Sailor Moon Crystal - Act 2 Ami - Sailor Mercury - Review

 

Summary:

Ami gets the best grades, some boys say she has no friends and she hears this. She sees Usagi with her friends, who doesn't score well on tests. Meanwhile, Jadeite faces Queen Beryl and he is told to collect energy, he calls a new Youma. At Usagi's home, Usagi is surprised she has to fight youma once again. Luna says they have find their allies and the princess. Usagi wonders about Sailor V and Tuxedo Mask. Luna has someone in mind. While Usagi sleeps, Luna is at a computer that seems to be a palace that has files on Usagi, Tuxedo Mask and Ami.

 

Next day at school, the kids talk about a Crystal Seminar that Ami is a part of. Umino says Ami's mom is a doctor. The other kids think Ami is cold. On Juban Street, Usagi looks a ther bad grades when Luna jumps on Ami and they become fast friends. Usagi speaks to Ami, who says she thought Luna was an angel as she jumped from the sky. Usagi grabs Luna from Ami and Ami gets a flash of the Moon Palace in the Silver millennium. Usagi introduces themselves, wonder if Ami will teach her how to study. Usagi invites Ami to the arcade where she excels at the Sailor V game, to the surprise of Motoki and Usagi.

 

 

As a prize, the Mercury transmation pen comes out of the machine but Ami thinks it is a regular pen. Usagi bangs the machine, wanting a prize too and the transformation pen comes out for her too.  Ami tells Usagi she wants to be a doctor like her mom and runs off to the Crystal Seminar. Over there, we meet the teacher who is also a Youma and she gives Ami the Crystal Disk which ends up hypnotizing Ami. At school, Usagi and her friends notice that their friend Kuri is also going to the seminar and is too involved in her studying. Ami uses her new pen at the Media Center where Usagi spots her and asks her to go for Ice Cream.

 

 Ami gets hypnotized and leaves. Luna tells Usagi that they have to check on her, they grab the Crystal Disk she left behind. In town Usagi bumps into the youma woman and gets a flyer. The flyer has Ami's face on it, Luna tells her not to litter and she throws it and it hits Mamoru. Mamoru says he is not a trash can and asks if her cat was talking. Usagi runs off. At home, they check the disk on the computer and Usagi presses random keys, making the disk come out with the secret hypnotizing message that mentions the Silver Crystal. They go to the seminar place. Luna tells her to use her Change Pen and say "Moon Power."

 

Usagi changes to a doctor and goes passed the security guards. The youma is above Ami and wants her to solve problems faster. She wants to use Ami's intelligence and grabs the Mercury Pen. Ami remembers Usagi. The teacher throws the pen, Ami goes for it but she stops her. Usagi comes in and tells Ami that she is being used. She shows off the disk, saying she knows it has a brainwashing program. The Youma shows her true self. Luna tells her to transform but she worries about Ami, Luna says it is fine. Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon. Moon calls her a friend which Ami repeats. Moon cries, breaking glass but the waves don't work on the Youma.

Moon gets hurt by Youma's attacks and gets pinned to the wall. The monster comes closer when Ami screams to stop and her symbol glows on her forehead. Ami tells her to use the pen, which shocks Ami of course. Ami transforms Sailor Mercury. She does a speech similar but different than the Moon one. Luna says she is the brains. She does Mercury Aqua Mist which makes a fog. Moon is freed and saved by Tuxedo Mask.

 

He tells her to finish the monster. Moon with a new sequence uses the Tiara and destroys the monster. Jadite watches from outside and knows there is  another Senshi. Ami and Usagi walk and agree to be friends and deduce Luna gave them the pens in the arcade. Ami has many questions but Usagi is tired. We get a quick glimpse of Rei.

 Review:

Like I said two weeks ago, we have been through this before. I hate to reiterate but PGSM did handle it differently and uniquely. As with the Manga and original Anime, Ami is part of the Crystal Seminar. In the Anime, Luna thought Mercury was evil but not so in the Manga nor here. I did like how Ami's need for friends is still prevalent. Also, I like how her uniform is a bit darker and shabby. The pens coming from the arcade is from the manga. Luna in a palace computer is also from the manga but I am not sure if it is from Act 2 or not. It is not clear here in SMC if it is at the arcade, Usagi's room or somewhere else.  

