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0:21

Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dynasty is

0:23

an all ages animated series

0:26

that's got style and energy and

0:28

original songs for days. It's the

0:30

story of a thirteen year old Black Girl genius living

0:32

on Manhattan's Lower East Side. When

0:34

one of her many gadgets accidentally transports

0:36

a t rex with the personality of a golden

0:38

retriever. From their prehistoric past to

0:41

present day New York, she makes the

0:43

most of it she launches into a side hustle

0:45

fighting crime on the streets of her beloved neighborhood.

0:47

I'm Glenn Weldon, and today we're talking about Moon

0:50

Girl and Devil Dinesore on pop culture happy

0:52

hour from NPR.

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1:24

Joining me today is the host of weekend edition

1:26

Sunday, Ayesha Roscoe. Hey, welcome back.

1:28

Asia.

1:29

Hey, glad to be here. Great to have you.

1:31

In Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dininger,

1:33

Diamond White, Voice's Young, Luna

1:35

La Fayette. She lives on the lower east side

1:37

and loves it. She loves a lot of

1:40

things. Her mom and dad who own a

1:42

roller disco, they're voiced by Sushir's

1:44

Amida, and Germaine Fowler, she loves a

1:46

grandmother voiced by Alfie Woodard. She

1:48

loves coming up with incredibly advanced scientific

1:50

inventions, including one that pulls a t rex

1:52

named devil dinosaur or into the modern

1:54

world. He's voiced or grunted by

1:57

Fred Tashore. Ever

1:58

resourceful, Luna adoption the identity

2:00

of Moon Girl and patrols the streets of the

2:02

LES. This is all unbeknownst to

2:05

her very supportive

2:06

family, but extremely noticed to her

2:08

very online friend, Casey, voiced

2:10

by Libe Barr. Boon

2:11

girls adventures feature a lot of eye popping colors

2:14

and dynamic animation that called the mind,

2:16

Spider Man, into the Spider Verse. And like

2:18

that movie, it's not tied to a lot of dense

2:20

MCU continuity. Series also features

2:22

original songs by Rafael Sadique. It's

2:24

kind of a stealth musical. And

2:27

guest stars that include Jennifer Hudson,

2:29

Alison Brie, David Diggs, Craig Robinson,

2:31

West snipes Andy Cohen and most

2:33

spectacularly Lawrence Fishburne,

2:35

who was also an executive producer on the show.

2:37

And not for nothing, the producers throw in an Shool

2:40

science lesson or two into every episode because

2:42

Loonella is, first and foremost, a

2:44

STEM Queen. Moon Girl and Devil Dining

2:46

Award airs on the Disney Channel and streams on

2:49

Disney plus

2:50

Ayesha. What'd you think? I loved it.

2:52

You know, I watched some of it with my kids.

2:54

They were totally into it. I'm

2:56

totally into it because there's said,

2:59

I I love cartoons. Yeah. And

3:01

I love any cartoon where there

3:03

is a big animal who

3:06

can't really talk, but they can't communicate.

3:09

Mhmm. It just brings, like, the

3:11

laughs. Obviously, I eat Scooby

3:13

Doo. Sure. And this reminded me

3:15

a lot of Jaggy and Scooby,

3:17

and that is a high compliment. In

3:19

my life, that is a very high compliment.

3:22

And I just love that it could have went like

3:24

super corny, but it's

3:26

like it has these like just

3:28

funny beats like the second

3:30

episode where there's this

3:32

Troll says she's got a big head.

3:35

And all of a sudden, she's, you

3:37

know, Moon Girl or Loonella is

3:39

obsessed with, like, proving that

3:41

he's wrong, and she does this old video, and

3:43

she wakes up devil dinosaur to tape

3:46

it. And at the end, the devil

3:48

dinosaur

3:48

grunts. But basically, she translates

3:51

like Michelle Obama Nope.

3:55

What'd you think? Maybe I should do it again, but with

3:57

more graphs. Oh. Billie, are

3:59

you sure? That.

4:03

Don't tell it to me if it's not true. Like,

4:05

the shallow bottom. Like,

4:07

it's just funny. Like, what time

4:09

he started talking about the dinosaur and the dinosaur

4:12

wanted to type, but his arms are too short.

4:14

I mean, it was just their labs.

4:16

Genuine laughs and, like, I really

4:18

enjoyed it.

4:19

Awesome. Awesome. Because I also really

4:22

love this show. You know how, at the start of

4:24

each episode, you get that skip intro

4:27

option. Show me a person who hits

4:29

that button, and I'm gonna show you corpse because

4:31

holy

4:31

crap, that song is a bop

4:33

it is. Let's do little bit of it. Yeah.

