Since Rick and Morty began airing on Adult Swim in 2013, it has developed a significant cult following. The show follows Rick, an alcoholic scientist who lives with his daughter Beth and her family. Rick builds intricate sci-fi gadgets and takes his dimwit grandson on a series of intergalactic adventures. Creator Justin Roiland has stated that Rick and Morty was conceived out of the earlier concept, The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti, a parody of Back to the Future.
Unlike Back to the Future, Rick and Morty is full of crude humor and even stranger events, including Rick creating an entirely new planet to defecate in peace, and turning himself into a pickle in another instance. Still, despite this brand of humor, there remain dozens of factors in Rick and Morty meant to rip on Back to the Future – in the best ways possible.
10 The Mad Scientist And Teen Boy Duo
One of the most obvious cases of Rick and Morty drawing inspiration from Back to the Future is the characters. Like Back to the Future, Rick and Morty are the mad scientist/teen boy duo audiences know and love, the only difference being that Rick is foul-mouthed and Marty is a little younger than Marty McFly.
Rick is Morty's grandfather instead of just friends like Doc and Marty. Though the two share little in terms of physical traits, it could be on account Rick's alcoholism and escapades through time and space that have impacted his visage.
9 Morty's Name Is Similar To Marty
While Rick's name is nothing like his Back to the Future counterpart, Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown, Morty is much more similar. Back to the Future's Marty McFly certainly has a more flamboyant name than Morty Smith. Still, the similarities between their first names definitely hint at the inspiration drawn from the movies.
Moreover, Morty's name is spelled closer to Marty's, considering it was originally "Mharti" in Roiland's short concept film, The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti.
8 Both Back To The Future And Rick And Morty Feature Time Travel Devices
The most on-the-nose similarity between Back to the Future and Rick and Morty is that both tackle time travel in weird and wonderful ways. However, time travel itself is never directly used by Rick or Morty, but by other characters in the show. For example, during the episode "A Rickle in Time," the fourth dimensional being uses time travel to find Rick after the latter unfreezes time. Since he, Morty, and Summer have been living for so long in frozen time, a parallel dimension develops. Similarly, the location of Jerryboree in the episode "Mortynight Run" is described as cross-temporal.
Of course, the whole concept of Back to the Future is, as its title suggests, heavily reliant on time travel, with each film in the trilogy tackling different time periods. Rick and Morty focuses more on the concept of the multiverse and alternate dimensions, with Rick and Morty themselves being from varying dimensions (Rick is from Dimension C-137).
7 A Morty Wears A Red Puffer Vest In The Ricklantis Mix-Up
In the episode titled "The Ricklantis Mix-Up" (aka "Tales from the Citadel"), Rick and Morty encounter a visiting Rick and Morty from the Citadel of Ricks. During one scene at the seedy strip club The Creepy Morty, one of the many Mortys in the club wears a red puffer jacket while chatting at the bar. The jacket is reminiscent of Marty McFly's signature red puffer, which he wears in the first movie (and wears similar iterations in the sequels). However, only eagle-eyed viewers might have noticed the little Easter egg, which is only one of many throughout the series.
6 There Is A Back To The Future III Poster In Rattlestar Ricklactica
In the fifth episode of the fourth season, titled "Rattlestar Ricklactica," Rick and Morty get caught up in a full-on snake war after a space snake bites Morty. This triggers a bizarre sequence of events that mirror The Terminator's essence, with snakes deciphering time travel instructions left by Rick and Morty and constantly traveling through time to end the war on their planet.
One of the smaller Easter eggs in the episode occurs when a small group of snake students works on their time travel machine. In the background, there are several pop culture posters, including a snake version of the Back to the Future III poster.
5 Rick And Morty's Creator Admitted The Show Began As A Parody
As mentioned in the introduction, Rick and Morty's creator Justin Roiland developed the show from an earlier concept, a short film titled The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti. The movie was produced by Comic Sacrifice, and was originally made as a protest against the lawsuits Roiland was receiving for his House of Cosbys series. In the short, Doc forces Mharti into performing illicit acts on him (several times) in order to fix various inconveniences, such as the "time travel car" not starting.
Three other shorts also resulted from the original Adventures of Doc and Mharti: one as a Gatorade commercial; promoting the creative freedom of short film festival Channel 101; and to promote the comic Scud: The Disposable Assassin.
4 There Is A Flux Capacitor In Rick's Lab
In the episode "Morty's Mindblowers," a flux capacitor is located behind a panel of machinery in Rick's lab. The flux capacitor is a fictional piece of technology used in the Back to the Future franchise, and allows the possibility of time travel. While not used for time travel by Rick and Morty, the flux capacitor in Rick's lab appears to have been re-purposed as a sort of generator for Rick's other projects (apart from the memory technology).
The presence of the flux capacitor also suggests that Rick has used it before. Likely, and after messing with time, Rick has learned the consequences of time travel and decided to retire the device.
3 Cowboy Rick And Morty Mirror Doc And Marty From Back To The Future III
Cowboy Rick and Morty make a handful of appearances throughout the show, such as in 'Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind' and "The Ricklantis Mixup.'"They are also referred to as Western Rick and Morty, and hail from a cowboy dimension.
The two are remarkably similar to Doc and Marty in Back to the Future III (the diner behind them in the picture also mirrors the diner in Back to the Future II), with Morty even dressed in the over-the-top fictionalized cowboy get-up Marty wears in the movie. However, Western Rick is less of a mad scientist than his movie counterpart, and takes on a more authoritative sheriff character.
2 Morty Takes Dialogue Cues From Rick, Like Marty Does From Doc
Being a genius scientist and Morty's grandfather, it is unsurprising that Rick commands dialogue with Morty. Like Back to the Future, the two have an interesting dynamic, with Morty recognizing that Rick is the one in charge and following his lead (for the most part), as Marty does with Doc.
Not only does Morty follow Rick's lead, but he takes dialogue cues from him as well, such as finishing his sentences and concluding his thoughts. Marty frequently does this with Doc in Back to the Future, demonstrating that they think on similar wavelengths. Of course, Rick is often violent with Morty, such as giving him a black eye at the end of "Rattlestar Ricklactica," which is not the case with Doc and Marty.
1 Rick And Morty's Character Design Is Similar To Doc And Marty's
Most notably, Rick and Morty's character design is very similar to Doc and Marty's. Rick is essentially a copy of Doc Brown, from his long white lab coat, bonkers hair, and eccentric expression. Even the colors of his t-shirt and trousers match those of Doc Brown.
On the other hand, Morty is slightly different in appearance from Marty McFly, the only noticeable similarity being the color of his hair. However, several other alternate universe versions of Morty look much more like Back to the Future's Marty, suggesting that there may be a "Morty McFly" in another dimension.