A Moon Star is Born

"Are you stupid, or just incredibly lazy?"

- Darien about Serena's failing grade

"A Moon Star is Born" is the pilot episode of Sailor Moon and the first episode overall in the series. It first aired in north america in Canada on August 28, 1995 on YTV. it then aired in the United States on September 11, 1995 on the UPN Network.

Plot
The episode begins on the moon during the reign of Moon Kingdom, ruled by Queen Serenity. However, the evil Queen Beryl unleashed the power of the Negaforce and attacked the Moon Kingdom and killed all of the Children of the Moon, including the Queen Serentity's subjects. She used the remainder of her powers to send her daughter, Princess Serena, her cat advisers, Luna, Artemis, and the rest of the Moon's inhabitants to an alternate future on Earth to be reborn, and kept their memories of the Moon Kingdom to herself, and Luna and Artemis were ordered by Queen Serenity to find Princess Serena, so she will, at last, be safe.

Meanwhile, Princess Serena, now, in a new identity, as just Serena, is late for school. On her way to school, she sees some cruel kids picking on a cat. After driving them away, she removes a bandage they put on the cat's head, revealing a crescent moon on her forehead. Luna senses something, suspecting that Serena might be "Sailor Moon".

At school, Miss Haruna tells Serena that she failed her exam with 30%, reprimanding her that she needs less TV and more studying. Melvin, the geek, got a 95%, which he was actually disappointed with. Serena and her friend Molly decide to go play the new Sailor V video game, and then go shopping at Molly's mother's store (OSA-P Jewellery Shop) for earrings.

Meanwhile, inside the Negaverse, Queen Beryl makes plans to unleash the power of the Negaforce. To do so, she must have energy. She sends her commander, Jedite, to gather energy for the Negaforce. Jedite's servant, Morga, is disguised as Molly's mother and is selling the jewelry (charged with dark energy) at low prices. Serena and Molly are forced to sneak out of the store when a huge crowd tries to get a diamond that costs 10 dollars.

Serena crumples up her test and throws it away. It hits Darien in the head, and he calls her "Meatball Head". Meanwhile, Morga begins stealing energy from the girls at the store, and sending it to Jedite. Luna, tells Serena that she is Sailor Moon. She gives her a locket and tells her to use it to transform by repeating the phrase: "Moon Prism Power". After Serena transforms into Sailor Moon, Luna tells her Molly is in trouble and they leave.

Morga reveals her true identity to Molly, but Sailor Moon arrives to fight her. Morga sends her victims, who are now under her control, after Sailor Moon, but a mysterious masked man named Tuxedo Mask arrives. After Sailor Moon inadvertently some sort of sound-based attack to immobilize Morga and her slaves, Luna tells Sailor Moon to throw her tiara and say "Moon Tiara Magic". After some reluctance, and her advisor telling her to make like Nike and "Just do it!", Sailor Moon uses Moon Tiara Magic and destroys Morga, returning the energy.

Sailor Says

 * Serena: Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is believing in yourself. Especially when your grades are, umm, less than stellar. Or you’re kind of clumsy. But you never know what the real you can do. Set your mind and heart on it and anything is possible. [Laughs] Bye now.

Censorship

 * Morga declaring "I shall return!" was likely to give the implication that Sailor Moon had not killed her, as on-screen death(s) were prohibited in children's programming.
 * Molly is talking about Sailor V in the original version, but this is changed in the dub to a discussion about jewelry instead. In fact, Serena didn't even know about the Sailor V video game until Molly mentioned it in the original. In the dub, Serena is already familiar with Sailor V.
 * The scene where Molly is choked is cropped to avoid the implication of child abuse by her mother, Mrs. Baker.
 * Part of the fight scene in which a girl attacks Sailor Moon with a broken bottle was cut from the dub.
 * Serena's brother Sammy made his debut in the original Japanese version of this episode. His appearance was cut in the English dub, due to him kicking Serena.
 * In the original Japanese, Serena's mom actually kicks Serena out of the house upon discovering her failed exam, but in the dub, she tells Serena she needs to go to the library to study for her makeup test.

Trivia

 * This is the only time Sailor Moon's Odango's are used in the first season. They were only used one other time in Super S 26th episode "Dental Dilemma".
 * The music that plays during Sailor Moon's transformation in this episode only appears a few times throughout the series, and is replaced by the track titled "Moon Crystal Power" in all future episodes.