Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty)

Richard "Rick" Sanchez[1] is one of the two eponymous protagonists from the Adult Swim animated television series Rick and Morty. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, Sanchez is a misanthropic alcoholic scientist inspired by Emmett "Doc" Brown from Back to the Future and Mister Fantastic from Marvel Comics. Known for his reckless, nihilistic behavior and pessimistic personality, the character has been well received. He is a sociopathic mad scientist who seems to know everything in the universe and thus finds life a traumatizing and pointless experience. However, despite assuming himself to be the smartest person in the universe, there have been times when he has been wrong.

Rick Sanchez
Rick and Morty character
First appearance"Pilot" (2013)
Created byJustin Roiland
Dan Harmon
Voiced byJustin Roiland
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman
OccupationScientist
SpouseDiane Sanchez (C-137)
ChildrenBeth Smith (daughter)
Space Beth (daughter)
RelativesJerry Smith (son-in-law)
Summer Smith (granddaughter)
Morty Smith (grandson)
President Morty Smith (grandson)
Morty Smith, Jr. (great-grandson)
The Ricklets (adoptive children)
NationalityAmerican
Age70

He is formally referred to as Rick Sanchez C-137 by the Trans-Dimensional Council of Ricks, in reference to his original universe, "C-137". Both Rick and Morty are voiced by Roiland. Volume 1 of the Rick and Morty comic series follows the Rick and Morty of Dimension C-132 while most episodes of subsequent installments follow the Rick and Morty of "C-137"; the video game Pocket Mortys follows the Rick and Morty of C-123.[2]

Fictional character biography

Rick Sanchez from Earth Dimension C-137 is the father of Beth Smith, and the grandfather of Morty Smith and Summer Smith. He is said to have been away from the family for several years prior to the events of the show. He frequently travels on adventures through space, visiting other planets and dimensions with his grandson Morty. In the third season of the show, it is revealed that he is 70 years old.[3]

In "The Ricks Must Be Crazy", Rick reveals that he powers his flying car with a battery that contains a miniature universe, or microverse, whose inhabitants unknowingly provide the required electricity. The inhabitants cease doing this after one of their scientists does the same thing for his own universe, and discovers that this is what Rick has done to his universe. Rick remorselessly destroys the miniature universe inside his own miniature universe, killing everyone inside. Nearing the end of the episode, Rick knows that his own microverse would power his battery, or he dispose of it and create a new one.[4]

Rick's intelligence is portrayed to transcend that of metaphysical beings, as demonstrated in the episode "Something Ricked This Way Comes", where he outsmarts Satan.

Rick reveals his disdain for love in the episode "Rick Potion #9", in which he claims that it is "a chemical reaction that compels animals to breed".[5] When Rick and Morty irreversibly mutate all humans on Earth except for their family members, they abandon their original dimension, Earth Dimension C-137, (and their family in that dimension) for a new one. Rick locates a universe in which the alternate version of himself has undone the damage inflicted by the love potion, but where the new dimension's Rick and Morty have been killed, allowing the C-137 Rick and Morty to take their place. Despite Morty's trauma concerning this knowledge, Rick is nonchalant about moving to the new dimension.

In the episode "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind", after numerous Ricks in alternate dimensions are murdered, the Trans-Dimensional Council of Ricks accuses Rick C-137 and orders for him to be arrested. Rick C-137 finds himself captured by an "evil" Rick, but is saved by a legion of alternate-dimension Mortys led by Morty C-137.

