Yesterday was Back to the Future day. I wouldn’t worry too much if you missed it. Once we’ve invented time travel, you’ll be able experience it all over again.
For those of you who are still in need of a geezer mad scientist and an easily influenced teenage character, there’s always Rick and Morty. The gloriously unhinged animated show is now in its second season on Adult Swim. Few people know that before they were known as Rick and Morty, they were the adventurous duo Doc and Mharti, who did fun things like fly kites and lick chapped, bloody testicles to travel through time and save humanity.
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If you were able to make it through the short that gave birth to the acclaimed cult show created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, you probably picked up that it’s a parody of Back to the Future. Yes, the show morphed as it grew, but its beginnings were as amazing and mind-bending as anything Robert Zemeckis ever put to screen.
Creator Justin Roiland stated the original short was “a way to poke fun at the idea of getting cease and desist letters.” Back in October 2006, he wanted to call the short, Back to the Future: The New Official Universal Studios Cartoon Featuring the New Doc Brown and Marty McFly in order to “troll” Universal Pictures. Time, space travel, and general weirdness have been strong themes for Roiland, who first started making pilots for Channel 101, MTV2, Acceptable TV, and Cartoon Network. Even in his early work, you can see the beginnings of what would become Rick and Morty, from the character designs, voices, to even the opening theme song. Anyway, enjoy The Real Adventures of Doc and Mharti, but keep your tongue off the balls of old dudes.
Jeffrey Bowers is a tall mustached guy from Ohio who’s seen too many weird movies. He currently lives in Brooklyn, working as the senior curator for Vimeo’s On Demand platform. He has also programmed at Tribeca Film Festival, Rooftop Films, and the Hamptons International Film Festival. Follow him on Twitter.
