By: Matthew Patterson
I've read a lot of articles stating that
"we shouldn't blame DiC for what they did to Sailormoon, they
had no choice," or "it really isn't so bad, the dub is
pretty good on its own, we should thank DiC." Both of these
assertions are false. Every change made to the NA dub of
Sailormoon was DiC's choice, nobody else's, and they resulted in
a hacked-up dub bearing little resemblance to the original
anime.
Recently, I read a Lemures article stating that
most of the censorship, in effect, wasn't DiC's fault, they
were forced to by government regulations. While it is true
that the United States now regulates the content of programs
according to their rating level (from least offensive to
most, Y, Y7, TV-G, TV-PG, TV-14, TV-MA), DiC still had
several choices. First and foremost, they could have subtitled
the series and released it on video. This would have also
eliminated any problems with bad dubbing as well as leaving
the original Japanese musical score intact. It appears to me
that ratings on videos aren't as strictly enforced as
ratings on TV, so DiC probably would have been able to release
the series with a PG rating and it would have been a
success.
Barring that, they could have dubbed the show
faithfully, not cutting any episodes for time or content and not
dropping any episodes because they didn't advance the plot. The
series would then probably have been required to carry a
TV-G or TV-PG rating, but certain networks, such as the
Cartoon Network or the Sci-Fi Channel, would most likely have
bought the series and simply aired it at times when the
easily-offended audiences were less likely to be watching. (For
example, Cartoon Network currently airs "Batman: The
Animated Series," a dark, violent program that is much worse than
the original Sailormoon, at 5 pm weekdays. I doubt that
they would have any problem with airing an unedited dub of
Sailormoon, especially since they currently show an unedited
dub of Gundam Wing on their Midnight Run.) This would still
be a dub, which in my opinion is always inferior to a sub,
but if done right it could have been true to the original
show and certainly wouldn't be as universally condemned as
the dub that DiC wound up doing.
Alas, DiC did not choose
either of these options. Instead, they chose the
time-honored path of those trying to make a quick buck- pandering to
the segment of the market that buys the most toy tie-ins.
Thus, in order for its partner, Irwin, to be able to sell the
greatest amount of cheesy merchandise, they decided to rate
the series Y7. This rating is also on shows like "Power
Rangers" and "Pokemon," which, as the reader can see, are the
shows that have sold the most related merchandise in
history.
So DiC decided to make a Y7 kid's show. At this point,
government regulations came into play, prohibiting the show
of blood, violence, sexuality, death, homosexuality,
Christian symbols (as if Christianity were the only religion out
there), and anything that might remotely offend people.
Thus, the episode with Umino looking up Ms. Haruna's skirt was
cut, the "Scouts" were said to have been "taken to the
Negaverse" instead of dying in episode 45, the scene with the
senshi on crosses in Rubeus' ship was removed, etc. At this
point, DiC can be said to have merely been following
government regulations.
However, that is not to say that the
government is responsible for the changes made to Sailormoon.
DiC made the choice not to release it on video, made the
choice to make another TV show with cheesy toy spinoffs, made
the choice to make it a kids' show in the vein of Power
Rangers or Pokemon. The government didn't even enter into the
equation until after DiC made their final choice. Thus, it
wasn't the government's fault. DiC knew what they were
getting into. The censorship of the dub of Bishoujo Senshi
Sailormoon was their fault, because they knowingly and
willfully chose to put themselves into a situation where they would
be forced to comply with regulations dictating what is and
is not appropriate content.
I eagerly await replies. It
doesn't matter to me if you agree or disagree with the points
I've made in this article, since it is all ultimately a
matter of opinion. However, flames are not appreciated. If
you're going to take the time to say something, you might as
well make it intelligent.
Comments on this article can be sent to: Matthew Patterson.
