"Run the Rink" is the third episode of the Disney Channel and Marvel Animation series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
Synopsis[]
When Lunella runs the rink for a night, she agrees to Casey's get-rich-quick scheme, which threatens Moon Girl's reputation and her family's beloved business.
Plot[]
Lunella and Devil are running through the city, supposedly to stop a criminal, knocking a vehicle out of the way by accident. The run turns out to be to the carwash as Devil has not had a bath in quite some time. After some coaxing, Lunella finally gets Devil clean, only for him to get dirty again. Lunella's family is getting ready to attend a roller rink event, which they apparently very rarely ever get to go to. Lunella herself is showing impatience when it comes to Mimi making her famous popcorn, but she tells her that patience is the most important ingredient. Pops suddenly gets a call from their friend Saul telling them that he cannot look after the rink for them due to getting gout. Lunella offers to look after the rink while they are away as "Tuesdays are slow" and the Lafayettes reluctantly agree.
Lunella ends up getting bored and uses an engine she built to speed up her workload, but ends up filling the rink with popcorn. She gets Devil to come and eat it all, but he knocks over the DJ booth and breaks Adria's turntables. Desperate, Lunella calls Casey who rushes over to access the situation. She finds turntables similar to Adria's, but they are expensive. She comes up with the idea to use her status as Moon Girl to invite people to Roll With It for one night only to see her. Lunella agrees to the plan and everyone in the LES arrives to hang out with her. Just as things are getting good, the night is interrupted by Instanegirl, a woman with powered legs, and Man Baby, a giant mutated baby, but both are swiftly, and humiliatingly, defeated.
Another villain named Gravitas shows up where it is revealed that his robbery was foiled due to Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur's carwash run earlier and has come for revenge. He uses his gravity backpack mechanism to raise Roll With It. As Lunella tries to recover, she remembers Mimi's words and leads Gravitas on so that he uses up all his juice. Lunella beats him up, takes his arm cannon and attaches it to her engine to save the rink and everyone. As Gravitas is taken away, all the residents believe that the event was an elaborate stage performance and thank Lunella. She uses the money to buy new turntables which Adria, upon returning, does not notice too much. Lunella thanks Mimi for teaching her patience as Ahmed, who was also at the party, falls from the ceiling excited.
Cast[]
- Diamond White as Lunella Lafayette/Moon Girl
- Fred Tatasciore as Devil Dinosaur
- Sasheer Zamata as Adria Lafayette
- Jermaine Fowler as James Lafayette Jr.
- Libe Barer as Casey Calderon
- Alfre Woodard as Mimi Lafayette
- Gary Anthony Williams as James "Pops" Lafayette Sr.
- Ace Gibson as Gravitas
- Carlee Baker as Sophie Slugfoot/Instantanegirl
- Aaron Drown as Timmy Grubbs/Man Baby
- Andy Cohen as Isaac Goldberg-Calderon
- Omid Abtahi as Ahmed
- Laurence Fishburne as Backstory Man
Song[]
- "Sweatpants" (Clean Version) by Childish Gambino
Trivia[]
- Moral: Patience is a virtue.
- On February 15, 2023, the episode was released early on Disney+.
- The episode features a censored version of "Sweatpants" by Childish Gambino, real name Donald Glover, who previously voiced Miles Morales in Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) and played Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
- The sequence where Moon Girl fights Gravitas while listening to "Sweatpants" was used by the production team to pitch the series to Disney Television Animation and was inspired by the works of Edgar Wright.[1]
- While there is a character who goes by the name Gravitas in the comics, the version depicted in the series is virtually a different original character and shares nothing in common with their namesake.
- Lunella is revealed to be in charge of the family's bookkeeping.
- The voice of Man Baby, Aaron Drown, is a casting director who has worked on several Disney Television Animation shows including Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil, Motorcity, Tron: Uprising, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero, Pickle and Peanut, Star Wars Rebels, Future-Worm!, DuckTales, Monsters at Work, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Amphibia, Big City Greens, The Owl House, and Hamster & Gretel. This is his first voice acting role.
International premieres[]
- March 1, 2023 (United Kingdom, Ireland; Disney+)
- March 15, 2023 (Latin America, Brazil; Disney+)
- March 18, 2023 (Spain, Portugal)
- March 25, 2023 (Germany)
