Voice Actor Impostor Saga Has an Almost Happy Ending

Do you know who this woman is? Read below for the final chapter in what has become one of the biggest scandals to rock the Sailor Moon fandom this year!

EDIT (May 29th): The Impostor has finally come forward, and has notified the woman in the false images. We have removed the images now that this mystery is solved, and we will have more to share with you later.



I promised you a bombshell last week, and here it comes. Last year, when I was trying to put things together for the Operation Moonrise campaign and asking Roland Parliament about specific companies involved, he told me that I’d make a great Detective or Investigative Journalist. I kind of agreed with the journalist part, but not so much the detective part as I couldn’t see myself solving any real mysteries. Little did I know less than a year later, I’d be filling that Detective role.

You all probably know most of the story by now. Tuesday, March 30th – I get home after a long day at school, only to find that there’s an e-mail waiting for me from the representatives of Sarah Lafleur asking me to take down a reference to an upcoming interview from an impostor. I write up something quick for the website and leave it to my staff to clear up anything related to this impostor, as I head off to an event feeling a little paralyzed. After years of earning the trust of the other actors I do know, I wondered how I fell for this. But, I am only human, and I will do my best to help fix this situation. I sent every email I had from the impostor to the reps in an effort to help their investigation. I felt for her, Sarah had worked really hard to come up in entertainment, and she has had a string of appearances on big productions in the last few years. It can be difficult for Canadian stars to make it big in Hollywood, but she managed to do it. When I heard that she was going to be on multiple episodes of Ugly Betty last year, I was so glad that an actor who worked on Sailor Moon had come so far! Never mind our reputation with the fans, companies, and other important people involved, but her reputation was also becoming just as damaged (if not more) with these false stories going around.

A week later, a comment on the site frustrates me. A fan says that the blonde we had featured on the site was not Linda Ballantyne at all. At this point, after all of the stuff we had to deal with, I was ready to just chalk this up to a fan just being mean and questioning our accuracy. Though, I did have a hunch go through my mind that maybe I should go back and check the emails I got from Linda. Comparing these headers to the ones on the Sarah Lafleur emails, one very crucial piece of information was common between the two. I couldn’t believe it. I thought, that I would call up Linda’s agent in the morning and get a few things on the site verified oficially. I didn’t want to remove it just yet because I wanted her representatives to see it first.

I had a window of about an hour of free time to make the call, and I was nervous. Thankfully, it wasn't as nerve wracking as some of the first phone calls I had made before sending out the reports for Operation Moonrise. Her agent was super friendly, and did verify that we were dealing with an impostor. We exchanged emails, and I sent everything I had and started to take the Linda posts off the site. I felt for Linda too, because the images we got from the impostor weren’t very professional looking at all. She was shown with a beer at a party, and bowling, and actors rarely ever share personal images like this. And the story about her yelling at a grocery store cashier was probably fake. It was while I was sorting through these emails, that I had a sudden rush of adrenaline come through me and in my mind I thought “NO ONE @#$%! WITH SAILOR MOON ON MY WATCH!” I halted everything, and thought I’d try to solve this mystery of who this impostor might be with all the evidence I had - the one common thread between the two emails, and another tiny piece on what the document properties of the fake Linda Ballantyne interview told me. A couple hours later, I had nailed it. I figured out who it was (with the assistance of some others to verify my hunch was correct - thank you for your help). As soon as I shot off the emails, I called up Linda’s agent again to tell her I had figured out who it was, and it was then that I got the best surprise – Linda was willing to do the interview! I was relieved, that finally I could bring some good news to the fans after a rough couple of weeks. An hour later, I went and I called up Sarah Lafleur’s agent to share that I had figured this out. Sometimes, it takes a lot of convincing to these people that you aren’t a deranged fan but someone who has a legitimate concern, and I really hope that they don’t look down on us or the rest of their actress’ fans because of this. The vast majority of fans aren't crazy like this person was at all.

I have since told every VA that I know to contact Twitter and get a couple names reserved to prevent this from happening, and I sincerely apologized that this happened at all. I have since decided that for every new interview that we are offered, I am going to take extra measures to make sure I am dealing with the real person. For any one else involved with the show that reads this site (I do know of a few of you!) that has not contacted us, please have you, your agents, or other representatives reserve your names on Twitter, you can do this without having to sign up for an account. I don’t want to see this person do it again (and I do think this person would try to do this again some time from now).

Now, as for the impostor, I am sure word of this post will get to you somehow. And don't try to deny that it wasn't you (or come up with some other crazy excuse), we have a lot of solid proof that it was you that did this, so don't try to hide. No, I’m not going to name you on this site. But, I will say this to you. This act of yours was pretty low. And, we thought that you couldn’t stoop any lower especially given how you continued to label us as liars all over the internet after we had officially debunked a rumor you had started years ago. You fought hell and high water to convince all the fans that you were the one that was telling the truth, in spite of our many phone calls and other investigations to prove that your little rumor was not true at all. No, I’m not going to link users to those posts on this subject or they will instantly know who you are. I believe that you should be the one that reveals yourself to the fans, and everyone else involved in this scandal for what you have done. Don't dismiss what we are about to tell you as rubbish.

And, here’s what you need to do (and you have to do this because you've caused too much damage):

1. Apologize to me, and the rest of the staff of Moon Chase for what you did. We’ll probably never know the reason why you picked these stars to impersonate, but given our reputation with a lot of movers and shakers involved with Sailor Moon, we had to work very hard to fix the damage you caused us. We were lucky enough that with a lot of hard work everyone was sympathetic this time, but the next time we have to clean up your mess, you could ruin it not just for us but for every other fan of Sailor Moon.

2. Apologize to the two stars you victimized. Do this publicly, or contact us and we will forward your apologies to the relevant parties. And be sincere about it, no simple sorries. You hurt the reputation of two stars, and maybe you don’t understand what this means in the entertainment industry. And you stole their identities. How would you feel if someone pretended to be you for a few months and started to write fake stories about you all over? A lot of important people use our site as a measure of fan buzz around certain projects or an actor, so try putting yourself in this position. How would you feel if a potential employer based their professional image of you on phony stories posted on the internet?

You also owe an apology to the other stars of Sailor Moon that you interacted with and pretended to be these people to. You took the camaraderie between the cast for granted. Not even I try to pretend to be "part of the cast" when I communicate with any of them. It is very likely that you are making them think twice about the kinds of fans that they communicate and interact with. Again, when you are ready with your words, forward them to us and we will send them to their representatives.

3. Apologize to the blonde woman whose photo you used mercilessly to portray Linda Ballantyne. We don't know who she is, but we're betting she's someone close that you know based on the photos we have seen of her at a birthday party and bowling. Perhaps, you are alright with having your own photo plastered around as a celebrity to give you more attention, but others are most definitely not, in an industry where image is VERY important. You have hurt her identity as well, because now it is possible that she will be recognized as Linda Ballantyne, and not for her real identity. There are still some images of this blonde woman being passed around the internet as the real Linda Ballantyne, and it will be very difficult to remove all of them given the nature of the internet. This damage that you have caused is a lot more severe than you will ever understand. Tell her that the photos you posted of her are going to be displayed as official images on several sites for Linda Ballantyne, so that when you or her see it, you can get them removed. Because, this person could also be charged with identity theft even though it was you that posted the image (still want to hide and let people that don't even know you did this suffer?). We're not going to clean up this mess for you. It's about time you took some responsibility for your actions. In case you have forgotten whose image you used, we've amalgamated all of them into one for you below. Likewise, if any of our readers know the identity (and also contact information) of this woman please let us know so that we can tell her what this impostor has done. We will remove these images once this woman has been identified and notified of what has happened (As of May 29th, we have been notified that she has been notified).

