Friday, May 29, 2009

Operation Moonrise: Phase One!

This survey is now closed. It will take us a couple weeks to put the results together. Thanks to the over 800 moonies who helped to fill out this survey!


EDIT: For those of you who seem to visit this post wondering where the survey is, it is linked at the bottom. However, if you don't want to read the questions and watch the clips of all the actors below, you can head to the survey by clicking here.


Hello Moonies!

The draught is over! We are beginning a campaign to bring back Sailor Moon!
(We'll be making a banner soon - until then enjoy the lovely music in the background)! EDIT: The music is gone T_T . We had a few complaints over it.

Our first phase is a survey allowing fans to give their opinions on voice actors and actresses for the dub. We have included most major characters, and most major villains. Aside from the English cast which we are all familiar with, we did our research and attempted to find members of Funimation's roster that we thought might be suitable for the dub. It was difficult, some of us based our opinion on the Japanese voices, while some of us tried to find close matches to English dub artists. The survey link is in big bold letters at the bottom of this post. However, before you hit the survey, we have posted the questions below, along with links to streaming video clips (click on each VA's name)of the work of these dub artists, so you can refresh yourselves with what the old ones sounded like, and hear what VAs on Funimation's current roster sound like. We want to thank our friends and fans on the forums who helped us put this together over the last few days!

We have them listed by category below (and these aren't in the order that they are on the survey), but there are actual questions on the survey. Please take the time to really think about your choices before you start. Watch the clips below, although the clips are by no means complete. You are welcome to do your own research on their other roles - we suggest going through Anime News Network's encyclopedia. They seem to have a more complete list of a voice actors roles than IMDB does.


Sailor Moon


Tracey Moore
Terri Hawkes
Linda Ballantyne
Kara Edwards
Monica Rial


Sailor Mercury

Karen Bernstein
Liza Balkan
Colleen Clinkenbeard
Caitlin Glass** near the end , she plays the character Triela (blonde with pigtails)
Kate Higgins (She plays Talho, a brunette in a purple and white outfit)

Sailor Mars

Katie Griffin
Emilie-Claire Barlow
Tiffany Grant
Luci Christian


Sailor Jupiter

Susan Roman
Rocio Barahona (Natalie/Nagisa, the brunnette. We think Rocio can make this voice a lot grittier)
Trina Nishimura (We are going on her performance as the waitress Tanya in Black Cat - fast forward to 6:30!)
Caitlin Glass (fast forward to 21:25 - we are going on her performance as Saya in Black Cat)


Sailor Venus:

Stephanie Morgenstern
Emilie-Claire Barlow
Caitlin Glass(Plays Winry)
Kara Edwards
Monica Rial

Luna


Jill Frappier

Michelle Armeneau (Hannah/Honoka's Grandma)
Judy Keith (From Ouran HS Host Club @ 10:49-11:30 - Tamaki's Grandmother)


Artemis

Ron Rubin
Greg Ayres (12:18-12:38 & 15:49-15:59 He plays Kaoru (Look for the blue hair))
Jerry Jewell (from Black Cat @ 13:30, he plays Lin Xiao Li (Number 10) and is also in the clip below)
Troy Baker (from Black Cat @ 11:38, he plays Jenos)

Diana

Loretta Jafelice
Kara Edwards
Tara Strong (She plays Batgirl!)

Tuxedo Mask

Rino Romano
Toby Proctor
Vince Corazza
J. Michael Tatum (Ouran again, he plays Kyoya, whom the entire episode focuses on)
Kyle Hebert (fast forward to 2:30 - he plays Gohan!)
Travis Willingham (Plays Roy Mustang)

Sailor Mini-moon

Tracey Hoyt
Stephanie Beard
Kara Edwards
Leah Clark ( WARNING THIS CLIP HAS MATURE CONTENT - Going on her performances as Akane in Rumbling Hearts @ 00:43-02:00 & 05:59-08:00)


Sailor Uranus


Sarah Lafleur
Cathy Weseluck (She was unforgettable as Cybersix/Adrian Siedelman)
Stephanie Young
Callie McHalen (Another Ouran Performance @ 04:15-04:30 & 05:50-08:00. She plays Benio (Benibara) Amakusa)


Sailor Neptune


Barbara Radecki
Michelle Molineux (Black-haired Hannah/Honoka in Pretty Cure)
Jamie Marchi(Ouran again! She plays Chizuru (Suzuran) Maihara @ 04:46-05:50 )

