I enjoyed watching the show because I related to Rick. I'm old, smelly, and disgusting; and when people have a problem with this, I make it clear that I don't respect them.

Here is how i feel about it. It was funny but do we even really need a new season of the show.
Id watch a new season of Aqua Team or Metalocalypse before that. Between pickle rick and the
horribly tasting sezchuan sauce id rather im good.

I liked it. All three seasons.
Never loved it though.
It's good. It's an anti-show, which made it refreshing. And it is random enough.
But as with anything; have too high expectations and you'll end up dissapointed.

(January 31, 2019 at 11:48 am)Homeless Nutter Wrote:

(January 31, 2019 at 9:22 am)Der/die AtheistIn Wrote: About Mr. Poopybutthole, his name has never bugged me, it's alright if you don't like it. Actually, I thought his name was funny at first, but you know that every joke stops being funny after you hear it more times. It's not a bad thing to give characters a funny name, as long as it's not offensive and you do good jokes with it.

I don't have a problem with the character, or the joke name. The whole charm of the joke is that it's dumb, infantile and random, yet it's played uncharacteristically straight.

My point is - "lazy" writing is one of the defining elements of "Rick and Morty". It's everywhere, including in Roiland's dialogue, which intentionally sounds not only unrehearsed, but often unscripted, as if the voice-over artist got a bit drunk and started making stuff up on the spot (which is probably what happens). It's in the random, meaningless catch-phrases, like "Lick-lick-lick my balls!",  or "Get shwifty". It's in the Intergalactic Cable episodes, which are mostly just collections of throwaway ideas, that nobody can be bothered to develop, or work into regular episodes. It's in very prominent references to pop-culture, to the point of entire episodes based around popular movies, often mediocre ones, like "The Purge". The entire show started as a cheap parody of "Back To The Future"(Rick and Morty = Doc and Marty).

If you allow all that - you can't really blame the writers for not coming up with more convincing way for Evil Morty to gain power, or what-not. It might be dumb and unrealistic, but so is the entire show - and that's where lies a lot of its charm.
You shouldn't over-think it. The show's creators clearly don't.

(January 31, 2019 at 9:22 am)Der/die AtheistIn Wrote: To the show's credit, it doesn't overuse the name, but there are other problems with this character. They made him a wife that follows the Minnie mouse principle, that means looking like the male character in drag. Seriously, they didn't even give her a different hat, and that is a masculine hat. I have nothing against females wearing men's clothing, I myself want to do it sometimes, but that doesn't excuse laziness, the hat could've been different and still masculine. They also made the baby look exactly like the father. You can't get away with this, unless you're using it for a good joke or you give an in universe explanation. They also tried to make a joke about Mr. Poopybutthole living a normal life, which isn't funny. It could've been funny if we saw other people's reactions to his name and/or appearance.

You see - you're over-thinking it. As I said, the whole point of Mr Poopybutthole is the fact that it's a ridiculous and lazy idea, which nobody within the show's Universe ever acknowledges. If the creators made him and his family fully fleshed-out and well designed characters - it would work against the joke.

Or maybe - just maybe - Mr Poopybutthole is... god.    He showed up out of nowhere, yet everyone treats him like a life-long old friend. He's ridiculous and out of place, but nobody makes fun of his name or his looks - not even cynical Rick. He knows he's in a cartoon and has the ability to follow the story, without actively taking part, as well as to address the viewers directly. His family look like him because they're one person - a Trinity, if you like...

Quote:If you allow all that - you can't really blame the writers for not coming up with more convincing way for Evil Morty to gain power, or what-not. It might be dumb and unrealistic, but so is the entire show - and that's where lies a lot of its charm.

You shouldn't over-think it. The show's creators clearly don't.

Yeah, the show was always ridiculous and yes it does rely too much on pop cultural references and the dialogue isn't always clever, but usually it was a line or two and the plot mostly made sense in the world they created. Also, I'm actually a fan of weird stuff, sometimes I watch weird animation just for the sake of it. The problem is, that this type of animation overstays it's welcome and it only works as shorts. If you are going to make a feature length film or a series you need to make a plot. Sure, it doesn't have to always make sense if it's a comedy, but the plot about evil Morty wasn't treated like a joke. If it was supposed to be one it wasn't funny.
I see parallels between this show and another one from Adult Swim too, it's Superjail. Now, this show isn't for everyone, it's very gory and way weirder than Rick and Morty. It doesn't always follow continuity, which I don't mind, this is the style they're going for. I also find the humor better and the characters better developed. The animation is very fluid, which is rare in adult cartoons. Also, the world, at least the jail, is in my opinion a metaphor for the mind of crazy and/or creative people. The founder of the jail said in the pilot that he had new ideas for incarceration, but the world "isn't ready for his methods yet", so he created superjail outside the system. I was also able to make some interpretations on the show.
Speaking of Superjail, the last episode of season 2 ended with 2 of the main characters being arrested and in the first episode of season 3 they try to get out, just like Rick and Morty. But while in Rick and Morty, Rick just got out with very little effort and ended up saving the ones who were trying to rescue him, which wasn't all that interesting, in Superjail the characters put actual effort to get out and I'm not gonna spoil how. Not to mention that all episodes of Superjail are half as long as the ones from Rick and Morty. Basically they did the same plot better in half the time.

