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Was “Rick and Morty cameo in the new Space Jam” on your 2021 bingo card? Well, it should have been. Early filmgoers have discovered that everyone’s favorite intergalactic grandfather-grandson duo make a surprise appearance in the LeBron James flick.
The news was shared on Twitter by whoever wakes up first thing on Friday morning and says, “I need to watch the new Space Jam.” In their scene, Bugs Bunny takes an animated LeBron James through a universe of Warner Bros. franchises so that they can assemble an elite team of basketball players. Yes, this is a very weird movie. And yes, this is a MASSIVE flex on Warner Bros.’ part. James tells Bugs Bunny that he’s about to be very literal with him. Right on cue the Tazmanian Devil slams into the enclosed glass sphere where they’re working. As he’s hungrily licking the glass, Rick and Morty appear in Rick’s patented spaceship.
“We’re done running tests on your badger thing. Turns out its condition is irreversible,” Rick says.
“I’ll never erase what I saw from my brain!” Morty screams back.
Rick then grins and says, “He’s your problem now, dumb dumbs!” before flying off screen.
There are just… so many questions about this cameo. I’ve always personally thought it’s weird that the rest of the the talking animals in the Looney Tunes can speak perfect or even accented English while Taz is limited to caveman-like one-liners. It’s also strange that he can spin super fast in a circle, a super-powered ability that transforms him into a mobile tornado. For years, I’ve chalked these oddities up to the fact that this was a cartoon and cartoons are silly. But now that Rick’s weighed in, I just don’t know anymore.
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Is Taz something other than a Looney Tune? What’s this condition that Rick mentioned? Does Taz have some sort of disease or birth defect that makes him the way he is? Did something happen to him? That’s really sad. And why did Rick have Taz in the first place? Did Bugs commission him to experiment on his alleged friend? We know how Rick does science. It’s never a pretty or gentle picture.
This also implies that Bugs Bunny is at least friendly with Rick. What in the plumbus is that relationship like? Do they go from planet to planet on benders like Rick did with his granddaughter in a recent episode? Bugs is one smooth bunny. I wouldn’t put it past him.
And it’s not the fact that Rick and Morty exists in the world of Space Jam that hurts. By the very laws of the show, an infinite number of Ricks and Mortys can appear anywhere, in any dimension, at essentially any time. The two presented an Emmy in 2018, for god’s sake. It’s Looney Tunes that’s on trial, not Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland’s sci-fi comedy. Why did they think it was appropriate to let Rick Sanchez, of all people, experiment on an all-ages, kid-friendly cartoon? That’s just… Wrong. Space Jam: A New Legacy hasn’t even been out a day, and already it’s started to shatter our reality.
