Pioneer Entertainment plans to start the release of the "Sailor Moon S" television series in early February 2001. The series will be released on DVDs and VHS tapes. The DVDs will be unedited, bilingual, dual layered and have a recommended sales price of US$29.98. The first disc will have 6 episodes with the remaining discs to have 4 or more. The VHS tapes will be the edited version (as shown on the Cartoon Network & YTV) with 3 episodes per tape and a recommended sales price of US$14.98. An unedited, subtitled VHS release has still not yet been determined.

DVDs and VHS tapes are then to be released every other month so as not to flood the market. If sales go well it is expected that Pioneer would then start releasing the "Sailor Moon SuperS" television series.

Dana Weaver and Rika Takahashi are handling the subtitling.

If all else fails, we still have this--the Mixx translation of Naoko's manga (due in December)!

Pioneer has commissioned Toei Animation to create all the cover art. The drawings are based on poses created in the past and are being configured for this release. The DVDs & VHS tapes will have different styles which should help parents differentiate between censored & uncensored versions. (We have been assured that the VHS style will not be "DiC-like.")

Pioneer will not be able to include any extras (such as Sailormoon commercials). However, each DVD release will feature a special page for a different character.

Originally, the companies involved were discussing fewer episodes per DVD. The Save Our Sailors (SOS) campaign recommended against this (and against 3 episodes per VHS tape) because of fan reaction to the early episodes in the series. We had hoped to convince the companies to enhance these earlier episodes but instead they have decided to make it cheaper for fans to purchase the entire series, at least on DVD.

Most of the dub fans will be disappointed that the early episodes will remain unchanged. Many wanted the old Voice Artists back and some wanted the old (& possibly new) DiC music cues. The SOS is glad however (and fans should appreciate) that the companies have at least made the concession of placing more episodes on the DVDs. We heartily recommend buying the DVDs. Even if you should not have a DVD player now, chances are that you will in the future.

Once all of the "Sailor Moon SuperS" television series has aired on the Cartoon Network and YTV we hope to come to a decision concerning "Sailor Stars," the Voice Artists (Terri Hawkes, Karen Bernstein, Stephanie Morgenstern & Toby Proctor), the usage (and non usage) of DiC music cues, Pioneer Entertainment & the Cartoon Network.