4. This, you must do too. Apologize to all of the fans you have led for a ride with the various rumors about Sailor Moon you have started, and maintained were true even in the face of legitimate evidence that you were the one who was lying. Of course though, you’ve been doing this for years, and we don’t know if you will ever stop. Know now, that we are watching everything that you are saying and we will always be there to get official statements from relevant parties debunking your rumors. The next time we hear of a sensational rumor, you will be at the top of our list of people who we think started it.

5. Never do anything like this EVER again. All parties from all sides are watching what is going on. The situation is very serious, and if you pull anything like this, you will not be the only one that has to pay, but the fans as well. You will ruin the reputation of this site and others, and actors will think twice about interacting with fans because of the damage you have caused. If you want respect from Sailor Moon fans, try being nice for once and not craving attention constantly by posting fake rumors or being "the first" to notice an actor's presence on the internet. You may get more than you ever expected by just being a nice fan.

I can’t report on what action is being taken, but that all of the evidence I have has been passed on to representatives of both actresses. The happy ending that I can share with you, is that two weeks ago I received a couple signed photos from Sarah Lafleur in the mail, and a note that simply said “Thanks for all your help!” I have scanned one of the photos for you all to see below. Also through every step of the investigation, Linda as well as her agent have thanked and told me how they appreciated all my sleuthing. This all means a lot to me and my staff, and once again we promise that the next time an opportunity like this rolls around again with an actor we have not previously encountered, we will take measures to ensure we have the real one and not an impostor. I have always felt that I have had a lot to prove when it comes to writing, and I am thankful for everyone who has not lost faith in me, our staff, and our site in the face of what has happened. And Roland, a special thanks to you for encouraging me that I’d make a great detective and investigative journalist. This experience has made me believe it, too.

Please do not repost this image in any form anywhere else.

NA Voice Actor Update for April

Dennis Akayama (Malachite) appears in the film Repo Men, as a doctor. Fans can also see him on TV in Mayday, a show which dramatizes real-life air disasters, as a captain; in Wingin' It, a family comedy about an angel in training, as Mr. Nakamora; and in Warehouse 13 as officer Ogawa. Canadian fans can catch the premiere of Warehouse 13 on April 30th, on City TV. Description of the show from IMDb: "After saving the life of an international diplomat in Washington D.C., a pair of U.S Secret Service agents are whisked away to a covert location in South Dakota that houses supernatural objects that the U.S. Government has collected over the centuries. Their new assignment: retrieve some of the missing objects and investigate reports of new ones."

Emilie-Claire Barlow (Sailor Venus #2) performed "You're Driving Me Crazy" live on Canada AM on Monday, April 12th to celebrate her third Juno nomination. Her performance was delightful and the hosts enjoyed having her on the show again.

Stephanie Beard (Rini #2) will be appearing in an upcoming, untitled Seth Rogen film. The movie is a comedic account of a man's cancer diagnosis and his struggle to beat the disease.

Little Shop of Horrors, featuring Naz Edwards (Queen Beryl) as Audrey II has been extended through May 16th. Fans can catch the show at the Performance Network Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Tracey Hoyt (Rini #1) can be seen in Pure Pwnage as Jeremy's mom. So far, she appears in the first and fifth episodes of this television series about Jeremy, a L33T gamer who lives in his mom's basement and is forced to get a "real" job. Canadian fans can catch the series on Showcase. Episodes are also available for viewing on the Showcase website, make sure to click on Pure Pwnage in the side menu to see all available episodes. This show was previously a popular web series, since 2004.

Tracey Moore (Sailor Moon #1) can be heard in the Care Bears to the Rescue movie. The release date is not yet available, but the movie will be centred around the Care-a-Lot Rescue Awards.

Roland Parliament (Melvin) was nominated for "Educator of the Year" at Niagara College recently and the award ceremony was April 7th. Although he didn't win, he's proud to say that his friend and colleague Barbara Mantini of the Acting for Film and Television program did win. Here's what Roland had to say about it: "That's 6 nominations and 2 awards for our program in only 2 years since its inception. Not bad for a fledgling program in a college with 700 professors! Major kudos to Martin Doyle for having the smarts, guts and determination to convince Niagara College to launch this program."

Alice Poon (Catsy) will be appearing in the upcoming crime drama television series Rookie Blue as a paramedic named Caroline. The show is scheduled to premiere in late June. Fans can also see her in the film Repo Men as a TSA agent.

Operation Moonrise Teaser Featuring... Melvin!

Phase One of Operation Moonrise will be posted later tonight! In the meantime though, we have a special treat for you all! In another special Moon Chase exclusive, Roland Parliament (Melvin, ADR Director) shares some of his experiences on the show , hardships, and some really great stories! Roland has since gone on to teach acting at many schools and venues all across Canada, and also directed the upcoming animated film Ferretina (which features many Sailor Moon voice actors). The following, are his thoughts on the series in his own words.


My favorite episode is "Tuxedo Melvin" (of course) and also the episode when Nephlite died. Mary Long had everyone in the control room in tears over her performance in that one. Very moving.

My favorite parts were working with some fabulous actors especially Terri
Hawkes, Tony Daniels and David Fraser who are VERY creative, and Jeff Lumby
who is very funny. I also loved working with the engineer Sal Grimaldi who
could almost read my mind and was a great guy. I agree that the music was first rate. I also loved the team camaraderie with the cast that existed despite the fact that many of them never met each other until the wrap party!

I also loved the system we used to record known as the "Rhythmoband". It was
weird at first, but once you got the hang of it it was a lot like Karaoke.
It would be too expensive to do it that way today. We would probably use the
"beep" system which is much more tedious and not nearly as much fun.

What I didn't like was working 14-16 hours a day continuously for over 4
months. I didn't eat right, I didn't sleep right, I got very little exercise
and I got bad eye strain as I was parked in front of bright TV monitor all
the time checking for sync. I got very ill after it was all over and it took
a year before I felt right again. Even though I'd love to direct again, I
wouldn't work like that again.

I think the episodes I directed turned out so well because I tried to make
it fun for everyone with jokes and wisecracks, and I let the actors have a
lot of freedom. Because they were all so good (excellent casting on Nicole's
part) they really didn't require much direction and they appreciated being
allowed to interpret as they saw fit.


We'd like to take this time to thank Roland Parliament for his support of this site! We are all hoping for a re-dub that while somehow fixes mistakes in the past, still retains it's original charm. The campaign will begin this evening, keep your eyes peeled on the site!

EDIT: The survey has been posted! CLICK HERE!

Now it's time for the whole staff of Moon Chase to take a nap. We've worked non-stop for the last few days on all of this zzzzzz...