 

I did like how Mamoru quickly noticed that Luna talked, he did in the Anime too but it was dismissed and sort of not sure if he knew for sure. I like Sailor Mercury's transformation sequence, it is similar to the original Anime. Also in the whole episode wasn't bad, it was just too similar with not much anything new, just new venues and different order. The animation like always beautiful. I just feel like this series is going through the motions.

 

Power Rangers Network and Cable Scheduling

 I thank Burgundy Ranger of Power Rangers On-Air Central for this help on scheduling. He specializes in archiving the scheduling of programs, including Power Rangers. I wanted to make a record to as to what times have Power Rangers have aired on Network and Cable television.

Official Eastern and Pacific Times:

On Fox: 11:30am / 7:30am (weekdays, 3:30pm for afternoon affiliates) / 8:30am / 8:00am / 9:00am / 9:30am ... 8:30am weekdays (4:30 pm for afternoon affiliates) / 10:30am / 11am

 Affiliates could change the times. In Washington DC, Burgundy Ranger says 3-5pm and then 2-4 on weekdays. For my local city of Miami, it was early affiliate at 7:30am and then changed to 4:30pm on weekdays.

Fox then had 'Prime Time Power Rangers' in 1994 on three Fridays. First week July 21, 1994, Mutiny Part 1 at 8PM and X-Men at 8:30 and then second week July 29 at 8PM with Mutiny Part 2. Mutiny Part 3 aired August 5th at 8PM. I think one of the parts aired at 8:30PM.

ABC (all times Eastern): 11:30, 12:00, 12:30. 5 a.m. was never part of a set network schedule. It was up to the affiliate. I heard that some affiliates aired it at 5, 7, and 8 AM. My affiliate did Wild Force and Ninja Storm and Dino Thunder at 11:30am and 12pm and everything from SPD to RPM was at 5am and 5:30am. Retrofan says his local station did 6am and 10am. ABC only did Saturdays.

On ABC Family, the Jetix block aired from 7am to 12, I am not sure about the times of Power Rangers. I think Dino Thunder aired like at 8 or 9. And repeats of past seasons aired at 8 and 11 or something like that. Marathons did run of PR but I am not sure if it was 7am to 12. ABC Family did Sundays. I forgot that there was a brief period where FOX Family was transitioning into ABC Family.

On Toon Disney, I know PR aired at 8pm. It might have aired at different hours, I am not sure. I didn't have Toon Disney. Toon Disney air PR almost every day.

On Nickelodeon, they have aired Power Rangers Samurai on Sunday at 12 and then Saturdays at 12 and sometimes at 12:30 and now I hear in an early time.

 On Nick Toons, they have played marathons so it is possible they have played Power Rangers at every time. Nick Toons have played PR on every single day practically. Sometimes skip a day but eventually that day does get PR airing.

And now on the CW, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy airs at 8am in the Vortexx block.

Lavender Ranger Editorial: Technology is Magic

I am not literally saying that 'Technology is Magic' but it is a belief that is prevalent in fiction from the 20th and 21st centuries. Prime examples are in 1994-1998 American television series Weird Science (which was based on the 1985 film and Jem, which was based on the Habro doll line from 1985 to 1988. And various examples in Super Sentai, Power Rangers, VR Troopers, Kamen Rider and various other Tokusatsu. It is believed that any technology that doesn't currently exist is 'magic.'

 Weird Science

In 1985, personal home computers was still a strange notion and very little homes had them, they were not common place. The Inernet was not even called the internet yet. Yet this 1985 film made teens believe that they could make a woman out of a couple of pictures and a doll with their home computer. Computers and technology seem to be able to do 'anything' so the premise was passable for science fiction those days. As a kid, I accepted it and thought it was cool. In 1994, the internet was prevalent and it played part with Lisa, who was a genie and her powers were more 'magic.' Lisa was enigmatic and had strange rules that seem to be vague. One could say her powers were 'god-like' but they always came with a terrible consequence and she had a power source that villains would often want to destroy or steal. 

