The Toonmakers Sailor Moon Pilot: So Bad It's Good!

I am a little late to the party here, but I remember hearing about this a while back on a website called Moon Sisters before Ray Mona's videos documenting this. When I saw the screenshots and animation cells, I was like, "Is this real?". It actually is real. The art style looks a lot like Jem and the Holograms (or may remind some of that show).

And then, Ray Mona's videos came around. If you aren't familiar with Ray Mona, she is a YouTuber who finds lost media such as a Clueless DS game and spoiler alert: she had found the pilot and intro to Saban Moon (as some fans call it)/Toonmaker's Sailor Moon, on August 20th (6 days before my birthday).

Before the intro was finally found, it was filmed poorly on a camera at a convention (I think). But not gonna lie, the theme is actually really catchy even though lyrics get repetitive at times. It has been an earworm in my head since first hearing it when the pilot/intro was finally found. I really wish someone made a chiptune version of that theme because I love 8-bit/chiptune remixes of songs.

Had this been picked up, then what would anime be like in the west? I don't even want to think of seeing an Americanized Dragon Ball... please no. I know that Ray Mona said something in part 2 of her documentary, if I recall that some western cartoons such as Steven Universe have anime inspired elements and if we were exposed to this version of Sailor Moon, then we won't be seeing those elements in western cartoons. We won't be exposed to classics such as Akira (I never seen that movie by the way, but it's in my watchlist).

I watched the full pilot in part two of her documentary last week before my birthday (she did separate the pilot and the theme into separate videos) and the pilot does have that 90's cheesiness, and the animation isn't that great (it is low budget). It is a mix between live action/animation. It's trying to be the next Power Rangers, I guess. Cashing in all that money. Tuxedo Mask does nothing when he shows up besides throwing the rose and giving Sailor Moon some power, I guess. And near the end, there is a weird long pause with the camera showing the galaxy with music playing until the copyright shows up. Yeah, no joke, that is how the pilot ends. :/

But my thoughts on the pilot: I have seen other's reactions to it as well. It's so bad, that it's good like TV Tropes put it on their page for the pilot. Ray Mona has found most of the cast except for two people - one who played Prince Darian and Sailor Venus. I will put the videos down below and go check out parts one and two of Ray Mona's documentary, if that interests you.