Top 10 Crazy Things You Never Noticed in Rick and Morty

Consider yourself a “Rick and Morty” superfan? Bet you haven’t picked up on these little gems. Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for Top 10 Crazy Things You Never Noticed in Rick and Morty.

For this list, we’ve taken a look at the many little details and easter eggs intertwined into either the plot or the design of multiple Rick and Morty episodes.

#10 House Damages

In the day-to-day of Rick’s adventures, not everything remains intact. Hey, you can’t make an omelette without cracking a few planets, right? In many cases, the destruction wrought by Rick, Morty, and whatever intergalactic presence they’re pissing off this week is repaired, with the Smith-Sanchez household as good as new by the next episode… But not always. At the end of season one, the house and part of the lawn are transported to another dimension; when they’re returned, a huge crack is left across the driveway. The crack never fully goes away, with Jerry weed whacking it later in season two’s “Auto Erotic Assimilation”. In that same season, Summer accidentally blasts a hole in the garage roof; it remains lazily repaired with boards for subsequent episodes.

#9 Jerry Misses Doofus Rick

Jerry has it rough. Despised by his father-in-law and disrespected by his family, he’s less the head of the household and more the butt of every joke. Yes, he’s sort of a mess, but it’s not like he’s the most terrible person on the planet, *cough*Rick*cough*. The lonely Jerry is therefore astounded when he makes a friend: Rick of Earth Dimension J19 Zeta 7, aka “Doofus Rick”. The two part ways at the end of “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind,” but evidence that Jerry still thinks of his friend crops up in a later episode. In it, a picture of Doofus Rick (along with a Titanic model and jar of applesauce) can be seen hidden on a shelf in the garage, likely placed there by Jerry.

#8 Stowaway Parasite

Roughly half-way into season two, the Smith family home becomes infested with a pest far worse than most. The parasite moves from person to person, creating false memories and identities in a bid to repopulate the planet. While Morty eventually figures out how to defeat them, the show never elaborates on how they got inside in the first place. However, two episodes earlier, at the end of “Mortynight Run,” Rick loads up his spaceship with green crystals; a pink, egg-like lump is clearly visible on one of the rocks. Later, Rick is seen dumping those same green crystals in the trash. As the dead aliens are shown to have similar pink lumps on their spines, the crystals are most likely the culprit.

#7 Eric Stoltz

“Rick and Morty” started off as a riff on the 1985 classic “Back to the Future.” The parody, which followed Doc Smith and Mharti McDonalds on their horrible adventures, somehow spawned the much more enjoyable “Rick and Morty.” With that and a little “Back to the Future” trivia in mind, we get our next entry. The original casting of Marty McFly (who later became Morty Smith) was not Michael J. Fox but Eric Stoltz. Perhaps in some parallel dimension, Stoltz was never recast. And in season one’s “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind,” there is an Eric Stoltz version of Morty -- albeit in his role as Rocky Dennis from the film “Mask.” This film was also released in 1985, four months before “Back to the Future’s” summer release.

#6 “You Are Always Wrong”

When Morty accidentally becomes a father after procuring an alien sex robot, Rick and Summer head off to the robot’s planet of origin to find out what’s what. On Gazorpazorp, they find a world sharply divided by gender. The females--proud, beautiful, and hilariously passive-aggressive--are the dominant gender. The males, subjugated for their reproductive purposes, have devolved into violently horny monsters. When Rick offends the females, he is put on trial. As he and Summer approach the judge’s throne, the Latin phrase "SIS SEMPER CALUMNIAM" becomes visible. Unless you can read old languages, this might go right past you. However, it roughly means "You are always wrong," or, if it’s a reference to a passage in Deuteronomy, “constant oppression.” In any case, justice is far from blind on Gazorpazorp.

#5 Summer Is Jerry with Different Hair

Of all the Smith-Sanchez family members, Morty is the only one with his own distinct look. No one else has that round ‘lil noggin! Beth and Rick have similar characteristics like their oval face (and of course substance abuse, but that’s a whole other topic) but it’s Jerry and Summer who are dead-ringers for each other. They literally look exactly the same, especially as Summer is the only leading female character not to wear make-up (she has no eyelashes and no lipstick). Side-by-side, Summer and Jerry are identical, each just sporting different hair and clothes. We’d say like father like daughter, but skin deep is where the similarities begin and end.

#4 Rick’s Musical Past

Is Rick secretly a musician? Though never directly mentioned, we are given hints to his musical past throughout the series. When a race of giant heads suck Earth into an intergalactic talent contest, a frustrated Morty bails on the whole situation and has to be rescued by Birdperson. At his house, he sees photos of Birdperson’s life, one of which shows him in a band with Rick and Squanchy called “Flesh Curtains”. Rick’s musical aptitude also gets a nod in “Big Trouble in Little Sanchez,” when Tiny Rick writes and performs a song on the spot, and later in Season 3 in “The ABCs of Beth,” Rick is seen fiddling around on a guitar as he writes the song “Doo-Doo Butt”. Perhaps he never lost his musical flair.

#3 Harmon & Roiland Cameos

Most creators like to subtly put themselves in their work and Harmon and Roiland are no exception. In season one, the family pet-turned-dictator, Snowball, transports all the dogs on earth to a new world in reference to Roiland’s earlier project, “Dog World”. In “Auto Erotic Assimilation,” Rick dictates the plot of a fictional TV show as it airs but in fact describes scenes from Harmon’s previous show, “Community.” The following episode “Total Rickall,” features a Nintendo-flipping scheme that Justin Roiland actually attempted. And when three people are sacrificed to the giant heads in “Get Schwifty,” the sacrifice labelled "Thief" is drawn to resemble Justin Roiland. Finally, the closing card “Harmonious Claptrap” follows Dan Harmon’s relationship status, from marriage to divorce and life with his new girlfriend.

#2 “Gravity Falls” Crossovers

“Gravity Falls” and “Rick and Morty” creators Alex Hirsch and Justin Roiland are real life buddies, and several shout-outs between the shows have been made. “Rick and Morty’s” “Big Trouble in Little Sanchez,” features a small image of “Gravity Falls” antagonist Bill Cipher in the corner of a computer screen. A pair of Mortys wearing Mabel and Dipper headgear can be seen in the background of “The Rickshank Rickdemption.” As for “Gravity Falls,” the real-life publication of Dipper’s Journal #3 features a replica of Ford’s WANTED poster with the message “RICK WAS HERE” written in code. And when Grunkle Stan loses a notebook, pen, and mug into a giant portal, those three items are spat out of a portal Rick opens in “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind.”

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

Look at Me! Background Mr. Meseeks

Pop Culture Aliens at Customs

Mr. Poopybutthole Credits

#1 Walter White’s House

After being arrested by the Galactic Federation, Rick shows a Federation agent his memory of the day he perfected portal technology. The memory shows him at his family home, at work in his garage, and happily married before his family is blown up. Compelling … but fake, a false recollection used to facilitate his escape from the brainalyzer. But if you, the viewer, thought there was something familiar about the old Sanchez place, you were right. That’s because the house Rick creates is a replica of Walter White’s house from the critically acclaimed “Breaking Bad,” right down to the hedges. See, if the Federation spent more time watching groundbreaking television instead of trying to do… whatever it is they do, they would still have a government.