Jem

I am obsessed with this show, yes I know---especially if you look at my DeviantArt and Tumblr accounts. Synergy was the supercomputer that 'transformed' Jerrica into rockstar Jem. Supposedly she just made holograms of light and sound and a hologram went over Jerrica to project Jem but being a cartoon, there were various mistakes that would lead one to say it was 'technomagic.' One time they ask Synergy to make flames to scare robbers (except the robbers can't feel heat from it but still got scared), make a tidal wave and rain (but the villains would not be able to feel rain), and various size changes when vehicles changed and other mistakes. Anyway, Synergy was supposed to be advanced technology but seemed to be unstoppable and could project anywhere with no signal problems and had an unspecified power source. Girls franchises before and after were all about magic and Jem was very much like the 'Magical Girl' Anime theme but this one focused on 'technology.'

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

More specifically, Zordon. Zordon was a wise sage from another planet presumably and had access to the Power Moprhers which look like technology and Zords which were clearly robotic. The first seasons were clearly technology vs. magic, which was discarded in later seasons and somewhat touched upon in later seasons but only by coincidence by Super Sentai plot points. But since we can assume the technology Zordon had was 'alien,' it was much more advanced and almost magical. He could pluck 'five teenagers with attitude' with ease and see ANYTHING on his viewing globe, even if there didn't seem to be a camera in the place or even a villain's lair. That was very magic like.

 Super Sentai/Power Rangers

Super Sentai had various series that claimed to be 'technology' that seem to work like magic. Some off the top of my head are JAKQ, Goggle V, Changeman, Denjiman, Bioman, Jetman, and various others. With Shinkenger and Power Rangers Samurai, some people might believe that Mojikara and Symbol Power is god-like powers. But too much Mojikara or Symbol Power is deadly, overusing it does weaken the user. It can be argued that Mojikara/SP is ancient magic and Genta/Antonio simply brings magic to modern times with technology and that they fight magic WITH technology against magic.

 Kamen Rider

Many of the Kamen Riders (more than anything the Showa era) had to given some technology or ancient alien power. Some of them were part cyborg. But the technology they possessed were advanced from when they aired or even now. And this 'technology' almost seemed like magic. For example, Kamen Rider Ryuki displayed alternate mirror dimension and technology seem to make these Contract Beasts; Kamen Rider 555 had the Orphanchs that seem to be brought on by science and the list goes on and on. Also, the current Kamen Rider... Fourze, has a lot to do with technology, but like any Tokusatsu series, seems almost magic-like.

VR Troopers

'Virtual Reality' is already an antiquated idea. But even in the parameters of 'technology,' the Troopers did disappear and re-appear in different locations and times instantly but that had to do more with editing and stock footage. Also, their car flew... which we now know is a pipe dream. But back in the 90's, flying cars were the big thing... remember Back to the Future 2? Back in the day, we thought technology could do ANYTHING. Now I feel more grounded in reality. But we do have phones that can do almost anything... even more than a Power Rangers communicator or the VR Troopers' com devices (well... they had clearer video images from any location).

What I am trying to say is NOT that the ideas of flying cars, superhero technology and all the stuff in Tokusatsu might never happen and are poppycock but it is interesting how times have changed and how writers saw the future and technology. Some predictions were incorrect or too far fetched and some were very accurate. It is just interesting who Magic and Technology merge or coincide in Science Fiction, especially Saban's tokusatsu because it was designed for children and most logic flew out the window (like breathing in Space and gravity on the Moon).

