Breaking News: New Sailor Moon Merchandise Licenses:

Via Sailor Moon World Italy (and some fans’ messages, thanks!), some new companies involved in merchandising have acquired licenses for Sailor Moon. These include two companies with US branches and one for France; Topps (Germany, Italy and America), Namco Bandai Games America, and Giochi Preziozi France. It is probably safe to infer that Topps will be releasing sticker books (and possibly cards), Giochi Preziozi France will release some (if not all) of the toys made in Italy, and NBGA is likely going to bring La Luna Splende to North America eventually. But, nothing is confirmed, and everyone should have waited for a press release. We have been advised from the companies to play it safe and wait for official word before posting anything like this, but given the criticism and heat we have had to face from some fans, we’re addressing it now as safely as we possibly can. We’ve featured a large photo below filled with cropped screenshots from Kazachok’s Web Guide.

What remains to be known (especially in France and North America), is if this is a sign that the release of the anime is imminent in either of these regions. There are a few other regions in the world that don’t have Sailor Moon either (Russia and Ukraine, to start). In a Japanese press release announcing the return of Sailor Moon to North America, Kodansha made note of how especially in North America, that without the release of the anime and other merchandise, that the manga may not experience the same “big boom” of the past*. We can’t speculate on the progress being made on the anime, due to certain statements made in the last 2 months from companies and representatives all around. We have to wonder if these new merchandising deals are some kind of a placeholder in between that will ultimately aid the anime when the time is right for it to return, while also tiding the release of the manga. Usually, the pattern in Sailor Moon licensing news has been anime first, merchandise and manga second. What do you think, Moonies?



*We had read this the day it was posted but didn’t post anything about it on Moon Chase because you fans were in such a happy mood and we didn’t want to damper the situation! Instead, we all discussed it amongst ourselves for a while and once again, wondered why Sailor Moon was having such a turbulent resurgence.

Convention News: Kumiko Watanabe and Miki Narahashi to Appear at Anime North!

Special thanks to forums reader Amanda for passing this on to us! On April 4th, Anime North announced a new round of guests appearing at their convention in May. Included are two seiyuu from Sailor Moon! One is Kumiko Watanabe, who is famous now for her role as Shippo in InuYasha and Sgt. Keroro in Keroro Gunso. But, she had a very famous role in Sailor Moon! She played JunJun in the SuperS series, as well as Youma-of-the-day Kugurumiko. The second Seiyuu to appear is Miki Narahashi, who is better known as playing Crayon Shin-Chan's mom, Misae Nohara. She played quite a few Youma-of-the-days in Sailor Moon, including reprising her role as Misae in an episode of Sailor Moon S, Gigaros in R, Kotarou in SuperS, and Sailor Leaguer in Sailor Stars. Anime North takes place from May 27-29 in Toronto, Canada. We will not be having any of our staff attending this convention this year, however we would love to hear what happens from any fans attending!

Mimet Wins!

Hey Moonies! Tonight was the broadcast gala of the 25th Annual Gemini Awards in Canada, and our lone hope Sailor Moon nominee won! Catherine Disher (Mimet) won the Gemini for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series for her work as Maggie Norton on CBC's drama, The Border. Catherine has been nominated for this role for the last 3 years, so we are so glad she has finally gotten the recognition she deserves! For those of you who are Mimet fans that want to celebrate this occasion and do something for your favorite of the Witches 5, we have a special thread set up for you (members only) in our forums. Congratulations to Catherine Disher again and best of luck for continued success on The Border!

Breaking News: Gemini 2010 Noms Announced!

Lots of Reasons for the Moon Chase Blog Network to Celebrate!

This morning, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television announced nominations for the 2010 Gemini Awards, and both of our blogs (Moon Chase and We Got The Solution) have stars that we follow nominated! Though this year, there are less stars from Sailor Moon nominated ( ☽:( ), once again Flashpoint is leading the pack with 15 nominations in 11 categories! Congratulations to everyone who has been nominated and we will keep you updated with the winners come November. The lone nominee from Sailor Moon this year is Catherine Disher (Mimet) for her work on the Canadian drama The Border. There are too many nominated from Flashpoint to name in one sentence, but there is a special case where a Flashpoint star guested in another TV show, and is against two other guest stars from Flashpoint!


So here come the nominees! The productions that they are nominated for are in bold, but if you see a gold star next to their name(★), it means they were also in Flashpoint or Sailor Moon).



