Sailor Q (TV Series)

History

In 1993, Freya, well aware of the need of money for Matsumi Kaze's continual battle against evil, decided to sell the rights to the story to the BBC. Intrigued by the concept and needing something to fill in some much needed time slots, the company bought the show, though due to some clever legal work, much of the merchandising deals and ultimate right of concept fell to Freya.

Given a modest budget, the show premiered on April 15th, 1993, beginning with the episode A Hero Arrives. While the first episode garnered some average ratings, the second, The Sinjins, became a huge hit, gaining a large audience in the process. The first season ended with high ratings, necessitating a renewal which turned into several more seasons. The combination of a strong female role along with a unique American flavor seemed to appeal to many British audience members at the time, surprising critics.

As time wore on, however, changes in demographics began to shrink viewing figures, changing it from a fairly mainstream show to one far more enjoyed by a small cult audience. It was in the year 1999, however, that things took a turn for the worse. Certain higher ups in the BBC displayed disgust at the idea that a "non-British" show could become so popular, and seeing the drops in the ratings, as well as certain issues with the newest story arc, decided to use this as a chance to replace it with something far more local. So on January 4, 1999, it was announced the show would take an 18 month hiatus. Almost immediately there were cries from loyal fans against this and a song by a local DJ, "Quick Rescue our Q!", something which is still seen with some embarrassment.

Deciding to placate the masses, the BBC ordered another few seasons, though with a shrunken budget and placed against the time slot of one of the most popular soaps at the time. With somewhat low ratings and a lack of immediate interest, the show was finally cancelled in the summer of 2002, just shy of a ten year run.

Interest, however, still ran somewhat steady in Great Britain for the series, with rumors of a TV movie in the works and theories on who will play the role next in The Mirror. Eventually, the film was made with the help of an American studio; the movie brought back the popular villian Lady Arzu in an attempt to win back fans. However, many of the changes made by the co-producers, as well as an attempt to make it more "British" doomed the attempt, apparently killing any possibility of a revival.

However, in 2017, after speaking with Freya and with the help of a life-long fan of the series currently working at the TV studio, the BBC has begun to entertain the possibility of reviving the series.

The Missing Stories

Due to a lack of early confidence in the series, the BBC made an agreement with Z-10 (pronounced ZET-Ten) studios to work on the show, with the smaller studio handling several episodes by themselves. A small regional studio, Z-10's episodes tended to be noticeably cheaper in scope, often filmed in studio with minimal location shooting. By the end of the run of the second actress to play Sailor Q, however, Z-10 was noticeably having finanical trouble and declared bankruptcy, shutting down soon after production of the final story featuring the second actress. When it became apperent at the popularity of the series and the BBC desired to show repeats of some of the earliest stories on TV, they naturally went to the original heads of Z-10 studios for copies of their stories...only to discover that the episodes were not available. Some were apparently destroyed for tax reasons, others were sold to collectors or sent overseas. While the chance of these stories being taped off TV by fans was possible, it is noted that at the time it was not known that these stories would only be shown once, causing there to be noticeable gaps in the early run of the first two actresses.

• Footnote by Cressida Sumire Xadium-Aino: In the 51st century it was discovered that many missing episodes had been stolen by Time Travelers from the 51st Century to recover the missing episodes.

Sailor Qs

With a total of 18 seasons (spring and winter) and one made for tvTV movie, there have been 8 actresses who have played the part of the senshi:

1. Wanda Hawkins (Seasons 1, 2, 3)

2. Patricia Thompson (Seasons 4, 5, 6)

3. Joanne Potter (Seasons 7, 8)

4. Tilly Barker (Seasons 9, 10, 11, 12)

5. Page Davidson (Seasons 13, 14)

6. Kate Barker (Season 15)

7. Sara MacRoy (Seasons 16, 17, 18)

8. Polly MacGlynn (TV Movie)

Episodes

Wanda Hawkins

Season 1

• Rise of Sailor Q

• The Sin-Jins

• The Brink of Death

• The Power of Faris (Missing)

• The Links of Irvine

• The Pioneers

• The Rock-Artists

• The Ruler of Doom (Exists only as a blurry incomplete version)

Season 2

• World of Titans

• The Sin-Jin Attack on St Paul

• The Savior of the City

• The Masters of Horror

• The Orb Trap

• The Jewel of Terror (only exists as blurry incomplete version)

• The Vengeance of Daia

• The Execution of Sailor Q

• The Hour Killers

Season 3

• Star 5 (Missing)

• The Legend Creator (Missing)

• The Sin-Jin's Grand Scheme (Missing)

Triva

• Due to the aformention issues, two stories of Season 1 and large chunks of Season 2,3,4 and 5 are missing from the archives. Photos and off air audio has been used by fans to reconstruct the missing episodes.

• Paisley is a fan of the series.

• Matsumi once tried out for the lead role but was turned down as not being "suitable" for the role.