Sightings

This page features the sightings from movie sources only.

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Movie: Ransom (1996)

This thriller film was directed by Ron Howard and stares Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, and Gary Sinise. The plot deals with a rich airline owner who is trying to get his son back after he is kidnapped. At first he is willing to pay the two million dollar ransom but, after the drop goes wrong, he turns the ransom money into a bounty on the heads of the kidnappers.

The sighting occurs after the son is kidnapped, when one of the kidnappers goes into a store to buy some items. Among the items purchased is a Sailor Moon R VHS tape (it appears to be a bootleg copy, almost certainly one of the many fan-subbed editions that could be order online during that time as the official version was not released until February 8, 2000). Later on, the main kidnapper asks why he bought the tapes since the son's eyes are taped shut and he responds that the kid could still listen to them.

Susan Bode did the set decoration for the film, however no reason for the inclusion of the tape could be found.

Download this section of the movie here. Thanks Castle in the Sky, IMDb, and Wikipedia!
Movie: A Simple Wish (1997)

Directed by Michael Ritchie, this comedy film stars Martin Short, Mara Wilson, and Kathleen Turner. It's about a bumbling male fairy godmother named Murray who tries to help eight-year-old Anabel fulfill her wish that her father, a carriage driver, win the leading role in a Broadway musical.

Towards the beginning of the movie, there's a scene where Mara Wilson is in her room and Murray comes in. On a wall near her bed you can see what appears to be a Sailor Moon poster (its kind of blurry). The furniture next to her bed also holds two other Sailor Moon items, a Sailor Mars doll (behind the jewelry box) and a Moon Wand complete with ring.

The set decoration was done by Jaro Dick. This seems to be one of his only child-themed movies though so it is unclear where the inspiration for the use of the Sailor Moon items came from. It was most likely due to it being a popular girls show at the time and it being a girls room he was decorating. The scene itself is dark, since it takes place in the evening, so the images have been enlarged and lightened to make the items easier to see.

Download this section of the movie here. Thanks bewitchingchild, Novadestin, IMDb, and Wikipedia!
Movie: The Core (2003)

The movie is a science fiction disaster film loosely based on the novel 'Core' by Paul Preuss. It deals with a team that has to drill to the center of the Earth and set off a series of nuclear explosions in order to restart the rotation of Earth's core. The film was directed by Jon Amiel and starred Aaron Eckhart, Delroy Lindo, Tchéky Karyo, Hilary Swank, DJ Qualls, Bruce Greenwood, and Stanley Tucci. It was written by Cooper Layne and John Rogers.

The use of Sailor Moon most likely comes from John Rogers given his writing background. Along with this movie, he also worked on the Jackie Chan Adventures (2000), American Outlaws (2001), Red Skies (2002), Catwoman (2004), Global Frequency (2005), Transformers (2007), and Leverage (2008). Outside of movies and TV, he has done several comic books and worked on a few roleplaying games as well.

The sighting itself, which is near the beginning of the movie, centers around a character named Acker who is played by Tom Scholte. His character is an assistant to Dr. Josh Keyes, played by Aaron Eckhart. In the scene, after realizing something might be wrong with the Earth's electromagnetic field, Dr. Keyes starts frantically giving instructions to his assistants. He tells Acker to immediately research all recent, unnatural occurrences. Acker replies, "that is a huge search." Dr. Keyes tells him, "you can use our T1 line to look up Sailor Moon crap, you're up to this!"

And Sailor Moon isn't the only female heroine mentioned in the movie. When the character Rat, played by DJ Qualls, is asked to control all the information on the Web he says he will only do it if given an unlimited supply of hot pockets and Xena tapes.

Download this section of the movie here. Thanks SOS, Mary, Novadestin, IMDb, and Wikipedia.
Movie: War of the Worlds (2005)

An adaptation of H. G. Wells' science fiction novel of the same name, this film was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It stars Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Miranda Otto, Tim Robbins, and Rick Gonzalez. Ann Robinson and Gene Barry, who played the lead roles in the original 1953 film, also made an appearance.

The sighting here is largely an auditory one. Towards the beginning of the film, right after the baseball tossing scene between Tom Cruise and Justin Chatwin, Dakota Fanning's character is seen (and heard) flipping through channel's on the tv. The very first thing heard is the end of the 'Moon Gorgeous Meditation' attack from the English dub's episode 130. Only those paying close attention will catch the quick shot of the episode on the tv before the channel is changed. And only those who know the episode will see the image on the tv and know that it doesn't match with what we just heard (the image shown on the tv is from before or during Sailor Moon's attack, but certainly not afterwards). At the end of the film, Sailor Moon's music composer, Takanori Arisawa (as Arisawa Takanori), is listed in the credits.

According to Moon Chase, the reason for the sighting was most likely one of Spielberg's daughters (either Mikaela or Destry - he does not specify, they both would have been the right age according to his comments). While on a trip to Japan to help promote the first Transformers movie, he gave an interview (dated 05/24/2007 by the link - which is, unfortunately, dead so I cannot provide a picture) stating that his 11 year old daughter loves Sailor Moon and that his daughter's wishes sometimes have priority over his own. [Here's hoping she continues to influence her father on Sailor Moon related things...]

A couple Dragon Ball Z items can be spotted at the beginning of the movie as well. Just before the baseball tossing scene you'll see Emperor Pilaf sitting in Mr. Satan's car as Tom's character reaches for a tv remote. Dragon Ball Z will always share a connection with Sailor Moon as they were both airing and popular around the same time (I personally find that, in this film, the fact that both of these sightings happen around a tv remote to be another fun connection).

Download this section of the movie and the attack from the dub episode 130 here. Thanks IMDb, Novadestin, Moon Chase, and Wikipedia.