Best Dramatic Series

Durham County
(Back Alley Film Productions Ltd. /Muse Entertainment Ent. Inc., Muse Entertainment Enterprise)
Adrienne Mitchell, Laurie Finstad Knizhnik, Janis Lundman, Michael Prupas
Flashpoint★
(Flashpoint Season 2, Pink Sky Inc., Avamar Ent)
Anne Marie La Traverse, Bill Mustos
Republic of Doyle
(Republic Season II Inc., Malachy Season 1, Inc.)
Allan Hawco, Rob Blackie, John Vatcher
Stargate Universe
(Stargate Universe I Inc.)
Brad Wright, Carl Binder, Robert Cooper, John Lenic, N. John Smith
The Tudors
(Peace Arch Entertainment, PA Tudors III Inc., TM Productions)
John Weber, Sheila Hockin, Morgan O'Sullivan

Best Achievement in Casting

Deirdre Bowen - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "All Souls"
John Buchan CSA, Jason Knight - The Summit
Stephanie Gorin - Guns
Andrea Kenyon, Wendy O'Brien, Marissa Richmond, Randi Wells - Durham County - "Little Lost Children"
Marissa Richmond - Flashpoint - "Perfect Storm"★

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series

Clé Bennett - The Line - "Episode 203", "Episode 206"
Sergio Di Zio - Flashpoint - "One Wrong Move", "The Good Citizen"★
Genadijs Dolganovs - The Bridge - "Painted Ladies", "Chain of Fools"
Sebastian Pigott - Being Erica - "Yes We Can", "The Unkindest Cut"
Mark Taylor - Flashpoint - "Exit Wounds", "One Wrong Move"★

Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role, Dramatic Series

Enrico Colantoni - Cra$h & Burn - "Lawyers, Guns & Money"★
Christopher Heyerdahl - Sanctuary - "Haunted"
Michael Riley - Flashpoint - "Coming To You Live"★
Hugh Thompson - Flashpoint - "Business As Usual"★
Kristopher Turner - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "Family Practice"


Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series

Catherine Disher - The Border - "The Dead", "Dark Ride"★
Eve Harlow - The Guard – "Boom", "Last Night"
Reagan Pasternak - Being Erica - "Shhh...Don't Tell", "Under My Thumb"
Jessica Steen - Flashpoint - "Clean Hands", "The Perfect Family"★
Rachel Wilson - Republic of Doyle - "Return of the Grievous Angel", "Blood is Thicker Than Blood"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role, Dramatic Series

Ona Grauer - Flashpoint - "The Fortress"★
Laurence Leboeuf - Flashpoint - "The Perfect Family"★
Tatiana Maslany - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "All Souls"
Debra Lynne McCabe - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "All Souls"
Anastasia Phillips - Murdoch Mysteries - "Me, Myself, & Murdoch"

Best Direction in a Dramatic Series

David Frazee - Flashpoint - "One Wrong Move"★
Andy Mikita - Stargate Universe - "Air Part 1"
Adrienne Mitchell - Durham County - "Little Lost Children"
Jeremy Podeswa - The Tudors - "Episode 308"
Stephen Surjik - Flashpoint - "Aisle 13"★

Best Original Music Score for a Program or Series

Amin Bhatia, Ari Posner - Flashpoint - "One Wrong Move"★
Robert Carli - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "Isolation"
Robert Carli - Murdoch Mysteries - "Me, Myself, & Murdoch"
Joel Goldsmith - Stargate Universe - "Light"
James Jandrisch - The Guard - "At Sea"
Trevor Morris - The Tudors - "Episode 304"

Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series

James Jeffrey - Murdoch Mysteries - "The Murdoch Identity"
Glen MacPherson - Keep Your Head Up Kid: The Don Cherry Story
Jim Menard - Stargate Universe - "Light"
Stephen Reizes - Flashpoint - "Behind The Blue Line"★
Michael Storey - Republic of Doyle - "The Fall of the Republic"

Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series

Rick Martin - Stargate Universe - "Human"
Lara Mazur, C.C.E. - Flashpoint - "One Wrong Move"★
Vesna Svilanović - Bloodletting And Miraculous Cures - "Unhappy Endings"
Arthur Tarnowski - The Phantom
Jeff Warren - Guns

Best Writing in a Dramatic Series

Philip Bedard, Larry Lalonde - Murdoch Mysteries - "Hangman"
Jeremy Boxen - Cra$h & Burn - "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Mark Haroun - Heartland - "The Haunting of Hanley Barn"
Alex Levine - The Border - "Missing In Action"
Ian Weir - Flashpoint - "The Fortress"★

To check out the rest of the nominees, click here! Congratulations to everyone nominated from Flashpoint and Sailor Moon once again, and best of luck in November!

