Rick And Morty Film
Joann Heavilin
A big bulk of Rick and Morty's comedy consists of homages and parodies from popular pop culture titles. Most of them are irreverent deconstructive jabs at other franchises' world-building while others provided a template for some of the comedy show's most defining moments. In fact, nearly every episode in each season of the series contains references or obvious structural similarities to films.
Suffice to say, the show owes a lot to pop culture. Some of the most prominent films of our time have provided the spark that kept Rick and Morty's own brand of comedy going. With Season 5 currently ongoing, there's bound to be more of those. Now, based on some of the highest-rated episodes of the show, here are the most well-used movies that Rick and Morty referenced.
One recurring media that Rick and Morty, or just Rick himself, seems to be intent on replicating with disrespect is Voltron. It's the prime subject in the 7th episode of Season 5 which is still upcoming at the time of writing but was accidentally aired in some networks.
So to avoid some nasty spoilers for those lucky (or unlucky) enough to have avoided the airing mishap, fans will be pleased to know that the series has already tapped on Voltron. Rick and Morty made a brief reference to it back in Season 4 when both Rick and Morty destroyed the alien civilization that nearly enslaved them.
Mad Max is already a low-hanging fruit for a show that loves to travel through different dimensions. In the "Rickmancing the Stone" episode, Rick, Morty, and Summer all got a taste of what it's like to experience the daily life of a Mad Max character. Rick took them to a dimension ruled by nothing but post-apocalyptic gangs whose attire came straight out of a Burning Man festival.
As usual, the show didn't waste time in taking jabs against the Mad Max mythos. It's also the episode where Summer moved in with a gang leader who turned out to be a bad life partner. Who would have thought?
Speaking of parodying dystopian societies, Rick and Morty also didn't shy away from making a Purge-themed episode. Rick took Morty in a dimension where that exact mythos exists so both of them can blow off a bit of steam. Also, Rick wanted to turn Morty into a killer just because.
The whole episode turned out to be an elaborate exploration of anger management issues, particularly Morty's. His evolution is even noticeable and he was never quite the same kid after succumbing to his pent-up rage.
Some of the best Rick and Morty episodes are those that turn the whole narrative into a tangle of itself after tampering too much with the abstract concepts of the known universe. In this case, it's time. Morty, apparently, caused a damaging series of events after killing a space snake.
Afterward, the show built itself up upon that ridiculous premise of a joke. Tons of Terminator-esque robo-snakes soon came after Morty from the present, the future, and the far-future in a wacky smorgasbord of snake pit free-for-all just because Morty didn't believe in space snakes.
Hellraiser is actually one of the lesser-known franchises Rick and Morty decided to have a go at and it was a wild episode. The showrunners built upon the idea that the Hellraiser demons, the Cenobites, are walking ironies whose pleasure is derived from suffering.
Apparently, Jerry Smith's lameness and need for validation make him insufferable, which in turn, makes him pleasurable for the not-Cenobites. So they derive pleasure in how much of a walking dad joke Jerry is throughout the whole episode. It's one of the most clever ways rick and Morty turned a pop culture reference around full circle.
The premiere episode of Season 4 started off on a high note when it actually killed Rick. Too bad he kept getting reborn into dysfunctional parallel dimensions which is a nod to Edge of Tomorrow but messier. The bigger nod to another franchise, however, is Morty going rogue and mad with power in a bid to lead his own life to a path that ends up with his getting together with Jessica.
It's one of Morty's most desperate attempts to win someone's love and affection. He eventually turned himself into a bootleg version of Tetsuo from the anime movie Akira where he became an omnipotent and powerful being who's out of control. It's a perfect way to get back to Rick and Morty after a long break.
Jurassic Park also isn't off the table. In one of the most disgusting and disturbing episodes of Rick and Morty, Rick makes a biology class theme park inside a hobo's guts. Half of the episode is dedicated to making fun of Jurassic Park.
Instead, it's called Anatomy Park and the dinosaurs are the bacteria and all the other microbes living inside the human body, which is a lot scarier. Until this point in the show, the series seemed relatively tame and somehow still family-friendly. It was only until "Anatomy Park" where the series' shock value humor started filtering the fan base.
Rick and Morty's pilot episode established what kind of show it wanted to be. Episode 2, however, became a prelude of things to come. "Lawnmower Dog" contains three parodies in one episode which is honestly astounding as they managed to keep the plot intact with that many fandom splices.
