Moonbeam City

Image
Genre	Comedy Adult animation Mystery Science fiction
Creator	Scott Gairdner
Voices	Rob Lowe Elizabeth Banks Kate Mara Will Forte
Theme Music Composer	Night Club
Opentheme	"Another One" (Instrumental)
Composer	Night Club
Country	United States
Language	English
Num Seasons	1
Num Episodes	10
Runtime	22 minutes
Channel	Comedy Central
First Aired	2015-09-16
Last Aired	2015-12-9

Characters

Main Characters

• Dazzle Novak (Rob Lowe): Protagonist and Moonbeam City P.D. detective, despite being especially unqualified for the job due to poor impulse control, horrendous reasoning skills, ridiculous libido, and ego, and (often) even worse aim. He gets sidetracked from assignments to tend to anything he finds far superior. Any success is normally due to luck or the assistance of others (usually his junior partner, Chrysalis). Has an odd talent for invention and design, and is the son of stuntman Razzle Novak. Dazzle's mother died from cancer when he was a child. He has personal animosity towards Rad in his attempts to outdo him as a cop, even embarrassing him on a personal level.
• Pizzaz Miller (Elizabeth Banks): Police chief, and Dazzle's irascible supervisor. Though she is sometimes at odds with Dazzle due to his shoddy police work and defiance of authority, she fails to harshly discipline him for even the most severe infractions due to an intense mutual attraction and affection between the two. It is later learned that Pizzaz is an heiress (and eventual sole inheritor) to Moonbeam City's founder, laser prospecting mega-millionaire, Vector Azimuth Miller. Pizzaz also has four abusive and conniving sisters: Charisma, Panache, Sophistica, and Accoutrement. When passionate or angry, Pizzaz narrows her eyes and a slanted window blind-like shadow appears over her face and body, regardless of the location and ambient lighting.
• Chrysalis Zirconia Tate (Kate Mara): Dazzle's rookie colleague. A former lab tech, Chrysalis is the polar opposite of Dazzle (competent, level-headed, responsible), and often the unintentional victim of his irresponsibility and poor impulse control. Chrysalis' job usually entails the detective work and technical aspects of the job, and she is often blamed by Pizzaz for Dazzle and Rad's inept behavior. Chrysalis is the daughter of eccentric Naval Commander Blade H. Tate.
• Radward "Rad" Cunningham (Will Forte): Dazzle's equally incompetent, yet even stupider childish rival/teammate from Canada in the Moonbeam PD. He fears authority more than Dazzle, and is prone to even greater lapses of judgment, usually when trying to outdo or outsmart Dazzle. While initially seeming fierce and threatening in the Pilot episode, Rad is eventually shown to be incredibly cowardly and immature, though not without moments of unexpected (and ill-timed) bravery. The series finale reveals (through Chrysalis' detective work) that Rad is the biological son of the billionaire computer founders of Canadian computer company Flamingo Computers, but was kidnapped as a toddler by the con artist couple who raised him (he later changes his name to "Radward Manning" to distance himself from them). He has a unique condition called "Mono-Toeism" which causes his right foot to have only one giant toe. He is shown to be very poor as well as perverted.

Recurring Characters

• Genesis Jones (Scott Gairdner): News anchor who appears in every episode. He often acts as more of a shameless announcer or sensationalist rather than a real journalist.
• Vex Mullery (John O'Hurley): The host of CrimeZappers, a crime reenactment TV show that the Moonbeam officers gather to watch weekly. He also appears in a later episode as the host of an initiation video at CopCon.

Production

A parody of 1980s cop shows such as Miami Vice and City Hunter, the show was sponsored by the Canadian government and animated by Toronto-based studio Solis Animation using Adobe After Effects software. Moonbeam City features a distinctive 80s-influenced retro-futuristic visual style with heavy use of neon lighting, inspired by media such as Tron; character designs are similar to the style of the artist Patrick Nagel who famously designed the cover for Duran Duran's Rio. A synthwave soundtrack was performed by Night Club.

Episodes

Broadcast

Internationally, the series premiered in Australia on November 15, 2015, on The Comedy Channel.

Reception

On December 1, 2015, Moonbeam City was nominated for an Annie Award for Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production, but lost to The Simpsons.

The first season holds a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 14 reviews. Its consensus states: "Moonbeam City wildly overestimates the effectiveness of its attempts at over-the-top humor, leaving viewers with little more than a derivative disappointment". On Metacritic, the series holds a 52% indicating mixed or average reviews.

Mike Hale of The New York Times stated that "The look of 'Moonbeam City' may catch your eye, but after a while, you may be tempted to say, along with Ms. Banks, 'I will bury you so deep the world’s smartest worms couldn’t find you. He also stated that the pop-culture references and satire were forced and the dialogue "tries so hard you can see it sweat". Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter claimed that the show would be able to stand "in a world without Archer" and called it thin and with limited potential. Bob Sassone of The A.V. Club gave it a C+, calling it "more clever than funny with Archer vibes". Brian Lowry of Variety claims that the show settles more for being puerile than clever, making it "less than dazzling". Katy Waldman of Slates review was scathing, stating that the series "is so willfully dumb that it might make you wonder if it is meta-dumb".

References

• Watch: Prepare to be Dazzled by 'Moonbeam City,' Comedy Central's New Animated Series, Indiewire, 16 July 2015, Soules, Conor, 14 July 2015
• 'Moonbeam City' Canceled By Comedy Central After One Season, Deadline Hollywood, Nellie, Andreeva, March 30, 2016, March 30, 2016
• Moonbeam City Season 1, Zap2it, October 18, 2015, November 23, 2015, dead
• Moonbeam City, Lasers and Liars, 11
• Moonbeam City, Quest for Aquatica, 18
• Moonbeam City, Quest for Aquatica, 2
• Moonbeam City, Mall Hath No Fury, Pizzaz, Miller, 9
• Moonbeam City, The Strike Visualizer Strikes Again, Rad, Cunningham, 7
• Moonbeam City, The Wedding of Rad (Lie), Rad, Cunningham, 15
• Hale, Mike, Review: Comedy Central's 'Moonbeam City' Recalls the World of 'Miami Vice', The New York Times, 24 March 2023, 15 September 2015
• Miller, Liz Shannon, 'Moonbeam City' Creator Scott Gairdner Reached For the Stars, and Got Rob Lowe, IndieWire, Penske Business Media, LLC., 10 June 2021, en, 2015-09-16
• Watch: Comedy Central Teases 1980s Crime Show Parody 'Moonbeam City', Cartoon Brew, 30 July 2014, Edwards, C., 30 July 2014
• The Green Room, Charles, Purcell, New This Week (Nov 9): Mr. Robot, Nashville, Legends, Rousey v Holm and live sport, 6 November 2015, 7 November 2015, 7 November 2015
• 43rd Annual Annie Awards Nominees, Annie Awards, 1 December 2015
• Moonbeam City, Rotten Tomatoes
• Moonbeam City, Metacritic
• Review: Comedy Central's 'Moonbeam City' Recalls the World of 'Miami Vice', The New York Times, 15 September 2015, Hale, Mike
• 'Moonbeam City': TV Review, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 September 2015
• Moonbeam City has Archer vibes and Rob Lowe, but it's more clever than funny, Bob, Sassone, The A.V. Club, 16 September 2015
• TV Review: 'Moonbeam City', Brian, Lowry, 15 September 2015
• Moonbeam City, Katy, Waldman, 16 September 2015, Slate

External links