Sailor Pluto


Sabrina Grdevich
Susan Aceron
Dana Schultes
Lydia Mackay (Fast forward to 11 minutes - she plays Sephiria Arks, she is before and after the CM Break)

Sailor Saturn

Jennifer Gould
Lia Sargent (She plays Chisa Yomoda)
Brina Palencia (17 minutes in, plays Eve (the blond girl))
Kara Edwards


Crew:
(fans can pick more than one)


Tracey Moore(director, first 11 episodes)
Roland Parliament (director, 65 episodes)
John Stocker (director Sailor Moon Movies, S, and SuperS)
Bob Summers (Theme Song Composer)
Salvatore Grimaldi (ADR Engineer , Sound Recordist )
Michael Benghiat (Background Music Composer for First Two Seasons)
Janice Sonski (Producer, Story Editor, Script Consultant for S and SuperS
Series)
Nicole Thuault (Producer, Dubbing Coordinator)
Louise Hurtubise (Producer, Dubbing Coordinator)
Andy Heyward (Executive Producer, Theme Song Lyrics)
Lisa Lumby-Richards (ADR Script Coordinator)
Caitlin Glass (ADR Director)
J. Michael Tatum (Script)
Monica Rial (Script)
Carly Hunter (Producer)
Justin Cook (Producer)
Chris Sabat (Director, Producer)
Sean Schemmel (Director, Script)
Colleen Clinkenbeard (Director, Script)
Eric Vale (Script)
Jared Hedges (Script)
Joel Bergen (Script)
Christopher Neel (Script)
Barry Watson (Producer)
Daniel Cocanougher (Producer)

Ok. No youtube clips for the crew, obviously. We have a few points though. Lisa Lumby-Richards marks the end of the old crew and everyone after that has worked on one or more of these Funimation productions: Ouran High School Host Club, Yu Yu Hakusho, Full Metal Alchemist, and Trinity Blood. These were marked by our staff and friends who helped us find some of the best Funimation adaptations in English. A few things about names you may not know or remember: we featured Roland Parliament's story this morning! John Stocker has also been involved with many cartoons over the years, and we really enjoyed his direction on the movies! Bob Summers wrote the English theme song. Sal Grimaldi was the sound engineer who put everything together in the studio for the episodes - what effects a voice needed, etc. Michael Benghiat composed all of our old English background music from the first two seasons. If you want to hear it again, the majority of it can be found streaming on Rhapsody for free! If you are NOT in the United States, the songs are all on youtube - search for Sailor Moon "The Full Moon Collection". Else you can head on over to SailorMusic.net to hear them! Doesn't hearing this one bring back memories? If you want to really see these come back as they were not included in S or SuperS, please vote Michael Benghiat! Sonski, Thuault, and Hurtubise are all from Optimum Productions. Janice Sonski in particular is responsible for many of the edits made to the series, including making Amara and Michelle (Neptune and Uranus) cousins. Nicole Thuault in the past has skitted around the real reason for the issue. We're not even going to get started on Nicole and Louis, but if you want to, you'll find a lot more about them on Save Our Sailors. While we will give them credit for trying hard with the casting, many of their production decisions were questionable. Lisa Lumby-Richards was a writer throughout every episode and movie.


Villains:
(fans can pick more than one)


Naz Edwards (Queen Beryl)
Lisa Dalbello (Many of the Monsters of the Day)
Robert Tinkler (Rubeus)
Alice Poon (Catsy)
Kristen Bishop(Zoicite, Kaori Knight, Telulu)
Mary Long (Catsy, Fiore, JunJun)
Norma Dell'Agnese (Prisma)
Kathleen Laskey (Bertie)
Jennifer Griffiths (Avery)
Roland Parliament (Chessmaster)
Lyon Smith (Prince Sapphire)
Robert Bockstael (Prince Diamond)
Liz Brown (Wicked Lady)
Liz Hannah (Doom Tree)
Dennis Akiyama (Malachite)
Kevin Lund (Neflite)
Tony Daniels (Wiseman, Jedite)
Jeff Lumby (Dr. Tomoe)
Maria Vacratsis (Negaforce)
Loretta Jafelice(Eugeal)
Susan Aceron (Kisenian)
Spike Spencer
Vic Mignogna
Taliesin Jaffe (Plays Preta Ghoul, fast forward to 20:30)
Stephanie Young
Travis Willingham (Plays Roy Mustang)
Sean Schemmel


