Rick and Morty is an American adult animatedscience fiction sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon. The series follows Rick Sanchez, an alcoholic, nihilistic super-scientist, and his easily distressed yet good-hearted grandson, Morty Smith, on their adventures to alternate dimensions and planets. These adventures commonly cause trouble for Morty's family, Jerry, Beth, and Summer, who are often caught up in the mayhem. The series premiered on December 2, 2013 on Cartoon Network's late-night programming blockAdult Swim. On May 10, 2018, Adult Swim announced a long-term deal with the creators, ordering 70 new episodes of Rick and Morty over an unknown number of seasons.
On October 26, 2016, Adult Swim began releasing a web series of claymation shorts, Rick and Morty: The Non-Canonical Adventures. Written and directed by Lee Hardcastle, the shorts follow Rick and Morty characters into parodies of scenes from various science-fiction and horror films. The title of each short is the same as that of the film the short is parodying. On November 1, 2019, Hardcastle released a video compiling all the shorts, while also releasing the last ten previously unreleased shorts.
''Bushworld Adventures'' (2018)
An eleven-minute episode titled "Bushworld Adventures" aired unannounced on Adult Swim on April 1, 2018, one year after the surprise premiere of the third season of Rick and Morty, as part of Adult Swim's annual April Fools' prank. Written, directed and produced by Australian animator and YouTube personalityMichael Cusack, the episode features a different animation and art style than usual, and is heavily themed around Australian humor.
Anime series (2020)
A six-minute episode titled Samurai & Shogun aired unannounced on Toonami on March 28, 2020, during the hiatus during the fourth season of Rick and Morty, before being uploaded to Adult Swim's YouTube channel the following day. Written and directed by :ja:Wikipedia:Kaichi Sato|Kaichi Sato, and produced by :ja:Wikipedia:Koji Iijima|Koji Iijima and Studio DEEN and executive producer :ja:Wikipedia:Maki Terashima-Furuta|Maki Terashima-Furuta, the episode features a different animation and art style than usual, and is heavily themed around anime, specifically Lone Wolf & Cub. The short stars :ja:Wikipedia:Youhei Tadano|Youhei Tadano as "Rick WTM-72" and :ja:Wikipedia:Keisuke Chiba|Keisuke Chiba as "Shogun Morty", the pair reprising their roles from the Japanese dub of the animated series. An eight-minute episode titled Rick & Morty vs. Genocider aired unannounced on Toonami on July 25, 2020, debuting on YouTube slightly after. Written and directed by :ja:Wikipedia:Takashi Sano|Takashi Sano, produced by :ja:Wikipedia:Sola Entertainment|Sola Entertainment, animated at :ja:Wikipedia:Telecom Animation Film|Telecom Animation Film, and starring Tadano and Chiba as Rick and Morty, :ja:Wikipedia:Manabu Muraji|Manabu Muraji as Jerry, "AI Driver", and "Hologram Transvestite", and :ja:Wikipedia:Yuki Minami|Yuki Minami as "Hologram Girl", the episode explores the conflict between President Morty and Rick C-137.
Other web content
''Judge Morty'' (2016)
In August 2016, Adult Swim posted an "animatic" scene entitled State of Georgia Vs. Denver Fenton Allen on YouTube. This consisted of the voices of Rick and Morty reenacting a transcript of a real-life court case of the same name. The visual animation consisted of only basic, black-and-white sketches. In October 2016, a fan-made fully-animated production version of the scene was released on YouTube, with the title Judge Morty: State of Georgia Vs. Rick Allen. It was later blocked by Turner on copyright grounds, but reuploads exist elsewhere.
