***This text initially appeared within the March ’23 concern of Animation Journal (No. 328)***
Relating to Marvel, you by no means know what’s subsequent. How else to explain Moon Woman and Satan Dinosaur, the brand new animated sequence based mostly on the hit comic-book sequence that includes the adventures of 13-year-old New Yorker Lunella Lafayette and her large pink T-Rex?
Taking its cue from a number of the extra formidable animated superhero fare on the market, Moon Woman and Satan Dinosaur delivers a fast-paced, hip, city, beat-drenched and completely fashionable tackle the superhero cartoon sequence. It additionally pushes the envelope of expectations for what may be performed with an animated sequence.
Moon Woman and Satan Dinosaur boasts an all-star solid, headed by Diamond White as Lunella and that includes Fred Tatasciore as Satan Dinosaur; Alfre Woodard as Lunella’s grandmother, Mimi; Libe Barer as Lunella’s greatest buddy and supervisor, Casey; Sasheer Zamata as Lunella’s mother, Adria; Jermaine Fowler as Lunella’s dad, James Jr.; Gary Anthony Williams as Lunella’s grandfather, Pops; and sequence govt producer, Laurence Fishburne, within the recurring function of The Beyonder, a curious and mischievous trickster acquainted to readers of Nineteen Eighties Marvel comics.
Not Your Typical New Yorker
The present started with Oscar-nominated Fishburne — sure, Morpheus from The Matrix — who way back swallowed the pink capsule that results in changing into a die-hard comic-book fan. The comedian model of Moon Woman and Satan Dinosaur, created by writers Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder with artist Natasha Bustos, debuted in 2015 and paired the brand-new Lunella Lafayette with Jack Kirby’s basic Nineteen Seventies creation, Satan Dinosaur.
The combination of an excellent African-American woman working round twenty first century New York with a large pink T-Rex prompted Fishburne — whose in depth credit embody producing options comparable to Akeelah and the Bee and govt producing the live-action comedy sequence Black-ish, Combined-ish and Grown-ish — to take it to his associate at Cinema Gypsy Productions, Helen Sugland. Calls have been made to Marvel and Disney, and a novel deal was made for them to associate on the brand new animated sequence.
That’s the place Steve Loter, an animation veteran of such sequence as Kim Attainable and the DisneyToons characteristic Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast, is available in as govt producer in cost overseeing the imaginative and prescient of the present and the day-to-day manufacturing. Loter says he met with Fishburne and agreed on an formidable and thrilling method to the sequence.
“It’s a giant present, and it’s a present that we actually needed to verify had deep storytelling,” he says. “We deal with the present as a 22-minute characteristic.” Every episode goes via a number of script iterations, will get its personal shade scripts, and characters undergo a number of palette modifications — all of which is atypical for TV animation manufacturing,” Loter says.
“The primary proof of idea piece that we created was a little bit animatic piece, and we mixed it with the music of Infantile Gambino and the track ‘Sweatpants,’” he says. “And I believe that was a extremely nice letter of intention … It had a really kinetic vitality, however then it additionally had this genuine music, which additionally confirmed this was a youngsters present, certain, however we needed to make it for the whole household, and in addition needed to type of push the boundaries of what was anticipated in youngsters’ animation.”
That specialness started to draw expertise to the present, comparable to Rodney Clouden, a veteran of grownup animated sequence comparable to Futurama and American Dad! Clouden signed on to Moon Woman as supervising director for the primary season. When Loter — who says he felt Clouden’s expertise would assist elevate the present past a typical youngsters’ toon — confirmed the animatic, Clouden was impressed.
“That is one thing that’s totally different; this has vitality, it’s acquired a vibe. It felt actually genuine,” he says. “There’s a sophistication, there’s thought and care when it comes to how we’re structuring the tales and the characters and the event. And the music, too.”
One of many keys to unlocking this method was the success of Sony’s Oscar-winning characteristic Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Loter says. Not wanting to repeat the look of that characteristic, Loter says he and Clouden tapped into their interior New Yorker — each are natives — to create an genuine illustration of life within the metropolis.
“Not solely does that imply that it’s avenue correct, just like the streets and the buildings are literally correct to the place that we’re portraying, we needed to type of preserve the vibe and sensibility of it,” Loter says. “We regarded on the important New York artists — we checked out Andy Warhol and his screen-printing course of; [Jean-Michel] Basquiat; [Keith] Haring; the well-known avenue murals in New York Metropolis; the graffiti within the ’70s and within the ’80s; and we tried to discover a approach to mix all that into a glance — after which merge that additionally with type of a comic book guide sensibility.”
Additionally they added fashionable know-how — it’s practically inconceivable to inform tales about at the moment’s youths with out incorporating the ever-present icons of the cell phone and social media. “It’s an excellent manner, particularly for a present that’s very graphic, to get a message or an thought of what’s occurring within the character’s head,” says Clouden. “It’s like — Boop! — there’s an emoji that pops up, and it simply tells the whole lot that must be stated with out even utilizing phrases.”
The look of the characters evokes all these influences, filtered via a pen-and-ink esthetic that gives sturdy distinction with the backgrounds whereas evoking the sequence’ comic-book roots. “They really feel very, very hand drawn,” Loter says. “There’s plenty of noticed blacks within the characters, in order that should you simply have a look at a personality earlier than shade is utilized, it already seems like a really full piece.”
Reaching the ultimate results of this requires a excessive diploma of collaborations within the artistic section. “This present thrives on enter from the whole workforce,” he says. “Having come from options and from the story belief sensibility, the place everybody has a voice to make the film or the TV present the most effective it may possibly probably be, this was actually vital to me. And I needed to keep up that even transferring into TV.”
Honoring the Artists’ Visions
Clouden says that openness creates, for everybody engaged on the present, a way of possession. “You see your enter there within the script,” he says. “It’s one thing that makes the artists really feel like they’re extra concerned in the entire means of it.”
For instance, Loter cites supervising producer Ben Juwono for his means to take the tales to a brand new degree within the storyboard section. “Typically, he’s truly concerned within the writers room in order that he can perceive the imaginative and prescient of it transferring ahead,” Loter says. “After which he simply takes it to a complete different degree. It’s virtually like a second imaginative and prescient on the venture.”
The animation studio, Australia-based Flying Bark Productions, has early entry to the present’s supplies and gives dailies on their work for overview. “In plenty of circumstances, it’s simply line work in black and white,” Loter says. “Nevertheless it provides you an thought of what the scene is … It does type of tee you up for fulfillment, since you’ve already seen all of those of their early kinds.”
Moon Woman and Satan Dinosaur premieres Friday, February 10 on Disney Channel, becoming a member of the lineup on Disney+ on Feb. 15.
