The Rick and Morty thread

[Drtooth]

Bob's Burgers is fantastic as a comic. But it's quite different. Instead of just being inspired by the TV show, it's inspired by one episode. This comic series is based off "The Frond Files." Rather than being a direct adaption of the show with a one off continuity, the stories are all by the Belcher kids. Tina having her friend fiction in every issue, a conspiracy story with Louise, and a musical (and in the second volume, poetry) by Gene.

 

[Drtooth]

Rick finally meets his match and doesn't like it one bit. And of course, he's played by Colbert. I loved the various levels of hypocrisy, and Rick knowing how to use it to his advantage. I also really thought that what stopped it from going infinite was brilliant. Only Rick has the power to create another like-minded individual, and when the third scientist develops his own little world, the revelation that he's just a battery drives him to madness. All that reveal did to Zeep was just wanting to clobber Rick more. And there's a nice little nuance that clearly came out by accident. Zeep manages to blurt out the F word at one point, even though the battery dwellers are supposed to think the F word means "Much Obliged." Clearly, even before knowing Rick was his species creator, Zeep knew something wasn't right. Then again, it was clearly an oversight on the part of the writers.

And Summer being held hostage by a computer that took its orders to an extreme. Hmmm... sounds like this ship's computer's gaining a sort of sentience... especially one with a mind for psychological torture. There are 2 possibilities for season 3. Zeep coming into Rick's world and trying to replace it with his world and Rick's spaceship going rouge.

Also loved the random references to Inspector Gadget and Turbo Teen.

 

[The Count]

Only seen a couple episodes of this show... But I saw last night's episode.

Turbo Teen! Yes, now that you say it, that totally makes sense given what Ric was spewing to Morty, only to tell him to never mind as a taxi suddenly showed up instead.
And hey, they also had a reference to Wonka when Zeep (thanks for the character's name) shouted to Ric that his miniverse wasn't an F'ing "chocolate factory".

And this played nicely as a double bill with the American Dad episode where Steve and Snot create clone daughters to take to the prom.

 

[mr3urious]

I enjoyed the darkly humorous subplot of the security system protecting Summer all too well. Now that was a more substantial use of gore and shock value unlike something like Brickleberry or Mr. Pickles where it's just there for the sake of it.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah. Rick and Morty is all about sci-fi fantasy going off the rails, and not always for comedic effect. The show embraces its own darkness instead of trying to get as many cheap laughs as possible. What we had here is a dark gag about how literally a machine can take commands, but it's taken to the right amount of far that there's a logic to it. The melting child psychological ploy was one of the darkest things I've seen, but it's done just deviantly brilliant enough that it's both hilarious and horrifying. Something most adult animated shows don't really get. I'd say this does to sci-fi what Venture Bros does to Saturday Morning Cartoons and teen action cartoon teams.

Other adult cartoons are like "how many crude jokes can we get away with in 11 minutes?" Problem with crude jokes is, only younger audiences would even appreciate them because the worst thing about shock humor is, once you're desensitized enough, it just comes off as lazy. It's like, "yeah! [Family Guy and/or South Park] already did that joke 10 years ago." I caught some of that awful Tosh.) show where they were doing a musical about how gay He-Man was, and all the jokes were just saying how gay the character is. And I'm like, wow... didn't Robot Chicken do that forever ago, and it's still not as funny as the accidental innuendo in the actual cartoon?

Turbo Teen! Yes, now that you say it, that totally makes sense given what Ric was spewing to Morty, only to tell him to never mind as a taxi suddenly showed up instead.

What made the joke really pop out wasn't just that it was a passing reference with a "never mind" thrown in, but the stinger at the end of the episode where Morty actually does turn into a car in the middle of class for no apparent reason. It's a nice reference as a throwaway joke, sure, but following through on it was divine.

 

[Drtooth]

While I didn't dislike last night's episode, I felt that they tried waaaay too hard to copy what made the last inter-dimensional cable episode special and just couldn't capture that lightning in a bottle. There were some good bits in there, but nothing quite as inspired as Ball Fondlers, Strawberry Smiggles, or Gazopazorpfield. Some just seemed like they got drunk and let the mike running. Octopus Man especially felt like they were just giggling through a bad bit. Then again, the first cable episode had that dramatic B story that lent itself to the big dramatic WHAM line at the end of the episode about Morty eating cereal near his grave every morning. So even as a silly filler episode, they managed to inject a crapload of drama into it.

