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''Moonbeam City'' is an American
adult animated An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...
television series that was created by
Scott Gairdner Scott Gairdner (born 1985) is an American comedy writer, director, and podcaster, known for having created the Comedy Central animated series ''Moonbeam City'', for promoting the cult phenomenon of ''The Room'', alongside filmmaker Michael Roussele ...
, and starred the voices of
Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...
,
Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...
,
Kate Mara Kate Rooney Mara ( ; born February 27, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for work in television, playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama ''House of Cards'' (2013–2014; 2016), computer analyst Shari Rothenberg in t ...
and
Will Forte Orville Willis Forte IV ( ; born June 17, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Forte is known for being a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (2002–2010), a recurring character on the show leading to a feature film ada ...
. It premiered on
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
on September 16, 2015. A
parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
of 1980s cop shows such as ''
Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann (director), Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo ...
'' and ''
City Hunter is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo. It was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1985 to 1991 and collected into 35 ''tankōbon'' volumes by its publisher Shueisha. The manga was adapted int ...
'', the show was sponsored by the
Canadian government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in-C ...
and animated by
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
-based studio Solis Animation using
Adobe After Effects Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Inc., and used in the post-production process of film making, video games and television production. Among other things, After Eff ...
software. ''Moonbeam City'' featured a distinctive 80s-influenced futuristic visual style with heavy use of
neon lighting Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode ...
, inspired by media such as ''
Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer a ...
''; character designs were similar to the style of the artist
Patrick Nagel Patrick Nagel (November 25, 1945 – February 4, 1984) was an American artist and illustrator. He created popular illustrations on board, paper, and canvas, most of which emphasize the female form in a distinctive style, descended from Art Dec ...
. A
synthwave Synthwave (also called outrun, retrowave, or futuresynth) is an electronic music microgenre that is based predominantly on the music associated with action, science-fiction, and horror film soundtracks of the 1980s. Other influences are drawn fr ...
soundtrack was performed by
Night Club A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...
. On March 30, 2016, the series was cancelled after one season.


Characters

* Dazzle Novak (
Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...
): 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 Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
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 Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...
): 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 Kate Rooney Mara ( ; born February 27, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for work in television, playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama ''House of Cards'' (2013–2014; 2016), computer analyst Shari Rothenberg in t ...
): 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/Manning (born: Gregory Manning) (
Will Forte Orville Willis Forte IV ( ; born June 17, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Forte is known for being a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (2002–2010), a recurring character on the show leading to a feature film ada ...
): 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. * Genesis Jones (
Scott Gairdner Scott Gairdner (born 1985) is an American comedy writer, director, and podcaster, known for having created the Comedy Central animated series ''Moonbeam City'', for promoting the cult phenomenon of ''The Room'', alongside filmmaker Michael Roussele ...
): News anchor who appears in every episode. He often acts as more of a shameless announcer or sensationalist rather than a real journalist. * Mayor Eo Jaxxon (
Powers Boothe Powers Allen Boothe (June 1, 1948 – May 14, 2017) was an American actor. He won an Emmy in 1980 for his portrayal of Jim Jones in '' Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones''. He also played saloon owner Cy Tolliver on '' Deadwood'', "C ...
): Mayor of Moonbeam City who acts a lecherous tyrant. He speaks in a slow raspy register. He has an especially dark infatuation to Chief Pizzaz Miller. He uses his authority to continuously threaten to shutting down the Police Department, and moving the employees into the far more competent and successful
Fire Department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
, in order to extort Pizzaz into having sex with him. He has a
foot fetish Foot fetishism, also known as foot partialism or podophilia, is a pronounced sexual interest in feet. It is the most common form of sexual fetishism for otherwise non-sexual objects or body parts. Characteristics and related fetishes Foot f ...
and always travels with a pair of
leopards The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...
(which he says can tell when people are lying). He has at least one son, who becomes addicted to the
designer drug A designer drug is a structural or functional analog of a controlled substance that has been designed to mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug, while avoiding classification as illegal and/or detection in standard drug tests. Des ...
"Glitzotrene". His name is a reference to the 1986 short film ''
Captain EO ''Captain EO'' is a 1986 American 3D science fiction short film shown at Disney theme parks from 1986 through 1998. The movie stars Michael Jackson, was written by George Lucas, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola (who came up with the name ...
'' and its lead actor, American pop singer
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
.


Episodes


Broadcast

Internationally, the series premiered in Australia on November 15, 2015 on
The Comedy Channel The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) is a defunct Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020. History A joint venture between Artist Servi ...
.


Reception

On December 1, 2015, ''Moonbeam City'' was nominated for an
Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally desi ...
for Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production, but lost to ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
''. The first season holds a 29% on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
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 Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the series holds a 52% indicating mixed or average reviews. Mike Hale of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' stated that "the look of ''Moonbeam City'' may catch your eye, but after a while, you may be tempted to say, 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 ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' claimed that the show would be able to stand "in a world without ''
Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...
''" and called it thin and with limited potential. Bob Sassone of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave it a C+, calling it "more clever than funny with ''Archer'' vibes". Brian Lowry of ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' claims that the show settles more for being puerile than clever, making it "less than dazzling". Katy Waldman of ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
''s review was scathing, stating that the series "is so willfully dumb that it might make you wonder if it is meta-dumb".


References


External links

* * {{Comedy Central animation 2015 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings 2010s American adult animated television series 2010s American comic science fiction television series 2010s American mystery television series 2010s American parody television series American adult animated comedy television series American adult animated science fiction television series American adult animated mystery television series American detective television series English-language television shows Comedy Central animated television series