Sailor Moon Anime Seiyuu and Staff Update Spring 2010 - Part 1!

Hey Moonies! We're catching up on several sightings and this is the first of a multi-part update!

Kotono Mitsuishi and Akira Kamiya Judging Next Generation of ANISON singers!

ANIMAX's ANISON Grand Prix singing contest is starting up again, and NHK in Osaka are starting their pre-preliminary rounds as we speak. On May 5th, at NHK's BK85 Spring Wonderland festival, a 5-judge jury will hear successful applicants sing and choose their top 15 to move onto the Osaka Preliminaries later this summer. Included on this jury are Kotono Mitsuishi (Sailor Moon) and Akira Kamiya (Professor Tomoe). Mitsuko Horie (Sailor Galaxia) will also be performing during a special concert in the second part of this competition, and HIMEKA herself will also be performing as well. Mitsuko and Akira will also be judging a second Anison contest on June 6th - the Anime Song Rush at Tokyo's Yomiuri Land Open Theater East. Good luck to everyone entering these competition in Osaka and Tokyo!

(Big image of everyone together)

Kotono Mitsuishi Performing Drama CD Live!

The popular Japanese manga Brocken Blood is getting a drama CD adaptation! But instead of only releasing the drama CD on May 12th, the cast members are also going to perform it live sometime in August. Fans will have to enter a lottery once again to get a ticket, but it sounds like it will be worth it, especially when Kotono is playing Yomodo Shihoden, a magical girl who is one of the heroines in this series.


Kakyuu in New Eden of the East Movie!

Sakiko Takmagawa (Princess Kakyuu and Elsa Gray) reprises her role as the multi-faceted AI Juiz in the latest Eden of the East Movie, Eden of the East 2: Paradise Lost. The premise of the series is very similar to the movie The Matrix, and fans can read an almost full synopsis of the movie here. In the second movie, her character is spread out among four, so it will be interesting to see if she changes how her voice sounds. There is also a second Seiyuu in this movie, Nobuyuki Hiyama. He had two minor roles in Sailor Moon as Yosaku Eda and Tsunawataro, but has a much bigger role in this movie as the hacker Yutaku "Pants" Itazu. This will be released by FUNImation in 2011.

We'll cap off this part with a few convention appearances this summer!

☽ Keiko Han (Luna), Chika Sakamoto (Yaten Kou/Sailor Star Healer), Kappei Yamaguchi (Artemis in PGSM) and Yasuo Yamaguchi (Producer) will be appearing at this year's Animazement from May 28th-30th.

☽ Nobuyuki Hiyama (Yosaku Eda and Tsunawataro) will be appearing at this year's Anime North on the same weekend!

BREAKING NEWS: Second Sailor Mars and Venus Nominated for Juno!

Canadians are all abuzz today since it's Juno Award Nominations day! And, we Moonies have extra reason to celebrate! Emilie-Claire Barlow's (Sailor Mars #2, Sailor Venus #2) hit album from last summer Haven't We Met has just been nominated for a Juno! She is nominated in the category of Vocal Jazz Album of the Year, and faces some tough competition from Diana Krall, Carol Welsman, Michael Kaeshammer and Ranee Lee. Congratulations Emilie-Claire, and sad to hear you forgot your Pepsi (if ever we meet, we will give you a Pepsi to compensate).

BREAKING NEWS: Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Awards Announced

Two big pieces of Flashpoint news were announced today! The first was a long-awaited announcement of the US DVDs for Season 2, and now an award nomination for show creators and writers Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1) and her husband Mark Ellis, along with writer James Hurst were nominated for their screenwriting on the Season 2 Part 2 opener, "One Wrong Move". We're calling it that since there was some initial Season 2/3 confusion. To check out the full list of nominations, check out TV_Eh here. Congratulations to Stephanie, Mark, and James, and we wish you all the best of luck when the awards are handed out on April 19th in Toronto!

Breaking News: ACTRA Toronto results!

The 2010 ACTRA Toronto award results are in and the Moon Chase Blog Network is happy to announce that actors we have been following have won on both sides of the coin!

In a direct victory for Flashpoint, Kathleen Munroe won Best Female Performer for playing Laura in the episode Last Dance.

Another Flashpoint actor, K.C. Collins, won Best Male Performer for playing Derek Wilmot in Guns. He also played another Derek, Derek Medeiros in the Flashpoint episode Exit Wounds.

