RICK & MORTY: SEASON 4 Blu-ray Review

 Article first published as RICK AND MORTY: SEASON 4 BLU-RAY REVIEW on Seat42F.

RICK AND MORTY: SEASON 4 has arrived! On Blu-ray and digital, that is, having aired a split season this past November/December and May. All ten episodes are part of the set, as well as roughly forty minutes of bonus features. Blu-ray purchases come with a digital code, and will be available on September 22nd.

The fourth season, which marks the start of a seven-season pick-up, gets weird, and that’s saying something for a show known to be weird. The writers have gotten very comfortable with pushing their bounds, and so now the weird seems more purposeful and thought out. Though it’s still extremely weird.

Perhaps the best example of that is the snake planet in “Rattlesnake Ricklactica.” There’s a time travel component, as well as parallel Earth history, as a world made up entirely of sentient snakes ventures out into the galaxy for the first time, and Morty (Justin Roiland) nearly ruins their evolutionary course. Then his grandfather and traveling companion, Rick (also Roiland), does ruin it for real in a delightful story that is part classic Star Trek, part Terminator, part a lot of other things, and gifts the world the musical stylings Snake Jazz.

The episode is far from alone in RICK AND MORTY: SEASON 4. Morty learns lessons about consequences and knowing the future. He also learns the follies of owning a dragon (Liam Cunningham, Game of Thrones). Rick has to fight to keep his personal toilet safe from an alien named Tony (Jeffrey Wright, Westworld). A story train plays with continuity and anthology, while a heist adventure gets meta times meta plus a bit more meta in a convoluted story knot that somehow kind of makes sense. “The Vat of Acid Episode” plays on an 80s trope, and so much more. Morty’s sister, Summer (Spencer Grammar), becomes ruler of a society. Morty’s father, Jerry (Chris Parnell), does, too, with predictably disastrous results. And matriarch Beth (Sarah Chalke) has to face what her father would like her to be.

That last hints just how much into the family drama and emotional heft RICKY AND MORTY: SEASON 4 can get. It’s a silly comedy, to be sure, but as the various personalities become more well-developed, more and more of the stories are driven by the relationships between characters. This is welcome and shows an appreciated maturation.

Other guest stars this year include Sherri Shepherd (30 Rock), Kathleen Turner (Body Heat), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), Pamela Adlon (Better Things), Matthew Broderick (The Producers), Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise), Paul Giamatti (Sideways), Justin Theroux (The Leftovers), Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: SVU), Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele), and even inventor Elon Musk, among others. It’s an eclectic group, and one wonders why anyone would ever turn down a chance to be part of the show.

The special features are light and varied. The best one is probably the longest, a nearly-ten-minute look behind-the-scenes of the show as the crew finishes season 4 and begins season 5 simultaneously. It’s very easy, in a show as action-packed and fast-moving as RICK AND MORTY: SEASON 4, to just focus on the main threads and ignore the background. That feature, along with shorter focuses on a few individuals and parts of the process, help remind audiences just how much work goes into each episode. The sheer number of backgrounds and extra characters is mind-boggling, something other animated series don’t even come close to achieving, and will give greater understanding of what it takes to make a show this complex and good. Short bits on each episode are interesting, though not particularly eye-opening.

RICK AND MORTY is a solid show, and SEASON 4 continues this proud tradition. I look forward very much to at least six more years of a series, especially if it keeps building upon what it has done so far. Which is a lot.

Not So SOLAR OPPOSITES From Ricky & Morty

Article first published as TV Review: SOLAR OPPOSITES on Seat42F.

Hulu recently released the first eight episodes of SOLAR OPPOSITES, a new cartoon comedy from Justin Roiland and Mike McMahan. It follows a family of aliens whose home world was destroyed, and who have now crash landed on Earth and settled into suburbia. What remains to be seen is if the aliens decide that their new home is great or terrible, and if their neighbors will ever accept them.

You may not have heard of Mike McMahan’s work, though he did create the upcoming Star Trek: Lower Decks animated series. But it would be hard to miss Justin Roiland, who co-created the very popular Adult Swim series Rick and Morty. What is blatantly obvious from the first frame is that SOLAR OPPOSITES is very Rick and Morty-like, and could very easily exist in the same universe, on the same planet even, were not the two television series owned by different companies.

Primarily among the similarities, besides the animation style and genre, is Roiland voicing the leads. Roiland is both Rick and Morty, and in SOLAR OPPOSITES, he’s the head of the four-member clan, Korvo. Korvo sounds very much like Rick, just a little more cultured and a little less-burpy. Korvo’s best friend, Terry (Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley), bears a striking auditory resemblance to Morty, as well, though is a little less whiny.

The differences are a little scanter, though important. Rick and Morty are always escaping Earth to go on crazy adventures, while Korvo, Terry, the two extraterrestrial children, Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone, The Goldbergs) and Jesse (Mary Mack, Golan the Insatiable), and their possibly sentient pet, The Pupa (Sagan McMahan), stay at home. This makes SOLAR OPPOSITES a little closer to 3rd Rock From the Sun, with a similarly vague explanation as to how these four or five individuals are related to one another.

