Rick and Morty: The Complete Seasons 1-6 Box Set Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
September 12th, 2023
Every year, Warner Bros. releases the “complete” ‘Rick and Morty’ box set that includes the latest season on Blu-ray. Normally, I let these pass on by because I know another “complete” box set is always just a year away. But there was something different about this particular box set because although it clearly isn’t a “complete” ‘Rick and Morty’ set, it is the complete set of ‘Rick and Morty’ episodes with Justin Roiland’s involvement, which is definitely the end of an era for the treasured animated show.
For those that may not be aware, Justin Roiland was accused of felony domestic violence in 2020, but he somehow kept it secret until January 2023 when NBC news broke the story. In what seemed like minutes, his ‘Rick and Morty’ co-creator Dan Harmon, along with Cartoon Network and just about anyone that had ever met Roiland, severed ties with the disgraced comic. Thus marking the end of his involvement with everyone’s favorite animated sci-fi show. I will review Season 7, the first season without Roiland, in depth in the future, but for now, let’s just say goodbye to the Roiland era of ‘Rick and Morty’.
In the pantheon of great animated shows for adults, ‘Rick and Morty’ deserves a spot alongside ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘South Park’. Yes, some episodes are clearly phoned in, but when ‘Rick and Morty’ is hitting on all cylinders, it’s the best thing on television. The writing is incredibly original and they took the basic BACK TO THE FUTURE idea of a crazy scientist and an impressionable kid and elevated it to something that can be gross, hilarious, heartfelt and touching all at the same time. There are episodes in ‘Rick and Morty’ that amaze me with their brilliance and heart and that’s saying a lot for what should be a simple, raunchy Adult Swim cartoon.
Now that everyone has turned on Roiland, it’s hard to know exactly how much influence he had on the show. Dan Harmon said Roiland stopped having creative input around season 3, but for my amateur eyes, I can’t see a difference in tone or writing quality between any of the seasons. The voice work will obviously be the most difficult thing to replace as Roiland has perfected the voices of Rick and Morty to the point it will be hard to imagine anyone else doing them half as well.
In a box set, I would normally call out what my favorite season or episodes are, but for me, all six seasons are equally impressive. History will look back at the first six seasons of ‘Rick and Morty’ as the “Roiland years” and all subsequent seasons have a lot to live up to.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: This show is always very colorful, but the animation style doesn’t feature the most detail. So it looks great on Blu-ray.
Audio: The audio was fine.
Each season features various Featurettes and Inside the episodes