Related: http://henshingrid.blogspot.com/2010/06/physics-laws-in-power-rangers.html

Sailor Moon's 20th Anniversary

  The Sailor Moon anime, co-produced by TV Asahi, and Toei Animation, started airing only one month after the 1st issue of the manga (created, written and drawn by Naoko Takeuchi) was published. With 200 episodes airing from March 1992 to Feb 1997 on TV Asahi, Sailor Moon is one of the longest 'magical-girl' Anime series. The merchandising campaign of over 5,000 items has contributed to demand all over the world and translation into numerous languages. Also, Italy is getting it rebroadcast in northern-hemisphere autumn 2010, also getting permission from Takeuchi who will be releasing new artwork to promote.  Sailor Moon consists of five separate arcs. The titles of the series are Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon R, Sailor Moon S, Sailor Moon SuperS and Sailor Moon Sailor Stars. 

 Toei regained control over the license to distribute Sailor Moon outside of Japan in 2004. The Sailor Moon Anime stop running on North American airwaves and no more merchandise around 2003.  In August 2007, Toei held a poll to determine viewer interest in potential series to make available for Video on Demand. There were 50 options, including popular titles such as Sailor Moon, Digimon, and Ojamajo Doremi. The results of the poll show that 2535 out of 3979 votes—63.7 percent—had been placed for the Sailor Moon series. The Sailor Moon anime is currently part of a subscription service in Japan where premium members are allowed full access to their titles. Due to its resurgence of popularity in Japan, the series returned to the airwaves on September of 2009. On February 4, 2010, Toei began negotiations to re-license the entire series globally.

After a bidding war with Toon Makers, DIC Entertainment acquired the rights to the first two seasons of the Sailor Moon franchise in 1995,. Carl Macek adapted the first few episodes for an English-speaking audience, and was then replaced by Fred Ladd and Lisa Lumby-Richards. 6 episodes were omitted because of a lack of interest or inappropriate for the target audience, the total episode count for the original adapted episodes to 65, the minimum number of episodes required for strip syndication on U.S. television, stopping mid-way through Sailor Moon R.  The episodes were each cut by several minutes to censor plot points or visuals deemed inappropriate for children, and to allow the insertion of brief "educational" segments called "Sailor Says" at the end of each episode. The remaining 17 episodes of Sailor Moon R were not adapted until 1997 after the series gained popularity in North America and were treated in much the same way. 

  In May 2009, Funimation Entertainment released a poll for mostly North Americas to gauge consumer interest in potential DVD releases; one option was "re-dub of entire Sailor Moon series." This helped viewer interest rise, and got many fans' hopes up that Funimation may indeed license Sailor Moon. A fan campaign, organized by former members of the SOS (Saved Our Sailors) group, continued to survey fans to gain their opinions on hypothetical details of a redub (if it happens). The results have not been publicly revealed.

  In 2010, one of several YouTube videos featuring Sailor Moon was removed by Funimation, citing copyright infringement. The company later commented that, despite their attempts to acquire the rights to the series, the company does not have the rights yet. Kodansha Comics USA announced that they would be reprinting Sailor Moon in English in new deluxe editions beginning in September 2011, along with its prequel, Codename: Sailor V. Hot Topic has also licensed the exclusive apparel rights to the franchise, and has been offering T-Shirts both online and in Hot Topic stores, along with a Halloween costume as a part of their new costume line; leading some fans to hope that the anime will be licensed for an American release. The first episode of Sailor Moon (Crybaby Usagi's Magnificent Transformation) aired in Japan on March 7, 1992. I love Sailor Moon so much, since I first read an article about it in 1995 before the dub aired. I was so disappointing when it ended in a 'cliffhanger' and felt like it took 'forever' for the new episodes to air..... which aired first in Canada and then on Cartoon Network which I did not have at the time.

Lavender Ranger says:

My mom blames SM for me being gay as I have said many a time. Her reasoning is that Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus' lesbianism inspired me but of course that is just silly. I have a friend in the Navy that his parents thought just because he liked Anime, he was gay----actually, he's straight. I would love a re-dubbing of Sailor Moon, keeping all the 'offensive behavior' DiC didn't like, getting rid of 'Sailor Says' and dubbing episodes that were skipped and keeping original music---which most English dubs of Anime do these days. I did like some of the DiC songs but I also have learned to love the original scoring through the years. And maybe they can keep the Neptune and Uranus relationship intact. They never outright said 'gay' or 'lesbian' in the series. And if Funimation does dub it, maybe just on DVD and say its not for kids. Or maybe air at 1am on Adult Swim.

