The script for this episode was pretty bad for the most part. I will give DiC credit for a couple of places they did really well that you'll see below, but those shining moments cannot make up for the general shittyness overall. Ail is renamed to Alan in the dub. While this somewhat takes away from the pun of their names together being close to alien, it's not a big change. An has an extra n and an e added to her name, again not a big deal. Their civilian names are a different story. While both versions keep them siblings for their disguises, their family name is changed from Ginga to Granger. Ail uses the first name Seijuro while An goes by Natsumi. DiC had the genius idea of using the same names for both of their forms. So they also go by Alan and Ann while in school. You know, because in DiC's world the same names in different forms doesn't equal same person at all. The Makaiju is named the Doom Tree in the dub. While not actually acknowledged at this point in the original, I mention this now because on four counts it is mentioned in the dub. Yes that is an indicator on the quality of today's script. The monsters in this story arc are named Cardians in both versions. The MotD retains the name, Vampiel, in both versions as well. This appears to be translated to Vampire on two different translations, however the Cardian itself pronounces its name as Vampiel in both versions.

Before I dive into the comparison, there's a bunch of important information worth mentioning. If you look at the top right-hand corner of the page, you'll see two dates for this episode of the dub. The normal date and a pilot date. This episode aired nine days before the series started on Fox as a special to get people excited for the upcoming series premiere.

More fun facts about this episode. Because this essentially had two premieres, there was a rumor that there were two different dubs for this episode and has sparked debates and discussions in different points of time and places over the years. So I read up anything I could find on this still available on the Internet, dating as recent as late 2009 and as far back as 1995 to piece it all together. It all was eventually broken down to the special pilot and normal TV versions having only one difference: the length of the opening narrative (more info on this narrative soon). The pilot had a longer opening than the regular TV version. That is it. Now as for the intro mentioned in this comparison, I do not know which one this is. The pilot has been rumored to be on the ADV release which I used, but I have been unable to find confirmation if this differs from people's dub recordings from TV. My dad has my VCR right now since he get's more use out of it than me currently, and I'm not going to drive home and take it from him for this sole purpose. Until I can get confirmation if these are different (it has been confirmed they both have narrative openings), I cannot say for certain which one this is. If a tape pops up from that fateful day in 1995, all the better to just finish the debate on this once and for all. I will update this as this near-15 year old debate (hopefully) draws its conclusion.

The fun continues. Some of you may have also noticed that this episode aired a few weeks after the previous episode. That is because in the initial airing in the US, the main R story arc aired after the end of the first season. This was actually intentional believe it or not. As said by Janice Sonski, the co-executive producer of North American Sailor Moon, "We hoped we would be able to place the Alan and Ann story on a network and so we held them out as 13 exclusive episodes, but no decision has been made and we needed to run them." Even with these episodes aired out of sequence in this initial airing, the episodes kept their correct numbers, hence why this is considered dub episode 41 rather than dub episode 53. All future US airings would have the episodes in their proper order. As for Canada, YTV aired these episodes in order from the getgo and in all airings, whereas the station Global TV aired them in the aforementioned incorrect order not only in the initial airing, but many (if not all) future airings as well.

So, with all those fun notes finally out of the way, let's dive into the comparison. As mentioned above, there is a narrative introduction prior to the start of the episode. This intro recaps some key elements alongside the respective clips. At the end of this as we see the death of Beryl, the narrator states that the Negaforce is already planning something new. -_-;; This introduction replaces the normal pre-episode preview, adding one minute and twenty seconds to the episode.

In the opening narration, Moon used "Moon Prism Power" in the battle with Beryl. This is correct. However in the previous episode, she used "Moon Cosmic Power." So DiC fails with consistency here, however at least they got the attack right somewhere.

(12 seconds) After Usagi begins running to school late as usual, we see Luna and Artemis on top of her house talking about how it's been two months since the end of the Dark Kingdom. What we don't see is where the dub goes to the next scene, there is a shot of the sky, then back to the roof where Artemis says to Luna they should act like normal cats leaning all up on her, Luna giving him a painful slash with her claws, then a front shot of the house with the two still on it.