For Those Of You Who Missed Animazement

This post has JPEG versions of all our slides and all our major announcements made at our presentation at Animazement! As much as I really wanted to be there, I couldn't - mainly because my schedule didn't permit it, and I would have had to fly there. And as you all know, I absolutely have to get a new laptop (my old faithful isn't going to last much longer) so all my savings are going towards that. This was the first year one of our staffers was attending a con with a Sailor Moon Panel, and having learned a lot from the panel last year (we were the only ones without a powerpoint presentation and most of our points that we had submitted weren't even read) we thought we'd actually make a presentation and have one of our valuable staffers present it. The plan was that I was going to text in the middle of our presentation with a greeting for the fans and a major announcement, but that didn't happen as I ran late running errands and I had to leave to go lend my support to local TV. So, for all of you wondering what this late breaking announcement was:

A Campaign Will Begin At The End Of This Coming Week.

We are working very hard behind the scenes to put this together in phases. However, for those of you who are really wanting to get involved and have your voice heard on more than just polls and surveys, please join our forums. We will only be posting that campaign information there.

We also pledge to you we won't do anything "infamous" like the Pop-Tarts procott (if provoked on the forums, I may share a story of a similar procott I had to do for another organization a long time ago). As much as we can, we staffers will keep you all up to date on what we are doing and how we are doing it.

BUT: we need every fan who has ever watched an English dub of Sailor Moon in their own countries to get involved. Mostly, we want North Americans , but we'll have plenty of things for places like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and everywhere else the English dub aired. And for the rest of you international markets? We will have something for you to do too - don't worry, we aren't forgetting you!

So please, join our forums. Tell all your friends. Tell your friends to tell their friends. Post links in your sigs on any forums your on with a short sentence like "Hey, Remember Sailor Moon? I sure do and I'd love to have it back! Join me on the Moon Chase Forums!" and add a link. If you have a blog or a site, please link us. We need all the fans we can get to make this a success!

And now, our presentation which we have aptly titled: Moon Beams! Powerpoint chopped off the bottom of my slides when it converted them to JPEG.

Slide 1: Title and names of staff.










Slide 2: Naoko Takeuchi and Yoshihiro Togashi

Yoshihiro Togashi

☽ It’s been too long since we’ve heard from him, he came back twice last year in ten week increments to publish new chapters of Hunter X Hunter. Hunter X Hunter is also getting the Sailor Moon remix treatment as new volumes were released last year with improved drawings.

☽ On the bright side, Yu Yu Hakusho will released (by Bandai) in Japan on Blu-Ray this October and is predicted to be a hot seller! No word on Sailor Moon coming to Blu-Ray. We’re saving our pennies for the day though!

☽ He wrote about Naoko seeing a monkey in their garden last November. His short message read "My wife saw a monkey in the garden. He escaped to the junior high school in the neighborhood after that. The people in the junior high school have seen that monkey recently, even though we live in the same neighborhood and just noticed it now." Yoshihiro also thanked his fans for their patience, and says that his drawing skills are getting strong again. He is also on some sort of diet that requires him to get 10,000 steps a day and he plays outside with his son a lot. He also said to his fans that it was inexcusable for them to have had to wait this long for the manga to return, but at the same time we’re wondering what’s going on since we haven’t heard anything this year.

Naoko Takeuchi
☽ In January, Sailor Moon Channel posted a picture of Naoko and a short message and drawing from her visit to the Bandai Toy Factory last October. Our favorite part of this post wasn’t the picture that was posted, but the heading "Sometimes Naoko Takeuchi as Princess Naoko shows her nerd side to the public in photos!". She is looking well and we hope to hear more of her again!'

Slide 3:

Naoko Takeuchi

☽ Frequent Sailor Moon Cosplaying Idol Shoko Nakagawa has also ventured into manga, and revealed that she was partly inspired by Naoko’s work. One of her mangas, Noko no Koi is about a girl raised without love who is saved by a mysterious figure. The other one is Sukashikashipan-Man (sand dollar man) who looks like most tokusatsu heroes.

☽ Naoko was also cited as a major figure in the history of Girls Novels in Japan when they took a turn from being all about romance to being about the friendships between girls. Sailor Moon was a brilliant example of the power of friendship overcoming everything (when all the senshi fought together, they were unstoppable)! To all the girls who read these manga, every character is strong and brave for who they are in their personalities, and they inspire every girl to be true to themselves and to have a good heart.

Slide 4:

Toei Animation:

☽ Pretty Cure has been given a second chance in the North American market. When 4kids lost the license to the showin 2008 without doing anything with it, Toei took the show upon themselves. The English dub is produced by both Toei and the Ocean Group, and as of this writing can only be seen on Canada’s YTV. Fans outside of Canada can watch it if you know where to look (wink wink nudge nudge - we can’t tell you to be fair to the companies!) We really recommend it though - the dub really reminds us all of what Sailor Moon should have been like in it’s heyday.

☽ There is still no word about any future plans for Sailor Moon. However, Toei did launch their own on demand service in North America, initially on Direct2Drive, later adding crunchyroll and Vuze (formerly Azureus). They also entered a digital partnership with Funimation on distribution of their series. Though Sailor Moon scored the highest in a survey of potential series for this service in North America by a longshot, it remains to be seen if the series will be added. Toei hasn’t completely ignored Sailor Moon - the show is often mentioned in their short “About Our Company” blurbs.

☽ If fans want to see Toei expand their ondemand service, please support them - right now this is the best any Sailor Moon fan can do. Toei is just starting out on it’s own in North America and if their ondemand service gets more popular, who knows what series they may add next! Toei, if you bring Sailor Moon back, we’ll forgive the atrocity that was Dragonball Evolution!

Sailordees' Note: Of Course, everything changed a few days before this was presented. Fans should still support their service though!

Slide 5:

Geneon:

☽This story completely missed our radar and we didn’t notice it until just a few weeks ago. Though, this did happen in February which is starting to look like the busiest month of the year outside of Moon Chase for us all. If you visit the site you’ll see that this and last February had barely any posts.

☽ As some of you may recall, Geneon folded and left the North American anime industry in late 2007. However, the company hasn’t necessarily been asleep. Many of their former titles were picked up by Funimation, and their titles through Bandai Visual Entertainment were picked up by Bandai Entertainment. We also learned that New Generation Pictures, which was involved with the dubbing, subtitling, and translation of quite a few Geneon series has managed to compensate for their losses by getting a ton of video game work! And we just found out that ADV will be re-releasing the first Appleseed Movie, which was once a Geneon property.

☽ In November of last year, Dentsu (Geneon’s parent company) announced that it was selling 80.1% of its ownership in the company to NBC Universal's Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPI). UPI in turn, merged the company with its Universal Pictures Japan division to form a new company, and on February 1st of this year, Geneon Universal Entertainment Japan (GUEJ) was born! GUEJ has released some titles on Blu-Ray (in conjunction with RONDO ROBE, the new name for Pioneer Animation, a label under the Geneon umbrella specifically for animation and related entertainment) including ef - a tale of memories, Fate/stay night, and To Aru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index) and Card Captor Sakura (which just got a big Blu-Ray boxset)! We also spotted a few soundtracks and other music CDs.We were excited to read this and we really hope that someday this will mean that Geneon will come back to North America. Their reps were always the friendliest at cons and they really did a lot with their fans. A few independent anime store owners that we have spoken to preferred Geneon’s pricing strategies in the past, and they aren’t fans of Funimation’s pricing or release strategies. For example , Ouran High School Host Club was released in two volumes of 13 episodes each, priced at 60 dollars a volume. Many stores also find Funimation releases are more pricier than others.



