Well, let’s see now... I’m not really a hardcore fan, but these are my ideas for a Hollywood live-action movie adaptation of SAILOR MOON:
- The setting has to be Tokyo, Japan, because the town plays an integral role in the saga. The girls in their civilian forms have jobs and families there which are intertwined with Tokyo culture, and in their Senshi form have their bases there (Sailor Mars’ shrine, Crystal Tokyo, etc). Besides, no other country has girls dress up in school uniforms that resemble sailor outfits, and to take that away would half-ruin the film (there’s no Sailor Moon if she doesn’t look like a sailor).
- The above point means that the full cast needs to be Japanese, and that will be very difficult for a Hollywood film. You COULD cast white actors, but there’ll be a heck of a ruckus about race which will have no end, even if they do a really good job.
- The girls need to be around 17-22 years, if girls at that age can wear sailor suits to school. I and perhaps others wouldn’t be too comfortable with a bunch of prepubescent-adolescent girls running around saving the world; the Senshi have to be newly adult, so that it not only makes them credible and realistic but gives them a whole “seeing the world for the first time” tone that would suit them.
- The outfits seem to be all right, maybe add some armour and lower the skirt hemlines (censors). If Wonder Woman could be seen in her comic costume in the 1970s, there’s no reason why the Senshi can’t wear their own suits to their skirmishes. I’m thinking perhaps a slight revision for contemporary times, like the suit Emily Browning wears in SUCKER PUNCH.
- Have only the main five girls appear first (Inner Senshi – Sailors Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter), with the other four girls appearing in a sequel (Outer Senshi – Sailors Pluto, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune), and any others (Sailor Helios - the sun, Sailor Chibi - the future, Sailor Stars - the galaxy, Sailor Cosmos - the universe) for future installments.
- Keep the story simple enough for non-fans to understand: a group of cosmic princesses from the Silver Millennium Kingdom are massacred by their enemy Queen Beryl, and are magically reborn as schoolgirls on Earth, the target of Beryl’s next attack; they regain their previous lives’ memories and abilities, and recommence the battle. Leave their romances till the next installments, when their war takes a toll on them and their lives...
- Serena was a big-hearted but scatterbrained romantic; Mina was her near-clone; Amy was a geek; Raye was a hothead; and Lita was a delinquent. Imagine that these so different girls were oh-so-perfect princesses in their previous life, and that they now have to get together and save their world from the same fate that previously befell them. This is a great setup for the journey of development and maturity that is part of Sailor Moon.
- Sailor Venus uses the power of love. That doesn’t seem right, for serious live-action. Make her power something a little more realistic: maybe the use of light and explosive energy, like X–MEN’s Jubilee or Gambit.
- Also, two Sailor Senshi – Sailors Mercury and Neptune - use the power of water. Since Mercury handles technology, revise her ability to mecha (a giant robot – classic Japanime), or something technological. Those are the only major changes to the Sailors that I think need to be done.
- Involve a secret agency. Practically every fantasy sci-film has one nowadays for verisimilitude, and after all a bunch of supergirls would attract attention from certain quarters. Besides, it could aid in tying in to other stuff: DARK OF THE MOON has 1969 astronauts encountering a ship on the moon, so in a parallel manner some astronauts might discover the remnants of the Moon Kingdom, and maybe bring back some significant artifacts (crystals, talismans, portals, etc).
- And who would be in the above-mentioned agency? Tuxedo Mask, of course! Aka Darien, a government agent assigned to investigate the Senshi, and discovers he was Serena’s lover in his other life... or his CURRENT life, but he lost his memory (though this modification would mean he’d be about 40, way WAY older than Serena). And he himself rediscovers his own powers as the Earth’s Senshi, and rekindles their romance...
- Make the Senshi’s families aware of what’s going on (maybe just some, not all of them). In the cartoons/manga, nobody had a clue until maybe the whole Princess Serenity arc, when she married Tuxedo Mask – people are not that oblivious, so for live-action that must change. Have a situation that fuses SUPERMAN with X-MEN: some of the families might be supportive, but some would also be also afraid and resentful. But treat this element lightly and not make it too dark, so that it fits with the below point...
- Give the film a Disney-esque tone. Disney is renowned for princesses, magic and fairytales, so it’d work in the film’s favour to be handled like a Disney Fairytale (or even be handled by Disney Pictures, though that might be rather limiting).
- Hire creator Naoko Takeuchi as a creative consultant. She devised the whole elaborate mythology for the series and even composed some songs, why shouldn’t someone this gifted work on an adaptation of her own show?
BTW, DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION was screwed by 20th Century Fox’s management. They wanted a cheaper script, they hired a cheap director, and they didn’t understand the concept at all (the film looks like a Japanese SMALLVILLE, and took appalling liberties – Goku a GEEK? WHAT?). The film is now a celluloid abomination and shouldn’t even be seen by DB fans. Hopefully a good studio will get the rights, and hire a good crew to work on the SAILOR MOON film, and make it work.
07/08/06... 786... the sentinel of Allah has arrived.
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