(48 seconds) The entire scene showcasing Usagi's punishment for being late. We miss Usagi standing in the hall with a bucket of water on her head, Ami leaving her class for a moment passing by Usagi and wiped her tears. Haruna-sensei came out of the classroom identifying Ami and warned her that nothing good could come out of associating with Usagi. Taking offense to this, Usagi turns to Haruna and asks if teachers are allowed to say things like that, soon accidentally spilling the water all over her. There is then a shot of outside the school. There are two reasons I hate that this entire scene was cut. One, it's funny as hell. Two, and more importantly, this scene introduces Ami to Usagi. The senshi have no memories of the events of the previous season, including the time they spent together as civilians. Ami's introduction to Usagi being taken away causes a bit of confusion I will get to later on.

(4 seconds) Even though this cut is seamless from the last scene, I'm giving it its own box as it is in a different scene. Before we see the outside shot of Usagi's house, there is actually a shot of the stars panning to the shot we see in the dub.

(3 seconds) Various snippets as Usagi wakes up and the meteor lands. So happy to see that with a new season DiC is sticking to the same old snippet bs. >.<

As the meteor rises from its landing spot, there's a banner in the background with some kana on it. This is left untouched.

I will probably miss over noting where digital bumps were added, though I'm sure most of them will be obvious. However this new one for the season merits special mention. We see the screen fill to a card-shaped border with the usual CGI background. Now imagine that you have four cards with the edges touching each other forming a cube like shape. This bump has a shape like that in rotation where on the card facings it goes ending scene -> image -> image -> start of new scene. The two images in this scene are the same image repeated. This image is of the card used to summon the Cardian later in the episode. It's the very same card we see chosen by An later on. I found this to actually be kind of nifty, and will see if DiC used different bumps for each card, or if they just recycle this one. I'm hoping for the former, and if it is true, this is a very nice touch.

This is the reason where Ami being introduced to Usagi should've been kept in somehow, as Serena wouldn't have known Amy otherwise. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but that's the impression that wanted to be made in the original. I do have to give DiC credit for the use of the word rubbernecking just seconds later, as both versions had Usagi state that even a genius girl couldn't help rubbernecking. So that cancels this out from being an SDA for the time being.

(2 seconds) While the flier for the snack sale is left untouched in the dub, it was originally on the screen for a bit longer than the dub.

(1 second) Usagi and Mamoru's banter has snippets cutting this short by around a second.

We see the Cardian digital bump mentioned above again.

"Beryl was right about Earth." ~ Alan No. Just no. As with the Negaforce mention and later Negaverse mentions in this episode, apparently DiC thought we couldn't handle the fact that there is more than one group of villains. There is no super organization of evil creatures trying to take over Earth by sending one sub-group at a time. Maybe DiC themselves couldn't handle this, who knows? Either way it's annoying, but I'm pretty sure here and the intro are the only two times this is used, we'll see as I continue down my notes, only three pages of written notes left. X_x

I'm not going to quote the entire conversation in both versions, however just know that the conversation between Ail and An was originally very romantic. Ail says she is the Andromedia of his heart and plays a song for her. All the plotting done in the dub is an invention by DiC. Ail and An are intergalactic travelers trying to survive, not invaders with an agenda to take over. And honestly, that makes me enjoy this story arc more because of that fact.

We hear Ail play the flute for the first time here. Between the two versions the same instrument is used with a slightly different melody. No big deal honestly, just something interesting to note.

(2 seconds) Snippets as the Gingas, oops, I mean Grangers -_-; , are introduced to the school.

Originally, the country Natsumi came from was not stated at all. The first question she is asked is if she is from another country, and she answers "Yes" in fluent English with good pronunciation as seen with the students' reactions. Impressed, she is asked to speak more English, but responds with "Fera fera fera, fera fera fera," prompting giant sweat drops all over the class. The only part the dub got right from this was the same feeling of awkwardness. Melvin states that she's from France and asks if she's in an Internet club, and she says no. Instead of trying to shorten this shot and move on (as this is where they were impressed she could speak English), they fill the silence with Molly talking than asking her to speak French. Ann says some random syllables causing the same reactions. I made this an SDA more because of the first half being bastardized. I have no problem of her being asked to speak French instead of English, but this could've been set up similar to how it was originally very easily.

(1 second) While all the sweatdrops were intact, a second was lost to snippets.

(2 seconds) Snippets as Seijuro plays the flute at school.