Slide 6: NA Voicestars:

☽ Stephanie Morgenstern’s (Sailor Venus #1) TV Series Flashpoint is still the biggest story of the year . She created the show, writes, and produces the show along with her husband, Mark Ellis. The show is going to get picked up for a third season by CBS , and airs in many international markets such as the UK, New Zealand, Poland, and Latin America. The show has been nominated for a few TV awards in Canada.

☽ Two other VAs were featured on the show as well - Alice Poon (Catsy) in the episode “Attention Shoppers” and Robert Bockstael (Prince Diamond) in “Haunting the Barn”.

☽ The show is only on DVD in the UK and Australia, and is available on iTunes in Canada. As of this writing , the episodes are only available streaming through CBS.com in the United States.

☽ And here is our big announcement at the con this year - Moon Chase will be starting a blog devoted to Flashpoint, and the two blogs will be networked as part of the Moon Chase Blog Network. Sailordees has read fan input and will only post specific flashpoint stories which directly relate to Stephanie Morgenstern. Flashpoint is one of the top reasons why our readership has increased over the last year, however many fans feel that we are covering this more than other stories. The blog has a really great name, but we can’t tell you what that is right now. The only hint we can give you is that it comes from a line said a few times each episode by members of the cast. Keep your eyes on the site for more information!

Slide 7:

☽ Two years after moving to Hollywood, things are finally starting to look up for Stephanie Beard (Rini #2) and we are so glad - she has been through too much in the last two years! She appeared on King of the Hill a few weeks ago playing a trendy teenager who just wanted a normal, classy cotillion. Her name was Michael Savage (named after the infamous personality of the same name), and she was royally embarassed by Bobby and Peggy hill when they showed up in grungey gangster clothes. The show is streaming on Fox.com for fans who want to check it out.

☽ Stephanie Beard also wrote to us exclusively with the news that she is indeed in a scene in the upcoming Adam Sandler movie, Funny People. She is sitting next to him in a Thanksgiving Dinner scene, but she isn’t sure if they cut that scene out or not. So when the movie is out in July, please go see it and look for Stephanie!

Slide 8:

☽ Emilie-Claire Barlow (Sailor Venus #2) released her 7th jazz album Haven’t We Met. The album is really good and Sailordees is very close to posting a review of it. Emilie-Claire has roles in two popular Canadian cartoons, 6teen and Total Drama Island. The shows have become so popular internationally , and you guys can actually check these shows out on Cartoon Network! She also has a large fanbase of her music in Japan and travels there once a year to perform at Tokyo’s legendary Cotton Club. In fact, she just announced that she will be appearing there again in August! She was featured in a few news articles in Japan which praised her not only for her voice, but for her production and arrangement skills - something few female jazz vocalists do! Last year she won a National Jazz Award in Canada for Female Jazz Vocalist of the year. She was nominated for the same award this year, but didn’t win. She continues her cross-Canada tour in support of her latest album.


Slide 9:

☽ Roland Parliament (Melvin and ADR Director) is now teaching at Niagara College’s Acting for Film and Video program. Roland has always been teaching students everything from voice acting, to audition preparedness, to skills for radio and marketing. He loves to teach students and he is still hard at work on a textbook all about voice!

☽ Jill Frappier’s (Luna) Dragontrails Drama has helped many kids make it big in the entertainment industry! Dragontrails is a special drama school where kids learn all about acting, movement, and fighting skills in Toronto. Kids who have gone there have gone on to star in films and TV shows like Cinderella Man, A History of Violence, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Law and Order, and even Flashpoint. In fact, one of the girls who is making her name in Canadian entertainment is Hannah Endicott-Douglas, who last year starred as Anne in a brand new Anne of Green Gables movie on CTV, as well as starring in an episode of Flashpoint - “Planets Aligned”. Jill has a lot of really cool programs for kids at her school from those who want to act professionally to those who just want to do it for fun!

- Sarah Lafleur (Sailor Uranus) had a major role this season on Ugly Betty as Molly, the love interest of Daniel Meade, the editor of Mode. We’ve caught a couple episodes this season and we have come to love her character. She is sweet, humble, charming and seems like the perfect woman for Daniel!

Slide 10:

☽ Megumi Hayashibara (Himeko in S Movie) and Hikaru Midorikawa (Ail, Fiore) returned to their roles as Lina Inverse and Zelgadiss Graywords in Slayers Revolution and Slayers Evolution-R (to be released by Funimation sometime in 2010).

☽ Michie Tomizawa (Sailor Mars) came out of retirement at an anime festival in Nakano last fall. She appeared at a special talkshow event at Anime Bunkasai last September and answered questions from fans who wanted to know more about being a Seiyuu!

☽ Toru Furuya (Tuxedo Kamen) continues to make appearances at Intel, Gundam, and other anime-related events. He’s quite the geek, maintaining his own website, and even dressing up as Ray Amuro.

Slide 11:

☽ Anza Oyama (First Sera Myu Sailor Moon) joined Japanese rock band Vitamin Q and released an album with them late last year. Vitamin Q is a much softer rock band compared to her heavy metal band, Head Phones President!

☽ Yuu Shirota (Sixth Sera Myu Tuxedo Kamen) is currently appearing on J-Drama Tenchijin on NHK . The show started in January and will run until November. The story centers on Naoe Kanetsugu, a loyal and devoted samurai in Echigo Province in the 16th century. Kanetsugu was trained in his early childhood by Uesugi Kenshin and after his death, served Kenshin's adopted son Kagekatsu and is known for his extreme loyalty to the Uesugi family. He also made every effort to protect the people of Echigo with a strong sense of justice and genuine sympathy toward commoners.

☽ Miyuki Kanbe (Third Sera Myu Sailor Moon) tragically passed away last June of sudden heart failure. She continues to be missed by Sailor Moon fans, her colleagues, fellow actors, friends, and family. Her death was one of the most popular news stories for some months afterwards and fans are still shocked and saddened by the news. Two weeks before she passed away, she had talked with her agent about acting again, as well as expanding into the fashion industry. She had so much ahead of her, and this was truly a tragedy. We still send our condolences and prayers to her family

Slide 12:

Sorry we don’t have more, there probably is more but we barely have time to cover everything that we’d like to. Sailordees also lost many of her important links to keep up with the actors during one of her several laptop meltdowns in the last few months. Now that we have a new writer we’re still trying to organize the site and hopefully divvy up who writes up what. We’re always looking for more writers and if you are interested in giving us a hand please send us an email - moonchasers@gmail.com.

Slide 13:

☽ Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars) and Mew Azama (Sailor Jupiter) are now college graduates. Keiko earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce, and Mew earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Academic Advising and Career Counseling.

☽ Rika Izumi (Sailor Mercury) returned to the idol industry last year. She was in a movie called Clearness, appears occasionally in Ray magazine, and was featured asa beautiful woman in a ramen commercial for Nissin!

☽ Kappei Yamaguchi (Artemis) returned to his role of Goku, for the Japanese dub of Dragonball Evolution. The movie was not well received there either. In fact, probably the only good thing about it was the Japanese theme song "Rule" by J-pop queen Ayumi Hamasaki.

