Rick and Morty

 

     Rick and Morty is my new favorite cartoon. The show is created by Justin Roiland (co-creator/executive producer) and Dan Harmon (Community) for Adult Swim. I really dig how it's mainly about science fiction adventures in outer space. But its not just that. There's also family elements and stuff. The show balances family life with science fiction. Basically the show revolves around Rick and Morty. Rick is Morty's smart but psychopathic technological grandpa who is so smart he's developed a ray gun and an multidimensional portal where he can go into all kinds of places in deep space, even into other dimensions where things like demonic spirits of aliens exist! However, Rick is an alcoholic elderly guy that moved in with his daughter's family. He spends all of his time getting his grandson Morty to go out on these outlandish adventures throughout space and other universes. Morty kind of has a unstable life with his family, so these crazy adventures just cause him a lot more stress at home and school. In addition, Morty is not smart, nor street smart, but he always tries to do the right thing, something that Rick comes to recognize and respect during episodes. There's even comic books for this show and there's only one season! (11 episodes) They've already confirmed that there is going to be a second season coming out in July 2015, just next month.
     The artwork for this cartoon is kind of bare and simplistic, very similar to the Simpsons. Roiland has also said that the artwork was heavily inspired by Adventure Time and Regular Show, other great Cartoon Network cartoons.
     "Since the pilot was made available, the series has received critical acclaim, currently holding a Metacritic score of 85, indicating "universal acclaim"^. David Weigand of San Francisco Chronicle described it as "offbeat and occasionally coarse... the take-away here is that it works." He praised the animation direction by James McDermott for being "fresh, colorful and as wacky as the script", and compares the series as to having "shades of Futurama, South Park and even Beetlejuice", ultimately opining that its humor felt "entirely original"^. Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times praised the series and compared it to the film Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa; he concluded his review stating: "Grandparenting at its unhinged finest." Todd Spangler of Variety gave the series a lukewarm review; while he found the series was passable, he contrasted it with other Adult Swim series as "often seems overly reliant on simply being frenetic at the expense of being witty" and enjoyed it as "a welcome attempt to dream just a little bigger. David Sims of The A.V. Club gave the series an "A−". In reviewing the first two episodes, he complimented the animation for its "clean, simple style." He stated that while the series has "a dark, sick sensibility," he praised its "effort to give each character a little bit of depth", further applauding Roiland's voice talent for the eponymous characters^{." (Wikipedia)
     I've only seen like maybe four or five episodes and I have to say that this show is great. I actually found out about it through the Simpsons. The Simpsons have this opening couch gag and the creators of Rick and Morty did one for the show and I thought it was just way cool. Also, most of my friends have heard of it. One of my friends told me that it's on Adult Swim, and that Adult Swim is catered for stoners. He told me about how sometimes they'll just put on a waterfall, and let the washing waters just run on the channel for 15 minutes. I thought that was pretty cool. 
     Anyway, on this one episode Rick was kidnapped by these aliens and put in this artificial world where he's inside a simulation of real life. The idea has been overdone in many a science fiction movie but they're was comedic elements like the fact that Rick knew that the aliens wouldn't watch him if he was naked because they couldn't bear to look at genitalia, so that was pretty funny. Also, the aliens simulated Morty so when Rick and Morty find the escape pod to exit the alien simulated world, the aliens come and laugh at Rick and he finds himself in a simulation inside of a simulation-Inception much? It was simple idea but it worked well in the show. In the end Rick starts singing this great saxophone riff, one of the best sax riffs I've ever heard. I know I've heard the song but I can't quite place the name. I think its a Kenny G song, but its like his best song and its actually pretty good. I just thought that was a super cool way to end a space kind of episode, with a cool sax riff. Check it out here here. I liked it so much I ordered the DVD with the first season. Should be great.}