Others:
(fans can pick more than one)

Roland Parliament (Melvin)
Mary Long (Molly)
Julie Lemieux (Sammy , Serena's Brother)
Nadine Rabinovitch (Miss Haruna)
Wendy Lyon (Queen Serenity)
Barbara Radecki (Ikuko, Serena's Mom)
David Fraser (Grandpa Hino)
Steven Bednarski (Chad)
Greg Ayres
Trina Nishimura * we could not find many clips of all her work together, but she has a wide variety of different characters she has done. We're pretty sure you've heard of most of them too!
Vic Mignogna
Aaron Dismuke (Plays Alphonse Elric)
Travis Willingham (Plays Roy Mustang)
Sean Schemmel

Which production company would you like to see produce the re-dub?
In-House at Funimation
The Ocean Group
Blue Water Studios


If the dub is produced in-house at Funimation, it may be difficult to get some members of the old cast as a Green Card would be required, as well as membership with the Screen Actors Guild (which many may not have). If the dub is produced in partnership with The Ocean Group or Blue Water Studios, they are based in Canada (and have used American actors before) making it much easier for Canadian VAs to dub. Plus, the Ocean Group has produced many hits over the years, as well as Blue Water Studios.

What would you like to see re-dubbed? Pick as many as you would like, however if you want all of the movies or series redubbed, please select that specific option ("All of ____"). Do not select individual ones if you are selecting these options - this will skew the data!

Sailor Moon (Season 1)
Sailor Moon R (Season 2)
Sailor Moon S (Season 3)
Sailor Moon SuperS (Season 4)
Sailor Moon R: The Movie
Sailor Moon S: The Movie
Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie
All of the Movies
All of the Series
All of the Movies and the Series



What would you like to see dubbed and/or included on a possible re-release?
(pick as many as you want!)

Missing episodes
Missing specials
Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars (Season 5)
Old Commercials
Footage of Promotional Events in Japan
Behind the Scenes Featurettes

Which music cues (transformation sequences, attacks, etc.) would you prefer hearing in a re-dub?

Original Japanese music cues
Original English adaptation music cues composed by Michael Benghiat of the Music Kitchen

** See the note above in crew for links to the English music cues.


Which would you rather see? (Pick one or the other)

Old productions redubbed and scripted closer to the original Japanese version.
Productions which have never been dubbed.

We are planning a second survey in two weeks - we didn't want to bombard you fans with a huge survey. We think that it will be a lot shorter than this one. This one will deal with the kind of release that fans would like to see. We figured we'd get this one out of the way first.


So now that you've read all the background, now the survey warnings:

1. At the end of the survey are some demographic questions. We need to know this from our fanbase because we are planning to send this data to companies who are involved with Sailor Moon so they know who the series is targeting nowadays and just so they know where all the fans are coming from. We will post the results on this site as well. We're going to put some pretty charts together in Excel too so they look all professional! We are NOT collecting any specific personal data (like your email, name, or contact information). KwikSurvey probably collects IPs so that the same person doesn't do the survey twice, and we know that they won't share that information with anyone else. So please complete the whole survey - it's 28 questions and if you have your plan ready to go then it shouldn't take you more than 15-20 minutes.

2. READ THE QUESTION. Some questions have more than one option available to you and there are also places for some questions to fill in your suggestions.

3. This poll is only going to last for a little over four weeks (June 29th at Midnight Pacific Time), so get voting! Tell your friends, link us in forum signatures, etc. Now is the time for all of the English Dub fans to unite to make their voices heard!

**EDIT** We are now running this until the end of July (the 31st).


4. Join our forums. The next two phases will be letter writing campaigns but the details will only be posted in the Campaigns Forums - only visible to forum members. We're going to also bounce around some ideas and we are welcome to hear your suggestions in there.

Our promise to parents who wish to join the forums on behalf of their kids - we on staff actively monitor our forums and should we learn of any "wierdos" they will be dealt with in a timely fashion. Likewise, if your child is being harassed let us know ASAP. Our forums are currently safe and we hope to keep them that way.

5. Megavideo links require two clicks on the play button. The red one launches a popup, and then it will turn green and smaller on your original window. Then it should play. We're sorry we had to use Megavideo but in some cases we had nowhere else to find clips!


6. Apologies to Funimation, Toei, and Warner Brothers in advance - we realize a lot of the things we are linking to shouldn't even be up on the web - but we encourage our fans if they like what they see to go out and get the releases. We are only linking them so that fans can hear samples of the work of these voice actors.

