Rick and Morty is the critically acclaimed, half-hour animated hit comedy series on Adult Swim that follows a sociopathic genius scientist who drags his inherently timid grandson on insanely dangerous adventures across the universe. Rick Sanchez is living with his daughter Beth’s family and constantly bringing her, his son-in-law Jerry, granddaughter Summer, and grandson Morty into intergalactic escapades. Rick and Morty stars Justin Roiland (“Solar Opposites”), Sarah Chalke (“Scrubs”), Chris Parnell (“Saturday Night Live”), and Spencer Grammer (“Greek”). The series is created by Dan Harmon (“Community”) and Roiland who also serve as executive producers.
For in-depth thoughts on Rick & Morty, please see my reviews of the standalone Season 4 and Season 5 Blu-Ray releases.
Video Quality
Rick & Morty: Seasons 1-5 appears on Blu-Ray with discs that are identical to their previous standalone releases except for different disc art. Every disc sports a vibrant transfer that is pretty stellar on all accounts. While it should not come as a surprise for a series made in the last decade, the image is impressively clear and free of any dirt or debris. Fine lines and details are crisp and maintained well without any bleeding or jagged lines. Colors are pleasingly bright and bold throughout these five seasons with various locations sporting a nuanced visual palette. There does not appear to be any noteworthy issues with banding. Rick and Morty is a show that really sparkles in high definition from the first episode until the last.
Audio Quality
These Blu-Rays come with a dynamic Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack for the first four seasons and a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio soundtrack for season five, all of which serves the series quite well. The show employs an expert use of environmental effects that are directionally accurate within the mix. Music is incredibly immersive with stings accentuating numerous scenes in the rear channels. 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. Sound effects from blasters and other kinetic moments provide a nice punch in the low end that is appreciated. You could not ask for a better audio presentation for a show such as this one.
Special Features
The five seasons included in this package have exactly the same on-disc content as the previously-released standalone Blu-Rays for each season. For a limited time, this specific set includes an exclusive poster from the series, a picture of which can be found at the end of this review.
Season One
- Audio Commentaries: Fourteen episode commentaries are provided here with each episode receiving at least one track. Participants include Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Elder, Ryan Ridley, The Simpsons’ Matt Groening, The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman and Scott M. Gimple and Adventure Time’s Pendleton Ward and Kent Osborne. Most of these tracks offer a bit of a party atmosphere with incredibly informative musings about the development of the stories, easter eggs, abandoned concepts and much more. Highly recommended for fans of the show.
- Behind The Scenes: A nineteen-minute featurette which feels purposefully over-the-top with a lot of gags that seems suitable for the show with some actual footage from the behind-the-scenes development of the show. There are some interesting tidbits in here within a lot of over-the-top tomfoolery.
- Deleted Scenes: Nearly nine minutes of unused material from seven episodes is presented here in animatic form.
- Animatics: Every episode can be viewed as a rough animatic version of the show. It is quite fascinating to see the evolution to what would become the finished product.
Season Two
- Audio Commentaries: Thirteen episode commentaries are provided here with each episode receiving at least one track. Participants include Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley, Tom Kauffman and many more interesting people. Once again these tracks are very lively with incredibly informative discussions about the development of the stories, easter eggs, abandoned concepts and much more.
- Rick & Morty Season Two Premiere Party Featuring Chaos Chaos: A 43-minute concert from the premiere party of the season is provided here. This is one of the cooler additions to a package I have seen lately.
- Deleted Animatic Sketches: A two-minute scene that features an unfinished visit to the “Butthole Ice Cream Parlor.”
- Animatics: Every episode can be viewed as a rough animatic version of the show.
Season Three
- Audio Commentaries: Thirteen episode commentaries are provided here with each episode receiving at least one track. Participants include Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Courtney Love, Marilyn Manson, David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Peter Dinklage and many more interesting people.
- Inside The Episodes: Every episode is given a very brief discussion which adds up to 23 minutes of insights overall. There are some fun tidbits sprinkled throughout each one.
- Inside The Recording Booth: A six-minute glimpse at the recording process which offers various off-the-cuff moments and friendly banter with cast members Chris Parnell and Spencer Grammer.
- Rick & Morty Origins Part 1: A five-minute featurette in which Roiland and some of the creative team detail their early entries into the world of comedy and sharing their unique sense of humor with the world.
- Rick & Morty Origins Part 2: Another five-minute featurette which delves into how the characters of Rick and Morty were developed into the show we know and love today.
- Animatics: Every episode can be viewed as a rough animatic version of the show.
Season Four
- A Day At Rick and Morty – Inside Season 4: A nine-minute featurette that goes inside the creative offices and offers up interviews with some of the creative producers and designers. Seeing the amount of work that the creative team has to put in made me stressed out for them.
- Inside The Episode: All ten episodes are given a minute-and-a-half to two-minute breakdown of the story with the creative team. It’s a lot of fun hearing about where the ideas in the episodes came from along with which episodes “broke” the writers. Also, Dan Harmon talks about writing the “heist episode” from a place of hate for the genre.
- Creating Snake Jazz: A two-and-a-half-minute look at “Snake Jazz” from episode 5 with the creative team. Composer Ryan Elder takes you through the process of creating this cultural phenomenon.
- Directing Rick and Morty: A three-minute look at the process of directing animation with several of the directors from the season. This shines a fascinating light on a process you often don’t get to see.
- Samurai and Shogun: A five-minute incredibly violent short that has nothing to do with the main story. This is just a wild samurai showdown with alternate timeline Ricks that is a lot of fun.
- Prop Process: A three-minute discussion with Lead Prop Designer Brent Noll in which he discusses the difficulty of creating the inventive props in the show.
- Character Creation: A nearly three-minute look at what goes into creating a new character for the show with the designers. They give some fun insights into which characters were the most difficult to design along with the various deaths in the show.
- Animation Challenges: A two-and-a-half-minute look at some of the creative difficulties in the show due to how it has grown in scope over the seasons.
Season 5
- 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
The first five seasons of Rick & Morty have consistently delivered laughs that most modern shows cannot match. The exploits of our titular duo never fails to take a surprising turn, and the way in which the show continues to build upon its mythology elevates it even more. This is a show that you really benefit from owning due to the ability to rewatch multiple times and catch little nuggets and subtle allusions that are placed throughout each episode. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has delivered a Blu-Ray collection with a top-notch A/V presentation along with some highly entertaining special features. This show is a must for any fan of offbeat comedy and stylish animation. Highly Recommended
Rick & Morty: Seasons 1-5 will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD on March 29, 2022.
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.