On the Sailor Moon side, Julie Lemieux won Best Voice Work for playing Fuzzy Snuggems in the animated series Spliced. She was also the voice of Sammy and Young Darien on Sailor Moon.

We'd like to extend our congratulations to these great actors, for helping to bring to life the shows we love to watch!

CTV Builds The Bridge Without CBS... For Now!

Some of our readers may remember some of the woes Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1) and her husband Mark Ellis' Flashpoint had last Fall - new episodes were not scheduled to air on CBS, but CTV went ahead and put the show on its Fall schedule anyway. And it was a success, being one of the highest rated (if not the highest rated) show on Friday nights in Canada! Flashpoint is also special because it helped to open the door for several Canada-U.S. co-productions, another one of them being the upcoming cop drama The Bridge, which features Toby Proctor (Tuxedo Mask #2). CBS has delayed the premiere of this show for the timebeing, but CTV is not going to let these 11 episodes wait until then! The show will premiere with a bang on March 5th at 9PM Eastern Time with a two hour episode (just after the network completes their Vancouver Olympic Broadcast)! Fans who are looking to see Tuxedo Mask in his new law-enforcement role can check out a trailer here - he appears at 1:20 (with a gun, sorry no roses!). For more information on the show's development and inspiration, check out this post from one of our WGTS friends, TV, Eh?

Breaking News: ACTRA Toronto Nominations!

We here at the Moon Chase Blog Network are so pleased to hear that actors from productions we follow on both Moon Chase and We Got The Solution have been nominated for awards! ACTRA Toronto is the Toronto branch of Canada’s largest actors union, and they are presenting awards in 3 categories. Funnyman Colin Mochrie will be handing these out!

Here are the nominees! The productions that they are nominated for are in bold, but if you see a gold star next to their name(★), it means they were also in Flashpoint or Sailor Moon).

Best Male Performer:

Noam Jenkins★(Flashpoint – played Josh in the episode Backwards Day)
K.C. Collins★(Guns) (Was also in Flashpoint – played Derek Medeiros in Exit Wounds)
Ennis Esmer (The Listener)
Allan Hawco (Love and Savagery)
Daniel Kash (The Line)

Best Female Performer:

Kathleen Munroe★(Flashpoint – played Laura in the episode Last Dance)
Rhea Akler (Undercurrent)
Kristin Booth★(At Home By Myself... With You) (Was also in Flashpoint – played Sarah in Backwards Day)
Kateri Walker★(Kissed By Lightning)

Best Voice Work:

Juan Chioran (Grossology)
Paul Fauteux (Afghanada)
Julie Lemieux★(Spliced) (Was in Sailor Moon, played Sammy and Young Darien)
Carolyn Scott (Best Ed)
Ron Pardo(Bob & Doug)


We wish Julie, Kathleen, Noam, Kristin and K.C. the best of luck!

BREAKING NEWS: No Room For Flashpoint or the Bridge on CBS?

CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler spoke at a CBS session at the Television Critics Association on Saturday. She took a few jabs at NBC and their current dilemma with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. She acknowledged that CBS has plenty of new series to program, including Flashpoint and another Canada-United States co-production, The Bridge (which currently has 13 episodes waiting to air). The Bridge also has a connection to Sailor Moon, in star Toby Proctor (Tuxedo Mask #2). She simply said "We had a terrific fall launch... A lot of our shows are working so we had more content than we had real estate." This does not bode well for fans of Flashpoint (which was co-created by Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1) and her husband Mark Ellis) or potential fans of The Bridge. Many critics are speculating that these shows are now going to be pushed even further to the Summer. We really hope that there is at least some space to show at least a few episodes of these shows during Spring Sweeps. Sorry fans, we wish we had better news but we don't at this point. Keep writing to CBS! It is too early to tell when any new episodes of Flashpoint (set to resume production pretty soon) will air on CTV, or if they will be held back until CBS catches up. We also don't know as of this writing whether CTV will jump the gun and air The Bridge ahead of time just like they did Flashpoint last fall.