Oh yeah, have you read the other Survey Guidelines?

So now what are you waiting for?
SURVEY LINK IS HERE!


Thank you for your time in reading this entry, researching your answers , and completing the survey!

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd personally like to see the S and SuperS seasons re-dubbed as well as a dub for Sailor Moon Stars. As for the voice actors, I pretty much love the ones from the dubbed R, S, and SuperS films. I consider those voices to be classic and the best for each character. I'm happy with the way the films were dubbed and I don't think the first two seasons were that bad, so I'd just re-dub S, SuperS, and then dub Stars along with the specials (Amy's First Love, etc).

Emily said...

For dubbing, I think that unless Funimation can coordinate a mix of in-house and Canadian dubbing, there's going to be difficulty gathering a cast that mixes old and new voices.

I find that Ocean Group tends to use a small group of actors; and the ones that come to mind don't feel right for SM. Hopefully Blue Water tends to have more variety.

I wonder where a lot of the "old" actors are now? Calgary or Vancouver could be pretty hard to get to for those in Ontario. Maybe Funimation can coordinate an at least partial Toronto dubbing?

sailordees said...

Hi Jonny and Emily!

Jonny those are my sentiments exactly. I think that the first and second seasons should be left alone, despite the amount of cuts. I would hate to have to lose the charm those episodes once had!

Emily- most of the actors are either still in Toronto or in LA. There are two that have "flown the coop" that I know of. Karen Bernstein is in Texas now but I think she has abandoned her voice acting career in favor of her documentaries, and Naz Edwards is in Michigan, enjoying a new life in musical theater.

If the actors unions were a little easier with their regulations this probably wouldn't be such an iffy situation :(.

esahC said...

Well, I do appreciate on what you guys are doing, I mean, I fill one out myself (the whole darn show should be redubbed, whenever the fans like it or not), but, I don't know, I feel like this "Operation" isn't going to lead anywhere. I mean, I want to see a Sailor Moon redub too, but I don't think a fan-made survey isn't going to accomplished anything.

Besides, as Homer Simpson once said, "Trying is the first step toward failure." ;)

sailordees said...

We have to try, don't we?

Tommy Watson said...

It doesn't hurt to try at this point. Besides, Funimation has gotten much better over the years. They have a good relationship with Toei (at least we hope its still intact after the One Piece accident), but they do one thing good and that is, they listen to their fans. I'm sure if they were wanting to get with the original cast again, they will most likely work with Ocean Group or Blue Water to get them back.

I just hope that Funimation finds it in their hearts to at least dub or pick up Sailor Moon again, especially for the sake of Sailor Stars and the lost episodes and specials that weren't dubbed.

So many people need Sailor Moon back in their lives. This is the perfect time to bring them back. Futurama and Captain America are coming back, why can't Sailor Moon?

Anonymous said...

I say start with Sailor Moon Stars and then go back from there.

I know it's the last season, but we never got it in North America.

I understand that the new three Sailors that come in that season might need their story changed a bit.

Anonymous said...

I think that Dorothy Melendrez might also be a good voice for Sailor Mars, Venus, or Mercury.

sailordees said...

If Dorothy has done voice work for Funimation, there is a place you can put her in for a suggestion!

Anonymous said...

As I said on another post, I don't mind if the FUNimation uses a new cast for a re-dub of Sailor Moon. In fact, I'd prefer it if all of the voices were different, as long as they fit the characters properly. After all, this would be a new project, and I'd like to see something different. I looked at many of the clips posted of voices actors and their work, and I just picked which voices I believed would be best for each character. Here are my choices:

Sailor Moon : Terri Hawkes
Sailor Mercury : Kate Higgins
Sailor Mars : Tiffany Grant
Sailor Jupiter : Trina Nishimura
Sailor Venus : Kara Edwards
Sailor Neptune : Jamie Marchi
Sailor Uranus : Stephanie Young
Sailor Pluto : Dana Schultes
Sailor Saturn : Brina Palencia
Sailor Mini-Moon : Stephanie Beard
Luna : Michelle Armeneau
Artemis : Greg Ayres
Diana : Kara Edwards
Tuxedo Mask : J. Michael Tatum

SMDieHardFan

Moon Chase said...

Please vote in our survey! We're open to any and all opinions!

Yen-sama said...

