HOW IT ALL BEGAN:

Sailor Moon began to broadcast in Japan (by Bandai) on March 7, 1992, and on September 11, 1995 in North America (August 28 on YTV in Canada). The English language version was produced by DIC Entertainment. The series is a dub of the Japanese cartoon (anime) whose name (Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon) is translated as "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon". SailorMoon is based on the Manga (Japanese comic book) created by Takeuchi Naoko (family name first!)
The last TV episode aired in Japan was on February 8, 1997. And the replacement for the TV series is a shojo-style Cutey Honey remake (named Cutey Honey Flash) worked on by many of the same people working on the Sailor Moon series.

In North America, DIC made 65 episodes available in 1995-1996. The series was shown in Canada in 1996-1997, and it appeared on USA Network (cable) in the US (from June 9, 1997, up until December) with more cuts for commercials. They dubbed 17 new episodes but it doesn't seem like they will be showing these in the US, though they are appearing in Canada and Australia. It was said that the voice actors for Mamoru (Darien) and Sailor Mars have left (or been fired). Note: The 65th North American episode corresponds to Japanese episode 72, because DIC decided to delete and cut many of the original episodes (why? THAT is something that I would like to know!)

The first time (in 1995) the episodes were shown they were out of order (the Alan/Ann story goes between the Queen Beryl story and the Black Moon story, and they were the first story to be shown), but later the reruns show them in order. Adding the 17 newer episodes takes the series up to Japanese episode 89, and the end of the R storyline.

SAILORMOON IN JAPAN:

Japan does not have seasons like the US does. However, Sailor Moon has been divided into several different series, each aired weekly and lasting for a whole year.

Sailor Moon: From 3/7/92 to 2/27/93

(episodes 1-46): The appearance of the five SailorSenshi and their fight against the Dark Kingdom (Queen Beryl).

Sailor Moon R: From 3/6/93 to 3/5/94

(episodes 47-88): Episodes 47-59 have as villains two space aliens Earl (Alan) and Ann, who plan on stealing energy to feed the tree that keeps them alive.
Episodes 60-88 are a fight against the Black Moon family, also introducing Chibi-Usa (Rini), the young pink-haired girl from the future. Also Sailor Pluto first appears (briefly).
Episode 89, aired on 3/12/94, was a special (and a clips episode).
(For those who wonder, the R is supposed to stand for Romance, somone told me that the notes in the manga said "Returns", others say that it stand for "Revenge". Make it whatever you want...I say Romance!) ^_^

Sailor Moon Super: From 3/19/94 to 2/25/95

(episodes 90-127): The villains are Professor Tomoe (SailorSaturn's dad) and the Witches 5 (the Death Busters). Chibi-Usa first becomes SailorChibiMoon, and SailorUranus and SailorNeptune appear for the first time along with SailorSaturn (a little later).

Sailor Moon SuperS: From 3/4/95 to 3/2/96

(episodes 128-166): The villains are the Dead Moon Circus and Nephrenia. Mostly based around Chibi-Usa. The Outer Senshi don't appear at all.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: From 3/16/96 to 2/8/97

(episodes 167-200): The first 6 episodes (167-172) finish off Nephrenia and are considered the real ending of SuperS. After that, a new storyline begins with the villain Galaxia from Shadow Galactica, whose henchmen are Iron Mouse, Aluminum Siren, Lead Crow, and Tin Nyanko (the Sailor Anima-mates). Here the Sailor Stars are introduced, who oddly enough are male but change to female when they become Sailor Senshi. Their mission is to find Princess Kakyuu. Chibi-Usa doesn't appear too much, and Tuxedo Mask shows up in episode 173 leaving for Harvard (of all the colleges, he went to Harvard!), then he appears only at the end. The Outer Senshi appear sporadically.

CURIOSITIES OF THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE:

The Japanese language uses kanji (written characters derived from Chinese) for the Japanese equivalent of root words. (Like Spanish or Italian do from Latin and Greek ). The Japanese family names of the SailorSenshi and Mamoru (Darien) all contain the same kanji as the corresponding planet (but not necessarily pronounced the same).

The kanji used in the Japanese names of the planets include the five Asian elements (fire, water, wood, metal, earth). The days of the week also include the kanji for the elements, so the days of the week, the planets, and the elements are all somewhat related.
The days of the week in spanish are taken from latin, and they all correspond to a planet, as well as the elements.

• (Monday) Lunes - Luna, which means Moon - Earth - SailorMoon.
• (Tuesday) Martes - Mars - Fire - SailorMars.
• (Wednesday) Miercoles - Mercury - Water - SailorMercury.
• (Thursday) Jueves - Jupiter - Wood - SailorJupiter.
• (Friday) Viernes - Venus - Metal - SailorVenus.