Finally, We Can End the Catherine Disher Saga...(And A Gemini Awards Update)

We posted not too long ago that Linda Ballantyne had revealed to us that she was in fact the voice of Snow Princess Kaguya in the Sailor Moon S movie - and we watched it again and heard the similarities to other voices she had played in other cartoons. However, one (or more) fans continued to disbelieve this, and posted some very rude comments on our blog. We did some more lurking on the internet, and discovered that many places were still giving Catherine the credit. Moreover, it has never actually been confirmed that she did in fact play Mimete in the S-season, as the episodes on DVD never credited her by name in any episode. Therefore we decided to put an end to this, and investigate this for once and for all. On Thursday, I personally called up Ms. Disher's agency and spoke to a representative there. The representative tried to get a hold of a voice acting agent, but he was not in at the time. I left my email in the hopes that I'd hear back one way or another. Around an hour later, the representative emailed me back and told me that she played the role of Mimete, and not Snow Princess Kaguya. To you fans who are still skeptical, we can't prove this any more than we already have. So please stop telling us that we have it wrong, because the agency has given us more "official proof" that she did not play Kaguya. Any further comments to the contrary will be ignored, the research has been done and reported, please let the issue go. Unfortunately, I am unable to share which agency she is represented by on this site, out of respect for her. We won't report an actor on this site unless we can absolutely verify that they had a role in Sailor Moon.

On a more positive note, this means we have another voice actress to follow on our radar, and we can make a more complete update to our Gemini Awards post. Catherine was nominated for her role on CBC's The Border as Superintendent Maggie Norton (fans can check out episodes here) in the category "Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series". Unfortunately, she did not win - Gabrielle Miller (who many know very well as Lacey from CTV's now ended Corner Gas) won for her role in Robson Arms playing Bobbi Briggs. Lyon Smith (Sapphire) and Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1) were also nominated in different categories, but did not win. However, Stephanie Morgenstern and her husband Mark Ellis' Flashpoint won 3 awards during the initial presentation! This Saturday, many are predicting that it will win more during the broadcast gala. Keep your eyes peeled on Global TV tonight!

BREAKING NEWSFLASH: YTV Picks Up Second Half of Pretty Cure!

Well, the first 26 episodes of the first season of Pretty Cure must have been a hit, since YTV has just picked up the other 23 episodes! Both Worldscreen and Animation Magazine have reported this, but we are anxiously awaiting word from Corus and/or YTV for official confirmation! The releases don't say much else other than what the series is about. Nonetheless , we are all excited, and we wish the cast and crew of Pretty Cure the best of luck in the recording of these upcoming episodes! We also can't wait to see the new episodes and see how the saga ends in English. As of this writing, we have yet to hear if any networks south of the border will pick this up, but we have a feeling that once this season is finished, perhaps one network will be brave enough to invest in a girls' superhero show (see Toei, Sailor Moon can succeed on TV again if another show in the same genre can do it).

BREAKING NEWS: Stephanie Morgenstern, Lyon Smith, and Maria Vacratsis Nominated for Gemini Awards!

Nominations for the 24th Annual Gemini Awards in Canada (equivalent of the USA Emmy Awards) were announced this morning in Toronto. Flashpoint is nominated for a record 19 awards in 12 categories! Congratulations to Mark Ellis, Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1), and all of the writers, actors, and crew who were nominated. Lyon Smith (Prince Sapphire) and Maria Vacratsis (Negaforce) were also nominated for awards. We have posted their awards below, but to see the entire list of awards that Flashpoint was nominated for, head over to our sister blog, We Got The Solution!


The list of awards is posted below by category, with Sailor Moon actor nominees in bold.

Best Writing in a Dramatic Series:


Mark Ellis, Stephanie Morgenstern
Flashpoint
Haunting the Barn

Lori Spring
Murdoch Mysteries
I, Murdoch

Floyd Kane
Soul
Fathers and Daughters

Brad Wright
Stargate Atlantis
The Shrine

Michael Hirst
The Tudors
Episode 205

Best Individual or Ensemble Performance in an Animated Program or Series:

Tajja Isen, Colin Fox, Dwayne Hill, Bruce Hunter, Rick Miller, Adrian Truss
Atomic Betty (3)
Elementary, My Dear Minimus/Great Eggspectations

Paul O'Sullivan, Melissa Altro, Juan Chioran, Michael Cohen, Sean Cullen, Lili Francks, M. Christian Heywood, Krystal Meadows, Lyon Smith
Grossology
Pinkeye's Revenge P2

Dwayne Hill
Grossology
Fangs A Lot


Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Program or Series


Fabrizio Filippo, Jennifer Baxter, Mike Beaver, Robin Brûlé, Jayne Eastwood, Brandon Firla, Ron Gabriel, Peter Keleghan, Arnold Pinnock, Aron Tager
Billable Hours
A Manson for All Seasons

Ordena Stephens-Thompson, Trey Anthony, Daniel J Gordon, Eli Goree, Ngozi Paul
Da Kink in My Hair - Season 2
Black Cake, White Cake