Umino getting hit upside the head with the instrument from hammerspace is left untouched, which is great, however....

... why did the dub have him state what he was playing is a flute? Originally he said he'll do something special like that for Naru, pulls it out of nowhere (a la my hammerspace theory), and plays horribly. The dub line was very similar, but that's definitely not a flute. I believe it's a clarinet due to how he is holding it and the fingerings on it, however it's not drawn detailed enough for me to properly identify it. The important part is that this is no way a flute as you can't blow into a flute holding it vertically like that. As a band geek until a couple years into college, this has always bothered me. As many people have informed me after this comparison was posted (and I do mean many, between e-mail, Bob's e-mail, forums, facebook, etc., I can't list everyone like I normally do), the instrument Umino is playing here is a recorder.

The romantic things Alan was saying to Serena was actually toned down in the dub. Originally, Seijuro used an Andromedia reference from the earlier conversation.

(2 seconds) Snippets that have no purpose but to throw my screens off sync.

In the dub, Alan and Anne talk about how humans don't interest them and yadda yadda. This was originally more about him going after females in general, never mentioning a species at all. Some gems from this conversation: "He is my ideal man" --> "What a babe! I've never seen anything that handsome in the universe!" "There's no way I could love someone as much as I love you." --> "I'm not interested in all these weak humans."

(1 second) More snippets to piss me off through this already hellacious episode comparison.

As Mamoru dropped his books, there is kana on a sign that is untouched.

Another interesting note, this was almost going to be a cut box because of snippets. When I was timing about how many seconds, a digital bump was used and suddenly my two screens were perfectly on-sync. O.o;

(3 seconds) We see a camera pan up the apartment building that Ail and An reside in. In the original this actually started from the bottom where there was a sign in kana that reads "Jubaan Odyssey." No, I don't know why some kana is allowed and some is not, all I know is that it takes up my time and notes as the randomness of it all makes me want to document every time it's used or taken away.

"In my heart there are uncertainties of wandering from planet to planet." Amazing right? So why would I quote such a deep and meaningful line? Because that is not what the dub used at all. Instead, they kill off that emotion and have Alan say, "I want to see Serena again, but I don't want to hurn Ann, it's all so confusing." Yay emotion killer. -_-;

(2 seconds) Snippets during and following that SDA box.

Usually, the commercial break in the original is used as the first commercial break in the dub. Where we see An's eye open is where there was a commercial, and then it picks up at that same exact moment upon the return from the break. The dub continues this scene seamlessly as the shot is exactly the same, with no time lost.

"That's what Anne needed. Energy from the Doom Tree to revitalize her." Two reasons for this one. First off, this was used to replace silence, so already an automatic fail. Second, the Makaiju is not acknowledged at all in this episode originally. Yet it is here, and again seconds later. There is more banter added to this scene taking away more silence. And DiC kills more romantic emotions with: "You can predict the future better than anyone else in the universe." --> "Your choice will preserve our future."

This is kind of interesting. In the dub, whenever Alan plays the flute, it's the same thing each time. Here in the original version, when Ail summons the Cardian, he plays a slightly different melody than what he played earlier.

(3 seconds) As they make origami out of the script, the scissors manage to hit the film and take off a few seconds from this scene.

"Hate to say this, but it feels like the Negaverse." ~ Luna My bad, they mentioned the Negaverse again here. Besides the aforementioned rant above, the cats only had strange feelings that were verified, they never thought a new enemy came to earth prior to this point.

(3 seconds) The multi-pan up of the monster draining energy from the girl outside Naru's window stays intact. But before we see Naru open the window, there is a still shot of the monster and girl completely cut.

(4 seconds) We see Vampiel's vines head towards Naru, but not them actually wrapping around her. There is also a shot of her energy being drained cut, causing her to drop the phone. The dub picks up with the closeup of the phone hitting the floor.

The cats make a lot of dumb puns of weeds and whatnot and I just don't want to write down at this point because there's too many. Originally, Luna wondered how Naru always happens to become a target for monsters.

(4 seconds) And more snippets!

While the line changed somewhat, I was happy to see that Luna apologized before reviving Moon. I feel it was an important line to keep as she tried so hard to not have to revive Sailor Moon, knowing she craved being normal so much. It was touching, and a breath of fresh air after they killed off so many emotional moments in the episode already.

