The first season of the American animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same names, centers on 13-year-old Lunella Lafayette and her pet dinosaur as they protect the Lower East Side of New York City from supervillains. The season was produced by Disney Television Animation, Marvel Animation, and Cinema Gypsy Productions. Steve Loter serves as showrunner.
Diamond White and Fred Tatasciore star as Lunella Lafayatte / Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, respectively, and are joined by principal cast members Alfre Woodard, Sasheer Zamata, Jermaine Fowler, Gary Anthony Williams, Libe Barer, and Laurence Fishburne. The series began development in 2018, with Fishburne as executive-producer, and Loter joined as showrunner in 2020.
The season aired from February 10 to May 6, 2023, with episodes also seeing an early release on Disney+. A second season of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was ordered in October 2022.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main Diamond White as Lunella Lafayette / Moon Girl Fred Tatasciore as: Devil Dinosaur Coach Hrbek Devos the Devastator Alfre Woodard as Mimi Lafayette Sasheer Zamata as: Adria Lafayette Flying Fox Jermaine Fowler as James Lafayette Jr. Gary Anthony Williams as: James "Pops" Lafayette Sr. Rockin' Rudy Libe Barer as Casey Calderon Laurence Fishburne as: The Beyonder Bill Foster
Recurring Omid Abtahi as Ahmed Utkarsh Ambudkar as Anand Michael Cimino as Eduardo Indya Moore as Brooklyn Craig Robinson as Principal Nelson Ian Alexander as Tai Tajinae Turner as Geri
Guest stars Alison Brie as Ms. Dillon / Aftershock Josh Keaton as Angelo Carlee Baker as Sofie Slugfoot / Instantanegirl Aaron Drown as Timmy Grubbs / Man Baby Ace Gibson as Gravitas Andy Cohen as Isaac Goldberg-Calderon Wilson Cruz as Antonio Goldberg-Calderon Asia Kate Dillon as LOS-307 Jennifer Hudson as Mane Kari Wahlgren as Linh Pham / Stiletto Daveed Diggs as Rat King Mae Jemison as Skipster May Calamawy as Fawzia Ramone Hamilton as TJ Luis Guzmán as Council President Diego Peña June Diane Raphael as Marcy Muzzler Paul Scheer as Marty Muzzler Pamela Adlon as Rabbi Ryda Anna Akana as Odessa Drake Method Man as Torg Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill Wesley Snipes as Maris Morlak
Production Development In 2018, Marvel Animation announced an animated series based on the comic book Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, with Laurence Fishburne and Helen Sugoabd set to executive produce. By 2019, Steve Loter was hired as executive producer and showrunner by Fishburne due to his work on animated series such as Kim Possible, while Kate Kondell was hired as head writer and as co-producer and story editor alongside Jeff Howard. The season was originally ordered for 20 episodes, but was cut down to 16 due to story purposes. The series was co-produced by Cinema Gypsy Productions and Disney Television Animation. The season was mainly produced remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Writing Supervising producer Rodney Clouden said the season would center on Lunella growing as both a superhero and as a person, particularly on her struggles as a 13-year-old girl, which he said made the character relatable to audiences. The season starts with Lunella struggling to make friends due to her intelligence, before befriending Casey and become more developed from that point onwards, ending the season as "a more fully-realized person".
Animation Animation services for the season were provided by Flying Bark Productions. The producers gave artists considerable creative freedom and allow them to do "[s]omething even different from what Disney typically produces", with Clouden noting the nature of the show's first season meant the artists experimented heavily with the art style to "see what works and what doesn't work" until a final art style for the series was decided.
Music In July 2022, it was announced that Raphael Saadiq would serve as the executive music producer for the show. He also provided both the score and songs for the show. Loter, a fan of Saadiq, approached him to work on the project during an autograph signing. Each episode features a different song by Saadiq, depicted in-universe as part of a mix-tape Moon Girl listens to; the songs were written before animation work began so the animators could synchronize the songs to the sequence. Saadiq included different musical genres in the soundtrack to reflect the diversity within New York City. Producer Pilar Flynn described his score as "sophisticated" and "unlike anything [she has] seen in animation before", saying it "elevated the entire show to another level". According to Flynn, the crew generally pitched ideas for the score to Saadiq, only for him to discard them in favor of something different, which the producers received positively. The first episode features a song titled "Where You Come From", which Loter described as "a love letter to New York". Saadiq also wrote songs for the series' villains.
A soundtrack featuring selected songs from the series was released on February 10, 2023.
Notes
References
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