There’s one thing occurring with kids’ cartoons. Whereas animated family shows have, previously, included little winks and nods to the adults trying over their kids’s shoulders, we’re seeing a new breed of shows that attraction to folks simply as a lot as they attraction to youngsters. And with the discharge on Feb. 10 of Marvel’s Moon Woman and Satan Dinosaur, that’s by no means been extra obvious. Good, slick, and vibrant, it’s the type of collection you’ll simply carry on watching lengthy after your little one leaves the room.
Primarily based on Marvel’s 2015 comedian collection by the identical identify, Moon Woman and Satan Dinosaur tells the story of Lunella Lafayette, an excellent 13-year-old lady who has a penchant for creating all types of issues within the secret laboratory she constructed under her household’s residence.
At some point, throughout her scientific tinkering, Lunella by accident summons a 10-ton crimson Tryannosaurus rex from the previous into the current. It’s then the dynamic superhero duo of Moon Woman (aka Lunella) and Satan Dinosaur is born.
Sounds enjoyable, proper? It’s. However the collection has much more to supply that genuinely makes it a must-watch for households. For music-heads like myself and my oldest little one, it will likely be not possible to not get sucked in from the beginning by the collection’ killer soundtrack.
I had the possibility to speak in regards to the present with Diamond White, who voices Lunella, and I couldn’t resist asking in regards to the music, given she’s a gifted vocal artist.
“I’m really singing the theme tune for the present! And there are a whole lot of different songs within the present, all government produced by Raphael Saadiq, which is loopy. He’s unbelievable,” she says. “Virtually each villain on the present has a tune, and we wish to name it ‘Mixtape Moments’ — when Lunella’s combating a villain, she’ll break it all the way down to some music.”
Music undoubtedly performs into Lunella’s id. But it surely’s the neighborhood she loves that basically makes her id sing. There in Manhattan’s Decrease East Facet, her dad and mom Andria (Sasheer Zamata) and pa James (Jermaine Fowler) personal a curler skating rink. A multigenerational family, the household additionally contains grandmother Mimi (Alfre Woodard) and granddad Pops (Gary Anthony Williams).
As Marvel’s first Black teen superheroine, Lunella fights to guard the tradition and neighborhood that outline her.
When requested how she reacted to the information she was being forged within the position, White shared, “Oh, I used to be so elated. It is such an honor, simply to know that there is going to be some extra illustration for Black ladies like me on the market.”
What would it not have meant for 13-year-old Diamond to see a teen character like this onscreen?
“It will’ve meant every little thing. Simply seeing a pores and skin tone that’s just like mine, seeing my hair texture, and seeing a personality undergo issues that I’ve skilled rising up would’ve made me really feel not so alone on the planet,” she says. “So, I’m comfortable that this character’s lastly coming to life.”
With regards to portraying these issues she skilled as a younger Black lady, White emphasizes that the collection actually displays her actuality.
“I used to be in a position to give the folks on the present an inventory of all of the issues that I’ve skilled rising up,” she explains, pointing to a storyline about her pure hair for example. “One of many episodes is about getting my first perm and, nicely, Lunella’s first perm. Her hair turns into her enemy, performed by Jennifer Hudson. That’s one among my favorites.”
That sort of representation for kids is invaluable. So is flipping the script on gender tropes, similar to the concept that issues like dinosaurs and science are only for boys.
“Once I was rising up, I wasn’t into quantum physics. However this present makes it appear to be a enjoyable factor, and also you study quite a bit in a short time — particularly with the musical numbers,” she says. “I feel it’ll make a whole lot of ladies need to get into quantum physics and go into STEM packages.”
And to a dad or mum, that’s music to my ears.
Marvel’s Moon Woman and Satan Dinosaur premieres February 10 on Disney Channel and February 15 on Disney+.
