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Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur season 1

Credits

Cast

Network

Reviewer

Kennedy Unthank

TV Series Review

Lunella isn’t your average 13-year-old girl. She’s actually quite a bit more akin to your Jimmy Neutrons, Riri Williamses and Dexter McPhersons. In case you don’t get those references, let me spell it out for you: She’s a teenage super genius with her own secret laboratory.

Her unaware family members run the local roller-skating rink, but that won’t be for long, because blackouts keep hitting all the buildings in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, driving away business. Lunella thinks she has a way to save the day; she’s been studying the notes of a vanished scientist that seem to talk about a power generator. But when she throws the machine together and turns it on, she finds it’s not, in fact, a power generator: it’s a machine that rips holes in the space-time continuum.

And out from the aforementioned hole emerges an intelligent giant red T-Rex—one that loves hot dogs and is quite friendly around humans. And when robbers strike the local businesses once again, Lunella sparks an idea: Why don’t the two of them join the ever-popular superhero game?

“My brains, your brawn,” Lunella exclaims to the dinosaur. “We can really help people!”

And so begins the saga of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, protectors of the Lower East Side.

Underlying Motives Eclipse Moon Girl

Before we start, let’s clear something up. No, despite the name, Devil Dinosaur is not from hell (although an iteration of the character, which originated in Marvel’s comics, does have the beast wield the trident of Daimon Hellstrom, Marvel’s own “Son of Satan,” so take that with a grain of salt). He’s actually a mutated T-Rex that is resistant to fire, hailing from another, more primal Earth.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur takes itself about as seriously as a TV show named Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur can. In fact, its villains fluctuate between serious contenders and apparent jokes, from a god-like entity who arrives on Earth to judge whether humanity is worthy of existence to a literal giant baby.

The show’s animation is neat, and it’s got some nice messages, including how it’s never too late to fix things and how to deal with online bullies. But a very apparent agenda also pervades the show: a prominent side character has two dads, a background student is transgender and more, including stickers saying “trans is beautiful” and a sentient computer which provides its pronouns to Lunella.

In terms of violence, the show puts people in situations that definitely constitute mortal peril, but the animated style plays more kid-friendly—in the same way that Teen Titans might handle violence. And as for other content that parents might want a heads-up about, one episode contains a gag where Lunella lies to a classmate, and an apparent “bullcr-p meter” pops up next to her.

That’s all to say that while Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur may have a couple nice things to say, there’s certainly a bit of negative material Christian parents won’t be over the moon about.

Episode Reviews

Feb. 10, 2023 – S1, Ep1: “Moon Girl Landing”

After they meet, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur decide to team up to take down an electrifying opponent.

The duo fights robbers, and they face off against Aftershock, a villain with the ability to turn into electricity. The criminals are hit by Moon Girl’s projectile boxing gloves and trapped in durable bubbles. Aftershock shoots at Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur with lightning, causing a building to catch fire. Aftershock utters “holy puberty” when discovering Moon Girl’s true identity. The villain then says “I could never hurt a child…but I should at least try.”

A student’s water bottle has a sticker on it which reads “Trans is beautiful.” When discussing whether Devil Dinosaur is bad news, someone comments “His name ain’t Angel Dinosaur!” Someone else, obsessed with sports, yells out “Praise Jeter!”

Someone calls something a “pain in my butt.” We hear someone say “jeez.” Someone spells out the acronym “omg.”

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kennedy-unthank
Kennedy Unthank

Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He doesn’t think the ending of Lost was “that bad.”

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