EPISODE ONE: SHE IS THE ONE NAMED SAILOR MOON
In a nod to the DiC dub, the show opens in the Moon Kingdom. "A thousand years ago," an unseen narrator intones, "our moon was home to a great civilization ruled by a beautiful princess." We see the princess. She's...Minako?! "MOON POWER! TRANSFORM!" she cries out, transforming into the one, the only: Sailor V! The camera pulls back and we realize we're in a movie theater. Usagi, Umino, and a purple-haired Naru are snacking down on popcorn and watching the new Sailor V movie. "Wow," Usagi whispers, awestruck. "Sailor V's a princess? How cool..."
Cut to: outside the theater, the walls of which are lined with posters for the movie, clearly announcing "Minako Aino" as the star. Usagi and her friends leave with the rest of the crowd. Their discussion of the film turns to talk of school; it's April, and they'll be starting 8th grade the next day. It's night, and as Usagi sees the full moon above them, she suddenly gets wistful, like she's starting to remember a long-forgotten dream. Naru and Umino head off in opposite directions, leaving Usagi alone. She stares up at the moon again, reflecting on how she's always felt connected to it. Unbeknownst to her, she's being watched by a black cat wearing a yellow ribbon (Luna).
The opening notes of the theme song play as the title of the show ("SAILOR MOON PRISM") appears across the face of the moon. The title fades out, as does the music. Suddenly, a shadow shoots across the sky and high-energy chase music begins to play. The shadow was Tuxedo Mask, notorious jewel thief. As Sailor V and Artemis chase him across the high rise rooftops of Tokyo, the police (led by Special Officer Toshio Wakagi) follow in their squad cars. Tuxedo Mask, a master of disguise, manages to slip away, though he leaves behind the jewels he had just stolen. Toshio is visibly frustrated by this. Just then, Kenji Tsukino, on-the-spot reporter with the local TV news station, arrives with his film crew and begins reporting. Usagi arrives home and finds her mother watching the story on TV. They watch together for a bit: Ikuko worries her friend, Naru's mother, might be robbed next; Usagi catches a glimpse of Sailor V and thinks to herself how exciting it must be to be a superhero. Outside the Tsukino home a short time later, as the lights turn off and the family bids each other good night, we once again see that black cat lurking about, watching.
[The rest of the episode unfolds in more or less the standard way: Usagi is late to school, notices Luna (but doesn't trip over her), gets scolded by Miss Haruna, talks with her friends about Tuxedo Mask, Sailor V, and the recent jewelry heists, they visit Osa-P and find a sale is going on, Usagi leaves and has her encounter with Mamoru (only here she bumps into him and he yells at her for being clumsy, not for being stupid), then heads over to the arcade (where she runs into Shingo and his friends, who tease her), then goes home, takes a nap, gets awakened by Luna, etc.]
For her first transformation, I'd do a specially animated sequence where we see Usagi reacting to what's happening, first with shock and maybe a little fear, and then with excitement. (I'll note here that in my vision of the series, Usagi has strawberry blonde hair, worn in two squat buns and pigtails that come down to her waist; as Sailor Moon, she has bright yellow hair, worn in rounder buns a little bit higher up on her head, and pigtails that are curlier and come down a little past her knees. She also wears her mask.)
Anyway, Sailor Moon races down to Osa-P and again the fight proceeds in the standard way (though I'll borrow some inspiration from the picture books and have Naru's real mother be one of Morga's possessed/hypntoized slaves). After defeating Morga and saving the day, Naru crawls out of hiding and thanks Sailor Moon for rescuing her. "Naru," Sailor Moon says with amusement, "don't you recognize me?" And before Luna can stop her, Sailor Moon takes off her mask and de-transforms back into Usagi, much to Naru's astonishment.
Cut to: the creepy cavernous lair of the Dark Kingdom. Jadeite swears he'll defeat Sailor Moon.
Cut to: the next day. Usagi and Naru are heading to school (with Luna in tow), talking, obviously, about how Usagi is a superhero now. They pass by the arcade, with its posters for the Sailor V game hanging in the window, and stop for a moment to look at them and wonder if Usagi will ever get to meet Sailor V, etc. They hear the chiming of the school bell and rush off. Inside of the arcade, we see Motoki sweeping the floor, getting ready for the day. The automatic doors slide open and in steps a girl with long blonde hair. We don't see her face, but we know who it is. "Hi, Motoki," she calls out. "I'm back." Motoki stops sweeping and looks up at her. "M-Minako..."
End credits. Next time on Sailor Moon Prism: The Secret Origins of Sailor V.
with a D&D RPG magic system.
