- “Randall: Say 'Hello' to the Scream Extractor.
Mike: Hello!” - ―Randall Boggs and Mike
The Scream Extractor is a scream-extracting machine built and maintained by Randall Boggs and Fungus in Monsters, Inc. It is intended to collect scream energy from children much more efficiently than traditional scaring techniques, which have become increasingly ineffective for the monsters. However, the machine has the potential to kill a child as it sucks out not only scream but also the breath of a child, as seen with Fungus, who fainted from near-suffocation upon the machine being used on him, rendering him white as a sheet and unable to speak.
Randall and Fungus intend to use the machine on Boo. When they discover they've accidentally kidnapped Mike, they put him into it instead. Sulley rescues him, and puts Fungus into the machine. Undeterred, Randall, Fungus, and Mr. Waternoose attempt to use the machine on Boo while Mike and Sulley are exiled in the human world, but Sulley returns just in time to save Boo and foil their plans again, while destroying the machine in the process and eventually banishing Randall to the human world and getting Waternoose arrested.
The machine was mentioned a few times in the Monsters at Work season 1 episode "Adorable Returns"; the first being when Mike is trying to find new ways to increase laugh power, and Fungus suggests a "laugh extractor", to which Mike replies is "too soon", later Val reveals that the reason for the Adorable Snowman's banishment was because he found out about the machine. It is mentioned and shown again in the season 2 episode "A Monstrous Homecoming" with the news reporter stating that nine months have passed since Mr. Waternoose's arrest for his plot to use it on children.
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