Shout! Factory to release Power Rangers on DVD

 Above picture from http://www.homemediamagazine.com/tv-dvd/shout-factory-distribute-power-rangers-other-saban-titles-26645
 (Left to Right): Shout! Factory founders Garson Foos and Bob Emmer with Saban Brands President Elie Dekel and VP of Distribution Frederic Soulie.

This posted this on their Power Rangers Facebook, Sabans Power Rangers on Youtube and  Power Rangers News on Twitter:

We are excited to announce that Shout! Factory will be releasing classic episodes and seasons of Power Rangers on DVD starting this year, most of them previously unavailable on home entertainment shelves! Get ready to relive those awesome moments from your past, check out episodes you may have missed, share your love for the show with a new generation of fans, and stay tuned for more info!

We are excited to announce that @ShoutFactory will be releasing classic episodes and seasons of #PowerRangers on DVD starting this year!

Shout! Factory has released My Little Pony: The Power of Friendship and Transformers Prime, which are the newest incarnations of those franchises. As for older shows, they have released Captain N, Rocko's Modern Life, Reboot, Puca, Dinosaur King, Ahh! Real Monsters, G.I.Joe and Jem. They are also releasing Tennessee Tuxedo on DVD, which was highlighted on Entertainment Weekly magazine. I didn't like what they did for the Jem complete series box set because the quality was bad but maybe they will do better because judging by the quality from Netflix and Powerrangers.com, the quality is good.

 The multi-year alliance provides Shout! Factory with exclusive home entertainment packaged media (DVD/Blu-ray) and select digital rights to Saban Brands’ extensive catalog of properties including more than 700 episodes of Power Rangers (1993- 2009), 92 episodes of VR Troopers, 26 episodes of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, and 88 episodes of Beetleborgs for home entertainment releases and digital distribution across select entertainment platforms in North America.

 “We are incredibly excited about this new relationship with Saban Brands. Power Rangers continues to stand as a global pop culture phenomenon to this day. We look forward to bringing these highly entertaining series with great packaging and extras to fans and on family home entertainment shelves,” state Shout! Factory’s founding partners in a joint statement. “Our partnership with Shout! Factory is important and exciting news for our fans. Shout! Factory will provide unequaled access to archived content from Saban Brands,” said Elie Dekel, President of Saban Brands. “Fans can enjoy past episodes they haven’t seen, relive some of the exciting entertainment in these episodes, or even share them with a new generation of fans.”
http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/power-rangers-owner-saban-brands-sets-home-entertainment-pact-with-shout-factory/

The deal reportedly does NOT include the current incarnation of the show, Power Rangers Samurai, nor does it include the theatrical films spun off from the program (Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, whose rights have been retained all along by Fox Home Entertainment).  he HMM story by John Latchem reports that the "Initial rollout plans for the Saban are slated to begin in summer 2012, according to Shout! Factory, with single-season sets to start and potentially complete-series sets in the future."
Taken from: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mighty-Morphin-Power-Rangers-DVDs-Planned/16646#ixzz1owji2TGm

Andy Ricther Controls the Universe Sighting

Tom Clark has spotted a use of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie from the 2002 FOX sitcom "Andy Ricther Controls the Universe." This was in the pilot episode, where Andy Ricther imagines his friends as superheroes. The Black Ranger is omitted to fit the five. Andy of course is put as the White Ranger. Paget Brewster is put as the Pink Ranger, James Patrick Stuart as Blue, and gender-switching for the other two actors: Irene Molloy as Red and John Salvin as Yellow.

Many Spikes in Pop Culture

UPDATED 5/25/111 2:30 PM EST
No more Spikes please, I'm all spiked out. You can comment on it but I won't add it.

Obviously Spike of Power Rangers Samurai is NOT the first 'Spike' in pop culture, I wanted to do a fun post about all the popular Spikes in popular culture (TV, Movies, Celebrities, etc.).

