Temple of Ranma's Sailor Senshi Seifuku

I've read a handful of Sailor Moon fanfics and related crossovers over the years, including DrunkenGrognard's Grand Tour series, and there's something that's been bugging me for the longest time: just how did the idea that the Time Gates were functionally a gigantic TV set come to be?

CRBWildcat wrote:I've read a handful of Sailor Moon fanfics and related crossovers over the years, including DrunkenGrognard's Grand Tour series, and there's something that's been bugging me for the longest time: just how did the idea that the Time Gates were functionally a gigantic TV set come to be?

I noticed for some time that people readers and authors alike, tend to view the time gates as if it was equivalent to either the Guardian of Forever from Star Trek the Original Series or the time machine used in the old Time Tunnel series.

Neither of those is really the same in either looks or functionality to the Time gates...

But, from a fan fiction standpoint, one critical difference was that you could view the end scene on the other end in both of those. This is *Not* true in Sailor moon, as it is a full blown corridor that you must be guided through.

I imagine it has something to do with Pluto seemingly knowing -- or being aware of -- things that someone guarding something in another dimension shouldn't. I was originally going to attribute it to the anime failing to define the exact nature of the Door of Time, but after looking at the episode where it's first shown I can't see how anyone could have gotten the idea of it being a tool allowing someone to practically be omniscient. It's clearly shown that the Door of Time leads to a void, and beyond that is a "cosmic time warp." I could see where the idea could come from the manga, but in that instance it's two-way, so one could look into the third dimension from the fourth, and at the same time it's possible to see both the Door of Time and into the fourth dimension from the third.

I would imagine a lot of it is because, after all, there were LOTS of fanfics being written when we only had the first 65 dubbed episodes in English and people could only go on FAQs and stuff for the rest.

Could be. I think there was a significant break of new episodes after she first appeared (when Chibi-Usa was stuck in a dream, or something), but before we see the Door of Time in action, so I could see people fishing for information and coming back with rudimentary details. Then again, you'd think that seeing the episode in question would solve the issue...

That reminds me of the Ranma 1/2 fics I read which included the umisen-ken as a part of Ranma's repertoire long before Viz made the story arc in question available in English. Writers at the time thought that Ranma actually became invisible, and that the umisen-ken was that one technique instead of a way of approach that gave rise to many techniques. Even now, I'm still seeing Ranma become invisible and that alone being called the umisen-ken.

A degree of uncertainty combined with plot fiat/facilitation?

Translation: ignorance (possibly due to laziness and/or unconcern) and creative license?

I did not know about a break... I first purchased the 1st 4 seasons and movies retail in 2002 (and the 5th season and specials fansub), and they were old then... Got it cheap as it was just as PioneerAnimation changed to Geneon and the old label titles were selling cheap to clear shelves. Did it as research material due to running into so many Ranma/Sailor moon crossovers. Still have all the notes I took as I watched it all, and still have them (except Disc 7 of 1st season... loaned it out to a coworker whom was laid off before could get back, will eventually try to replace).


I do know there was uncertainty as to what Plutos dub name was to be, I remember early fan fiction settling on Susan or a couple others, when it was really Trista...

Crescent Pulsar S wrote:Translation: ignorance (possibly due to laziness and/or unconcern) and creative license?

No need for ignorance when creative license is involved.

But making stuff up is a part of being creative. :O

PCHeintz72 wrote:I did not know about a break...
...
I do know there was uncertainty as to what Plutos dub name was to be, I remember early fan fiction settling on Susan or a couple others, when it was really Trista...

The original 65 dubbed episodes -- which ended where the four sisters are turned good, and thus no Sailor Pluto at ALL -- aired first in autumn of 1995. It wasn't until late 1998 that the rest of the season was shown dubbed.

Which is exactly why I like to wait until a series is done before fanfiction-ing.

At least a thats what I tell myself.

Noy Telinú wrote:Which is exactly why I like to wait until a series is done before fanfiction-ing.

At least a thats what I tell myself.

Now, now. I can still enjoy science fiction in which Mars is habitable, with tharks and thoats and ancient civilizations... Just because ground truth diverged after the fiction was ficced doesn't ruin a good story.

All fanfic is a departure from canon. Some simply depart earlier. The biggest problem I have with the phenomenon is trying to keep track of which set of names is used. Japanese? Sub? Early dub? Later, reworked dub? (And don't tell me Haruka and Michiru are cousins!)

Or, to put it in relatively neutral Harry Potter terms: is it the Philosopher's Stone or the Sorcerer's Stone?

Noy Telinú wrote:Which is exactly why I like to wait until a series is done before fanfiction-ing.

At least a thats what I tell myself.

Then no one in the U.S. would write fanfiction for sailor moon, and they very obviously do, considering the fanfiction.net category numbers alone.

Remember, Sailor moon Season 5 was never released for sale in the U.S.... at least not that I ever heard.

That is why I bought s5 Canadian fansub (remember, this was 2001-2, downloading of series was in its infancy)

Yeah, but the Sailor Moon manga was finished quite a while ago, and is now (was?) being re-released to completion once again. So, it's only bad for those silly anime "purists."

@Ellen:

I don't wholly agree with you on that. I think it's a good idea to at least know enough to anticipate what could happen after your divergence. Especially if your divergence doesn't stop it from occurring, which would make future readers wonder what in the world you were thinking about leaving out something that is (now) so clearly set up to happen despite whatever changes you've made. I know I prance around nekkid and all that, but I don't exactly care for being caught with my pants down. XD

For me, it's also a kind of "haste makes waste" sort of thing. Creating waste isn't guaranteed, of course: that has as much to do with your writing skills and knowledge as it does with how forgiving and/or easygoing your audience is. But, say, if I was going to use something before the material it's based on is complete, I'd avoid writing any events that go beyond what's available, and then maybe continue from there and make adjustments where necessary.