Rodney Clouden & Steve Loter Interview: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

There have been many memorable animated superhero shows, and Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is the latest one to make its debut. Created by Laurence Fishburne and Helen Sugland, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur can be seen on the Disney Channel on Fridays, and will also soon debut on Disney+. Rodney Clouden and Steve Loter also serve as executive producers on Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

In Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, 13-year-old Lunella Lafayette brings Devil Dinosaur to Earth from another dimension, which is just one of her many fantastical exploits. Unbeknownst to her family and friends (save for her publicist and good friend Casey), Lunella is secretly the teenage superheroine Moon Girl.

We speak to producers Rodney Clouden and Steve Loter about their roles in bringing Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur to life, and what viewers can expect from the show.

EPs Talks Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Screen Rant: How did Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur come about and how did each of you become involved as executive producers?

Steve Loter: Well, it starts with Laurence Fishburne in a comic book store. Laurence is a massive comic book fan, and he fell in love with Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. He brought it to his producing partner, Helen Sugland and Cinema Gypsy, and thy said 'We've got to turn this into something', so calls were made to Disney, calls were made to Marvel, and when Laurence calls, you take that call! So, everyone got really excited for it, and Laurence was familiar with my work from Kimpossible and Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast, and so we all kind of got together and kind of shared this same vision almost immediately for what the show should be.

Rodney Clouden: Steve had gotten in contact with me and he pretty much wooed me with his presentation. I saw some of the development artwork and an animatic and some of the music, and I was like 'Wow, is Disney down to do this?' and I wanted to be involved with it. I've been in the adult animation space for a long time, so to finally have something that my kid could watch was also a motivator too.

Relating to that, how familiar were each of you with Moon Girl before coming aboard, given that she is a much more recently created Marvel character?

Steve Loter: I was familiar with the comic book, I was a fan of the comic, so the opportunity to tell this in an animated for was a really great opportunity. And even though the comic was a springboard of inspiration for the show, as anything when you translate it from a different medium, things change and evolve. So, as the process kind of went along, we kind of added Lunella Lafayette's family owning the last roller rink in New York City, which does explain her great roller skating abilities, and we started to expand on the world of the comic, and it kind of started to turn into its own thing for the TV show.

As far as Moon Girl's character history that you drew upon, was there a lot that was changed or that you tried to put your own spin on with the show?

Rodney Clouden: Yeah, as Steve said, the comics were definitely a springboard to getting ideas, but we also wanted to see how we could put our own spin to it. In terms of bringing something from prep to screen, you have to make some changes and adjustments narratively that will make sense in a visual world of television or film. It's also the importance of just bringing Lunella to the screen, because she is Marvel's first African-American teen girl superhero, and to say that now is still crazy, but I thought it's a very important aspect to bring this character to the world and the importance of showing the family and the community aspect of the show was very important to have out there.

Avoiding spoilers, which is your favorite moment or standout scene from Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur?

Steve Loter: Well, my favorite character on the show is the Beyonder, and the first episode that he's in is one of my favorite episodes. Laurence Fishburne does an amazing job with the voice, he voices and sings the character, and we've kind of expanded on the version of Beyonder that you know from the comic book. This character is very mercurial and a bit of a troublemaker, and he has god-like abilities, so he can transform and twist reality into whatever he wants it to be. So, it provided for animation landscape a kind of blank canvas to do any kind of incredible visuals that we wanted to do, and you'll see in that episode that we really push it to the limit.

Rodney Clouder: I think for me, just what brought me into the project was the scene of what we call mix-tape moments, where we have different musical moments and visual styles for each episode relating to the theme of the episode. The one that really stands out to me is the first one, which is the sweatpants Childish Gambino. That was our statement and our flag in the sand saying 'This is what we're doing, this is where we're going with the show, and here we are!' So, I think that moment, for me, is the one that really stands out.

About Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur

Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur" follows the adventures of 13-year-old super-genius Lunella Lafayette and her 10-ton T-Rex, Devil Dinosaur. After Lunella accidentally brings Devil Dinosaur into present-day New York City, the duo works together to protect the city's Lower East Side from danger. Based on Marvel's hit comic books, the action-packed, funny and heartwarming series premieres February 10 on Disney Channel and shortly thereafter on Disney+.

Check out our other Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur interviews here:

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Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur airs on the Disney Channel on Fridays at 5 pm PST/8 PM EST, and will also be on Disney+ on February 15th.