I think it says a lot that the only suggestions anyone seems to have here on how to adapt the Dream arc into an average length anime is how many and which scenes they need to cut... Instead of being able to imagine that the staff in this movie could exercise any sort of creativity?
It just speaks to the poor state of the franchise where there's just no expectation for any sort of new ideas. It's really sad.
This reminded me of
that Japanese blog where people not terribly familiar with Sailor Moon were reading the manga for the first time and sharing their speculations/theories about where the story was headed along the way. Some of the suggestions aren't really serious, but they're all pretty interesting nonetheless. So, here are some ideas Eternal could (have) use(d):
- Helios will turn out to be a prince
- The kaleidoscopes will be used as power up items like the Holy Grail, not as weapons
- The light from the kaleidoscopes will make Usagi grow huge and transform into Ultra Sailor Moon
- There's some relation between Mamoru's health issues and Kakeru's health issues in the Princess Kaguya side story
- Mamoru has lung cancer or TB. Usagi will take out a huge life insurance policy on him.
- The pattern will be inverted and this time Chibiusa will power up to protect Usagi
- The Golden Crystal will belong to Sailor Sun, who is Sailor Moon's biggest rival
- Nehellenia is either Beryl reincarnated or her sister
- Pegasus will turn out to be Mamoru's animal companion from his past life and their relationship will be like that of Mario and Yoshi
- Chibiusa will turn into Super Black Lady and only a kiss from Helios will turn her back to normal. (Also Mamoru will be brainwashed again.)
- The Golden Crystal will turn up in Ami's mother's jewelry collection and Ami will turn out to be the princess Helios is looking for
- Ami's remark that her dream is "to be loved, it doesn't matter by whom," means she's bisexual
- The royal families from the other planets are all branches of the Moon royal family (think of the House of Habsburg)
- Helios will be the Amazon Trio's replacement, Pegasus Eye
- Helios will turn out to be the heroine who'll defeat the Dead Moon (I guess they meant in a Tip-was-actually-Ozma type scenario for those familiar with the Oz books?)
- The Amazon Quartet will get killed off one-by-one once the Trio are gone
- Venus's weapon will either be an evolved version of the Love-Me Chain (correct), the Silver Crystal Sword, her microphone from Sailor V, or her crescent compact
- Usagi will die (or be severely wounded), prompting Mamoru to cry. His tears will become the Golden Crystal.
- Hotaru can't become Saturn without all three talismans, so Chibiusa will have to return the Deep Aqua Mirror to Michiru first
- There'll be a "Tuxedo Dream" chapter, an "Amazon Quartet Dream" chapter, and a "Lady Serenity Dream" chapter
- Chibiusa and Helios will start living together in the 20th century in Elysium
- The Moon and Earth were originally one kingdom which is why they're so similar. Serenity and Endymion's love was forbidden due to their close blood ties.
- Nehellenia's true form is the mirror
- Sailor Moon will fight in her Princess Serenity dress since the others are in their Sailor Princess forms
- Artemis is really an androgyne like Uranus. S/he, Luna, and Diana are all Sailor Princesses and Sailor Soldiers.
- The reason Saturn didn't revert to her Sailor Princess form for the coronation is because she's actually from another galaxy
- The next arc will be set in the 30th century. NQS and her team will come into conflict with Chibiusa and the Quartet. A war will break out between them, masterminded by King Endymion who wants more power.
(If only the Crysternal staff were as creative as SM fans are...)