I started reading the first volume of Codename: Sailor V and it feels like Sailor Moon, but more contained and, somehow, pretty fresh. I'd even say I like Naoko Takeuchi's early artwork in this manga even more than in Sailor Moon, but I'll wait until I've read both mangas to form an opinion.
Still, one thing I've seen is that some minor characters in Sailor Moon do appear in this manga, and they seem to have more "screentime" (or panel-time... dunno how to say it!). Maybe Takeuchi planned on making them prevalent characters before creating the whole Sailor Scouts team?
As for a potential anime adaptation, didn't they already cover part of Sailor Venus' origin in the 90's anime?