The SailorSenshi's special attacks usually fit the kanji associated with the planet. (Example: the name of the planet Mars uses the kanji for "fire", and SailorMars has fire attacks.)
SailorVenus is an exception because she was created before Takeuchi started the naming pattern in SailorMoon. The kanji in her name means "love" (associated with the goddess Venus). Her later attacks, however, involve gold/metal and the Japanese name for Venus does use the kanji for "gold" or "metal".
SailorJupiter's early anime attacks are associated with the God Jupiter (thunder), but she has some attacks associated with wood.

NAMES AND MEANINGS:

Japanese Name	Meaning of the Name	North American Name
Tsukino Usagi	Rabbit on the Moon	Serena
Mizuno Ami	Friend of Water	Amy Anderson
Hino Rei	Spirit/Beauty of Fire	Raye Hino
Kino Makoto	Sincerity of Wood	Lita
Aino Minako	Child of Love	Mina
Tenoh Haruka	Distant Sky/Heaven Ruler	Corrine*
Kaioh Michiru	Mature to rise Sea Ruler	Nerissa**
Meioh Setsuna	Time Dark Ruler	Celia***
Tomoe Hotaru	Earth Firefly	None****
Chibi-usa	Little Rabbit	Rini

*suggestions given by fans: Alex or Eric.
**suggestions given by fans: Michelle.
***suggestions given by fans: Susan or Sharon.
****suggestions given by fans: Helen or Christine.

SAILORSENSHI'S AGES IN N.AMERICA (DIC):

Assuming that the series ends at the end of 10th grade for Usagi, everyone should be the following ages:

SailorMoon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter: 16
Tuxedo Mask: 19 (in the manga), 21 (in the anime)
SailorUranus, Neptune: 17
Sailor Pluto: ancient/she's been around forever! (in the manga), 20 (in the anime)
Sailor Saturn: 14 (forget all that she goes thru)
Sailor Starlights: 16
Sailor Chibi-Moon: 903 (in the manga), 6? *guessing* (in the anime)
Sailor Chibi-Chibi: N/A, 3? *guessing* (in the anime)

MORE SAILORMOON INFORMATION:

Other characters:

[I use the japanese names instead of the American ones, i.e. Usagi instead of Serena]

Luna: SailorMoon's magical cat. A black kitten with a crescent moon in her forehead that can talk and provide new items with sommersaults. In the manga she comes from planet Mau and she is supossed to be the same age as Usagi. In the anime they dubbed her voice to sound like a fifty year old woman (that talks almost like Yoda from Star Wars! *It is your destiny!*) ^^

Artemis: SailorVenus' magical cat. A white kitten with a crescent moon in his forehead that can talk. In the manga he comes from planet Mau. In the anime they dubbed his voice to sound like some old man with the flu! ^^

Darian (Mamoru) : Usagi's boyfriend, who transforms into Tuxedo Mask (Tuxedo Kamen in the Japanese). Now DIC did screw up big time! His name as a prince is originally Endymion; this is taken from mythology, where Selene loved Endymion. It was different from his regular name, Mamoru. But DIC changed both to Mamoru which not only gets rid of the reference, but causes lots of conflicts: First, when he's under Queen Beryl's control ("Day of Destiny" episode), Usagi asks him to remember the name Mamoru but he's calling himself Prince Mamoru at the same time! Second, Rini knows that her parents are Usagi and Mamoru, so how come she doesn't figure out that the Usagi and Mamoru of the 20th century are the same people? (because the names were NOT really the same in the original!).

Sam (Shingo): Usagi's younger brother. He is always picking on Usagi and making fun of her.
Molly Baker (Osaka Naru): Usagi's best friend. She gets attacked by monsters way too often. The DIC managed to give her the most annoying voice of all the characters along with the worst NY accent. ^^

Andrew (Furuhata Motoki): Mamoru's friend and Usagi's first crush. He runs the video arcade where everyone hangs out. Andrew's family owns the arcade in the Manga.

Lizzie (Furuhata Unazuki): Andrew's sister.

Melvin (Umino Gurio): The funniest looking character in the series. He is the nerd classmate of Usagi and Molly. He has the biggest crush on Usagi at the beginning but later on in the show he seems to get together with Molly.

Ms. Patricia Haruna (Sakurada Haruna): Usagi's teacher who yells at her every time she is late and every time she receives a poor grade in an exam. She gets attacked a couple of times too. The DIC kept the last name but mispronounced it hideously.

SailorMoon's parents (Ikuko and Kenji): They get attacked a couple of times. DIC managed to change a bunch of their speeches and dialogues for no apparent reason.