Slide 14:

A short profile of Keiko Han (We provided this because they were not able to attend, and we had dug up some interesting information on them that we thought we'd share with fans!)

☽ Keiko Han: Born April 5, 1953 in Tokyo, Japan.
☽ Not only a seiyuu, but a fortune teller too! She has written five books about astrology, including a Hello Kitty themed book in 2000 about the Chinese Zodiac. We kid you not! We’ve added the only picture of it that we could find.
☽ She is a veteran seiyuu having starred in over 30 different anime alone!
☽ Played Luna and Queen Beryl in the anime, and played Luna in PGSM.
☽ Is also famous for her role in Mobile Suit Gundam as Lalah Sune.
☽ Like the English voice of Luna, she is also an acting instructor ! She teaches voice to college students at Tokyo Media Academy
☽ Currently appearing as a narrator in Tytania. This series is a space opera about people who try to liberate the galaxy from the rule of the Tytania-clan and seek refuge with a rebel force.

Slide 15:

☽ Yasuo Yamaguchi: Born sometime in 1935 on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture.
☽ Began working for Toei Animation in 1958, was an assistant director by 1963 and later transferred to production. He has been with Toei for almost their entire existence, Toei began in 1956.
☽ Worked on many series including Maple Town, Getter Robo, King Kong, and Candy Candy. Maybe some of you remember watching Maple Town in the 80s on Nickelodeon?
☽ Candy Candy was his first foray into anime aimed at girls – the story goes that he was the only producer left that Toei could ask to work on it. He really didn’t want to work on a girly anime!


Slide 16:

☽ As Chief of the production section, he produced Sailor Moon.
☽ After he retired in the 90s, he became an adjunct professor at Tokai university, and researched digital anime making processes for the Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry.
☽ He now serves as the chairman of a Canada- Japan content forum, and is the interim executive director of the Japan Video Association.
☽ The "Canada-Japan Content Forum" was established and officially started its activities on January 1, 2008 with the aim of expanding exchanges between Canada and Japan in the field of digital content. The CJCF conducts activities to promote exchanges between Canada and Japan in the sector of digital and traditional content including video games, animation, mobile content, Internet content, music, film, drama, TV programs, photography, etc. The animation scene in Canada is just starting to boom with many programs making it big around the world, and perhaps there is something for Canada to learn from Japan since they have been animating for much longer!
☽ He is a founder of the Toei Animation Research Center.
☽ On May 4th, called for major changes to improve the Japanese and the North American Anime Industry , saying that the anime industry bubble has burst. Citing the worldwide economic troubles and Japan's own specific problems, Yamaguchi says that the number of anime programs in 2000 was 124, and had more than doubled in 2006-- 306 –but that it has been dropping, down to 288 in 2008. He also notes that anime companies tend to keep chugging out the same moe and mech materials, something many of us have complained about at some point or another. Fansubs and poor management of overseas distribution are also cited. That last point about overseas distribution has been something we here at Moon Chase have been vocal about for a while.

Slide 17:

Keiko and Yasuo stuff: See them next year, we hope.








Slide 18:

BREAKING NEWS:

☽ Please visit our site as soon as possible. Funimation has posted a survey asking for fan input on a re-dub of Sailor Moon. As of this writing we do not know if Funimation has any rights to Sailor Moon, however they are holding the majority of Toei’s North American licenses. We also don’t know if any of this includes the lost episodes, specials, or Sailor Stars.

☽ We have posted information about the poll and facts that fans should consider when making their comments to Funimation. Please read our article before you answer the survey so you know about the issues surrounding this.

☽ This is exciting news and all of us on staff are currently planning a campaign to further get our voices heardfrom both Funimation and Toei beyond this poll.

☽ We will only be posting campaign information on our forums, so if you are interested please join us! moonchase.freeforums.org

☽ Campaign Information Will Not Be Posted on the Site. This is because it is a lot easier to manage the action through the forums, and we don’t want to have our posts turn into one long discussion thread that may really veer off topic .Campaign Information will only be visible to members who have joined our forums.

☽ Our forums are dying for people to post! We’re really trying to make the site more interactive than our front page comments. The site gets between 100-200 hits a day from all over the world and it just seems that the same few people are always commenting, and we are sure that most of our readers probably want to interact with other readers. We’ve already got a pretty cool 3 word RPG thread and we’d like it if more people participated!

☽ We have a lot of really big things planned this summer, so stay tuned!

Slide 19:

Any Questions?

- Thanks for your time and for visiting Moon Chase!

BREAKING NEWS: Funimation Asks About Possible Redub of Sailor Moon

Special thanks to our seasonal writer Starcat and her buddy Furu for bringing this to my attention just a few minutes ago!

Funimation's Blog The Funimation Update posted a survey yesterday asking for fan inputs about new series in Japan. One of these options is a possible redub of Sailor Moon. Fans, please VOTE SAILOR MOON. However, we would encourage you leave your opinion on the facts we are about to present to you at the bottom of the page in question 5. We have provided you an image of where Sailor Moon is located in the survey (Questions 3 & 4)

- Funimation would likely use their own dub artists for the show. We here at Moon Chase really don't want to see this. The VAs of the original dub in Toronto all worked really, really hard to make the characters who they were and they really put Canada on the map for anime dubs. The show was also one of the big spark plugs that started the whole anime boom in the late nineties. To lose the majority of this cast would be devastating. These are voices that we all grew to know and a few of them have even expressed interest in returning to their roles if there was a redub or lost episodes dubbed. Now, let's look at Pretty Cure. Toei is collaborating on the dub with Ocean Studios, and this partnership has produced wonderful results. Every episode that we have watched brings a happy tear to our eyes because this really is a dub to be proud of , hardly any cuts have been made. And it brings a sad tear to our eye because Sailor Moon never had this chance.

So please, if you want to see your old familiar voices have another chance at your favorite character in Sailor Moon, let Funimation know at the bottom who you enjoyed and that you would want to see a redub featuring the old stars.

On a side note, we'd also like to have Roland Parliament also have at the very least some input in the production. He worked extremely hard given the pressures he had from Optimum Productions to make certain edits to the series, to direct what we think were the best episodes of the series. He went above and beyond his role as a director to make sure that he put out a high quality product, sometimes having the dub actors stay past their call times (by a long shot) just to get the right take on a line. He would come home tired after a long day of dubbing, and then watch the next day's episode in Japanese, and make notes. And then, this would all repeat again the next day. Sailor Moon was under a lot of pressure to put out 5 episodes a week!

- Funimation seems to have the vast majority of Toei's cards in their hands. Viz only has two Toei anime licenses - Boys Over Flowers and One Piece (which is actually in a partnership with Funimation). Bandai as far as we can tell has no Toei Licenses, and ADV has only one Toei license, Saint Seiya. ADV previously had the rights to Sailor Moon, and to make a long story short, they only got the rights to the subtitled version (and they received masters of poor quality) near the end of Sailor Moon's licenses for North America. And it's looking like I'm going to have to work on this Geneon article pretty soon, but they have been resurrected in Japan. If you are going to Animazement this is a major part of Moon Chase's presentation at the Sailor Moon Universe Panel! Funimation is in a special position as well because they are now streaming a lot of Toei's series for their on-demand service on their site as well (all subtitled). These include Air Master, Captain Harlock, Digimon Adventure 02, Fist of the North Star, Galaxy Express, Pretty Cure and Slam Dunk. So right now, it is looking like Funimation is the only option for a distributor for Toei at this moment.

