Rick and Morty: Morty's Mind Blowers
September 17, 2017 11:23 PM - Season 3, Episode 8 - Subscribe

Hey Morty, let's watch some interdimensional cable. Remember how we used to do that?
posted by sebastienbailard (41 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Aw, a Mr Poopybutthole marriage proposal
posted by Auden at 5:36 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


I thought this was pretty good, and I'm glad they're not doing a cable show this year. But them calling Summer a bitch at the end is WAY off. That was like something out of family guy. Regardless of how mean both of them are at other times, that didn't seem like it fit the characters at all.
posted by codacorolla at 7:19 AM on September 18, 2017 [15 favorites]


. for Beebo

. for Gobo
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:51 AM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]


The instructions say that Summer should leave the room when Rick and Morty wake up. Not excusing it, but I guess Rick anticipated how cranky they'd be.
posted by Catblack at 8:07 AM on September 18, 2017 [4 favorites]


Summer's comment about their arguing was clearly a reference to how long it took Harmon, Roiland, and the writing team to get this season out.
posted by migurski at 8:24 AM on September 18, 2017 [7 favorites]


Also I thought Moonspiracy might have been influenced by this Uno Moralez comic, which made it really frightening. Overall a big improvement on the cable episodes.
posted by migurski at 8:30 AM on September 18, 2017 [7 favorites]


I thought this was pretty good, and I'm glad they're not doing a cable show this year

I'm not sure what this means. Sounds like you are saying the show is online viewable online, but I am definitely recording it on my DVR.
posted by sideshow at 11:48 AM on September 18, 2017


the interdimensional cable episodes from the last 2 seasons, with improvised stuff. surely you jest.
posted by numaner at 12:03 PM on September 18, 2017


migurski: Summer's comment about their arguing was clearly a reference to how long it took Harmon, Roiland, and the writing team to get this season out.

Huh, that makes sense. I wonder about her saying "I don't get paid enough for this shit!" -- my first reaction was that there's a bigger story behind all this, where (this universe's) Summer is a more integral part to Rick's larger schemes, being paid by Rick (or someone else?) to ensure that Rick (and Morty) return to normal after their adventures.

But that is counter to Summer the heart-broken girl who tried to win back Ethan with the enlargenator. Or maybe teenage love is just one helluva drug? I don't know, I'm just making wild guesses based on a few lines, and the fact she was ready for at least four different scenarios where she'd have to follow directions to help Rick (and Morty).
posted by filthy light thief at 12:15 PM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


Cable meaning Interdimensional Cable, which had been their clip show previously.
posted by codacorolla at 12:16 PM on September 18, 2017


It looks like Rick's taught Summer those scenarios at some point, and that they've done this many times before.

So if you wonder how they keep going on adventuring while they've repeated fucked things up on a colossal scale, this is how. They don't let past memories turn them into trembling piles of guilt because they don't remember.

And at least Summer is alright with that.

Also, seems like they did a loooooot since the divorce, like I counted at least a few memories with just Beth and no Jerry. But the show always play fast and loose with time, so it's not implausible. But hey, Jerry has his own mind blowers!
posted by numaner at 2:05 PM on September 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


"You'll get it when you're still actively dating in your forties."
posted by wabbittwax at 2:54 PM on September 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


The second episode in a row where we're getting the rug pulled from under us. No Atlantis, no cable, no "classic R&M adventure"... but nice callback by Summer to some comments by the showrunners earlier this year about the season delay ("No wonder you're constantly fighting with each other and behind schedule").

That was the Sandman (Neil Gaiman) in the opener right? And who spotted the "House Hunters" clip at the end? If all the blue vials are Morty's mistakes and the red ones Rick's, are the purple vials all uhh, romantic memories (Mr Poopybutthole's proposal)? Don't even wanna know what that single yellow vial could be.

I keep thinking the budget must have really gone up in S3 as the epic set pieces thrown in for a couple seconds are crazy. At the same time it isn't as exciting as season 1 anymore and goes more with the creepy, mean, gore stuff.

On a side note, a friend told me something about bad working conditions for the animators on R&M and I just found out the animators unionised in 2014 and Justin Roiland seems to have been a dick about it. Not that that's surprising. And animators seem to be in the same boat as musicians et.c.
posted by yoHighness at 2:58 PM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]


PS "Chang, you may have majored in Liberal Arts, but today you will make history!"
posted by yoHighness at 2:59 PM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


Not feeling this season. It is overthought and underfunny.
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:46 PM on September 18, 2017 [2 favorites]


I bet those interdimensional cable episodes were a huge pain for the animators due to their improvisational nature. For obvious reasons it's not a format that really lends itself to improvisation. Take it for granite there was a lot that was cut from the final edits.
posted by adept256 at 6:01 PM on September 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


But they must be dead easy to write, because you can stuff them full of snippets that got cut from a script because they didn't work in the final long form script, or ideas that were cute but not worth developing into a full episode - like squirrel-pocalypse.
posted by sebastienbailard at 6:39 PM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


How much does an ounce of weed cost wherever Dan Harmon lives? That's the writing side's production budget.
posted by codacorolla at 6:42 PM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


It's more of a vignette episode. A clip episode would consist of actual clips from previous episodes. (Harmon has already parodied clip episodes on Community, in the episode where the group is reminiscing about things that weren't previously shown, including something involving leprechaun costumes.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:25 PM on September 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


I think there's a nice kernel of truth in this episode about how continuing to exist in a long term relationship requires that we forget interactions and situations constantly. Maintaining friendships and other relationships in recorded media means it's harder to move in from the past and harder to forgive small slights because it's so easy to relive them. I stopped keeping a journal around when I got married because I felt like I had gotten in the habit of keeping a record that I was using to hurt myself and wallow in bad feelings after the immediate moment had passed.

