When you think of Adult Swim, your mind doesn’t immediately go to horror. Maybe your mind goes to shows like Robot Chicken or Clone High? Or maybe it’s the memory of staying up late as a kid, quickly changing the channel when you saw Adult Swim takeover.
But horror? Since when was Adult Swim invested in horror? The answer is simple: for a while now.
From classics like This House Has People In It to Unedited Footage of a Bear, Adult Swim isn’t a newcomer to the weird and creepy.
Come and Learn with Pibby!, a teaser short, presents itself as a chilling tale about Pibby, a character from a children’s cartoon series who is thrusted into the role of hero as the world succumbs to the apocalypse.
This apocalyptic event comes in the form of a mysterious and glitchy black substance that swallows up and corrupts everything in the cartoon universe.
By cartoon universe, I mean the Cartoon Network/Hana-Barbara cartoon universe. This includes, Scooby-Doo, Adventure time, even the Flintstones and the Jetsons.
Since it aired, many people on the internet have been begging Adult Swim to greenlight it and have it become a bonafide show.
Come and Learn with Pibby! is a dime a dozen when it comes to the base concept of it. The idea of a crossover event among cartoons is still a hugely unexplored plot. This is mostly due to the issue of copyright. However, when you’re a large broadcasting company like Warner Bros., it’s easier to make an ambitious crossover.
It is also stunning at how cruel the plot is, especially on the main character, Pibby. Pibby is a young child, so having to go through something as traumatic as an apocalypse, it’ll require her to grow up very quickly, and under rough circumstances.
Also how this trauma is viewed by the supporting characters and how visibly bothered they are by Pibby’s trauma.
It’s a subtle yet genius sequence throughout the show, and keeps the viewer on their feet at all times.
Overall, Come and Learn with Pibby! is the future star child for Adult Swim. It has a deep well of potential and bright future.