April Fools’ Day has come and gone, and with April Fools come the pranks from our favorite studios and companies. Adult Swim is no stranger to pulling a prank two on its viewers, but this year was something special. For 2022’s April Fools’ Day, the network brought back the characters from Learning with Pibby: Apocalypse to invade their whole block! Not only that, but they uploaded the entire broadcast to their YouTube channel, as well as a more condensed version which just has the “glitches” that were featured.
Here’s the full broadcast:
And here’s the “every glitch” cut:
The broadcast starts out with the intro to the fictional preschool show “Learning with Pibby,” but things get strange quickly. A glitch pulls Pibby and Bun-Bun from their show and into the various shows featured in Adult Swim, starting with Rick and Morty! In various shots you’ll see the two wandering around in the back lost, or running from the strange black glitch. But things seem to get more unsettling as time goes by. As the shows continue, Bun-Bun seems to get affected by the glitch, and the glitch starts to show itself more and more.
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The characters pop up in Rick and Morty, Smiling Friends, the Eric Andre Show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Birdgirl, and ends with Joe Pera Talks with You. Not even Adult Swim’s bumpers are safe from the glitch and the lost friends! At the end of the broadcast, Pibby is walking in the show alone and looking pretty rough, Bun-Bun is nowhere to be found.
The broadcast was very well put together, with the characters almost seamlessly blended in with the other shows. Sometimes the glitch will take up the whole screen, sometimes Pibby and Bun-Bun will be running far in the backgrounds. It’s like a fun Easter egg hunt for viewers mixed with a creepy twist! And naturally, fans of Pibby were ecstatic to see the characters being returned to!
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Run Pibby Run!
Adult Swim
If you’re wondering who these characters are and what the heck they’re fleeing from, we’ve got you covered. Learning with Pibby: Apocalypse started out as a short that was aired on Adult Swim in October 2021. The short was created and written by Dodge Greenley (I Heart Arlo, Sanjay and Craig) and co-directed by Joey So (The Backyardigans, Thomas and Friends). The short introduces Pibby and her friends in a preschool educational series, but are soon invaded by a horrifying black glitch that swallows their friends and world. Pibby and Bun-Bun manage to escape, but not for long.
After losing Bun-Bun, Pibby is somehow ripped into other worlds, which include various cartoon shows from all over time! The best way to describe the short is Who Framed Roger Rabbit meets The Walking Dead. As characters get swallowed by the glitch, they become distorted and glitchy themselves and seek out more characters to hunt. Pibby soon finds herself teaming up with a sidekick who lost his hero and a villain from a Disney-inspired show. Cameos from all eras of televised cartoons make cameos in this short, ranging from Bugs Bunny to Steven Universe! It’s an all-out war in the realm of cartoons! The full short was uploaded to Adult Swim’s YouTube channel, which can be viewed below.
When Pibby first made her appearance on Adult Swim there was a massive response from animation fans online. Folks were practically begging Adult Swim to greenlight the pilot for a full series. As of now, despite the short having over 21 million views on YouTube, Adult Swim has been silent on any news of the show getting picked up. But seeing Pibby and Bun-Bun starring in this year’s April Fools definitely tells us that Adult Swim is very aware of this short’s popularity. Maybe this is the network testing the waters to see if folks are still interested? Or maybe it’s the network saying, “We hear you, just hold on a little longer.” Only time will tell if Pibby will survive and save the day!
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About The Author
Caroline Miller
(111 Articles Published)
Caroline is a longtime admirer of film, music and the arts. She’s been giving movie opinions online (warranted or not) for over a decade, and putting those thoughts to Movieweb since early 2021.
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