In other words, get off Facebook
posted by potrzebie at 8:09 PM on September 18, 2017 [14 favorites]


The definitive clip show parody is the one from Clerks, which preempted all other clip shows and parodies thereof by being literally the second episode of the series.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:17 PM on September 18, 2017 [8 favorites]


The definitive clip show parody is the one from Clerks

It was genius, yes.
posted by mordax at 9:25 PM on September 18, 2017


I found myself really noticing Morty's vocal tics in this episode. Aren't they becoming more and more similar to Rick's? This show is crazy enough that I'm not really interested in the fan theories about which iteration of Rick or Morty it was in any particular scene, and what that means... but I do find myself beginning to agree with the theory that in the end, we're going to find out that Rick and Morty are the same person.
posted by heatvision at 3:40 AM on September 19, 2017


But them calling Summer a bitch at the end is WAY off

Doesn't the show do this all the time, though? I'm pretty sure Mort referred to her as his "bitch of a sister" back in the parasite episode. I'm not saying that it's right, mind you, but it doesn't seem new.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:17 PM on September 19, 2017


Doesn't the show do this all the time, though?

Unfortunately yes. It's one of my few complaints about the show: I prefer it when Rick is an equal opportunity bastard, (like when he took time out to 'prove mathematically' that Morty and Summer were equally terrible in A Rickle in Time), to the misogyny. I feel like he should be pretty much down on everybody who isn't him, (or I guess also is him), so this always grates.
posted by mordax at 6:41 PM on September 19, 2017 [1 favorite]


Oooh Everything's crooked! Reality is poison! Uh-uh-I wanna go back! I hate this! *sobs* Can't live like this! *cries* LAMBS TO THE COSMIC SLAUGHTER!
posted by yoHighness at 5:24 AM on September 20, 2017 [14 favorites]


oh wait a minute, so are they in another universe now because they needed to escape the squirrels?
posted by numaner at 1:48 PM on September 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


oh wait a minute, so are they in another universe now because they needed to escape the squirrels?

I think it is pretty safe to say that such details have proven to be not worth worrying about.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:53 PM on September 20, 2017 [8 favorites]


now watch the season 4 premiere be all about Squirrel World
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:16 PM on September 20, 2017 [6 favorites]


By the by, if you miss having an Interdimensional Cable episode, the comic did Interdimensional Cable III for you.
posted by SansPoint at 3:36 PM on September 20, 2017


(FYI SansPoint, your link just points back to this thread)
posted by Rhaomi at 8:00 PM on September 20, 2017


now watch the season 4 premiere be all about Squirrel World

I am totally and completely here for that.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 10:14 PM on September 20, 2017 [4 favorites]


Rhaomi: Whooops! Try this one!
posted by SansPoint at 4:52 AM on September 21, 2017


By the by, if you miss having an Interdimensional Cable episode,

God no, those were the worst and weakest episodes by far. I'm glad they came to their senses and stopped doing them.
posted by Sangermaine at 7:18 AM on September 21, 2017 [4 favorites]


Sangermaine: Come on! Lil' Bits! The Personal Space Show! Two Brothers! Gazorpazorpfield! JAN QUADRANT VINCENT 16!
posted by SansPoint at 11:19 AM on September 21, 2017 [2 favorites]


I guess that kind of humor just doesn't appeal to me. It's just someone mumbling random things over a blast of quick clips. It's like the worst of Family Guy, but even more incoherent.

What's weird is that from what I know about Dan Harmon, he hates that kind of humor too. Back during his Acceptable.TV days they did an episode about story structure that starts off by mocking the "random!!!11" humor that was popular at the time, and is all about how even silly little Internet videos need story, yet the Interdimensional Cable episodes are exactly what that video is against.
posted by Sangermaine at 11:40 AM on September 21, 2017


The joke-y aspects of the Interdimensional cable episodes are probably not to Harmon's taste. They seem very much like a look inside Justin Roiland's head. But the first interdimensional cable episode had a pretty strong storyline going on, culminating in Morty's speech to Summer which is more or less a thesis statement for the series.
"no one is here on purpose, etc... come watch TV."
posted by wabbittwax at 12:23 PM on September 21, 2017 [12 favorites]


Chetreo's remix
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:21 AM on September 22, 2017 [1 favorite]


This show still pulls me two ways. The concepts can be mind blowing, and the jokes can be so cutting. It can also be fucking stupid, audience-pranking and self-hating. I came across a few articles that help me understand a bit how this contrast is built-in to Harmon's (and his fans') sensibilities, for better or worse:

The Search for Meaning in Rick and Morty

Rick and Morty's Worst Fans Don't Deserve it
posted by Popular Ethics at 9:00 PM on September 23, 2017 [5 favorites]


now watch the season 4 premiere be all about Squirrel World

"Morty, our love can never be. I'm a skin suit operated by a gestalt of squirrels all of whom seek your death, and you ... I can't leave you Morty!"
"I can't leave you either, Jessica!"
"Jessica? Who's Jessica?"
"I mean Ashley, I can't leave you Ashley!"
"Morty, who's Jessica?"
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:47 AM on September 25, 2017


Rick and Morty's Worst Fans Don't Deserve it


uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh people are the worst!
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:35 PM on September 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


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