Dinosaur Tyler The Creator

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Aug 3, 2024, 4:58:02 PM8/3/24

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Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (or simply Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur) is an American animated television series developed by Steve Loter, Jeffrey M. Howard, and Kate Kondell for Disney Channel. Based on the characters of the same names by Marvel Comics, the series follows Lunella Lafayette and her dinosaur companion "Devil Dinosaur".

The series features the voices of Diamond White, Fred Tatasciore, Alfre Woodard, Sasheer Zamata, Jermaine Fowler, Gary Anthony Williams, Libe Barer, and Laurence Fishburne. Development began after Marvel Studios president Louis D'Esposito showed Fishburne the comic book Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. His interest piqued, Fishburne sought to make an animated series based on the duo. Production proceeded for two years before Steve Loter was hired as an executive producer. After a successful pitch to Disney Television Animation executives, the series was greenlit and publicly announced in February 2018. It is produced by Cinema Gypsy Productions, Disney Television Animation, and Marvel Animation, with animation by Flying Bark Productions.

In October 2022, ahead of the series premiere, the series was renewed for a second season. Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur premiered on Disney Channel on February 10, 2023, and was released on Disney+ five days later. The series received highly positive reviews for its writing, animation, soundtrack, representation and characters. The series won five Children's and Family Emmy Awards.[1] The second season premiered on February 2, 2024.[2]

Lunella Lafayette is a 13-year-old genius living with her parents and grandparents in the Lower East Side of New York City. One day, she activates a portal and a red Tyrannosaurus steps out of it. With the support of her friend Casey, she becomes a superhero named Moon Girl and names the dinosaur "Devil Dinosaur".

Chibi Tiny Tales is a series of shorts that depict characters from various Disney Channel properties in chibi-style animation. In June 2023, the series began releasing shorts based around Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

During discussions with Marvel Studios regarding a potential collaboration with Cinema Gypsy Productions for a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) project, president Louis D'Esposito showed actor and comic book fan Laurence Fishburne the comic book Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.[69][70] Having read the original Moon-Boy and Devil Dinosaur comic book as a child, Moon Girl piqued Fishburne's interest. He afterwards began reading the comics, which gave him the inspiration to create an animated series based on the duo.[71][69] Fishburne and a production team worked on the series for two years at Disney Television Animation, before hiring Steve Loter as executive-producer due to his experience on female-centered shows such as Disney's Kim Possible.[72][70] Loter and the team then created a roller-skating sequence played over "Sweatpants" by Childish Gambino as a proof-of-concept piece and pitched it to both executives at Disney Television Animation and a Marvel Studios team including Brad Winderbaum and president Kevin Feige, who greenlit the series for development.[73][74]

On February 20, 2018, it was reported that Marvel Animation and Cinema Gypsy Productions were developing a Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur series for Disney Channel Worldwide.[75] Fishburne (a long-time Marvel alumni; having played Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Bill Foster in Ant-Man and the Wasp) and Helen Sugland serve as the series' executive producers.[75] The first season had 20 episodes ordered,[76] but was later cut down to 16 due to story purposes.[77]

On August 24, 2019, during the D23 Expo, Fishburne revealed that the series would premiere in 2020 on Disney Channel, with Disney Television Animation being set to co-produce the series, marking the first time Disney and Marvel worked together on an animated series.[78] Loter executive produces the series alongside Fishburne and Sugland;[78] Loter also serves as the series' showrunner.[79] Jeff Howard and Kate Kondell work on the series as co-producers and story editors.[78] Howard and Kondell were the first two writers hired for the series. The two helped the production team define the characters, with an hour being dedicated to a specific character. By the time writing for the episodes started, the characters were defined enough that not many ideas were revised.[80] Kondell also serves as head writer for the series.[81]

