Reagan and Brett travel to the moon to answer the distress signal of a lunar colony. They find they have a stowaway in Rand, who came determined to find his Ray Banns sunglasses. Buzz Aldrin, the colony leader, orders Rand locked up since he caused a colony-wide STD epidemic.
Tropes:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When Buzz plans to move the moon away from Earth’s orbit, Reagan points out that without it, there would be no more tides, the planet will be flooded and there would be no more howling wolves.
- Bait the Dog: Reagan starts to bond with Buzz, who praises her inventions and treats her to moon land hospitality. When Brett brings up the idea that Buzz may be her biological father, Reagan takes to the idea. She finds out that Buzz wanted to hit on her, despite the age difference, and wanted to move the moon out of orbit using her devices.
- Break the Cutie: Reagan as a kid burst out crying when Rand told her bluntly that she gave her turtles cancer in an attempt to make them like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She then had to Mercy Kill her pets on Rand's orders. In the present, the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles installment makes her surlier than usual.
- Call-Back: The moon leaving causes the tides to recede and expose the Kraken from "My Big Flat Earth Wedding", which then vomits up J.R.'s boat.
- Cerebus Syndrome: This episode and the next two of the first half of the first season start to seriously analyze Rand's parenting and the toxic abuse of it, which was skimmed over in the third episode. Of course, the comedy is still there.
- Daddy DNA Test: Rand rigs up a DNA tester to prove he's Reagan's father when Brett questions her parentage. It initially seems as if Buzz Aldrin really is her father, but Reagan realizes on the trip back that the device was wired wrong and fixes it, showing Rand is her father. It's not a satisfying reveal either way, since Buzz had tried to make a pass at her and later showed his true colors, and Rand is still an asshole to her.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Rand is a ruthless amoral asshole and an abusive father, but even he freaks out on learning that Buzz Aldrin murdered Neil Armstrong and buried him in the moon wilderness, driving back with Brett to warn Reagan.
- Flintstone Theming: Everything on Moontopia has to include the word "Moon" in their name somewhere.
- Groin Attack: Brett stabs a flagpole directly into a poor guard's crotch.
- Had to Be Sharp: Melvin declares war on Cognito, Inc. for retiring him. He goes to Jimmy Fallon to reveal the conspiracy, and the group attempts to activate Jimmy Fallon as a Sleeper Agent. When Jimmy attacks Melvin, he escapes with ease, showing he may be old, but he's not helpless.
- Lightworlder: Brett is able to easily dominate the lunar guards because years of lunar gravity have atrophied their muscles, making him super-human by comparison.
- Moon-Landing Hoax: Zigzagged; the moon landing was real, but the astronauts formed a sex cult and never came back, so the return trip was faked to avoid a PR disaster.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Rand mentions past sexual antics with Tamiko, squicking out Reagan.Reagan: Ugh! This is why I'm going. In space, no one can hear their dad talk about boning their mom.
- Planet Spaceship: Buzz Aldrin has installed giant rockets on the moon to push it out of orbit and make it truly independent of Earth, not caring about the effects moving the moon will have on the Earth.
- Pun: Most of Moontopia's "lunar-lingo" is just them inserting the word "moon" into every other word.
- Shout-Out:
- The episode opens with a flashback to Reagan's childhood, where she attempted to turn her pet turtles into real-life Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Reagan saying "In space, no one can hear their dad talk about boning their mom" is a play on Alien's tagline: "In space no one can hear you scream."
- Brett bought by mistake, instead of an American flag, a flag adorned with a Rastafarian Garfield.
- Brett also mistakenly calls Buzz Aldrin "Buzz Lightyear".
- We never see them, but apparently there are Nazis on the dark side of the Moon. Considering what we learn later, though, it's possible that Buzz is just lying to get Reagan on his side.
- After stabbing a guard, Brett exclaims "Welcome to Earth!... On the Moon."
- Buzz Aldrin's characterization as a suave sociopathic horndog reminds one of Zapp Brannigan, but evil instead of ridiculously incompetent.
- Laika the Soviet astronaut dog is still alive on the Moon and joins our heroes in the end.
- Sleeper Agent: Jimmy Fallon turns out to be one. Gigi claims that he laughs all the time because the CIA broke his brain when they were conditioning him.
- Take That!:
- When Gigi and Andre visit the fake Buzz Aldrin to recall and recast him, Andre mentions that Cognito Inc. is starting casting for World War III: "Apparently, this time, the Americans will be the bad guys."
- The new installment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reeks of it trying to fit in with current times, what with mentions of TikTok and Snapchat. Rand even complains that they're still on the air.
- This Is Reality: Rand laughed at a young Reagan, calling her an idiot for trying to turn her pet turtles into mutants. He said that she gave them cancer and has to Mercy Kill the lot with his gun. Rand takes them all outside and makes her pull the trigger.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Melvin has spent the whole episode fighting for the right to stay as Buzz Aldrin. He gets his job back when Buzz goes rogue on the moon.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: When Reagan thwarts the orbit launch, Buzz grabs a ship and flies away, saying there are more moons to conquer.
- Wolves Always Howl at the Moon: The trope is referenced when Reagan points out that if the moon is moved out of Earth's orbit, wolves will have nothing to howl at.
- Younger and Hipper: Parodied in the show when Reagan sees the newest incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with the characters using slang and talking about TikTok in a desperate attempt to appeal to the children of their target audience.
- You Wanna Get Sued?: Myc lets the audience at the end of the episode know that the moon landing of 1969 was real, without the colony plot, and the rest of the cast ask the real Buzz Aldrin, in case he's watching, not to sue them.
- Zeerust: All of the high-tech equipment and super-sleek space fashion has a noticeable 1960s flair to it (including a whole lot of roller skates).
This of course makes sense, given the team's arrival in 1969 and their lack of imposed capitalistic manufactured fashion trends; of course their styles and behaviors would develop outward from the standard '60s trends, it's about all they know.
