Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon’s joint sci-fi series is more than just another adult humour TV show portraying an awkward family.
“Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. We’re all going to die. Come watch TV.“ This statement by 14 year old Morty to his older sister Summer, who just found out her existence was an accident, perhaps summarizes the message of the animated show ”Rick and Morty“ the best. What first might appear to be another dumb cartoon combining sexual adult humour with some awkward looking aliens turns out to be a witty, funny show, which offers imaginative insights into parallel universes and characters which are weird and loveable at the same time.
Rick and Morty, as the name of the show might imply, are the main characters of the story. Rick is Morty’s grandfather and lives in the same house as Morty, his sister Summer and their parents Beth and Jerry. While Beth and Jerry are struggling to find meaning in their lives and marriage, Morty and Summer are dealing with puberty and their sexualities. Rick, on the other hand, is a genius who gets annoyed by the fact that his family takes trivial institutions such as school and marriage seriously. He rather creates portals in order to visit parallel universes which can be interesting, disgusting, dangerous or beautiful.
Most of the time there are two story lines, one of which shows Rick and Morty on their adventures to other universes and the other which shows the rest of the family dealing with their everyday struggles. The mix of characters can of course differ to present the personalities of every character in combination with another imaginative parallel world. Apart from the two story lines, there are infinitely more time lines, each of them fully packed with humour and references to other films. In the first season of the show they might overdo Morty’s sexuality a little bit, as the series has more to offer than just an insecure boy fantasizing about his classmate Jessica. The season does, however, provide a good introduction to the characters, who will develop within the next seasons, while the story as a whole will become more multi-layered and complex.
Justin Roiland, who had the idea for the series together with Dan Harmon, is the voice actor for both main characters Rick and Morty. Other participating performers are Sarah Chalke (Beth Smith), Chris Parnell (Jerry Smith), and Spencer Grammer (Summer Smith). Everyone who enjoyed the crazy characters and pop culture references of Dan Harmon’s ”Community“ will be happy to find a similar humour in his new show ”Rick and Morty.“ In addition, it is worth watching Gravity Falls before or after watching this show, as both series contain references to each other. Roiland (voice actor in Adventure Time) and Hirsch (creator of Gravity Falls) are friends and have plans to work on another series together. Watch out for more references!
There’s one last thing I want to mention before you hopefully take my advice and become part of the funny, imaginative sci-fi world of Rick and Morty: the theme song. It is written by Ryan Elder, the same man who wrote the intro for Wizards of Waverly Place. If you don’t like Wizards of Waverly Place, that’s OK. The Rick and Morty theme song, however, was meant to be a mixture of the Farscape and the Doctor Who intro and it turned out to be a galactic, electrifying piece of music which is just as great as the series itself.
If you have already accepted that life is meaningless and decided to watch TV, you might as well give Rick and Morty a try. It will enrich the wasted hours of your life with imagination, sci-fi and a humour which is stupid and witty at the same time.
★★★★☆
Anna Guderian
The Rostock Review 