Rick and Mortyhas a few noticeable similarities withBack to the Future, and the classic time-travel movie is woven into the series’ origins. AlthoughRick and Mortyhas been hailed as one of the most wildly original shows on television, it’s full of subtlereferences toBack to the Future. They have more or less the same premise, albeit with a slight tweak to the sci-fi conceit. Much likeBack to the Future,Rick and Mortyis about a mad scientist and his teenage companion, and the wacky adventures they get into with the scientist’s inventions.
While there are plenty of similarities betweenRick and MortyandBack to the Future, there are also a few differences. Whereas Doc Brown travels across the spacetime continuum with Marty McFly, Rick travels across the multiverse with Morty.Back to the Future’sChristopher Lloyd played a live-action Rickin one of the promos forRick and Morty, but he never appeared in the show itself. Is it just a coincidence thatRick and Mortyhas so many similarities withBack to the Future, or wasRick and Mortyactually based onBack to the Future?
Rick And Morty Is Based On A Back To The Future Parody Web Cartoon
Rick And Morty Originated As The Real Animated Adventures Of Doc And Mharti
In 2006,now-disgracedRick and Mortycreator Justin Roilandcreated a vulgar animated short based onBack to the Futurein which Marty McFly is forced to perform sexual acts on Doc Brown to go back in time. During the production of the short, Roiland became enamored with the twisted versions of Doc and Marty he’d created — and his impressions of them — and decided to spin it off into its own thing.Roiland changed the characters’ names to Doc Smith and Mharti McDonhalds to avoid a lawsuitand produced three more shorts involving the duo.
Rick & Morty Season 5 Secretly Referenced Its Controversial Origins
The gag was a lot tamer than its earlier iteration, but Rick & Morty season 5 managed to sneak in a reference to “The Adventures of Doc and Mharti.”
The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mhartipremiered at Channel 101, a short film festival co-founded by Dan Harmon, where Roiland had become a mainstay. Although the short received a mixed response from the audience due to its disturbing humor,Harmon took a shine to it. He teamed up with Roiland to develop the concept into a half-hour pilot for Adult Swim. Doc Smith and Mharti McDonhalds became Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith, time travel became interdimensional travel, the characters were slightly redesigned to remove iconic elements like Marty’s red “life preserver,” and the rest is history.
While Rick And Morty Avoided Time Travel For Years, It Eventually Paid Tribute To Back To The Future
Rick And Morty Has A Couple Of Back To The Future References
Although it initially distanced itself from itsBack to the Future-based origins,Rick and Mortyhas gone on to directly reference the classic time-travel comedy a handful of times.Rick and Mortyfirst paid homage toBack to the Futurein comic book form. InRick and Morty Presents: The Council of Ricks#1,Quantum Rick crash-lands at a high school dance that clearly references George and Lorraine’s “Enchantment Under the Sea” dancefromBack to the Future. Quantum Rick even breaks the fourth wall to say, “Whoa, déjà vu,” referencing his origins as a Doc Brown parody.
The show itself included a nod toBack to the Futurein season 7, episode 8, “Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie.” The episode contains a flashback in which Ice-T records a song andMarvin-D calls his cousin Chuck to tell him he’s found the new sound he’s been looking for. This isa reference to the scene inBack to the Futurein which Chuck Berry’s cousin Marvin calls him from the school dance as Marty performs “Johnny B. Goode” on the stage. It’s a fun homage, but the show’s origins give it a deeper meaning.
When Roiland and Harmon first createdRick and Morty, they established a rule that the show would never use time travel. In episodes like “A Rickle in Time” and “The Vat of Acid Episode,” the show went to great lengths to explain away anything that could be construed as time travel. ButRick and Mortybroke its no-time-travel rulein season 4, episode 5, “Rattlestar Ricklactica,” in which Morty encounters a race of time-traveling space snakes. This episode parodied the time travel of theTerminatorfranchise, not theBack to the Futurefranchise.
Rick And Morty Is Arguably An Earlier Example Of The Fanfiction-To-Mainstream Effect
Rick And Morty Is An Elevated Fanfic — Just Like Fifty Shades Of Grey
In recent years, it’s become a surprising trend for fanfiction to get elevated to a mainstream property of its own. Most famously,Fifty Shades of Greywas originally written as aTwilightfanfiction.The Stanley Parablewas originally released as aHalf-Life 2mod. Zack Snyder’sRebel Moonstarted out as aStar Warspitch that was rejected by Lucasfilm.The Shape of Watergrew out of Guillermo del Toro’s romantic childhood reimagining of the ending ofCreature from the Black Lagoon.The Idea of Youis widely speculated to have begun its life as a Harry Styles fanfic.
Rick and Morty should be discussed in the same conversations as Fifty Shades, The Idea of You, and Rebel Moon, but it hid its fanfic elements so well that it’s mostly managed to avoid that association.
This phenomenon isn’t usually associated withRick and Morty, but it’s arguably one of the earliest examples of it. A couple of years afterFifty Shades of Greywas published, legitimizing the fanfiction-to-mainstream effect, Adult Swim picked upThe Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mhartiand retooled it into an original series with theBack to the Future-inspired elements drastically deemphasized.Rick and Mortyshould be discussed in the same conversations asFifty Shades,The Idea of You, andRebel Moon, butit hid its fanfic elements so well that it’s mostly managed to avoid that association.
Rick And Morty Is A Darker Take On Back To The Future
Where Back To The Future Is Optimistic, Rick And Morty Is Nihilistic
Rick and Mortymay have been inspired by plot elements fromBack to the Future, but it has a much darker, more cynical tone.Back to the Futuretouches on the uncomfortable theme of incest, with Lorraine unwittingly flirting with her own teenage son, butRick and Mortygoes all-in with frequent incest jokes. WhereasBack to the Futureuses its sci-fi concept of time travel to deliver a bright, optimistic message about the limitless possibilities of the future,Rick and Mortyuses its sci-fi concept of the multiverse to deliver a bleak, nihilistic message about the meaninglessness of existence.
Dan Harmon’s Original Rick & Morty Plan Explains The Show’s Worst Episode
While Rick and Morty’s most hated episode features a gross joke that seemingly came from nowhere, the infamous gag dates back to the show’s origins.
InBack to the Future, Doc is always kind and supportive to Marty (except when he tries to profit from gambling on sports events in the past);Rick’s relationship with Morty is much more toxicthan that. Doc and Marty are genuinely good friends with a healthy dynamic, but Rick and Morty are constantly bickering. InRick and Morty, Morty doesn’t feel valued by Rick and often tries to break free of their toxic cycle — which is made even more messed-up by the fact that, unlike Doc and Marty, they’re actually related, so they should be closer, not more distant.
Rick and Morty
Cast
Rick and Morty is an animated science fiction series that follows the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez and his impressionable grandson Morty Smith as they embark on perilous adventures across space and alternate dimensions. The show explores the impact of these exploits on Morty’s tumultuous family life and personal challenges.
