Now even Netflix would have done better…
Before the West received an official version of Sailor Moon by Toei Animation, an American live-action adaptation of the anime was conceived (even worse than Netflix). Fortunately, it was scrapped before it aired. However, a pilot was made of 17 minutes for the show that was never publicly shown to be even worse than others like Dragon Ball Evolution.
The full pilot was recently discovered and featured in a YouTube documentary by Ray Mona. With a cult status among American Sailor Moon fans, Mona received permission to show the pilot from the former president of Bandai AmericaFrank Ward, after obtaining the images from the Library of Congress.
Known colloquially online as “Saban Moon”, in honor of Haim Saban, the producer who brought Power Rangers to the West, the live-action adaptation of the Sailor Moon anime was initially going to premiere in 1994 on FOX along with the Power Rangers. Producers Renaissance Atlantic’s show was scrapped for the quality it showed, the scenes were filmed on the Saved by the Bell sets and the animation was done by the Toon Makers studio. And, if you got to see Dragon Ball Evolution or any other adaptation of the time, you will recognize the quality it could have.
The pilot is included near the end of a two-part documentary series on the production history behind this live-action anime adaptation that never aired on television. The idea of an Americanized, live-action Sailor Moon began in 1993, but Bandai eventually scrapped it. in favor of an English dub based on Toei Animation’s original anime. The proposed US show would have combined live-action footage from Power Rangers producers Renaissance Atlantic and new animation from US studio Toon Makers. The team was aiming to premiere the show in 1994 on FOX, possibly on the same block as Power Rangers.
Would a Sailor Moon live-action have been worse than Dragon Ball Evolution?
The documentary revealed that Toon Makers producers Raymond Iacovacci, Rocky Solotoff, and Steven Wilzbach handpicked the five stars for this live-action adaptation (reminiscent of the flop of Dragon Ball Evolution) for the show and reused the sets of the American sitcom Saved by the Bell. The cast included Stephanie Dicker as Sailor Moon (Victoria), Melinda “Mindy” Cowan as Sailor Mercury (Blue), Danny “Dani” DeLacey as Sailor Mars (Dana), Tami-Adrian George as Sailor Jupiter (Lita), and Melendy Britt. . as the voice of Luna (a white cat) and Adrienne Barbeau as Queen Beryl and Queen Serenity. The actress who played Sailor Venus (Carrie) has not been confirmed.
Today, the possible live-action version of this anime is mainly a curious footnote in the history of the company that even its most dedicated fans do not know about and that even the actresses involved would prefer to forget. At that time, there were more rumors that Joss Whedon would be directing a live-action version of Sailor Moon for Fox with Lindsay Lohan as the protagonist, but all of these were later shown to be completely false. While it’s unlikely we’ll ever see what a company like Disney could do with the iconic franchise, it’s fun to speculate just how amazing — or downright terrible — the movie could have been.
In Japan, there were not only official musicals and stage plays for Sailor Moon, but also a more full-fledged live-action series, with a bigger budget and love for the source material. In fact, a part of the fandom recognizes these versions as some of the best adaptations of their kind. Considering that Luna also transformed from a cat to her Sailor Scout, we can only wonder if that kind of craziness could have happened in an American version. The simplest answer is “No”, at that time it was difficult to convince Western audiences that the “eccentricities” of Japanese works were necessary for the main story.