Effective Promotional Strategy for TV

Adult Swim, the home of the popular cartoon Rick and Morty, recently shared a short promotional video for the cartoon, featuring Christopher Lloyd playing one of the main characters, Rick Sanchez. The promotional video made fans of the show incredibly happy because the inspiration for the show itself, according to the creator, was the film  Back To the  Future.

In that film, a scientist and a young man travel through time and space, and the scientist is played by Christopher Lloyd. In the promotional footage for Rick and Morty, Lloyd is playing a scientist that was inspired by his old role. He’s seen Stepping out of a portal and into his garage alongside his young nephew, Morty, played by Jaeden Martell.

In the video, Lloyd then imitates the famous line from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, specifically from Han Solo, as well as one of Rick Sanchez’s signature burps for good measure, stating that he and Morty are finally home. Morty then replies with one of his own signature lines.

Although there hasn’t been any specific mention of whether this means that the show will feature Christopher Lloyd or Jaden Martel in the show’s season five finale, it got fans incredibly excited for it. Adult Swim, the company behind Rick and Morty, shared the short clip on its social media accounts with the audience, along with a description of “C-132”. This is a symbol, featuring different numbers with the letter C, of how different the universe is inside the show. The main storyline of the show itself takes place in the universe C-137.

The earlier iteration of the character Rick Sanchez was a lot closer to the character of Doc Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd,  from the original time travel trilogy. However, eventually, Rick and Morty ended up developing their own characters.

Nevertheless, the influences from the original time travel trilogy continue to be one of the foundational aspects of the cartoon show. One of the main elements is that both franchises follow an old scientist with his young sidekick on adventures across different timelines while using new technology. With the casting of Christopher Lloyd as the live-action Rick Sanchez, the adult swim version has finally come back full circle to its own roots.

According to Paul B. Cummings, who directed the recent live-action video of Christopher Lloyd and Jaeden Martell for the Rick and Morty promotional elements, the entire video was scripted from the start. However, Cummings ended up telling Lloyd to “get a little unhinged” towards the end of the clip. Before starting to shoot, the entire cast and crew watched the original clip from the cartoon show several times.

This is one  great way in which adult swim decided to attract more attention around the season finale of the latest iteration of Rick and Morty. Although the next season of the show is on the distant horizon and fans will have to be patient to see what happens in the future– including whether Christopher Lloyd decides to reprise his role– the short clip had everyone excited and talking about Rick and Morty across all social media platforms and media outlets.

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