Quote:You see - you're over-thinking it. As I said, the whole point of Mr Poopybutthole is the fact that it's a ridiculous and lazy idea, which nobody within the show's Universe ever acknowledges. If the creators made him and his family fully fleshed-out and well designed characters - it would work against the joke. 

Or maybe - just maybe - Mr Poopybutthole is... god.    He showed up out of nowhere, yet everyone treats him like a life-long old friend. He's ridiculous and out of place, but nobody makes fun of his name or his looks - not even cynical Rick. He knows he's in a cartoon and has the ability to follow the story, without actively taking part, as well as to address the viewers directly. His family look like him because they're one person - a Trinity, if you like...

The fact that it's a lazy idea and the show acknowledges it doesn't make it funny. If you show lazy ideas without adding something to the mix, you end up playing straight the tropes you were trying to parody in the first place.
Also, if the show stated directly or showed hints of your idea of trinity, it would've been funny.

(January 31, 2019 at 4:58 pm)Der/die AtheistIn Wrote: Yeah, the show was always ridiculous and yes it does rely too much on pop cultural references and the dialogue isn't always clever, but usually it was a line or two and the plot mostly made sense in the world they created.

Only if you didn't think too hard about it. It's a wacky sci-fi cartoon after all. You could nit-pick the plot of pretty much every episode, but why do that?

(January 31, 2019 at 4:58 pm)Der/die AtheistIn Wrote: Also, I'm actually a fan of weird stuff, sometimes I watch weird animation just for the sake of it. The problem is, that this type of animation overstays it's welcome and it only works as shorts. If you are going to make a feature length film or a series you need to make a plot. Sure, it doesn't have to always make sense if it's a comedy, but the plot about evil Morty wasn't treated like a joke. If it was supposed to be one it wasn't funny.

I don't think it was meant to be a joke. Just a way to move the story forward. I still don't really see the problem with it.

(January 31, 2019 at 4:58 pm)Der/die AtheistIn Wrote: I see parallels between this show and another one from Adult Swim too, it's Superjail. Now, this show isn't for everyone, it's very gory and way weirder than Rick and Morty. It doesn't always follow continuity, which I don't mind, this is the style they're going for. I also find the humor better and the characters better developed. The animation is very fluid, which is rare in adult cartoons. Also, the world, at least the jail, is in my opinion a metaphor for the mind of crazy and/or creative people. The founder of the jail said in the pilot that he had new ideas for incarceration, but the world "isn't ready for his methods yet", so he created superjail outside the system. I was also able to make some interpretations on the show.
Speaking of Superjail, the last episode of season 2 ended with 2 of the main characters being arrested and in the first episode of season 3 they try to get out, just like Rick and Morty. But while in Rick and Morty, Rick just got out with very little effort and ended up saving the ones who were trying to rescue him, which wasn't all that interesting, in Superjail the characters put actual effort to get out and I'm not gonna spoil how. Not to mention that all episodes of Superjail are half as long as the ones from Rick and Morty. Basically they did the same plot better in half the time.

Yeah, I watched an episode of this years ago. I can't remember anything about it, except that I didn't feel like watching any more of it...

(January 31, 2019 at 4:58 pm)Der/die AtheistIn Wrote: The fact that it's a lazy idea and the show acknowledges it doesn't make it funny.

Well, no - the show doesn't acknowledge it. In "South Park" there's a character named Towelie, who's a walking, talking, weed-smoking towel and the show openly mocks him for being a ridiculous and lazy design, meant to sell merchandise. Nothing of the sort happens in "Rick and Morty". Mr Poopybutthole is a one-joke character, that keeps reappearing, despite adding nothing to the story (so far at least). And that's what I find funny about him. Of course, humour is somewhat subjective and I'm sure other people have different reasons.

(January 31, 2019 at 4:58 pm)Der/die AtheistIn Wrote: If you show lazy ideas without adding something to the mix, you end up playing straight the tropes you were trying to parody in the first place.