Christopher Bolton, Oliver Becker, Michael Bodnar, Sarain Boylan, Inga Cadranel, Louis Di Bianco, Carlos Diaz, Mark Cameron Fraser, Matt Gordon, Gabriel Hogan, Mayko Nguyen, Pascal Petardi, Joe Pingue, Jeff Pustil, Simon Reynolds, Philip Riccio, Maria Vacratsis, Jeremy Wright
Rent-A-Goalie
Ham in a Pram

Shaun Majumder, Gavin Crawford, Mark Critch, Geri Hall, Cathy Jones
This Hour Has 22 Minutes Series XVI
Episode 1

Steve Cochrane, Kevin Ellis, George Komorowski, Adriana Maggs, Jordan McCloskey, Steven Morana, Paul Snepsts, Joel Stewart
Three Chords from the Truth
Tommy's Label Showcase


We'll be watching out for these awards come October 19th and 20th, and November 14th, to keep you all updated on who wins! Congratulations again to Stephanie, Lyon, and Maria and we all wish you the best of luck!

BREAKING NEWS: Breakthrough Entertainment Picks Up Toei Series!

So this morning when a new article about Pretty Cure showed up on our radar, we got excited that maybe a US channel had finally picked it up! Sadly, that was not the case, and it was only a namedrop. Instead, we got a link we couldn't read (and would have had to pay $45 bucks to). So, we decided, it probably wasn't worth it, and we played a few tricks with Google to figure it out. We can say for certainty that Toronto's Breakthrough Entertainment has picked up Toei's short series, Marie and Gali. There are a total of 17 episodes and each one is around 5 minutes long. We posted a lot more about what this series was here in a post about Toei's appearance at MIPCOM not too long ago. This is the second Toei property to be picked up by a Canadian production company (the first being Pretty Cure). As of this writing we have no access to a press release or a news article of any kind, so we don't know what will happen to this series (if it goes to broadcast, where it can be seen, etc.). We will try our hardest to get you more information!

North American VA Update: July 2009!

Hi Moonies! We've got another North American VA exclusive for you all at the end (we always save the best things for last)!

The Death of Alice Blue to Finally Have Canadian Premiere!

A movie we have been following for a very long time is finally going to premiere in its home country! The Death of Alice Blue (part I - The Bloodsucking Vampires of Advertising) has been invited for its Canadian premiere to the Montreal World Film Festival. This one runs from August 27th to September 7th, and we'd tell you more except that as of this writing none of the films showing this year have been announced on the site. We wonder if any of the VAs in this one (Barbara Radecki, Katie Griffin and her husband Michael Kulas) are going to attend? Congratulations to Park Bench and Alex Appel for finally getting this movie a premiere in Canada and here's hoping it gets a distributor so the rest of us can see it soon!

A Sapphire Shines Again!

Lyon Smith (Prince Sapphire) shared some news and stories with us! He has his own official site now which we encourage fans to go visit - he posts a lot of really cool links to his works too! While his time on Sailor Moon wasn't as pleasant as many fans may think it might have been, he is also excited about a possible redub and if he was given the chance he would do it again! Hey FUNImation, are you reading this? Consider Canada for a re-dub! This is our second official VA that has confirmed to be interested in reprising their role for a re-dub of Sailor Moon (this is great news for Operation Moonrise)! Some fans may not know this behind-the-scenes story, but when Lyon was first cast he was called in to replace Tuxedo Mask. It was his first series that he had landed as a regular! At the time though, production was too intense (and we've heard similar stories from other actors from those first years). But the show did launch his voice career, and since then he has voiced memorable roles in other anime, cartoons and video games! He played Pythias in Mythic Warriors: Guardians of Legend, the Mysterious Guy in Biohazard 0, Kevin and Michael in Beyblade, Ed in Get Ed, Magma in Spider Riders, and he is currently appearing in Bakugan Battle Brawlers which has been a huge hit with the kids all over North America! In the first season he played Masquerade, and in the second season (which is recording right now) he plays Prince Hydron. And this prince's voice is based on none other, but the Japanese voice of Prince Diamond! We really admire Lyon Smith for watching episodes of Sailor Moon in Japanese - we're not sure how many others have (we know Roland Parliament did for sure). He will be reprising his role as Masquerade for the upcoming Bakugan video game. And there's even more Lyon to be heard in CBC's Magi-Nation - he plays the hero, Tony Jones! In another awesome coincidence, Lyon was also a student of Roland's!