In the second season premiere, "A Rickle in Time", Rick nearly sacrifices himself to save Morty, but saves his own life when he realizes that doing so is possible. In the episode "Get Schwifty", it is revealed that Rick was once in a rock band called the Flesh Curtains, alongside Birdperson and Squanchy. In the episode "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", Rick transfers his consciousness into a younger clone of himself, whom he calls "Tiny Rick". He soon becomes anguished in his new body, and manages to return to his older true form, and murders a line of other clones he produced. In the second season's finale, "The Wedding Squanchers", Rick and his family attend Birdperson's wedding, where Birdperson is betrayed and killed by his bride Tammy, a double agent for the Galactic Federation. The family is forced to inhabit an unusually small yet Earth-like planet, as they cannot return to Earth due to Rick's status as a wanted criminal. Rick turns himself into the Federation to allow his family to return home, and is incarcerated on a prison planet under the charges of having committed "everything". But in the season three premiere "The Rickshank Redemption", by taking out the Council of Ricks while saving Morty and Summer, it is revealed that Rick actually turned himself in to access the Federation's supercomputer and wipe it out financially. Rick also indirectly convinces Beth to divorce Jerry for trying to convince the family to sell him out.

The premiere episode of the series' third season, "The Rickshank Rickdemption" shows a possible origin for Rick, in which he was a well-meaning scientist who loved his wife Diane and daughter Beth, but had an encounter with a member of the Council of Ricks during his initial testing of a prototype inter-dimensional portal gun, who offered him the secret to creating the device, and joining the Council. Shortly after his refusal, and his pledge to quit science forever, a bomb was sent through a portal, killing Diane and Beth. Rick claims that this was a fake memory he created in order to trick his interrogator into implanting a virus into the mind-reading device he was attached to, allowing him to hijack his body and escape from the Federation prison. At the end of the episode, Rick again insists, in a rant to Morty, that the death of his wife and daughter was a fake memory.

Rick's catchphrase is "Wubba Lubba Dub-Dub", first introduced in the episode "Meeseeks and Destroy". In Birdperson's native language, the catchphrase translates to "I am in great pain. Please help me".[6][7]

Personality

Rick has been argued to be a toxic masculine archetype, "Tortured Genius Who Is Lonely and Doesn’t Care Because Feelings Are Overrated."[8]

In the pilot, Rick is revealed to be an atheist, as he tells Summer that "there is no God."[9] Harmon has said that "anarchist" is a close ideological descriptor of Rick.[10]

Rick has been stated to be pansexual by Justin Roiland, one of the show's creators and executive producers.[11] This was shown in "Auto Erotic Assimilation", when Rick connects with Unity, an ex-lover who is a collective hive mind of assimilated individuals from the planet they occupy.[12]

Development

The character was created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, who first met at Channel 101 in the early 2000s. In 2006, Roiland created The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti, an animated short parodying the Back to the Future characters Doc Brown and Marty McFly, and the precursor to Rick and Morty.[13] The idea for Rick and Morty, in the form of Doc and Mharti was brought up to Adult Swim, and the ideas for a family element and Rick being a grandfather to Morty were developed. Roiland considers his voice for Rick to be a "horrible Doc Brown manic impression".[14]

Reception

The character has received positive reception. Speaking of Rick's relatability and likability, Dan Harmon stated that "we’ve all been Rick. But Rick really does have bigger fish to fry than anybody. He understands everything better than us. So you give him the right to be jaded and dismissive and narcissistic and sociopathic".[15] Emily Gaudette of Inverse wrote that fans have "come to love [Rick] over two seasons of misadventures".[16]

David Sims of The Atlantic noted Rick's "bitter amorality" and called the character "a genius who comfortably thinks of himself as the universe's cleverest man and is grounded only by his empathy toward other people, which he tries to suppress as much as possible", therefore writing that Rick's selflessness at the end of the episode "The Wedding Squanchers" is "the most surprising twist possible".[17] Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club wrote that "[Rick] slowly realizing that he loved his grandkids and his daughter (and tolerated his son-in-law) no matter how many times he swore at them helped to give the character some necessary depth", and that "behind all the catchphrases and the crazed energy ... There's something dead and sad and fucked up in the guy".[18]