4:36

I have love. And the Amako put

4:38

the dip slugs, swan. How

4:40

to make my scar scar? got Boost

4:42

break. Watch the NASA. Now what's on the

4:44

drop? Oh, honey. Boom. You're smart. Come back.

4:51

I mean, that song was made

4:53

to skate backwards to in seventh

4:55

grade.

4:56

It's just it's such a groove. I

4:58

I understand what you're saying about because you were worried it

5:00

might be corny because I went into it with the same trepidation

5:03

because the energy is

5:05

so high. It hits you right from the jump

5:07

and she is so plucky and

5:09

sincere and enthusiastic, which is historically

5:12

not my tempo. But the show,

5:15

you said it. At the end of the day, it's so clever.

5:17

And I don't mean that in a dismissive way. In

5:19

any way, I like the cleverness. It feels

5:21

fresh. I like the writing. The writing, as you say,

5:23

is sharp without feeling sweaty

5:26

and try hard and corny. Sometimes

5:28

with these shows, especially kids shows, you get this

5:31

kind of vision of these old cigar chopping

5:33

dudes in a room going know what the kids like is hula

5:35

hoops. We gotta put some hula hoops in here.

5:37

Exactly. Yeah.

5:39

You know,

5:39

when it introduces the character of Casey, who

5:41

is her, like, thirteen year old social media influencer

5:44

friend, you kind of go into a defensive crouch

5:46

because you're waiting for the lazy

5:48

avocado toast jokes. Here they

5:49

come, but she's actually really

5:51

savvy and level headed and good at

5:53

what she does. And what she does is

5:56

is given worth, you know,

5:58

the animation. I

5:58

mean, it's a joy to look show. I love this animation

6:01

style, which is really expressive.

6:03

Yes. You know, it recalls graffiti. It

6:06

kind of evokes baskiat

6:08

without feeling like it's some kind of soulless

6:10

corporate co opting of

6:11

it, which it's Disney, so I guess in a technically it

6:13

kind of is. But I mean, We got it. We got

6:15

a row with it. And

6:16

it's like a comic book in a way.

6:17

Yeah. Absolutely. It gets the spirit

6:19

of like a fun comic

6:22

for the younger generation.

6:23

Right? Like, this fun comic

6:26

feel to it. Right? Definitely.

6:28

Definitely. I also love playing the game

6:30

where which of my favorite actors

6:32

is that voice that I'm hearing right now?

6:34

There were I

6:37

never could get the voice. I was like, I

6:38

would be like, oh my god. Like, I know

6:41

that voice from somewhere. There's definitely someone

6:43

famous. You know, everybody who comes on the

6:45

show, I just love how game they all are because they're meeting

6:47

the show at that high energy level because that's

6:50

the bar of the show it's set

6:51

at. You know, as a nerd I love that we get

6:53

nods to the great old Marvel

6:55

universe, but like, this is strictly

6:57

about the everyday stakes. Of this

6:59

extremely idealized Ayesha lower

7:02

east side where it's all mom

7:04

and pop olegs in indie bookstores and

7:06

there's not a Dwayne Reed anywhere to be

7:08

found, but

7:09

Yes. It's a very idealistic place. And I

7:11

was wondering, I'm like, is this what the lower east side

7:13

is like? I

7:13

don't I don't is it? Short answer. No.

7:16

Maybe at one point, and it's just fun to remind

7:18

yourself that you can do street level superhero,

7:21

but not do it grim and gritty. This is about as far

7:24

away from grim and gritty as it

7:26

is possible to

7:26

get. Mostly, I just think it's really smart and really fun.

7:29

It just won me over completely. Do you have a favorite

7:31

episode? So, I mean, I love the Troll

7:33

episode. That's the one that I can't come back

7:35

to. And obviously, I really loved

7:37

the hair episode. Uh-huh. And I do

7:39

think it does kind of include these, like, This

7:41

is a message, but I thought they did it

7:43

very well where she

7:46

got her natural hair, which is big

7:48

in an afro puffs, kinda got

7:50

dissed. And she's like,

7:52

okay. Well, can I straighten it? But she

7:54

tries to find this other way to straighten

7:56

it, and then the hair takes on a life of its own.

7:58

All her hair falls out. I felt

8:01

like that is a story that obviously

8:03

is a black woman, with black

8:05

daughters who deal with

8:07

their hair, like, that is a message

8:09

that I wanna see, but it was also just the way

8:12

they did it. Like, when she finally told

8:14

them, like, my hair fell out and they

8:16

talk to her about, like, going

8:18

through and wanting to change the hair and

8:20

figuring out how to love their hair and love themselves

8:23

and, like, it it could be cheesy

8:25

but I felt like they did it

8:27

in such a way that it was really

8:29

good and then the way the hair was attacking everybody.

