Rick and Morty: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Rick and Morty: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Back to the Futurama.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 10, 2016

It may be branded as Adult Swim, but Cartoon Network’s late night (or at least later at night) programming block frankly probably appeals to those just a bit younger than true “adults”, as least if evidence gleaned from my two teenaged sons counts. My 17 year old is an Adult Swim fan and in fact rather cogently described Rick and Morty as Futurama crossed with Back to the Future, albeit in a more “over the top” (to quote my kid) manner that makes the show, in true Adult Swim fashion, NSFW (that’s “not safe for work” for those of you without teens around to explain acronyms for you). Rick and Morty is consistently laugh out loud hilarious, at least for those who don’t mind scabrous dialogue that is not shy about dropping any number of versions of the f-bomb at a veritable moment’s notice. While the series mines some rather smart humor out of quasi-scientific data like time travel, parallel universes and the like, it finds just as much consistent comedic fodder in the tried and true standby of sitcoms from days of yore, namely the good, old dysfunctional family. Rick is a hard drinking scientist who is an unlikely mentor to his grandkids Morty and Summer. Morty and Summer are the children of Rick’s daughter Beth, a somewhat frustrated cardiac surgeon for horses (talk about specificity in comedy!), who is married to Jerry, a somewhat addled guy who never seems to quite know what’s really going on, in tried and true sitcom husband-father tradition.

For those wanting to catch up on the story thus far, or be introduced to it, Ken Brown's assessment of the series' first season can be found here: Rick and Morty: Season One Blu-ray review.

The second season of Rick and Morty picks up more or less right where the first season left off, at least if you consider six months after time has been frozen as an immediate follow up. Right off the bat, the simmering tensions between Morty and Summer are expertly detailed, with older sister berating younger brother for not dusting their frozen parents correctly. There are a number of wonderful sight gags in store even in this early sequence, especially with regard to one of the neighbors whose misadventures on his roof have been brought to a halt due to Rick’s “scientific” pursuits. The sibling rivalry only gets worse in the early going of this second season, with the first episode cascading into hilarity when the kids' arguing (and "uncertainty") leaves them "split" between an increasing number of alternate universes, each filled to the brim with floating felines which Rick smartly realizes must be versions of Schrödinger's cat.

Already it should be obvious that as juvenile as many of Rick and Morty’s jokes often are, there’s an appealing and at time surprisingly literate (maybe even literary) intelligence at work in this show (and I don’t say that simply due to the writing contributions of Tom Kauffman, who is no relation, at least not in this universe). Every episode has great offerings of smart humor, often with some rather sly references to other science fiction outings. One episode for example finds Marty playing a videogame of sorts where he experiences a man’s life in one sitting, in a conceit that may remind some of a certain episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 5 (Morty’s experience is considerably more comical than Jean-Luc Picard’s, it should be added).

But the refreshing thing about Rick and Morty, and a proclivity this show does in fact share with Futurama, is that the humor is not just derived from the science fiction aspect. Actually some of the best moments come from more supposedly “mundane” interactions, especially those between Beth, who often feels underappreciated or at least misunderstood, and Jerry, a well meaning but often hapless shlub who nonetheless seems to know how to at least occasionally encourage his wife. For all of this show’s whimsy (and Rick and Morty is virtually the textbook definition of whimsical), the family dynamic feels strangely realistic and well formed.

That spills over to the often contentious interchanges between the kids as well, with the bantering between the siblings seeming to be surprisingly honest feeling a lot of the time despite the often bizarre context. Interestingly, then, Rick’s kind of quasi-Doc Brown persona (albeit an often pretty inebriated Doc) comes off as the most obviously and patently “cartoonish” (in both senses of the word) character in the show. That’s a pretty outlandish accomplishment, given some of the more outré offerings Rick and Morty serve up, which include everything from aliens fashioned after a certain bit of the male anatomy (see screenshot 5), or a new recurring character named Mr. Poopy Butthole (like I said, the humor can be juvenile at times).

Rick and Morty: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rick and Morty: Season Two is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Home Video with a VC-1 encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The show's design aesthetic is an interesting amalgam of Futurama (see the Zoidberg lookalike in screenshot 10) along with what I'd call more of a Bob's Burgers aesthetic with regard to at least some of the human characters. The palette is frequently quite bright and varied, though the series tends to emphasize colors on the blue end of the spectrum. There's very little if any problem with banding and line detail remains sharp and precise throughout all episodes. There's a kind of interesting dichotomy between some of the "busy" animation like the arcade the guys go to (see screenshot 9) and some almost minimalistic elements that will feature characters with not a lot of background information at all (see screenshot 19).

Rick and Morty: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I was perhaps a bit more generally pleased with Rick and Morty's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio presentation than Ken was with regard to the first season. While it's true dialogue sequences can be anchored pretty resolutely front and center, there's so much carnival like craziness surrounding them a lot of the time that it's almost a relief to have a moment without huge panning effects as a spaceship goes hurtling through space (and/or dimensions), or Rick disappears in one of his swirling green whirlpools of an event horizon (or whatever it is). Surround activity is quite impressive in a number of effects laden sequences sprinkled throughout the season and LFE gets a surprising amount of workout for a comedy series.

Rick and Morty: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Animatic Sketches (1080p; 2:11)


• Rick and Morty Season Two Premiere Party Featuring Chaos Chaos (1080p; 43:13)


• Animatics

  A Rickle in Time (Attempt 1) (1080p; 19:13)

  A Rickle in Time (Attempt 2) (1080p; 22:03)

  Mortynight Run (1080p; 21:48)

  Autoerotic Simulation (1080p; 22:21)

  Total Rickfall (1080p; 21:30)

  Get Schwifty (1080p; 21:31)

  The Ricks Must Be Crazy (1080p; 21:59)

  Big Trouble in Little Sanchez (1080p; 22:14)

  Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate (1080p; 22:01)

  Look Who's Purging Now (1080p; 22:52)

  The Wedding Squanchers (1080p; 22:22)

• Commentaries

  A Rickle in Time with: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley and Wes Archer

  Mortynight Run with: 1) Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley; 2) Erik Wolpaw, Jay Pinkerton, Cabe Newell

  Autoerotic Simulation with: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley and Dan Guterman

  Total Rickfall with: 1) Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley and Mike McMahan; 2) WWE Superstar Sheamus and Abed Cheith

  Get Schwifty with: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley and Tom Kauffman

  The Ricks Must Be Crazy with: 1) Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley and Dan Guterman; 2) Sal Governale and Richard Christy

  Big Trouble in Little Sanchez with: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley and Bryan Newton

  Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate with: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley and Juan Meza-Leon

  Look Who's Purging Now with: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley and Dominic Polcino

  The Wedding Squanchers with: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley and Tom Kauffman

• Note: The commentaries can be found under the setup menu.

Finally, there's a supposed "Owner's Manual" for a Plumbus in lieu of an insert booklet.

Rick and Morty: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's a rare show that makes me laugh consistently throughout virtually every episode, but that's pretty much exactly what happened as I watched this second season of Rick and Morty. The series' finely wrought characters each provide their own nuggets of comedy gold, and the frequently very smartly handled science fiction aspect is sure to bring a smile to the lips of geeks everywhere. Don't tell the kids, but a few of us elders like Adult Swim, too. Technical merits are great, the supplementary package bountiful, and Rick and Morty: Season Two comes Highly recommended.