I am not really going to be talking about the anime in generally as I will be doing that on my other review talking about the Viz dub. In this review I will be talking about the old dubs for Sailor Moon which are commonly known as the DiC and Cloverway Inc.
For a bit of the dubbing history behind it Sailor Moon was licensed by DiC entertainment for the first two seasons and was dubbed by a recording studio based in Toronto called optimum sound this dub was severely edited for a younger audience, changed characters names to more western sounding ones, dubbed it's theme songs and missed several episodes. Then the rights to the series were handed down to Cloverway inc. In comparison to DiC seasons 3 and 4 were left in a uncut format but still retained their English names and intro (but the ends were left in Japanese) however, the script was tamed cause they still intended to aim it for a much younger audience, some of the voice actors were replaced and they made one significant change which had an effect on the story.
As I mention about the characters having their named changed I am just going to go through them so you all now what names they had in the old dub; Sailor Guardians - Sailor Scouts: Usagi Tsukino is Serena, Ami Mizuno is Amy Anderson, Rei Hino is Raye Hino, Makoto Kino is Lita, Minako Aino is Mina, Chibiusa Tsukino/Sailor Chibi Moon is Rini/ Sailor Mini Moon (I am gussing Chibi was a word back then that didn't translate well in English), Haruka Tenou is Amara Tenoh, Michiru Kaiou is Michelle Kaioh and Setsuna Meiou is Trista Meioh. For some reason Hotaru Tomoe still kept her original name though her last name is pronounced toe-moe instead of toe-mo-eh Dark Kingdom - Negaverse: Jadeite is Jedite, Nephrite is Neflite, Zoisite is Zoycite and Kunzite is Malachite.
Black Moon - Negamoon Family; Wiseman/Death Phantom is Wiseman/Doom Phantom, Prince Demande is Prince Diamond, Saphir is Sapphire, Esmeraude is Emerald, Koan is Catzi, Petz is Prizma, Calaveras is Avery and Berthier is Bertie.
Misc. Characters: Mamoru Chiba is Darien, Naru Osaka is Molly Baker, Guiro Umino is Melvin, Motoki Furuhata is Andrew and Shingo Tsukino is Sammy.
Death Busters - Heart Snatchers or Bureau of Bad Behavior: Professor Souichi Tomoe is Doctor Soichi Tomoe, Kaolinite is Kaorinite, Eudial is Eugeal, Mimete is Mimet, Tellu is Telulu, Viluy is Byruit, Cyprine is Cyprin and Ptilol is Petirol.
Dead Moon Circus - Dark Moon Circus: VesVes is Besubesu, CereCere is Selesele, PallaPalla is Parapara and JunJun is Junjun.
As far as name changes go I don't think they were the worst thing to come out the dub. I'll admit some of these name changes such as Usagi being called Serena was kinda cute, while others such as Amy, Mina (especially since technically that is the nickname she is given by Artemis and her friends in the Viz and Original Japanese version) and Raye were also good too as there were close enough to their original names and were kept memorable. While others like Amara, Darren, etc. Were either hit miss or just not that great. Since this version of Sailor Moon was aimed at a younger audience, I can understand why they changed their names since I don't think kids would have understood Japanese names. At least they are better then the cheesy ones they got in that promotional trailer. However, there were times in the dub were it was obvious that those aren't their real names such as in one episode Usagi/Serena's brother Sammy was wearing a cap which has his original name on (Shingo), in the concert episode you see a sigh which has Michelle's real name on (Micharu) and majority of the time in the cloverway inc. Dub they did start using their real names in brackets during titles.
As far as voice acting goes in my opinion it honestly wasn't all that great and it got both better and worse during company changes I didn't like how Sailor Moon and Mercury sounded like women in their 30's heck even older, Serena's voice when Cloverway took over got worse. Luna sounded like an old lady and like with Amy what was up with the weird British accent? Reini's didn't sound anything like a child with DiC I am so happy they recasted when cloverway took over it sound cuter and more convincing. Artemis sounded weird. Amara and Michelle's just were flat. Hotaru sounded like grown woman even more so then Serena despite being younger, Darren's voice actually got better in the final two season since he was recasted with a Kingdom Hearts voice actor. The voices I thought were really good would defiantly be Raye (I am a little biased since I am friends with the actress on Facebook), Mina, Lita (bless her soul for staying on till the end), Jadite, Malachite, the dark moon clan, Doctor Tomoe, some of the kids and the background characters and Hawks Eyes had the best voices within the dub.
