How Dan Harmon kept Rick & Morty’s cynicism out of Strange Planet

polygon.com:

Watching season 1 of Strange Planet, the new animated series produced by Community and Rick & Morty creator Dan Harmon, it’s easy to see traces of his voice in the structure of the show. It’s particularly present in the way each episode comes with a gentle message about connection and maturing, all delivered without preaching. And the way the episodes all tell different stories, while connecting in small, surprising ways, is pure Harmon. His name on the show has given it a particular cultural cachet — to a subset of TV nerds, Dan Harmon is something of a god, and anything he touches is worth checking out.

But the stronger voice in the mix comes from writer-artist Nathan W. Pyle, who originated Strange Planet as a webcomic about a world of “beings” — blobby blue nameless aliens — turning familiar, mundane experiences into opportunities for gentle philosophical observations. Pyle isn’t as much of a household name as Harmon, but he’s built a millions-strong following for his work on Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit, and his comics have quietly grown from internet humor currency to a full-on cultural experience.

70 days until b o o k pic.twitter.com/Uo6gXmTphC

The blend of Pyle’s sensibilities with Harmon’s produces something fairly unique in the increasingly crowded field of adult-oriented animated TV: A show that feels both like a G-rated story, and like it’s aiming at jaded, weary mature viewers rather than at younger ones. Polygon recently spoke to Pyle about working with Harmon, and he said the process of keeping the voice of the webcomics alive in the series wasn’t difficult, because it was one of Harmon’s biggest priorities for the series’ writers.

“As the co-creator of the show, Dan Harmon immediately said, ‘We want