Rick and Morty: The Complete Seasons 1-4 - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Rick and Morty: The Complete Seasons 1-4



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
While we’re desperately waiting season 5 to drop Rick and Morty fans have to go back and re-watch the previous 4 seasons to make it through the drought, and if you’ve never picked up the previous seasons to view, then Warner Brothers has made it super easy to collect all 4 sets in simple boxset this week. Naturally the discs don’t provide any extra content (each season is still housed on a single Blu-ray disc, and is a direct clone of the individual release), but you do get the benefit of drastically reducing shelf space AND you can catch up with the series if you’re coming in for the first time.

Rick and Morty is one of those shows that you either love or hate (generally). It’s totally out there and completely bizarre, but still manages to be incredibly nuanced and well structured in it’s narrative. The story revolves around mad scientist Rick Sanchez suddenly showing up at his daughter Beth’s doorstep after being presumed missing for 20 something years. He’s home now, though, and wants to move in with Beth and her husband Jerry, much to both their chagrin. While Beth is happy to see her father once more, Jerry is much more reticent, begrudging the old man his new home for multiple reasons. The main one being that Rick is a sociopath scientist who not only practices his experiments out of their garage, but frequently takes Jerry’s son Morty and daugther Summer on his perilous interspatial quests.

Rick and Morty came out of the gate riding on all 4 cylinders. It was irreverent, twisted, yet still multi layered and cognizant of it’s own story line throughout the 4 season run. I reviewed season 4 HERE, which I still consider the weakest of the 4 seasons, but overall the show has lit up the ratings for very good reason. Morty and Rick’s chemistry is beyond solid, and there’s more than enough puzzles and mysteries in the show to keep you guessing (I’m still one who believes Rick is a future version of Morty), all the while laughing hysterically at the bizarre aliens and beings they run into.

The show also relies heavily on pop culture, both from today and from yesteryear, without seeming like it’s pandering or relying on it for the show’s popularity instead of storytelling. Heck, they even managed to make the movie Zardoz relevant again to an audience who probably is WAY to young to have seen Sean Connery in that red thong. It’s a show that has crossed over from being just a show, to also becoming a meme (seriously, half the memes out there anymore are either Spongebob or Rick and Morty), and has sort of transcended into a sort of cultural animated icon for many.

I won’t say that the show is THE best animated show out there, but it is one that I very much regret not watching over the years, but was forced to catch up on in order to review the 4th season boxset last year. Despite some hullabaloo with one of the showrunner’s very in poor taste sketch from years ago that resurfaced, the show is likely to continue on for several more years and hopefully continues to keep the high level of entertainment that we’ve come to enjoy the last 4 years.




Rating:

Rated TV-MA by the MPAA




Video:

I mentioned in my season 4 review that I was a little worried when I found out that a full season’s worth of content was put on a single BD-50 disc, but I was pleasantly surprised due to the fact that there is usually about 220 minutes of runtime for each season. The simplistically animated show also doesn’t need a massive bitrate to shine, and shine the seasons do. I will say that I felt season 2 was more of a 4/5 rating than a 4.5/5 rating, each of the other 3 seasons were exceptional in their video quality. Bright and shiny colors are the word of the day, and the simple animation shows off all the detail that it’s able to. My only “complaint” is that there is some banding that comes and goes if you know what to look for.









Audio:

The star traveling adventures of Rick and his grandson Morty makes for good surround sound mixes as the show travels everywhere and anywhere it can. Lasers, space ships crashing, dragons smashing (yes, dragons) and all sorts of crazy hijinks makes for one exciting mix in 5.1 Dolby TrueHD. Surrounds get tons of activity with all the craziness, and the bass is a constant actor n the game. There’s some subtleness to the mix too, though, as you can hear feet crunching in gravel, or the soft sounds of a kittens purr in the background. All around great mix, and very VERY stable throughout all 4 seasons.







Extras:

Season 1

• Commentaries for Every Episode
• Animatics for Every Episode
• Behind the Scenes
• Deleted Scenes

Season 2

• Commentaries for Every Episode
• Animatics for Every Episode
• Deleted Animatic Sketches
• Rick and Morty Season 2 Premiere Party Featuring Chaos Chaos

Season 3

• Commentaries for Every Episode
• Animatics for Every Episode
• "Inside the Episode" for Every Episode
• Exclusive "Inside the Recording Booth"
• Origins of Rick and Morty Part 1 & 2

Season 4

• A Day at Rick and Morty: Inside Season 4
• "Inside the Episode" for Every Episode
• Creating Snake Jazz
• Directing Rick and Morty
• Samurai and Shogun
• Prop Process
• Character Creation
• Animation Challenges

Final Score: ​

The complete season 4 boxset for Rick and Morty is a direct clone of the 4 individual seasons with no added content outside of some new cover art. So far those of you who have already purchased seasons 1-3 and need season 4 it MIGHT be beneficial to cut down on space, but if you already have the 4 seasons, there’s really not much reason to upgrade. But for newbies this marks the perfect opportunity to enjoy the show in the best format possible and all at once while we wait for season 5 to drop. Highly recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Justin Roiland, Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer, Sarah Chalke, Kari Wahlgreen
Created by: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Warner
Rated: TV-MA
Runtime: 918 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: Own on Blu-rayTM and DVD 03/02/2021

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

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[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I am a big fan. Will check it out.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I've watched a few episodes and didn't quite grab me. I will say, tho, I've watched some funny excerpts (the plumbus comes to mind)

 

[Michael Scott]

I've watched a few episodes and didn't quite grab me. I will say, tho, I've watched some funny excerpts (the plumbus comes to mind)

haha, kinda like Southpark it's not everyone's taste. The Plumbus one is freaking hilarious. You really need to look up the ...umm...."Dragons" one. I about pee'd my pants laughing