Spike a.k.a. William the Bloody
Premiering in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he was to have a southern accent and only last season two but he quickly became a fan favorite and all thanks to James Marsters, who is not really British but a Californian boy. When Buffy ended, his character was sent to Angel, where he has appeared in both Buffy and Angel comic books. He has had his own comics as well.

Spike TV
I forgot what it used to be called but it was decided in the early 2000's that they'd change the name to Spike and there was a huge copyright thingy about the name.

Spike of Rugrats
Tommy Pickles' pet dog was named Spike, a mutt with two or three grey spots, he was loyal and mischievous.

Spike of Tom & Jerry
In the old MGM shorts, Spike was the name of the dog was often was the thirdwheel of the exploits of a cat and mouse named Tom and Jerry. Sometimes he had a son too.

Spike Spiegel
In Cowboy Bebop (1998 anime), Spike was the protagonist and bounty hunter, a classic badboy with a broken heart for the wrong chick at the wrong time.

Spike Lee
Famous Director, Malcolm X, He Got Game and Do The Right Thing.

Spike Jonze
Famous filmmaker (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Where's The Wild Things Are) who started out doing music videos.

Spike of Land Before Time
I totally forgot! My childhood! Oh, Spike, you barely talked in the movies, that had mostly sequels.

Spike in Dinosaurs
For those that don't know, in the ABC series produced by Jim Henson company, there were anamorphic Dinosaurs. Spike was the bully and then friend of Robbie Sincliar.

Spike of My Little Pony
Oh my god! I forgot from my childhood too! Cute little spike, the only male in the female series My Little Pony. He's a little dragon by the way.

Spike
Snoopy's cousin from the Peanuts, he had a TV special as well.

Super Sentai and Kamen Rider TV Show Ratings vs. Toy Sales

Super Sentai and Kamen Rider TV Show Ratings vs. Toy Sales

Show Ratings from a Japanese site and the Toy Sales are from Wikipedia, so might not be super accurate, but oh well, at least we get an idea.

Super Sentai TV Show Ratings

Goranger: 16.1%.
J.A.K.Q.: 9.8%.
Battle Fever J: 12%.
Denjiman: 13.5%.
Sun Vulcan: 12.5%.
Goggle V: 12.3%.
Dynaman: 10.6%.
Bioman: 10.5%.
Changeman: 11.1%.
Flashman: 12.3%.
Maskman: 11.4%.
Liveman: 10.5%.
Turboranger: 7.6%.
Fiveman: 6.5%.
Jetman: 7.1%.
Zyuranger: 7.1%.
Dairanger: 7%.
Kakuranger: 5.7%.
Ohranger: 4.5%.
Carranger: 4.8%.
Megaranger: 6.5%.
Gingaman: 8%.
GoGo V: 6.6%.
Timeranger: 7.1%.
Gaoranger: 8.8%.
Hurricanger: 7.5%.
Abaranger: 7.1%.
Dekaranger: 7.1%.
Magiranger: 7.7%.
Boukenger: 6.7%.
Gekiranger: 5.2%.
Go-Onger: 5.1%.
Shinkenger: 5.9%.
Goseiger: 5.4%.

Source for these ratings

Toy sales vs. Ratings, but it is not fair because the toy sales is in Million Yen and the Ratings are percentages of people viewing. So I am just comparing them by the numbers. Wikipedia is not always accurate, but let's just say it is an estimate, get more or less an idea. Toy Sales and Ratings were different back then compared to now, things cost less but people earned less and TV ratings were different than now thanks to web and phones.

Source of Toy Sales are from Gekiranger Japanese Wikipedia

Kamen Rider Ratings from this site
Kuuga - 9.7%
Agito - 11.7%
Ryuki - 9.4%
555 - 9.3%
Blade - 7.9%
Hibiki - 8.2%
Kabuto - 7.7%
Den-O - 6.9%
Kiva - 6.2%
So yeah this chart is not super accurate or makes sense because the toy sales are million yen and the ratings are percentages of households, not money. The toy sales come from Wikipedia so most likely not accurate.

Kamen Rider Ratings

Related: Super Sentai and Kamen Rider Toy Sales