The Rick and Morty Club formed this semester and students are jumping at the opportunity to watch and discuss the popular Adult Swim show with like-minded fans.
“We were thinking, what’s the club we could have the most fun in and hang out with people that are the most like us,” said Club Organizer Cristian Walk. “Everyone had basically the same epiphany: let’s do a Rick and Morty club.”
Club members meet to watch the latest episodes of the show and enjoy complimentary refreshments. At meetings there is a discussion period wherein those present can share opinions on the show’s content, references, and theories regarding where the story will go next.
“We are going to apply for a grant to continue to feed people,” Walk announced at Monday night’s meeting, to the joy of the attendees.
Currently made up of roughly 30 members, the club’s creators said that its attendance is a point of pride. Walk is a member of several other clubs on campus as well as an associated student government official.
“I would probably venture to say that this is the one club on campus that’s consistently had 25 members at least in every meeting,” he said.
In addition to having certain members hold various official positions, members are also designated as characters on the show. For example, Club President Christopher Nilsson is nicknamed “Rick C-137,” and Vice President Erin Lynch “Evil Morty.”
“I like that there’s a place to discuss all the things relating to the show,” said Vince Calzada, a first time club-goer. “There’s so many crazy in-depth theories about the Rick and Morty universe, it’s cool to know there’s other people as interested in it as I am.”
Originally based off of an animated short film parodying “Back to the Future”, Rick and Morty first aired in December of 2013. Its creators, Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, worked on the original short together. When Harmon was approached by Adult Swim for TV ideas, the pair decided to develop it into a show.
The show itself revolves around the adventures of Rick Sanchez, a boozy misanthropic grandpa who returns to his family after 20 years absence, and Morty Smith, his nervous self-conscious grandson. Rick’s disregard for Morty’s safety and comfort as well as complete apathy toward the human race allow him to lead the duo on bizarre trans-dimensional hijinks.
Much of the show’s fanbase appreciate it for its deliberate lack of continuity and structure between episodes. In an interview at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2013, Roiland described each episode as being, “[its] own point of entry.”
Mark Sanders is the City College club’s advisor.
“Imagine watching a cartoon of “Back to the Future”,” Sanders said, “but Doc is an interdimensional gassy alcoholic, who lacks empathy. And Morty is his average grandson who’s taken on these adventures.”
The club meets 5:30 Mondays inside the Humanities Building Room 111. Following the end of the show’s third season, meetings will be held bi-monthly rather than weekly. Additional details can be found on the club’s Facebook page.
Clarification:
A previous version of this article stated that the club president’s last name is Hilsson. It has been updated to change it to the correct spelling, Nilsson.