Lyon Smith is also a budding musician - he writes his own music and also helps out with sound design for plays in Toronto. He currently composed music and worked sound design for the play A Singularity of Being, which is loosely based on the life of Steven Hawking. Lyon's music is really worth checking out if you're into alternative rock! He covered the song You Believe in Rock and Roll for a David Bowie tribute album (2.CONTAMINATE) which is on iTunes. He has his own site for fans to check out his music - and altrock fans will take a liking! There's even a bit of experimental and mashing in there too. And best of all, all the music is free! He is also on MySpace as well. We once again encourage all our readers to check out his music.

Special thanks to Lyon and best of luck on your upcoming works!

Canadians, Please Support Local TV!

This article is just for our Canadian readers. By now you’ve probably seen one of the several commercials CTV is running about saving local TV stations, and tomorrow is a national day of action. We here at Moon Chase encourage you to get involved! Still a little confused about what’s going on? We’re going to break it down for you.

For at least a decade, local TV stations such as CTV, Global, A-Channel, NTV, and CBC have been in trouble. Cable and Satellite TV providers in Canada transmit local TV signals, however none of the sometimes astronomical fees you pay each month on your bill go back to your local station. These stations have largely had to rely on revenues from advertisers on the air and on the internet, however it is just not enough and every local TV station is facing a crisis as we speak. Twice in the last few months these stations have all appealed to the CRTC asking for Cable and Satellite TV providers to pay them a fee-for-carriage (essentially the companies have to pay the stations for retransmitting their signals and programming), but unfortunately the CRTC has denied their requests. Currently in the United States, there is a fee-for-carriage system and cable providers have the right to drop a TV station if they cannot come to an agreement. CTV is also calling for a review of how cable and satellite companies bundle and bill customers for channels in an effort to protect consumers. CTV has stated that they do not want the customers to pay, the want the companies to pay.

On a side note , think about your cable bill. You pay a rental fee each month for a digital box just to access regular cable, and it’s likely that you have a few theme packages added to your extended cable so you can enjoy many of the current TV and movie hits (Movie Central, The Movie Network, Super Channel, and The CW all come to mind). And most providers in Canada charge you extra per month if you want a box that has a personal video recorder included. Some cable companies in Canada don’t have the technology in place where one box can power all the TVs in your house. So if you have two televisions, you need two boxes, etc. You would think that the cable company just gets revenue from your box rentals, and the rest goes to the channels you pay for. However, that is not the case with local TV stations. Only specialty channels get anything back from your cable bill.

Tomorrow, CTV and A-Channel stations across the country will be having an open house. There will be teams of tour guides showing the public how local TV is made, and they will also show you all the departments in the station. The stations will also have old clips, milestones, and memorabilia from the past on display. There will also likely be petitions to sign, and contacts handed out for your local MP and other noteworthy people in Parliament to contact. Furthermore, CTV Newsnet will be airing a 2 hour live special starting at 1PM Eastern with footage from the day’s events at all 16 CTV and A-Channel stations having open houses. For more information, visit CTV's campaign site, and choose your local station from the map.

As of this writing, CTV is the only station which is rallying up public interest of this issue. I’m sure at one time or another we have all needed CTV’s help in our communities to get the word out about certain events - I know last year that was it not for a TV appearance for a biology expo that I was involved with, we would not have had such a successful turnout. Over the years they have been around helping out for local charity events as well - and their news personalities have always been great to deal with, always going above and beyond to make sure they have every detail.

Readers, if you can attend their open houses tomorrow, please do. If not, please write Prime Minister Stephen Harper , the CRTC, and the Minister of Heritage, James Moore. Local stations are such an important part of Canadian television and they need to be saved!

Flashpoint Season Finale Tomorrow!

Or today depending if it's Friday when you read this! We'll be done our work for Animazement really soon - and that's why there hasn't been many updates during the week. Anyway, Tomorrow/Today's Flashpoint will be the last one for a long time. The remaining episodes from what we have read will be used for a third season, which hasn't been set in stone yet so as of this writing we can't tell you how many more episodes there will be. We feel that the show is being cut short since we were promised 18 episodes in Season 2 last year by both CTV and CBS, and now it's down to 13. At the same time, we predict that these 13 + the 5 remaining episodes will likely make up Season 2 in international markets. It's really a shame that the international markets get all of the episodes intended for each season yet they are aired out of whack back home. And still no word of a DVD release. At this rate, we're going to have to look into importing the SRU from either Britain or Australia. It's our convoluted solution, akin to the lengths the team has to go through sometimes to solve a crisis! *Sigh* Canadians isn't this almost turning into the crisis with ADV's release of Sailor Moon? It was so sad that a show dubbed in Canada was not widely released leaving many fans having to go buy them online from US stores. And it's almost the same situation here. Nonetheless, please tune in tomorrow at the very least to see if Sam and Jules resolve their tension?

