About

The Screaming Sun is a minor anthropomorphic character of a star that continuously produces a loud yelling noise while orbiting around a newly discovered planet in the second season finale of Adult Swim’s animated TV series Rick and Morty. Following the airing of the episode in early October 2015, fans of the show created numerous remix videos and photoshops featuring the screaming sun.

Origin

On October 4th, 2015, Adult Swim aired the Rick and Morty episode "The Wedding Squanchers" as the finale for the show's second season. In the episode, the character Rick attempts to flee imprisonment for crimes against the Galactic Federation by hiding with his family on a planet outside of their jurisdiction. After discovering what appears to be the ideal planet, a sun with a face rises which screams constantly while in orbit. The following day, YouTuber Forrest Keel uploaded a clip of the screaming sun (shown below)

Spread

On October 6th, 2015, YouTuber Bill Totes uploaded a clip of the opening from the British children's television show Teletubbies edited with the screaming sun (shown below, left). On the following day, YouTuber NoodleLu uploaded an edited clip from the opening scene in the 1994 animated film The Lion King with the screaming sun (shown below, right). Within one month, the video garnered upwards of 590,000 views and 320 comments.

Also on October 7th, the "Circle of Life" video was posted on the Official Rick and Morty Facebook^[3] and the /r/rickandmorty^[6] subreddit. On October 9th, 2015, YouTuber roadcrosser uploaded footage from the 1988 video game Super Mario 3 edited with the screaming sun (shown below, left). On October 11th, YouTuber MrKumquats uploaded a clip from the "Get Lucky" music video by Daft Punk with the screaming sun in the background (shown below, right).

On October 21st, Redditor heavymetalpancakes posted a parody poster for the upcoming film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in which the screaming sun is shown rising in the background (shown below). In the first 12 days, the post gained over 4,900 votes (93% upvoted) and 100 comments on the /r/rickandmorty^[5] subreddit.

Search Interest

External References