Then tell me - what does Mr Poopybutthole add to the mix?

(January 31, 2019 at 4:58 pm)Der/die AtheistIn Wrote: Also, if the show stated directly or showed hints of your idea of trinity, it would've been funny.

Maybe. Or maybe not. But the show's been renewed for another 70 episodes, so who knows what the writers will do with the character.

Quote:Only if you didn't think too hard about it. It's a wacky sci-fi cartoon after all. You could nit-pick the plot of pretty much every episode, but why do that? 

Yes, it is wacky, but it's never been that wacky.

Quote:I don't think it was meant to be a joke. Just a way to move the story forward. I still don't really see the problem with it. 

If it's meant to move the plot forward and it's not a joke it has to make sense, not necessarily in the real world, but in the fictional world that it's created.

Quote:Yeah, I watched an episode of this years ago. I can't remember anything about it, except that I didn't feel like watching any more of it...

It's fine if you don't like it. As I said, Superjail isn't for everyone. The point I was trying to make is that Superjail understood that if a character just gets out it wouldn't be interesting anymore.

Quote:Well, no - the show doesn't acknowledge it. In "South Park" there's a character named Towelie, who's a walking, talking, weed-smoking towel and the show openly mocks him for being a ridiculous and lazy design, meant to sell merchandise. Nothing of the sort happens in "Rick and Morty". Mr Poopybutthole is a one-joke character, that keeps reappearing, despite adding nothing to the story (so far at least). And that's what I find funny about him. Of course, humour is somewhat subjective and I'm sure other people have different reasons. 

It's not bad to use a character just for jokes, but the jokes need to be good. As you said, humor is subjective, but I personally cannot understand how Mr. Poopybutthole's mere existence is funny. I found him funny at first, in his first appearance and in the last episode of season 2. But then in season 3 he once appeared in one of Morty's memories, where he was asking the young boy for his hand in marriage and Morty was crying tears of joy. Morty is underage, the fact that he was asked by a funny looking creature with a silly name doesn't make it funny. Maybe they were just pretending. In that case Morty is a hell of a good actor being able to cry on command. Also, if they were just pretending, why would Rick erase Morty's memory? I don't see why Rick would have anything against an innocent role play and also no reason why Morty and Mr. Poopybutthole would keep it a secret. And if they were just role playing, why not tell the audience directly? Are the creators going for pure shock value? Mr Poopybutthole appears once again in the last episode of season 3, where he just says that he went back to school and then made a family. I don't find it funny and the story is so simple and adds nothing to the main plot that it could've been taken out entirely.

Quote:Then tell me - what does Mr Poopybutthole add to the mix?

That was the idea, he doesn't add anything new to the mix. If they made a joke about Mr Poopybutthole and his girlfriend looking identical, it would've worked. Maybe if someone mistook her for him in drag or something like that.

Quote:Maybe. Or maybe not. But the show's been renewed for another 70 episodes, so who knows what the writers will do with the character.

Well, I found your joke about trinity pretty funny, it would be hard not to make it sound funny. Also, yeah, we don't know what the show will bring us in the future.

I agree; I didnt even finish season 3. Also the fan base got too wild and cringy and kind of turned me off from the whole thing.

Always ignore the fan base. The fan base is like that really cool place for single adults to hang out that is inevitably ruined when it becomes so popular that family types start showing up with their children.

(February 1, 2019 at 2:58 pm)Yonadav Wrote: Always ignore the fan base.  The fan base is like that really cool place for single adults to hang out

Lol... No it most certainly isn't. Fan base is more like a dark, damp basement for geeks to squat around in, bitching about Jar Jar Binks and feminazis raping their childhoods...

(February 1, 2019 at 2:58 pm)Yonadav Wrote: that is inevitably ruined when it becomes so popular that family types start showing up with their children.

I don't think "family types" are the problem, especially in the case of "Rick and Morty", but rather the types that feel proud of their own failure to grow up...

(February 1, 2019 at 3:14 pm)Homeless Nutter Wrote:

(February 1, 2019 at 2:58 pm)Yonadav Wrote: Always ignore the fan base.  The fan base is like that really cool place for single adults to hang out

Lol... No it most certainly isn't. Fan base is more like a dark, damp basement for geeks to squat around in, bitching about Jar Jar Binks and feminazis raping their childhoods...

(February 1, 2019 at 2:58 pm)Yonadav Wrote: that is inevitably ruined when it becomes so popular that family types start showing up with their children.

I don't think "family types" are the problem, especially in the case of "Rick and Morty", but rather the types that feel proud of their own failure to grow up...

Meh. There are the imaginative and creative fans, and then there's the others.