Editorial: The Mad Genius of Rick and Morty

Although I’ve read this phrase time and time again in reference to various TV programs, this is the first time I’ll actually use it: Rick and Morty is – without a doubt – the best show you’re not watching.

Alright, in all fairness, a lot of you probably are watching Rick and Morty. In fact, in the three Mondays thus far that new episodes of R&M and Archer have both aired (the former on Adult Swim at 10:30pm & the latter on FX at 10:00pm) the season premiere of Archer is the only one that has done better in the ratings. And the last two episodes of Rick and Morty didn’t pull off a photo finish, but instead won by a margin of about half-a-million viewers each.

Still, I have yet to meet someone outside of my BubbleBlabber Buddies that have even heard of the show. Maybe it’s because many of the people I associate with are lame, humorless drones that instead watch reality TV, Game of Thrones, or some combination of Law & Order/CSI/Informative Murder Porn crappola, but others – honest, hard-drinking, borderline acceptable human beings – are just living their lives normally, blissfully unaware of the show’s existence.

Well, folks, this has to change. I will not tolerate bringing up Rick and Morty only to be greeted with faces reminiscent of cows gazing blanking at oncoming trains. Instead, it’s time to hop on that train and cruise to a place where people truly appreciate quality animated programming, and where locomotive metaphors are accepted with the respect they deserve.

If you’re one of the aforementioned unfortunate souls, allow me to provide a bit of background. Rick and Morty is a series about a boy and his brilliant but moderately insane scientist grandfather. (If you like comparisons, the duo are kind of like Doc Brown and Marty McFly of Back to the Future – except Morty is much younger, and Rick is a raging alcoholic and kind of a dick…and the two are obviously related.) Morty is constantly being pulled into Rick’s various adventures, which always involve some sort of grand experiment, time travel, or other exploit that is either in the name of true scientific progress, or something completely self-serving and unnecessary, which Rick nevertheless manages to justify.

Be it gathering giant seeds, penetrating dreams Inception-style, or saving a tiny theme park housed inside of a homeless man, there’s no end to the shenanigans concocted by series creators Justin Roiland (who also voices the titular characters), Community mastermind Dan Harmon, and their staff of writers.

If you’re not already on board with the show at this point, here are a few reasons it works:

First, the characters are outstanding. Rick is a mad scientist, and the successful track record of deranged doctors is well documented. Be it the aforementioned Emmitt Brown of Back to the Future, Professor Frink (The Simpsons), Professor Farnsworth (Futurama), or Doctor Krieger (Archer) people gravitate toward these types of characters. Why is this? Well, they’re intelligent, which gives the person a bit of credibility from the start. They’re scientists, which makes them trustworthy, because scientific experimentation is generally conducted for the benefit of everyone (except in the cases of super-evil geniuses.) Oh, and they’re generally old, and old people are usually too decrepit to be sketchy.

But on the other hand, they’re also mad, adding an element of surprise to their personality. Rick, on top of this, is always drinking. Constantly. This adds an extra dose of unpredictability into the mix. Oh, and he can occasionally be a self-serving asshole too.

Rick is also not the most responsible family man either. I mean, he wouldn’t actually let Morty get killed on his watch, but he’ll still constantly put him in situations where injury or death is a likely option. Basically, when push comes to shove the love is there, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a moderate to heavy amount of neglect present. In Rick’s case, it usually involves using Morty as a guinea pig in some way, or running from danger well ahead of Morty, acting quite unconcerned with his well-being. But a bit of parental – or grandparental – negligence has worked in the past for other cartoon characters (see: Simpson, Homer; Griffin, Peter; Smith, Stan) so who are we to judge? However, this is a special case, because Rick (for the above reasons) established an initial trust that is perfectly balanced out with a series of dangerous question marks. He’s not a guy you’d voluntarily trust your life to, but when your life is actually on the line, you’ll do what he says.