We here at Moon Chase happen to have spoken to a lot of independent anime/comic book store owners who praise Funimation's vast selection, but they are not fans of their pricing strategies at all. Even some fans agree, with our own The Me finding the $60 price tag per volume of Ourah High School Host Club a little too expensive. In Canada especially, Funimation needs to really improve their distribution of anime across the country, not sending the bigger selections to only the bigger cities. This was the major issue with the release of the first two seasons - many Canadians simply did not have the chance to see ADV's release of Sailor Moon in stores until very close to the license expiry. It was a sad day that Canadians could not purchase a show which had its dub produced in their own country.

We encourage our readers in Canada and the US to also comment to Funimation about their pricing strategies and distribution, what they would like to see in their own cities.

- Last , but certainly not least, is the issue of the final season, Sailor Stars. We are all dying to see it, however it doesn't seem in these times that an unedited dub on television would air without any controversy. Sure, gender bending has done well late at night with the example of Cybersix, and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block has been able to keep any objections to a dull roar, but Sailor Moon is a girls' superhero show, and many young girls back in the day did watch and love the show. It would be difficult to adapt some elements of the storyline towards the under 10 set. At this point, we would wholly support a straight to DVD release of Stars since that's the only way that we think it could be in North America and work. Ideally, we'd also support a dub which aired late at night on adult-centered animation blocks in Canada and the US, however we don't think that a dub aimed for young girls of that season could work.

Nonetheless, we have all waited too long for Sailor Stars, so please leave your opinion on the series with Funimation.

- Oh yeah, and there's a couple other series we love on this survey too. Hayate the Combat Butler 2nd Season continues one of our staff favorite comedies and misadventures of a teenage butler, and K-On! is a teenage high school slice-of-life comedy about some girls who join a club, start a band, and have to deal with a guitarist who is a complete space case. If you enjoyed Ouran as a slice of life comedy, then you'll love K-ON! too. Vote for these too if you can!

- And most importantly, be nice and informative when you write your comments. They are more likely to listen to well written comments rather than "OMG I LOVE SAILOR MOON PLZ BRING IT BACK ^_^". A higher up at Funimation could read that and say "Ok, we know you love Sailor Moon, but why do you want it back? How can we bring it back? What would you like to see?"

Once again, that survey is located here.

Fans, please join and watch our forums. In the next few days we will be planning a letter writing campaign, but we will not be posting any details on our blog posts. And we've got a few other things related to this that we have up our sleeves, so stay tuned. If any of you fans write any comments towards Funimation and would like to share them on the site, please send us an email!

And finally, we have a few words for someone else...

拝啓 武内直子:

いかがお過ごしでいらっしゃいますか。
セーラームーン全員女性。
北アメリカで別の機会をセーラームーンに与えてください。

月の名にかけて,
スタッフノMoon Chase.

North American VA Sightings March 2009 - Part 2!

A few more sightings for you this last Friday in March! Sadly, it looks like Part 3 is going to come sometime in April.

Sug Makes Triumphant Return to Animation!

This is a sighting you have to hear to believe - Stephanie Beard (Rini #2) appeared on a recent episode of Fox's King of the Hill entitled "Uncool Customer". She played Michael Savage, the daughter of a trendy mom, and Bobby's main interest in his Cotillion class. Yes, even we thought that the name Michael was weird for a girl - we wondered if this was a play on Michael Jackson's daughter (Paris Michael Katherine Jackson), but we later learned that it was a play on a conservative radio talk show host. This was a major role, and initially her voice didn't sound anything like the characters she usually voices. This one reminded us of a more refined version of the older Rini she did in SuperS episode "Pegasus Revealed". However, at the end of the episode when Bobby freaked out her character with what he was wearing at her very classy birthday party, her screaming was very much like the Rini we have all come to know and love! The episode would have been that much sweeter had we seen a scene where Nancy Hicks-Gribble called Michael "Sug". Her infamous moniker for anyone and everyone would have had a special meaning with us Sailor Moon fans! This episode is currently being streamed for US viewers at Fox on Demand, however Canwest Global has no episodes of the show online for viewers in Canada. We suggest Canadians check their local listings to see when this episode will be repeated!

Roland Parliament Teaching in New Program in Niagara College!


I told you a really long time ago that Roland Parliament (Melvin, 1st Voice Director) had plans to teach at Niagara College, in the small town of Welland, Ontario (half an hour from Niagara Falls). The College's Acting for Film and Video Program officially launched last Fall, and Roland is just one of many renowned greats teaching students. Others on staff include Second City alumnus Robin McCulloch, singer Barbara Mantini, and Ving Tsun Kung Fu Master Sifu Chris Hader. Roland has always had a special passion for teaching acting, and I have had the privilege to attend one of his sessions in 2004. He has a wealth of experience in the entertainment industry and has a very dynamic way of sharing these in a form that students can learn from and expand their acting horizons. ACTRA has even sent him around to different parts of Canada to teach workshops. For more information on the program, click here!

Linda Ballantyne is a Parrot!

Linda Ballantyne (Sailor Moon #3) has a new cartoon role - as a feathered friend! She plays Tulip the Parrot in the National Geographic Kids Entertainment cartoon, Toot & Puddle. This show is named for two pigs, who are best friend. Toot likes to travel the world and learn about different cultures, and send a postcard to Puddle who likes to stay at home. Tulip, is their pet. This cartoon is based on the popular book series by author Holly Hobbie. The show currently airs on Treehouse (Canada) and Noggin (USA).

Robert Tinkler Can Be Heard Soon in A New Cartoon and Video Game!

Currently in production is Kung Fu Magoo - an updated version of Mr. Magoo featuring the bumbling character and his 12-year-old nephew Justin, as they "dodge giant robotic spiders, ninjas on jet skis and the mutant 'Beasteens,' which are half animal and half teenage girl, all before the Evil-lympics even begin". This is definitely a lot different than the Mr. Magoo we all grew up watching! You know your old when..... tangents aside, Robert Tinkler (Rubeus, Pupuran) can be heard as various characters in the series. The show also stars Olsen Twins successors Cole and Dylan Sprouse. Robert will also have various roles in the upcoming Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion video game. Once again, Marvel heroes unite to save New York City from Latveria and Lucia Von Bardas.

More coming soon - we've saved the best for last!

VA Sightings March 2008 (Part 1)!

Hello Moonies! In the last few weeks, we have noticed IMDB has put a couple of VAs on the Sailor Moon page that we haven’t heard of. We got very excited since years ago we tried to get full cast lists from anyone involved with the production of Sailor Moon with no success. So we consulted our DVD collection to see if any of these new listings were true, and for now, they are not. We did not see the names Catherine Disher, or Karen Dwyer anywhere in the credits. We are trying to contact Karen Dwyer for official confirmation. This summer, we hope to have as complete a cast list as we can - a good one that is correct is very difficult to find. Anyway, in lieu of research of those two names, we had to delay this article... but without further ado...

Ferretina Pushed Back AGAIN?

