After having been missing for nearly 20 years, Rick Sanchez suddenly arrives at daughter Beth’s doorstep to move in with her and her family. Although Beth welcomes Rick into her home, her husband, Jerry, isn’t as happy about the family reunion. Jerry is concerned about Rick, a sociopathic scientist, using the garage as his personal laboratory. In the lab, Rick works on a number of sci-fi gadgets, some of which could be considered dangerous. But that’s not all Rick does that concerns Jerry. He also goes on adventures across the universe that often involve his children, Morty and Summer.
For thoughts on Rick & Morty: Season 5, please see my previous article here.
Video Quality
Rick & Morty: The Complete Fifth Season comes to Blu-Ray with a vibrant transfer that largely looks quite excellent. Colors are bright and bold throughout the season with some excellent nuance from episode to episode due to the adventures on deck. This is an immaculately clear presentation free of any dirt or debris. Fine lines and details are crisp and maintained well without any bleeding. There does not appear to be any issues with banding. Rick and Morty maintains its visual style and sharp presentation for this latest season, which looks great on Blu-Ray.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with an appropriately lively DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio soundtrack. Dialogue is given priority in the track with a crisp, clear presentation in the center speaker that subtly creeps into surrounds during moments where different environments are being engaged. Music is incredibly immersive with stings accentuating certain scenes in the rear channels. Sounds effects from blasters and other kinetic moments provide a nice punch in the low end that is appreciated. The show employs a good use of environmental effects that are directionally accurate within the mix. All in all, this is an excellent audio presentation that suits the show well.
Special Features
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has provided Rick & Morty: Season 5 with an optional sleek new SteelBook that is truly lovely in person. The front artwork is a nicely stylized animated depiction of Rick and the family in the spaceship flying away from a virtual Rick maniacally laughing, and the rear features the silhouettes of the family looking at the back of virtual Rick’s head in what looks to be the mouth of a portal. The interior sports a depiction of more space chaos. Photos of the SteelBook can be found at the end of this review.
- Fighting Gravity – The Making Of Season 5: A nine-minute featurette in which the creative team discuss the unique challenges of making this season of Zoom, how the tone of the world seeped into the show, the plot developments that happen in this season and more.
- Animation and Compositing: A two-minute piece in which the compositors on the team discuss their role in animating the show and how they go about making things look seamless.
- B-Story Generator, Volume 1: A three-minute conversation between Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab in which they humorously take you through how they go about developing subplots within the show. This is a pure delight and seems like a solid way to come up with stories.
- B-Story Generator, Volume 2: Another three-minute round of “story development” with Harmon and Schrab.
- Backgrounds: A two-and-a-half minute look at the creation of the various landscapes that make up each episode with interviews from the animators.
- Coloring Rick and Morty: A three-minute look at how the series uses colors in its animation.
- Directing Mortyplicity: A two-minute conversation with Director Lucas Gray in which he takes you through the creation of this wild episode.
- Directing Rickmurai Jack: A two-and-a-half minute conversation with Director Jacob Hair and writer Jeff Loveness in which they talk about wrapping your mind around this episode and how they went about realizing their vision on screen.
- Season 5 Hype: A two-minute piece in which Dan Harmon and some of the creative team tease the season with clips playing in the background.
- Inside The Episode: Each episode gets a one-and-a-half to two-minute breakdown of the events with the creative team. There are a lot of interesting insights that help clarify some narrative turns that crop up during this season. There are also a lot of silly moments to make you laugh.
Final Thoughts
Rick & Morty: The Complete Fifth Season feels like a season of transition for the show as it eases up ever so slightly on the comedy of the series in an effort to mine something more darkly personal and thematically resonant. It is not always the journey you want, but it feels like the one that could set up the next stage of the show more effectively. Even slightly dulled, the show is one of the shows on television that gives us the biggest laughs. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released this latest season on Blu-Ray with a terrific A/V presentation and a pleasing assortment of special features. There is even an option to purchase this one in SteelBook form, which is quite a fetching way to go. Fans of the series should be pleased with the presentation. Highly Recommended
Rick & Morty: Season 5 is available to purchase on Blu-Ray in Standard and SteelBook packaging and on DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