The other half of the duo, Morty, is an interesting specimen. He’s generally a reluctant companion to Rick (especially in the first few episodes) but luckily for the story’s sake, he’s a bit of a pushover, and always agrees to tag along. Morty is also quick to call out Rick on his bullshit, and helps bring things back to Earth when Rick’s ideas get too out there. Like most 14-year-old boys, Morty is starting to be interested in girls, with varying degrees of success. I guess you could say Rick helps his grandson out here, but only if the situation is not counterproductive to his mission. In one humorous instance, Rick re-shrunk a girl with whom Morty had previous been making out, so Rick could use her in a future experiment. When Morty protested, Rick reassured him that he just dodged a bullet, whispering, “Puffy vagina.” Yeah, it’s that kind of relationship.

The rest of the cast are amusing as well. Jerry, the father, is voiced by Chris Parnell, and is an insecure weenie of a man who generally disapproves of Rick’s influence on Morty. Sarah Chalke lends her voice as the mother (and daughter of Rick), and Spencer Grammar plays the stereotypical high school-aged daughter.

Only six episodes deep, Rick and Morty has already amassed a stellar collection of guest voices, including comedians David Cross, Dana Carvey, and John Oliver, as well as voice acting veterans Tom Kenny, Jess Harnell, and Rob Paulsen. Legends like this wouldn’t just lend their talent to any ol’ show…at least, I hope they wouldn’t.

However, the success or failure of a series all starts with the writing, and the Rick and Morty team is simply nailing it. The humor is witty with the right amount of silliness, borderline offensive at times without being gratuitous, and features situations and characters that can be annoying but manage to make you laugh at the annoyance rather than become bothered by it. (Case in point: the Meeseeks.)

Uniquely, the show (by way of the characters) isn’t afraid to stop and address the absurdity of situations and locations, when other series wouldn’t. In Futurama, for instance, Fry initially pointed out and reacted to every odd thing he saw and experienced in the year 3000, while it was par for the course for the rest of the characters. However, this didn’t last very long, because Fry soon acclimated to his surroundings like everyone else. In Rick and Morty, both main characters are constantly making references to the hilarious insanity around them, making the visual jokes more than just background fodder. For instance, take this exchange, which took place inside an slightly inaccurate alien simulation of the real world, and featured quirks like someone putting a bun between two hot dogs, another person walking a cat, and a Pop Tart emerging from a toaster house and getting in a toaster car:

Morty: “Why would a Pop Tart want to live inside a toaster, Rick? I mean, that would be like the scariest place for them to live, you know what I mean?”

Rick: “You’re missing the point, Morty. Why would he drive a smaller toaster with wheels? I mean, does your car look like a smaller version of your house? No.”

The visual was funny in itself, but the writers managed to create dialogue around it that made the joke even funnier.

Yes, the future is bright for Rick and Morty, and the story possibilities are endless because Rick is a genius scientist that can make almost any invention and travel to worlds most people couldn’t even imagine. In fact, the ideas are so unique and interesting that the show actually made a joke about a minor detail of one episode being turned into a whole series:

Morty: “Wow, a whole world populated by intelligent dogs. I wonder what it’ll be like, Rick.”

Rick: “I think it’ll be great, Morty. It could be developed into a very satisfying project for people of all ages. I mean, I’d watch it, Morty. For at least 11 minutes a pop. Maybe they’ll do it board-driven.”

Well, shit. That’s a lot of words for a 22-minute cartoon show that has had only six episodes thus far, isn’t it? But hopefully it sheds some light on this wacky, unquestionably original, and incredibly imaginative cartoon. It’s not too often that a show comes along and makes such a big splash from the get-go, and we should all be thankful to realize this while it’s still on the ground floor. If you haven’t jumped on the Rick and Morty bandwagon yet, it’s slowly picking up speed, so be sure to check out the full episodes on AdultSwim.com or Hulu, and get excited for the return of new episodes on Monday, March 10th. Oh yeah, and I heard something about the show getting picked up for a second season, so if you were worried about another brilliant show getting prematurely canned: Don’t even trip, dog.