Friday, April 1, 2022

RICK AND MORTY: THE COMPLETE SEASONS 1-5 (WBHE Blu-ray Review)

RICK AND MORTY: THE COMPLETE SEASONS 1-5

Label: WHBE
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 1142 Minutes 
Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Creators: Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon
Voice Cast: Justin Roiland, Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer, Sarah Chalke

As I've said before I was very late to the party with the [adult swim] series Rick and Morty, which I chalked up to the the fact that  people I knew who liked it were really annoying people, so I was skeptical of their love because they were so rave about it. As with so most things that hipsters have made annoying with their somewhat toxic fandom, I eventually came around to watching it, which worked to my benefit as the series took a years long hiatus right in the middle, so coming to it later I didn't have to endure the wait and was able to shotgun the first four seasons over the course of a wonderfully lazy weekend. The animated series features an alcoholic, maybe even sociopathic scientist named Rick, who uses his daughter's garage as laboratory, while embarking on adventures through time and space, dragging along his oftentimes reluctant grandson Morty along for the ride. It's a riotous, anarchic sort of show that delights in deconstructing genre tropes, skewering pop-culture, reveling in bad taste, fun visual gags and offering a general sense of anything goes. Season one and two were the best in my opinion, but I have been loving all five seasons and am currently in the process of re-watching the fifth season which continues the adventures of sociopathic genius scientist Rick and his grandson Morty on a series of apocalyptic  adventures across the universe, wherein they wine and dine the king of Atlantic, go on an apocalyptic sex-filled planet hopping bar crawl, fight kaiju sized sperm-monsters, embark on a Voltron-esque battle, and in my favorite episode "Rickdependence Spray" we get a brain-melting clone saga that had me freaking out and questioning my own reality. Far and away my favorite toon series this anarchic bit of sci-fi mayhem never fails to please. If you can I highly recommend getting the super-cool steelbook packaging, and the extras are also pretty nifty. 

All 51 episodes of seasons 1-5 arrives on 5-disc Blu-ray from WBHE, presenting each episode in 1080p HD widescreen (1.78:1) with uncompressed Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio. Additionally we get plenty of extras, this includes audio commentary on every episode, deleted scenes, “Inside the Episode” segments, loads of featurettes, animatic for every episode and tones more, including a digital HD copy of the series. The 5-disc set arrives in an oversized flipper keepcase with a slipcover, plus there's a large fold-out poster that comes with the set for a limited time. If you own the previous seasons then you already own everything that comes with this set aside from the limited edition poster - no need to double-dip unless you're an extreme completest. However, If you don't already own it I recommend this set collecting all five seasons thus far, you will burn through them in no time, they're hilarious and the dark humor is fantastic, and they're all re-watchable. 

Special Features: 
- 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
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
Season 5
- "Fighting Gravity": The Making of Season 5
- “Inside the Episode” for Every Episode
- B-Story Generator Vol. 1 & Vol. 2
- Backgrounds
- Animation and Compositing
- Coloring Rick and Morty:
- Directing 'Mortyplicity' & 'Rickmurai Jack
- Season 5 Hype