FernGully: The Last Rainforest

FernGully: The Last Rainforest is the first film in the FernGully series and was the most popular as compared to it's sequel FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue. FernGully was made in April 10, 1992, and in Australia on September 17, 1992. FernGully was written by Jim Cox, and was based on the same book by Diana Young.

Plot
The film tells the story of FernGully, a rainforest near Mount Warning, Australia, is the same as that of the original version of FernGully: The Last Rainforest. A curious fairy girl named Crysta saw a part of the world she and her friends (Pipes and the Beetle Boys) never seen before beyond FernGully and believes humans dwell on the nearby mountain Mount Warning. But the wise sprite of the forest and Crysta's motherly figure, Magi Lune, says humans are now extinct. In the opening scene, she says that they fled, driven away by the attack of an enemy known as Hexxus, the spirit of destruction and all that is toxic to nature, never to return and presumed dead; Hexxus was defeated by the fairies and imprisoned inside a tree. Crysta mentions a black cloud that she saw rising near the mountain, and Magi identifies it as smoke, but nervously dismisses Crysta's speculation that the smoke might be Hexxus, saying "There isn't a force in nature that could release him, and there are no poisons here on which he can feed. Hexxus is trapped for all time." It is implied that Magi shares Crysta's fears, but is afraid to say so openly.

Serena (Usagi), Amy (Ami), Raye (Rei), Lita (Makoto), Mina (Minako), Sakura, Syaoran, Meiling and Darien (Mamoru) travel to Australian rainforest on a free trip for Earth Day from a clothing company who want Mina to design some new clothes for them. Serena tries to find a fairy, ending up join an Australian elephant patrol led by Captain Colonel. Crysta, Pips and the Beetle Boys soon found out when Serena's friends enter their world. Magi arrives and reveals that Serena is in fact the Moon Princess. According to Magi, some years prior to the events of the film, Hexxus, an evil spirit, appeared. As such, his only goal is to cause destruction, decay and death in any way he can. He rose out of the Earth and rained down poison, destroying much in his wake and killing countless living creatures, including humans. He tried to steal a Heart of Princess Serena, but he was finally defeated by the fairy priestess Magi Lune and imprisoned inside an enchanted baobab tree, which he remained trapped in for many years.

Befriending a mentally unstable yet comical fruit bat named Batty Koda who has been experimented on by humans and now has wires and antennas fused into his head, Crysta heads to Mount Warning where she finds dead trees all marked with red aerosol paint crosses, which mark them for cutting. The camera then pans through the trees to reveal the source of the smoke, which turns out to be the exhaust from a huge tree leveler. Crysta finds male humans, and accidentally shrinks one named Zak in trying to prevent him from being crushed by a tree. He gets stuck on a spiderweb on the tree that's just about to go through a tree shredder. She tries to get him off but can't when Batty swoops in, grabs them both off of the spider web and blames Crysta for her almost getting killed, because she did not listen to him.

Zak goes on a wild adventure with Crysta and Batty, nearly getting eaten by Lou a hungry Goanna lizard, and unexpectedly falls in love with Crysta. Meanwhile, Zak's superiors cut down an enchanted baobab tree that Zak had inadvertently painted an X mark on while trying to spray a fly that was buzzing around him. Unfortunately, this turns out to be the tree Hexxus is trapped in, and the cutting down and processing of the tree by the lumbermill-like leveler machine releases him. Determined to get revenge upon the fairies of FernGully (specifically Magi Lune) for imprisoning him and seeking on Sailor Moon's heart, Hexxus apparently gains power from the pollution, specifically the energy and smoke produced by the Leveler, as he can be seen "drinking" from it like a liquid. He manipulates the lumberjacks and their tree leveler into tearing down the rainforest in the direction of the fairies by the next morning, thereby destroying the very fabric of their world. He does this under the vocal guise of their boss.

Zak doesn't understand why everyone's so concerned about going green. That night, a miniature image of Queen Serenity appears before Zak, and she says that she is Sailor Moon's mother and the ruler of the Moon Kingdom who revived Luna and Artemis and sent them to watch over the Sailor Senshi. She warns Zak that he will be visited by three spirits, and they teach him to be more considerate to Mother Earth. Zak is first visited by Sailor V, the Spirit of Earth Day Past. She shows him the past about the humans came to FernGully from the opening scene. Hexxus driven them away, presumed killing them; Hexxus was defeated by the fairies and imprisoned inside a tree. Not long after the first visit, Princess Serena, the Spirit of Earth Day Present arrives, surrounded by the flowery meadow. She shows Zak two events: First, Professor Nimnul researched the hearts of the Sailor Scouts and then, Hexxus fooled Tony and Ralph, Zak's superiors, to head for FernGully by the next morning, and Serena foretells tragedy if the human's hapless life does not change. However, just when Zak is desperate to know Crysta's fate, the Moon Princess suddenly vanishes. Prince Darien, as Tuxedo Mask, the Spirit of Earth Day Future takes Zak to the future. When he discovers that Hexxus has destroyed FernGully and killed all the fairies, including Crysta and Pips, Zak fearfully asks Darien whether this future can be altered. He then sees Sakura, Syaoran, Meiling, Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina mourning for Serena, who has been defeated by Hexxus (indicated by Mina placing the Moon Stick with the Silver Crystal intact on her memorial marker). After the Scouts leave, Zak and Darien approach a body of Serena in a glass coffin, where Darien lights a candles, revealing Serena's secret identity as Sailor Moon, and sends Zak back on Earth Day morning.