The humor and tone is nearly identical to Rick and Morty. For my taste, there’s far too much ‘gross’ stuff, with plenty of puking and slime. Unlike Rick and Morty, however, the story doesn’t immediately distract you from just how disgusting it can be. With a weaker and less compelling plot, at least in the first couple of episodes, it’s harder to get past that. If you don’t mind the grossness, the complaint here comes down to that pedestrian stories aren’t as interesting as awe-inspiring wonder.

In short, this feels like an unnecessary spin-off of Rick and Morty. Despite that not being officially what it is, not a paragraph in the above goes by without bringing up that other show. By making the two so strikingly alike, it’s impossible to talk about one without the other. And that is definitely to SOLAR OPPOSITES’ detriment.

The one thing SOLAR OPPOSITES might have going for it is that it seems more serial than its still-running predecessor. There’s a mission the crew is on Earth to accomplish, though it remains to be seen if they’ll actually make any progress towards doing that. There’s also a running story about Yumyulack and Jesse’s human ant farm that seems finite and begs for consequences. If these things come to a head, that could elevate the storytelling above the weekly plots, which aren’t all that original on their own, and the weird jokes seem less novel after Rick and Morty already told so many in that style.

Given that Hulu released eight episodes at once, they’re likely hoping viewers will push on to see what happens with those. Although I only watched the first two before writing this review, I am sufficiently intrigued to push on. But I’m not enthusiastic about it. An already-ordered second season leaves me concerned that the first batch will be open-ended and not go far enough towards advancing these threads. Though, there’s only one way to find out for the moment.

The first season of SOLAR OPPOSITES is available now on Hulu.

COMMUNITY Breezes Through "Networking"

Article first published as COMMUNITY Breezes Through "Networking" on TheTVKing.

The latest installment of NBC's Community is "Analysis of Cork-Based Networking." The Save Greendale Committee splits into three groups for different projects. Abed (Danny Pudi) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) conduct a student census. Annie (Alison Brie) and Hickey (Jonathan Banks) try to get a fallen bulletin board rehung. And the other four attempt to decorate for a school midterms dance. Needless to say, none of these subplots are that straight forward.

It's a classic sitcom structure to split a larger ensemble into smaller groups, preferably pairing those who rarely interact with one another, and let characters come to new understandings with others. That's exactly what "Analysis of Cork-Based Networking" does. Annie and Hickey have never gotten along, and now they have to work together. Same goes for Britta and Abed, probably the two with the least to talk about in the gang. And no one likes Chang (Ken Jeong), who is on a mission to prove he can be part of their club this week.

Chang is an odd character because he's always been a member of the main cast, but doesn't exactly fit in. It's worthy noting he isn't assigned a task when Annie doles out the assignments in the beginning, ending up with decorating by default. He's flirted with joining the study group before, but it's never really gelled, with him usually splitting off to end up a villain. But now, with his treachery probably having been taken as far as it can be, and since he didn't actually permanently alienate everyone in the process, he tries to work his way into their good graces by assisting the Save Greendale Commitee. He certainly endears himself to the viewer this week, especially with his special dance.

Chang's inclusion brings the committee up to eight members, finally filling out the table once more (Professor Duncan has also apparently joined). It's nice to not see the holes during the library scenes, and the mix of four teachers and four students seems like the appropriate make up of such an organization. Community, despite its losses, feels whole again.

Of course, Chang screws things up spectaculary, convincing Jeff (Joel McHale), Duncan (John Oliver), and Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) to go with a bear-birthday theme, forgetting that he saw on the news that morning that a bear attacked a kid's birthday party and mauled a bunch of people to death. They try to cover it up by turning their the bears they already made into fat dogs, inventing a Wikipedia term (it really isn't as easy to screw up Wikipedia as TV shows pretend it is; there are editors who monitor such things), and following Chang's example of crying to confuse Annie, but they are caught in the end.

This is the kind of zany, weird stuff that only Dan Harmon can do well. Most series couldn't make a wild animal murdering innocent children funny, but the idea is carried out with utter sincerity by the cast, and the visuals of the actual decorations, horrible in their lack of artistic skill, will earn snickers, at minimum. It's a completely original idea executed in the best of ways.

In "Analysis of Cork-Based Networking," Annie starts out on the decoration committee (which is why the others join, thinking she'll do all the work), but goes with Hickey when he can't get the bulletin board hung himself. What follows is a series of bargains, bribes, and threats as the duo go from department to department, building an elaborate chain of favors to get their task done. But to accomplish this, Annie must toss her ideals out the window, something Hickey refuses to do, which threatens the tenuous respect they've earned for one another with their cleverness and tenacity throughout the half hour.

My biggest complaint about this subplot is all of the famous faces that breeze by with barely a couple of lines of dialogue. Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly) plays the head custodian, while Kumail Nanjiani (Portlandia, Franklin & Bash) works with him, joining recurring janitors Jerry (Jerry Minor, Brickleberry) and Crazy Schmidt (Eddie Pepitone, Conan). Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) is an IT girl. It's practically criminal that these people appear so briefly, and they should absolutely return for longer stints in the future.