Rick and Morty went off in an Inception adventure but ran into a dollar store version of Freddy Krueger. Meanwhile, the rest of the Smiths had to deal with their pet dog waging his own Planet of the Apes revolution against the household.
By far the most engaging Rick and Morty episode ever, "The Ricklantis Mixup" is a diversion from C-137 Rick and Morty shenanigans. It's an intimate look into how the Citadel (ruled by the Council of Ricks) functions as a society.
This episode is also where Rick and Morty's storytelling is at its strongest, even if the events of the episode might not have far-reaching consequences depending on the showrunners' whims. At the heart of that episode is a cop duo dynamic plucked straight from Training Day, which works surprisingly well.
While Training Day made sure that "The Ricklantis Mixup" turned up excellently in the narrative department, Rick and Morty wouldn't have happened if not for Back to the Future. The whole show is practically a depraved deconstruction of Doc and Marty from the Back to the Future films.
The big difference is that Rick and Morty mess with parallel universes instead of time but the premise is similar enough. From there, the show branched into its own thing entirely and fortified its spot into one of the most popular pop culture media ever. So it's only a matter of time before a bigger fish made a parody out of Rick and Morty.
You don't need a degree in quantum physics to enjoy Adult Swim's popular sci-fi sitcom Rick and Morty, but a healthy appetite for pop culture enhances the trope-filled show's satirical flavor. As promised, the show's third season of adventures with depressed, alcoholic, super-genius sociopath Rick Sanchez and his awkward grandson Morty are darker than ever. This season also offers a veritable masterclass in film and television trivia to those with a careful eye and a lot of time on their hands.
Spotting references to 80s movies, sci-fi classics, and co-creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's friends has become a sport on the online forums where Rick and Morty fans gather. Anything from an overarching plot to a throwaway character can contain a nod to a bit of culture for Rick and Morty's loyal acolytes to consume. We've gathered all the references we can find in the nine episodes aired so far, which you can peruse below.
When we left Rick at the end of season two finale "Wedding Squanchers," he was imprisoned in Galactic Federal Prison and the Smiths were adjusting to life on Earth dominated by the alien government. This episode saw Rick's extremely complex and violent escape from prison, defeat of the Federation, and destruction of the Citadel of Ricks, culminating in life on Earth returning to normal. Rick returns to the Smith household, and Beth divorces Jerry.
- The title references The Shawshank Redemption, a novella by Stephen King and 1994 film in which an allegedly innocent man escapes from prison.
- The opening scene takes place in Shoneys, a small chain restaurant in the southeast United States.
- McDonald's Szechuan dipping sauce was marketed alongside Disney's 1998 film Mulan.
- Rick says finding the Szechuan sauce is his "one-armed man," referencing the killer Dr. Richard Kimble searches for in the 1959 show and 1993 film starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive.
- Rick's house in the constructed flashback is identical to Walter White's Albuquerque home in Breaking Bad.
- Hidden in a crowd in the Citadel of Ricks are Morty versions of Gravity Falls characters Mabel and Dippy:
Rick, Morty, and Summer explore a savage, post-apocalyptic desert allegedly in search of a rare power source. Morty and Summer adopt the violent lifestyle of the waste, but eventually realize that they're actually running away from the awkwardness of Beth and Jerry's divorce.
- The title references 1986 action comedy Romancing the Stone.
- The setting and bondage-outfitted characters references George Miller's Mad Max series, including a grotesque character hooked up to a bunch of machines, referencing Fury Road's Immortan Joe.
- The Blood Dome is a reference to the Thunderdome from Mad Max's third installment, Beyond the Thunderdome.
- Rick references E.B. White's The Elements of Style when he tells a character to "Save it for the Semantics Dome."
- We see characters spray painting their own faces, and one shouts, "MY BODY IS CHROME, MY BLOOD IS GASOLINE" referencing the mentions of a "shiny and chrome" afterlife in Fury Road.
- Various logos, including Atari, Bart Simpson, and Hello Kitty, populate the wreckage of Seattle.
- Rick creates robotic copies of Morty and Summer. By the end of the episode, Morty wants to become a real human, referencing titles like Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, Steven Spielberg's AI, Robin Williams's Bicentennial Man, and the classic children's book and Disney film, Pinocchio.