Rick and Morty: Pilot   Rewatch 
February 11, 2015 8:35 AM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe

Rick is Morty's maternal grandfather, recently returned to their lives and very clearly owing some of his DNA to Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Except drunker, meaner, more self-centered, and many other personality flaws you can think of. Morty is his pubescent assistant and partner-in-sciencecrime. Whether he wants to be or not. Rick and Morty can be streamed from the Adult Swim site, purchased on DVD, or digitally purchased through iTunes or Amazon.

Rick and Morty kicks off their season with the only episode not to be titled with a play on other media. Claim your no-prize by explaining how "pilot" actually is somehow wordplay on "pilot."

The wikipedia description is spoiler-tastic so let's go with the Adult Swim quick summary: Rick moves in with his daughter's family and establishes himself as a bad influence on his grandson, Morty.

Not quite accurate; the show starts with a cold open that pretty well telegraphs the way things go for both of them: Rick drags Morty out on an adventure - or perhaps nightmare - with very little preamble and less information/explanation. Alcohol plays a part.

The main story establishes the conflict between Rick and his son-in-law, the toll Rick's shenanigans take on Morty, Morty's crush, the clueless and vaguely malicious school staff, Rick's propensity towards truthy-ness and his slim concern for human life. Summer is probably the least developed character at this point with the exception of the family dog who is mentioned but not seen... this week.

Many links and backstory are here on Rhaomi's post on the blue last year, including the oh-grodd-don't-watch-it inspiring short Doc and Mharti.
posted by phearlez (9 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Rick and Morty forever 100 times!

Not my favorite episode by a longshot, but there are some really great moments here, the cold open is great and I love the chase through the spaceport.
posted by hobgadling at 9:20 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


This episode was enough to get me to keep watching, but I consider it a weak intro to rope other people into the show - the gags are good, but not sublime yet, I think. (I tried it twice, and both times was ignored until I applied liberal peer pressure to get to episode 2 or 3, at which point folks were hooked.)

The chase through the spaceport is definitely my favorite bit too - I love when Rick lies to get Morty to shoot the bug guards, Morty calls him on it, and Rick said he meant they were robots 'metaphorically' because he hates bureaucrats. The ending, with the dissolving mega seed, was also pretty brilliant.

(Also, while the show is clearly a Back to the Future riff, I also see it as very "NuWho if the Doctor were criminally insane.")
posted by mordax at 9:33 AM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


The biggest "problem" with the episode is why exactly Rick needs Morty to get the seeds in the first place. He only needs him as a mule because of the screw-up with the portal gun. If it's just in order to make the mundane shopping trip more entertaining then that's not really communicated.

I wonder if the "100 times" is meant to be a syndication joke or just a commonly used number.
posted by phearlez at 12:13 PM on February 11, 2015


The chase through the interdimensional "Spaceport" is indeed great, and not least because it contains one incredibly fast, incredibly dense "joke". One that manages to distill the basic dynamic of the show down to its very essence.

Morty: (wail of confusion laced with dread)

Rick: Don't think about it!!!!

Exquisite.
posted by Ipsifendus at 12:52 PM on February 11, 2015 [5 favorites]


The biggest "problem" with the episode is why exactly Rick needs Morty to get the seeds in the first place. He only needs him as a mule because of the screw-up with the portal gun. If it's just in order to make the mundane shopping trip more entertaining then that's not really communicated.

While they offer a more detailed explanation for why Rick needs Morty later, I get the impression he just doesn't *like* being alone. This is why the whole thing across as very Dr. Who to me: it feels like it isn't enough for Rick to do awesome stuff, he has to be showing off in the process, and Morty is an easy choice.

I wonder if the "100 times" is meant to be a syndication joke or just a commonly used number.

Took it for a syndication joke myself. (Considering the team, I assume everything in there means something.)

Rick: Don't think about it!!!!

I love them explicitly addressing that in the pilot, yeah.
posted by mordax at 1:05 PM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Also great in the cold open: it's not clear whether Rick actually was "just testing" Morty. "Sure, why not?" would seem to imply he's just lying but you never know.

One of my favorite quotes:

"You know what I named these? My little Mortys."
"Um, that's flattering. And a little weird."
"Do you know what I want you to do with them?"
"Rename them?"

Love that the spaceport gate looks like a Stargate.
posted by phearlez at 7:54 PM on February 11, 2015


Yeah, this episode falls a little past the “too misanthropic” line for me, while later episodes are squarely in the “just misanthropic enough” zone. I have no idea how to articulate what does and doesn’t make a joke about maiming and killing funny to me, though.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 6:04 AM on February 12, 2015 [3 favorites]


Well, this actually got me to finally watch Rick and Morty, and thank you -- it's a goddamn revelation. I've burned through the first three episodes and I'm going to try to pace myself a bit more from here on out.

Even with all the insanity going on all the time, the thing that cracks me up consistently is how Rick peppers every second sentence with "Morty," using his name constantly in the kind of fevered forced-bonding you'd expect from a Landmark Forum representative.

I like any show where I legitimately have no idea what's going to happen but still hangs together on some kind of internal logic. This is 100% up my alley. Thanks for starting these threads.
posted by Shepherd at 6:51 AM on February 12, 2015 [3 favorites]




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