Right now I am super pissed at all my TV watching friends. Why did none of you tell me about Rick and Morty? I had to go to Wiki-fucking-pedia to find out that this animated sci-fi comedy debuted on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim on December 2, 2013 — TWENTY THIRTEEN!!! — and wrapped up its first season on April 14, 2014. It was created by Justin Roiland (who voices both of the titular characters) and Dan Harmon (of Community fame) and ran for eleven episodes.
Eleven fucking hilarious episodes.
Pardon my language, but after watching the entire first uncensored season I’ve found myself adopting Rick’s season-ending new catchphrase: I don’t give a fuuuuuuck!
Just in case you’re a poor sap like me, and don’t know what the hell Rick and Morty is, here’s the lowdown: imagine Back to the Future if Marty was a little slow and Doc Brown was an alcoholic drug-addict who regularly put the multiverse in danger in order to have a little fun or to prove a point. Rick Sanchez (!!!) is a lunatic scientist who may or may not actually give a shit about his grandson Morty, who accompanies him on adventures through multiple realities. He definitely doesn’t give a shit about his son-in-law Jerry (Chris Parnell), who married his daughter Beth (Sarah Chalke) after getting her pregnant in high school. He sort of gives a shit about his granddaughter Summer (Spencer Grammer).
Over the course of the first season, Rick and Morty not only save the planet a few times, they also destroy it at least once, skipping over into a neighboring reality where that world’s Rick and Morty were just killed in a horrific laboratory accident. Yeah, that’s right. Just over halfway through the first season, they rebooted in a new reality and just carried on like bosses.
There are references to classic sci-fi films like Zardoz, Robocop, Jurassic Park, and Fantastic Voyage as well as incredibly fresh takes on concepts like the Love Potion Gone Wrong, The Devil Setting up a Curiosity Shop, and Partying While the Parents are Away. Literally every single episode is so jam-packed with funny that you almost don’t even realize when suddenly they slap you in the face with some real emotion.
This show is like what would happen if Adventure Time grew up after being abused, or if Venture Brothers had a bit more soul.
And that’s spoken as someone who LOVES Adventure Time and Venture Brothers.
The Blu-ray release contains all eleven episodes with audio commentaries on every one. Three of them even have second audio commentary tracks by people who have absolutely nothing to do with the show. Matt Groening and friends, Robert Kirkman and Scott M. Gimple, and Pen Ward and Company all contribute commentaries that, quite honestly, can all be skipped. They’re not horrible, but they really haven’t got a lot to contribute other than just geeking out over the episodes. The commentaries by Harmon, Roiland, writer Ryan Ridley and the varying directors who stop by are fucking hilarious, though. As is the Behind-the-Scenes featurette where we get a look at what it’s like at Rick and Morty HQ.
In addition to these extras, there’s also a selection of deleted scenes and animatics for every single episode.
And for those of you who pick up the first printing of Rick and Morty, there’s the added bonus of The Good Morty; a Chick Tract parody that preaches the gospel of the Good Morty, teaching all the Mortys of the multiverse how to live a good life free of the evils of Rick and end up in the Afterlife Zone getting lots of hot chicks and not being punished in the In-Between-Lives Zone trapped in the body of a cockroach for a thousand years.
I can honestly say that I went into this review knowing nothing about Rick and Morty. I’d never heard of the show and just requested a review copy on a whim. By the time the first episode had finished, I was totally in love with the entire concept, and now Rick and Morty is one of my favorite things ever. I cannot fucking wait for Season Two (which they are working on as we speak).
Everyone who enjoys science fiction, comedy, vulgarity, and surprise heart-tweakings of emotion, should buy this Blu-ray and watch it over and over and over again.
This is the good stuff.
And there’s so much I didn’t even mention so you would get to experience it unspoiled. Really, check this one out.