Senshi On Springer: Notes

Video: Sailor Moon/Jerry Springer
Audio: Jerry Springer ("Weird Al" Yankovic)
Awards: Otakon 2000 - Best Comedy, Anime North 2000 - Best Ineligible/"That Special Something", Shoujocon 2000 - First Place
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This video was suggested to me and first scripted by a friend of mine, Scott Delahunt. (SD Productions) When I heard it, I thought, "the senshi just belong on Springer..." (the ones in the Japanese version, anyway)

Making the video was quite an ordeal... If I remember the file timestamps correctly, I first started timing in mid-January 2000. Later, after borrowing Sailor Moon tapes from Scott, I got the first draft of the video done in late May. I went through 12 episodes of Springer in one night! I tried to get the titles in the lower left to match what was going on in the song, but one of the episodes was completely useless: "We're in our 70's and still sleeping around!" I then entered the video at a number of summer cons, fully expecting it to be rejected from at least one due to the amount of live-action content. The only thing I encountered was that Anime North said it couldn't take first place due to the live-action content. (They've added a new entry category for 2001, heh heh) After Otakon in August, there was pressure to get the video on the web, but work deadlines were looming, and I wanted to make some final edits. I had recently found some filters to improve video, and running them over the video clips took time. I eventually got the video on the web in late November. I used the filters because a good chunk of my source material was recorded in EP mode. I don't advocate using footage like this, but the filters helped considerably. At any rate, in the end Scott said the video turned out better than he imagined, so that was good.

Thanks to everyone who voted for the video at Otakon 2000. (or another video... votes are good) It received >50% of the vote, which I believe is the first time that's happened at Otakon.

Although hopefully the video is amusing to some degree without a thorough knowledge of Sailor Moon, here is some explanation of some scenes: (spoilers for various SM seasons and the AMV)

"cousins that marry": Due to convention contest deadlines, this scene wasn't in the first version of the video. The very week after the deadline, the Sailor Moon S dub began airing in America, and it was revealed that CWi had made Haruka and Michiru "cousins". (they're lesbians in the original series)
"hermaphrodite, the slut, and the crack ho": The Sailor Starlights (in this shot) are guys that transform to women. (in the Stars anime season)
"about the guy who learned his woman was a she-male": Zoicite was changed from a man in the Japanese to a woman in the DiC dub to hide a homosexual relationship with Malachite, who was named Kunzite in the original. (Zoicite is seen later on in the video during "boom in the face of some unsuspecting drag queen")
"when he found out that his wife had a sex change" (morph from Pluto to Mamoru): There's a running joke on alt.fan.sailor-moon that Setsuna (Sailor Pluto) is Mamoru in drag. (I'm not sure how it started)
"with the siamese twins and the transvestite": Usagi and Minako, who look relatively similar, are shown here side-by-side, along with Haruka (Uranus), who is mistaken for a man at first due to how she dresses.
"between the KKK and that gay Jewish black dude": The dressed-all-in-white Moonlight Knight passes for a KKK member, don't you think? (I changed his two outstretched fingers into a fist) Professor Tomoe (S season), who appears in shadow, passes for "black", but I don't want to comment on his sexual orientation or religion.
Scott's script called for Uranus and Neptune for "psycho killers with problems they should work out". I initially thought villains would work better, but this way ensures that all the senshi are made fun of. (that decision was made before the "cousins" thing)
SOS: Senshi On Springer is a takeoff of SOS: Save Our Sailors. The "Pink Sugar Therapy Pop Tarts" refers to their Pop Tart "procott" several years ago. (more info) It also mutates the attacks "Pink Sugar Heart Attack" and "Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss".
Yes, the Japanese writing at the end says "Jerry".