North America. If you are not interested in this or don't feel like reading a long post at the time, just skip over this post and continue on with the thread as this is just more detailed backstory and has nothing to do with helping to find the episodes to purchase.

In 1995, DiC won the license for Sailormoon in North America and produced their dub. At this time, they were owned by Disney and little to no control of the VHS distribution of their properties (DVD was non-esistant at the time). Because of this, only select episodes were released via Buena Vista (another sub-division of Disney) as well as a box of the Doom Tree arc. This would be all the DiC produced Sailormoon that would be availble in the home video market until....

Fall 2000, when DiC became independent of Disney, finally giving them 100% control of their properties in all markets. Lacking the ability to distribute their shows themselves, DiC made a contract with ADV to distribute their shows, with Sailor Moon being one of their shows, with VHSs being released just months later, and DVDs being released a year later. However, this only dealt with the dub version of the show, the uncut version was never part of the deal since DiC simply didn't want to release the uncut versions.

This is where a lot of confusion starts. ADV had no control over this since they weren't the rights holders to the show, DiC was. The contract was for home video distribution of what DiC wanted to release, and all DiC wanted to release was their own dub of the show. They didn't want to release the uncuts. Now another source of major confusion is that ADV made public about them wanting to release the uncut versions of the show. The only problem with that is the way they were talking made it seem like they had the license to the show itself, something that DiC had a tight contract for that wouldn't expire until 2003, extemded to 2004. Comments such as that the release of the uncut version is being held up by material availability were completely inaccurate and wrong of them to say, as ADV wasn't the rights holder and therefore wouldn't have the material to do such a release. In 2002, ADV was able to complete a sub-license to the show giving them the rights to the uncut Japanese version of the show, which was finally released in 2003. Because of all this, there will never be a dual-language release of the first two Sailormoon seasons, even prior to the expiration of the contract in 2004.

angel_girl05 · Post by **angel_girl05** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:00 am

Are there any dub box sets for the the second..or the first season? Cause I would prefer to get the dub versions because I prefer it in english, so I would like to know if I could get them in english before I buy them in Japanese

ParaKiss_Groupie · Post by **ParaKiss_Groupie** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:06 am

*Mod Mode*

Please search on Google before asking questions like this. Also, COPPA laws require that your birthday be placed into your profile for age verification, so please put that information in as quickly as you can. Thanks, and welcome to SMU.

angel_girl05 · Post by **angel_girl05** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:11 am

I did search on google, in fact I've been looking for days now, and thanks.

peachvampiress · Post by **peachvampiress** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:22 am

Amazon.com would have been a good place to look.

To answer your question:
Dub R DVDs. Yes
Dub R DVD Boxset. No

angel_girl05 · Post by **angel_girl05** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:27 am

Some of the dvds for the R season seem to be very expensive..and some are hard to find.

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 4:53 am

Unless you're talking about the uncuts, I would seriously have to disagree about your saying the R DVDs are expensive. The dub only DVDs of the first two seasons retail at just less than $15, and you can find them cheaper than retail in many online stores, there are even many actual stores that don't sell at full retail. And that's for 6 episodes on each disc. Quite a bargin I'd say, considering that the common anime DVD usually doesn't have as many episodes though are bilingual but cost just less than $30 retail. (All prices above are US currency)

Hard to find I will agree with you to extent, as these discs have technically not existed for almost a year now with the contract for the first two seasons expired. Bigger sites such as amazon will either not have any or very few, only really selling them via marketplace sellers. More anime-based retail sites have a much higher chance of having these discs, as they stocked their warehouses full of the discs prior to the plug being pulled on them. Right Stuf did this and is now finally starting to run out though they haven't yet (the R uncits are sold out for good now however). All 14 dub-only DVDs are availble for purchase on their site, though if you want the following discs, you may want to act soon as here's a breif list on how many they have left on certain discs. If a volume isn't listed in this mini-list, then at the moment there's no danger of that volume running out soon.

v2: 13 left
v3: 39 left
v8: 20 left
v9: 36 left
v10: 10 left
v12: 78 left

So your best be for these discs is to nab them from Right Stuf, or scour ebay for awesome deals. Note that these numbers are obviously subject to change as people order these discs, such as me after I finish typing this post. ^^;

Also, this thread has been merged with the acquiring episodes stickied thread, since that is what this thread deals with essentially.

Vikki1282 · Post by **Vikki1282** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 11:31 am

hey I'm new here.... (great site btw) and I have some questions about Sailor Moon on DVD and was hoping someone could help a girl out

I read the above posts and tried Ebay.com instead and WOW they have a lot...

some say they are english dubbed but the box looks foreign, if anyone has the time and could stop by the site and maybe give a few recommendations?

thanks!

kitty_power · Post by **kitty_power** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 12:12 pm

Does Anyone Know If There Are Going To Be Any Sailor Moon Movies DVDs In The Uk

Starscream · Post by **Starscream** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:55 pm

MOD MODE: Merged the above with the already existing (and stickied) topic concerning acquiring televised Sailor Moon.