Oh noes! We had read a rumor on the MySpace of Carrie Johnson a while ago that Ferretina was going to be at Cannes this year, but now we have read on another actor’s site that the film is still in production for a release in 2009. For nearly four years we’ve been reading rumors of it being released every spring or Easter, and we were so sure this was the year for it. We Sailor Moon fans are just going to have to wait a little longer to see the massive horde of VAs in this movie under the direction of Roland Parliament.

Speaking of Our Favourite Nerd, Melvin...

Roland Parliament CN Anime Expo, 2004

Roland Parliament (Melvin, ADR Director) can currently be heard narrating this short promotional film about the LongPen! The LongPen is a green solution for any famous personality wishing to hold a signing of some sort. Invented by fellow Canadian Margaret Atwood, the LongPen allows for anyone to meet a famous person through videoconferencing, and then through the internet receive a personalized autograph. The Earth is not saved by Sailor Moon, but by the dozens of tonnes of carbon saved by celebrities who no longer need to travel to make an event! Roland is also teaching at the Harris Institutue. Aside from Voice Acting, Roland has had a very successful career in the Advertising Industry for more than 30 years - and he is teaching a first year Advertising Arts class at the institute.

Stephanie Morgenstern is Coming To Your TV Soon!

The wait is almost over for Stephanie Morgenstern's (Sailor Venus #1) new TV show, Flashpoint! The show is in production as we speak and set to start airing on CBS and CTV in July! Though no specific date has been announced, we will keep you posted - and for fans thinking they would not see Stephanie past a name in the credits, you can all breathe a sigh of relief! She will appear as a hostage in the first episode - but will not likely transform into Sailor Venus at the last second to save the day. Those heroic responsibilities have been passed on to cops now :(. Still no word about the production of Ice Planet. Last we heard some preliminary animation had begun, sets were built and things were ready to go, however contractual issues kept the production from starting.

VAs On The Border!

Last week, Kirsten Bishop (Kaori Knight, Zoicite, and Badiyanu) appeared on CBC's immigration and customs drama, The Border. In "Grave Concern", an episode dealing with the underworld of pedophiles, Kirsten played Mrs. Johanson, the worried mother of Katie. Katie is a pre-teen girl who was kidnapped a year ago, and held in a kind of dungeon outfitted with a webcam for others in on the sting to observe her torture. We're not going to go into much more detail about this episode - it was a pretty inhumane scenario. It reminded us a lot of the story of Natascha Kampusch and we're a little creeped out that something like that might have been what inspired this episode. Nonetheless, Kirsten Bishop's acting was strong as the worried mother who still held out hope her daughter would be found. Alice Poon (Catsy) also appeared in the show, playing Jenny Vandenberg in the episode "Family Values". She played a reporter who was reporting a potential illegal adoption of a Darfur refugee by a famous movie star. The Border has been renewed for a second season and fans can click around the official website to watch episodes (but you have to be in Canada or else you won't be able to). On another note, unfortunately, Intelligence was not renewed. Sabrina Grdevich (Sailor Pluto #1, Anne Granger) had a recurring role as Maxine Reardon in the crime drama.

BIG, BIG VA NEWS!

Ferrets Anyone?

Ferretina has been on my radar since 2003, and year after year I had heard a rumor that it was going to be released. Unfortunately, this film took a very long time to animate, and information on it was scarce, aside from a few promotional images on animators' portfolios, and brief mentions of it on Roland Parliament's (Melvin and ADR director), Terri Hawkes' (Sailor Moon #2) and Stephanie Beard's (Rini #2) webpages. A few days ago, we stumbled upon a newly resurrected website for the movie, and we were astounded by the images we have seen! Up until now, the only information I had was that the movie was about a family of ferrets, it was produced in New York and Toronto, and that Roland Parliament directed and starred as Fritter the Field Mouse, Stephanie Beard played Souffle, and Terri Hawkes played Roxie. Well, now that the website is up, we can definitely confirm that several VAs are in the film (though we wonder where Terri's credit went). Jeff Lumby (Professor Tomoe) plays Stretch, Tony Daniels (Wiseman) plays Goulash, Julie Lemieux (Sammy, Peruru) plays Izzy, Susan Roman (Sailor Jupiter) plays Archer, Jennifer Gould (Himeko Nayotake, Sailor Saturn) plays Garlika, and Stephanie Beard plays Souffle! If you do not wish to be spoiled, we advise you NOT to click on synopsis. This looks like it could be a very heartwarming film, and is poised to put Canada on the map for voice talent! We're also curious if this Michael Eisner listed on the credits is the same Michael Eisner who once was the CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Other Canadian stars include Patrick McKenna, better known as Harold from the Red Green Show (which also starred Jeff Lumby) and Mark Ellis of Canadian television fame, who is better known as Stephanie Morgenstern's (Sailor Venus) husband. We hope to bring you more information on this as soon as we know, but we have a feeling that a release for this movie is just around the corner!

And Speaking of Stephanie Morgenstern...

It appears that her and Mark's pilot has been successful in their pitch to CTV and has been given picked up for a 13 episode run on CTV! Though it seems the title has been changed from Critical Incident to Sniper. We wish both of them the best of luck with this new venture which begins shooting in the Spring of this year.

All in all, the VAs have started 2008 with a bang! This is shaping up to be a very good year for the stars of Sailor Moon!

Sailordees Exclusive: An Interview With Roland Parliament!

Roland Parliament CN Anime Expo, 2004

In late 2006, I had put out a call to fans via the SOS mailing list with an exclusive interview opportunity with Roland Parliament (Melvin, Voice Director). I was able to get many questions from fans all around the community and finally got the interview back from Roland a week ago, and I am cross posting it here from the mailing list . Thank you very much Roland for taking time out of your busy schedule for this interview , and for your support over the years!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Jay at Genvid.com for all his assistance in publicizing this interview , as well as my friends who pulled through at the last minute, I could not have finished this without you! A thank you goes out also to all the fans who sent in their questions, merci beaucoup!

Without further ado, here he is answering your questions!

Sadie : Did you get to pick which voice you did, and if so why Melvin? If you got the pick of the male characters aside from the fact that he eventually gets to date Molly (although she'll always be with Nephlite in my mind), why Melvin?

Melvin ♥ Molly (or rather Umino ♥ Naru )

Roland Parliament : I didn’t get to choose. I went to an audition several months before the recording sessions started, and I auditioned for a number of characters. The producers liked my audition but couldn’t fit me with any of the characters. It was only shortly before the recordings began that they discovered they hadn’t found a “Melvin” yet. My only instruction at the audition was to do a “nerd”. I have a lot of experience from my childhood with THAT character, and though I spent years trying to alter my real personality into something a little more “cool”, I must admit I felt very comfortable in the nerd role. In fact, if I had to choose, I probably would have chosen the Melvin character. I like playing oddballs because they are far more interesting than the stereotypical hero. Next time though, I think I might like to try a hero role. I just hope I could bring something quirky to the role. Nephlite by the way was a twerp. Molly liked me far better.

Jennifer Ehring : Hi Roland Parliament how does one become a good voice actor and how do you get to audition for voice acting in the anime industry?

