Someone had told me about the lost pilot for the aborted attempt at an Americanized version of Sailor Moon that used a combination of live-action and animated sequences. I had known about that thing for years and even saw the pilot in question that was uploaded by Youtuber by the moniker of Ray Mona.
So when Sailor Moon was originally going to be brought over, they weren’t going to use the anime, but rather create their own version that used some of the names and concepts, but only in the loosest sense of the term. The idea was that the civilian forms of the Sailors would be depicted in live action, while the hero sequences would play out in traditional western animation that was typical of the 1980s. They put together a pilot, it was rejected, and we eventually ended up with the original English dub of Sailor Moon that most people know and love… I guess.
I’ve seen the pilot and it’s easy to see why this was passed over… but not necessarily for its deviation from the source material. Going any further will dive into spoiler territory for a three-decade old pitch video that very few people outside of the internet know exists, so details after the break.
dtm666 