If you just need to know where you can pick up the movies and/or TV show, then the above posts have a lot of information regarding where they can be purchased online. As to stores...I'm not sure. One of our resident UKers might have the answer to that one.

Em · Post by Em » Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:30 pm

kitty_power wrote:Does Anyone Know If There Are Going To Be Any Sailor Moon Movies DVDs In The Uk

I've not heard anything about anything like that the only DVD's that you can get over here are the 1st and 2nd season. But there are some UK componies online that can get you the USA DVD's of the moives. Hpew that helps in anyway.

RattleMan · Post by **RattleMan** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 11:34 pm

MarioKnight wrote:So your best be for these discs is to nab them from Right Stuf, or scour ebay for awesome deals. Note that these numbers are obviously subject to change as people order these discs, such as me after I finish typing this post. ^^;

Also, this thread has been merged with the acquiring episodes stickied thread, since that is what this thread deals with essentially.

I just checked Rightstuf, and here is the updated list (I assume the "SOLD OUT" items are sold out because they aren't even listed):

DVD 1: 99 left
DVD 2: 6 left
DVD 3: 38 left
DVD 4: SOLD OUT
DVD 5: 99 left
DVD 6: SOLD OUT
DVD 7: 99 left
DVD 8: 18 left
DVD 9: 34 left
DVD 10: 8 left
DVD 11: SOLD OUT
DVD 12: 77 left
DVD 13: SOLD OUT
DVD 14: SOLD OUT

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 4:12 am

They cleared out THAT many in the span of 10 days with no ADV sale or anything of the sort? Damnit, off to ebay with me for ones I can't get there. What's next on the list of shit to happen to me (though this is by far the least important compared to other things, but still very annoying)? >.< -_-;

Raging Scottish · Post by **Raging Scottish** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:47 pm

You can always get all 14 DVDs of the english dubs on Ebay. I bought them all together but somebody but I'm sure you can buy them individually if need be.

I have two questions myself actually:

1. Does anybody know where I can get the Season Two Uncut Box Set easily and affordable? I've found a place I can get it for around $100 but since I was able to get Season One for around $60, I was hoping I could do the same.

2. Is there any plans for Sailor Stars to be made into DVDs? If not, I may just have to buy the ones on Ebay which I'm sure are bootlegs.

Jumbled Thoughts · Post by **MarioKnight** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 7:40 pm

1) Various online retailers offered the SMR box for cheap last year, but most of them sold out quickly. Right Stuf stocked their shelves with them and were selling them for $50 each, then for some reason jacked it back to normal price with the last bunch before selling out. Ebay is your best bet right now, I know I've seen them decentally priced before.

2) Offically, no. Stars has yet to be licensed in the US and at present time a license is almost definetly not going to happen, as all licenses for Sailormoon have expired in North America with the exception of S and SS. Unoffically, yes. VKLL has its fansubbed DVDs and there are bootleg boxes of Stars littered around ebay.

Lingy · Post by **Lingy** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 10:22 am

That's all well and good for the series. I've been looking for the movies and can't seem to find them anywhere. I live in Ireland, that could be why.

Plus, I've never actually SEEN them - they were never aired on TV. This manga shop I go to can get me series 4 (subbed) mail order, for a REALLY high price, but they say, when it comes to the movies, you can't get them anymore.

So, does anyone know of a site where you can download them? Or, individual episodes?

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:22 pm

Actually, the movies did air in Canada. It was aired during the Thanksgiving (Canadian) weekend four or five years ago. I'm sure they aired in the US, but I have no clue when. But even then, the movies they aired on TV were censored. As far as the rest of the world, I have no idea.

ShreekyDaJuggaletteMama · Post by **ShreekyDaJuggaletteMama** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 12:13 pm

gO TO http:/www.bearshares.com FREE DOWNLOADS.Type in SAILOR MOON STARS for seach viedos.It is not edited what so ever.Just don't click one of the other sailor moon downloads(porn) cause it will get some of ya in trouble.Bareshare is free to join and very easy to do.Anyways I had to let all of yall know about it cause Sailor Stars aren't in america yet as you all know.

~Shreeky~

Tempest · Post by **Tempest** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 1:38 pm

::mod mode::
Firstly, the Memeber area isn't the place for this topic. It should be in the Sailor Moon Section. Secondly, there is already a topic for Sailormoon episode downloads. I'm merging your post with the proper topic.

Please, before you create a new topic do a post search or search manually throughout the forms for a similar topic.

I'm trying not to be mean about this or make it seem like I'm targeting you, but you really need to read the rules before posting.

::/mod::

Sailor Moon Uncensored

Acquiring Sailor Moon Episodes and Movies

Acquiring Sailor Moon Episodes and Movies

Re: Acquiring Sailor Moon Episodes

Is there a dub box set for season R?

DVDs in Uk

Re: DVDs in Uk

Sub Title Sailor Stars