But other than that, I really enjoyed seeing Hickey and Annie interact. He could really be a mentor to her if he'd let himself open up just a smidgen more, and it certainly seems like her disapproval of him stems from his refusal to grant her his approval. They have terriffic chemistry, and it was great fun to see them spend this time together, clearly leaving plenty of material to mine in their relationship.

Finally, the third story has Britta trying to, well, britta, Abed's favorite new series, which is a very clear play on Game of Thrones. When Abed adeptly sidesteps Britta's attempts to spoil the plot, Britta pays off Abed's new flirtation (Katie Leclerc, Switched at Birth) to do it for her. This hurts Abed deeply.

There isn't much purpose to Britta destroying Abed in "Analysis of Cork-Based Networking." It's more just Britta being Britta, stuck on a mission she invents for herself and carrying it too far. Their friendship will survive it, neither being willing to leave their social circle, but this does effectively sabotage any closeness that may have been earned last week when Britta helped Abed deal with Troy leaving. It resets them to the status quo, which is fine, as they are good how they are.

More interesting is Abed's love life. There's an early reference to Rachel, a.k.a. The Coat Check Girl (Brie Larson), one of the only good things to come out of season four, the Harmon-less, so-called "gas leak" year, and it looks like the new girl will be just a one-time thing, too. Which makes it super surprising when Rachel is seen again late in the program, and she and Abed go off to have dinner.

Might Rachel be just what Abed needs to get over Troy? I really hope she returns because she brings out a very different side of Abed that we don't usually see. Her inclusion here is perfect timing, and while "Analysis of Cork-Based Networking) doesn't reveal what happens on their date, it certainly seems like it'll go well, maybe even turning into something long-term, which would be a first for Abed, romantically speaking.

Among the awesome little tidbits that slip their way into this episode are: two completely opposing viewpoints on the movie Labyrinth; Abed watching Rick and Morty, a new Adult Swim series created by returned Community showrunner Dan Harmon; and Troy (Donald Glover) and LeVar Burton (himself) have apparently been captured by pirates in the Gulf of Mexico, as reported by a news scroll when Hickey is watching TV during the dance.

This last bit has to make it on screen at some point. Please, please, please let Burton and Glover film a spin-off TV movie covering their trip around the world. Community is practically begging for it.

"Analysis of Cork-Based Networking" may be considered a "typical" Community episode, which is fair, but it is completely enjoyable from beginning to end. The magic is back, as I've been saying for weeks, and if every installment were simply as good as this one, it would remain my favorite currently running comedy on TV. This is the perfect example of what Community should be, when it's not doing oddball one-offs, which are most appreciated, too.

Community airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

Be Careful Hanging Out With RICK AND MORTY

Article first published as Be Careful Hanging Out With RICK AND MORTY on TheTVKing.

Cartoon Network's Adult Swim's latest series, which premiered this week, is Rick and Morty. From the mind of Dan Harmon (Community), Rick and Morty is a twisted tale of a gullible, dumb, naive grandson, Morty (voiced by Justin Roiland, Fish Hooks), being taken along on dangerous adventures by his eccentric, compassion-challenged, alcoholic grandfather, Rick (also Roiland).

Some have compared Rick and Morty to Back to the Future, pointing to the strange relationship between an old man and a young boy, though this show makes the bond more understandable by having the two be related. It's true, the connection between Rick and Morty is the heart of the show, the latter being a willing participant, through more because of familiar duty than desire, in the schemes. But it doesn't paint Rick in a very good light to take advantage of the boy, and so their footing is not equal, making for an unbalanced duo.

This may be a good thing. Were Morty as into the travels and risks as Rick were, the two would likely be in big trouble even more frequently. Rick couldn't take the competition, and while Morty doesn't exactly reign in his grandfather, he doesn't encourage him, either. Thus we have two very different souls pushed together by a blood relation, rather than anything they share in common.

The animation is as crude as the plot and the jokes, which include things such as Rick wanting to smuggle giant seeds up his grandson's butt. They are well matched in rough lines, odd colors, and twisted creations. The places Rick takes Morty are literally out of this world, allowing the animators' imaginations to run wild. To their credit, they definitely get the tone, and provide pictures that match the words.

I actually like it, though, in spite of this. While super weird, it also has that charm and cleverness that is found well-seeped into Community. Harmon extends his talent in a second project, and though the two share little in common, they are likely to earn some of the same types of praise, with words like "original" and "groundbreaking" thrown around. I don't think Rick and Morty is likely to gain quite as large or as passionate a fan base as the live-action sitcom, but it is very enjoyable, more so than I expected it to be.

The voice cast is rounded out by Chris Parnell (Suburgatory) as Morty's father, Jerry, Sarah Chalke (Scrubs) as Morty's mother and Rick's daughter, Beth, and Spencer Grammer (Greek) as Morty's older sister, Summer. All are great, though they don't get a ton to do, at least in the "Pilot."

If you're on the fence about watching Rick and Morty, check it out. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Rick and Morty airs Mondays at 10:30 p.m. ET on Cartoon Network.