A holy grail of lost media has finally been found. The infamous Toon Makers Sailor Moon pilot and accompanying music video were posted in their entirety on YouTube as part of an exhaustive documentary about both the project and the efforts to find surviving footage. This discovery marks the end of a multi-decade search for the Americanized version of Sailor Moon and gives us our first clear look at what could have been the West’s introduction to the franchise.
American Sailor Moon pilot discovered in its entirety
We’ve known about the Toon Makers Sailor Moon pilot for decades, thanks to the music video. It was shown at several conventions throughout the 90s, and a videotaped copy made it onto YouTube. However, the video by YouTuber Ray Mona marks the first time we’ve seen the pilot or a clean copy of the music video.
The American Sailor moon pilot (dubbed Saban Moon by some despite Saban not being involved in its production) wasn’t ever meant to be seen by an outside audience. Instead, both it and the music video were part of a pitch to obtain a license to produce a series in the US. As such, both it and its accompanying music video are in rough shape. Presumably, if Toon Makers had been granted the license, a more polished pilot would have been produced.
In 1993, Toon Makers partnered with Renaissance Atlantic and Bandai to create an Americanized version of Sailor Moon. Renaissance Atlantic had recently adapted Super Sentai into Power Rangers, which was a huge success. The three companies hoped to use the same formula to produce a show aimed at girls. However, unlike Power Rangers, which used the action scenes from Super Sentai, this version of Sailor Moon was to be an entirely original production. It was a live-action, CGI, and traditional animation hybrid that only kept the bare outline of the Japanese original.
Some animation cels and scripts for the pilot turned up on eBay when a storage locker belonging to Toon Maker director and producer Rocky Solotoff was put up for auction. However, most of those searching for it feared the actual footage was lost for good. Fortunately, Ray Mona was able to procure clean copies of both the pilot and the music video from the Library of Congress and released them with the blessing of former Renaissance Atlantic and Bandai America head Frank Ward.
Toon Makers’ pitch failed due to the high cost of producing an entirely new series. So instead, DiC was chosen to recut the Japanese anime and create a new dub. While that version had its own set of issues, it was infinitely more faithful to the source material.
For more about the creation of the Toon Makers Sailor Moon pilot and its rediscovery, check out both parts of Ray Mona’s documentary. It’s a fascinating journey and opens the door to dive into further aspects of its development.
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