However, they couldn't keep a good thing going, deciding to give a name to Luna's beam, the Luna Mind Meld. Not only did this not have a name and was silence in the original, because they placed the second commercial break here, we got to hear this twice. >.<

As the scene goes to Usagi's memories we see the camera zoom in towards her face. DiC added a ripple effect to this zoom in. I can actually see the logic in this, it's a common effect used for flashback scenes in so many TV shows and movies. Since it wasn't used in the original version, it's just unnecessary here. Thank you to Kyler Greywacz for seeing this and pointing it out to me.

(5 seconds) The barrage of memories was almost completely untouched. There weren't even any snippets which nearly made me jump for joy. Said jumping was halted because near the end there were individual shots of each senshi at their point of death, which were cut completely. Yeah, it makes sense since they were cut in the episode they all occurred in, but it's still annoying nonetheless.

In the memory sequence, you'll see I mentioned that it was perfect prior to the cut. Well DiC forgot just how much they cut from the previous episode, as the shots of Endymion taking a spear to the back and few shots of him being dead are left in the memory sequence. So it wasn't ok when it happened originally but it's good in a memory sequence? This is almost akin to when they cut Umino being hit by a streamer to only be fully shown in Sailor Says. All in all, I'm glad this was kept, but I wish they didn't cut it in the first place or would've at the very least stayed consistent like with the senshi's deaths.

But once again, I must give credit where credit is due. The silence during this sequence was kept in. Like in the original, there was no talking until just at the end where Usagi begged to be done fighting and be a normal girl. The emotion here was handled very well.

(8 seconds added) At the end of the memory sequence, the shot of Luna beaming the memories to Usagi is recycled for about five seconds, and the shot of Usagi's face as the beam is going in her forehead is also recycled and used for a few seconds. Where DiC adds a flash is where the dub goes back to the normal episode, as Usagi snaps her head up when her memories fully return.

Another important thing DiC kept is the initial feeling of joy Usagi had in being able to talk to Luna again. Kudos.

(1 second) Would've been perfect without snippets though.

(3 seconds) As DiC has always taken away the "Make Up!!" part of the henshin sequence, the two different shots of Usagi when she says this are cut.

After a perfect side-by-side transformation sequence between the two versions, the dub recycles a shot of Artemis jumping towards the monster as well as a side shot of the monster. Where Artemis hits the ground (which is intact) is where both versions continue.

(2 seconds) Artemis getting wrapped by the vines is cut, even though we see the vines around him after this.

While Sailor Moon does say "I shall punish you" in her speech, it is in the middle. The speech ends with "that's you" something I couldn't figure out. Theory proven again.

(2 seconds) Snippets during the fight.

(1 second) About a second was lost during Moon Tiara Action and the death of the Cardian.

As Vampiel died, it yelled out "Cleansing!" However dub viewers get to hear a random insult from Sailor Moon in its place.

In the conversation that Sailor Moon had with Ail and An, there was no trash talking. It was more of an introduction than anything. The closest that it came to trash talking was stating that this was only the beginning before disappearing.

After doing such a good job handling the emotional moments between Usagi and Luna earlier, DiC absolutely fucked up the end. Completely. The end had mostly silence. Luna was about to talk to Moon about the new enemy but stopped, upon seeing her tears. She called to Moon once, who didn't respond looking to the distance. She thinks to herself "Goodbye to the ordinary Usagi" as the episode closes. What we got in its place was Luna saying she was happy Moon was back. Moon thinks to herself "Me too I guess," before actually saying that this must mean no more shopping, going crazy over boys, etc. Luna says it never stopped her before, and the episode ends. Ugh, it's pretty painful to see such wonderful emotion from the original ending get stomped on like that.

While the shooting stars are left as Moon looks in the distance (though they may as well have cut them since the emotion was already killed from the scene), they still deemed it necessary to use a fancy digital bump using multiple tiaras and a semi-kaleidoscope effect to a pink background with moons and stars.

And one last fun fact before leaving this episode. With DiC's dubs, as you all are likely aware, the next episode previews were replaced with the Sailor Says segments. This episode does not have a Sailor Says segment. Maybe they forgot to add one in after the pilot airing, who knows? In any case, this appears to be the only DiC dubbed episode that does not have a Sailor Says segment.