Roland Parliament : You study. This can come in many forms – some people go to theatre school, some take regular workshops, and some very rare individuals just have an innate talent. I’m an odd combination of all three. I started my theatrical experience at a very young age (two) and realized I was confident in front of an audience and liked the attention. I was much more interested in music during my teens and twenties, and got my satisfaction playing in rock bands. This lead to a career in producing advertising music, which led to a career in voice-over performance, which led to a career in animation voicing, etc. All along the way though, I was always interested in what my voice could do. I always tested its limits, and constantly experimented. I tried dialects, vocal imitation, choral singing, solo singing, anything that challenged my voice. At one point, because I had pushed my voice so far, I was on voice control for six months and had to remain completely silent during that time. I would do that differently if I had it to do over again. I would start out much more slowly and ease my voice into the more strenuous activities with a LOT more attention to process.

Trivia: one of Roland's earliest roles was Matthew in Primetime Bedtime Classics' The Toy Shop

It varies from person to person. I’ve been teaching voice for over sixteen years now, and I’ve seen many, many students who bring completely different skill sets to school with wildly varying results. The one constant with the ones who succeed is that they want it really badly. So, if you really want to succeed and there are no other physical barriers to your progress, immerse yourself in the process. At times it will seem futile and pointless. Keep your eye on the goal. This is one activity where if there is no pain, there is no gain.

As far as auditioning for voice acting goes, heed the previous paragraphs and the rest will take care of itself.

Ismail Saeed : What aspects of the handling of Sailor Moon in the American version were your calls? For example, terming it "Crossroads Junior High" or specifying Darien as having a modeling stint which Serena then referred to in a later episode? Were you just provided the scripts as DiC desired them and then did the directorial job with the actors, or did you get to influence the production more than that?

Roland Parliament : Your question addresses one of the major misunderstandings from the audience about the production team. There is a hierarchy here, and the protocol is strictly followed.

Those with the money make all the rules. The rest of us are employees. I had some influence with the actors’ performances, but that’s about it. Scripts, episodic development and other plot developments are completely in the hands of the producers. I may have made the odd script adjustment, and hoped they went unnoticed. That’s about it.

Ismail Saeed : Forgive some ignorance here... when Cloverway handled season 3 and 4, did you just continue to reprise Melvin (in his few appearances or did you continue to direct? Either way, how did you feel about the manner of the production imposed on you by Cloverway as compared to that of DiC?

Tuxedo Melvin Roland's favorite episode!

Roland Parliament : It’s been a while now, but as I recall John Stocker directed seasons 3 & 4. I was apparently too much of a renegade to carry on. Again, there is a hierarchy here, but I did complete Melvin’s roles.

Ismail Saeed : What was your personal take on season 5 (Stars) of Sailor Moon, not now, but back then maybe around the time you all were wrapping the dubbing of season 4 up? Were you wary of pursuing it further or were you hopeful of pursuing it further? Or, perfectly reasonable, were you in fact unaware of the fifth season at the time?

Roland Parliament : Sailor Moon was one magnificent experience. I met some of Canada’s greatest voice actors and I reveled in the time I spent with them. But I think it’s time we all moved on to other things.

Venus Knight : Hi Roland,
It's nice of you to take time out to do this interview. So.... First question which may be a little loaded, with the edits, cuts, etc. Do you think Sailor moon got a fair shot in the US?

Roland Parliament : No. But I’m not the person to ask.

Venus Knight : second question, What has been the most memorable thing that's happened to you because you were involved with the NA production of Sailor Moon?

Melvin has a bit too much love for fried shrimp!(animated by Sailordees)

Roland Parliament : Two things. I met some of the most amazing voice actors I’ve ever known, and I’ve met some of the most amazing fans I’ve ever known. Without the fans, there would be no reason for the actors. Bless you.

Ditchdigger : What were your first thoughts when you were first told you would be directing the English dub of Sailor Moon and when you heard what the show was about?

Roland Parliament : I first thought I could get my SAAB car repaired. Or maybe that it was I would be working with Terri Hawkes again. But then again, maybe it was my dream of directing an animation series.

I didn’t really think about what the show was about. But I certainly got into it soon.

Kryten : Apart from rabbits, ferrets are my favorite animated characters. When does Ferretina come out and who might we recognize from Sailor Moon in it?

Roland Parliament : Soon, I hope. Animation features often take a lot of time, but this one seems to be taking a lot of extra time. I got a call today that indicates things are moving forward quickly. Let’s hope.

Kryten : What were your recording sessions like? Did everyone just come in and read their lines or was there a lot of friendly banter back and forth?

He'll do anything for Molly/Naru! (animated by Sailordees)

Roland Parliament : The sessions were grueling, but ultimately rewarding. At first as an actor, I was only there for 1-3 hours at a time.. As director, I was often there for 14-16 hours a day for 22 days in a row or more, and this continued on for several months. Yes, there was a lot of friendly banter because the actors all knew the stress we were under, and all behaved as professionals.

**********: How do you feel about your legacy as it pertains to the show?

Roland Parliament : I have no idea. That’s for history to answer.

Jenny : Out of everything you have directed (movies and TV shows), what makes Sailor Moon special?

Roland Parliament : That I spent several months working with very, very special actors whom I love dearly. Terri Hawkes deserves special mention here.

starcat : I made this AMV , and it sorta features Melvin. Maybe you'll like it! Anyways, here are my questions:
Who's the most important/famous person you've met?

Roland Parliament : My father. He’s not famous, but he’s important. Next to that is my wife Tamara.

starcat : Do you still keep in touch with the other Sailor Moon staff?

Roland Parliament : As much as I can. We all have separate lives, and we try to respect each others’ privacy.

Box : What's the most amusing outtake that you remember?

Trivia: Roland also served as the voice of Zellers Mascot,Zeddy Bear!

Roland Parliament : There was a scene with Terri Hawkes wherein I asked her to put on a false nose to get a nasal quality to her sound. She obliged willingly, and it worked!

Box : What was the most difficult part of your job?

Roland Parliament : Putting up with the BS from the producers.

Box : What’s your favorite project been in recent years?

Roland Parliament : Raising two beautiful dogs – Atticus the Golden Retriever and Justice the Norwegian Buhund

sailordees : Many years ago it was suggested that Sailor Moon could be dubbed in both uncensored and censored versions to satisfy both groups of fans. Do you think given your experience with the show this could have been possible and would have worked? Why or why not?

Roland Parliament : No. They are disparate groups and neither will be satisfied with the other’s different agenda.

sailordees : Out of all the voice actors you have worked with whose cartoon voices are the most different or interesting compared to their natural voice?

Roland Parliament : Most of the actors involved in “Sailor Moon” have a wide range of voices, but I have heard so many other voice actors who are brilliantly versatile in so many roles, that it would be impossible to determine..

sailordees : Looking back on how Sailor Moon was marketed back in her “glory days” (The English version was aimed more towards a younger audience) would you have done anything (knowing which audiences were really watching it) different and why?

Roland Parliament : I may have been smarter about identifying the target audience, but I doubt it would have had any impact on the marketing. These responsibilities are left to the high foreheads of the organization, and they rule supreme. End of story.


Postscript To All

“Sailor Moon” was a benchmark for many of us. You, who were and are fans, are so much appreciated by those of us who toiled on this series. Without you, we are nothing. We, the actors, are eternally grateful for your support. Remember, we all need each other.

God Bless.

Roland Parliament