Fishburne said that "Disney Channel is the perfect platform to explore this pint-sized female African American superhero and [he] can't wait for their audience to enjoy the lighthearted adventures of Lunella and Devil Dinosaur",[78] while Cort Lae, Marvel Family and Entertainment's then-senior vice president, said that "[Moon Girl's] adventures with giant buddy, Devil Dinosaur, are filled with so much wonder and joy, and this historic partnership with Disney Television Animation and Cinema Gypsy Productions proved the right formula to bring them to television".[78]

In February 2021, it was reported that Rodney Clouden would serve as supervising producer for the series, while Pilar Flynn would produce.[3] Due to Disney Television Animation's studios having closed in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,[82] most of the series was produced remotely.[83] The producers developed each episode with a feature film-like pipeline, with each script receiving a "color script" as with films, and each episode being treated as a "mini-movie".[84][80] The producers wanted the team to be composed of people with different filmmaking experiences.[80]

In October 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.[85] The series was renewed after a positive reception from both Disney and Marvel executives.[86] Rafael Chaidez took over as producer for season two, while Flynn and Clouden serve as co-executive producers alongside Kondell. Kondell also serves as story editor alongside Halima Lucas, the latter who also became a co-producer alongside Ben Juwono, who replaced Clouden as supervising director.[85] Flynn was also promoted to co-showrunner alongside Loter.[87] Production for season 2 began by February 2023.[80]

Loter said that the production team envisions the series to span three seasons, believing they could tell a complete story within that timeframe while remaining open to the possibility of creating more seasons.[88] He also mentioned that the show's renewal or cancellation depends on the ratings of the season 2 premiere on both Disney Channel and Disney+.[89]

The series features entirely of women of color in its writers' room, as well as on its directing team, as the producers wanted the production team to reflect the diversity within New York City, where the show is set.[86][72] The writers, alongside other crew members of color, were allowed to provide feedback regarding representation of minorities within the show, with some of said crew members receiving promotions within the crew while working on the series.[73] The crew also worked alongside Disney production coordinator Allen March to identify moments to add diversity to the show via background or speaking characters, as well as to calculate the representation per episode.[72] Loter, who lives in New York City, said that it was important for the crew to "make sure they've got New York right", wanting to respect the city's "vibe" and "tone".[86] He also reused elements of the series' portrayal of NYC from his cancelled Cars spin-off film Metro,[90] such as prominently featuring the New York City Hall station, which appears in the series as Lunella's lab.[91] The series starts off with an episodic format as it explores Lunella becoming Moon Girl, before transitioning into a more serialized story, with an arc unfolding throughout the first season.[86][92]

Supervising producer Rodney Clouden said it was important for the production crew to accurately portray a multigenerational African-American family.[73] They wanted to show both Moon Girl learning from her family and her family learning from her through their multiple perspectives.[73] Each character was given a different personality and profession, such as Pops being owner of a roller-skate and Andria being a DJ, to further explore diversity and how "everyone is so different [from each other]".[93] Sasheer Zamata, who voices Lunella's mother, said that family is a crucial theme in the show, and described the series as "a nice way to see a Black family work together and enjoy each other and spread love in their community".[94] Producer Pilar Flynn said it was important for the writers to have Moon Girl and Casey have a close and supportive relationship, which is rarely seen among female friendships in animation.[93]

The producers used the original comic as "a springboard" and "a point of reference" for the series, although making several alterations regarding the source material to make the story fit in a television format while still incorporating nods to multiple comic-book storylines.[73] According to Diamond White, the series features "levels of emotions" that were absent from the original comic.[95] The series portrays the relationship between the duo as "a partnership" instead of "a pet/owner dynamic", with Devil becoming fiercely loyal to Moon Girl and feeling "at home with her" due to how she treats him.[95] Another changes were the increased role of Lunella's family and the addition of her friend Casey, which were made to showcase how Lunella's world changes as she grows through the series.[73] They also felt it was important for Lunella to have a support system, and for her household to represent that of many audiences' households.[93] The producers changed Lunella's age from 9 to 13-years-old because they wanted social media to play a prominent role in her character, which they felt would not work with her being 9-years-old.[96]