In the first episode of the third season, "The Rickshank Redemption", Rick shows a significant interest in Szechuan sauce and insists that his motivation in life is "finding that McNugget sauce" caused a public interest in having the sauce be reinstated on the McDonald's menu, with some fans attempting to recreate the sauce themselves.[19][20][21] According to USA Today, McDonald's spokesperson Terri Hickey stated that "We never say never, because when our customers speak, we listen. And to paraphrase some of our most enthusiastic fans, our sauce is so good that it would be worth waiting 9 seasons or 97 years for."[19][21]

In March 2019, Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty confirmed the character of Monarch crypto-sonographer Dr. Rick Stanton, played by Bradley Whitford, to have been based on Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty, with Dougherty having the character "drink a lot" to keep the character in line with the spirit of Sanchez.[22]

References
  1. "'Rick and Morty' posts a scene from upcoming season 5 online". EW.com. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  2. Whalen, Andrew. "'Pocket Mortys' Is Out Now, But It's Not Rick and Morty From The Show". Player One. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  3. Edim, Odiso (29 August 2017). "Rick And Morty Season 3 Episode 6 Review: Toxin Toxic Toxicity". FoxGist. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  4. "02x06 - The Ricks Must Be Crazy - Rick and Morty Transcripts - Forever Dreaming".
  5. Dominick LaGrotta (25 January 2016). "Top 10 Rick And Morty Quotes". The Odyssey Online. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  6. Alec Opperman (19 December 2015). "The Philosophy of Rick and Morty". Wisecrack. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  7. "Rick and Morty Recap - 'Ricksy Business'". Observation Deck: Gawker Media. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  8. Soria, Destiny. Macmillan ["https://www.tor.com/2019/08/20/rick-and-morty-and-nihilism-why-we-embrace-a-show-that-cares-about-nothing/" "https://www.tor.com/2019/08/20/rick-and-morty-and-nihilism-why-we-embrace-a-show-that-cares-about-nothing/"] Check |url= value (help). Retrieved 8 December 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. Handlen, Zack (10 February 2014). "Rick And Morty: "Pilot"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  10. Harmon, Dan [@danharmon] (5 August 2016). "I'd say "anarchist" is as close as you're gonna get to an accurate label but it's not like he "wants" anarchy for everyone" (Tweet). Retrieved 4 November 2017 – via Twitter.
  11. Thielman, Sam (10 July 2015). "Rick and Morty at Comic Con: Adult Swim cult favorite is back and in-joking" – via The Guardian.
  12. Written by Ryan Ridley (9 August 2015). "Auto Erotic Assimilation". Rick and Morty. Season 2. Adult Swim.
  13. Czajkowski, Elise (12 November 2013). "Dan Harmon's Rick and Morty Premieres on Adult Swim on Dec. 2". Splitsider. The Awl. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  14. Topel, Fred (2 December 2013). "Exclusive Interview: Dan Harmon & Justin Roiland on 'Rick and Morty'". CraveOnline. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  15. Erik Adams (23 July 2015). "There's one secret the Rick And Morty guys will never reveal". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  16. Emily Gaudette (30 November 2016). "Ranking the 8 Best Versions of Rick Sanchez by Squanchiness". Inverse. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  17. David Sims (5 October 2015). "Rick and Morty's Biggest Twist: It Has a Heart". The Atlantic. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  18. Zack Handlen (5 October 2015). "One wedding and a lot of funerals on Rick And Morty's season finale". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  19. Carly Mallenbaum (4 April 2017). "McDonald's listens to 'Rick and Morty' fans who want the Szechuan sauce back". USA Today. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  20. Sam Prell (6 April 2017). "Why is everyone talking about Szechuan sauce? Rick & Morty is why, and McDonald's might bring it back". GamesRadar. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  21. David Gianatasio (6 April 2017). "McDonald's Considers Bringing Back McNuggets Szechuan Sauce Just for Rick and Morty Fans". Adweek. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  22. Walkuski, Eric (21 March 2019). "Set Visit: Everything we learned from the Godzilla: King of the Monsters set". Joblo. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
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