Let's now first talk about the DiC dub: This dub here was very heavily edited and butchered to the point where it doesn't feel like sailor moon any more it was a very bad dub. For example in the first episode they cut out Sammy's introduction because it was considered 'violent' and when Remi is introduced they changed a scene where she holding a gun and instead uses a pointing figure (reminds you of a certain 4kids edit) and the why the make escape it was obvious they tried to reuse and reverse how she arrive it was honestly a bit of a headache to watch. Other edits included when the Scouts transform you can only see their silhouettes because they didn't want nudity. They made changes to the theme sound and dubbed it in English which I'll admit was catchy but the real kicker comes in when they changed a lot of background music which either fits the scene or ruins it entirely. I do remember in the episode where the scouts fight the spectre because of their choose of inhouse music they used that fight felt more like a Saturday morning cartoon then a serious fight to protect Reini. The "Sailor Scouts Says" welp everyone has said but I will say it anyways I get they wanted to teach kids morals and lesson but the whole thing felt very forced thank god Cloverway inc. (from the place I saw the dub), speedy dub (though that is also a terrible dub) and thank heaven the Viz dub abolished that entirely. They missed out several episodes which were either fillers or too violent like this episode were Serena throws a pet over a fence, one of the most infamous things were combining the final two part episode and squishing it in one whole episode this made things really confusing. Also they gender swapped Zocite from a male to a female because of the whole LGBT stuff. (3/10)
Cloverway inc: when it comes down to technical accuracy I will admit was defiantly a lot better then the DiC dub as they didn't make any physical edits to the material and the background music etc (excluding the intro) were left untouched well except for maybe two scenes where they added unnecessary dubbing to music. Though they did still keep the English names. However, despite being better attempt this dub wasn't exactly very good either. I'll explain why; as Sailor moon back then was still aimed at a younger audience despite airing slightly late the script they used was tamed removing any swearing, mature jokes etc. I will admit though I did kinda have a good laugh here and there when watching. Much how DiC gender swapped one character get this Cloverway gender swapped three character they made Fish eyes from a male to a female because they were crossdressing and are attracted to men, Zirconia from a female to a male why?? I have no idea and an episodic character called Tamasaburo from a boy to a girl because he crossdressed. The biggest change they made which did anger a lot of people including myself is when they decided to change Amara and Michelle to cousin which only made things homophobic. Although I have already talked a bit about voice acting but I'll take a bit of pity here and say that the actor was rushed to record 77 episodes in the mass of 4 months which is why a lot of the voice acting got worse over time and some what better. (6/10)
After the final season Sailor Stars remained undubbed for years and the rights were left in a limbo. With 159 out of the 200 episodes dubbed and 41 left subbed.
I get if you like these dubs because of nostalgia or attachment and I can respect since there dubs that I like that a lot of people don't. But Sailor Moon is one of those where I would watch it in Japanese or if you want to watch it in English watch the Viz dub it's way more faithful to the series (review coming soon) this dub not so much. However, if you have a younger kid that wants to get into anime, I suppose you could show them this dub, but for the real thing the Japanese sub and Viz dub are the way to go.
For a bit of the dubbing history behind it Sailor Moon was licensed by DiC entertainment for the first two seasons and was dubbed by a recording studio based in Toronto called optimum sound this dub was severely edited for a younger audience, changed characters names to more western sounding ones, dubbed it's theme songs and missed several episodes. Then the rights to the series were handed down to Cloverway inc. In comparison to DiC seasons 3 and 4 were left in a uncut format but still retained their English names and intro (but the ends were left in Japanese) however, the script was tamed cause they still intended to aim it for a much younger audience, some of the voice actors were replaced and they made one significant change which had an effect on the story.
As I mention about the characters having their named changed I am just going to go through them so you all now what names they had in the old dub; Sailor Guardians - Sailor Scouts: Usagi Tsukino is Serena, Ami Mizuno is Amy Anderson, Rei Hino is Raye Hino, Makoto Kino is Lita, Minako Aino is Mina, Chibiusa Tsukino/Sailor Chibi Moon is Rini/ Sailor Mini Moon (I am gussing Chibi was a word back then that didn't translate well in English), Haruka Tenou is Amara Tenoh, Michiru Kaiou is Michelle Kaioh and Setsuna Meiou is Trista Meioh. For some reason Hotaru Tomoe still kept her original name though her last name is pronounced toe-moe instead of toe-mo-eh Dark Kingdom - Negaverse: Jadeite is Jedite, Nephrite is Neflite, Zoisite is Zoycite and Kunzite is Malachite.
Black Moon - Negamoon Family; Wiseman/Death Phantom is Wiseman/Doom Phantom, Prince Demande is Prince Diamond, Saphir is Sapphire, Esmeraude is Emerald, Koan is Catzi, Petz is Prizma, Calaveras is Avery and Berthier is Bertie.
Misc. Characters: Mamoru Chiba is Darien, Naru Osaka is Molly Baker, Guiro Umino is Melvin, Motoki Furuhata is Andrew and Shingo Tsukino is Sammy.
Death Busters - Heart Snatchers or Bureau of Bad Behavior: Professor Souichi Tomoe is Doctor Soichi Tomoe, Kaolinite is Kaorinite, Eudial is Eugeal, Mimete is Mimet, Tellu is Telulu, Viluy is Byruit, Cyprine is Cyprin and Ptilol is Petirol.
Dead Moon Circus - Dark Moon Circus: VesVes is Besubesu, CereCere is Selesele, PallaPalla is Parapara and JunJun is Junjun.