But there were some genuinely funny bits. The weird soap opera that turned into a cereal commercial, the improv show where the comedian was actually bad at it but everyone thought it was funny anyway, the Jan Michael Vincent bit. And I really dug the B- Story about Jerry having a breakdown because he didn't want to give up his...anatomy...and then holding everyone hostage to prove that he was a good guy and offered in the first place. They really took that from the obvious level of immature anatomy jokes to an amusing moral situation and yet another showing of Jerry's complicated role as the loser of the series. Seems like this could have actually been a full storyline, but they didn't have enough to go on.

 

[mr3urious]

Nice references to The Purge in the latest episode. Rick said not to interfere with other planets as a Space Amish girl was about to be purged herself, but Morty just had to rescue her, only for her to shipjack them and strand them on the planet.

Spoiler

Of course, she was just doing so to kill all the rich jerks who started the whole idea of a purge.

Gotta love how that Amish lighthouse guy reading his scripts to Morty in exchange for using it to send their beacon can't handle criticism no matter how constructive, causing Morty to unleash his repressed rage at him.

Meanwhile, Jerry, bored stiff from unemployment, struggles to bond with Summer.

 

[Drtooth]

Morty losing it and trying to kill Rick saying "it was a long time coming." The real mastery of that was Rick handwaving it as an additive in the candy, revealing that additive wasn't in there.

Either Rick does this to save his own butt, or to reassure Morty won't turn into a soulless killing machine, or both. I'm going with both. Also a nice touch that Rick thinks he's okay with all the mindless violence, but even he found it gratuitous and lost his appetite for it. I also like that Rick stuck it to Morty that he only wanted to assist the Space Amish girl because of lust. That's the only reason they're stranded on the planet, after all. Once again, Rick knows the best thing to do in these situations is to leave themselves out of it, just like the episode with Fart.

 

[mr3urious]

The season finale came and went, and we have Rick becoming a wanted man after a wedding ceremony-turned-sting operation, forcing the Smiths to live on a tiny version of Earth leading to Rick chewing his family out for getting him to let his guard down once again, and eventually Jerry chewed the others out for letting Rick stay with them all these years.

Spoiler

It culminates with Rick turning himself in and the Smiths returning to Earth, with Jerry finally getting a job as well.

Looks like we'll have to wait for another year and a half for season 3, as Mr. Poopy Butthole said.

 

[Drtooth]

That was a very depressing way to end the season, and it was another great episode showing that Rick is capable of feeling, and usually that feeling is one of extreme sadness, regret, and overall a bitter acceptance. And there's something else I noticed. This season's main recurring theme is that Rick had these terrible feelings about getting involved with things that were proven right. He was proven right when Morty caused so many casualties by trying to save Fart, only for Fart to be rightfully executed. He was proven right when Morty screwed up and got them involved in the Purge. And he was proven right that nothing good can come of weddings, considering it wound up outing him and killing his best friend, the only being in the galaxy who understood him. Though, had Jerry not been sucked up by the...eh...messenger, the same crap would have probably gone down, Rick and the family might not have been subject to it.

So, Rick lost Birdman and Gear-Head. Squanchie may or may not still be okay. He lost his friends this episode, he clearly didn't want to see the same for his family.

Looks like we'll have to wait for another year and a half for season 3, as Mr. Poopy Butthole said.

Ehh.. I bet Venture Bros fans are used to this by now. But that's the one difficult thing about AS shows. They give them quite a lot of time to make sure they're putting out quality productions, and seasons can take up to 2 years or more to start back up again. And even then, it's like 10 episodes sometimes. With a devastating cliffhanger like that, the wait is intolerable for the fanbase. But , like VB, that time is well worth the wait. In the meantime, the non-canonical, but still a great read Rick and Morty comics are still coming out. This current issue (came out last week) is a full issue Ball Fondlers episode. It's perfectly Rick and Morty-esque.