New Indie Animation Is A Great Replacement For Anyone Missing Rick And Morty

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While fans await the next season of Rick and Morty, a new animated short series called Sunny Side Down offers a great way to pass the time. Set in a diner near a black hole, it delivers the same blend of heartwarming moments and sci-fi humor that makes Rick and Morty so popular.

The MAKE Studios shorts stand out because they’re completely self-made, continuing a trend of creators using the internet to build an audience for original work. At LightBox in Pasadena, California, ScreenRant interviewed Natalia Poteryakhin, the creator of Sunny Side Down, to discuss the series and what sets it apart.

Sunny Side Down Are Perfect Shorts For Any Rick And Morty Fan Waiting For The Next Season

Sunny Side Down is a lighthearted and enjoyable sci-fi comedy. The show centers around Nat, a tired waitress working at a rundown diner near a black hole. She dreams of escaping her dead-end job—and the ever-present danger of the black hole looming behind the diner—but finds herself stuck in multiple ways.

This series is a lot of fun! It’s built around short, six-episode parodies of science fiction tropes. Each roughly two-minute segment playfully reimagines a different sci-fi idea, and the first episode is a particularly clever take on the classic Kirk and Spock dynamic from the original Star Trek, delivered with a comedic style similar to Rick and Morty.

Animation doesn’t need to be confined to traditional styles and formats,” Natalia Poteryakhin shared, adding that creating web-series allows for more creative control. “I believe independent animation is a source of incredible work, giving us the opportunity to tell a wider variety of stories.”

I’m so excited about Sunny Side Down! Natalia Poteryakhin is the driving force behind it – she directs, writes, and even does the storyboards. But she’s not doing it alone; the whole team at MAKE is amazing. Natalia told me how Andy Vella, the storyboard artist, really took the script to the next level. He came up with so many hilarious visual jokes and gags – she said it became three times funnier thanks to him! It’s clear everyone is bringing their A-game to make this series truly special.

Sunny Side Down Expertly Plays With Tone

Initially, we focused on creating something funny – just a quick gag to make people laugh. But it grew from there. What started as one-minute shorts evolved into longer, two-and-a-half-minute stories that explore the world, the characters’ lives, their challenges, and things audiences can genuinely connect with.

The series is already starting to gain attention with its first episode online, and it playfully satirizes common sci-fi tropes. What really sets it apart, though, is its use of classic, hand-drawn animation – a refreshing change in a world of mostly computer-generated animation.

Despite its comedic moments, Sunny Side Down has a surprisingly serious and thoughtful side, which is what makes it so engaging. Like Rick and Morty, which uses crude humor and science fiction as a way to explore deeper feelings, Sunny Side Down subtly deals with feelings of sadness and the anxieties of life.

Potreyakhin described a feeling many people share – a sense of something awful always hanging over them. He explained that the show centers on coping with that feeling and finding humor in it. This is immediately apparent in the first episode, which blends unique animation, silly alien jokes, and a surprisingly honest portrayal of the burdens life can bring.

Potreyakhin explained their strategy for the series and animation in general: they’re creating short, two-minute episodes. While this is different from the usual format, it allows them to focus on quality and create visually stunning animation, rather than stretching resources to produce a longer pilot. As she put it, “In animation, it’s best to work with your constraints and focus on what you enjoy.”

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2025-11-01 02:51