8:34

It was just and I love

8:36

Casey. Because Casey really reminds

8:39

me of my my six year old. Who

8:41

is very much wants to be a TikTok

8:43

star, wants to say, Slack

8:45

and subscribe. He's

8:49

very into that but obviously

8:51

very smart and very, like, to do that, you

8:53

have to be a people person, you have to be able

8:55

to talk to people, you have to be able to connect.

8:58

And like so I just love that

9:00

that part of

9:01

it. Yeah. And the lesson she learns in that episode,

9:03

you're up exactly right, Ayesha. On paper, it's

9:05

cringe, it's on the nose. But the way

9:07

it's executed, I actually think

9:09

that episode might do something like capital

9:11

g good in the capital w

9:13

world. I think it's good that it's out there. Thing.

9:15

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I mean, because

9:17

people go through that. I mean, even my doors, I

9:19

have to tell them. They're like, oh, I

9:21

like it straight. I'm like, no. Your hair is

9:24

and where it is. It's

9:26

a thing. So I I

9:28

love that. That is there. And

9:30

my daughters do talk about her hair.

9:32

They're like, how many puffs does she has?

9:34

Is it one or two? Like, they are into

9:37

it. They notice it and they see it

9:39

and it matters.

9:40

And that episode with the Internet

9:42

troll, who's an actual troll because, of course, he has story

9:45

checks out. I

9:45

mean, that has a lesson

9:48

too, and it's an effective lesson,

9:49

which is just to just --

9:50

Yeah. -- let it roll off here. Don't feed the trolls.

9:53

Don't feed the trolls. Don't feed the

9:55

trolls. But that

9:56

episode also features some of my favorite

9:58

animation here. And it's the animated acting

10:00

that I keep coming back to. The voice acting is great.

10:03

But the way the show is depicted

10:05

is drawn, like the the facial expressions,

10:07

the body language, and the way as

10:09

you mentioned, you can impute everything that devil dinosaur

10:12

is always thinking just by looking at him.

10:14

In the episode, with the Internet trolls, the Troll says that

10:16

Moon Girls got a big head and she says to double

10:18

dinosaur, I'm not a big head. Right? And for

10:21

half a second, Double dinosaur gets this expression

10:24

on his

10:24

face. It's that well kind of expression.

10:27

And just how it is depicted made

10:29

me laugh.

10:29

Yes. Like that we're kind of inviting an anime

10:31

influence of the show, but we're not simply just aping it.

10:33

We're not simply reproducing anime. We're kind of making

10:35

something fresh, something new. Mhmm. You know

10:38

what else I like? Lonella is smart

10:41

and she knows it. She's

10:43

proud of it. Mhmm. Sometimes

10:46

that pride splashes over into smug.

10:48

Mhmm. We see her whenever she gets

10:50

the most upset, the most angry, the most

10:52

incensed, is when something

10:54

is preventing her from showing everyone

10:57

how smart she is. Let me just say,

10:59

representation matters. So

11:02

even as horrible people can find something

11:04

to relate to in this girl.

11:06

Yeah. I mean, and the thing about this that I

11:09

also took to is, like, at first,

11:11

it doesn't seem like Luna had any friends.

11:13

And Casey, they didn't have

11:15

friends. Right? Like, they were kind of

11:17

the weird awkward people who were very

11:19

and like, look, I can definitely relate to being

11:22

girl who's very good in school, very

11:24

smart, and got no friends.

11:26

Uh-huh.

11:28

They come together and then they have

11:30

this stir her together. Like, I

11:32

enjoy that. And like, yeah, she

11:34

leans into it. Like, I'm smart.

11:36

I know what I'm talking about. I can do these

11:39

things. Also, like, I will

11:41

try to beat everybody in a game. Like,

11:43

I'm very hyper competitive. That's

11:46

another character trait that I love

11:48

in characters, which bringing back to another

11:50

show that I really love the golden girls. Most

11:52

people truly that know. Rose

11:54

was very competitive. Sure. Sure.

11:56

She wanted to win. I love

11:58

when they bring that out in a character

12:00

where it's like, I wanna win and

12:03

I don't care what

12:03

happens. I'm a win. Yep. Definitely.