Up until this point, all the fairies have not had a clue as to what danger awaits them. That is until Zak, having been given another chance, tells the truth about who he is and what the humans are doing in FernGully. Eventually, Sailor Moon tells the truth about Hexxus and he is destroying FernGully. She also reveals Zak to be responsible for Hexxus' escape.

Once the truth is revealed the fairies all join forces and fuse their powers together, creating a protective tree cage. Magi sacrifices herself (giving her power to the fairies and even Zak) and it is up to Sailor Moon, Crysta and the other fairies allied with the Sailor Scouts to defeat Hexxus. When he came to FernGuly to wipe out the rainforest, Hexxus takes Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Venus, threatening to kill them if Sailor Moon refuses to allow Hexxus to take her heart. Despite Sailor Mercury's, Sailor Mars' and Sailor Jupiter's protestations, Sailor Moon yields her heart to Hexxus, who then proceeds to destroy the rainforests. Sailor Mercury and Zak turn off the leveler, causing Hexxus to lose all the energy he was gaining from it and disappear, but he soon rips out of the machine as a giant demonic skeleton creature made of oil that breathes fire. Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts team-up and use all of their power to attack Hexxus. Crysta seemingly sacrifices herself like Magi did by allowing Hexxus to devour her in one bite, and uses her powers from inside him to grow a seed she had with her to again imprison Hexxus (together with the leveler) inside a new tree with help from the fairies led by Pips, thereby imprisoning him again, and rescue Sailor Moon's heart from the inside. However, she emerges, unharmed and alive, from a flower soon after. Crysta sadly resizes Zak to normal size and he sets off with his fellow lumberjacks, Tony and Ralph, to try to stop the destruction of the rainforests. Meanwhile, Crysta takes Magi's place after learning finally how to control her powers. In the ending, Sailor Moon uses Moon Tiara Stardust to erase all memories of the lumberjacks expect Zak about cutting down the trees and Moon Healing Escalation to restore all the rainforests. Serena, Sakura and their friends celebrate Earth Day and start their vacation.

Sailor Senshi/Scouts

 * Terri Hawkes (Kae Araki in the Japanese adaption) as Usagi/Serena Tsukino/Sailor Moon / Spirit of Earth Day Present
 * Karen Bernstein (Aya Hisakawa in the Japanese adaption) as Ami Mizuno/Amy Anderson/Sailor Mercury
 * Katie Griffin (Michie Tomizawa in the Japanese adaption) as Rei/Raye Hino/Sailor Mars
 * Susan Roman (Emi Shinohara in the Japanese adaption) as Makoto/Lita Kino/Sailor Jupiter
 * Stephanie Morgenstern (Rica Fukami in the Japanese adaption) as Minako/Mina Aino/Sailor Venus / Spirit of Earth Day Past
 * Jill Frappier (Keiko Han in the Japanese adaption) as Luna
 * Ron Rubin (Yasuhiro Takato in the Japanese adaption) as Artemis
 * Toby Proctor (Tohru Furuya in the Japanese adaption) as Mamoru Chiba/Darien/Tuxedo Mask / Spirit of Earth Day Future

Cardcaptors

 * Carly McKillip as Sakura Kinomoto
 * Rhys Huber as Syaoran Li
 * Maggie Blue O'Hara as Tomoyo Daidouji
 * Nicole Oliver as Meiling Li
 * Richard Newman as Cerberus
 * Sam Vincent as Julian Star

Rescue Rangers

 * Tress MacNeille as Chip and Gadget Hackwrench
 * Corey Burton as Dale and Zipper
 * Peter Cullen as Monterey Jack

Characters of FernGully

 * Jonathan Ward as Zak Young the love interest of Crysta.
 * Samantha Mathis as Crysta the main protagonist.
 * Tim Curry as Hexxus the main antagonist of the film and the new villain of Sailor Moon.
 * Christian Slater as Pips
 * Robin Williams as Batty Koda the deurtagonist.
 * Grace Zabriskie as Magi Lune
 * Geoffrey Blake as Ralph
 * Robert Pastorelli as Tony
 * Cheech Marin as Stump
 * Tommy Chong as Root
 * Tone Lōc as Goanna
 * Townsend Coleman as Knotty
 * Neil Ross as the Elder

Soundtrack
The soundtrack album was released by MCA Records with the following songs:

Track listing
The score of FernGully was composed by Alan Silvestri.

Reused Footage

 * Batty Koda shocked that Serena and her friends at FernGully, same as Sebastian, he is a jaw-dropper. Lou the Goanna does the jaw-closing honors like Scuttle.
 * Crysta facepalming, like Alice.
 * Pips facepalms like Basil of Baker Street.
 * Like Genie, Batty hits his head while facepalming.

Trivia

 * The entire ghost sequence of the first FernGully film is a parody of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
 * Elliot and Colonel are based off of the elephants in The Jungle Book, particularly the scene where the elephants pile up on top of one another.