From: phoenix@mediaone.net   
      
   The Fabulous 9 Get Together! Miracle in the Black Dream Hole!   
      
   (The following is reposted from a summary I made back in August, 2000.   
   I will say more once I've watched it again)   
      
   Warning, there are some spoilers ahead about the SuperS movie, but NOT   
   about how it ends. Will Sailor Moon prevail? Who knows, I won't tell   
   you here. But you will learn the fate of some of the fairies and some   
   subtleties of the story.   
      
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   This tale is about how the evil Lady Vadiane intends to trap all the   
   children of earth in order to tap into their dreams and use the   
   resulting energy to conquer the world. So what else is new you say?   
   Not much, but there are some cute subtleties and little delights even   
   for the most jaded.   
      
   In the opening scene, we hear a captivating little melody played from   
   a flute as children wake up from their sleep in response to it. As one   
   of the children awakens, we see in the background a cuckoo clock as it   
   strikes 3:00. Then the camera zooms in on the little bird as it pops   
   out to note the hour. The children are enraptured and follow the call   
   of the flute. While they walk, they sing to the melody which is called   
   "san ji no yosei" (Three O'Clock Fairy).   
      
   Three O'Clock Fairy? Cuckoo clock? Is there a connection? We shall   
   see, we shall see.   
      
   The movie titles run and we see the girls learning to bake cookies   
   from the capable hands of Makoto. While they are so engaged, the   
   cuckoo clock in the kitchen strikes 3 o'clock and Makoto remarks that   
   it is the three o'clock fairy. The other girls are intrigued and ask   
   Makoto to explain. Makoto tells how her mother often baked cookies and   
   treats in the afternoon. This was because of the fable of the Three   
   O'Clock Fairy, who would tell mothers everywhere to make sweet snacks   
   for their children. Makoto, back in her young innocence, did not know   
   about fairies, so she thought it was the little bird that came out of   
   the clock.   
      
   Along with the story of the cuckoo, Ami tells of how her mother baked   
   cookies for her as a child and told her that these cookies would cheer   
   her up a 100 times over when she was depressed. That gave Chibiusa the   
   inspiration to claim that _her_ cookies tasted so good, they would   
   increase your energy and courage a hundred times over as well.   
      
   There must have been something special about that moment as we will   
   see.   
      
   As the story unfolds, we find out there are four fairies in the employ   
   of the Lady Vadiane who are gathering the children of the world   
   through the music of their flutes. But one of them has rebelled and   
   joins the senshi to defeat the Lady Vadiane.   
      
   About half-way through the story, the three remaining fairies are   
   defeated. In their defeat, they are transformed back to their true   
   form, that of a bird. But wait! What is that faint sound in the   
   background? Did you actually hear the sound of a cuckoo? Was young   
   Makoto right after all?   
      
   Despite the defeat of the fairies, the evil Lady Vadiane remains. And   
   what's more, she has trapped Chibiusa in an endless sleep. What will   
   Sailor Moon do? And where will she ever find the courage and strength   
   to free her future daughter?   
      
   Thus goes the original Japanese version. However, the dub writers, in   
   all their ham-handed ignorance or in reverence to the god of political   
   correctness, have totally destroyed ALL of these subtle little   
   interconnections.   
      
   --   
   Phoenix   
   www.phoenixanime.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)