Sailor Moon
Terri Hawkes

Mercury
Caitlin Glass

Sailor Mars
Katie Griffin

Sailor Jupiter
Susan Roman

Sailor Venus
Kara Edwards

Luna
Michelle Armenaeu

Artemis
Ron Rubin

Diana
Tara Strong

Tuxedo Mask
Kyle Hebert

Sailor Mini Moon
Stephanie Beard

Sailor Uranus
Stephanie Yong

Sailor Neptune
Barbara Radecki

Sailor Pluto
Susan Aceron

Sailor Saturn
Jennifer Gould


Crew:
Caitlin Glass
Eric Vale
Christopher Sabat
Sean Schemmel

Anonymous said...

Oh don't worry, I filled out and submitted the survey as well, lol!! It was very long, but I did it. No worries there. I just posted my choices in the comments section of your blog too.

SMDieHardFan

Unknown said...

I agree with Jonny - I was dissapointed by the "cousins" and rather over-the-top voice acting of the S and SuperS story arcs, but the first two seasons are rather charming despite their occasional mistranslations, censorship and Americanizations.

Anonymous said...

I definately think that if Funimation redubs Sailor Moon they should hold open auditions even though its kinda against their policy; they only hire locals. I think it would hold the series back if they only used the local VA's. I think that they should get as many of the DiC VA's as possible and then whoever is left then hold open auditions for. Especially for characters like the characters from Stars that have never had an english voice to them. I say this because I'm an amateur voice actress and I would love to audition for any character (mostly Galaxia, Saturn and or Neptune.)

Anyways I would enjoy it with DiC music, English names/attacks but no censors/cuts or storyline changes. I personally liked the CGI effects and transitions so I wouldn't mind if they used them.

For Sailor Moon I recommend having either two voice actresses or just Terri Hawkes. I say this because the first season IMO I think Terri sounds a bit two old so I say for the first season Tracey Moore and then for the rest of the series Terri Hawkes.

If anyone wants to check out my voice go to www.youtube.com/princesskagayaki
OR
www.youtube.com/pkfandubstudios

Thanks!
~PK


Oh and P.S: Bob Summers with Don Perry music is the one who did the english music; it's in the end credits that he did the theme song and additional music. ^_^

Sailor S said...

I think this idea is a wonderful idea. Normally, online petitions, in my opinion, don't go anywhere. However, this somehow feels different. Now that Moon Chase has gotten more noticed (FUNimation news has been helping a lot),perhaps this goal can be reached. However, I must ask: if FUNimation could only hire one original Voice Actors from the previous dubs, which one would you be happy with? Because most likely, FUNimation will be all original in VAs...

P.S.- To answer my own question, Serena's/Usagi's/Sailor Moon's first voice actor (Tracey Moore).

lucky said...

Hey, I respect you so very much. So many people love Sailor Moon, yet don't even attempt to even try to bring it back. I have little power, but I do have the internet. Using a free web host, I have created a site, titled, "The Moon Chase Fan Club". Yup, that is correct. A fan club. Here is the link: *you may need to copy+paste).

http://moonchasefanclub.webs.com/

It is sort of empty now, but in time it will grow.

Webs.com was the best choice, I think, because it included a guest book, forum, and other unique things. Go check it out when you have the time. ;D

lucky said...

Hey, let me just flat out say: I love your site. So much so that I even created a Fan Club for it.

http://moonchasefanclub.webs.com/

It looks odd now, but soon it will be a big thing.

Enjoy. ;)

sailordees said...

Thanks Lucky! This is a nice surprise!

Anonymous said...

i choose:

moon-monica rial
mercury-kate higgins
mars-luci cristian
jupiter-trina nishimura
venus-caitlin glass
neptune- michelle monileux
uranus- stephanie young
pluto- dana schultes

as soon as i finished the first page, it said java error, went to the homepage, and it said the test ended!!! >:O oh no!
but i don't know about the others. i only got to do the first page before the test ended.

sailordees said...

Please send us an email at moonchasers@NOSPAMgmail.com (remove the NOSPAM). We will send you a copy of the questions and you'll have to tell us who you are voting for. Then we will add 1 to every answer that you choose. Readers have had months to complete this survey, and we shut it down about fifteen minutes after we were supposed to. However since you had somewhat completed the survey, we will make an exception for you.

Anonymous said...

Luna needs to have a cute voice, not an old granny voice D<

Anonymous said...

from what I heard it was going to bee all seasons(including Stars) and the undubbed episodes from the original seasons. I would like it if they redubbed the three movies as well.