A long time ago, our moon was the home to a prosperous kingdom which encompassed the entire solar system. the beings on the moon were immortal. this kingdom was ruled by queen serenity, who, judging at least by her name, was a peaceful and kind ruler. this era was known as the silver millennium, and all the planets were at peace.
serenity had a daughter, coincidentally enough also named serenity (DiC: serena). serenity's court consisted of the princesses from the planets of the solar system. each of the princesses was destined to be a guardian of princess serenity. to do this, each one could transform into a sailor suited warrior and assume the powers of the planet they represented.
the princess spent long hours staring wistfully at the planet earth. she had fallen in love with the trees, oceans, and the crown prince, endymion (DiC: darien).
one day, this peace was shattered. beryl, an avatar of queen metallia, attacked the earth. she convinced the earthling humans that they wanted the moon goddess' immortality, and used them as her standing army. the generals of this army were jedite, nephlyte, zoicite, and kunzite (DiC: malachite). beryl, through metallia's energy, wanted to rule the earth and the moon.
endymion escaped to the moon in order to warn serenity. unfortunately, the people of the moon were of the mind that earth humans were untrustworthy. endymion told serenity that although their love was now forbidden, he would protect her. as they shared one last kiss, she gave him a star locket as a token of love.
beryl and metallia attacked viciously, and everything was destroyed. beryl used the power of the invincible shadow, a creature formed when the seven evils were brought together. serentiy's forces were no match for this evil queen, but there was nothing they could do. the sailor guardians and the army tried in vain to save their world, but they all died in the effort.
finally, there was no one left but endymion and serenity. beryl, very much in love with the earth prince, tried to persuade him to become her king. he refused, and stood protectively in front of serenity. she attacked.
endymion was swept away. serenity, unwilling to leave him even now, jumped up after him. just as their fingers met, they were blasted by queen beryl, and died.
when beryl killed the prince of the earth and his love, serenity decided to save her kingdom at the cost of her own life. using the power of the ginzuishou (DiC: silver crystal), she trapped beryl's forces along with serenity and her court. with one last good bye to her kingdom, she separated the seven evils and imprisoned them in rainbow colored crystals, and sent them to earth. then she sent her daughter and the senshi to a future on earth, 1000 years from the time of the moon kingdom. they would have no memory of their lives on the moon, and they could live normal, peaceful lives.
queen serenity's last hope was that her daughter and the senshi could fulfill their destinies; serenity to rule crystal tokyo, and the senshi to be her guardians. as queen serenity died, she dropped the crescent moon wand, and it sent her two cat guardians (luna and artemis) to the earth with the girls. this way, in case beryl and metallia tried to take over the earth, the sailor senshi could be activated to combat queen beryl and her four generals. and now, the story begins....
the discovery of the moon princess and the silver crystal
serenity and her guardians were born on earth. for 13 years, they lived in peace. by this time, however, beryl and metallia were able to break out of their prison and continue their mission for world domination. serenity faught with the senshi as sailor moon, with no knowledge of her true heritage. endymion, still bound by his love, continues to protect her as tuxedo kamen (DiC: tuxedo mask).
we are told by luna that sailor moon's mission is to find the moon princess of long ago and her silver moon crystal. the story progresses, and we find that in order to get the crystal, seven "rainbow crystals" must be found.
the rainbow crystals are hidden inside the bodies of normal people. these people were sent to earth by queen serenity and the power of the ginzuishou. they are the reincarnations of the seven evils that defeated the moon kingdom.
zoicite, of of beryl's generals, is the first one to find a rainbow crystal. she removes it from the body of a young boy about the age of our senshi. upon doing so, the boy reverts to his "true self"-one of the seven shadows. sailor moon shows up, yada yada yada, and she finds out that she has to heal the boy to defeat the monster. thus luna provides the crescent moon wand.
in due time, all seven crystals are found. however, tuxedo mask has two of them. seems he's out to find the princess too. zoicite challenges tuxedo mask to a duel for the crystals. naturally, she cheats, and tux's first death scene of the season begins when he is injured. sailor moon, who came along for the ride, had just found out that tux was actually mamoru (DiC: darien) an obnoxious high school student with whome she has quarrelled on many occasions, and is very upset. she kneels beside him and begins to cry. one of the tears solidifies and becomes the crystal. the seven rainbow crystals merge with the silver crystal. everyone looks on, breathless...
the crescent moon wand appears, with the crystal on it. everyone knows that this is the moment they have all been waiting for-the princess will show up. sailor moon reaches up to take the crystal, and -poof- princess serenity appears. so all this time, the moon princess has been around and no one knew it. to complicate matters even more, tuxedo kamen has also regained his memories and is the earth prince endymion.
the battle with queen beryl
kunzite, under orders from beryl, captures the fallen prince endymion and brainwashes him. he is now beryl's loyal servant. he begins an obsessive search for the crystal, running into the senshi several times. naturally, this is very difficult for our young heroine, and she refuses to fight him. in order to get him back and defeat beryl once and for all, the senshi journey to the d point for battle. they have to hurry, because the resurrection of queen metallia (the "negaforce") is near and they have to stop it.
one by one, each senshi dies under the hand of the dd girls, until sailor moon is left alone. she is not alone in spirit, however, for her friends appear once again to cheer her up. she heads for the dark kingdom citadel, and queen beryl magicks her into the palace. endymion appears, and he attempts to kill sailor moon several times; once with swords, once with electric roses, and once by strangulation (for those of you not remembering this, yes, dic cut this part out). sailor moon keeps trying to win him back, but not even her healing power can stop him.
finally, in a desperate measure, she uses the moon tiara on him, and he falls. as he struggles to his feet, our friend the evil queen laughs, well, evilly. sailor moon begins to talk to him about their long ago lost love. she pleads with him, asking him to touch the star locket. he concedes, and the negative energy is washed away from him.
needless to say, beryl is not pleased, and conjures a stone of some sort to throw. out flies a red rose, not a black one, a red one, and it shatters the shard. the rose hits beryl, the shard (surprise!) hits endymion, and his third death scene begins. in the japanese version there is a very touching scene when sailor moon moves to kiss the dead prince. she stops herself and says that since all of her friends died without a kiss from their true love, she must also.
beryl, now infused with the dark energy of metallia, rises above the ground. sailor moon confronts her! the battle music begins (carry on for the na version, moonlight densetsu for the japanese), and beryl strikes. the strike hits sailor moon, only to rise in an ice tower with princess serenity standing on top...
luna and artemis, at home in japan, realize that serenity will use the power of her crystal to defeat queen beryl. they also realize that using the full power of the crystal will kill serenity as it did her mother.
serenity leashes out with the power of her crystal, and the battle begins. she says she believes in the strength of her love for her friends and for her world, and the spirits of the fallen scouts aid her. their combined strength is just enough to destroy the dark kingdom. however, as predicted, it also kills the five senshi and endymion. the crystal grows in size, and gathers the five bodies with serena's wish for a normal life...
oh, btw, the crystal did restore their lives. they were sent home with no memories of any of the fights they fought, and some people argue that the crystal reversed time so that it was like the senshi were never awakened. (this is argued in the episode about the cherry blossoms-it is the second springtime that year).