As far as name changes go I don't think they were the worst thing to come out the dub. I'll admit some of these name changes such as Usagi being called Serena was kinda cute, while others such as Amy, Mina (especially since technically that is the nickname she is given by Artemis and her friends in the Viz and Original Japanese version) and Raye were also good too as there were close enough to their original names and were kept memorable. While others like Amara, Darren, etc. Were either hit miss or just not that great. Since this version of Sailor Moon was aimed at a younger audience, I can understand why they changed their names since I don't think kids would have understood Japanese names. At least they are better then the cheesy ones they got in that promotional trailer. However, there were times in the dub were it was obvious that those aren't their real names such as in one episode Usagi/Serena's brother Sammy was wearing a cap which has his original name on (Shingo), in the concert episode you see a sigh which has Michelle's real name on (Micharu) and majority of the time in the cloverway inc. Dub they did start using their real names in brackets during titles.
As far as voice acting goes in my opinion it honestly wasn't all that great and it got both better and worse during company changes I didn't like how Sailor Moon and Mercury sounded like women in their 30's heck even older, Serena's voice when Cloverway took over got worse. Luna sounded like an old lady and like with Amy what was up with the weird British accent? Reini's didn't sound anything like a child with DiC I am so happy they recasted when cloverway took over it sound cuter and more convincing. Artemis sounded weird. Amara and Michelle's just were flat. Hotaru sounded like grown woman even more so then Serena despite being younger, Darren's voice actually got better in the final two season since he was recasted with a Kingdom Hearts voice actor. The voices I thought were really good would defiantly be Raye (I am a little biased since I am friends with the actress on Facebook), Mina, Lita (bless her soul for staying on till the end), Jadite, Malachite, the dark moon clan, Doctor Tomoe, some of the kids and the background characters and Hawks Eyes had the best voices within the dub.
Let's now first talk about the DiC dub: This dub here was very heavily edited and butchered to the point where it doesn't feel like sailor moon any more it was a very bad dub. For example in the first episode they cut out Sammy's introduction because it was considered 'violent' and when Remi is introduced they changed a scene where she holding a gun and instead uses a pointing figure (reminds you of a certain 4kids edit) and the why the make escape it was obvious they tried to reuse and reverse how she arrive it was honestly a bit of a headache to watch. Other edits included when the Scouts transform you can only see their silhouettes because they didn't want nudity. They made changes to the theme sound and dubbed it in English which I'll admit was catchy but the real kicker comes in when they changed a lot of background music which either fits the scene or ruins it entirely. I do remember in the episode where the scouts fight the spectre because of their choose of inhouse music they used that fight felt more like a Saturday morning cartoon then a serious fight to protect Reini. The "Sailor Scouts Says" welp everyone has said but I will say it anyways I get they wanted to teach kids morals and lesson but the whole thing felt very forced thank god Cloverway inc. (from the place I saw the dub), speedy dub (though that is also a terrible dub) and thank heaven the Viz dub abolished that entirely. They missed out several episodes which were either fillers or too violent like this episode were Serena throws a pet over a fence, one of the most infamous things were combining the final two part episode and squishing it in one whole episode this made things really confusing. Also they gender swapped Zocite from a male to a female because of the whole LGBT stuff. (3/10)
Cloverway inc: when it comes down to technical accuracy I will admit was defiantly a lot better then the DiC dub as they didn't make any physical edits to the material and the background music etc (excluding the intro) were left untouched well except for maybe two scenes where they added unnecessary dubbing to music. Though they did still keep the English names. However, despite being better attempt this dub wasn't exactly very good either. I'll explain why; as Sailor moon back then was still aimed at a younger audience despite airing slightly late the script they used was tamed removing any swearing, mature jokes etc. I will admit though I did kinda have a good laugh here and there when watching. Much how DiC gender swapped one character get this Cloverway gender swapped three character they made Fish eyes from a male to a female because they were crossdressing and are attracted to men, Zirconia from a female to a male why?? I have no idea and an episodic character called Tamasaburo from a boy to a girl because he crossdressed. The biggest change they made which did anger a lot of people including myself is when they decided to change Amara and Michelle to cousin which only made things homophobic. Although I have already talked a bit about voice acting but I'll take a bit of pity here and say that the actor was rushed to record 77 episodes in the mass of 4 months which is why a lot of the voice acting got worse over time and some what better. (6/10)
After the final season Sailor Stars remained undubbed for years and the rights were left in a limbo. With 159 out of the 200 episodes dubbed and 41 left subbed.
I get if you like these dubs because of nostalgia or attachment and I can respect since there dubs that I like that a lot of people don't. But Sailor Moon is one of those where I would watch it in Japanese or if you want to watch it in English watch the Viz dub it's way more faithful to the series (review coming soon) this dub not so much. However, if you have a younger kid that wants to get into anime, I suppose you could show them this dub, but for the real thing the Japanese sub and Viz dub are the way to go.