July 3, 1985 in the United States and Canada, the premiere of the science fiction comedy "Back to the Future", which later became a cult and marked the beginning of the eponymous trilogy, took place. The plot is familiar to everyone. A 17-year-old high school student named Marty McFly and his neighbor Dr. Emmett Brown travel in time, experiencing various adventures in the past, present and future, and are faced with problems such as accidentally changed reality.
After a little more than 21 years, in October 2006, the American animator Justin Royland created a cartoon parody of the legendary trilogy. In the appearance of the main characters Rick and Morty, the images of Doc and Marty were clearly traced. This marked the beginning of the comedy cartoon of the same name.
History of creation and official premiere
In addition to Justin Royland, the second author of the cartoon is Dan Harmon. They met at the Los Angeles Short Film Festival, in which Royland took part. The meeting took place in 2005.
A year later, the same parody of Back to the Future was created, which was immediately noticed by the audience. The cartoon could not be called childish, and Harmon himself briefly described it as “bastardization and pornographic vandalism” (words from an animator’s interview for the HitFix entertainment news site).
Season 1 of Rika and Morty was released on December 2, 2013. In a pilot episode of the plot, Morty helps Rick smuggle in a parallel universe.
Almost immediately after the launch, the series became successful. The reviews of Rick and Morty were mostly positive. They noted creativity, originality, originality of the cartoon and unique humor in each episode.
Main characters. Rick Sanchez
One of the two main characters of the animated series "Rick and Morty" - Rick Sanchez. Like his prototype, Dr. Emmett Brown, this character is a brilliant scientist. At the time of the start of the 1st season of “Rick and Morty” he was a little less than 70 years old.
In appearance, Rick Sanchez immediately you can guess that he is a scientist. This is evidenced by a white lab coat, which he wears constantly. Also, Rick has gray puffing hair, pale skin with a gray tint and large eyes with black pupils. In addition to the robe, he is usually dressed in olive-colored trousers, brown boots and a turquoise t-shirt.
Rick is cynical, skeptical and sarcastic. He has a strong dislike for people because he considers them much more stupid than himself. Sanchez’s genius cannot really be called into question: he is the inventor of such devices as a helmet to increase brain activity, a device that controls other people's dreams, and others.
Morty Smith
The second main character, whose name also appears in the title of the series, is Mortimer Smith, one of Rick Sanchez’s grandchildren. At the beginning of the series he is 14 years old.
Morty looks like an ordinary teenager. He has short brown hair and, like all the cartoon characters, have large eyes with small black pupils on their faces. Usually a boy is dressed in a yellow T-shirt, blue jeans and white boots.
Morty lives in a large family. His parents are Beth and Jerry Smith, his sister is Summer, and his mother's grandparents are Mrs. Sanchez and Rick.
By nature, Morty is completely different from his grandfather: he is good-natured and a little vulnerable. Has a speech impediment in the form of stuttering. However, in dangerous moments, Morty demonstrates his courage, quick wit and willingness to help everyone who needs it with all his might. Rick often takes advantage of this, completely controlling his grandson.
Mortimer, like Marty from Back to the Future, in each episode of the series acts as the partner of Rick Sanchez, accompanying him on travels to other worlds and dimensions, testing new inventions and completing errands.
Other characters
In addition to Rick and Morty themselves, minor characters appear in the cartoon. For example, this is the Mortimer family:
- a mother who works as a veterinarian and occasionally abuses alcohol;
- unemployed father who has a mutual dislike for Rick Sanchez;
- 17-year-old sister Summer, who is a typical teenager with her own complexes and experiences.
Often there are students and employees of the school in which Mortimer and Summer are studying. In one of his classmates, whose name is Jessica, Morty is unrequitedly in love and suffers from the fact that the girl practically does not notice him.
You can also see the characters that Rick and Morty meet while traveling in other dimensions.
List of seasons
At the moment, three seasons have been released, in the first of which 11 episodes, in the subsequent episodes of 10. Each episode lasts 22 minutes.
The last episode of the third season, entitled “Rikchurzh Mortidat”, was released on October 1, 2017. In May it became known that the cartoon was not completed and in the future it is planned to release another 70 episodes of "Rick and Morty." The release date for the fourth part of the series is currently undefined.
During the release of the last season to date, additional special episodes were also released, which were called "Non-canonical adventures." These series are not created using computer animation, like the main series. All characters and surroundings are molded from plasticine and animated.
Episodes last up to 22 seconds and are parodies of famous films. For example, the first series is a version of the fantastic horror "Something" in the style of "Rick and Morty." Feedback from viewers about the "Non-canonical adventures" was positive.
Crossovers and references
The series, in itself conceived as a parody, contains a large number of hidden references to other famous films and series - for example, to Gravity Falls. Once the authors of these shows reported about the upcoming crossover, but its output did not take place. The reason is the official end of Gravity Falls.
In some episodes of "Rick and Morty" you can see elements hinting at popular characters - special objects, names, names.
As for references to Rick and Morty, as the cartoon gained popularity and became famous, many animators, directors and others began to use Easter eggs for this series in their works.
Rick and Morty in Russia
In Russia, the cartoon is officially released on the "2x2" channel, which is also the Russian distributor of other cult animated series - "The Simpsons", "Family Guy", "South Park", "Futurama".
The most famous voice acting “Rika and Morty” in Russian, which was later used by the “2x2” channel, is the version of blogger Dmitry “Syuduk”. He gave his voice to shows like Gravity Falls and lesser-known cartoons. In an interview for one of the web portals, Dmitry talked about how he decided to voice “Rick and Morty”, explaining that the series hooked him almost from the first series.
Russian-speaking fans of the show say that it’s much more interesting to watch “Rick and Morty” in the voice acting from Syuduk - all the puns and jokes are transmitted. Some prefer Russian subtitles or the original. In the original version of "Rick and Morty", the author of the cartoon, Royland, himself is engaged in the voice acting of both main characters.
Opinion of fans and critics
Both ordinary viewers and critics agree that this animated series is truly unique and in many ways differs from similar themes in the show. Afisha Daily, a Russian-language news Internet resource, published an article titled “Why“ Rick and Morty ”was the best science fiction series of the time“ Futurama ”. This is a very high mark.
In reviews of "Rick and Morty," many mention the fact that this series can not be understood immediately. The viewer, the first time he saw something like this, can push away the atypical style of drawing, the strange Rick Sanchez, non-standard "non-childish" themes and the general insanity of all the events taking place in the cartoon. However, gradually all this is no longer perceived as something unpleasant.
For the above reasons, “Rick and Morty” has a rating of 16+ and on Cartoon Network is shown exclusively in the block called Adult Swim, which broadcasts shows for adults at night.
Franchise
Due to the fact that the reviews about “Rick and Morty” were positive, the authors of the animated series decided to develop this idea into a full-fledged franchise.
In 2014, at the Comic Con event in New York (a comic and video game fan festival held annually around the world), James Lucas Jones, editor-in-chief of a popular US publishing house, announced the imminent release of a graphic novel about the adventures of Rick and Morty. The first part was released as early as next year.
In the summer of 2016, the announcement of the official video game based on the animated series took place. Earlier, “Rick and Morty” had already left their mark in the gaming industry: in 2015, when the set of votes for Dota 2 was released, and in early 2016 after the release of the free game-parody of the Pokemon universe for mobile devices.
This time, the creators reported that it is planned to create a full-fledged single-player video game for a virtual reality helmet.