Flashpoint Ratings: Friday April 3rd, 2008

Hey Moonies - did anyone catch tonight's episode? Compared to last week's ("Aisle 13"), I thought it returned back to its old glory. I wasn't a fan of last week's episode, and it will probably top my list of worst episodes of Flashpoint - of which there is only one more on that list, "Backwards Day". I wasn't entirely convinced by Kristin Booth's performance. Tonight's episode, "The Perfect Family" had one of the saddest twists in the entire series, and in another twist, Donna (the team's newest member) chickens out when she is told to shoot. Not spoiling anymore, west coasters please watch this when it airs! Tonight's Dollhouse was the first good episode of the series' entire run so far. Perhaps because this episode's writer is the only writer so far to have written two episodes (every episode has had a different writer). There are only 3 episodes left, and two others which were made and will probably never come to air. It's our opinion, along with many other critics that the show will be canceled, and Flashpoint will likely be given a green light for another season. Variety is also calling that the show will survive another season since it is a co-production and cheaper for the network.

Last week's ratings weren't stellar, but they were still great enough to earn the top spot in its timeslot, and helped CBS win the night in the US, even though there were no winners since no show last week cracked a 2.0/6 rating with the 18-49 demo. The show scored 8.64 million viewers, and a 1.8/6. In Canada, the show was the 12th most watched show of the week, scoring 1.346 million viewers. Flashpoint was also a good luck charm for CTV's premiere of Spectacle: Elvis Costello With... which scored 861,000 viewers. Season 2 is expected to film throughout the summer until August 4th. Click here to read a fan's experience on the set, and among other spoilers, it appears a future episode will deal with high school bullying.

Flashpoint News Roundup - April 2009!

In the last few days, a few news stories have popped up - some highs, some lows, and another set of DVDs?!

Flashpoint DVD Boxset to Hit Oz!

Soon after we post a story reminding our readers in Britain the show is going to be released on DVD within weeks, we learn of an Australian release! A boxset will be released in Australia two days after the boxset is released in Britain (April 16th). We’re actually surprised to read this since we have read elsewhere that the ratings for the show in Australia haven’t been phenomenal (perhaps due to some fault on the Nine Network’s end for lack of promotion, airing of episodes out of order, and sporadic scheduling). The ratings in New Zealand are better, and we are hoping to hear soon that they will pick up the second season. We even found what we think is a fan-made bumper sticker for the show in NZ! This release has a different cover than the British one, and features the slogan used on Alchemy TV’s Sales Flyer. We like the British cover better - it’s a lot more elusive with it’s blue shadows. The boxset is a little more pricier than the British version, and it looks like this one is going to have episodes only over 4 discs without any extras. If any of our Australian or New Zealander readers manage to get a copy of this, we’d love to hear what you think of the release!

CBS Cuts Funding

The economic crisis is hitting everything and anything, and we’re getting a little tired. We on staff really hope this is fixed up soon. Canadian TV Broadcaster CBC dealt the Canadian and US TV industry a major blow last week when they announced major layoffs, reduced episodes of hit series, and the cancellation of their broadcasts of reruns of The Simpsons, as well as Martha Stewart’s talk show. CTV, Flashpoint’s parent broadcaster in Canada, has not announced any major national cuts, but has announced cuts for regional stations. CBS on the other hand, has asked all shows being renewed (unsure if Flashpoint is one of them as of this writing) to reduce their budgets for next year, and this may mean smaller writing staffs. Flashpoint has quite a writing staff, and from what we have read before, their work is always collaborative. We believe each writer on that show brings something unique to the table, and the show won’t be the same without them. It’s rumored that the show costs anywhere between 1.6-2 million dollars an episode to make, and since this is a co-production, we don’t know how the balance of the funds work on the show, and how funding would be affected from CBS’s end. This news is a little unsettling, and we can only hope that those in power around the world can come up with a solution to this crisis.

Other News Shots:

☽ Flashpoint along with other cop procedurals such as CSI and Law & Order has kept CBS at the top of the ratings for Primetime Drama. Two new shows are going to make an attempt to steal CBS' thunder, The Unusuals on ABC in the US and Global in Canada, and Southland on NBC in the US and CTV in Canada (not that CTV really needs to worry since it is host to Flashpoint).

☽ Hugh Dillon's official website has a lot of cool promotional videos posted in the media section, as does his other website.