Top 10 Rick and Morty Movie Parodies
For this list, we'll be looking at the spoofs, tributes, and references to films and TV in the sci-fi comedy series, “Rick and Morty.” While the episodes often contain many different pop culture connections, we'll be focusing on the more prominent ones and not every single reference that's made.
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#10: “Saw” (2004) & “The Avengers” (2012) “Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender”
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In a Season 3 episode, it’s revealed that Rick and Morty are members of a hero organization known as the Vindicators, who are a veiled parody of the Avengers and less so “The Guardians of the Galaxy” and even the Justice League. To teach them a lesson, Rick gets drunk, defeats their archenemy, and sets them on an elaborate “Saw” style journey through traps designed to screw with them. In the extreme stress of their attempts to escape drunk Rick’s elaborate game, the Vindicators argue amongst themselves and are generally more of a danger to each other than Rick is, further parodying the Avengers’ tendency to fight amongst themselves.
#9: “Die Hard” (1988) & “John Wick” (2014) “Pickle Rick”
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“Pickle Rick” sees Rick turned into, what else: a pickle. Through an elaborate series of events, the scientist manages to fashion himself limbs and eventually escapes into an office. There, Rick finds himself in the middle of a “Die Hard” scenario, as he must fight a group of European criminals alone in a building using stealth tactics. The action also features plenty of men killed by pencils, which is a reference to the “John Wick” series. The men also nickname Rick “Solenya,” which is Russian for “pickles,” similar to John Wick having his own Russian nickname. “Pickle Rick” did an excellent job mashing up two fantastic action franchises.
#8: M. Night Shyamalan Movies “M. Night Shaym-Aliens!”
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M. Night Shyamalan is infamous for featuring twist endings in his movies and “M. Night Shaym-Aliens!” mocks that tendency from its title to its own numerous mind screws. Rick becomes convinced he and Morty are inside a simulation, which they are. Their captors are scamming aliens out to find the secret for concentrated dark matter, of which Rick has knowledge. After escaping that simulation, though, it turns out they were inside another simulation and Morty was part of it the whole time. Rick gets the last laugh on the scammers, as he tricks the aliens into blowing themselves up, in a twist worthy of Shyamalan himself.
#7: “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956) & “Community” (2009-15) “Auto Erotic Assimilation”
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“Auto Erotic Assimilation” sees Rick and his grandkids encountering his ex, Unity, which is a hive mind. Unity takes over the minds of intelligent species in a manner reminiscent of the “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” films, although “Rick and Morty” flips the premise on its head by suggesting that the people Unity takes over are probably better off that way. In addition, the episode features a short, but notable parody of another of creator Dan Harmon’s shows, “Community,” satirizing its cancellation, return, and the pedestal people put Harmon on.
#6: “Mad Max” franchise (1979-) “Rickmancing the Stone”
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During their dimension hopping adventures, Rick, Morty, and Summer encounter a post-apocalyptic dimension that’s an affectionate parody of the “Mad Max” series. From masked madmen to dome-shaped death match rings, this episode features many of the “gas punk” film franchise’s brutal staples. “Rick and Morty” even examines something rarely seen in the “Mad Max” films themselves – the downright domestic downtime between the high-octane adventures. Seeing relationship drama play out in a wasteland environment is hilarious and incorporates the parody into the plot of the episode in a fun and unique way.
#5: “Inception” (2010) & “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) “Lawnmower Dog”
While it was tempting to give this entry to the film parody that drove its b-plot and gives it its name, “The Lawnmower Man,” we went with the better-known movies that are referenced in its primary plot. After deciding that tutoring him is a hassle, Rick decides to implant the idea that Morty should get good grades in math in his teacher’s dreams in a parody of “Inception,” which they both namedrop. Inside the dreams within dreams, the pair eventually encounters Scary Terry, a dream demon whose appearance is akin to Freddy Krueger of “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” However, Terry doesn’t have Krueger’s gift with puns….
#4: “The Purge” franchise (2013-) “Look Who’s Purging Now”
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“The Purge” film series is set in a fictional America where, for one night a year, all crime is legal, allowing for a period of lawless carnage and mayhem. In this episode, Rick and Morty land on an alien world where the natives engage in a similar exercise at the behest of the ruling class. The wanton violence soon brings out Morty’s own bottled-up anger that he takes out on the planet’s inhabitants in a rampage of blind rage. “Look Who’s Purging Now” manages to use its film parody to provide a means of insight into Morty’s character and provide a very funny, and very dark, premise for an episode.
#3: “Jurassic Park” (1993) & “Fantastic Voyage” (1966) “Anatomy Park”
“Rick and Morty” has a way of combining concepts from different sources to make some very creative plots, and one of the most outlandish is “Anatomy Park.” After shrinking his grandson down to microscopic size, Rick sends Morty inside of a man whose insides he’s turned into a theme park called “Anatomy Park.” Everything, from its logo to its exhibits running wild and the park employees are lifted from “Jurassic Park.” Meanwhile, the investigation of a person’s body from within is evocative of the classic of that subgenre “Fantastic Voyage,” albeit a far messier version.
#2: “Love Potion No. 9” (1992) & David Cronenberg Movies “Rick Potion #9”
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“Love Potion No. 9” is a cheesy romantic comedy from the early 1990s that sees a man ask a gypsy for help in love and receiving a love potion. “Rick Potion #9” sees Morty asking Rick for a similar potion. However, its effects soon go viral and spiral out of control further when Rick attempts a cure. Rick dubs the monsters that result from these attempts Cronenbergs. This is in reference to the numerous movies by director David Cronenberg, who is famed for films involving grotesque mutations and other body horror elements. Both parodies, however different they may be, blend together in a magnificently bizarre way.
#1: “Back to the Future” (1985) & “Doctor Who” (1963-89; 2005-) The Entire Show
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If the idea of “Rick and Morty” seems familiar, it’s for a good reason – it’s largely based on two giants of sci-fi. Firstly, the characters of Rick and Morty are basically substitutes for Doc Brown and Marty McFly. In fact, co-creator Justin Roiland once created an animation called “The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti,” which starred darker versions of the “Back to the Future” characters. In addition, despite not featuring time travel, “Rick and Morty” is a parody of “Doctor Who,” with its lead duo’s dimension hopping outings resembling the British sci-fi show’s adventures of the week. With its loving parody of these greats, is it any wonder the show is so awesome?