12:06

And another thing we mentioned at at the top

12:08

this music, it took me couple episodes

12:10

to realize we were gonna get an in universe

12:13

song pretty much every episode. And now I'm

12:15

looking forward to it. It's like it's like the fight

12:17

scenes in Batman sixty six season. Let's just

12:19

wait for

12:20

it. It's like, when's it coming? You know it's coming?

12:22

When is it? What

12:23

do you think of music? Like, so that was when I really

12:25

you know, I'm watching show. I'm like, this sounds pretty

12:27

good. This sounds pretty good. Then when they got in

12:29

the first episode, when they dropped the beat

12:31

and they start fighting with the song.

12:34

I'm like, oh, this song is so good.

12:36

Like, look at this. Like, I feel like it takes it

12:38

to another level. Like, you mentioned Spider Man into

12:40

the Spider Verse. Like, obviously, the

12:42

music in that movie

12:45

is part of what made it

12:47

so incredible was like and we

12:49

in our

12:50

house, we still listening to that soundtrack. Oh

12:52

my god. Yeah.

12:54

So so it's like, you know,

12:56

like I said, I everybody knows got a lot

12:58

of kids. So we listen to a lot of music

13:00

from Disney

13:01

stuff. Not all of it's good.

13:03

Not all of it's good. I

13:06

listen to a lot So

13:08

I appreciate when you can introduce

13:10

music that is a little more

13:13

high quality because we get a lot of

13:15

stuff that my kids are listening

13:17

to that I gotta deal

13:18

with. So this is better, and so

13:20

I appreciate that. And

13:21

these drops Sometimes they kind of obliquely

13:24

refer to what's going on in the episode,

13:26

but they're not book numbers as we say in theater.

13:29

They're not, like, strictly just driving

13:31

the plot. There are also just Gurus and

13:33

original songs as we've mentioned by Rafael Sadique.

13:35

And in the six episode, Lawrence Fishburn,

13:37

who's been kind of voice over guy, gets to

13:39

be a character. We won't say which one,

13:41

but it's an in canon Marvel universe

13:43

character. And he's got a song

13:46

and he just nails it. He oxade

13:48

out of the park.

13:56

You're welcome, you never. Now it's time

13:58

to help this battle. This is the pleasure.

14:03

Yeah. Like and that was so fun

14:06

and that character was just out

14:08

of this world. Yes.

14:11

She was. She was. She was. And, like, it

14:13

it does bring something. Like, when they can

14:15

bring the music in, the way they incorporate

14:17

it. It just heightens where

14:20

the the plan is going instead of getting in the

14:22

way. Yep. And you also wanna stay for the credits

14:24

because like Bob's burgers does,

14:27

if something is happening musically in

14:29

the

14:29

episode, it's echoed in the credits. You can't see

14:31

some of the characters dancing some of the same way.

14:33

What do you think about the roller skating?

14:35

Because that's a big part of this and a big

14:37

part of the groove because they own a roller

14:40

skating rink. Yep. And, like, I think

14:42

that part of it is comes, like, from this

14:44

cool chill, like, roller skating

14:46

with your friends. Mhmm. Now I can't

14:48

do it anymore because I'm too old and I'm almost,

14:51

you know, killed myself the last time I did But

14:53

when I was young with the

14:54

music, like, I feel like it almost has

14:56

that kind of flow to it. It

14:58

just makes me worry about their rent because a rather

15:00

disco is huge on the lower east side and

15:02

I hope

15:03

they're making money. I hope they're charging a

15:05

lot because --

15:07

A lot of

15:08

money. -- to stay open

15:10

and to to, you know, keep making that

15:12

pop corn and all of

15:14

that. But you can just picture yourself just

15:16

growing. Just going to this music because

15:18

it's so groovy. It's such a

15:20

groovy. Oh, yeah.

15:21

Well, we wanna know what you think about Moon Girl

15:23

and Devil Dinesore. I think he might have gleaned

15:25

that we like it. Find us at facebook dot com

15:28

slash

15:28

PCHH, and that brings us to the end of our show,

15:30

Ayesha Roscoe. Thanks so much for being here.

15:32

Always a pleasure.

15:33

Thanks for having me. Like, especially talk

15:35

about this. I really love this. We wanna take a

15:37

moment to thank our pop culture Appian r plus subscribers.

15:40

We appreciate you so much for showing your support

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dot orghappy hour or visit the link

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in our show notes. This episode was

15:54

produced by Houssufatma and edited by

15:56

Mike Katzeth. Our supervising producer

15:59

is Jessica Reid, and hello, come in,

16:01

provides our theme music which you are skating

16:03

backwards. To right now. Thank you

16:05

for listening to popular rap PR from NPR. I'm

16:07

Glenn Walden, and we'll see you all tomorrow.

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